Hey nerds! It’s another fine week here at the blog, which means it’s time to talk to you about some of last week’s best. Let’s do this.

LIFE AND DEATH AND STARS AND WARS

At this point, I feel odd trying to single out Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma‘s Morning Glories as a comic you should be buying and loving, because at this point it’s 31 issues in and if you’re not reading it, I’m not just telling you that Issue #31 is great (psst… it is!). I’m giving you homework. But you know what? This is homework you need to do, because the series, and this issue, are very, very good. And you like good things, don’t you?

So far in its second “season,” itself a brilliant structural and marketing choice on the part of the creators, the series has been relaxing (for certain values of “relaxing”) following the adrenaline-filled end to Season One, but since it’s Morning Glories, there may be less actual murder and chase scenes but it’s still twisty and exciting as ever. This issue slows things down even more to focus on the character of Hunter as he tries to figure out what the deal is with all the weird stuff that’s been happening to him lately, and along the way he meets some unlikely allies in a callback to events early in in the Woodrun arc. It’s a complicated issue in an already complicated series simply by virtue that it starts with a speech about death, fate and cycles and then digs into the question of dreams versus reality, but it succeeds because of the exceptionally strong characterization that Spencer and Eisma bring to the issue, and to what strong storytellers they’ve become. They alternate “reality” panels with dream/memory ones in a really effective way, helped out by Jason Lewis‘ under-recognized colours. It’s an issue that does a lot of plot movement and world-building, but at the time you’re reading it, it just feels new.

A bonus “Best” goes to Mikhail Meylikhov’s now-customary “Notes From Study Hall” section at the back of the issue; Meylikhov does a great job parsing out the details of the issue and relating it to what’s come before, and in a book that draws on its own continuity going back to early issues on the reg, it’s indispensable to have a very smart, attentive person pointing out details and reminding you of ones you might have forgotten because they happened twenty issues ago. Meylikhov’s theories are smart, well-communicated and realistic, and it’s always great to read them after an issue and then go back to reread right away. It’s one of the best examples of backmatter in recent comic memory, and a big reason why this issue deserves the Non-Onion Award For AV Club-iness.(J)

COUNTDOWN (OR) A NUMBER PUN OR SOMETHING ELSE (OR) TITLES ARE HARD

Zero announces itself as a strong presence when your eyes first lock upon a copy from across the comic store. The covers feature strong images by a murderers row of talented folk, such as Becky Cloonan, Chris Burnham, Paul Pope, and this issue’s artist Michael Walsh. The overall design of these covers, provided by Tom Muller, does a fantastic job of uniting these different looks with a similar “brand” - an orange/red cast against a bright yellow background, with deep purple accenting the Image branding and the logo. The unifying design does away with a huge problem I have with variants in the store: you can easily identify this issue of Zero, no matter what the cover might be, as the same product when you place the covers side by side. Variants tend to have a damaging effect when taken out of a very specific context. Unless you are the kind of person who hits the stores every week or spends an inordinate amount of time on the internet keeping track of the industry on a fairly intense level, variants can be off putting and confusing. New or casual readers will ask what the difference is between two books that purport to be the same comic, but feature different covers. We all know that nothing is really different about the comics beyond the cover, but conditioning says that a different packaging means a different product. In this instance, Tom Muller’s stellar work allows each and every variant on this book to be identified as the same product. It hits a sweet spot for fans looking to devour each variation while allowing for branding to work its very specific magic. This bit of magic will work well for the series going forward, as Ales Kot is planning to run through this series using different artists for each issue, unified by the work of Muller’s strong design work, Jordie Bellaire’s amazing colouring skills, and Clayton Cowles’ impeccable eye for lettering.

Zero is a series that is almost hard to fathom. At this juncture, it is Ales’ fourth published work in comics, and his first creator owned ongoing. For a creator who is relatively fresh to the industry and it’s workings, it’s an incredibly ambitious project. Each issue tells a complete story that can be read and digested all at once. That said, there will be a larger story at play, one that will build as each issue of the series comes out. This alone is a hard enough trick to pull off, but Kot has decided to go the extra mile by offering different tastes in each issue, in the form of different artists. So far, he’s recruited a murder’s row of talent, from Michael Walsh in this first issue, to Mateus Santolouco, Tradd Moore, Nick Dragotta, and Change co-creator Morgan Jeske. (Side note: have you read Ales Kot’s Change yet? Easily one of the strongest books of this year.) Those are just the announced artists - can you imaging what else is to come? Of course, all of that would mean nothing if the book didn’t come together, but as you might be able to tell from this glowing review, things progress quite nicely.

Described by one of my customers as a “Mark Millar comic for smart people”, Zero is a strong statement on what can be accomplished in the pages of a comic. From a simple storytelling perspective, the whole series is going to be interesting to see unfold. With this single issue, the stage is set nicely and our main players are dropped onto the board. We meet Edward Zero near his end, twenty years previous. We are shown what he can do, and are shown which lines he’s willing to cross to get a job done, and when he’s willing to cross those lines. This is done amidst a backdrop of high action and simmering politics. Nothing is played up for sensationalism, despite the power involved in brawl at the centre of this conflict. There’s metaphor at play here, one that blends with the story seamlessly rather than inserted with a wink and a nod, and it works beautifully. Also briefly introduced: two members of The Agency who are watching Zero in action from afar. Their scenes are short and sweet as they aren’t the focus, but their interplay and existence gives context to the action and allows The Agency to take some form of nebulous shape. Kot works a lot of information into a tight 30 pages, the story bleeding from inside cover to inside cover, leaving you with all you could possibly hope to know at this point, including whether or not this will be a series that you want to continue with.

Michael Walsh is a strong choice to open the series with. His line work is strong and while he’s not a hyper-realistic artist, he is one that renders the human form quite “normally” - which is to say, his stylization is more grounded than, say, what Jeske or Moore will surely bring to the series. Walsh give a clear base to build from, with strong imagery of Zero in static motion, and in fluid action, providing the groundwork while delivering vibrant imagery. This is matched by Jordie Bellaire’s great colours, which change with the time and location the action occurs in, signifying where and when action is taking place without a need to draw attention to the change with waving arms and clunky text work. Clayton Cowles is at the top of his game here too, hitting all the right notes during some pretty design heavy moments. Within the first four pages, there are instances where the lettering could have been more rote, and therefor less interesting, and either Cowles or Kot or both decide to try something different, stretching time and thought with the placement of text. It’s a high risk trick that works because of Cowles’ strong eye, and it was quite appreciated. I also enjoyed the gruffness inherent in the balloon structure of Zizek’s balloons, instantly giving The Agency man a gruff tone to match Walsh’s design. It was a nice touch.

Everything about Zero shows that this is a series to keep an eye on. It’s smart, gorgeous, and an amazing read. I can’t wait to get my hands on this title each and every month. It is our recipient of this week’s More Than Zero Award. (B)

This probably seems obvious every month, but here you go:

 

Yes, Daredevil #31 gets picked as the best comic of the week. Longtime readers may be familiar with this from basically every other week Daredevil comes out. At the risk of growing stale, are you reading this series yet? Because it’s basically the platonic ideal of a monthly superhero comic, every single month, and Issue #31 is another great example of why.

Last month in Issue #30, I talked about how Mark Waid and Chris Samnee not only gave a spectacular double-page spread of Matt Murdock riding the Silver Surfer’s board through the air, but also gave a masterclass on villain design that capitalized on the abilities and weaknesses of the two heroes teaming up. It’s about as good a team-up as you could hope for in that regard. What makes Issue #30 so remarkable, however, is that it does something else completely brilliantly: it takes on the “ripped from the headlines” formula and makes it not late-season-Law-and-Order terrible. No, it was brilliant.

The premise is pretty simple: in the Marvel Universe there exists a court case a lot like Trayvon Martin’s, and the verdict there is the same as it was in the real world. And that would have been enough excuse to have Matt Murdock, a usually-pretty-liberal character being written by an I’m-guessing-pretty-liberal writer, give a pretty boilerplate assessment of it and then have a heart-to-heart with the jury or whatever about how Man is the Greatest Monster of Them All or something. Instead, Waid and Samnee use this as a method to examine the nature of public outrage and the how the media feeds on it, via another incredible villain, Jester. Much like the villain of Issue #30 gave Matt a physical embodiment of lies to punch, this issue gives him - a lawyer dedicated to truth and reason - a physical embodiment of media sensationalism to track down and try to hit. It’s the book’s team using a genre all about melodrama and over-the-top reaction to tell a story all about how reason should be prized, even when the system disappoints us. It’s pretty great.

But even better: Matt doesn’t win at the end of the issue. No, Matt loses his fight against what I can only assume is CNN-in-human-form, at least for the time being, in an ending that’s jarring, horrifying and worrying. Jester fights back against Matt by upping the game of sensationalism, except in a deadly way, in a plot already all about setting off a powder keg of racial tension to create death. Not only is it a conflict and cliffhanger perfect for Matt to fight, but it actually encourages readers to be better in the process, which is what only the best comics do.

This is a book that, month in and month out, is continually the best. Mark Waid, Chris Samnee and Javier Rodriguez are a stunning team, telling stories that are visually inventive, utterly gorgeous and whose thematic ideas are only matched by the once every issue my jaw genuinely drops at something Samnee and Rodrigiuez draw. For god’s sake, that cover alone.

This isn’t hyperbole, by the way; on a site whose motto is positivity, I imagine that sometimes a non-stop wall of praise for books can risk seeming a little numbing. But I entreat you: buy this book. It ups its game every single month and each time I spend half a day figuring out just how. It’s marvelous and comics like it are why this site exists in the first place. (J)