Comic shop comics: Jan 18

Daredevil #8 (Marvel Entertainment) I was awfully worried about this issue. It's part two of a two-part story that began in Amazing Spider-Man, which I don't read and the existence of this crossover didn't convince me to start now, and it's not drawn by Marcos Martin or Paolo Rivera, the two artists who were taking turns drawing the book for the previous seven issues. (Martin's since left the book completely; Rivera's responsible for the beautiful cover above, in which we see the two heroes posed dramatically yet naturally in a quintessential urban crimefighter setting, in such a way that makes the image symmetrical and highlights Spider-Man's unique powers. It's a hell of an image, really).

Kano is the interior artist, and I remained worried by the time I got to the second page, and saw this image of Black Cat, whose proportions look...off to say the least.She's drawn with huge breasts throughout, and sometime they are just silly looking, this image being one such instance (I do like the look on Being Electrocuted Spider-Man's face, though).

Well, I had nothing to worry about. The story was easy enough to follow, even if the specific details didn't resonate with me fully (it was no worse than reading, say, any X-Men comic ever made, for example). Someone framed Black Cat for stealing something, Spidey and Daredevil thought she was guilty, they had some sort of conflict and, when this issue opens, they are about to get into the "...and then team-up" portion of the traditional Marvel team-up formula).

Kano's art is really good, and, in fact, this is the best I've seen form him (or her, or them). It certainly helps that its colored by Javier Rodriguez in the same style as previous issues, and interesting to see that even though Martin is gone, his presence continues to be felt in the lay-outs, either because Waid is scripting tightly in such a way as to suggest the artists lay out the pages the way Martin might have, or because the artist is following Martin's example.There are several scenes that are just plain fun to read. I particularly enjoyed the scene right after the heroes all resolve their differences and take to the rooftops, each moving in a different, individual way and then crawling around an apartment in different ways. Or the panel where Spider-Man rips down a door. Or the inspired scene where DD uses his billy club thingee and a rotating helicopter blade to take out a crowd of thugs. Or Spidey's face on page 18. Or Daredevil's smile when a foe says "He can't hit what he can't see!" Or when Black Cat kicks that pilot in the face. Or...

Yeah, this is a really great-looking comic.

The cliffhanger Waid sets up recycles an element from his "Tower of Babel" storyline of his JLA run; the specifics are a little different, and the intent behind the, um, theft will certainly turn out to be quite different, but it's impossible to look at the panel of the reveal and not think of the panel of the reveal from JLA...if you've read both stories, anyway.


Tiny Titans #48 (DC Comics) Barbara unmasks, the Tiny Titans go retroactive, Wonder Girl reveals her secret orange and Commissioner Gordon...remembers:


Wonder Woman #5 (DC) Something seems off this month. Unlike previous issues, which managed to seem like 22 pages even though they were actually only 20, this one feels too short. What's different? Well artist Tony Akins is in for Cliff Chiang, but Akins does a fine job. His work does justice to to all of Chiang's designs, and it tells the story well, even if its obvious it no longer Chiang drawing it, and there are occasionally wonky poses here and there.

Brian Azzarello's long plot takes another step forward, introducing another demigod and reintroducing readers to two more Olympians, both of whom have radically different designs than the forms they're traditionally depicted appearing in. One of them is only barely glimpsed and will presumably be seen at greater length next issue; the other gets a scene, and I'll admit to sort of marveling at how thorough a reimagination his form presented.