Southern Bastards #16

Southern Bastards, Issue #16 is the second issue in the "Gut Check" arc, in which the Craw County Runnin' Rebs football team has lost two games in a row.  Coach Boss aims to make sure there isn't a third loss.  He does this by going to the home of the star running back of the Locust Fork Super Bolts, Theron Goode, aiming to put a beating on him.  Things go south in more than one way.

Southern Bastards is the shit.  It's one of the first comics I started reading every month it comes out, along with Velvet, Saga, and Lazarus.  I came to like the genre that now I read 40 or so comics every month they come out.  Some come out every month come hell or high water, and some come out more rarely, like Southern Bastards.  Roberta Tubbs isn't in this issue, and I wonder if she's been put on the back burner a little too much for my taste.  The series is set to run 60 issues or so, and there's plenty of time for her to get into the picture.

Spider-Man/Deadpool #1.mu

Spider-Man/Deadpool, Issue #1.mu is the Spider-Man/Deadpool arc of the "Monsters Unleashed" crossover event.  It's written by Joshua Corin, with art by Tigh Walker and colors by Rachelle Rosenberg.  The "Monsters Unleashed" event is when a bunch of leviathans drop from the sky in wave after wave, and only Spider-Man and Deadpool can stop them.  The comic starts out in usual fashion, with Deadpool hanging from the ceiling of a girls' preparatory school in Canada.  He was lured there by the promise of chimichangas.

I'm not planning to read the rest of the "Monsters Unleashed" event, but if there's an Issue #2.mu of Spider-Man/Deadpool, I'll check it out, although from what I've read, this is just a one-shot, 33 pages long instead of 22, thus the $4.99 price tag.  I love the chemistry between the two, which has carried over from Joe Kelly and company to a variety of different writers and artists.  Issue #14 comes out in three weeks and a day.

Romulus #3

Romulus, Issue #3 describes the two differing, hidden forces in the political-military-industrial universe, the Romulus, which represents order and is of nations; and the Illuminati, which represents culture and revolution and is of the people.  Ashlar, the main character, was of Romulus until Romulus turned on the Wolves.  Now the Illuminati is seeking her out, training her, all so that she can rescue the physicist Romulus wants to use to create a bomb.

I'm hoping to catch up on some of my old comics today; tomorrow new comics come out, including Issue #4 of Romulus.  I've fallen almost a full arc behind on Wayward, although I've continued to buy the comics every month.  I'm a couple issues behind on DC's Blue Beetle, and I don't know if I'll continue into the next arc.  Romulus I'll continue reading; it's good.

Infamous Iron Man #4

Infamous Iron Man, Issue #4 begins on the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, a flying carrier ship, a helicarrier.  Director Hill is talking to her mom when all of a sudden, she finds out that Victor Von Doom is on the helicarrier.  He has come to tell her that he's one of the good guys now and that S.H.I.E.L.D. should stop sending Ben Grimm after him.  When a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent casually mentions that Grimm is in Latervia, the kingdom once ruled by Victor Von Doom, he leaves to go meet the Thing and General Karadick, the latter of which he left in charge of rebuilding Latervia.

When I see "Bendis-Maleev-Hollingsworth" on the cover of a comic, I read it, for reasons I've pointed out in my previous reviews of their work.  If you read Marvel, this is one of the titles you should be reading.  I know, there's no Tony Stark anymore, boo-hoo, but as strange a man to put in the Iron Man armor as Victor Von Doom is, the great this comic is.  Go and read it, or buy it when it comes out in trade paperback in June.

She Wolf #5

She Wolf: Black Baptism, Issue #5 is the story of Lizzie, Gabby's little sister.  In Issue #1 through Issue #4 of She Wolf, Gabby has a series of adventures where she believes she is becoming a werewolf because she was bitten by one, but the truth is a little bit more complicated.  Anyway, Gabby is off to college, and Lizzie is having her 16th birthday party which no one attends but her friend, Pam.  The first half of the comic is a nice look at country life in New Jersey.  What do they say about New England states?  The capital on one side, the big city on the other, and Kentucky in the middle?  Or is that just Pennsylvania?

Don't worry,  Issue #5 soon devolves into the wonderful mixture of fantasy and reality that we loved about the first arc.  I think what makes She Wolf so great is how the reality is so real and the fantastic so much a mirror of that dark reality.  Lizzie and Pam play in the creek, and Lizzie steals pornographic comics just like any curious kid her age.  Then the demons come, and she's battling the forces of darkness.  It's a fun comic because reading it, you never know where reality and fantasy overlap, and where one is not the other.  This is all sorted out eventually, though.

The Punisher #8

The Punisher, Issue #8 is the first issue without artist, Steve Dillon.  The issue opens up with Frank Castle facing an old woman wielding a shotgun, but she lets him in, tends his wounds, and lets him spend the night, but Condor is quick on his tail.  It isn't long before the two of them are riding off on the old woman's Harley-Davidson with a sidecar, and it isn't long before the two have subdued the three Condor agents and "we'll do a hell of a lot more than waterboarding'ed" the location of the Condor headquarters out of them.

This is an excellent issue and true to the memory of Steve Dillon, it being reminiscent of both Dillon's earlier The Punisher work and Preacher.  I've been reading a lot of the Punisher Complete Collection; I'm on the second book.  I also read the Doctor Strange/The Punisher team up comic that just started late last year.  I'm a fan, and part of what made me a fan was this version of the comic, with Becky Cloonan as the writer.  I didn't know of Laura Braga and Iolanda Zanfardino before reading this comic, but I'll be sure to look out for them.  Good stuff.

The Dregs #1

The Dregs, Issue #1 has a cover that intrigued me at the comic-book store two days ago.  I hadn't heard of the creators, and I hadn't heard of the publisher, Black Mask.  Well, guess what?  It's gross.  A homeless man is kidnapped, drugged, detoothed, shaved, and beheaded before his meat and intestines are used to make sausages to be served at a fancy restaurant.  The Dregs.  "You either get clean and escape, or live here until you die.  It's not pretty, but it's home."  The homeless of Vancouver are going missing.  "One's an anomaly, two's a coincidence, three's... is there a third?"

The intro quotes "A Modest Proposal," the short story by Jonathan Swift.  If you haven't read it, you probably should.  Gentrification, the practice of making poor neighborhoods into rich ones, is a constant theme.  You have an old homeless man playing detective.  What will he find?  I have to say, I'm into this comic.  I can't wait to see where it will go, what characters and situations will be introduced.