The LUDICROUS SPEED ROUND returns with new comic reviews for the week of 7/6/22! We read way more comics than we have time to talk about on the show so the rest end up here! If you’re a long-time-listenerd, you probably remember our short reviews accompanied by glorious power metal. Now you can supply your own soundtrack and relive the magic as we review and rate these comics on our patented “Buy it”, “Skim it” or “Leave it” scale. We’ll be sure to update this post as we read more of the week’s new comics so be sure to check back. But enough talk!
LUDICROUS SPEED…GO!
Matt’s Reviews:
Cover by Gavin Guidry
There’s Something Wrong With Patrick Todd #1, Aftershock
Ed Brisson is back with another high-concept story that grabbed me right away. Patrick is a 15-year-old with telepathic abilities he uses on seedy individuals, making them rob banks, give him the money, and then admit to their crimes so he can keep his ill mother cared for. Brisson’s script is great. He writes Patrick like a young Robin Hood with superpowers working to keep what’s left of his family supported and taking disturbing people off the streets in the process, but the FBI and someone even more sinister is on his tail. Great art by Gavin Guidry in this well-thought-out and executed creator-owned book. The last page NAILED me!
Rating: BUY IT
Cover by Daniel Sampere
I might make this a weekly Dark Crisis update blog. Let me know if you nerds would dig on that idea. Regardless, writer Joshua Williamson’s HUGE Crisis event continues to be a great ride. There are some amazing Nightwing moments for fans and a showdown that I don’t think anyone could have drawn better than Daniel Sampere. Cyborg Superman shows up and ol’ Hank Henshaw has never looked meaner. Black Adam gets a huge promotion and finally the Green Lanterns show up. ‘Bout time guys… I get it, we’re only two issues in, but this is quickly becoming one of the best DC crossovers I’ve read in years. Williamson is writing a massive cast but everyone has their own voice that rings true to the character and he’s obviously having a great time writing the book. I’m not sure what else to say about Sampere’s art; the guy is incredible and he’s really bringing a big, blockbuster feel to the story. The plot for this event sounded like another DC-continuity-mess but it’s been anything but so far. Don’t sleep on Dark Crisis if you’ve been looking to have fun with the DC heroes and villains again.
Rating: BUY IT
Cover by Russell Dauterman
Life on Mars continues to get wilder for the resident X-team and unlike them, the Arrkoans (Arrakians?) are not down with the resurrection protocols. So much so they’re showing some real disrespect for the X-Men in charge (Storm and Magneto). Death and rebirth continue to be the major theme and Al Ewing does an incredible job using Robert De Costa and Rockslide to examine what’s important about life if death is removed from the equation. It’s not all heady existentialism though; Vulcan and Magneto have a major turning point with a character Storm tangled with previously, Storm continues to be an Omega-level bad-ass, and Abigail Brand just keeps getting sneakier. Ewing has my attention and I’ve gone on record saying “I don’t care about the Arrakkoans. Well, I might now, because Ewing is using them to expose the problems with heroes that can’t die. This issue was a gut punch in the best way and Stefano Casseli’s art gets even better with every issue. There are some MAJOR character devlopments here for Magneto and Storm you do not want to miss.
Rating: BUY IT
Joe’s Reviews:
Cover by Jorge Jimenez
CHIP IS HERE! And it’s about dang time. Chip Zdarsky’s first issue of Batman feels like finally letting out a breath you’ve been holding in for way too long, a breath overstuffed with Magistrates and Future States and Fear States and Joker Wars and Punchlines and Ghosthunters, and…and…and… This is just a straightforward, but exciting, Batman story about the Dark Knight, his greatest allies, and his grea…okay it’s the Penguin. But things have taken a genuinely surprising turn for our boy Oswald, and he’s pretty damn terrifying in his DeVito-ness. The art by Jorge Jimenez is simply incredible from beginning to end. There’s a Catwoman backup story that ties into the main narrative nicely, and introduces one of my favorite new characters to join the DCU in a long time. If the last several years of never-ending crossovers made you lapse as a Bat-fan, Batman #125 is the perfect place to jump back in.
Rating: BUY IT
Cover by Kaare Andrews
Black Adam: The Justice Society Files – Hawkman #1, DC
The series of one-shots tying in to the upcoming Black Adam film begins with a focus on Hawkman. Cavan Scott’s script portrays a version of the character that closely mirrors its comic book counterpart and does a fine job delivering the necessary background, with the exception of a red and gold design that doesn’t look nearly as good on paper as the classic green and red. It seems like the competant but unimpressive art by Scot Eaton is the culprit, as what little we’ve seen of the character in trailers looks pretty great. The lead story also unfortunately delivers THE. WORST. version of the Gentleman Ghost ever depicted. Completely unnecessary in every way. The backup story featuring Black Adam’s doomed comic book wife Adrianna Tomaz, which will be serialized across the various one-shots, is more successful, courtesy of decent work by writer Bryan Q. Miller and artist Marco Santucci. Santucci’s art has a nice Rags Morales-like quality that I enjoyed, with the brief exception of some John Byrne-ian inability to draw convincing children. But at least we got a great People’s Eyebrow from Adam.
Rating: SKIM IT
Cover by Diego Galindo
Stranger Things Summer Special, Dark Horse
I can’t tell a lie: Hawkins Fever has gripped me once again, thanks to the long-awaited fourth season of Stranger Things. I burned through the entire first serving of Season 4 episodes in a single weekend, followed immediately by a full series rewatch. After a similar binging of the final two feature-length episodes, I was in deep. Why start my review with this preamble? Consider it a cautionary tale, dear reader. I had the Munson Madness and I let that cloud my memory of how aggressively mediocre Dark Horse’s comic book tie-ins have been. “This one sounds fun” I tell myself. No. I LIE to myself. The idea that the Hawkins deputies, who are never really depicted as that inept on the show, could bumble through the periphery of Season 3 and the Battle of Starcourt Mall and never actually dial in that something very wrong is happening is a joke that is funny exactly ONCE, and even then just barely. Writer Keith Champagne stretches this almost joke across an entire extra-length issue, and you feel every single one of those extra pages. It’s laughable, not funny, and it wears out its welcome before the issue even hits its halfway point. Credit where it’s due though, Caio Filipe’s art does some nice things with just a few awkward spots. Learn from my mistake, friends…Give the Stranger Things comics a huge pass.
Rating: LEAVE IT
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Excelsior!!!!
