Conversely, we’d often find ourselves with a week where there were lots of books we fancied covering, but simply didn’t have the time between us. Often, a lot of my favourite books – from Phonogram to Batman and Robin, Captain Britain to Ultimate Spider-Man – end up coming out in the same week, which makes for a fun visit to Forbidden Planet, but a difficult quandary when working out what to write about. Our “Sunday Pages” capsule review posts would help with this, obviously – and both James and I have also tended to find of late that these shorter reviews are quite enjoyable to put together. With that scheduled series of posts temporarily on hold, however (I, or we, may revisit it at some point – but for the moment one of the things we’re exploring with the new format is not having a specific schedule to stick to beyond “something every day”), there won’t be a regular set of capsules each week, but every so often a week may come along in which I feel the urge to ramble on about a handful of books. This is just such a week, so read on for brief reviews of Powers, Ex Machina, S.W.O.R.D. and more…

Powers (vol. 3) #3
Well, this is interesting. If it’s not going to be the stories that kick this volume of Powers into life – and as yet, sadly, it seems that they’re not quite, despite some good material in the flashbacks – then perhaps it might be art. For reasons I can’t quite fathom, Mike Avon Oeming goes off on one here (Bendis even leaves out the letter column in order to let him loose with 41 pages of art) with some experimental storytelling of a kind not really seen in the series before. It’s not We3, but there’s some strong and inventive use of panel layout (and lack thereof, with multiple incremental moments appearing on the page without division), giving a powerful energy to the chase-and-fight sequence that makes up most of the issue. Movie-style action in comics can be tricky to get right, but there’s no denying that Oeming does so here, and it’s very impressive stuff. I wish I knew what had sparked off the change in style – but I’m not complaining. If he continues to draw the shit out of it like this, then the book might just become unmissable once Deena finally comes back.

Daytripper #4
The further Daytripper goes on, the less likely it seems we’ll get an explanation for its recurring motif of Bras dying at the end of each issue, always at a crucial moment in his life. “Crucial” in relative terms, of course – the stories are small, looking inwardly at how our everyman character deals with various points of joy and sadness. But it approaches these facets of humanity in such a subtly complex way that it feels so much grander – it’s doing something that comics very rarely push themselves to. And as such, the “gimmick” feels less important – it’s a means to an end, rather than that end itself. Essentially, the series seems to ask how a given life would be reflected – how the assorted pieces, from emotions to relationships to legacy, would balance – were it to end, suddenly, at various given points. It all makes for a beautiful, if at times achingly sad, meditation on mortality and humanity itself, and something that’s growing into a truly exceptional comic.

Batman: The Widening Gyre #5
Kevin Smith hasn’t exactly made himself easy to take seriously as a Batman writer – his and Walt Flanagan’s Cacophony mini was pretty darned poor, and while The Widening Gyre has shown marked improvement, it’s still found itself susceptible to moments that have made various among the internet community point and laugh (notably, almost everything to do with the Silver St. Cloud subplot, and the stuff about Bruce as a “great writer” in particular). Yet there are some strong ideas here – Baphomet seems to be an attempt to do something new with the “new vigilante in town” angle (to wit: the fact that he isn’t just some psychotic weirdo, but simply a terrifyingly competent crimefighter who turns out to be an ordinary bloke underneath), even if it’s hard to see exactly where it’s going with just a single issue yet – and the whistlestop tour of various rogues has worked better than the previous mini’s focus on the Joker. Other elements work less well – I know there’s not a huge amount of difference in concept between the Black Cat and Catwoman, but they are different characters, something Smith would do well to remember; and Flanagan’s art, while undoubtedly improving the more practice he gets, is still maddeningly inconsistent, and the odd good image or page still doesn’t seem to justify his getting a six issue miniseries. An interesting experiment, though (if you take it entirely on its terms and try to divorce from anything approaching “continuity”), and not as horrendous as others online seem to want to make out.

Ex Machina #48
The finale of this series has really crept up on me somewhat – perhaps due to the slow publication rate of recent issues, perhaps due to the disappointment of the previous few arcs – and it does still feel, with just two issues left, as if there are lots of dangling threads (both character and plot-based) that won’t find the time to be fully resolved. But Vaughan is still at least managing to deliver on bringing about the crisis promised right back at the start of the series – when these flashbacks first began – even if the surprise is that it turns out to be a far more personal event that affects Hundred while the chaos brought about by Padilla explodes across New York. I’m still not convinced that using Suzanne as the “host” for the antagonist has quite worked – it makes it feel more like she’s the herald for a bigger threat, rather than the threat itself (as becomes apparent in this issue) – and it also seems that, irritatingly, less explanation for the whole thing is going to be offered than we might have expected or hoped. But it does seem that Vaughan’s laying the pieces for a big payoff, and it’s undeniably going to be a shame when we hit that final issue.

S.W.O.R.D. #5
Death’s Head. The grin on Beast’s face as he “zero-g-hops”. “Hello, alien chums”. The arrival of “the people who save the day”. “I’m the King Kong that shoots back”. Death’s Head. The terrifying, clinical creepiness of Unit. Brand apologising. Death’s Head. “That little horse-faced guy up there”. “Let’s just say that right now the Skrull Empire is smaller than some apartments I’ve lived in. When I was a student.” The mop. Blueberry muffins. “This is the best job in the entire universe”. Death’s Head. One last time: this is an utterly lovely little comic, and I’m desperately upset that this world doesn’t have a place for it. Snif.

As for the title, my long-held prediction is for something like Scott Pilgrim Wins the Book, or similar. How about you?

Needless to say, it’s a rare thing indeed to see a comics-focussed magazine in the UK, let alone one that’s guaranteed to be available in WH Smiths shops up and down the country, so I’d like to emphasise: go and buy a copy. Despite what the cover suggests, the magazine is definitely aimed at comics readers, and there are notes about writing for comics, a guide to the DC Universe and its various crises and a huge article about John Constantine, as well as the stuff you’d expect about Iron Man 2 and Kick Ass. If this catches on, it can only be a good thing for the comics-buying public and the British comics industry as a whole. I don’t think there’s a dedicated site at the moment, but you can go and discuss it on the SFX Comic Heroes forum, and become a fan on Facebook.

Also – just to declare my interests (and show off a little) I have contributed a piece about the top 10 Iron Man stories to this issue, which I understand accompanies the Iron Man 2 lead feature. It’s like reading this site, only you have to pay for it! In fact, if you’ve read it, feel free to let me know what you thought. I’ll be buying my copy tomorrow!

The reason for this decision is that Conner can’t, for whatever reason, continue her commitment past issue #12, and Gray & Palmiotti feel like they should all bow out together rather than carry without her contribution to the book’s tone and appearance. In that sense, good for them – it’s always good to see creators make a timely exit – but on the other hand, as one of the few DC books that outshines the majority of Marvel’s output, it’s a blow for them to be going just as people were really starting to sit up and take notice of their work. The follow-up creative team has not yet been announced, so good luck to whoever that turns out to be – after all, they’re going to need it to live up to the standards that have been set.

On the plus side, there’s a collection of the first few issues out soon, and a second will presumably follow collecting the rest of the run. I’m not much for DC Universe books, but I suspect I’ll be buying those TPBs.

Yet at the same time, if there’s one hope that comes out of this series, it’s that the status quo doesn’t simply revert back when Bruce Wayne reappears. At the beginning, that seemed like the expected state of affairs – Tim Drake was only temporarily relinquishing the Robin cowl to Bruce’s brat of a son for the duration of this series, and a year or so down the line the “proper” Robin would be back. But now, well, Damian’s not the only one wondering if “[his] father will let [him] stay on as Robin”. Quite against expectations, the little tyke has made his mark on the role, and unless Morrison decides to bring his story to an end (a possible end point is ominously hinted at by the reintroduction here of Talia), he’s rather sneakily (compared with the usual fanfare that accompanies a bona fide new version of a costumed hero) become an actual part of the mythos. Tim’s just going to have to find something else to wear when he gets bored of dressing like Dr Midnite’s younger brother.

Returning from his jaunt to his home isles, meanwhile, Morrison gets to pick up a character thread loosely dangled in earlier issues – that of Sexton Oberon, the mysterious masked detective known as the Gravedigger. What’s pleasing about this conceit is the way it works as in inversion of the way writers usually handle the idea of Batman-esque characters showing up – the focus is always on vigilantes that go around duffing up the bad guys, essentially replacing the “fighting” side of Batman; rarely does anyone bother, however, to put a new detective on the scene. There’s also, of course, another of those “who is it really?” questions, with dialogue from Dick planting the idea that it’s someone already known rather than a new character. Going by his mannerisms, speech patterns and dress sense, I’d guess at James Robinson’s version of the Shade, but somehow I doubt that’s the case. It’s another little mystery to chew on, though, not least because we’re still in the dark as to his ultimate motivations.

An inability to rely on the art (I mean, really, having Tan in between Quitely and Stewart was just asking for unfavourable comparisons) has sadly prevented Batman & Robin from retaining grade-A excellence throughout so far, and Andy Clarke probably falls somewhere between the quality scales of his predecessors – he’s decent, and at times great, but falls down on some instances of character work: when in-costume, Damian simply looks too much like Tim Drake, and his Talia is particularly odd-looking. Dick and Alfred fare rather better, and there’s a good atmosphere to the whole thing – as well as a cracking overhead landscape shot on the title page that winds up looking almost like a Chris Sawyer isometric strategy game, yet somehow still works – but there’s a jolt late on when a piece of storytelling, involving Dick and a trap-door, is rather unclear (still, it’s nice that for once in an issue of this comic, the difficulty in following isn’t caused by a balloon-placement error).

Concentrating more intently on the wider mythos-building, this issue lacks the giddy thrill of the previous arc – but it’s nevertheless exceptionally strong work once again. There’s a focussed excellence that seems to have been drawn out of Morrison by the switch to a dedicated series, as opposed to the patchy glimpses of genius that were witnessed in the pre-RIP issues of the main title, and it’s a shame its time is nearing the end – because unless he’s got another All-Star Superman or Seaguy waiting in the wings, it’s hard to imagine him topping this with his next work.

Joking aside, New Avengers: The Reunion was a fantastic miniseries, which I would describe as “True Lies meets Mr. & Mrs Smith in the Marvel Universe”. Despite being quite early in his writing career, Jim McCann has turned out some great comics in the past, and David Lopez does some of the best straight-up superheroics you’ll see outside an issue of Power Girl. Regardless of how big a fan you are of the characters, this series has all the necessary ingredients for a brilliant and quirky take on superheroes. And a fairly rubbish title, which we’ll forgive.

In any case, with the series looking like a guaranteed critical success, the campaign to save Hawkeye & Mockingbird from cancellation begins now! After all, if we’ve learnt anything from the whole S.W.O.R.D. debacle, it’s that a proven creative pedigree and familiar characters is no way to launch a series. I want to see this on EVERYONE’S pull list, y’hear? And if you need more convincing, check out my increasingly positive reviews of New Avengers: The Reunion #1, #2 and #4 (on CBR). Or better yet, buy the trade of the miniseries and see for yourself.

So to issue #2, then, and a clear indication that the hook that holds the series together is a looser one than previously appeared. It was my understanding that each issue dealt with a different individual in possession of supernatural powers of some kind – and while it’s just about true of this one, it’s not really what you’d call a “power”. If anything, it’s the opposite of a “superpower” – it’s a superdeficit. Or a “subpower”. However you want to linguistically flip it. But the thing is, you could take away any hint of supernaturality from the story, and it would be exactly the same – the literal reading of it is that it’s a physical characteristic, but it could just as easily (and this is, perhaps, the scary part) be a psychological one instead.

Either way (and since the latter view changes the overall interpretation somewhat, I’m choosing to look at the issue from the more supernatural perspective implied by the series as a whole), while the topic in question is hardly untouched in fiction (heck, there’s another comic out there – Chew – covering broadly similar territory, albeit in a wildly different fashion), Wood brings to the table an examination that’s thoughtful at the same time as shocking. This is a stark, bleak little comic – and yet it’s hard to truly argue with the way it sympathises with its lead character. This isn’t about a twisted desire, it’s about something more unstoppable: a hunger that the (unnamed) protagonist can’t, for whatever reason, otherwise sate. In other words, it’s taking to an extreme – yet logical – conclusion an aspect of living that we all experience; it’s just that in this case, pushing this particular biological impulse past society’s usual boundaries makes it immediately grotesque to us. And while we and he know his murders to be reprehensible, there’s a punishment – of sorts – in the alternative action he later forces himself to take. You’re left never really knowing whether this is someone truly sinister, or a victim that we could in some way be empathising with.

This ambiguity is only enhanced by the work of Becky Cloonan – someone I’ve never fully clicked with, but reading this shows me that her true strength lies in stark black-and-whites rather than the coloured work I’ve seen in things like American Virgin. She makes the protagonist a terrifyingly thin and haunted figure – thus immediately casting him as an obvious-looking “villain” – yet something about him softens towards the end, even as he’s making himself frailer and thinner. She also somehow manages to emphasise the pure body horror of the story even when working in two colours and heavy shadow, and almost entirely with implication – indeed, you suspect it’d be rather less creepy if we were seeing everything in full-colour splat-o-vision.

I’m not sure, though, that Demo – in this second volume, at least, as I can’t comment on the first – quite takes on the role of being the deep and surprising examination of the human psyche I might have expected. This is certainly interesting – and really quite well-crafted in the way it makes one shiver to read it – but much like the earlier Wood work with which I’m familiar (Local) it intrigues rather than full-on captivates. Not that that intrigue isn’t enough to keep me interested in trying the next issue, or indeed catching up on the much-lauded first volume – but it’s not made it to New Favourite Comic status just yet.

Anyone who has ever read Iron Man knows that the briefcase armour is Proper Comics. Something just crazy enough that it shouldn’t work. The fact that someone spent millions of pounds making sure that it did is reason enough to love superhero movies. Note: other things that are Proper Comics include Wolverine’s bone claws, Galactus’ skirt and Ghost Rider. As you can see, we should be grateful that someone’s making the effort to do the source material justice for a change.

Listen, Mr. Samsonite, about the briefcase...

Anyway. What does that armor look like once it’s on? Why, it’s a version of the “Silver Centurion” suit! Many people actually prefer this colour scheme to the traditional red and gold. I’m not sure if I’d count myself among that group, but I can’t deny that it is awesome to see it on screen.

Coming in Iron Man 3, because you demanded it and because there are now no other major designs left to depict: the infamous "nose" armour.

Say what you like about Mark Millar, but him and Bryan Hitch are pretty much the only reason that anyone cares about this shot:

Will Iron Man help get those motherfucking snakes off the motherfucking helicarrier? I haven't checked, but I'm fairly sure no-one has made that joke before.

Personally, I’m disappointed they didn’t go with the original Black Widow costume, but I’m not sure even Scarlett Johansson could have pulled that one off. Plus, this way they probably don’t have to pay the estate of Don Heck any additional royalties:

"Originally I was a ballerina, but at the news of my husband's death, I became a spy for the KGB." (dialogue from Marvel: Ultimate Alliance)

There is currently no word as to whether they’ll be using the “violence-loving nutcase” version of War Machine from his most recent series, but from Cheadle’s generally quite tentative portrayal of the character, I’m guessing not.

James Rhodes sports the "Variable Threat Response Suit", later renamed "War Machine" by someone with no apparent sense of irony.

Now, rule #1 of Internet Criticism is not to judge a film before you’ve seen it, lest you end up looking like one of those foaming lunatics on the AICN forums. However, it is my judgement that this film will be awesome. Between this, Kick Ass and Scott Pilgrim, I’m fairly confident that this year’s wave of comics films is going to more than compensate for last year’s Wolverine/Watchmen debacle.

Yes, for those who haven’t caught all the fuss, it seems that earlier today (this morning UK time, presumably middle of the night for our cousins), lots of big expensive hardcover books (mostly Marvel, but then spreading to other publishers – although notably, nothing of DC’s) became stupidly cheap on Amazon US due to a system glitch. Even with shipping costs to the UK, anyone lucky enough to get an order in will have been well up on the deal. And we eagerly await word from Amazon, assuming it’s in any way forthcoming, on just how much this little slip-up will have cost them.

Sadly, due to having Pretty Much No Money, despite catching discussion of it on Twitter in its early stages, I wasn’t able to take advantage. Not that a load of Marvel hardcovers would have been that much use to me (was Alias cheap, though? That might have been nice. And I wouldn’t say no to a big Ultimates omnibus on my shelf), but by gum, had I the spare dosh, I’d have been all over those EC archives like a rash. Ah well. Next time, Gadget.