Batman One Bad Day: The Riddler #1, Tom King, Mitch Gerads, DC
I will just start this off by saying “Wow!” This one-shot story about The Riddler was just fantastic. Tom King and Mitch Gerads are one of my favorite teams, after the Mister Miracle book they did together a few years back. In this issue, they’ve raised their game and have come together to create an amazing book with impeccable writing and truly astonishing artwork. It is one that will stick with me, long after reading it.
This issue paints a striking portrait of The Riddler, and how he came to be, through a detailed story about his struggles in school to be a perfectionist because of his father, the headmaster of the school. You see what kind of pressure he was under in his formative years, and when he finally broke.
We also see what The Riddler is capable of now, when he’s put back in Arkham Asylum and can pretty much do whatever he wants, including compelling people to kill each other or themselves. Commissioner Gordon gets to a breaking point and has to beg Batman to meet with The Riddler towards the end. Batman has been digging into The Riddler’s past, talking to one of his henchmen, his father, and never finding his motivation for a seemingly random killing he did. All of this leads to their eventual conversation in the yard behind Arkham, where he lays it all out for Batman in a truly terrifying way. By the end, he seems completely untouchable until the final page reveals an unexpected riddle for him.
The 64 page format allows for King to slow down the pace of the story, to create tension and distance between The Riddler and Batman. By their face-to-face conversation at the end, all of that tension comes to a head, not with a battle but with carefully chosen words. Gerads brings all of this to life, with the security footage of The Riddler’s murder, his interview with Gordon, the flashbacks to his childhood, and a stunning page of him calmly standing over Gordon in Arkham after a slaughter.
I really can’t recommend this book highly enough. It’s the best thing I’ve read all year.
Do A Powerbomb! #3, Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer, Image
While it’s hard to live up to the bomb dropped in Issue 2, Daniel Warren Johnson is back with the next story that jumps headfirst into the DEATHLYFE tournament. Both Cobrasun and Lona are motivated to bring Lua back to life, but they need to get past their realization that pro wrestling is not an act in the rest of the universe. It’s real fighting and they have to let themselves go in order to stand a chance in the tournament.
In one of my favorite scenes, they arrive at the bar after checking in, where they bump into another team, Fyso, who are threatening a puppy that peed on one of them. After stating that the puppy disrespected them, on one amazing panel, they throw a Puppy Punch! at the cutest dog that you can imagine. Luckily Lona steps in before the ridiculous punch lands, but this encounter foreshadows a battle that is sure to come down the line, in the ring.
In a two page spread, towards the middle of the book, we see Necroton introducing each of the wrestling teams. Towards the top we see each team pictured with their planet of origin, and their finishing move, and the seeds for the tournament. My favorite team is Pizza Party and their finishing move, the New York Slice! It’s such a gorgeous piece of art from Johnson, that I was stunned and laughing at the same time.
Lona and Cobrasun have been named Sun & Steel, and in the first round they’re up against Orangabang, two oranagatangs who saved them from Fyso the previous night. While Orangabang are super nice, they let Sun & Steel know that they are fighting for their dead sister and that they will not hold back in the match. Cobrasun begins the battle and takes a good beating. It’s not until he tags in Lona that he sees what she’s capable of in the ring. Although it’s a well fought battle, Sun & Steel emerge victorious.
Do A Powerbomb! must be the most fun comic that I’m reading. It’s action-packed, over the top, and super emotional at the same time. Daniel Warren Johnson is truly a unique creator and anything he makes is worth reading. Whether you wait for the trade or jump into the ring with the single issues, I highly recommend this series.
The Silver Coin #13, Johnnie Christmas, Michael Walsh, Image
The next chapter in The Silver Coin is called “Threshold”, written by Johnnie Christmas, with artwork by Michael Walsh. The definition of “threshold” is: the magnitude or intensity that must be exceeded for a certain reaction, phenomenon, result, or condition to occur or be manifested. I can see how this definition applies this story, however, I also see how it applies to the reader in causing a reaction inside of us.
If you thought “The Diner” issue was intense and gory, then “Threshold” blows that out of the water with extreme body horror. For me, it’s the most graphic and intense story of The Silver Coin series, by far. There’s even a “warning” in the inside page that describes why. The first line in the story, by the boyfriend who is trying to comfort his pregnant girlfriend is “We’re going to be okay, Karena.” At that point I knew that they were definitely not going to be okay.
By the next page, a few months later, Karena is screaming in a phone booth at Brett because of what he’s said to his other girlfriend, about how he might not be the father. Even before Karena discovers the silver coin, she is bleeding out of her nose and vomiting. Once she grabs the phone, the horror immediately starts. It’s difficult to describe just how scary these scenes are. There are tendrils shooting out of the phone receiver, a giant melting baby, a horrific car crash, graphic descriptions of human meat by her future son, Karena wearing a dress made of the insides of Brett, and her body floating over an operating table while the baby emerges.
This is all set against the backdrop of New Year’s Eve on Y2K. Her child is born right as the clock strikes midnight. It taps into the fears we had on that night of what might happen. In this world’s case, there are a small number of babies born in that hospital who share similar troubling futures. In the final scene we see Karena on New Year’s Eve in 2019, letting a balloon go into the night.
I will always be a big Michael Walsh and The Silver Coin supporter because of how unique these stories are, and the subtlety of the storytelling. In this case the storytelling is not so subtle, as the horror is right in your face, the entire time. However, it is unclear how much of this is going on inside Karena’s head or not. I recommend this series, but I wouldn’t say that this particular issue is a good starting point. Pick up the first two volumes of the trades first to get a taste of what The Silver Coin is all about.
Blood Stained Teeth #5, Christian Ward, Patric Reynolds, Heather Moore, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, Image
Dracula is dead and Bram Stoker is fucking pissed. So the First Borns turn up the heat on Atticus Sloane by sending Mr. Tooth to make sure Atticus kills every last Sip that he’s turned. Sloane’s next target is the biggest movie star in the world, Everlyn Moon. Unsurprisingly Moon only does film shoots at night, and on this particular night he is celebrating the release of a new movie at The Chinese Theatre. This means that Atticus has to somehow kill him while he’s surrounded by his fans.
Sloane opens the door to Moon’s green room, backstage, and finds three mind-washed women he is keeping as his harem. He has been trying to turn women, which is impossible for a Sip to do. There’s a fourth woman, Jennifer, who’s already been turned, who is suffering greatly and is kept in a cage. The other three are on-deck as he continues his turning experiment. They won’t leave because they can’t escape the influence he has over them. Sloane’s plan then becomes turning these women so they can exact sweet revenge on Moon when he returns to his green room.
Issue five is the last issue in this story arc. Towards the end of the book, we get a peek into a hospital that a vampire (Dr. Beverly Phelps) is running to cure cancer in humans, by feeding the patients vampire blood from the First Borns. This storyline will be explored in the following issue (#6), out in November. The regular story picks up again in December with issue seven.
Blood Stained Teeth is one of my favorite new comics. Christian Ward does an amazing job with the dialogue and storytelling, and his covers are always super memorable and haunting. Patric Reynolds is a great talent who fits into the horror genre superbly. Heather Moore’s colors are really breathtaking and explode from the page. I highly recommend this series and the first collection is out on September 21st.
The Brother of All Men #2, Zac Thompson, Eoin Marron, Mark Englert, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, Aftershock
While the first issue took me some time to get into, the second issue has me hooked. Guy (Remi) is now fully immersed into the brotherhood within this community, but he still has questions nagging at him. He’s got a nice place to live, steady work, and the friendship of Bastien, his actual brother, who doesn’t recognize him. He’s beginning to appreciate his life there, but can’t understand why Myrtle wants to be there, and what Brother XII’s actual motivations are.
Guy sits down with Myrtle for lunch and begins asking probing questions of her, like “…are you ok?” and “Do you want to go home?” Myrtle tells him to stop or else she’ll tell Brother XII. He’s torn between fitting into this community and still wanting to get to the bottom of things, as a private detective would do. This scares Guy, and he begins to get sloppy. First he doesn’t tie the knot tight enough on a fellow brother who is working at the top of a tree, who then falls to his death. Second, he walks for hours to Myrtle’s house to watch her from a distance, and she catches sight of him and screams.
Guy runs and ends up spotting the island where Bastien is creating a second community, Mandieh. Brother XII finds him there and basically reads his mind, as to his feelings of shame, and the questions he’s been asking around the community. He invites him to a gathering at The Point, the Brother XII’s sprawling mansion. There the Brother introduces a woman, who he says is his new wife, who will bear him a child. Myrtle is obviously hurt and runs from the party. Guy chases after her and ends up revealing himself to her. When Bastien joins them, a new plot twist is revealed to the reader.
I really enjoyed the second issue. It builds upon the first in really intriguing ways. Guy is not alone in asking questions, and he is getting closer to the inner circle there. Zac Thompson’s writing is fantastic, as he stitches together Guy’s internal monologue with the dialogue in the story. Eoin Marron’s art is perfect for the time period, and Mark Englert’s colors are murky enough to set a distinct mood. I’m all the way on board with this comic and am really looking forward to the next issue.