Weekly Comic Reviews – 16 September 2015

Ratings out of 5 stars. Comics courtesy of Absolute Comics (Plaza Singapura) except for Sex Criminals #11.

Harley Qinn #20

Story: Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti

Art: John Timms

DC Comics

Hot favourite Harley Qinn is on a roll. She flies to the West Coast to rescue a girl kidnapped by a cult. Along the way, she had a bad dream about flying coach with the rest of the DC heroes with the Joker and Poison Ivy as the pilots. But soon she is back to her usual self, putting a rude airport staff in her place (literally) and hanging out with the cowboys, pimps and hookers. This one is pretty much for fans as the comic is too text heavy. Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti do not allow the art by John Timms to breath. A typical page would have an average of six panels. Some of them are small panels cramped with dialogue (as many as five word balloons in one panel). It is unfortunate that the details in Timms’ art are covered by the word balloons, some of which are rather gratuitous. (“Shut this whore up, already.”)

(2.5 stars)

Invincible #123

Story: Robert Kirkman

Art: Ryan Ottley

Image Comics

Robert Kirkman is so associated with The Walking Dead but this other Image series of his gets pretty much ignored. Which is a pity because Invincible has quite a few things going for it – superhero action, father and son conflict, alien invasion, you name it.  The series was relaunched earlier this year with Invincible and family (wife and daughter) moving to a new alien planet to settle down. Compared to the gore of the last story arc, this is pretty much Family Ties in a science fiction setting. Lots of domestic dialogue and soap opera type revelations (“She raped me.”) – nothing much matters in a single issue, so you are better off buying the trade to read this in  one shot. Kirkman has a ear for dialogue that is not as irritating as Bendis. Ryan Ottley’s clean lines are a joy to pore over.

(3 stars)

Star Wars #9

Story: Jason Aaron

Art: Stuart Immonen

Marvel Comics

The Star Wars mania continues. Fans need no introduction to this series, which launched the return of Star Wars to Marvel Comics. This particular issue will satisfy the fans – a Luke lightsaber fight and the continuing tension between Princess Leia, Han Solo and Han’s wife, Sana Solo. The introduction of a new Hutt is intriguing. Too bad he was not in any of the movies.

(3 stars)

Sex Criminals #11 (second printing)

Story: Matt Fraction

Art: Chip Zdarsky

Image Comics

The highly anticipated second printing with the contest finally hits the stores. While you can do your own dirty drawing on Matt and Chip’s faces, the contest is only opened to filthy minds living in USA and Canada. That makes them pretty much dick heads, which is what you should draw. But pick this up anyway as it’s a new story arc, new characters and threats. NSFW but challenge yourself and read this on the train. Will make the slow train going into the tunnel moves a bit faster. And faster.

(4 stars)

Age of Reptiles: Ancient Egyptians #4

Story/Art: Ricardo Delgado

Dark Horse Comics

Not quite this week’s releases, this conclusion of the latest Age of Reptiles limited series came out two weeks ago. But it is still an issue worth hunting down as any issue of Age of Reptiles is a great intro to the violent world created by Ricardo Delgado, who has worked on The Incredibles, Men In Black and Apollo 13. Age of Reptiles started in 1993 and remained wordless all these years. It’s a dinosaur eat dinosaur world in these pages, much more bloody than Masashi Tanaka’s Gon manga, which is another wordless dinosaur comic. If you like the art of Geof Darrow, you will like this.

(4 stars)