News of the Right

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