I’d probably hate that title less if there actually were three “Trinity of Sin” comics on the stands.
Normally, on the rare occasion I buy Avatar comics and am forced to choose among the various cover options, the “regular” cover or the “terror” cover or the “propaganda” cover or the “lava leopard” cover or what have you, I usually go for the wraparound cover. Maybe it’s the mindset of “I’m want as much for my buck as possible, so I want twice as much cover as normal,” I don’t know. But this time, for Caliban, I went for the above “regular” cover, which just seemed more creepy and evocative than the perhaps more on-the-nose wraparound cover (which you can see on the publisher’s site). It certainly looks more like an old sci-fi paperback cover, at least to my eye.
The comic itself is off to an interesting start (an Earth ship unexpectedly merges with a mysterious, and much larger, alien craft, unpleasantness ensues) placing it solidly in the horror sci-fi genre along with Alien, Event Horizon and even Disney’s The Black Hole. …C’mon, you know that movie’s terrifying.
Some short notes about other comics this week:
Action Comics #30 – drawn, in part, by local artist and friend of the shop Jed Dougherty! Features the beginning (more or less) of the return of Doomsday storyline, or at least has that big ol’ “Prelude to SUPERMAN DOOMED” banner inset on the cover, and it doesn’t look like lightning is striking twice on this yet, but who knows. Maybe demand will pick up on these when the Doomsday story really gets moving along. And maybe all those copies of Adventure of Superman #500 will start selling again. And Superman #75 will finally break that $1000 barrier! I’LL BE RICH, I TELL YOU
Swamp Thing #30 – unexpected DC Universe guest-star in this issue, assisting Mr. A. Holland and friends with their particular dilemma. This installment ends with just about as disturbing a sequence as I’ve seen in Swamp Thing in quite some time, without having to resort to gore or corpses or really violence of any sort.
Starlight #2 – continues to be very by-the-numbers plotwise, but competently so, and thus is at least readable while you enjoy the true star of the book, the beautiful artwork by Goran Parlov.
She-Hulk #3 – everyone is telling you this is a great comic, and everyone is correct. This issue, She-Hulk tries to secure asylum for the “son” of Dr. Doom, and it’s exciting, it’s funny, and Doom’s son is both trying and a bit tragic. One thing I need to remember is that every two-page spread needs to be read across both pages, rather than down page one then back up to the top of the facing page. I’m so trained to do one page at a time that I kept having to remind myself “read all the way across before going down to the next tier of panels.” Not that I said that out loud to myself as I was flipping through the book, why would you even think that.
Phantom Stranger #18 – the Stranger helps Superman struggle against the ghosts of those he’s failed, or something like that. I’m pretty sure I need to read this again, because I’m not sure I quite caught it all the first time. The plot centers around that recent development over in the Justice League books, where a mind-controlled Superman straight up flash-fried Doctor Light, which is, mind control or not, kind of an upsetting thing to have as part of Superman’s history. Even the New 52 history, such as that is. I was kind of happy ignoring that, but nope, here it is in a book I read. Ah, well. Also, I’m totally shelving this comic in the Ps, not under T for “Trinity of Sin: Phantom Stranger” which is the official title, because that official title is dumb and I hate it.
i agree the story in She-Hulk is great. but the art, man… the art… it’s so terrible. so, so bad. worst art in any current Marvel book. am i the only one who thinks this? what is up with Jen’s face? why does it look like that? why is it so circular? why are her eyes so big and stupid and close together? what happened to her? did i miss the story where she got deformed?
Disturbing Swamp Thing, you say? I’m sold! Though in my mind, nothing’s going to top that time be was raped by the robo-planet.
” what happened to her? did i miss the story where she got deformed?”
let’s blame Chuck Austen!
” flash-fried Doctor Light,”
Everyone should be allowed to kill Dr Light at least once!
“[it] is dumb and I hate it.”
Let that be my epitaph.
Little late to the game here, but I totes agree about those Avatar covers. I too have usually gone for the wraparounds (for most of Warren Ellis’ books for example), but recently I’ve found that the regular covers (Dan the Unharmable, God is Dead) and the painted (or “propaganda”) covers (Uber and the not-as-recent two Anna Mercury series) are the better choices. Mostly, I like that they give you the choice when ordering, as opposed to IDW, Dynamite and some other companies that often ship two “regular” covers 50/50. When I’m the only guy in my store ordering Codename Action, I don’t always get the obviously superior Jae Lee cover, and that’s a cheap move by the publisher.
I’m actually quite fond of Javier Pulido’s art in She-Hulk. It make me think of Gilbert Hernandez inked by Jaime Hernandez (or vice versa).