Part Two of this week’s comics (Part 1):
Batman #5 ($2.99; Scott Snyder [W] & Greg Capullo [A]) – I know I haven’t even gotten to my last four books of the week (that’ll be Part Three), but I am fairly certain Batman #5 will take the top spot as my favorite, and if 2012 ends and this issue isn’t among the best of the year across the entire medium, well then 2012 is gonna be a hell of a year for comics. Batman’s trapped in a maze designed by the Court of Owls, the best new Bat-villains since Bane was introduced 20 years ago. He’s been there for a long while too, with bloodshot, crazed eyes and bare feet to compliment the haggard look Greg Capullo rendered him in this issue. And then Scott Snyder turns everything upside down, literally. To give the reader a sense of Bruce Wayne’s dementia and disorientation within this deadly labyrinth, to continue reading the comic, you first must turn it on its side, then upside down. Personally, I’ve never seen this done before. It’s freaking brilliant, and I cannot wait for #6.
Daredevil #8 ($2.99; Mark Waid [W] & Kano [A]) – The Brian Michel Bendis/Alex Maleev run on Daredevil set the standard for my ideal rendition of the ole hornhead. Gritty, grimy, dirty, edgy, REAL. Andy Diggle jumped the shark with the whole “Shadlowland” epic and I was out. I gave Waid’s version a spin, picking up the first three issues. It was too old school for me; Matt Murdock as a happy camper, all smiles and thumbs up. Thumbs down. Not for me. Even the classic Golden Age style of art, though fundamentally sound, wasn’t for me, save for the coolest element of the book, “seeing” things in Daredevil-vision, all black with pink vibration lines. So why pick up #8, you ask? It was the continuation of a story that started last week in Amazing Spider-Man. And I hate to say, it sold me on giving this title – voted one of the best of 2011 by many reputed comic sites – a second chance. Swashbuckling action and Murdock’s (wait for it) devil-may-care attitude brought me back into the fold. Well, there goes that money I’m saving on The Incredible Hulk. Damn you, Mark Waid.
Voltron #2 ($3.99; Brandon Thomas [W] & Ariel Padilla [A]) – From my two favorite issues of the week, to hands down one of the worst comics I’ve read in MONTHS, excluding Avengers: X-Sanction. What the f**k is going on here? Classic 80s transforming/combining, sword-wielding, robotic panther/goliath saves the galaxy form cosmic threats. That’s what Voltron is. However, what Brandon Thomas’ Voltron is… is boring. The titular “character” – if you could call a composite monster a character – was seen on ONE PAGE (two panels), and it was to dock into a space shuttle. I’m all for revamping known properties to flesh out all the nooks and crannies that 1985 TV forgot – Cartoon Network’s ThunderCats show has been dominant – but sweet melons, this is terrible. It doesn’t help that Ariel Padilla’s art looks slapdash and rushed. Next month, Voltron #3 gets read in the store and returned to the shelf unless it heals leprosy and robs banks. Ball. Dropped.