If I didn’t already believe in the redemptive power of comic books, this week would have converted me. I got family members in two different hospitals, long hours at the pencil stand and now I’m gonna have to work on the weekend. And then I crawl home in the dark, and my ten downstairs neighbors are holding a rematch of the knock-down, drag-out brawl that’s been going on every night for the last week.
But I also have a stack of new comics. Maybe it’s the exhaustion/exasperation combo, but this week the comics seemed to be speaking to me. Their message was one of hope and family more than superheroics — and that was just what I needed.
First up is Fantastic Four 584, commonly known in my house as “the comic that’s going to kill Ben Grimm and I can’t stop reading it.” That’s not a spoiler, that’s my gut feeling and as a result, my gut feels terrible. Jonathan Hickman jams every issue full of awesome, and Steve Epting horns in on his act with a bunch of stop-you-dead-in-your-tracks panels. Returning to an earlier plot thread, Ben drinks the formula created by Val’s think tank that will allow him to be human for one week a year, and it works. This is a familiar FF storyline, “the de-Thinging of the Thing,” but Hickman and Epting make it fresh by having Johnny lead Ben on a night of debauchery that includes Ben walking down the street and not being stared at, a football game, a dust-up with the Yancy Street Gang, playing poker with his superhero buddies and eating dinner with “old friends” Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. I’m nerd enough to admit I teared up at that panel. Hickman has made a tradition of putting Stan and Jack’s names in the credits with a goofy and issue-appropriate credit (“good lookin’” this issue), but something about seeing the two of them together again in their greatest shared creation struck me as poignant and wonderful. The fact that seven pages later Ben was absolutely getting laid reaffirmed two things: Hickman is writing the best FF since Jack and Stan, and this is the last hurrah for the Thing.
Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #4 of 4 (fore!) was obviously also heavy on FF action. I’m gonna lay my cards on the table and admit I have no idea who Kristoff Vernard is — I didn’t read FF for a long time there — but it doesn’t really matter. Christos Gage makes it clear the story of this series has been relationships, and as Dr. Doom’s one-time unwilling heir apparent who also lived with the Richards family for a while, Kristoff is here to show how life could have gone for Ben Grimm and Spider-Man if they hadn’t had their families to help them through trouble. That sounds kind of “very special episode of ‘Blossom,’” but it doesn’t read that way. My pal Benjy gets to analyze his misanthropy from the first two years of the Fantastic Four, and Peter gets to discuss how important it was to have the FF as friends and role models when he was starting out. I am old and tired and nostalgic, and so I find this sort of “honoring the past while keeping things modern” storyline enjoyable. I also enjoy when Peter and Johnny bicker, so this book has everything as far as I’m concerned. Also, Mario Alberti’s art is pretty.
And hey — The Amazing Spider-Man #646 is also pretty and enjoyable. (What do you want? The segue machine is broken.) Spidey finally gets his hands on the Osborn baby, but not before using Doc Ock to defeat The Lizard. I mean that literally and figuratively — Spidey swings Ock like a 240-pound bag of calamari right into The Lizard, but he also manipulates Ock psychologically and just plain outsmarts him as well. Mark Waid is writing a hell of a Spider-Man book, and even though I only started picking this one up to prepare for Dan Slott’s imminent take-over, I’m going to work backwards and pick up the trades for some of this run. How can I not love a Spider-Man who makes a “these aren’t the droids you’re looking for” joke? I’m not made of stone.
Somehow, I also bought some books that do not feature the Fantastic Four or Spider-Man. The Hellboy/Beasts of Burden one-shot is a rare treat. Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson’s Beasts of Burden was one of the best mini-series of the past year — haunting, funny, scary and starring talking animals who fight supernatural menaces. Hellboy, well, I’m sure you’re familiar with him. This is a continuation of the Beasts series, but I *think* it works if you haven’t picked that up; *think* because two of those issues were so affecting that I may be blind about how much they’re playing into this story. Thompson’s art is breathtaking, striking the perfect balance between anthropomorphism and realism when it comes to the animals, and her Hellboy is a good one. Mike Mignola worked out Hellboy’s dialogue, but Pugs (he’s a pug dog, natch) screaming joyfully “Lookit this! He’s a skull-cracking machine!” about Hellboy is all Dorkin. It’s a great read, but don’t let the cute animals fool you — death is ever-present in Beasts of Burden, and someone dies in this installment as well. And unlike Ben Grimm, this one won’t be coming back to life in a year.
I have never purchased an issue of Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam before grabbing #21 this week — I’ve never purchased any Captain Marvel book come to think of it. But if you put Black Adam on the cover, I’m officially semi-interested. Art Baltazar and Franco sealed the deal. This is part of the DC Kids’ line, and just like Baltazar & Franco’s work on Tiny Titans, these books are wasted on the young. Black Adam is definitely a villain in this (last time I saw him in JSA, he was a misunderstood ultra-conservative family man mourning the death of his family), but kids need clearly demarcated boundaries like that. As an adult, these morally black-and-white books remind me of the days when heroes were always heroes and bad guys were always bad. I dunno, I like it. I’m a big believer in the mature audiences comic books with all their shades of grey and their various anti-heroes, but there’s something refreshing about a book where there is no doubt about for whom you should be rooting. Mike Norton’s pencils are big and bold with that kid-friendly animation feeling, and since this issue is essentially a slugfest between Captain Marvel and Black Adam, it’s a showcase for huge punches. Pure, straightforward, comic-book style comic book.
So, having said all that, and considering my fragile mental state, I’m going to say that Comic Books — all of them, including the ones I read but didn’t mention and all the books I didn’t buy — were the best thing I read this week. For more than 30 years, comic books have been there to entertain me, comfort me, uplift me and reassure me that elaborate fantasy realms are better than this horrid world. New Comics Day is the only holiday that comes 52 weeks a year, and this week’s installment was particularly welcome. Thank you, comic books.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
One of my favorite bookstores in St. Louis. Star Clipper offers not only the best selection of comic books and graphic novels in the city, but also a cornucopia of art, design and pop-culture related books and magazines. 
