Sequential Art - March & April 2012

Hey, remember this? I'm going to condense the format of this Sequential Art post, only reviewing my three comics subscriptions, no more than three weekly manga, and whatever volumes I've read in the review period. Since this covers two months, it's a little longer than I'd prefer. Let's see how this goes:

Table of Contents

Comics (images are all issue #8)
Batman #7+8
Batwoman #7+8
Wolverine & the X-Men #7+8+9

Manga
One Piece ch.658-665
Beelzebub ch.146-153

Volumes
Batman & Robin: Batman Reborn
One Piece Volume 62
Mega Man: Robot Master Field Guide
Slam Dunk Volume 21


Rating System
MVP = Most Valuable Pages. Best comic of the month.
STAR = Good comic being good, makes me want to keep reading it.
GLUE = Not outstanding, but still good. Could be worth reading.
FUNK = Good series has a weak month. Haven't lost faith yet.
BENCH = Subpar comic. Doubting its value. Needs to redeem itself.
CUT = Bad comic. Not worth continuing to subscribe.

 Batman #7+8

The Court of Owls is in session, and a team of at least two dozen Talons are wreaking havoc. The Talons are part superhero, part immortal zombie, and part HOLY SHIT RUN AWAY. Pretty much the entire Bat-family (minus Batwoman...) will have Talons to fight, and Batman #8 does a fine job of building up these new villains as a powerful, swarming adversary and raising the stakes with an assassination montage. When this Talon business dies down (and it inevitably will) I hope we still see more out of The Court. As far as shadowy organizations go (DCnU has a lot of them), they're among the best. MVP


 Batwoman #7+8

I really like the idea(s) behind the current arc of Batwoman, but the action is alternately superb and sluggish. The writers are switching between POVs every few pages and playing around with timelines, making following a cogent storyline somewhat challenging - I had to read a few pages multiple times to figure shit out (it helped that the art was very good). When we have action, though, it's fabulous, with Falchion bringing urban legends to life, Kate using some awesome government tech, and a few Batwoman allies (for now?) in memorable supporting roles. GLUE


 Wolverine & the X-Men #7+8+9

Issues #7 and #8 admirably close out the Brood storyline, with a few choice words from Kid Gladiator and some intriguing self-doubt from Broo. I'm glad it's over, but it's probably for the best it happened. I dig Iceman's love triangle. The real big ticket is in issue 9, when Wolverine announces his allegiance for the upcoming Avengers vs. X-Men crossover and pledges to protect the school at all costs. The oncoming Phoenix Force is so intense that its changing direction towards Earth knocks Quentin Quire and Rachel Summers unconscious. Holy shit. STAR


 One Piece ch.658-665

The exposition and setup in Punk Hazard continues, culminating in old allies and enemies in new positions, experiments being performed on criminals and children, and a mad scientist with Logia powers, the alliteratively named Caesar Clown. Lots of weirdness in the form of giant drug-addicted children, a samurai missing his torso, Yeti assassins strong enough to defeat Zoro (stupid cliffhanger), and characters switching bodies thanks to Law's powers. Shit has gotten weird, and once characters have lined up for combat in the traditional manner it will get REAL. GLUE


 Beelzebub ch.146-153

It's a return to juvenile delinquent-ism now that all the demon battles are done. Ishiyama High goes on a school trip and shares a hotel with another school full of delinquents, complete with its own child-rearing badass (!?). This new school's crop of gangs is no match for the Touhoushinki, but the guy that carries around a little girl (that hilariously competes for Beel's attention with Kanzaki's niece) is on par with Toujou and possibly Oga. Also, new guy falls in love with Kunieda at first sight. I think a superpowered-delinquent showdown is in this story's future.


 Batman & Robin: Batman Reborn

Earlier this year I read Batman: RIP, a Grant Morrison-penned Batman title that ends in Batman's supposed death and Dick Grayson taking up the Batman mantle. There's a follow-up story to that one called Battle for the Cowl that I skipped over because it's complicated, expensive, and ultimately doesn't change anything - Dick receives the cowl from Alfred at the end of RIP, and he's working with Damian Wayne's Robin as the new Batman in Batman Reborn. This series went on for about 18 months from 2009 to 2011, and received incredible praise during its run.

This is a pretty cool Batman story in general. The new dynamic duo take on a twisted murderer and mind-controller named Mr. Pyg, a new incarnation of the vigilante Red Hood (same old incarnation, new costume), and a sadistic, powerful, and flamboyantly gay hitman named Flamingo. Morrison does love creating wacky characters, but the real strength is the dynamic between Dick, Damian, and Alfred. Damian is probably the least-likeable Robin since Jason Todd, but his background and character potential are all through the roof. This was a solid book and I'm looking forward to its sequels. GLUE


 One Piece Volume 62

Oh hey, it's the volume with my favorite cover image, now in English! These eleven chapters set up an offscreen training arc for The Greatest Time Skip in Comics History (nothing else comes close) and have the crew setting off for Fishman Island after a quick reunion in Sabaody Archipelago which has a few old enemies, plus a new gang of imposter Straw Hat Pirates. This One Piece volume has it all - great action, funny dialogue, and each of the main characters showing off new looks and new powers while staying true to their character. Oda is a master. STAR


 Mega Man: Robot Master Field Guide

This is an informational fanservice book that's the Mega Man equivalent of UDON's Street Fighter: World Warrior Encyclopedia. It has roughly 90-100 pages, with each devoted to a character from the "classic" Mega Man series (as in MM _, not X or Battle Network or whatever). It's quite thorough, with pretty much every character I could think of possessing a page. It's amusing, colorful, and at times quite weird (each robot has likes, dislikes, personality commentary, etc.), but a fun book for Mega Man fans like myself. GLUE


 Slam Dunk Volume 21

Incredible selection of chapters. We see the final minutes of the Ryonan match, which are some of the best Sakuragi in-game scenes in Slam Dunk (other than the final game of the series) as well as the best Kogure chapter there is, period. The final scene of the Ryonan rematch, which parallels the final spread from the Kainan game, brought manly tears to my eyes. Most of the other content was "meanwhile..." gaiden chapters that introduce a few upcoming opponents, including Horishige (who I had pegged as the series final boss at first). But that Ryonan game, oh man. STAR

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So that's that. I'm going to try and do one of these each month, but I'll be iffy about the manga I recap. I don't want to do 6-7 series like I used to, so I'll probably just recap One Piece plus one or two others, based on their pace of scanlation. The three comics series are a given, and chances are I'll do at least one volume per week. Now back to my regularly scheduled Red Dead Redemption.