One Woman's Adventure Reading Comics

By Al Ewing, Jason Aaron, Cafu and Jesus Aburtov

I swear to the Gods, Doctor Strange shows up in everything. I suppose these stories lately have had significant magical themes, but every time I open a new story, there’s Doctor freaking Strange staring out at me.

At least he’s kinda funny and incredibly competent.

Too bad he’s captured in a mirror by the villain Grim Reaper, a man seeking to become the newest Valkyrie. His mission: bring the soul of a hero to his master or kill Valkyrie. His goal? Do both.

Sounds like we haven’t quite made it to the end of this first arch. How will Valkyrie best our Grim Reaper foe?

By Jason Aaron, Al Ewing, Cafu, Ramon Perez, Cian Tormey, Roberto Poggi, Frazer Irving & Jesus Aburtov

In this part of the “Sacred and the Profane” arc, Valkyrie takes Heimdall to someplace he has not seen before. He is the all-seeing guard of the Asgardians. It must be challenging for Jane to find someplace he’s never seen before. Yet she does.

The instincts of a Valkior seem to be powerful and all-knowing. Those instincts are leading Jane and Heimdall across the multiverses, searching for someplace that Heimdall cannot see. She eventually finds it, the far edge of the known universes, and lets Heimdall loose onto his next adventure. 

By Jason Aaron, Al Ewing, Cafu & Jesus Aburtov

In our first issue, Bullseye set his sights on Heimdall and was more than capable of defeating him. Fortunately Valkyrie got some good hits in on the way, effectively disarming him and preventing Bullseye from killing all of the citizens in the vicinity. 

Valkyrie does try her hardest to prevent harming Heimdall. She saves him from free falling while following the warnings of the growing balls of death over people’s head. It’s a wonder she can do so much in such little time. Her skills as Thor are really showing here! Her ease at handling these situations have surely grown.

By Evan Dorkin, Jill Thompson, Benjamin Dewey & Nate Piekos

Oh boy. Okay. Back at with Beasts of Burden.

This was a two part story, and I think it’s a prequel. It’s definitely bridging things to a bigger baddie and has set the wheels in motion. It was easier to read than previous stories, and I’m glad they introduced people to the story. If it wasn’t for them and their tools, the team would not have survived.

By Jeff Lemire & Mike Deodato Jr

First of all, Joe Cobb is a great ally. He lost his family, lost his life, and is living homeless because of his sorry, how loss and any of the other reasons that come with that. (I doubt they’re going to make a long list of how the loss of his family probably cause him to spiral into a debt and despair so deep there’s no way he can dig himself out.) MK can relate. He’s certainly adopted this lonely old man, running to his rescue when he’s being attacked by other homeless people.

By Jeff Lemire & Mike Deodato Jr

Language barriers can really cause interesting problems. The Mongrel King is bursting with questions that Joe Cobb - a lonely homeless man - just cannot answer. Yet Joe has somehow earned the Mongrel King’s trust, and convinces him to follow him into the city, where MK is overwhelmed by the squalor and the extravagance of the city. He recognizes things fairly easily, that a food bank is like a tavern, that liquor bottles mean mead, but misses all the nuance of language. How will he understand wealth inequality?

By Jeff Lemire & Mike Deodato Jr

I don’t think there’s anything exciting to this character yet. The Mongrel King is any other barbarian character you can think of - violent, scantily clad, and vicious beyond measure.

But he is also existential. His life is utterly transformed when his family is dead and he turns and flees from the wave of warriors waiting for him. He finds a cave, finds the multiverse hidden within it and then finds himself in ambiguous metro park, staring out onto a cityscape - something he has never seen before.

By Olivia Olson & Slimm Fabert

GUYS THEY DID IT.

They saved the day! True love came through and Lord Abadeer landed a sweet right hook on Golb. Betty is free and Simon isn’t being slowly erased by lingering Ice King magics.

And, most importantly, Peppermint Butler got his pants back.

The End.

By Olivia Olson & Slimm Fabert

The multiverse has to be an unpleasant thing. They fight pillowyetis, get attacked by mole-dogs and meet Normal Man on a stinky Mars, because what Adventure Time story would be complete without Magic/Normal/King Man showing up to screw things up?

By Kyle Starks & Erica Henderson

This ending left me giddy. Oh, not because of the murder but because it was done through the power of friendship. HA! How delightful! 

It’s ending was also fantastic. Felt like all of my favorite TV shows with the new wave villains coming out of the shadows to show themselves - to warn those at the top that the next wave of killers is coming and that they won’t stop.

By Kyle Starks & Erica Henderson

Good GOD it took me way too long to get my hands on this issue. I literally had #3 and #5 and had to order #4 multiple freakin’ times before it finally came in.

Did you know that comics are delivered through only one distributor in the United States? And they mostly suck?

Either way, I’m glad I got my grubby little hands on this issue and just have to say: it took way too damn long for our little assassins to figure out this was a set up from the start. They finally put it together though. Proud of them.

By Sean Murphy, Matt Hollingsworth & AndWorld Designs

There’s not much to say about this issue without giving away quite a few spoilers. There’s a lot that happens in this and I actually shed a tear.

I often wonder if a book is better to read in singles or in collected editions. This series is very action packed and has some heavy topics that come up. In a way, reading three issues back to back really makes it more entertaining; I got to keep rolling with the story and kept the emotional journey going.

By Sean Murphy, Matt Hollingsworth & AndWorld Designs

I haven’t read any main title Batman stories; I’ve only watched the movies and seen some of the animated series. Seen a few of the Batman memes floating around the internet.

My favorite one before this issue is the idea that Harley and Bruce went to med school together, that they new each other and are actually good friends. My second favorite relationship is now the reluctant companionship they are developing in this series. Who knows what Harley will do by the end of it or what pitfalls await there, but could either of them expect assisting with labor in the place where Jack “found” the Joker? 

Matt Hollingsworth is fucking killing it with his art though.

There are a lot of great narrative things happening in this book, too. It feels like a mystery/adventure novel; you can feel the inevitable confrontation with every page and every escalation. Sean Murphy is doing a phenomenal job. He also isn’t afraid to lean into death. 

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the importance of death in narration. I think about it with D&D, Game of Thrones, Star Wars and Harry Potter. I have come to the conclusion that though death happens in our own lives in unexpected ways and at unexpected times, a story doesn’t have to do that. Death can be random but it is always an intentional act. When a character is killed in a story, it should have significance.

By Sean Murphy, Matt Hollingsworth & AndWorld Design

It seems that Bruce Wayne is descended from some Zorro story. You know, the one with Antonio Banderas? His ancestor Edmond Wayne was trained by some elderly man to keep Gotham pure; this man brought him from London to Gotham, saving Edmond from prison and paving the way to Bruce Wayne.

Pretty cool that they’ve always had sons to carry on the name though, I guess?

By Saladin Ahmed, Javier Garron & David Curiel

That last time we saw Miles, he was confronting his Uncle Aaron on a rooftop - again. Seems like Aaron isn’t permanently out of the game and saving young Miles cost him more than either of them expected. 

Uncle Aaron still has some good lessons for Miles yet! Miles is still young - a high school student - and maybe doesn’t understand the complexities of the world. He hasn’t been a part of the underworld and doesn’t quite understand the rules or code. Miles doesn’t understand that a failed mission means Uncle Aaron loses his life. 

By Jeff Lemire & Dustin Nguyen

Dustin was a fantastic choice for this book and I hope they keep working together throughout this entire story. This book also has the reunion I wasn’t expecting. Effie - who we thought died Effie - is here, on this same planet as her husband and daughter, as a vampire and is hopelessly tearing apart prisoners and dissenters to feed her endless hunger.

What will this mean for Andy? Even Telsa is at risk! She’s taken out by a werewhale and is no overboard in this alien sea! Will Mila make it? Will this story come to an abrupt stop?

By Jeff Lemire & Dustin Nguyen

Andy’s and Telsa’s history is complicated, and it’s certainly making an impact now - as Telsa refuses to help. Fortunately Bandit is there in his completely adorable and robotic self; he immediately wins her heart over and she agrees to help.

Sorta.