Southern Cross #1- Image

Hey, I’m giving a #1 top billing this week! Will you look at that? To be fair, none of the usual major heavy hitters came out this week (Saga, Sex Criminals, etc.), so I decided to push something a bit new. That’s not to say Southern Cross isn’t very deserving in its own right- I’m really digging it so far. Even apart from passing the Bechdel test, (the rarity of that in comics is extraordinarily depressing), it’s got solid art with an almost retro-futuristic look. Retro-futurism is most often applied to Buck Rodgers style futurism or 50’s futurism (Fallout), but Southern Cross feels like 80s retro-futurism. (And yes, that was three decades ago.) Grungy space stations and ships, industrial decor, headbands, transparent visors, actual naval outfits for starship personnel- it’s got the tone of so many of my favorite 80s scifi films. (My roommate thought of Cowboy Bebop.) The mystery set up has me interested, though there do seem to be hints of some sort of weird, semi-psychedelic craziness going on in the background- that, or the protagonists dreams are just extremely trippy.

East of West #18- Image

Babylon is really what this comic has been needing for a long time- a character you can actually sympathize with. There are abundant badasses and cool characters, but… yeah, I mention this every issue lately. Anyhow, Babylon gets to play with a giant horrifying demon that he sees as a giant hamster, Death and Lady Mao have a loving farewell, backstory backstory, the Endless Nation and the PRA plan out their war. Good times. I should backpedal on the character sympathy bit- getting to see Death and Lady Mao together actually goes quite a way towards humanizing the Horseman of the Apocalypse and the supergenius cybernetic despot.

Ms. Marvel #13- Marvel

This is really less a comic about a superhero than it is a comic about a teenage girl who also happens to be a superhero- and I’m totally fine with that. The big, interesting conflicts are the ones involving her family, friends, and in this issue, her love life. I mean, there’s also some random stuff about new Inhuman factions vying for supremacy, blah blah blah, super hero battles, blah blah blah, foreshadowing of things to come… Anyhow, Kamala Khan is just much more interesting than other superheroes. She’s facing teenager problems. Adorable teenager problems. Man, I’m glad I’m not a teenager anymore.

FBP #19- Vertigo

FBP really has a lot more momentum now, what with the imminent end of the world and all that. The obligatory terrible government emergency aid responses are amusing and depressing, and give us an opportunity to hang out with Ina and her mom again. (Ina’s by far the best character in this comic). Cicero being a lady’s man and a badass is a pretty welcome change for him. Hey, there’s an obligatory astronauts (well, dimension-nauts) walking towards the camera shot! No giant science tubes, sadly, though there is a giant horizontal astronaut tube, which is pretty close, albeit not quite the same.

(Who is) Thor(?) #6- Marvel

Okay, seriously, did anyone think that the new Thor would be anyone but Roz Solomon? Seriously? The series basically telegraphed the hell out of that. My only question now is how she got on the moon to retrieve the hammer. (That, and what Nick Fury whispered into Unworthy Thor’s ear). Blah blah blah, Thor has to fight the Destroyer, blah blah blah Malekith and Dario Agger are up to stuff… Actually, we do get to see Agger’s backstory, which is the kind of thing we more usually associate with super hero origin stories. Unworthy Thor talking out his life problems with trolls as he battles them is pretty fun. I dunno, maybe it’s because I’m running a low grade fever, but I’m just really impatient with superhero comics right now.

Deadpool #43- Marvel

Oh, look. Deadpool. Stuff happens. Paste Pot Pete flies a helicopter. Two issues left until Deadpool dies. Low grade fever whee.