Madame Xanadu #11: Last month I said I wasn’t going to get this issue unless Michael William Kaluta’s art somehow drew me in. It did. That being said, it was a grudging attraction. Kaluta’s art is solid, but when one compares it to his work on Metropolis or even his cover to Doorway to Nightmare #1, it’s not as complex as it used to be. Crafted lines are replaced with defter lines, but something is lost, much like P. Craig Russell’s art of late, which doesn’t stand up to his Elric of Melnibone graphic novel nor his early Doctor Strange. It’s still better than most art one can find these days in comic books, but it’s not as KALUTA as I expected it to be. Matt Wagner finally stops Nimue’s century hopping (still too truncated for my liking), and immerses her in the Age of Heroes (was that you I saw running down that hall Mr. Sandman?). In this first part of “Exodus Noir”, the queer murder of a well-to-do Gothamite brings Madame X onto the case as the clues point to a supernatural murderer. Matt Wagner has me along for this arc, for sure. A

Wonder Woman #32: The war against Genocide continues and if one thought it couldn’t get worse, well, it can and it does. The brilliance of Gail Simone’s work here is in Genocide bringing the pain Diana herself has caused her friends and lovers to the surface. More than that, Simone makes it clear that this is pain that could have been avoided had Diana abandoned her principles of Peace and Understanding (though lying to Tom these several months hardly seems like an expression of either) and gone to War with Casualties against Ares or the Cheetah or Dr. Psycho before there was so much collateral damage. Here is the heart and soul of being a hero: does sparing her enemies, granting them mercy that they do not show Diana nor her friends in subsequent encounters make Diana in part responsible for this pain or do the villains take full responsibility because they rejected mercy and refused to learn “a better way”? More than that, how far is Diana empowered to go to make the world a peaceful and loving place? All the way to War Against the World? Ah, well, that’s why we have the Olympian, the Anti-Diana, in the wings. As ever, BRILLIANT STUFF! A+

Buck Rogers #0: It’s a shame to see heroes grow old and serious and have their magnificently hairy chests and feathered do’s covered with glow-y, space-y vinyl. Granted, I grew up with the hyper-campy and overly sexualized, post-disco version, so my take on Buck Rogers is probably one tainted by… well, hairy chests, feathered do’s and bad dancing, but I’ve always felt that there was some connection to the source material, even if the stories (and fashions) were modernized (and inundated by sequins). That said, my disappointment with Dynamite’s (previewed) iteration is that Buck is pulled away from family and friends to points and times unknown to a “thrilling beginning” in issue #1. WHY?? What I liked about the stories were the interactions of the characters and the strangeness of life on 25th century Earth for Buck (and those of us who followed his adventures). And while Buck’s disorientation wore off after a while (as well it should; did you see what happened to Wonder Woman when Jodi Picoult pulled that “Stranger in a Strange Land” shit?), there was always a new surprise that he and his friends had to find their way around. Without his friends, who is Buck Rogers, and will I care to find out? C

…since I’ve been home, I’ve been doing art projects with my nephew and brother, and they’ve shown me the joys of Sculpey. In the past week, I’ve made two characters that hearken back to my Dungeons & Dragons days – a dwarf and a beholder:

The treasure chest below the beholder was actually made by Scott, my brother. It looks exactly how I pictured it in my head, but I had no idea how I was going to shape it. When he was done, I thought, “Oh. Der.” Guess I’m going to trust my instincts from now on and just make the shapes as I see them. Like I don’t have enough to do this summer, right? Now my free time is going to be spent making clay monsters.

Maybe next I’ll do Maggie Gallagher as a harpie, however redundant that may be.

New Mutants #1: I missed this issue two weeks ago while I was busy getting ready for finals, never thinking it would be sold out all over Austin. Luckily, in Erie I was able to get the variant cover (unluckily, at a substantially higher cost) and (back to luckily) was thrilled that the story of my beloved mutants was in capable hands. Sam is just a goofy and amiable as ever, Roberto is just as cocky; however, the women suffer from a sort of “one voice” lack of characterization. I was unable to distinguish Shan from Dani from Amara. Illyana had a stilted, contractionless formality to her words, but if you, Dear Reader, can think of a positive spin on “stilted”, I’d love to hear it. Words aside, the story jumps right in and keeps paddling all the way to the end of the issue. Seeing Sam and ‘Berto stick up for Illyana against the EXiles took me back to the original team’s bonds and adventures. Great start to the series! B+

Dark Reign: Young Avengers #1: This issue requires a full-on essay to properly spelunk the depths of its awfulness. Coming soon to a CPB.com near you! F

Uncanny X-Men #510: I swear UX-M is coming out faster and faster these days. It cannot have been a month since I got #509, yet here’s #510 in my hands. It can’t be an illusion because Greg Land’s boobtastic tracings are all over cover and I can guarantee you I don’t dream of four-color breaticles. I have to hand it to Matt Fraction this month. He’s really starting to pull his moments together, making them tighter and more integral to plot… well, “fight scenes”, and at the same time driving the story forward. So, props to him. Let’s hope he continues and starts to draw in better “at home” moments for our favorite mutants. They can’t fight all the time (nor party), so when an “X-Family” story comes around… OH! Pixie has got to stop enchanting Sihal Novarum Chinoth or every time she appears/disappears. It’s distracting and odd, to say the least, and never properly framed. She does, however, do an excellent Wolverine impersonation. A-

The Trial of Sherlock Holmes #1: I haven’t read a Sherlock Holmes story since I was a sophomore in college, and even though I was just in Weird City Theatre‘s production of William Gilette’s Sherlock Holmes, I’m not really qualified to say what makes a good Victorian mystery story. But, hey, has that ever stopped me before? Sherlock Holmes is a classic butt-head. He has a smart (and usually correct) answer for everything and explains himself only when it’s means he can call someone an idiot. Moore and Reppion’s Holmes is a bit more mellow than that, if only to make his plight at the end of the issue more sympathetic. I personally would have liked to see him fall from a considerably higher height. Tragedy is judged solely on the loudness of the splat at the end, and while we can feel fear for the plummeting character, feeling bad for him is like a fireman’s blanket a few feet above street level. A-

The Complete Dracula: Dracula is Dracula, so the story isn’t all that surprising (one would hope). What is surprising is the care with which Moore and Reppion pace the story. This isn’t Comics Classics Illustrated! There are no leaps and jumps, no inexplicable expurgations, no “one panel explains all” condensations. In brief, this is not a summary, but an actual well-told story. Colton Worley’s photo-realistic art adds to the moodiness of the book. Excellent job! A+

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From France, raphaelB‘s gives us “the Last Spider-Man Story”. And talk about peripeteia! It’s lightboxed here (click on the graphic to see it in its full glory), but the original is on raphaelB’s site.

My French isn’t strong enough to remember what “Il revient et il bave” means. I’m assuming it’s an idiom because it literally means “He returns and he drools”. Maybe “falls”? Or “drops”? Anyone out there with a French degree that needs put to use? I’m now inspired to re-learn French for two reasons: my boyfriend has taken an interest in doing the same, and the only cartoon I really understood on raphaelB’s site had the punchline, “I’m going to stop peeing on churches.” How will that help me on my next trip to Paris, I ask you?

A few weeks ago, I was interviewed by Neil Ellis Orts of Houston’s OutSmart Magazine for an article about gay Texans in the indy comics scene which was published this week. My fellow gay Texans geeks were Dylan Edwards, Rosendo, and shane patrick boyle. I’m rather pleased to be included in such august company; these guys have been around a lot longer than me and have done a lot more for the scene. I’m not even sure where the scene is and how often it draws all the scene-y people together, yet there I am. Kinda thrilled here.

Click the graphic below to go to OutSmart’s May flip-book (starting on page 35) or click here for the HTML version. Of course, those who live in Houston can pick up a paper copy at all your high and low end gay bars (and if you do, could you send me a copy, please?).

Wonder Woman #31: This past weekend, my boyfriend and I were talking about how vigilante justice seems to be the way to go at times, and why hasn’t the Earth produced its first superheroes yet. We also picked out what kind of superpowers we’d like to have if we happened to be so lucky – he wanted telekinesis because it can be used for all kinds of practical purposes (throwing, slamming, holding, choking, flying, et al.) and I wanted telepathy because it’s the mental form of telekinesis. He looked at me and with a seriousness that was appropriate for the conversation, he said, “If you were telepathic, we wouldn’t be together.” When I asked why he said that he would always wonder about how I knew what I knew or if he were really feeling what he was feeling. Before I got too hurt, I thought about it: how could any person be trusted with an “X-power”? Is anyone that morally upstanding that they could forgo cutting corners or making life a little but easier for themselves? Could all X-Powerful beings follow a unified moral code? Diana may be flawed, and she may have made mistakes (without referencing Max Lord again, certainly cutting off the Cheetah’s tail last issue was a bit beyond the pale for her), but she’s still morally superior to most people. And gods. And Olympians. A+

Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #4: Thinning the herd. Again. However, I don’t view the killing spree as being the wanton holocaust that was GMo’s Final Crisis (or indeed any DC comic title from the last year or so) because these characters’ death caused me actual outrage against Superboy-Prime and not Dan Didio or whatever lame storywriter was wielding the axe that week. Bloodshed aside, the return of “our boy” made me go misty. I’m jumping uo and down in my chair for the next issue; who’s agenda is going to win out – Superman’s rehabilitation of Superboy-Prime or the freshly minted Superboy kicking Superboy-Prime’s ass to Oa and back? A+

Madame Xanadu #10: It looks like next month Madame Xanadu will inflict her issues with men on the world at large instead of keeping it to a select circle of friends, lovers and co-dependent fantasies. One would think she’s be just as jaded towards women since it was her sister who caused her life to spiral out of control in the first place, but judging by the title “My Father’s Keeper” it looks like Nimue is going to be the mystic Gloria Steinem of the DCU. Next month will see Michael Wm. Kaluta taking over art duties, for which I am very excited. B

Uncanny X-Men #509: Didja see the size of Psylocke’s udders on the cover? I mean, one would have to have Power Girl wallpaper and life-sized cardboard stand-ups to not notice, so perhaps a better phrasing would be “When did Psylocke become enormbooblous?” Jesus, Land. I swear, someone needs to send me the reference pic for what happened to Emma Frost because I’m starting to think this was drawn from his own imaginings which puts him firmly in second place behind Mark Millar for the “Creepiest Asshole in Comics” title. Tracings can be forgiven (to an extent, and this is pushing it), but out-and-out S&M fantasies are getting into… whatever comic company publishes porn beyond Class Comics territory. Double Jesus, Land. Rumors around the Internet say that Madeline wants Logan to find Jean Grey’s body to inhabit, but I think she wants Logan’s body. Who better to live forever inside since he just keeps rejuvenating? B-