SoraRabbit Short Hop 016: SoraRabbit's Comic Book Night Part II
Almost a year ago I did a Short Hop running you through an evening I took off from work to read comic books. (You can find it here.) It was a fun post, but honestly I’d sort of forgotten about it. Well, last night I had another night like that. I’ve taken a little over a week off from work to recharge and work on my projects. Since Wednesday is new comic book day, and I’ve had a few comics piling up that I haven’t gotten around to, I decided to spend a pleasant Spring evening lying on the couch, future funk playing in the background, relaxing, and browsing comics. Afterwards I decided I would put together another post with mini reviews on the comics I read.
These are brief reviews and my opinions. There won’t be full spoilers, but there will be some. If you are concerned about spoilers, I have put the titles of the issues in bold so you can skip around easily. Here we go!
(Credit: Jonathan Hickman, Marc Guggenheim, Murewa Ayodele, Jorge Fornés, Adedotun Akande, Marvel Comics)
Moon Knight: Black, White & Blood #1
The Black, White & Blood series has been fun. It allows different writers and artists to play with established characters using a black and white format with red splashed in here and there. Before this I got the Carnage and Deadpool runs. I love Moon Knight and it’s one of the comics Cocoashade and I read together, so I picked this up.
Thoughts: These were fun stories, unconnected to current Moon Knight continuity. The last story, The End, was told backwards. It was a novelty at first but by the end (beginning) of the story, it got old. Reading it in reverse order makes it make a lot of sense but betrays it as a very simple, drab story. The second story had Spider-Man and was really amusing. I don’t recall ever seeing Spidey and Moon Knight interacting before this, so it was a team up I had been hoping for. The first story was very intriguing, and I wouldn’t mind reading more stories in that universe. All in all, a creative experiment, and I’ll be getting the rest of the series.
(Credit: Charles Soule, Ryan Browne, Image Comics)
Eight Billion Genies #1
Lately I’ve really been enjoying what Image comics has been bringing to the table. In fact, all but one comic in this post is from Image. This one was an impulse buy. The manager of my local comic shop does weekly videos displaying what new comics have come in, and his description of this one intrigued me, so I picked it up. I also plan to share it with Cocoa and see if she likes it. The idea is that all at once every person on Earth gets their own personal genie that will grant one wish, regardless of what it is. The trick is that the genies take into account the intention of the wish when granting it. And obviously wishes will clash with each other, causing any number of problems. This comic goes over the first eight minutes after the genies appear. This is an eight part series, and next issue will cover the first eight hours.
Thoughts: This issue was a great start. We meet some characters that I assume we’ll be following in the series, and see the fallout of a few wishes. Why exactly the genies are there is a mystery, and I have no idea if we’ll ever find out. I don’t want to spoil much of this because it’s worth reading on your own if you find it an interesting idea. This writing is solid, the art is quirky, and the genies are cute. This is a fantastic concept and I’m really excited to see where it’s going.
(Credit: Ryan Higgins, Marcelo Costa, Image Comics)
Radiant Black #14
Radiant Black has quickly become one of my favorite comics of the past several years. Just one year in, it’s already expanding out in what’s known as the “Massive-verse” that so far includes the Super Massive one shot, a Radiant Red miniseries, Rogue Sun, and Inferno Girl Red. (With more to come.) The concept behind Radiant Black is that normal humans are given alien powers by a mysterious robot entity. It follows a fallible hero, his poor public image, others with similar powers, and a growing rogues gallery of villains. It combines traditional super hero comics with tokusatsu heroes such as Super Sentai and Power Rangers.
Thoughts: This issue is really making me wonder if another shakeup is coming. See, early in the series Nathan, the original Radiant Black, nearly died and his best friend Marshall took up the mantle. Marshall is showing himself to be a bit morally gray and increasingly harsh with the villains. The robot has been contacting Nathan and he suspects it wants him wearing the suit again. Radiant Black impresses me every month with its mixture of light and dark themes, the ongoing mysteries of the plot, and the excellent art. Big things are coming from the Massive-verse and I’m very happy to have gotten in on the ground floor.
(Credit: Rory McConville, Todd McFarlane, Carlo Barberi, Björn Barends, Image Comics)
Spawn #328
I mentioned this in the previous post, but I’ve read a lot of Spawn in the past year. A lot. Like, 500+ issues worth between the main series, all the new series, and the previous spin offs and such. And it all came from the whim I had to buy the enormous Spawn Compendium and revisit my teen years in comic form. Spawn, taken as a whole, is an impressive feat of storytelling and is currently the longest-running creator-owned comic, having dethroned Cerebus with issue 301. The story of Spawn in a nutshell is the tale of Al Simons, professional killer. He died and a demon used his love for his wife to make him into a Hellspawn, a general in Hell’s army. The current status quo is that Spawn sealed the “Dead Zones” which are portals to Heaven and Hell. The demons and angels stuck on Earth and those in their respective domains are pissed about this and want him to unlock the Zones and allow for free travel again. Spawn doesn’t want to do this because he’s sick of their shit and tired of them fighting over the throne his actions caused to be empty. Spawn has also inadvertently incited a cosmic event that has deposited countless Hellspawns from throughout time into his own time period. Multiple factions from Heaven, Hell, Earth, and a nature-based realm known as the Green are all battling for supremacy as more and more enemies target Spawn and his allies. And that really is the most succinct synopsis I could give. There is so much going on.
Thoughts: Spawn has had its ups and downs throughout its 30 year run, but the past couple of years have been consistently good. The story is focused, the characters are deep and vibrant, and the plot is ever-expanding. My main problem is that so much gets glossed over and I’m sometimes left a bit confused by the turns of the plot. In this issue, Spawn and his friend Terry are gathering intel on a group that seems to be collecting the stranded Hellspawn while Cy-Gor (the cybernetic gorilla) seems to have been turned into a spy. Meanwhile the second man to wear the Spawn Symbiote, Jim Downing, is putting together an army and seemingly has plans to take down Al. Also in this issue we learn that if a time-displaced Hellspawn dies, they possess a random human and continue living. (Which finally explains something that really confused me about Gunslinger Spawn several issues earlier. See, the plot is vague sometimes.) Spawn has been a fun ride and I’m liking the current writer and artist. I hope this team continues on for a long time. (And Todd doesn’t just snatch it away again like he tends to do.)
(Credit: Todd McFarlane, Brett Booth, Image Comics)
Gunslinger Spawn #7
Last year McFarlane started an initiative called Spawn’s Universe, where he expanded his monthly comics from one title to four. The intention is to put out a Spawn-related comic every week (although this doesn’t always work well with delays and distribution issues but they try) and continue expanding the brand until he has his own interconnected universe of comics and characters like Marvel and DC. The remaining comics in this list are titles from Spawn’s Universe and I intend to give my thoughts not just on the individual issues, but each series as a whole.
Gunslinger is a Hellspawn from the old west. His entire motivation is to stay alive and get back to his own time period. He’s repeatedly referred to as weaker than Spawn himself and as such he has to rely on his proficiency with weapons.
Thoughts: Gunslinger is written by Spawn creator Todd McFarlane. He’s telling a very good, focused story following Gunslinger and his battles with a series of enemies. In this issue Gunslinger has realized that wherever he is, his enemies seem to find him, which makes him think he’s being tracked somehow. Gunslinger Spawn has been a solid series with good writing, good art, and a lot of focus and energy.
(Credit: Sean Lewis, Stephen Segovia, Björn Barends, Image Comics)
The Scorched #4
The Scorched is the Spawn Universe’s team up book. Think the Avengers but made up of demons and angels. The current roster is headed by She-Spawn and consists of Gunslinger Spawn, Medieval Spawn, Redeemer (if memory serves this is the fourth Redeemer we’ve seen in the history of Spawn), and new recruit Reaper. (Who was once a Redeemer before being given new powers.) Spawn is there too, but he’s not officially a member of the team. He mainly just picks fights with the others and complains a lot. Spawn is NOT a team player. (That’s putting it mildly. Dude’s a straight-up asshole whenever he tries to interact with people.)
Thoughts: This issue reveals quite a bit of the new lore that the series will run on. A mysterious villain is funding a mysterious group to create robots that will hunt Hellspawns. Soulcrusher, a recurring villain from the mainline Spawn series, has come back with a new guy wearing the gas mask and is trying to get help from the Scorched. He’s also seeded doubt in the team, hinting that one of them has betrayed the others. I love this series. The characters are great, the story is unfolding rapidly, and there is a lot of potential here. My only complaint is that the writing is a little sloppy, with spelling and grammar issues. But overall, I’m enjoying the ride and I’m looking forward to seeing how the team dynamic changes as the story goes on.
(Credit: Sean Lewis, Stephen Segovia, Francesco Mattina, Image Comics)
The Scorched #5
Yeah, I was a little behind on my Spawn comics, so there’s two Scorched issues.
Thoughts: In this issue we get to see the robot mentioned previously, the Sin Devourer. It’s huge, cool-looking, and vicious. The team pulls together and takes it down skillfully and it’s good to see them working as a coherent team. Also I think the new Soulcrusher is dead already. At the end of the issue two more characters are lurking around, Plague Spawn and the Haunt. Plague Spawn is an uncontrollable poisonous creature that is really cool looking. I’m really happy to see the Haunt and I hope he joins the team. For those who haven’t heard of him, the Haunt was created by Robert Kirkman, of The Walking Dead fame, and he had his own ongoing series years ago. He’s been gone for a long time but recently resurfaced in the mainline Spawn title. These two issues of The Scorched really got me excited for the future. They have enough content and characters to draw on for years at this point, and they’re not even through their first story arc!
(Credit: Todd McFarlane, Sean Lewis, Thomas Nachlik, Björn Barends, Image Comics)
King Spawn #9
The final title in my comic night was the latest issue of King Spawn. Out of all of the Spawn titles, this one became my favorite right from Issue 1. King Spawn is amazing and I can’t say enough good things about it. Here’s the way I see it: Original recipe Spawn is a good, solid comic. It’s a bit sparse in the details, leaving a lot untold, and sometimes moves a bit slowly, but it’s fine. I enjoy it. Gunslinger Spawn is a more intimate and focused comic, just following one character and staying on track for the most part. It follows an Old West approach: point the barrel at the next enemy and fire. Reload quickly and keep going. The Scorched is the big expansive team book that draws in multiple characters and does the heavy lifting in the ever-growing Spawn’s Universe. This is where the side characters get the chance to shine and any future spinoffs will likely come from this title. And King Spawn? King Spawn is drawing on 30 years of continuity, dredging up the good and bad and tying it all together in an epic tapestry that somehow manages to tell its own story and advance the tale of the main character in a way the mainline title sometimes misses the mark on. King Spawn, in just 9 issues, has brought back fan-favorite villains in fresh new ways, filled in a lot of continuity problems, and has brought back some deep cuts from the Spawn mythos. The writing is solid (except for some minor spelling errors) and the art is amazing.
Thoughts: This issue is speeding us to the end of the first arc, which I believe will happen in issue 12. Spawn has been spurred to visit the Green to talk with Gaia and is faced with an old enemy called the Heap (who’s literally a pile of trash) and a new adversary the Kingslayer, who just a couple issues ago was the spirit of a tragically murdered little boy and is now an adult warrior with a sword and armor. The story has been gradually unfolding for nine issues and in this one the puzzle pieces all click into place, showing not only where the series is heading, but also the reason why it’s called King Spawn. Spawn has an difficult choice facing him. He has to fulfill his potential (which he believes is impossible) or continue to flounder, in the process losing the chance to save his wife’s immortal soul. This is really a great series and I hope it continues on beyond issue 12. Even if it doesn’t, it’s the new highwater mark for the Spawn’s Universe.
(Credit: Charles Soule, Ryan Browne, Image Comics)
So that’s my latest comic night review session! I also would have had Spawn #329 and Turtles #128, but my comic shop is still having some distributor problems. I’ll get them eventually. Also I have Bunny Mask: The Hollow Inside #1 and Godzilla Rivals: King Ghidorah on order. There are so many good comics out there. Some other recent recommendations I can give you are Rain, A Town Called Terror, Twig, and We Have Demons. Let me know your favorite comics in the comment section or on Twitter. I’m always looking for new comic books to read!
I hope you enjoyed this installment of SoraRabbit’s Comic Book Night. If you want to see more, let me know. I appreciate you all, thank you for reading. See you soon!
