MFR Newsletter 9/6/2020 — "I'm vengeance." "Hi vengeance, I'm dad!"
What’s shaking, comics people? EIC Anthony here once more, running out of new and interesting lines to open this newsletter with.
I’m not sure when you’re reading this, but at the time of writing it, every single Black Panther comic ever published is free on Comixology. I will always pick physical comics over digital comics if given the choice, but a deal this good pretty much leaves no choice. I got well over $500 worth of comics for $0. Do with this information what you will.
I don’t know about you all, but I have been buying and reading (mostly buying) a LOT of books this year. I mean, I usually buy a lot of books, but I feel like maybe I went a little overboard this summer. Spending habits aside, I’ve noticed that my tastes this year have leaned heavily towards cartoonists — Stan Sakai, Don Rosa, Naoki Urasawa, Eastman & Laird, etc. Singular visions. And in the cases when I have read superhero comics, they’ve been along the lines of DOOM PATROL or SUPERMAN: KRYPTONITE, which are still somewhat independent stories separate from the serialized, monthly grind of the more mainstream stuff.
Now this makes sense when you consider that new comics were offline for a while, but even when the weekly stuff started to come back, I found myself less interested in jumping back into those series. I let them pile up and continued my binge of outsider stuff (save for a few titles like DAREDEVIL, IMMORTAL HULK, or SUICIDE SQUAD which are, again, singular stories that don’t really require any outside reading to enjoy or understand).
This isn’t anything new — I’ve noticed over the last couple of years I’ve been pulling away from the monthly superhero grind, and I know many others have been doing the same. The never-ending barrage of events, tie-ins, and to-be-continueds is exhausting. Sometimes you just want to read stories that have a clean beginning, middle, and end. Even with indie series from Image or Dark Horse, I’ve been abandoning the single issues and waiting for the trade and finding it more fulfilling.
So what am I saying? That we should abandon the single issue model and move to a more graphic novel-based system? I don’t know. Maybe? I don’t think I really had a point; I just started rambling and here we are. But I do know that by no longer trying to “keep up” on monthly comics and just reading what I want without the pressures of continuity or FOMO, I’ve rejuvenated my love for the medium.
Review: GODZILLA – THE HALF CENTURY WAR Is Saturday Matinee Goodness
IDW just put out James Stokoe’s GODZILLA book in hardcover, and Gabe Hernandez took a look at the new collection. I loved Stokoe’s work on ALIENS: DEAD ORBIT, so I’ve been very excited to get my hands on this one. I’m not the world’s biggest Godzilla fan, but this art is just too good. Plus the story sounds super cool: A military man spends 50 years tracking and hunting the King of Monsters.
Review: JOHN CONSTANTINE: HELLBLAZER: MARKS OF WOE — Foul-Mouthed And Horrifying Once More
I got to read the full first volume of JOHN CONSTANTINE: HELLBLAZER from DC Black Label, and I thought it was a blast. Black Label allows the creative team to really go nuts — Constantine can swear again, yes, but also the team can tell much darker, more mature horror stories (and they do!). This is like a return to the Vertigo HELLBLAZER days, and I highly recommend you pick it up.
On Becoming A Tree in Life And Death According To FAMILY TREE #8
Elizabeth Buck wrote about the latest issue of FAMILY TREE, and specifically discusses the symbology of trees in the series. As she says, “Trees are the O. G. mythic symbol.”
An Origin Story Like No Other In TEEN TITANS: BEAST BOY
Cat Wyatt reviewed TEEN TITANS: BEAST BOY, Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo’s long-awaited follow-up to their RAVEN YA graphic novel. I follow Picolo’s Titans fan art on Instagram (so should you) and I think it’s awesome that DC pegged him to work on these reimaginings. I can’t wait for the next one, BEAST BOY LOVES RAVEN.
What I’m Currently Reading
I read the first issue of ATLANTIS WASN’T BUILT FOR TOURISTS from Scout Comics (written by Eric Palicki, drawn by Wendell Cavalcanti, colored by Mark Dale, & lettered by Shawn Lee) and oh man did it get its hooks into me. I knew nothing about this series before getting into it — nothing — and I think that’s why I loved it so much. It starts simple enough: Lucas is a nomad passing through Atlantis, a small town which doesn’t get many visitors (and which seems to like it that way). It’s pretty clear early on that this town has some secrets, but I was not at all prepared for what those secrets were.
So I definitely recommend checking out the first issue, but I would say just buy it and read it — do not read any synopses. Just know that it’s a good ol’ creepy small town tale.
We were dropping off some old books at a used bookstore this week, and they have a ton of longboxes where I’ve found some gems in the past. My fiance tore me away from them pretty quick this time, but not before an interesting cover caught my eye. BATMAN: ROOM FULL OF STRANGERS is a one-shot from 2004 by cartoonist Scott Morse and letterer Janice Chiang, and I’m not sure if this is a story that Batman fans are aware of, but I certainly had never heard of it before. Though, I would say calling it a “Batman” story is actually pretty misleading. It’s not a “Batman comic” per se, though the shadow and spirit of the Caped Crusader does loom over the story.
Jim Gordon is retired and takes a vacation to a remote inn to relax and get away from Gotham. Then a dead body pops up and a storm knocks out the power, so ol’ Jimbo takes charge to get to the bottom of things in a room full of strangers (hey that’s the title of the book!). It sounds like a fun romp, and it definitely starts out that way, but then the ending hits with one hell of an emotional gut punch. And Morse’s art is very unique to a Batman-universe story.
Also reading: Latest issues of USAGI YOJIMBO, WYND, WICKED THINGS, & IMMORTAL HULK, as well as BATMAN: GOTHAM NOIR and continuing my journey into OG TMNT.
COMIC STRIP • TALES OF MFR #69
Jamie’s inner-child really comes out in the third panel here. I love the colorful, cartoony aside — it reminds me of manga or anime, which I’m sure was part of the inspiration.
Catch up on the series here: TALES OF MFR
The war between monkeys and robots has raged on for eons; these are the stories that have survived. With art by Jamie Jones and the occasional words by Matt Sardo, Tales of MFR hits the web every Sunday.
For more reviews, interviews, and “Legends of the Longbox”, head over to the website to see what the team’s been working on this week:
That’s all for now! Remember: Darkseid is… but so are we.
Until next week,
Anthony Composto
@The_Great_Ace
@monkeys_robots
ABOUT US
Join Monkeys Fighting Robots for an inside look at the world of comic books and the evolution of the industry.
CONTACT US
Send your comments, questions, & concerns to: info@monkeysfightingrobots.com
If you like what we do, and you want to help us get to a place where we can pay our wonderful writers, please consider becoming a patron on Patreon, purchasing any of our publications, or buying a shirt from our TeePublic store.