Similar situation here to yesterday. I get a lot of comics as gifts, which makes it hard to pick one. However, since Death is about to make a re-appearance in the DCU, I figured this would be an appropriate choice.

The gift I received, then, was the 3-issue collection of Death: The High Cost of Living. It was given to me by Seb, the co-writer of this blog, a couple of years ago (I’m rubbish at remembering the dates of things, although since it was a birthday present I’m going to say it was September 2008). Obviously, this is far too late for someone with my interest in comics to be reading Sandman, and were it not for Seb, it would have been even longer. So, here’s my excuse.

One of the problems with entertainment art – even in a relatively small form like comics – is that there’s simply too much stuff to ever catch up with all the great works. For every 10 films, albums, comics or books people are telling me is a work of utter genius, I seem to find the time for maybe three, at most. Unless I entirely give up on reading new books and comics, watching new films and listening to new albums, I’m reasonably sure I’ll go to my grave having never read Promethea, or seen Vertigo, or listened to anything by Pavement. I’ve come to terms with that. I just try to follow my nose and not worry too much about all the great things I’m probably missing on the way.

The thing is, sometimes you need someone to point you in the right direction. I avoided Sandman for years based on the strength (or lack thereof) of 1602, which was the only Gaiman-comic I’d read at the time. What I really needed was for someone to sit me down and say “Look, Sandman isn’t just some goth shite, it’s probably the finest long-form comics narrative ever composed and any comics fan is a fool not to have read it.” Which is more or less what Seb did over the first few years that I knew him, until I finally decided to give it a shot when the Absolute editions came out.

In the midst of me reading those, Seb bought me this – the first, more stand-alone Death miniseries – as a complement, since I didn’t want to skip ahead but was getting impatient waiting for the next Absolute release. It’s a great little story in which Death assumes human form for one day, as required to maintain her position, and the whole thing just reads like an extended, feature-length issue of Sandman. I was a bit concerned that the series’ plot – about someone trying to steal Death’s powers – was a bit generic, but there’s a third act twist which saves it, and I’m never quite sure if it was a genuine fake-out or if Gaiman snapped to his senses before issue #3 and realised who he was.

That said, I’m not sure it’s the kind of story that would convince new readers of Sandman‘s overall brilliance. As a gift, it was perfect for my situation, wanting to read more Sandman but unable to follow anything outside the core series – but more generally, there are probably better choices.

Since the Absolute Sandman compendiums were what finally convinced me to buy (and read) the series, it was a given that Absolute Death would also be on my list of purchases. After all, Death herself was arguably the breakout character of Sandman, and one of the few who made it into her own Gaiman-penned spin-offs – the only reason I waited to read some of these comics at all was because I was waiting for the release of this collection.

However – that does perhaps put me in the unique position of being one of a small number of people buying an Absolute edition expecting it to provide “new” material, even though the format is largely archival – and that colours my opinion of it. At first glance, this is as fine an Absolute collection as any of the others. Oversized artwork, beautifully reproduced on high-quality paper and in fantastic binding – as a physical object, it’s a more than worthy companion to the four volumes of Absolute Sandman. But much like many of DC’s recent Absolute editions, the contents feel a little rushed, and the collection itself actually suffers slightly by its association with Absolute Sandman.

The quality of the work it contains is not in doubt, nor is the value factor of the supplemental material, which includes the pencils and script for Sandman #8. However, large chunks of this book comprise Death-centric stories that have already been included in the Absolute Sandman volumes. The introductory story from #8. The Death story from #20. The famous instructional comic, Death talks about Life. In isolation, it feels natural that they should be included – but alongside the existing collections, it’s hard not to wish that they’d gone with some different material – for example, the rest of the Endless Nights tales, which by this point represent about the only Gaiman-penned Sandman comics not collection in Absolute format. It’s fair to say that the attempt to be comprehensive has led to a certain amount of redundancy – which, when you’re paying over £60 for a comic, you’d understandably want to avoid.

Now, all that said, it’s not exactly a misfire on the same level as, say, Absolute Black Dossier. If you haven’t already got Absolute Sandman,  the collection is utterly beyond reproach, containing everything you need to know about Death and more – but beware that it isn’t, in any way, intended to serve as Absolute Sandman Vol. 5. Despite the common ground of the characters, it is a collection designed to stand alone. Approach it thusly and there will be no disappointments.

Even though “the search for a new sorcerer supreme” isn’t quite the draw that someone at Marvel seems to think it is, New Avengers is still an enjoyable title, largely because it allows Bendis to do what Bendis does best. Which is, to say: talking. Lots of it. For the second issue in a row, a fair chunk of this issue revolves around super-heroes standing still and chatting about what’s going on. If you don’t truck with that, then fair enough – but go read Mighty Avengers instead.

The problem with that, however, is that the tone of the writing isn’t properly suited to the capabilities of the comic’s artists. Bachalo’s scenes often look wonderful, but as is typical with Bachalo’s current work, the action can be hard to follow. It’s exactly the sort of place you’d expect some dialogue to keep things a bit clearer, but all too often we get monosyllabic, if not entirely mute scenes. Meanwhile Tan, who just about manages to be at home drawing action, is forced to illustrate lavish speeches that rely on a subtely and preciseness of expression that Tan is incapable of. I hope you like your Avengers with cold, dead eyes, because that’s what you’re going to get from this title.

In fairness, the story itself is much more engaging than the trouncing I just gave the art would suggest. The threat of someone unwanted – perhaps even an outright villain – becoming Sorcerer Supreme is tangible, and it’s made even more amusing by the closing scenes which indicate that the new Sorcerer might actually be somewhere between the two. Few people will entirely understand the Hellcat references in the closing pages, but those of us that do get it will certainly be amused.

It’s fair to say that this isn’t quite the screaming-out-of-the-gate restart that New Avengers fans  after Secret Invasion finally buggered off, but it’s not horrible – it’s just a pity that it’s being massively outclassed by Dark Avengers. Does Bendis only have the energy for one great idea at a time, and if so, can we maybe think about him handling 50% of Marvel’s output for a while?

New Avengers is a title under the fairly real threat of losing its “top billing” status at the moment. A price hike combined with the end of the title’s long-running lynchpin, Secret Invasion, has left the book feeling a little superfluous to requirements, especially now that Dark Avengers is, for now at least, taking over the series’ position as Marvel’s “event” title. Meanwhile, regular artist Billy Tan, despite improving in leaps and bounds over the last year, is still far below the required level for “New Avengers” talent.

Tan’s attempts to convey the subtler expressions demanded in the opening scene where Carol watches TV are fairly painful – though more worryingly, out of costume, the character isn’t even recognisable through art alone. Elsewhere, Jessica Jones, previously a noteworthy example of a female character who wasn’t all breast and thighs is reduced to sporting the interchangeable T&A look that Tan seems incapable of deviating from. If an artist can’t even the features and body language of Marvel’s most well-defined female character right, one has to question whether they’re really ready for New Avengers.

Still, someone seems to be aware of this – alongside Tan’s sequences, we also see artwork from Chris Bachalo, who turns in some of his best work in years. A perfect choice to illustrate Dr. Strange’s sequences, Bachalo has shown a tendency to allow his love of experimental page-design to override his storytelling, but in this issue, the balance is perfectly pitched. Sadly, such work largely serves to highlight Tan’s inadequacy.

Of course, art rants aside, New Avengers #51 shows that Bendis and Breevoort are aware that the series has to raise its game. The writing is as good as New Avengers has ever been – the issue contains several sequences that’ll leave fans grinning, not least of them the long-awaited “first meeting” of Jessica Jones and Peter Parker, finally following up her retroactive insertion into Amazing Fantasy #15 back when Alias was wowing readers with “The Secret Origin of Jessica Jones”.

The overall arc, a quest for a new Sorcerer Supreme, is less instantly engaging, but still shows promise, bringing together Marvel’s various magic-wielders for an apparent magical epic the likes of which New Avengers hasn’t tried before. If that’s the direction the series is going, then it will, if nothing else, herald a return to the stand-alone, Marvel Universe-trotting arcs that made New Avengers a success in its early days, and that can only be a good thing.

You may recall that the function of Amazing Spider-Man Extra #1 was to plug some continuity gaps in a rather half-arsed way – indeed, one of the stories from #1 takes place at a point in continuity that, six months since it was published, still hasn’t yet arrived for readers. The series itself is now about the become the de facto “second” spider-title on a bi-monthly release schedule, so if it wants fans to actually buy it, we need two things from this issue: good stories, and a compelling reason why they couldn’t be told in the main series, neither of which we got with the first issue’s page-filling offcuts.

Shockingly, this issue manages to turn that around and provide both.

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The opening piece is an Anti-Venom solo story by Dan Slott and Chris Bachalo. Although it doesn’t feature Spider-Man at all, it maintains a strong focus on a recently-developed corner of the spider-verse: the FEAST shelter, and new villain Mr. Negative. While the material attempts to concentrate mostly on Brock’s new status quo as a kind of homeless-rescuing Venom-like hero/monster, it’s not half as interesting as the few scenes we get that show what Martin “Mr. Negative” Li might actually be up to, and his plans for all those refugees that Oscorp was experimenting on. It’s a nice trick, delivering this valuable (if non-essential) information to readers in a side-story, and whether or not you particularly enjoy the way Brock’s lot has been recast, it’s hard to argue that this isn’t a well-constructed short with something to offer both regular and infrequent readers.

By contrast, the second feature, showing Wolverine and Spider-Man heading out to a bar, is utterly throwaway in terms of continuity, instead offering a fantastic character piece that neatly defines the relationship between the two heroes. Surprisingly, Wells even manages to out-perform Slott in the humour department, offering some decent comedy of the kind that Wolverine and Spider-Man together can’t help but generate. Even better, Wells also contrasts that with some genuine emotion that manages to cast Wolverine in a sympathetic light. It’s better than any of the multitudinous Wolverine one-shots that Marvel has flooded the shelves with over the last year, and it’s one of the best things I’ve read from Wells in ages to boot. Paulo Rivera’s artwork certainly doesn’t hurt either.

It’s unexpected, but Amazing Spider-Man Extra #2 actually convinces me that the series might be worth sticking with after all. Neither story would work in the main title – the former because it doesn’t feature Peter at all, and the latter because it’s not a 22-page story, however you stretch it. Strangely, by jamming the two together in this special, Marvel have ensured that they both complement Peter’s world perfectly. If future issues stick to the formula set down by this one, well, I’ll be glad to buy it.

First off, this issue is something of a landmark as Amazing Spider-Man reaches the same number as Marvel’s longest published-title, Fantastic Four. Later this week, Spidey will storm into the lead. That’s a side-effect of going thrice-monthly that one imagines is neither unwelcome nor unexpected. After all, Spider-Man, while not the first, is the very template that Marvel’s heroes are built on, so it’s fitting he should have the highest numbering, I suppose.

More’s the pity that this issue doesn’t really set the world alight. While those who read the review on CBR will know that I enjoyed Wells’ first issue, I found this one far more generic and uninteresting. The villain of the piece is a little too cartoonish to be threatening, and the Mayans, used as a fake-out, were barely at the level of background characters before their untimely sacrifice.

The really interesting part of the episode is the snowstorm that’s afflicting the city as a result, and Spidey’s attempts to work despite that. Unfortunately, due to more of the timing problems that afflicted Strange’s appearance last issue, this is the most wintery issue of Spider-Man ever to be published in April (not that the UK isn’t have its own jokes with hailstorms this spring, but still.) Another glaring omission is last issue’s guest star, Wolverine, who has disappeared from the story without much of a send-off. Looking back at last issue, he’s gone to check on Dr. Strange, but I have to admit I expected some follow-up to that thread. There’s still one issue to go, I suppose, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be back now, and it’ll seem like a really odd way to structure a story if he doesn’t come back at some point.

Bachalo’s art is still the strongest thing about the title, and the opening scene with Jameson attempting to escape from hospital showcases Bachalo’s gift for comic timing that hasn’t been seen in god knows how long. The minimalist cover is fantastic, and one of the many things the Brand New Day team has done right is bring the iconic nature of covers back into focus – it’s been years since Bill Jemas and his ”Single Character Cover” policy ended, but things never really snapped back after that. Things are still a little generic – it’s fairly damning that the majority of Marvel Zombies cover homage/parodies didn’t come from recent issues, that’s for sure.

I found this to be a disappointing second issue from Wells, only slightly saved by Bachalo’s best work in some time. As the last of the “brand new day” writers, Wells is the first to hit a really duff note with me (despite Gale’s variable effort last month) and the first not to introduce a genuinely memorable new villain, so I’ll definitely have my eye on his next arc, whenever that turns up.