Talking About Comics

  Astro City #1-4 Originally released in 1995 Written by Kurt Busiek Art by Brent Anderson I've read and enjoyed Kurt Busiek's Avengers run, so I wanted to read his original work. Astro City is an anthology series set in a city that's basically Metropolis or Marvel's New York, focusing on various perspectives from the people living there - newspaper editors, superheroes, low level crooks... The book wears its heart on its sleeve when it comes to references.  The first issue focuses on Samaritan, the setting's Superman equivalent, who dreams of flying without a care in the world. (He can fly, but he's always traveling to one disaster or another so he doesn't get to enjoy it) The problem with being a Superman figure, even in a world filled with countless other superheroes, is that there's always a disaster or a problem happening somewhere, and he runs himself ragged trying to fix whatever the problem is, even if it means that he doesn't get much of a p...

Marvel/DC: It's Jeff/Aquaman and DC/Marvel: Supergirl/Blade Originally released in 2026 Written by Kelly Thompson (Jeff/Aquaman), CRC Payne (Supergirl/Blade) Art by Andres Genolet (Jeff/Aquaman), Mikel Janin (Supergirl/Blade) Marvel and DC have been putting out a lot of crossovers in the past year or two, and I'm all for it.  There were other ones that came out last year which I haven't covered yet, but I'm going to cover two that just came out a few days ago - one which features Jeff the Land Shark and Aquaman (which is inexplicably rated T+), and one which features Supergirl and Blade. (not sure if this duo was meant to tie into both characters having upcoming movies, though the Blade movie has been delayed a bunch and it doesn't seem clear if the people behind the MCU have any idea of what to do with the character even though "guy who fights vampires" seems like a rather straightforward concept) These are both comics that are designed for apps and scrol...

Captain America #1-2 Originally released in 1941 Written by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby Art by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon Earlier today, it hit me that while I've seen the cover of Captain America's first comic, and I know the historical importance (at the time that it was released, America hadn't entered World War 2 yet), I've never read the comic.  I was a little concerned when the page after the cover was a content warning; the only time where I've seen one of those on Marvel Unlimited was when the writer of a Luke Cage comic unknowingly used a racial slur in Yiddish . My first impression upon reading the comics is gaining an appreciation for how Jack Kirby's art style evolved.  I'm mainly familiar with his work on the Fantastic Four and the New Gods; he has a very recognizable art style, but that's not the case here, with Captain America's face being so tall and thin that it looks uncanny. It's funny to see this first issue not quite being set in ...

Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth Originally released in 2001 Written by Paul Dini Art by Alex Ross While DC's app doesn't have other Alex Ross and Paul Dini collaborations (I know they did something similar with Batman and Superman, at the very least), they do have the one that they did which featured Wonder Woman, so I decided to read that today. To say that Alex Ross's art is amazing here is like saying that water is wet. It feels like any given panel could be framed in a museum, and he does a great job with fitting as much detail as he can into these double page spreads. When it came to the DC Animated Universe interpretation of Wonder Woman, I felt like she and Martian Manhunter were underused compared to their fellow members of the Justice League. (Wonder Woman barely even got to meet any members of her rogues gallery in that show) As a result, I was curious about how she'd be handled here. The first third or so recaps Wonder Woman's backstory and her role in the ...

Doctor Strange #1-4 Originally released in 2023 Written by Jed MacKay Art by Pasqual Ferry (#1-3), Andy MacDonald (#4) Doctor Strange has died.  He got better, as superheroes tend to do, and now he's looking into any problems that arose while he was away.  There's an influx of magical creatures in New York, his wife Clea is the Warlord of Manhattan (and was Sorcerer Supreme of Earth in his absence), and Wong has joined a magical spy organization called W.A.N.D. Also, someone is going around killing magical threats.  The Sorcerer Supreme of the Purple Dimension is one of those threats; as he dies, he shouts out "STRANGE!", which could refer to Stephen, Clea (who made it clear that she wanted to kill said Sorcerer Supreme after he murdered a prisoner for cruelty's sake), or it could just be a misdirect. (or a time traveling future version of Stephen or Clea; I'm not ruling anything out at this point) For the most part, this series is a bunch of one-shot storylin...

Countdown to Infinite Crisis Originally released in 2005 Written by Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, and Judd Winick Art by Ed Benes As it turns out, I made a mistake in my reading order, and I should have read Countdown To Infinite Crisis before reading The OMAC Project. I'd heard terrible things about a series called Countdown, but it turns out that was Countdown To Final Crisis. This is just a single issue, rather than a full series, and it mainly focuses on the second Blue Beetle, Ted Kord. Blue Beetle's reputation has fallen in recent years; his company is going bankrupt and the number of heroes who take him seriously seem like they can be counted on one hand. (Booster Gold, Oracle, Superman, and Wonder Woman; that seems like it's the entire list, as others like Batman or Martian Manhunter barely seem to tolerate him, let alone take him seriously)  When his finances are taken, bounced between different companies, and wind up in the hands of an organization called OMAC, he inve...