Each week, CBR has your guide to navigating Wednesday’s new and recent comic releases, specials, collected editions and reissues, and we’re committed to helping you choose those that are worth your hard-earned cash. It’s a little slice of CBR we like to call Major Issues.
If you feel so inclined, you can buy our recommendations directly on comiXology with the links provided. We’ll even supply links to the books we’re not so hot on, just in case you don’t want to take our word for it. Don’t forget to let us know what you think of the books this week in the comments! And as always, SPOILERS AHEAD!
ARKHAM CITY: THE ORDER OF THE WORLD #1 (DC)
The video game Batman: Arkham City what happened when the residents of Arkham Asylum twisted a chunk of Gotham City in their own warped image. And in a DC Universe where Arkham Asylum is out of commission, Dan Watters, Dani Strips, Dave Stewart and Aditya Bidikar’s Arkham City: The Order of the World #1 details one psychologist’s efforts to put Arkham’s escapees back in treatment.
Arkham City #1 is one of the most outstanding new DC comics in recent memory. While it nods towards Gotham Central-esque procedural, the book’s plot takes some legitimately surprising twists and offers strange bold reinterpretations of Batman’s obscure villains. Dani and Stewart deliver pitch-perfect, jaw-dropping art with blocky figures and murky shadows in the tradition of Eduardo Risso or latter-day Frank Miller. Altogether, a smart plot and impressive art make this one of the most exciting, unique Batman comics out there and a must-read for fans of more experimental DC books.
WE HAVE DEMONS #1 (COMIXOLOGY)
To kick off his highly anticipated line of digital-first ComiXology Original comics, superstar writer Scott Snyder reteams with his Batman and Dark Nights: Metal collaborator Greg Capullo – along with Jonathan Glapion, Dave McCaig and Tom Napolitano – on their first creator-owned title, We Have Demons. This debut issue sees the teenage hero Lam embark on a faithful mission against the forces of darkness.
While a good chunk of this extended first issue is dedicated to world-building, every member of the creative is a master of their craft, and that skill is clear on every page. Thematically, this series still deals with the grand ideas about good and evil that permeated through Snyder’s more epic DC work, and the debut already explores ideas that the Justice League could never handle. Capullo and the art team deliver expertly composed pages throughout the book’s first half, but their work really comes alive with the gory action and Spawn-esque monster designs in this solid debut’s final pages.
NEW MUTANTS #22 (MARVEL)
Since the X-Men regrouped on the mutant nation Krakoa, Marvel’s mutants have accepted and assimilated their villains with relative ease. But with New Mutants #22, Vita Ayala, Rod Reis and Travis Lanham revisit the idea through the Shadow King, who has taken a keen interest in mentoring some of Krakoa’s young. When the elder New Mutants confront him, they find a horrifying villain who makes some worthwhile points.
With its current creative team, New Mutants has become one of the hidden gems of the X-Men line-up. Ayala has a pitch-perfect handle on the voices of the book’s large cast and subtly ties the story into the large X-narrative while keeping the focus here. Reis is delivering career-best work in every issue with some of the boldest, most innovative art in mainstream superhero comics today that more than lives up to Bill Sienkiewicz’s artistic legacy on the title.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #75 (MARVEL)
In Amazing Spider-Man #75, Peter Parker’s clone, Ben Reilly, officially takes over as Marvel’s new Spider-Man in an entertaining debut from Zeb Wells, Patrick Gleason, Marcio Menyz and Joe Caramagna. In this issue, Ben, the official Spider-Man of the Beyond Corporation, and Peter reacquaint themselves with each other before a brutal battle that one hero doesn’t walk away from.
While Reilly’s history has a tendency to get convoluted, the questions that surround his return set up some compelling mysteries. Gleason and Menyz’s kinetic art is a perfect fit for Spider-Man, especially in the extended fight scene at the end of the issue. With a relatively continuity light plot, Wells delivers an inviting opening chapter to the web-slinger’s next saga.
BATMAN: THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE SEASON 2 #5 (DC)
As a comic book revival of Batman: The Animated Series, Batman: The Adventures Continue Season 2 #5 could easily stay focused on the past. However, Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, Rick Burchett, Monica Kubina and Josh Reed seem to be actively adapting and responding to the current events of DC’s core Batman titles. In the same way that the militaristic, vigilante-hunting Magistrate has taken over the DC Universe’s Gotham City, this issue flashes back to a young Batman dealing with the vigilante-hunting M-Force in the DC Animated Universe.
Burnett and Dini’s deft script offers a streamlined story that touches on the same ideas that the Magistrate represents and adjusts them for the DCAU’s retro-futuristic world while establishing the threat of former Gotham Mayor Mayfield. Burchett and the art team remain as strong as ever, with work that pushes the DCAU’s iconic designs into a more cartoony direction. Even if the DCAU is no longer growing on-screen, stories like this prove that it’s still alive and well.
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