Sequential Shenanigans

Over the past three months I lost track of any concept of new comics releases and unfortunately I'm still not caught up. I'm an issue behind on Iron Fist and Punisher and two or more back with Captain America, Daredevil, Batman and Brave and the Bold. The ones I've missed several issues of are ones I generally enjoy, but they don't have me running to the store. Let's take a look.

Captain America - Whenever I think of this title under Brubaker, I think of one word: solid. The writing is always good and you can tell these stories are planned out because the execution is always spot-on. That said, the consistency can lower my excitement because I already know what I'm going to get. On the other side is a book like Iron Fist, which probably isn't as dependable from a craft standpoint but always bursts with the mad ideas that make it work. Another problem I have is the coloring. Everything I've seen from Frank D'Armata has been the same blurry mess that obscures just enough to piss me off. The pencils from Epting and Perkins are once again "solid". But, the fact that they have such a similar style adds to my feelings of
seeing the book before I ever read it. I know a large part of this comes from the book being close to three years old. Still, this is a very solid book that Brubaker has made completely into an espionage/action mold. I just need to complain about something.

Daredevil - I can't even remember the last thing that happened when I read this. Mr. Fear was still around, which was issue 100 at the earliest. Like Captain America this book is always a decent read, but I always go for the Super Soldier first. I think a lot of that has to do with Cap being a book that Brubaker has been in total control of from the start. With Daredevil he had to deal with material that was there before he started, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but from his planning on Cap I'd like to have seen what he could do if he'd started from scratch. Plus, maybe it's just having read more stories of the character, but most of what he's doing seems like old-hat. Now that doesn't mean it's badly done, just that, once again, over in Cap he's set up things that seem new, to me at least.

Batman - Seeing Grant Morrison's name on a book will make me try it no matter what. Unfortunately, so far this has been about as uneven as they come. Plus, besides a three-issue stint by JH Williams III, the art has been uniformly bad. I thought Andy Kubert did some okay work on his first few issues but it was all downhill from there. Sadly, Tony Daniel has me praying for a Kubert return. The story has been completely up and down, with a decent if somewhat low impact opening arc, followed by a text story I didn't care for and two more issues that were just there. But then we got the excellent #666 and the Club of Heroes arc with Williams. Since then there's been two issues that were part of a crossover and now I'm hoping that some sort of regularity has returned, as that's where I left off. And more than anything, I'd like to know what the hell is going on with the larger picture, because while it's obvious we're being shown the different incarnations of Batman, just like with Superman, so far I don't have any idea where we're headed. But with Morrison that's really half the fun.

The Brave and the Bold - No idea where I'm at here either. The last two I read featured Wonder Woman and Power Girl and then Flash with the Doom Patrol. And both were very good, certainly the best of the series so far for me. Both displayed why Mark Waid can be an excellent superhero writer when he's on. He clearly has these characters down and has set up just enough of a continuing story to tie things together, while keeping things easy enough to follow and not bogging down the individual stories with an overcomplicated plot. The art kind of leaves me cold, but let me explain. George Perez is certainly a good artist. More than anything he always tell the story clearly, which is certainly important. But nothing really stands out for me personally. I've never seen Perez in the same light as a Gil Kane or a John Buscema. And maybe I just don't respect my elders enough, but I'd rather see the widescreen antics of a Cassaday or a Quitely over him any day. Still, this is superheroics at their old-school best. Fun stories with no mass murdering rapists or continuity that you need wikipedia for. Does DC actually know they're publishing this?

Later with thoughts on the books that put in me a full sprint.