The Wicked + the Divine #8

Dionysus is the new god in town, and Laura has invite for his first big party. Dio is a cool cat with a wreath tattoo and the ability to give anyone he touches an intense but safe high and a minor hivemind with everyone else at the party. And just about everyone is at the party — most of the gods are there, all tripping on Dio’s power. Will Laura find out anything, or just get lost in the party buzz? And what’s Dionysus’ angle?

Verdict: Thumbs up. We talked a bit last issue about how great Matthew Wilson’s colors are, and they’re even better in this issue. Heck, without Wilson’s colors, this comic wouldn’t be nearly as awesome as it is. The “1, 2, 3, 4” theme that runs almost all the way through this issue is also really fun. And the non-high moments frame some really great story moments, too. Only thing that bugged me was that I haven’t been able to figure out who Dionysus is supposed to be. Lucifer was Bowie, Baal is Kanye, Inanna is Prince, Sakhmet is Rihanna — Dio has to be someone in the music biz, but I’m not familiar enough with the electronica/rave scene to identify him.

Gotham by Midnight #4

Gotham City is under attack by demons being fueled by alcohol, and Corrigan is finally induced to release the Spectre, who intends to subject them to his style of divine judgment — unfortunately, that may be exactly what the demons want. They want the Spectre to judge Gotham itself for its untold sins…

Verdict: Thumbs up. Not my favorite issue, but we finally get to see the Spectre, and it looks like Batman is going to be showing up next issue, too.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Leonard Nimoy was an awesome guy, and his very last tweet helps show how great he was.
• Holy cow, they may be making a movie of Alfred Bester’s classic sci-fi novel “The Stars My Destination“!
• Here’s a fantastic article about the very first museum dedicated to slavery in America.

Clive Barker’s Nightbreed #9

Last issue wrapped up the prequel to the movie as we finished learning the backstories of a select group of the Nightbreed. I expected that the format would continue, and we’d learn more about some of the other characters we hadn’t run into yet, but instead, the creators have jumped to the end of the movie to tell us what happened to Midian’s survivors.

The story starts from the film’s alternate ending, in which Lori kills herself and is then brought back to life by Boone, making her one of the immortal Nightbreed. Now, she’s getting accustomed to her new abilities, but she’s also prone to strange visions and may be under the periodic control of Rev. Ashberry, now at least part Nightbreed himself, but still psychotically dedicated to wiping out all monsters. The rest of the ‘Breed aren’t entirely idle. Otis has written a novel about the Nightbreed, and it’s shot up the bestseller charts, making the survivors rich enough to purchase their new Midian.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Not what I was expecting, but a very pleasant surprise. I love the idea of the ‘Breed getting to go out to enjoy Halloween — and I love the way they feel more like an extended family in this issue, even the violent, animalistic Peloquin. There are still plenty of characters I’d like to learn more about — and there’s a good chance we’ll still be able to collect more backstories along the way.

Gotham by Midnight #3

The detectives from Precinct Thirteen are alerted about a little girl in Gotham County Hospital who has a problem with her shadow — namely, her shadow is an infectious smallpox monster with tentacles and fangs that can kill people through their hazmat suits. Luckily, Dr. Tarr has managed to figure out enough of the demons’ language to talk to it. Will that be enough to let the Gotham cops destroy it?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Wonderfully weird art and a surprisingly tense story — a supernatural smallpox outbreak that can infect anyone it can touch and kill them almost instantly makes for a lot of people trying not to be touched by any spooky shadows. Plus we get a little background on Detective Lisa Drake’s past as an undercover cop.

Revival #27

Anti-government wingnut Edmund Holt continues to have his usual terrible luck — as in terrible luck for everyone else, but good luck for him. Dana Cypress planned to confront and maybe kill him for victimizing her son, but he completely accidentally gets the drop on her, takes her into custody, and plans to make her watch — and probably die from — the explosive vengeance he plans against everyone else. Meanwhile, Em Cypress is accompanying Tao and Blaine as they try to find Em’s missing lover — who they don’t actually know has been killed. Blaine tries to swim across a pond around the old mill but gets attacked by a school of reviver piranha. And what new horror do they find inside the mill?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Holy cheese, a spectacularly creepy and suspenseful story, with a few absolute suprises along the way. I really can’t get enough of how well this comic both reinforces and subverts almost every expectation you have for the story.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Does it make a lick of sense for a cartoonist like Molly Crabapple to have an FBI file that’s 7,500 pages long?
• The Simpsons, pixelated.
• I like to imagine that all my friends from New England are at least this crazy.
• I don’t know what’s more horrifying: that teachers in Kermit, Texas suspended a kid for bringing a pretend ring to school, that they suspended him for bringing a science book to school that mentioned pregnancy, or that they might just be weird resentful freaks trying to make a nine-year-old kid’s life hell.

Clive Barker’s Nightbreed #8

Lylesberg’s attempt to learn Boone’s story gets him a lot more detail than he was expecting — Boone’s lived an entirely rotten life, with the death of his mother getting him moved into a succession of terrible homes, some run by his own family members, some utterly horrible foster homes. He finally meets up with his true love, Lori, but realizing he has a lot of emotional issues built up through his rough childhood (and his then-unknown kinship with the Nightbreed), she recommends he visit a therapist — though Dr. Decker probably doesn’t mean to do good things for him. Meanwhile, Otis and Clay, literary twins sharing the same body, grant an interview to a reporter who’s managed to find out some of their secrets.

Verdict: Thumbs up. I’m still fairly astounded that this series has been so much fun, and I’m incredibly glad I picked it up in the first place. If you were ever a fan of this awesome movie, you should be keeping an eye out for the TPB so you can get the backstory on all these characters you always wished you could know more about…

Gotham by Midnight #2

The threat that Precinct 13 is facing — the villain kidnapping and warping the brains of children — is apparently some sort of supernatural, demonic nun. While Jim Corrigan tries to hold her attention and dispel her, Rook, the Internal Affairs cop assigned to shut them down, has to try to get the kids to safety. We also learn some of Sister Justine’s backstory, complete with demonic priests. Hey, you don’t think there’s some sort of connection between the various demonic Catholic clergy, do you?

Verdict: Thumbs up. I’m still getting used to some elements of the series — Ben Templesmith’s art is not the kind of thing you usually see in the rebooted DC — but so far, I’m enjoying what I see.

Today’s Cool Links: 

• It’s the new “Ant-Man” trailer!
• If you hate Jerry Jones like I hate Jerry Jones, this is going to make your day.
• Proper British actresses from Downton Abbey play Cards Against Humanity.

Gotham by Midnight #1

Here’s a new series from the Bat side of things, focusing more on the supernatural horror side of Gotham City. Our main characters are the staff at Precinct Thirteen, the Midnight Shift, operating out of a junked-out office building somewhere in Gotham. Some of them are cops, some of them are civilian consultants, including a forensics specialist and a nun — and one of them is Jim Corrigan, who is better known as the Spectre. New on the scene is Sergeant Rook, from Internal Affairs, who plans to get the precinct shut down as an obvious waste of money.

The team gets a case, the aftermath of a recent kidnapping. The Attwood girls were supposedly runaways who returned home a week ago — but the girls are now speaking in an unknown language, and they don’t seem to recognize their parents anymore. But Corrigan determines there may be a connection to the notorious Slaughter Swamp, and he takes Rook with him to check it out. And of course, what they find is definitely not good news.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Nicely weird, claustrophobic story by Ray Fawkes, and wonderfully offbeat art by Ben Templesmith. It’s got a great creepy vibe, and I hope they keep that part of it running full blast.

Lazarus #13

As the Conclave between all the Families continues, it becomes more clear that the Lazarii are by far the most interesting people on board, as well as, for the most part, the most decent. It’s also clear, unfortunately, that if the Families order them to fight, they’ll all try to kill each other — and that at some point, they’re all definitely going to try to kill each other.

At any rate, Forever attends a poker game between all the Lazarii, and we get to meet a lot of really interesting people having a lot of fun, and a couple who are too cranky to have any fun at all. Forever gets to make some time for romance with Joacquim, but the fun times stop pretty quickly when the Families determine that Hock’s drugs are at least partly based on the Carlyles work. So Forever’s father has an assignment for her, and it involves her kidnapped brother.

Verdict: Thumbs up. This is worth it entirely for the interactions between Forever and the other Lazarii. I know Rucka is setting us up to see a lot of them get killed, but there’s no question that it’s wonderful fun to watch them play cards together.

The Manhattan Projects #25

In what may be the last issue of the series, LBJ is sworn in as president, and he, Groves, and Westmoreland make their plans to take over the world; Feynman, Einstein, and Einstein continue their explorations of other dimensions; the Soviets work on their bizarre alien schemes; Von Braun is captured by aliens; and Gagarin may finally be reuinited with the transmogrified Laika.

Verdict: Thumbs up, I think. I don’t like the idea of this series going away, but they say it’ll be back somehow — and for now, what we have is a good way to leave the characters, all scheming, all discovering…