The Best Sequential Art I Read Last Week: December 1 – 7, 2021

Related Content from And There Came A Day:

• November 23 – 30, 2021
• November 16 – 22, 2021
• November 9 – 15, 2021
• November 2 – 8, 2021

COMICS I READ LAST WEEK

The Best Comic I Read Last Week Was

Nightwing Annual #1

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Tom Taylor… goodness, sir. 

We already knew you could write Dick Grayson, now we discover you are equally adept at writing Jason Todd. 

Mr. Taylor’s moment continues in Nightwing Annual #1. Bringing together the first two Robins in a story that spans years, Taylor shows himself (once again) to be a master of both quiet character moments and bombastic action. Not only that, he illustrates that his intimate knowledge of the histories of the comics he writes is, perhaps, his greatest strength. He mines the massive back histories of these characters to tell a story that is exciting and affecting. Taylor is quickly establishing himself as a master of all things Bat-Family and all  characters within it. Though I want him on Nightwing (my favorite character) for a long, long run, it is only a matter of time before he’s offered the flagship, one thinks. Let’s enjoy him while we have him!

In this annual, his words are paired with a very good penciling team of Cian Toomey and Daniel HDR whose styles match the tone Taylor has set for both this issue and for the entirety of his Nightwing run. They more than ably take Nightwing and the Red Hood through their paces here and their flashback work to Robin and… Robin! is wonderful, too.

Annuals are too often exercises in silliness and, frankly, can be a waste of money. In a week where I had more than triple the typical number of issues on my electronic “pull list” – some of which were simply not terrific – this book stood out.

Taylor written comics tend to do that.

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I am a comic book collector and happy to be one. Comic book legend Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit) is one of the most influential men even to put pencil to drawing board in the pursuit of making comics. So influential was he that the industry awards (think the Oscars or the Emmys or the Grammys) are named The Eisner Awards. He called comic books “sequential art,” which is the best, quick description of what comics are.

This is my weekly reaction to the comics I read.

 

 

 

 

 

The Best Sequential Art I Read Last Week: November 23 – 30, 2021

Related Content from And There Came A Day:

• November 16 – 22, 2021
• November 9 – 15, 2021
• November 2 – 8, 2021
• October 26 – November 1, 2021

COMICS I READ LAST WEEK

The Best Comic I Read Last Week Was

DC vs Vampires #2

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Series like DC vs Vampires do not always light my fire. I often avoid them altogether as I am one of those “does it have bearing on continuity” guys. I picked up the first two issues of this one for one simple reason: James Tynion IV. 

I have been such a fan of what Tynion has done on Batman, that I followed him to Something is Killing the Children (what a great book!). Horror is not a comic book genre which I usually frequent; it takes a lot to get me to pick up a book like that. Tynion was what it took. Loving that book, loving his writing and loving DC characters (Hal Jordan!) got me into DC vs Vampires. It is hard for me to tell where co-writer Matthew Rosenberg ends and Tynion begins, but I came for Tynion.

It turns out, I should have come for Otto Schmidt. This is not to say that the writing is not what I wanted – on the contrary, it is brilliant and creepy and subverting of expectations in the best ways. It shows an encyclopedic knowledge of the murky corners of the DC Universe and handles the characters incredibly well. It twists and turns and works. But it the pencils, inks and colors of Schmidt that have me staring agape at my iPad.

This one is likely going to be career defining for Schmidt and it should be. His work here is outstanding and engaging. It is gory when it needs to be, exciting when it has to be and heartbreaking when it is called to be. His action is sweeping and his character moments are sweet.

The marriage of word and picture is perfect here. I am loving DC vs Vampires, the perfect Christmas book!

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I am a comic book collector and happy to be one. Comic book legend Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit) is one of the most influential men even to put pencil to drawing board in the pursuit of making comics. So influential was he that the industry awards (think the Oscars or the Emmys or the Grammys) are named The Eisner Awards. He called comic books “sequential art,” which is the best, quick description of what comics are.

This is my weekly reaction to the comics I read.

 

 

 

 

 

The Best Sequential Art I Read Last Week: November 16 – 22, 2021

Related Content from And There Came A Day:

• November 9 – 15, 2021
• November 2 – 8, 2021
• October 26 – November 1, 2021
• October 20 – 25, 2021

COMICS I READ LAST WEEK

The Best Comic I Read Last Week Was

Fantastic Four Anniversary Tribute #1

 

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These Marvel tributes have been amazingly well done. The modern interpretations of the classic pages are very well done with each of the too many to name artists putting their own spin on the Jack Kirby pages. 

What is special about this issue is how incredibly solid the story is, the writing is, the plotting is and the pacing is. This is a tribute to comic book that truly launched the Marvel Age. Without this book and without Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the world is a very, very different place. Truly. The. World. Would. Be. Different.

Seemingly effortlessly, Kirby and Lee introduce a dynamic, a family, four leading characters and build a world that feels at once comfortable and at the same time revolutionary. As they would with other characters and titles, The King and The Man shift this history of comic books. What is different here is that the mold is shattered as they do it. No costumes. A dysfunctional family. No real heroics. It is a brilliant issue that I was surprised that I knew almost panel-by-panel. Each one is classic. 

The issue is a classic. It must be one of the top ten issues in the history of comic books.

It deserves the tribute.

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I am a comic book collector and happy to be one. Comic book legend Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit) is one of the most influential men even to put pencil to drawing board in the pursuit of making comics. So influential was he that the industry awards (think the Oscars or the Emmys or the Grammys) are named The Eisner Awards. He called comic books “sequential art,” which is the best, quick description of what comics are.

This is my weekly reaction to the comics I read.

 

 

 

 

 

The Best Sequential Art I Read Last Week: November 9 – 15, 2021

Related Content from And There Came A Day:

• November 2 – 8, 2021
• October 26 – November 1, 2021
• October 20 – 25, 2021
• October 13 – 19, 2021

COMICS I READ LAST WEEK

The Best Comic I Read Last Week Was

Robin and Batman #1

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Anyone who has read a few of my weekly Best Sequential Art blogs know that I am absolutely in the bag for Dick Grayson. I love Robin. I love Nightwing. I love the Dick Grayson Batman. I love Agent 37. Perhaps DC Comics is starting to realize what a gold mine the character is. He has been around for 80 years and it seems the company is finally ready to embrace him.

It is about time!

Robin and Batman #1 is a wonderful first chapter in what seems destined to be a classic. Jeff Lemire is a staggering talent. His singular voice is heard throughout the issue, especially in the voice of Dick Grayson. His portrayal is updated for the times, but harkens back to the Batman and Robin dynamic with which many readers of my (long-toothed) generation are familiar. I found myself emotionally involved in the caped crusaders’ conflict and utterly drawn in by their dynamic.

Any book featuring art by Dustin Nguyen (there are not enough of them) is worth buying. As primarily a digital reader, I often run to a comic shop to purchase print copies of beautiful books. I bought two of this issue. The manner in which Nguyen captures the youth and optimism and crushing disappointment and malaise of Dick Grayson, young boy, is simply terrific.

I was going to be a fan of this book no matter what. That is is all but perfect makes the experience all the sweeter.

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I am a comic book collector and happy to be one. Comic book legend Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit) is one of the most influential men even to put pencil to drawing board in the pursuit of making comics. So influential was he that the industry awards (think the Oscars or the Emmys or the Grammys) are named The Eisner Awards. He called comic books “sequential art,” which is the best, quick description of what comics are.

This is my weekly reaction to the comics I read.

 

 

 

 

 

The Best Sequential Art I Read Last Week: November 2 – 8, 2021

Related Content from And There Came A Day:

• October 26 – November 1, 2021
• October 20 – 25, 2021
• October 13 – 19, 2021
• October 6 – 12, 2021

COMICS I READ LAST WEEK

The Best Comic I Read Last Week Was

The Human Target #1

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This was an amazing week of comics! There were so many good reads this week from Superman ’78 to Dark Knights of Steel. But The Human Target was far-and-away the best of a solid bunch.

Tom King might be the perfect writer for the character. In a page, the first page of the issue, King shows a comfort and love for the character that is engaging and compelling. I have been a fan of Christopher Chance for as long as I can remember – likely since first being introduced to him in the pages of a Bob Haney penned, Jim Aparo drawn Brave and the Bold in my youth. King captures the suave, self effacing Chance on every page. He makes me fall in love with the character all over again (and the promise of this story intersecting with the Justice League International era of comics is doubly enticing!). King remains one of the best writers in comics.

But the star of the book may well be Greg Smallwood. This guy DOES IT ALL. in total control of the visual feel of the book from soup to nuts, Smallwood’s work here is, likely, career defining. One need only look at the twitter responses of his fellow creators to realize how blown away they are by his work. As a simple reader, I found myself starting at the beauty and deceptive simplicity of the page, mesmerized by Smallwood’s approach. Sign Smallwood up FOREVER, DC Comics!

Here’s how I know I LOVE this book (outside of all the caps in this review): I am already sad it’s a limited series.

I cannot wait for issue two.

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I am a comic book collector and happy to be one. Comic book legend Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit) is one of the most influential men even to put pencil to drawing board in the pursuit of making comics. So influential was he that the industry awards (think the Oscars or the Emmys or the Grammys) are named The Eisner Awards. He called comic books “sequential art,” which is the best, quick description of what comics are.

This is my weekly reaction to the comics I read.

 

 

 

 

 

The Best Sequential Art I Read Last Week: October 26 – November 1, 2021

Related Content from And There Came A Day:

• October 20 – 25, 2021
• October 13 – 19, 2021
• October 6 – 12, 2021
• September 29 – October 5, 2021

COMICS I READ LAST WEEK

The Best Comic I Read Last Week Was

Batman: The Long Halloween Special #1

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When classics are revisited, revised or renewed, I have begun to approach them with trepidation. While I am typically drawn to characters and stories from the recesses of my comic collecting past, I have – too often – been disappointed by the results. This has been especially true when these stories are renewed by the same creative team that made them popular in the first place.

Can you go home again is the essential question.

In the case of Batman: The Long Halloween, the answer turns out to be an equivocated “yes!”

Reunited creators Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale immediately return readers to the corner of the Bat-Universe they created decades ago and they have not skipped a beat. Set late in the first year of Bruce Wayne’s crusade, the original Long Halloween told a complete mystery, wrapped in a riddle, surrounded by an enigma. One would think there were few avenues to wander through but Loeb and Sale give the lie to that assumption with this special.

The joy I felt as a reader to see these particular iterations of Batman, Two-Face, Jim Gordon and the rest of the characters surprised me. It was a feeling of something more than nostalgia. It was, perhaps, a longing for a simpler and, dare I say, more heroic approach to this particular hero.

Tim Sale has ever illustrated a beautiful Batman. Why he is rarely listed among the greatest Bat-Artists of all time is a conundrum to me. His work here is, appropriately, special.

Jeph Loeb’s feel for character – not just Batman but all character – has been his calling card for years. Reading this book made me miss his monthly presence in comics.

This is a wonderful book and an ode to a since passed brand of comics.

It’s a brand I would like to see more of!

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I am a comic book collector and happy to be one. Comic book legend Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit) is one of the most influential men even to put pencil to drawing board in the pursuit of making comics. So influential was he that the industry awards (think the Oscars or the Emmys or the Grammys) are named The Eisner Awards. He called comic books “sequential art,” which is the best, quick description of what comics are.

This is my weekly reaction to the comics I read.

 

 

 

 

 

The Best Sequential Art I Read Last Week: October 20 – 25, 2021

Related Content from And There Came A Day:

• October 13 – 19, 2021
• October 6 – 12, 2021
• September 29 – October 5, 2021
• September 22 – 28, 2021

COMICS I READ LAST WEEK

The Best Comic I Read Last Week Was

Nightwing #85

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Month-after-month, actually week-after-week given how prolific he is, Tom Taylor written books rise to the top of my electronic pile. He is surely having a moment, as they say, but I do not believe this is a moment that is going to fade. His command of characters across various companies (he is not just a Marvel guy or a DC guy, he is a comic book guy in the best sense of the term), his masterful plotting, his ability to tug at readers’ heartstrings and his penchant for clever and engaging cliff-hangers are not going away. Taylor is masterful. His books resonate and surprise. I look forward to them each week.

It does not hurt my appreciation that he is currently directing my all-time favorite character – Nightwing (though one could Nightwing #85 is actually a Batgirl story more than a Nightwing story). What he and the creative team he collaborates with – including the terrific penciler Robbi Rodriguez – have done in revitalizing this character and returning him to his essence has been nothing short of delightful. This is a terrific issue and the fact that it is in the midst of the Batman titles Fear State crossover does nothing to deter from what Taylor is doing in the title.

That is truly a mark of a talented writer. A mandated crossover feels like part of his plan. Impressive.

Frankly, everything Taylor touches right now is impressive (Superman: Son of Kal El was terrific this week as well!). Keep ’em coming, Mr. Taylor!

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I am a comic book collector and happy to be one. Comic book legend Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit) is one of the most influential men even to put pencil to drawing board in the pursuit of making comics. So influential was he that the industry awards (think the Oscars or the Emmys or the Grammys) are named The Eisner Awards. He called comic books “sequential art,” which is the best, quick description of what comics are.

This is my weekly reaction to the comics I read.

 

 

 

 

 

The Best Sequential Art I Read Last Week: October 13 – 19, 2021

Related Content from And There Came A Day:

• October 6 – 12, 2021
• September 29 – October 5, 2021
• September 22 – 28, 2021
• September 15 – 21, 2021

COMICS I READ LAST WEEK

The Best Comic I Read Last Week Was

Batman ’89 #3

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Batman ’89 is such a wonderful book. Lovingly crafted by the entire creative team headed by Sam Hamm and Joe Quinones, it is more than a continuation of the Michael Keaton Batman universe, it is an exploration of character that is deep and complex. It is a story of a Batman that we are lucky to be seeing in comics, and what a time for it to be appearing as a version of this very same Batman is about to be on screen in The Flash movie the coming months.

I cannot write effusively enough about Quinones’ art. His ability to both capture and update the spirit of the ’89 Batman is amazing. His dialed in approach to the character likenesses is terrific. He is a creator to watch. 

Sam Hamm should know his way around these characters as he wrote many of them for the Batman movies. What is most impressive to me is the new characters he has created and the seamless manner in which the mesh into this Batman story. 

Batman ’89 is a wonderful book. I said it last month, I’ll likely say it next month. Get this book. Make DC make MORE.

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I am a comic book collector and happy to be one. Comic book legend Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit) is one of the most influential men even to put pencil to drawing board in the pursuit of making comics. So influential was he that the industry awards (think the Oscars or the Emmys or the Grammys) are named The Eisner Awards. He called comic books “sequential art,” which is the best, quick description of what comics are.

This is my weekly reaction to the comics I read.

 

 

 

 

 

The Best Sequential Art I Read Last Week: October 6 – 12, 2021

Related Content from And There Came A Day:

• September 29 – October 5, 2021
• September 22 – 28, 2021
• September 15 – 21, 2021
• September 8 – 14, 2021

COMICS I READ LAST WEEK

The Best Comic I Read Last Week Was

Star Trek Year Five #25

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I am so sorry to see Star Trek Year Five come to an end. The team that has put this book together, led by writer Jackson Lanzing, has delivered remarkable Star Trek stories month-after-month, filling in a missing chapter in the stories of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest of the intrepid crew of the Starship Enterprise. Beyond engaging the reader with cosmic level stakes, the team has also brought emotional arcs to bear, tying the end of the original series to the start of The Motion Picture in a very, very satisfying manner. One has a sense of why the Enterprise Seven ended up where they did and why they made the choices they made that put them in those places. 

The art on the series was top notch and the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) shifts from the aesthetic of the original series to the multi-million dollar budget of The Motion Picture was fun to see unfold. Additionally, all the artists handled the challenging chore of nailing likenesses without slipping into copying stock photos of the cast. Like the writing, the art was worthy of the importance of the book overall.

One hopes that the next venture for this team is a chronicle of the fabled second five year mission… I am sure I am not alone in desiring that tale.

 

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I am a comic book collector and happy to be one. Comic book legend Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit) is one of the most influential men even to put pencil to drawing board in the pursuit of making comics. So influential was he that the industry awards (think the Oscars or the Emmys or the Grammys) are named The Eisner Awards. He called comic books “sequential art,” which is the best, quick description of what comics are.

This is my weekly reaction to the comics I read.

 

 

 

 

 

The Best Sequential Art I Read Last Week: September 29 – October 5, 2021

Related Content from And There Came A Day:

• September 22 – 28, 2021
• September 15 – 21, 2021
• September 8 – 14, 2021
• September 1 – 7, 2021

COMICS I READ LAST WEEK

The Best Comic I Read Last Week Was

Superman ’78 #2

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Goodness, DC Comics. Keep comics like Superman ’78 coming. 

Keep comics written by Robert Venditti coming.

And VERY, VERY much keep comics drawn by Wilfredo Torres coming.

This book is brilliant in every aspect. It is brilliantly written, brilliantly drawn, brilliantly executed. The tone is perfectly struck. The art is perfectly rendered. The book… is perfect.

DC is learning some solid lessons while teaching them, too. Superman ’78 is not simply nostalgia. It is a timeless Superman story for the ages. It will be talked about for years to come.

Do yourself a favor. Buy it. Now.

 

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I am a comic book collector and happy to be one. Comic book legend Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit) is one of the most influential men even to put pencil to drawing board in the pursuit of making comics. So influential was he that the industry awards (think the Oscars or the Emmys or the Grammys) are named The Eisner Awards. He called comic books “sequential art,” which is the best, quick description of what comics are.

This is my weekly reaction to the comics I read.