July's Number Ones

The summer has put a great many new series on the stands, and I don't really want to wait for August before covering all of July's entries, so let's do a Part 1 right now. As ever, I take the bullet so you don't have to, and hopefully, these short reviews can help you decide where to spend your dollar.

Grayson by Tim Seeley, Tom King and Mikel Janin for DC. We can debate whether or not it was a good idea to kill off the Nightwing persona and spin Dick Grayson off into a superspy genre book, but I still have to say Dick has been, and continues to be, one of the most coherently characterized characters DC has ever published. From his stint as Batman through the New52 Kyle Higgins stuff to this book feels like an unbroken line. Whatever identity he takes on, he's still Dick Grayson. The set-up is pretty good, with Dick infiltrating (but also having to work for) a shadowy group called Spiral, which gets him into international intrigue and action with lots of opportunities for acrobatics. The new Helena Bertinelli (not-Huntress) is his partner, which adds sexiness for the other half of the population, and they even cover why Dick showing his face isn't an issue. I could have done without the appearance of a certain member of Stormwatch (STOP PUSHING WILDSTORM, DC!), but seeing as Spiral wants an end to the masks vigilantes hide behind, he's not likely to be the last superhero who shows up in these pages. Grayson has all the hallmarks of a self-contained story arc, so fans of Nightwing shouldn't despair; he'll be back in costume in a couple years. In the meantime, I think they'll find their same old Dick continuing his journey in the pages of this book. I know I did.
Keep reading? Yes. Nightwing was the only Batbook I was reading and despite the jarring changes, this feels like its continuation.

Head Lopper by Andrew MacLean for Keness. A barbarian fantasy book with a style that recalls Jeff Smith's Bone, though with more extreme violence, Head Lopper is strong on design and features action I'd compare to Samurai Jack's. In fact, I thought at first the book my be completely silent, before the first battle ended (the white-bearded protagonist vs. a giant sea serpent) and characters started speaking. Norgal the Head Lopper isn't an easily approachable character - stoic, really - but his actions speak louder than his words and it's all very badass. The cast will likely keep a young boy who wants to be his squire and the humanity will shine through him. For now, a well-executed action series with cool, nasty opponents and a cartoony art style I quite like.
Keep reading? Yes, it's a neat little book.

Groo vs. Conan by Sergio Aragonés, Mark Evanier and Thomas Yeates for Dark Horse. I always have a hard time engaging with Conan - and in fact, even though I read all of Brian Wood's Conan, and love all things Van Lente, I can't muster enthusiasm for Conan the Avenger - but if his chocolate isn't to collide with Groo's peanut butter (err--I mean, cheese dip), then I am ALL OVER IT, SON! Aragonés and Evanier keep things fresh in a number ways, and that's a good thing because Groo works on running gags, and those can get a little dull. For one thing, Conan and his world are rendered in a realistic style, and Groo's in Sergio's trademark cartooning. I look forward to seeing how that clash of styles works out across the four-issue mini. The more important innovation, however, is that a large portion of the comic happens in the "real world" where Sergio and Evanier send themselves up. The conceit is that the real world - and the story of a comic book shop in trouble - impacts on the imaginary one, with lots of jokes about the comic book industry thrown in. That couldn't happen in a straight Groo story (even if his straight is most people's crooked) and adds quite a lot to the humor. So in reality, there are three parties in this crossover.
Keep reading? I'll read anything with Groo in it, and this mini has a sharper bite than most.

Dark Engine by Ryan Burton and John Bivens for Image. I'm sticking to sword and sorcery here, but Dark Engine is far from a traditional genre piece. Writer Ryan Burton goes out of his way to create something dark and bizarre, where dinosaurs and demons share the stage, with more than a dash of animistic folklore thrown in. Unfortunately, John Bivens' art is at times too crazy to be understood. It's mostly pretty - if extreme gore can be considered pretty - but the action isn't always coherent, and while I appreciate the writer's wish not to hide too much of it with word balloons and captions (according to the text page), it really needed a little extra to help situate the reader, especially given how alien the world is. I'm not even sure the art is coherent as a style, and wondered if the artist was changing from page to page.
Keep reading? I like the breadth of the creative team's imagination, but they haven't sold me on this world, which needed a lot more set-up than we got.

Black Market by Frank J. Barbiere and Victor Santos for Boom! The premise is definitely interesting: A group in the business of dealing in superhuman DNA with ramifications not yet known. It's also a four-issue mini, so telling a self-contained story, and it does so achronologically, skipping back and forth in time to disclose as little information as possible and keep the mystery going. I hope I haven't spoiled it. I while I don't dislike the story per se, I'm afraid the art has distracting anatomy problems, and I expect more from an established company like Boom. I like the STYLE (as per the cover), and the layouts inventive and well thought-out, but my eye keeps going to oddly-shaped arms or asymmetrical features. Good hook and pretty good characters, but is that enough?
Keep reading? I'm on the fence, which usually means I won't, but the promise of a story done in only three more issues is attractive and may put it over the top.

Spider-Man 2099 by Peter David and Will Sliney for Marvel. I got out of Marvel Comics in 1990, just before it started proliferating into an absurd amount of X-books and lines under different various labels, Marvel UK and 2099 among them. So I've never read a single issue of a 2099 title. But I'll freely admit I've been a big Spider-Man fan since the book went weekly several years ago, and have liked pretty much each of its spin-offs, whether that's Superior itself, Superior Foes, Alpha, or to my surprise, Scarlet Spider. Only the team-up book wasn't to my taste. And since Spider-Man 2099 was reintroduced in the pages of Superior, well, here I am. Miguel O'Hara is trapped in the present, which certainly helps. The reader doesn't need a whole lot of exposition to get his or her bearings. Peter David wrote the original series and is back, so fans will be happy as well. I'd call this a strong start for the off-brand Spidey. His situation is ably recapped, the seeds of several mysteries are sown through his new supporting cast, and David's rif on Terminator is at once exciting, creepy and highly amusing. And watch that Liz Allen, she's a smart character.
Keep reading? Yes, another Spider-Man book makes my pull list. AND I now want to go back and read the original!

Star-Spangled War Stories Featuring G.I. Zombie by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Scott Hampton for DC. Despite the title and the cover, the feature should really be called G-Zombie, or if you will, FBI Zombie. I won't dispute that DC's new undead star wasn't a soldier in a previous life, but this is hardly a war comic. Crime/horror, but not war. Nor is the cover's look indicative of Scott Hampton's interiors, which feel more like Gray Morrow's, with its brilliant penciled shading. That said, it's a pretty good comic. The setting, "Nowhere, Mississippi" is evocative and atmospheric, and Zombie's co-protagonist is a tough and sexy undercover agent. The violence is harsh and properly zombiesque, and the characters have a truth to them. I'm keen on seeing where this goes, and I'm more than a little interested in the revamp of another war comics star announced on the last page. I just hope all the mislabelling won't turn potential readers off.
Keep reading? Yes. DC seems like it's just renewing copyrights with all these anthologies, but the creative teams can do good work within those confines.

So there you have it. I'll be back next week with another 6 or 7 new books out in July. Suggestions accepted. No guarantees given.