Daredevil/The Punisher #2

Daredevil/The Punisher, Issue #2 starts off with Daredevil stunned after an explosion.  At the same time, the Punisher is about to execute a Antonov when Blindspot, Daredevil's ally, comes in to stop him.  Daredevil has to fight off two bad guys before he can aid Blindspot, who's clearly outmatched.  Antonov is a gangster who orchestrated a mass poisoning to kill one of his rivals.  Daredevil and Blindspot want him prosecuted; the Punisher wants him dead.

This is a particularly gritty series, although by having dispensable antagonists, it takes away from some of the drama.  This turns the drama inward, bringing up ethical questions that Daredevil has to answer.  To wit, he finds himself about to kill Antonov halfway into the comic.  He doesn't because he's the good guy, but you can see a hint of what's coming up in future issues.  The question is whether or not the Punisher's way of dispensing justice will influence Daredevil's own.  It's black, white, and gray.  Blindspot's role in this comic is to serve as the ultimate do-gooder, while the Punisher is the ultimate vigilante.  Daredevil wants to be like Blindspot, but he's finding himself more and more like the Punisher.

Spider-Man/Deadpool #6

Spider-Man/Deadpool, Issue #6 is a "guest issue," written by Scott Aukerman and penciled by Reilly Brown.  I didn't know Aukerman did comics, but I caught myself laughing on the first page and gave it a shot.  I laughed on the second page and really liked the detail throughout the comic.  There are references to Hyperion, Captain America, and a host of other recent storylines.

In short, the pages flew by.  The story of this issue, which is unrelated to the rest of the series, is that they're going to make a movie about Deadpool.  Hmm...  I wonder where they got that idea?  Anyway, long story short.  Don't skip this issue.

Nisekoi, Vol. 16

Nisekoi: False Love, Vol. 16 is pretty much the same as the previous volumes.  Most of the chapters are self-contained with short stories about the various characters, with two exceptions.  The "Look Alike" story runs for three or four chapters, detailing the story of a princess who looks exactly like Chitoge.  The princess desperately wants to see Japan on her own, so she and Chitoge switch clothes and exchange places.  Also, there's a one-chapter story that ends the volume in a cliffhanger.

Not much has changed in the manga since the introduction of Yui, the older childhood friend who, like most of the other female characters who appear in the series, is in love with Raku Ichigo.  One side effect of the ever-broadening cast of Raku's harem is that we no longer see every character featured in every tankoban volume.  And because this is an ongoing series, we don't see the plot develop much, either.  For all the talk about Yui joining the cast, a lot of her potential lays untapped, and although, yes, I did read this story the day it came out, I do not know how much longer the story can be sustained without something happening.

Drawn Onward

Drawn Onward is another 2015 comic from Retrofit I bought yesterday.  Like Ikebana, it runs for around $5.  Again, visit retrofitcomics.com or bigplanetcomics.com for more information about purchasing it,  It starts out with a framing device of a woman drawing a comic as a "double suicide note," putting down her thoughts frenetically and instantly regretting it.  What follows is the comic itself.  The framing device uses thin lines like Herge, while the comic is made up of thick lines, almost as if it were drawn in miniature and then expanded.  The narration is in cursive, and the dialogue conventionally lettered.

What's interesting about the comic in Drawn Onward is that it reads the same forward as backward, only from a different point of view.  The framing device is the only difference, giving the woman's point of view throughout the story.  This is the type of comic that really gets me going artistically.  It makes me want to work on one of my many unfinished novels or edit one of the ones I've finished.  Matt Madden's art is serious and thought provoking.  In a word, it's haunting.

Mockingbird #4

 

Mockingbird, Issue #4 takes place initially in Kazakhstan, where hundreds of thousands of Saiga antelopes have died off due to a mysterious bacteria.  Agent 19 finds out that it's the same pathogen that's in her system, only she isn't dead.  A week later, she is in a tropical paradise, saving her ex-husband, the esteemed Clint Barton.  He's about to be vivisected by a group of terrorists in aquatic suits.

Issue #4 has the same twisted humor of Issues #1 through #3.  The creators are more interested in developing Mockingbird's character than developing the story of her medical treatment, which is fine, reminiscent of The X-Files, giving off little clues as to the actual story here and there before the big finale, which is scheduled to be Issue #5, I'm guessing.  At the end of this issue, she talks about having a doctor's appointment.

Optic Nerve #14

Optic Nerve, Issue #14 came out without me knowing it in May of 2015.  I remember Issue #13 coming out in summer or fall of 2013; has it really been that long since I've read new work by one of my favorite sequential artists, Adrian Tomine?  I was lucky enough to get a first pressing at Comics n' Stuff.  I tried buying it online but came up with nothing.

There are two main stories, "Killing and Dying" and "Intruders."  "Killing and Dying" is about a teenage girl who stutters her way into a stand-up comedy career.  It has a lot of dialogue, and it has 20 panels per page.  It's about a 20-to-30-minute read.  The coloring is very simple but workable.  "Intruders" is black-and-white on a gray background, with heavy narration.  It's about a veteran who uses his old key to get into his old apartment, years after he moved out.

There's a coda, about how he doesn't like Twitter or Facebook.  I don't think he even has an email address, and all electronic versions of his work are of the pirated variety.  I can picture myself in one of Tomine's comics, remembering buying Optic Nerve, Issue #14 for $4.25 and realizing I underpaid (the list price is $6.95).  I felt a little bad afterward, as if I ripped him off, but at the same time, I forgot to use my discount card at the comic book store, so I'm still $2 in the hole.

Ikebana

Ikebana by Yumi Sakugawa is one of several independent comics I picked up today at my local Comics n' Stuff.  If your local comic book store doesn't carry it, you can buy it here via Retrofit Comics, where you can buy work from a dozen or two different artists.

Ikebana is a study in contrasts.  To open the comic, the main character, Cassie, presents her senior thesis, which consists of her standing half naked in a bowl of water while the professor reads a brief statement about ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging.  The other students are pissed.  They spent a whole year developing a portfolio, while Cassie half-asses it.  To make matters worse, she abruptly leaves the room.  The professor tells all the other students to follow her, as if her running away is part of her artistic statement.

The contrasts are obvious, and I won't deal with them very deeply.  Cassie is overweight, and she not only gets sexually harassed but gets her body denigrated by strangers.  I guess what I like about this piece is the way Sakugawa creates mood and pace.  The lines are thick and clear, and the shading technique - I'm guessing it's computer-generated, using tiny colored squares - is reminiscent of Rutu Modan and Dick Tracy.  The ending at the beach is nothing short of breathtaking.  The 48-page comic speaks of loneliness, disenfranchisement, laziness, and mental illness, and I highly recommend it.