Comic Reviews - Timely!
Rat Queens #5 - There is almost nothing I dislike about this book. It is funny, it does action well, and the stories flow naturally from the character's personalities. My only complaint is that plots get resolved a little quickly at time, but it doesn't make reading the book feel rushed. I thought this series would be amusing, but it's become one of my favorite books that I'm currently following.
Sex Criminals #5 - So Jonathan tells Suzy about his ADHD, which explains his pooping in his bosses plant, they meet kegel face lady, and decide to rob the bank despite the warnings. They get caught by the Sex Police, who are taking them to teach them the rules of The Quiet/Comworld, but John and Suzy aren't trusting, use a vibrator to escape the Sex Police, and decide to go on the run to figure out WTF. I'm not sure how much I like the turn to a more plot driven book compared to the weird introductory first two or three issues, but it's still pretty funny and the characters are believable despite giving me reason to question them (the late addition of ADHD/not taking of meds ... not sure about it, yet).
Lazarus #5-7 - These issues show a bit more of the life in the US under the control of these various families. From the first arc, we get a little bit about the brother who ran after trying to kill Forever and start a war (looks like he ran across the border to another family's territory) and the cryptic message to Forever about her family not being her family serve only to spark a little doubt in her mind. Instead, we get three parallel stories. One is following a family living on a farm getting their buildings destroyed and being forced to try to get serf status in the city or be stuck in perpetual death to the Carlyles. On the way they get attacked and one daughter dies while the father is injured. In a second story, Forever is doing her thing South Central Los Angeles, finding out there is a probable terrorist plot and capturing a girl as an informant. Finally, we get flashbacks to Forever's lonely childhood with infrequent visits from her father as she trains and learns some ruthlessness. I like the expansion of the world as it was much needed to see how the people live and Rucka is doing a slow burn while keeping the anticipation high. I'm a little disappointed that this arc seems to be divergent from the story of the first set of issues, though it may tie in before wrapping up.
Kabuki HC vol. 05 - Metamorphosis. This volume starts with Kabuki in a prison/mental hospital with other ex-agents where she is being debriefed and maybe on a path to being put back into surface. There she meets Akemi and (eventually) bust out. It's a bridge from the martial arts fighting and espionage of the early volumes to the meditative look at artwork that is in Alchemy. As a whole, I liked the action packed scenes in the middle the most. There's a nice sequence where the fighting turns into calligraphy which turns into music notes. There's another neat sequence where a very short fight is dissected piece by piece for many pages. What I liked less is the freshman psychology where Mack goes into the characters' heads, especially the heads of new characters that we haven't seen before and that we won't see again. The volume shows the change to Mack's current art style, but it's a little rough around the edges.
Batman: The Black Glove Deluxe Edition - This collects Batman & Son, The Black Glove, and a few other things. I wasn't as in love with this as I wish I was/as how much other people are. The first arc is Batman meeting Damian for the first time and taking him back to Gotham and teaching him not to be an assassin. The set up is pretty good, but the Gotham stuff happens quickly, Damian kills someone without consequence, then goes back to living with Talia like nothing had happened, and it matters little to the rest of the collection. I know the story picks up in Batman and Robin, but that's beyond this collection. I didn't like the Black Glove story where Batman goes to an island with a bunch of people inspired by him to solve a murder mystery. The secret society playing games with heroes has been done and none of the other characters get fleshed out very much. I liked the last arc where Batman fights cops who have been turned into different aspects of Batman, namely his fears of what he can become, but, again, I feel like everyone could use more fleshing out. Morrison seems to be either banking on the reader's familiarity of the characters or playing a long game (very possible), which made this single volume not hit home for me. Oh, and there's a text piece in the middle that I didn't read at all.
Aftermath, Auto, Lacunæ, and Writhe - Short little art books by Evan Dahm. Aftermath is drawings of civilizations built around the bones of giants, Auto is a random sketch book, Lacunæ is a lonely book of deserted island homes, and Writhe is full of spindly creatures in contorted poses. Their ... nice? Short and not much substance, though I like the themes in Aftermath and Lacunæ.