Interesting Comics This Week (10-21-15)

Boom:

Cognetic #1
A psychic being that once controlled 1/3 of the world's population returns to take control once again. We're looking at the end of the world through mind control, a hivemind, however you want to think about it. Despite some exhaustion with the end of the world, I like a different kind of apocalypse, and this looks like a pretty interesting one.








Welcome Back #1
Assassins who are locked in an eternal war against each other, across multiple lifetimes, each time they are reincarnated. One of them becomes self-aware, while the other is on the hunt. The funny part is that I'm starting to consider a setup like that to be straightforward, but it's simple enough to draw me in and know exactly what I'm getting into.

Dark Circle Comics:

Shield #1
The original Shield was a WWII hero who predated Captain America, and they're reviving the character again here. The gender-flip of the main character will hopefully be more than a gimmick, which unfortunately happens a little too often. Still, the revival of old characters is always interesting; it's whether it's in a good or bad way that remains to be seen.

Dark Horse Comics:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 10 #20
While we haven't touched on it in a while, having the ghost of Anya be a part of Xander's life was a great little piece to add to this season, and we're going to be exploring that further here. Honestly, that's all I needed to be really interested in what's coming in this issue. The incubus demon is much less interesting to me in comparison.








Dark Horse Presents #15
This book can be a little hit or miss - that's kind of the nature of an anthology series ­- but it's always worth paying some attention to what's being published in Dark Horse Presents. It is essentially a blank check for creators to make whatever they want in a short story format, with the possibility of a trade or new series somewhere down the line. In other words, it's the experimentation arm of Dark Horse, where things are developed before being more fully formed later on.







The Paybacks #2
The first issue of this series was a lot of fun, so of course I'm interested in returning to it. To copy a phrase I used way too many times in the review, it's about superpowered repossessors, which is an idea I'm still not sick of. Now the Batman analogue, Night Knight, is part of The Paybacks, which is going to make an interesting addition, since he can't be taken seriously as a hero, so what is he going to be as part of that team?








Power Cubed #2
This comic is a ridiculous balancing act, throwing a ton of ideas together into a comedic book, and it pulled off the first issue. It could still go terribly wrong, but for now, we have a ridiculous and fun comic with no sense of reverence.












The Rook #1
A time traveler discovers a terrorist that travels through time. He decides to start a one-man war, following him through time to fight back. This is exactly the kind of crazy I want to see in a comic, it's just a question of if it can live up to it.










The Steam Man #1
Wild West steampunk alien invasion fought off by giant mechs, when vampires are added to the mix? This is my kind of insanity - throw absolutely everything you have together into one - and I just hope they can make it work. The crazier the idea, the more fun it is if you pull it off properly.

IDW

Back to the Future #1
Look, I am more than sick to death of people talking about Back to the Future. I'm more than ready for the day to pass. However, I have to give it credit for being released on the day from the second movie. There's also the chance it might be an interesting comic.









Danger Girl: Renegade #2
I liked the first issue, and that's exactly why I'm looking forward to this one. Okay, that's a bit simple, but it's true. It's a fun adventure somewhere between spy and adventurer archaeologist, and I'm interested in reading more of that.

Marvel

Hawkeye Omnibus
The entire run of the Hawkeye series by Fraction and Aja, in a single hardcover omnibus. Yes, it's $100, but it's worth every bit of that. It's one of the best recent series from Marvel, and across comics as a whole.







Shattered Empire #4
The end of this series almost came out of nowhere, seeing as the first issue is in such the recent past. This is the first real glimpse the comics have given us of what happens after Return of the Jedi, and with the timing of coming right after the new trailer, it certainly has a lot of attention.

Vertigo

Clean Room #1
Looking at the description, I'm not 100% sure of the tone of this book, but the description really speaks for itself. Something in a self-help book makes Philip kill himself, and his fiancee, Chloe, is determined to find out what really happened and who the self-help guru really is. There is the danger of this turning too preachy, yes, but the setup sounds like something out of my brain, so I'm definitely interested.

Comic Review: Star Wars: Shattered Empire #1

• Writer: Greg Rucka
• Artist: Marco Checchetto
• Colors: Andres Mossa
• Letterer: Joe Caramagna
• Publisher: Marvel Comics

In the new Star Wars universe, this is the first of the comics to cover ground after Return of the Jedi. In fact, it starts almost immediately after that, starting to move the story forward in the immediate aftermath of the battle of Endor, but despite finally moving things forward, there are a few issues with how it handles moving the story forward.

Why I've Changed My Mind: JJ Abrams is Perfect for Star Wars Episode VII

Despite not being a huge fan, Star Wars is such a huge deal that it's impossible for me not to talk a lot about it on this blog, especially considering that Disney intends to make it into a huge franchise. When JJ Abrams was announced as the director, I just rolled my eyes along with a lot of other people. It's not that I dislike him (I've liked every movie of his that I've seen), but just that he has a style that has caused some particular problems. There's also the Mystery Box phenomenon that he's a little too in love with, all of this adding up to people generally rolling their eyes at him when he's involved in something. However, giving it a little more thought, I think he's actually the best choice for directing this movie.

I'd say that Abrams has a style best suited to TV, and that's where his most successful projects have been. Even though he was only involved in the pilot, LOST truly put him on the map because of a great pilot, and it's what really kickstarted his career (from my perspective, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) to the point that he's on top of the world. The issue I've found is, despite liking his movies, they all feel incomplete, like the story truly hasn't been resolved. This makes me feel like he's so good at creating pilots (and TV episodes in general) that he's constantly making them, even in his movies. If viewed as the pilot episode to a longer series (or a season premiere), his Star Trek movies suddenly make a lot more sense (this doesn't explain the problem with Super 8, and I haven't seen MI3, so no comment there).

So, why is he perfect for Star Wars? The ending of Return of the Jedi really wrapped the main Skywalker story up nicely, but there are a number of possible directions it could go from there. The movie didn't give much indication that things were headed in any particular direction from there, and that's where Abrams comes in. He needs to set up something new, even though it's in a world we're already familiar with, and since it's going to be a huge franchise, there need to be a lot of unanswered questions and open ends. It needs to tell a complete story (it can't be the LOST pilot, which doesn't hold its own as a standalone story), but it's not like it's beyond his capability to do so.

All I know is that it's going to be very difficult to pull off right, and they seem to have chosen the right person to open up an old world to something new.