The Amazing Spider-Man: Sins Rising #1
As a supposedly conservative Christian, this was a painful read. I'm not Pentecostal, but there's a duality that I've encountered inside of myself that is not Christian, not of what is taught, that this comic brings to the forefront and criticizes, openly, painfully, and honestly. I found I had a lot more in common with Stan than I would like to admit. Good art holds up a mirror. This book held up a mirror in a way that was uncompromising to some of my experiences of American Christianity.
Actually, a good deal of it.
The Amazing Spider-Man #44
There are a few times when comics really show what they're capable of as sequential art. They transcend the usual trash that is humanity's attempts at art and become something... more. When this happens you get a sublime, almost surrealistic blending of image and letter.
This issue one of them.
There's a level of "come to this as it is" that is what makes the issue so special for me. There's no attempt to make the issue make sense, and so you have to go along, just accepting the issue as it is. There was a very similar eerie quality in Sins Rising which I didn't comment upon so much there. But the craftsmanship of both comics is just beyond what I would expect for any comic book. Truly art.
The Amazing Spider-Man #45
...and now we're dropped back into Spider-Man's world. There's this jarring and off-putting feeling which matches the story so incredibly well! The compositions have changed, in part because of the change of artist; the more grounded feel is what classic Spidey artist Mark Bagley is known for. Unfortunately Bagley's drafting just isn't up to snuff in this issue, which is sad, given his immense skills. That being said, Bagley's actual visual storytelling is just phenomenal and is used to contrast with the previous issues in ways that are entirely intentional. I love that they took two issues to build up to this one. It feels right and creates this divide from Spider-Man, isolating the character from you, the reader, and leaving him totally alone. You know too much. Spidey knows nothing.
And your knowledge matches his confusion. Fantastic.
X-Men #10
When most writers swing big, they usually go for about fifty or so issues on a single book. Maybe a little bit more. When Hickman goes big he does at least fifty issues, over the course of at least two or three (or more) books. His new X-men initiative spans authors and comics, and is probably his largest thing he's done so far. And it shows. The thing that most people do not realize that makes a long run is that the concept has to be big enough to where you can go for forever. Hickman's early part of his Avengers run was criticized for being almost obtuse in the amount of plates that he juggled. The series didn't seem to have any connectivity.
That, of course, missed what Hickman was doing: setting up the points that he was going to start bouncing the ping pong balls off of.
And he's still doing it in X-Men. And yeah, sometimes that's really frustrating, like it is here. Vulcan is not a character I have a whole lot of appreciation for. And I love what Hickman does with the character here, by fleshing him out to make him a hero I can actually root for! And I can't wait for the points to start to connect.
But it can be really frustrating to wait for that.
That being said, I'm taking notes. When this sparks it's going to catch real good.
Star Wars #5
Luke has recently discovered he's Vader's son, and has to grapple with what that means. Luke has the black he eventually becomes known for in ROTJ, combined with the brown jacket he had from an earlier run. He's still a good kid, but a hurting one, seeking answers. And the person he's seeking answers from gives him answers he didn't expect or want, particularly about Order 66, the Inqiuistors, and Vader's role with them. Of all the people that Luke has to run into, this particular person seems to be the one to pop the idealistic bubble he had about the Jedi.
There's been a dream-like quality to this book for me. Each point they set down I find myself saying "But of course! How else could it be?" There's a magic to this title that is hard to put into words, but this whole run has felt right since the word "go". These folks get Luke. They get Star Wars. And watching that unfold is magic.
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