It’s a big week full of exciting comics. And that’s just what I needed. December is a busy, busy month even if you don’t celebrate Christmas. I think it has something to do with the end of the year looming — it’s a lot of psychological pressure. Comics are your most cost-effective safety valve. Just try to find a psychiatrist who’ll work for $3.99. Anyway, to the comics!

First up this week is Elric: the Balance Lost 6. I was giddy with excitement for this series when it started, and then my enthusiasm flagged after the first few issues. Mostly because there was a lot of to-and-fro and parallel story set-up inhibiting the characterization and world-building I was anticipating. Chris Roberson gets around to an all-out action issue this month, and Francesco Biagini acquits himself well with it. Hawkmoon and Elric face creeping Chaos with swords swinging, while Corum and Eric Beck ride Splendid Mane (a massive, planes-striding horse) in search of Tanelorn. Finally, after six issues of exposition and one step forward/one step to the side to take the same step forward storytelling, we actually have real progress. I don’t feel like I could tell you anything about these characters just based on what we’ve seen in these issues, however, and that bothers me. Where’s Elric’s sardonic wit? Where’s Hawkmoon’s dour pragmatism? What kind of guy is Eric Beck, other than a game designer? A little action is great (and much appreciated), but I think this series has been a wasted opportunity so far. Roberson has pursued an ambitious, complex arc in favor of focusing on one character, and as a result there isn’t one character who stands out — not even the title character.

Now, Valen the Outcast, I know who this guy is. He’s the King of Oakhaven, and he’s dead as a door nail — but that ain’t stopping him from walking around in search of revenge on the guys who killed him. It’s a sword & sorcery book and this first issue only costs a dollar, so of course I was gonna check this out. Michael Alan Nelson and Matteo Scalera do a fine job in setting up the book’s premise — undead warrior wants to kill the guys who killed him — and show us who he used to be (honorable and chivalrous) and who he is now (kinda cold and single-minded). I liked it. I like it enough to give it a six issue tryout, in fact. I think this could be an interesting take on the whole “hard man seeks vengeance story,” and I’m grateful there’s no vampire subtext in his undeathlyness — I’m almost as weary of vampire stories as I am zombie stories.

The Defenders 1: I just like writing that. Defenders 1. Matt Fraction and Terry Dodson take the 70s strangest superhero team and update it while retaining the strangeness. That’s about the best thing I could hope for from this book. Hulk (Bruce Banner) convenes the team because he’s somehow made a Black Hulk (what is he, part Green Lantern?) and he wants to stop it from destroying Europe — and THE WORLD — but can’t get close to it or it will feed on his gamma radiation. So Dr. Strange gets the gang back together on Hulk’s behalf (Namor and Silver Surfer), with Iron Fist and Red She-Hulk (Betty Ross) for extra punch. I’ve been bored by Fraction’s Thor, but I adored his Iron Fist run, and this is way more like Iron Fist. There’s a strong current of humor, each character is clearly defined (most notably, Dr. Strange is a casual Cassanova, which I didn’t expect), and each page has a footer below the art that advertises something in Stan Lee speak. These little notes disappeared in the ’70s, and I’ve missed them. Defenders is pure superhero fun, and that’s a prized commodity in these grim days. I believe this is only a limited series at this point, but (fingers crossed), if sales are strong enough it could be spun off into an ongoing title. Sure, Fraction will leave after eight issues, but David Anthony Kraft is still alive. I’d love to see him resume scripting this book.

The Raphael micro-series is a spin-off of IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles revival, and it has one scheduling problem. This issue is set chronologically after issue 5 of the TMNT book, and we’ve only seen four issues of that as of this week. It’s a minor hiccup handled with minimal spoilers, as Brian L. Lynch and Franco Urru give us a tale of Raph going out to bust heads with Casey Jones and running into another mutated animal. Raph is not my favorite Turtle, but Lynch gets into his motivations deeply enough to make me re-think that ranking. Here he’s more than a punch-first hot-head, being revealed instead as someone who’s reticent and more than a little reluctant to share anything about himself with anyone. It’s an interesting interpretation and well handled. If you’ve been reading the TMNT series, this is essential. If you haven’t been reading it, this is a pretty fine starting point. Everything that’s happened so far is summarized quickly, and Raph and Casey still make a compelling, quippy team.

Speaking of quippy, Amazing Spider-Man 675. Spidey and ex-girlfriend Carlie team up to out-think the Vulture — and that’s pretty much it. After the high stakes of Spider Island, it’s nice to return to a simpler, quickly wrapped-up story. Dan Slott, of course, fills this issue with great moments of characterization and forward-looking plot teasing. Is Carlie completely over Pete? It doesn’t seem like it. Is Pete over her? He seems on the fence — but wouldn’t you be with Mary Jane waiting nearby? I’ve made no secret of my desire to see One More Day completely undone and forgotten, and two issues ago I thought we were moving swiftly towards that possibility. Now? I’m not so sure it’s in the cards. But the beauty of that is that I’m not too worried. Dan Slott has proven that he knows what he’s doing with these characters, and I trust him to keep me entertained and reading. Amazing Spider-Man is one of my favorite books, and I’m excited to see where it goes next.

O.M.A.C. 4 is slightly less entertaining. Don’t get me wrong, Keith Giffen’s pencils are still worth the price of admission, but the plot seems to be in a holding pattern. Dan Didio and Giffen continue the well-established dynamic of this series, as a monster/supervillain appears and fights O.M.A.C., while O.M.A.C. fights against Brother Eye’s control of his life. The monster-of-the-month deal is getting a bit tired – we have nothing to offset it at this point, so it’s starting to feel rote rather than exciting. O.M.A.C. just struggles along with this issue’s problems (personal responsibility) and lets Brother Eye take the lead again. I think it’s time for Kevin Kho to take control of his own personhood, or at least let Kevin have some sort of argument – something more than “No, don’t, I refuse,” etc. — with Brother Eye the next time commandeers his life. Right now, he’s starting to feel like a bystander in his own life, and he’s not much of a hero. O.M.A.C. is a barely-thinking murder machine, which is awesome to watch, but that doesn’t provide much for a reader to latch on to. I still enjoy reading this – it’s the best of the New 52 by far – but how long can you read any enjoyable formula before it becomes formulaic?

Princeless 2 brushes aside all doubts and questions, however. Jeremy Whitley and M. Goodwin’s comic deals with Princess Adrienne’s very simple plan. She intends to free every princess who’s currently imprisoned in a tower waiting for a Prince Charming to come save them, because she’s figured out that you don’t need saving if you can save yourself. First on her list of people to be rescued are her sisters, who are each in their own tower guarded by their own dragons. Mike Harvey recommended this book to me, and I have to thank him for that. Here’s a book that features a strong female character who’s nobody’s victim or sidekick, and she’s not a tormented heroine or merciless avenger. She’s a young woman kicking butt and taking names, with her goofball of a dragon helping out. Whitley’s crafted a believable teenage heroine who relies on her own confidence and chutzpah to be the change she envisions, and she’s smart, determined and funny as well. It’s a sort of fractured fairy tale, in the best possible way, and it’s easily the best thing I read this week. Imagine that – a boy liking a comic book that stars a woman who’s neither sexy nor stupid, but rather a complex human being.

-Paul