The Flash Issue 768

-Writer: Jeremy Adams

-Artists: Brandon Peterson, Marco Santucci and David Lafuente

-Colourists: Mike Atiyeh, Arif Prianto and Luis Guerrero

-Letterer: Steve Wands

It shouldn't be surprising to my readers that I'm not the biggest DC guy, considering this is my first post about a DC book. Nothing personal, I've just always found myself more drawn to Marvel's books. That said, I'm trying to expand my reading horizons a bit so a little while ago I picked up The Flash.

Naturally, I didn't expect the 768th issue to be an ideal jump-in point, but it does start a story arc involving the retirement of Wally West as Kid Flash, so it's good enough for me. In my opinion, picking things up in media res is part of the fun of reading comic books in the first place.

In this issue, Wally West confesses to the Justice League that he's decided to retire from his life as a super hero and asks Flash to sever his connection to the Speed force, the energy that gives all speedsters their power. In the process though, something goes terribly wrong, and Wally is zapped away into the prehistoric era, his consciousness and powers manifesting in a prehistoric man's body. With some help from other members of the League, The Flash is able to contact him, but it's not long before he's zapped away again, this time to the far future.

I have to sing the praises of the art here. It's obviously very difficult to make a 2-D image look like it's moving, let alone moving very fast, but the artists of this book accomplish exactly that. The backgrounds, environments, and expressions are all brilliantly done and do a lot to inspire the imagination. The sibling-like relationship Barry and Wally have is really enjoyable to read, so much so that I'm able to justify the heavy amounts of technobabble that I usually can't stand.

All in all, great issue. It's got my attention and although it's a little early to say for sure, I think I might become a regular reader.

Conan the Barbarian Issue 19

 

- Writer: Jim Zub

- Penciler: Cory Smith

- Inker: Roberto Poggi

-Colorist: Israel Silva

-Letterer: VC's Travis Lanham

I've always really loved Conan the Barbarian. He was the first character that introduced me to the idea of heroes who aren't necessarily noble and classically heroic. All of us are connected to the natural world through our innate primal nature, but for Conan this connection is at a different level. He's a man unchained by the rules of so-called "civilization".

This issue, the 19th in the current ongoing Conan the Barbarian series, is a great place to jump in if you haven't already. Although there's obviously been some significant developments before this issue, it's the beginning of a new story, "Land of the Lotus" and anything the reader needs to know to get up to speed is right in the first two pages.

Our story begins with Conan, captured and beaten, being interrogated by soldiers. Conan has somehow, through means he doesn't know, made it across the guarded border of Khitai with a cursed sword. Unable to satisfy the guards, they loaded him into a wagon and began a journey towards his execution. On the way, Conan encounters a scholar named Meiwei of Paikang. Conan, being a foreigner who can flawlessly speak the local language (again, through means he doesn't know), immediately intrigues Meiwei, and the two form the shadow of a friendship.

After an intense battle with monsters, Meiwei steals the keys to Conan's cage and the following night, the they flee together into the jungle. The two manage to escape the guards, but the issue ends with Conan facing a pair of leopards which are certainly no less dangerous.

Admittedly, I'm very new to Conan in comic book form. Even so, I really enjoyed this issue. All of the swordplay and ceaseless adventure of the old Conan stories with none of the outdated (and, let's just say it, unacceptable even for the time) racism and tired stereotypes of the original stories. I'm glad I added this series to my pull list and I'm looking forward to reading the next one!

Silk Issue 1

 

Writer - Maurene Goo

Artist - Takeshi Miyazawa

Colorist - Ian Herring

Letterer - VC's Ariana Maher

Cindy Moon, super-powered crime fighter bitten by the same spider that made Peter Parker Spider-Man, has been around for a while now. She played a part in the Original Sin story line, had a major role in the Spider-verse event, and starred in two of her own series.

The first issue of this newest series is a great introduction to a new adventure. Cindy Moon is on her first day at a new job as a journalist for J. Jonah Jameson's web publication Threats and Menaces. I might be a little biased as a student of journalism myself, but I really enjoyed this.

I also have to appreciate how in just a single introductory issue, the writer has established all of the major relationships readers are going to be dealing with, and the story does so very naturally. We get her dynamic with Jameson and her coworkers, we get her relationship with her younger brother, and we even see our supernatural (?) villain at the end.

Cindy is a really fun protagonist to follow. Intelligent, snarky, tough as nails and a capable detective. On top of everything else, this book is funny! All in all, this new Silk series reminds me of everything I love about comic books, and I'm really happy I picked it up!

Children of the Atom Issue 1

 

Writer - Vita Ayala

Artist - Bernard Chang

Color Artist - Marcelo Maiolo

Letter - VC's Travis Lanham

The debut issue of a series about the next generation of mutant heroes was a fantastic entry into the X-Men mythos.

This story sees a group of young mutants who have fashioned themselves as heroes, fighting crime. Of course, this catches the attention of some powerful opponents as well as the authorities. 

When the X-men catch wind of these young mutants, they're immediately concerned for their safety. With the American government trying to regulate young heroes, and a rising anti-mutant sentiment, this concern is definitely well deserved.

The art in this book is wonderfully expressive, as is the dialogue. I often find writers struggle to capture how young people talk to each other, but here it feels natural and I found it very easy to recognize each character's own quirks. 

At the end of the book, when our team of young heroes is all geared up, ready to step through the portal to Krakoa (where the other mutants are living, safe from human persecution), they all falter and decide to come back another time. 

I found this a great dramatization of how it can feel painful, awkward and frightening to step into adulthood, accept who and what you are, or even come out of the closet. 

X-Men has been able to tell allegorical stories about racism and queerness since the beginning, and I'm really liking where this one is going. Coming of age stories can be really tired and cliche, but this one is shaping up to be one of the greats.

Lastest Comics Haul

 

Wednesday is new comic book day! I went down to my friendly local comic book store, and here's what I picked up:

Marvel

True Believers

To celebrate Marvel's 80th annivesary, the comics giant reprinted some of their key classic issues. They've been out for a while and my local store had them on a rack for just over a dollar. I picked up the issue introducing Zemo and his Masters of Evil, and the issue where Rogue first joins the X-Men after leaving the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

X-Men Legends

The second issue came out on the 31st, so I picked it up as well as a variant cover edition of the first issue. I'm a big fan of basically anything X-Men so I'm excited to able to follow this series from the beginning.

Silk

Cindy Moon, given spider powers when she was bitten by the same radioactive spider that turned Peter Parker into Spider-Man, has her own ongoing series and I've been excited about it since I first heard it was on the way. This title is probably the one I'm most excited about from this haul.

DC

The Flash

Issue #768 sees Wally West asking Barry Allen to sever him from his speed powers when things go horribly wrong. Sounds to be a good place to jump onto the series for new or returning fans.

Source Point Press

Cult of Dracula

Dracula is one of those stories that I love so much, I happily own several copies and each one is special to me in some different way. When I saw that Source Point Press was releasing a vampire comic, I had to jump on that!

Captain America (2018) Issue 2

 

-By Ta-Nehisi Coates & Leinil Francis Yu

-Inkers: Gerry Alanguilan & Leinil Francil Yu

-Color Artist: Sunny Gho

-Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna

-Cover: Alex Ross

This issue takes a slower pace than the first, although it opens with Steve Rogers intervening on another attack from the same group of supersoldier terrorists with their faces painted with the American flag.

Although he succeeds, he's told off by General Ross, and it's clear that the American government doesn't trust the Captain like they used to. After this, Steve spends a lot of time dwelling on the past, on his failures, on how he's different (or not) from the super soldiers who attack innocent people. At the end, it looks like the good Captain is going to get some help from friends in Wakanda.

I really appreciated this issue. I really liked its slower, more emotional pace. It gave us some room to explore Steve's relationship with Sharon, and with his relationship with himself. Coates is clearly exploring the double-edged nature of patriotism and even masculinity, in a way that doesn't come across as superior or preachy, while still feeling pointed and topical.

The icing on the cake is the art and panel layout in this issue. There's some really creative and dynamic panels that reach out and seize your attention. I know I'm only two issues in, but I'm already considering buying the trades for this story. We'll pick up Captain America again next Friday!

How to Start Reading Comic Books

 

I know a lot of people who conceptually like comic books but feel too daunted to make the leap and start actually reading them. It's really no wonder why, it can look really daunting. Walking into a comic book store and there's shelves of the things, it's really hard to have any idea where to start. If I've just described your experience, I've got some thoughts to share that might make things a little easier.

My first thought is the simplest. Literally just start. If you see a book that looks interesting to you, go for it. Sure you'll be missing some context, but for most of the big titles (Ms. Marvel, Black Panther, Wonder Woman) you're kind of going to be missing some anyway. Not fully knowing the history of a situation or character is a pretty normal experience, even for seasoned comic book readers.

 

Second, you could wait until a new series starts and go from there. There's lots of ways to find out what comics are coming out in future weeks (new comic book day is always Wednesday, by the way), but my favorite is to use the internet. Simply searching for "new comic books this week" should take you to a few resources. You won't find a new #1 issue every week of course, but publishers are often rebooting or starting new spinoff or original series.

Third, if knowing a complete story is really important to you then you might want to consider looking at omnibus collections or what are called "trade paperbacks". An omnibus is a large volume collecting all of the individual monthly comics from a certain story. Trade paperbacks are the same idea, but are usually smaller, collecting about six or so issues per volume. Buying trades can be a good way to find an entire story, or to quickly catch up with an ongoing series.

Fourth, you might want to consider digital comics. There's lots of apps out there that allow you to buy comics online, and there's even some subscription services that allow to read a HUGE collection of older books if you're not concerned about staying up on the newest stuff. Personally, I subscribe to Marvel Unlimited and it's been great for me to read series that are older and I've missed out on.

However you go about it, I hope this has been at least somewhat useful and you feel more confident about stepping into this world that I really enjoy.