Hey guys, we hope you had a sombre, contemplative Sunday, full of introspection and shame about how little you do in comparison to protect the democracy you take for granted. Wait, it was Remembrawhatnow?
CHRIS TUCKER WOULD BE PROUD
It was the pitch that did it. I usually like a little bit of fun in my books, but there’s just been something about Deadpool that never quite clicked with me. The closest I came to really getting into the character was when Gail Simone wrote him - and her run was quite truncated. From time to time, I would stop into Daniel Way’s run with the character, but it never latched on enough to get me reading week in and week out.
But this pitch. This pitch.
Deadpool #1 hit the stands just a day after the US election wrapped. Amidst all the shenanigans and headaches that come with the election, immediately after all the dust settled, there was this brilliant hangover cure, waiting to be consumed: Wade Wilson gets hired by SHIELD to take out re-animated ex-presidents… for the good of the country. As a few characters say in the book, they can’t have Captain America going around killing former presidents - people would talk, and not in a good way. But Wade Wilson is the kind of guy that’s just crazy enough to take the job, without having to worry about q-rating drop that would come with… oh, let’s say straight up destroying a dude in a wheelchair. So yeah, Wade Wilson gets a job wrecking the shit out of some dead presidents. It’s a concept that’s rife with comedic potential, and the puns. Are. Everywhere. Presidential puns by the truckload. Plus, there’s a scene where Lincoln gets to shoot Wade right in the head while squealing, “I’ve always wanted to do that!” which amuses the hell out of me. It’s an amazingly fun book, and is the perfect antidote to whatever political bullshit ails you. It definitely deserves our Hova Don’t Shiv Award.(B)
MYSTERY INC!
A week with a new Stumptown issue is a good week, as a general rule. It’s a good week for a lot of reasons; the series is full of brilliant work from talented creators. You’ve got the engaging mysteries as Greg Rucka writes them. You’ve got Matthew Southworth‘s expressive, understated art and Rico Renzi‘s great colouring (Southworth shares duties in Issue #3). But more than all that, you’ve got the incredible sense of character, and that’s what Issue #3, out last week, drives home more than maybe any single issues in the series to date.
This volume of Stumptown is based around the case of a rock star’s missing guitar, but here’s the thing: the guitar showed up at the end of the last issue, with no explanation. The mystery could be basically done there; Dex could just give back the guitar, stop investigating the rest of the curious details and go back home to her brother. But that’s not who she is; we read the book because of that aspect of her that just won’t let things go. It’s that same quality that leads her to badger her little brother about details he doesn’t - and can’t - really know until he breaks down. It’s a beautifully done scene, that highlights so much about Dex: her tenacity, how it can hurt people and ultimately the care she has for her little brother. It’s a scene that very few comics would be confident enough to show, and it highlights why Stumptown is as good as it is. Its creators let us see the hero at a moment of weakness that goes far beyond just detective work; it shows us who she is as a person, at her best and worst.
The issue is full of moments like this. The scene with Dex, Mim and Tracy is another great little scene about the ways we can hurt people we care about, and it’s presented with no rose tint; all we get is some genuine hurt, brutally presented by Southworth. It’s another confident scene and a highlight of one of the medium’s best series, which has earned this week’s Family Affair Award.(J)
Its the end. The end of everything.
Everyone you love will die.
It’s the Defenders motherfucker, and it’s all ending with a god damn bang.
So, the stage for this issue. Doctor Strange and his pals have found out that they’ve set motion events that will destroy everything and everyone, which is bad. The day can’t be saved. Unless.
With the endgame firmly in place, Fraction and Pierfederici hit a perfect climax. The somewhat omnipotent text scrolling along the bottom of the pages in previous issues stands is used to great effect in this issue, set as an erstwhile narrator beyond the fabric of time and space itself. It’s not a thing, but a presence, keeping an eye on the fabric of all things, commenting and pushing forward in its own little way. Having the old bronze age text become something grand within the context of the Marvel Universe is but one inspired touch in this series, which transcribes the map of the entire fictitious universe, and gives it an amazing and bright new context. Everything that happened in this universe, as improbable as it all was, happened for a purpose. It happened so that everything, everywhere, everywhen could continue unabated and unaffected once the end finally came to swallow everything whole.
And that final bit. Wow, that’s a killer. The specifics would ruin the end for you all, but suffice to say, the closing line is a gem.
“This one small act of kindness made all the difference. Because in the face of all of our nightmares, kindness is the most impossible thing of all.”
And the book itself: “Protecting humanity from the impossible.”
Fighting against the dark with warmth and kindness.
Matt Fraction.
The Defenders.
God damn. (B)
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