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- Precious Metals, Attaboy, and The X-Men's Krakoan Age ends - June 5, Comic Reviews
Precious Metals, Attaboy, and The X-Men's Krakoan Age ends - June 5, Comic Reviews
This week's reviews include some great indy releases, as well as the best DC Pride special yet.
This week’s comic book reviews. While I try to read everything, I can’t review everything. So, if you’re a publisher who wants me to check out their upcoming releases, email me at [email protected]!
Image Comics
Precious Metal #1 ★★★★ - Darcy Van Poelgeest, Ian Bertram, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, and Ben Didier - I feel like I’ve been waiting years for Precious Metal to come out, with the creative team behind Little Bird offering a new prequel tale set in the same universe. Well, the wait is over - and it was worth it.
The story and world-building, like Little Bird, is ambitious, unusual, and unique. The trippy, visceral art from Bertram is Quietly and Moebius-esque, as the incredible detail, sprawling backgrounds, and melting character designs throughout are joy to look at with Matt Hollingsworth’s colors heightening the page while Otsmane-Elhaou’s stand out lettering adds a dynamic layer to the speech.
Precious Metal is a worthy follow-up to the Eisner Award winning series.
Marvel Comics
The Ultimates ★★½ - Deniz Camp, Juan Frigeri, Federico Blee, and VC’S Travis Lanham - The Ultimates is the first major miss from the current Ultimates line, but there’s still plenty of potential to be found. While the chosen team of heroes is interesting and it’s fascinating to see them come together in the story, The Ultimates is bogged down with exposition, as it feels like the first comic from the Ultimates line to really have to explain what happened previously (in story’s like Ultimate Invasion), while other books seem to have much more creative freedom. I’m not giving up on this title, but this wasn’t the start I was hoping to see. Given the creative team, I’m willing to give this a few more issues to get things going.
X-Men #35 ★★★ - Gerry Duggan, Kieron Gillen, Al Ewing, Phil Noto, Lucas Werneck, Leinil Francis Yu, Walter Simonson and many more — Given how shaky the end of the Krakoan era has been, X-Men #35 sticks about as good of a landing as it probably could have while setting up the next era. It’s an okay ending to what started as one of the best Marvel stories ever.
Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace #4 ★★★½ - Iman Vellani, Sabir Pirzada, Scott Godlewski, Erick Arciniega, and VC’s Joe Caramagna - I’m not sure how much of the heavy lifting she’s doing, but Iman Vellani (with Sabir Pirzada) now has written the most enjoyable run of the character since G. Willow Wilson left the book. Issue 4 deals with Ms. Marvel’s powers, mutant and Inhuman, reaching a satisfying ending to the mystery surrounding her abilities, while setting up Kamala’s future in the X-Men’s new era. The story sort of falls off the rails during the boss fight, but sticks the landing with the ending. Godlweski and Arciniega do a nice job managing action and emotional beats in what could have been an extremely busy issue — as it doesn’t feel overstuffed despite all that’s happening.
DC Comics
DC Pride A Celebration of Rachel Pollack ★★★★★ - Joe Corallo, Rye Hickman, John Workman, and Stuart Moore - The new story “Shining Through the Wreckage” is an absolutely beautiful tribute to Rachel Pollack. It masterfully weaves through Pollack’s run on Doom Patrol and brings Coagula, the first trans superhero for DC Comics, back to the forefront. It’s weird in all the best ways, and a perfect way to honor the legendary creator. Check out my conversation with Corallo.
IDW Publishing
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Alpha #1 ★★★½- Jason Aaron, Tom Waltz, Chris Burnham, Gavin Smith, Brian Reber, and Ronda Pattison, and Nathan Widick - To keep things brief, this is a very good set-up for what’s coming. Plus, a story starring Old Hob? I’m sold.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 is a total blast that respects its past and more recent stories, and forges something exciting in the present. The action-packed, bloody story is a very encouraging start to the series. Aaron *gets it* and Joelle's art is unsurprisingly superb.
— Liam McGuire (@LiamRMcGuire)
8:10 PM • Jun 3, 2024
Skybound/Image Comics
Scarlett #1 ★★★★½ - Kelly Thompson, Marco Ferrari, Lee Loughridge, and Rus Wooton - Skybound is batting one thousand with its Energon Universe stories and Scarlett is a stellar reintroduction of the character. A sleek, sexy, and action-packed story that never quite puts its foot off the gas. The dynamic between Scarlett and Jinx is immediately engaging and Ferrari and Loughridge’s art — especially during a battle that takes place in the snow — is top-notch throughout. As someone who was never a big G.I. Joe fan, Scarlett, and other comics in the line, are just hitting every note in making stories both new and old fans will love. Highly recommended to all readers.
Mad Cave Studios
Attaboy (TPB) ★★★★½ - Tony McMillen - I hopped on reading this a little late, so my apologies!
Attaboy is an extremely entertaining story that’s a video game, instruction manual, and a journey about escapism, relationships, and friendship. The sublime artwork is raw and messy, with a heavy aesthetic that wears its influences out loud. As the comic continues, a video game story becomes a personal one, and the in-game and real-world bleeds together. I adored this story.