A comiXologist Recommends
Power Man & Iron Fist
2016 series by David F. Walker and Sanford Green
1978 series by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Dan Green and Dave Cockrum
As a young Luke Cage fanboy it is my esteemed pleasure to discuss the Power Man and Iron Fist bromance. I am all about it. Their friendship is one for the ages, forged in fire and fun quips that we should all aspire to have. It’s like Foggy and Matt Murdock without the legal and ethical disagreements. It’s the strong foundation of Bucky and Steve without the years of being an ice cube only to wake up a puppet of the Soviets and slug it out. Luke Cage and Danny Rand, through thick and thin, are the best of the best friends Marvel has ever had.
Now for the sake of brevity, because we are all busy people, I’m only going to vaguely explain two particularly good places to look in on these guys and their antics. If any reader wants to go right on ahead and start at the very beginning of the team-up “Power Man & Iron Fist” series from #1, do it. Be sure to note though, it’s a lot of wild, sometimes dated, Marvel 1970s camp. Marvel back then can sometimes be a polarizing experience to the uninitiated.
That said, my first selection is the 2016 PM&IF series that reunited these beautiful guys after years of separation. This series (which ties into the recent “Civil War II” event) brought the two together to stop an old friend-turned-foe from taking complete control of all organized crime in New York. The charm of this series comes from the guys being semi-retired from super-heroics. Luke is married (to Jessica Jones) with a young daughter, and Danny is Luke’s screw-up best friend who wants to “get the band back together.” Putting these two back on the street level beat is so funny. With David F. Walker penning some fantastic situational humor and action for Sanford Greene’s art skills, this series is one not to miss out on.
For my next second selection I am taking a step back near the beginning, but not to the very beginning. My top choice from the classics is issue #50 of the original PM&IF series. This is THE one to read if you want to understand Luke and Danny’s friendship. This wonderful story (called “Freedom!”) is their past, present, and gave us their beautiful future together. I will give nothing up of this story except the aforementioned origin of their true friendship. It is the “must read” story for these perfect brothers in arms and cannot be overlooked.
You can get both the old and new Power Man and Iron Fist series buy-one-get-one-free with the checkout code MARVEL through 9/5!
Recommended by Matthew Burbridge, Digital Editor at ComiXology.
A comiXologist Recommends
Space Battle Lunchtime #2
By Natalie Riess @gearfish
Oni Press @onipress
Are you a fan of cooking shows? Are you a fan of intensely dramatic science fiction? Are you up for a good laugh? If you answered “yes” or even an “I guess” to any of the questions in the opening interrogation then you should probably be reading “Space Battle Lunchtime.” Now is an all too perfect time to jump in. Issue #2 opens with the intergalactic cooking competition kicking off!
In the style of such reality cooking shows as “Cutthroat Kitchen” and “Iron Chef” a number of alien species are proud to present to you “Space Battle Lunchtime!” The finest chefs are pulled together from around the galaxy to test their skills in the finest cooking competition ever conceived. It’s a cooking competition reality show in space and there are aliens as contestants.
In this issue we are reintroduced to our contestants, including our protagonist Peony. Peony has been taken from Earth to compete in this gauntlet of champions and she is uncertain of what she can expect. Her position is completely understandable considering she is in space with aliens. Competing against Peony is a cast of creatures each one more wild than the last. The one to watch out for though is Melonhead, who is a bipedal humanoid with a watermelon…for a head! With devious shenanigans and goings-on’s around the competition floor things are really gonna heat up!
My attempt at cooking show copywriting aside, Natalie Riess has really put together an enjoyable book here. The concept is simple and fun. Science fiction can be too heady to the point of losing a wide readership. This book has the great zany tropes of a wild science fiction epic but applied to one of the most understandable settings anyone today can follow: The reality show. With the competition well underway in this issue, readers should jump in now while it is still early! Just like with a real reality show!
Matthew Burbridge is a Digital Editor at ComiXology. He wants to watch some BBC period dramas and maybe have as many meals in a day as a hobbit would. If he doesn’t regret eating that much, he might just decide to live that way.
A COMIXOLOGIST RECOMMENDS
Owly Vol. 2: Just a Little Blue
By Andy Runton
Owly is one of the great classics of the comics medium, of children’s books, and in narrative storytelling. Anyone who has had the pleasure of reading even a few pages of this adorable little owl’s adventures finds those few moments unforgettable. The cute levels in this and really any other volume of Owly sort of gets committed to memory. Start anywhere in this series, and you’re in for an adorably sweet treat!
Owly Vol. 2: Just a Little Blue, starts with our favorite round-faced owl being best pals with his worm-friend, Wormy. These best friends are hanging about the forest, gathering apples in Owly’s wagon, looking at stuff, and seeing what fun there is to have in the forest. Their curiosity pays off when they meet an irate blue bird guarding his nest from predators! It is there that Owly is then determined to make a new friend!
For the more discerning connoisseur of the comic craft, you will be able to appreciate the painstaking detail in the narrative and how the story is told. The approach to the narrative is through pantomime and dialogue, done almost exclusively through iconography. Instead of words in dialogue balloons, readers are told the story through over-the-top acting and very clever images in the balloons (You know, pantomime). The result is one of the most effective pantomime comics to date. Few can step up to the plate on Owly.
It is also almost unheard of that even the smallest of readers hasn’t seen an Owly book nowadays. They are everywhere, entirely kid safe, really quick to get through, and unquestionably enjoyable for even the adults & parents who might be forced into reading them!
Most importantly, if you like this one there is always more. This is volume 2. Maybe you could grab volume 1 while you’re at it, dear readers, and save yourselves the trouble. I guarantee you will want both.
Matthew Burbridge is a Digital Editor at ComiXology who as of late has been reading way too much dramatic literature and found this cute and quick read a breath of fresh air.
The Complete Wimmen’s Comix
published by @fantagraphics
Let us begin with a quick history lesson. The late 60s and early 70s were a fantastic time for comics. I’m talking about the peak years of the mainstream Silver Age where we were introduced to some of our most beloved characters including but not limited to Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, and The Incredible Hulk. But those fights-in-tights books weren’t all that was happening.
While in New York the good ol’ DC & Marvel gave us our favorites while following the strict guidelines of the Comics Code, some very bored cartoonists were making some very different work in the San Francisco Bay area. We had fellows like S. Clay Wilson making his “Checkered Demon” stories. R. Crumb, easily the most famous of them making his “Mr. Natural” and so many others being the compulsive sketch artist that he is. Those are two of the more widely remembered, but there was work coming out from Spain Wilson, Gilbert Shelton, Rick Griffin, and so many others! It was a good time for comics.
Albeit as fun and prolific as these artists tend to be, most of the work had a tendency toward the overly violent and misogynistic adhering to a primarily male perspective. This happened only because it was mainly a boys club that made up the underground scene. It wasn’t their fault, they just didn’t know any better. But that’s where Wimmen’s Comix came in! Comics made by women for EVERYBODY.
In this collection (with a foreward by the dazzling Trina Robbins) we are given an entire retrospective of the series run starting with possibly the most famous all-female anthology in American comics history: It Ain’t Me, Babe from 1970. This series had artists like Patricia Moodian, Aline Kominsky(-Crumb), Melinda Gebbie, Diane Noomin, and so many others! And they all appear in this book!
It is that level of completeness and attention to detail that really sells me on this book. There is more to take away from it then a few feminist lessons and some pretty artwork (and the art is very pretty) as many dudes seeing this review will write it off as.
This falls under my heading of required reading.
This anthology collection puts an entirely new spin on a time that was otherwise dominated by a male perspective. It can even be said that we can learn from these stories how far as an industry we’ve come (which isn’t as far as many might think) and how far we have left to go.
Matthew Burbridge is a Digital Editor at ComiXology that’s coming to the conclusion that his current book is gonna take a little over three weeks to finish at this rate. He’s really gotta buckle down, dig deep, and just finish it.
A comiXologist Recommends
By Dash Shaw, @dashshaw
Dash Shaw’s New School has proven to be an excellent success in comic experimentation. It reads aesthetically as a rich and organic piece of architecture. The narrative develops literally while its shifting moods manipulate the background noise in the back of our heads. Unlike most books that fall short of this goal, despite their best efforts, Shaw has created an exceptional coming-of-age story that grasps the real world’s impact on two brothers after they leave their parents
This book has a fairly simple narrative: Luke and Danny are brothers. Luke leaves home to teach English. Luke stays away longer than Mom & Dad thinks is necessary, so they send younger Danny along to retrieve his older brother. Danny meets up with Luke on the island known only as “X,” where Luke is teaching English to construction workers and locals who work at the nostalgia-themed amusement park “Clock Town.”
Danny finds Luke a changed man, and as times passes on “X” Danny too begins to understand these changes. Danny himself begins to grow into his own man and learns a good deal of life, the passage of time, and the contributions we can give back to it.
The strength of this book comes from its nuance. It deserves 3 or 4 more readings from me. I’m not sure where to start in any level of analysis. The approach it takes to the theme of time comes from every direction. The brothers’ parents for in the beginning of the book for example, speak with an antiquated syntax and vocabulary that makes them read as old world provincials. This detail by itself gave the brothers believably old-fashioned parents, made the step out into the real world feel like an awkward leap once Danny was on the island, and showed growth in both boys once apart from their parents. It sort of hits the feeling of learning that your family is weird right on the head.
“New School” has little things that can be dug into with analysis throughout, and if I had the time I’d give a full thesis on the subject.
I’m going to close out on this: This book understands brothers. There is a believable relationship of old wounds and sibling resentment depicted, but as if we were just hanging out with Luke & Danny. We see them for a short time and weren’t entirely aware of what had come before. We know there’s a history, and we do get some of that, but we certainly don’t need to know all of it to understand why they suffer the other one.
Matthew Burbridge is a Digital Editor at ComiXology and he thinks you’re pretty.
A comiXologist Recommends
Written by David Walker
Art by Sanford Greene
Colors by Lee Loughridge
I wasn’t ready for these two fiddle-faddling knick-knack
paddy-whacks! If you read the new
ongoing series of “Power Man and Iron Fist” you would get that opening
line. And you would find it hilarious.
It starts right here with this issue and it is excellent. There isn’t any wasted momentum and it isn’t looking like a series that has lost sight of what these two characters together is about. Luke Cage and Danny Rand aren’t just buddies who brawl back to back in the thick of it. They’re also best friends. The kind of best friends who have known each other longer than either would like to have known each other.
This issue starts with Luke and Danny, Power Man and Iron
Fist respectfully, waiting for a friend to be freed from prison. Jennie Royce, the former office manager of
Heroes for Hire has just finished her time in prison, for murder. As a gift and favor for the newly freed Royce,
Power Man and Iron Fist agree to recover a family heirloom from a local tough
guy. Shouldn’t be a problem for those
two.
It turns out to be quite the problem. Read this new, awesome and down-to-earth title to find out how big of a problem!
David Walker has written these two beautifully, with some of the wittiest dialogue more akin to a later film in the Lethal Weapon series (Let’s say Lethal Weapon 3, because 4 was okay). Walker establishes the depth of this friendship without wasting any time.
I can’t contain my excitement. For anyone who has read my reviews before,
and especially recently, they are familiar with my love for the street-level
heroes like Daredevil. I also hold
special places in my heart for Iron Fist and Luke Cage individually, and seeing
them together again has created a Venn diagram of adrenaline-fueled love.
Everyone should buy this book so it keeps getting made and goes on forever!
Matthew Burbridge is a Digital Editor at ComiXology and he has to remember to call the mechanic because his car keeps making this sound like the car from the movie “Uncle Buck” with John Candy as the titular character. You’ve seen that one right? It has Macaulay Culkin when he was really little and he has the giant pancake short stack the size of pizzas. That’s a good movie.
A comiXologist Recommends (a new comic that rules and doesn’t suck)
By Sam Humphries @samhumphries & Caitlin Rose Boyle @sadsadkiddie
This here is one choice piece of comic work! The characters, the writing, and the colors are all so fantastic! From the moment this one opens I was hooked! The first line on the first page has me won over immediately. This is going to be stellar when we get more, and I already want more!
We are from the very first page thrust into the life of Jonesy. I hear you! You’re saying, “Who the heck is Jonesy? Why do I care?” And that is when I will calmly tell you to leave my house before I call the police because I don’t know you. But that is of course after I freak out over how badass and cool Jonesy is!
I am in love with this one you guys. It is a high school adventure for the ages when Jonesy and her SECRET ANIME POWERS have to find out how to live in every day life. Especially on Valentine’s Day when the popular girls are somehow meaner than most character trope popular girls! And this is an important point to make. The writing of the teenage cruelty is all very grounded and true. It feels cruel. I believe it, but it isn’t something that is dramatically over the top. It feels like day-to-day mean kid cruelty.
And Jonesy hates Valentine’s Day for completely different reasons before the mean girls get their introduction.
But I have already read it and have no intention of spoiling the whole thing! This lovely new piece of brightly colored brilliance is out from BOOM! With an art-style like the modern classic Scott Pilgrim and a color scheme as energetic as Bravest Warriors and Lumberjanes combined, Jonesy is a book we should all buy right now.
That way we can say we read it before it was cool, because this one is going to be popular for all the right reasons.
Matthew Burbridge is a Digital Editor at ComiXology and he can’t think of a more outrageous scenario than saying “Bloody Mary” into a mirror three times and having Worf from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” jump out from behind the shower curtain and begin the Klingon ritual known as “The Bonding.”
A comiXologist Recommends (the return of a classic)
Writer – Mike Baron
Artist – Steve Rude
Mike Baron and Steve Rude have been around a long time, and they’ve made some wild stuff in their time in the business. I have somewhere in fact a Space Ghost comic Rude did in the 80s that I just adore. Mike Baron should be thanked for his relaunch of The Flash in the late-80s. Both men are prolific creators and mainstays of the industry, and it is important to take note right now of their most memorable creation: Nexus.
Nexus is a superhero that is essentially a man possessed by a cosmic entity (kinda like the Silver Surfer), who has to feed the entity that empowers him (sorta like the Silver Surfer as the Herald of Galactus) by slaughtering mass murderers before the visions of violence consume him and his sanity (which is nothing like the Silver Surfer).
The main character is named Horatio Hellpop, and as Nexus if he doesn’t kill the target he sees in his visions, he will lose his powers and his mind!
Truly, this comic strip #1 is a great way to be introduced to this character and the creator Steve Rude. Put out through Rude Dude Productions this is both action-packed space violence and a look into the process of creating the stories and art. There are full scripts to read over (or study for those who are inclined) and pre-ink pencil art, which is my favorite way of viewing Steve Rude’s work. His pencils are just some of the most spectacular to see ever.
Solid character introductions, artist profiles, and work-in-progress studies make this little first issue a steal. Any discerning fan will want this to better understand the lengths and time taken to bring them their favorite stories.
Most importantly, the first story page opens with spaceships careening through asteroids and a woman yelling, “We are cursed! We have scarred the face of God!” Pretty wild stuff I’d say.
Nexus is pretty intense and worth this little look-see.
Matthew Burbridge is a Digital Editor at ComiXology and he really wants to sit and finish this one really big book he made the mistake of starting. It isn’t that he doesn’t appreciate a big book. He loves big epic adventures if they’re good, but this 600-pager he’s stuck trudging through is just so “meh,” you know?
A comiXologist Recommends (some heat from Hell’s Kitchen)
Written by Charles Soule
Art by Ron Garney
I am so glad that I read a 500-page collection of Daredevil a couple of weeks ago. It was like a crash course in the things that make Daredevil great! Now take away about 400 of those pages but maintain the same tones and you have Charles Soule & Ron Garney’s run of Daredevil so far.
With the opening of issue #3 Daredevil is surrounded by his all-too familiar foes, the ancient ninja cult known as The Hand. Daredevil has his back to the wall, but he isn’t alone. Daredevil is for the moment partnered up with a local crime boss, Tenfingers, and his cronies. From this opening standoff we are given our traditional Daredevil brawl! Daredevil, some crooks, a heck of a lot of ninjas, and Blindspot?!
Daredevil’s new sidekick, Blindspot, launches into the fray! The action is fun and easy on the eyes without sacrificing any of the weight of the mean hits our heroes dish out.
Ron Garney’s gestural ink work makes it look like what he does is easy. Garney’s art is so heavy on black space I was half expecting a Private Investigator to breeze in from out of the shadows to explain how a “locked door murder” played out, and I adore that. Instead, after the fight breaks up and the crooks head their own way, Daredevil and Blindspot chill out on a rooftop like they damn well should, and it looks gorgeous!
Admittedly I hadn’t read the first two issues of this run, but issue #3 had me go back and fix that problem. It is certainly worth it.
I love the energy and pace of this current run of Daredevil. Charles Soule writes a cleverly down-to-earth story for the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen while utilizing all the wild and supernatural elements most effectively. It works well in that the level of incredulous doesn’t ever take me out of the moment and that’s in short supply nowadays. Daredevil is still the best street-level superhero title ever and I’m confident this current run is going to stay this good as long as this team is on it.
Matthew Burbridge is a Digital Editor at ComiXology and ideally he would like to discuss at length the politics and culture established in the crazy-as-heck science fiction novel he’s reading. But that would be problematic because he would have to explain the whole book in order to even get to the point where the need to bring down the status quo in the plot like the main character wants to do would spoil the entire plot and then I’d—I mean Matt’d be spoiling the entire plot.
A comiXologist Recommends (serious action)
Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Deadshot and Katana #1
Writers - Brian Buccellato & Mike W. Barr
Artists –Viktor Bogdanovic (Deadshot) & Diogenes Neves (Katana) and several others
In recent years, with the addition of the Suicide Squad to DC television shows like Arrow and the highly anticipated film out this August, there has been a renewed interest into the background of these rogues. As is customary to a discussion about reading current mainstream titles (those being the books that come from the houses of DC and Marvel), we ask “Where to begin?” If you are as intrigued by your villains as you are your heroes, this issue is a great way to start.
Deadshot and Katana are (arguably) the two of the most memorable good-bad guys or bad-good guys (depending on the story) ever to grace the pages of DC Comics. Or at best the most iconic in appearance. Deadshot with his red armor, wrist guns, sniper rifle, and not to mention that time he tried to kill Batman by tricking Batman into believing that Commissioner Gordon was the real assassination target saves him a place in my heart.
And Katana: wearing her mask of the Rising Sun, her leather armor pieces, and her sword that traps the souls of those it has taken the lives of. Her sword is appropriately named “Soultaker.” Fun fact: The first soul the sword sealed within it was that of Katana’s husband! She too is one of all-time favorites, so this new mini-series is extra exciting for me!
This first issue in the new six part mini-series starts each character on missions to take down even worse bad guys or rescue good guys. Deadshot kills members of an international drug cartel in a fiery glory while making the whole thing look way too easy, and Katana takes on the militant cult Kobra by slicing, dicing, and blowing things up in an attempt to protect a small village. It is all great fun!
The level of talent crammed into this 40-page single should turn a few heads if the idea of Deadshot and Katana wasn’t enough. Real talk though, Deadshot and Katana in one book should be all anyone needs to hear, but if anyone if feeling extra greedy let me break this down. Deadshot’s writer is Brian Buccellato who is most notable for his “The Joker: Endgame” and Katana’s story is written by Mike W. Barr, one of the character’s creators. These characters couldn’t be in better hands. I won’t even get started about the artists on these stories. I could spend a day typing my life away about Viktor Bogdanovic and then need to spend a whole second day on Diogenes Neves and that incredible body of work!
So I’m just going to cut myself off here and close with this: Grab this book. It’s the first issue, and both stories are just great!
Matthew Burbridge is a Digital Editor at ComiXology and he’s beginning to wonder why it seems like that doll in the corner of the room keeps staring at him.
“Nah,” he says to no one, “all in your head.”
He was never heard from again.
A comiXologist Recommends (a lot)
Writer – Rick Remender
Artist – Jonathan Wayshak
This first issue is a lot. Devolution #1 by Remender and Wayshak is all of the fun and appropriate exposition needed for a post-apocalyptic book’s hook. And I’m not one for this particular subgenre of speculative fiction (Post-Apocalyptic), but this book does a few things other titles of the same milieu are lacking. The most important example of this is the cause of the world’s collapse. The entire world has reverted back to the prehistoric era and reclaimed the world for the Neanderthals.
Devolution #1 begins some time after the collapse of the world. A few years have passed since the fall, when we join our main character Raja on a quest to secure a cure to the contagious DVO-8 plague. The DVO-8 chemical strain was designed by an international coalition of scientists to eliminate the center of the brain that craved war. When launched into the atmosphere the DVO-8 turned out to be virulent (because of course it did) and consumed the planet. Every species of life on the planet reverted back to a state more akin to its pre-historic ancestor.
We join Raja digging through an empty gas station in Nevada for a road atlas. She needs to better acquaint herself with the area, but not long after she finishes her inner monologue about not bathing (as a safety measure) is she accosted by a war party of cavemen! The violence that ensues is pure and nasty and perfect! After this first initiation we meet other survivors and things pick up right before it is too late and—issue #1 is already finished?
Issue #1 is just chock-a-block with so many goodies. I wasn’t even able to tell you my favorite part because it was too near the end.
Wayshak’s art is just delightful in all its over-the-top energy and humor. He draws equal parts sexy and goofy all rolled into a glorious, visually violent satire. And let us talk about a Mr. Rick Remender. I’m sorry, THE Mr. Rick Remender. The man who made me love Venom for wholly new reasons, brought X-Force back with a vengeance, and created my current favorite Science Fiction series “Black Science,” has brought a post-apocalyptic book for even my refined (pretentious) tastes.
With people being (awful) people, vicious pre-historic beasts maiming everything, and the drama ruminating in light satire, I hope this series is going on for a good long time. Raja is on her quest to find a cure, and for the readers’ sakes, I hope she doesn’t find it anytime soon.
Matthew Burbridge is a Digital Editor at comiXology. He spends his spare time doodling in sketchbooks and reading Star Wars novels. The old Expanded Universe and the new one, because frankly it is just “more of the SWar.”
A comiXologist Recommends (a Viking odyssey)
Creator - Natasha Alterici
Vikings, Immortals, and forbidden love are the driving forces of this new independent release from comiXology Submit. Heathen tells the story of a lonely Viking warrior named Aydis, who has been exiled from her home for her differences and is on a quest to prove her love and true courage above all others. It really is so sweet. And that can be meant in the different ways “sweet” can be taken. The ending of Volume 1 left me feeling both “warm & fuzzy” and outright “pumped up” for violence.
Aydis is a warrior who was driven from her home by prejudice and small-minded leadership. Her loving father was given a choice to kill her or marry her off.
He chose to kill her, because marrying her off would essentially enslave her to someone Aydis can’t actually love completely, if at all. Aydis is a lesbian, of which her father is aware, and instead of killing her he simply made it look like he had! In order to redeem her honor, Aydis set off on a quest to free the Valkyrie queen, Brynhild. With her trusty steed Saga, Aydis will not be prevented from her destiny.
Alterici’s book sets the stage for a very violent conflict with the Viking God Odin. The conclusion of Volume 1 filled my heart with a pitter-patter I usually get when I watch extremely well choreographed violence. I read the last page of Volume 1 a couple of days ago, and I’m still geeking out about Aydis. She is a badass. I just want to talk about the last page of this book so bad!
Natasha Alterici is my new favorite writer/creator with this first trade. Her writing of her heroine Aydis sets a nice standard to which writers of female protagonists should always aspire to: Make ALL your protagonists well-rounded people. Her use of the Norse mythology is just spectacular and is used in a way that sort of skews how we normally view most of it. I hate having to leave things short, but much more detail or analysis and there won’t be much book left to read.
Give this one a pass and you’ll be missing one of the best new independent titles of the new year. I on the other hand will be waiting with wide (impatient) eyes to know what becomes of Aydis in the next installment.
(Check out our preview of Heathen here)
Matthew Burbridge is a Digital Editor at comiXology. He was planning on playing his annual play-through of LoZ: Ocarina of Time but he found a copy of The Minish Cap for GBA, so he’s probably gonna do that first. But he isn’t certain yet, so don’t expect him to know what you’re talking about if it has to do with The Minish Cap.
Unless you want to talk about the art direction. Minish Cap art direction is the cutest thing ever.
A comiXologist Recommends (the best superhero comic of all time)
Daredevil Epic Collection: A Touch of Typhoid
Ann Nocenti – Writer
John Romita Jr. and others – Artists
A 400-page collection of Daredevil may sound staggering, but it is cost effective. And with a lot of these collections readers are given a unique focus into a particular villain or emotional period of the hero (or heroes) in question. In this case we can all share in the distinct pleasure of meeting the shining example of inner conflict that is Typhoid Mary. For those unfamiliar with this villain, she goes by many monikers such as Typhoid Mary, Bloody Mary, or the more recent “Mutant Zero.”
Typhoid was originally and is most typically a Daredevil villain possessing pyrokinesis, telekinesis, low-level mind control/psionic abilities, and sweet assassin athleticism of the highest caliber. She also suffers from Dissociative Personality Disorder manifesting in three very distinct personalities most notable of which being the amorous and daring Typhoid.
If I can break this down as quickly as possible, Mary’s personalities are as follows: Mary Walker suffered a great deal of trauma in her upbringing, and when she is caused any harm at the hands of men she snaps. Mary is polite, timid, and demure. Typhoid is constantly seeking danger, trouble, and finds these things to be rather “arousing.” Bloody Mary is an unabashed misandrist, sadistic to no end, and all sorts of brutal (she’s pretty rad). Although that little history lesson I just gave you skips ahead a bit because “Bloody” isn’t introduced until much later.
I’m digressing a bit though, considering the title is more accurate than I, or anyone might have thought. I just really adore Typhoid/Bloody Mary, and everybody should. When they say “A Touch of Typhoid” though it really is just a touch. It’s her first appearance in Hell’s Kitchen. As good a place as any to start, but then the collection follows the standard number order and that means many more villains to choose from!
I am not usually a guy who reads these massive collections, but I have managed to get through a few. Most of which were read in an ascending order that’ll burn out even the most voracious reader and switch them off of the more enjoyable aspects in lieu of speed-reading to completion. All enjoyment lost to be over and done with the book “that’s just taking too damn long.” The age-old question “Shouldn’t I start at the beginning?” applies with these hefty tomes, and I’ll answer with a resounding “Aw, heck no!” Just pick up something and read it.
If you enjoy street-level fights in tights, this is a uniquely fun book to get. It pulls us right into the day-to-day of Daredevil and his constant struggles to be a hero and be a man up against the pain from his enemies while enduring the pain from his heart. It is exactly how Daredevil should be read.
And he also cheats on Karen Page in the form of making out with Typhoid in a burning building. Burning building making out: Can it get any hotter?
Matthew Burbridge is a Digital Editor at Comixology who recently got told by his supervisor that his hoodie makes him look like a Sith Lord, which he found totally offensive, you guys, because he totally doesn’t feel that philosophy because I mean like how can anyone be that angry all the time, you know??
He also wants to talk about the Mental Health and Feminist questions raised by Typhoid, but he could’ve written a book about that, and he wants you instead to buy this Daredevil book.
A comiXologist Recommends (a great new sci-fi anthology)
Beyond: The Queer Sci-Fi & Fantasy Comic Anthology
Edited by Sfe R. Monster
With Star Wars withdrawals and shakes finally coming down I’ve been absolutely aflutter with the possibilities of the sci-fi and fantasy genres outside of the blockbuster franchise. There are so many things to read and enjoy–not to mention the all-too-familiar feeling of “Where to begin?” If you’re facing a similar conundrum, start with Beyond, a superb collection of queer sci-fi and fantasy comics edited by Sfe R. Monster.
Stories featuring war, space exploration, post-apocalyptic settings, and fantastical pirates are but a few of the downright awesome additions to this collection. The richness of the characters and shared themes throughout the book create an excellent cohesion despite the wide spectrum of stylizations of its artists. With most all characters being inherently or assumedly a member of the LGBTQA community it is easy to start identifying the themes they convey more succinctly. Science fiction and fantasy associate themselves with many themes that involve personal identity, self-confidence, self-image, and challenging overwhelming odds. These are all things that if you are a member of the community or are close to someone in the community you should be able to identify almost immediately. These stories actually make them more succinct.
The first submission in Beyond, “Luminosity” by Gabby Reed and Rachel Dukes, tells the life story of two girls who grow up to be an astronaut and a ship’s power source. They are intertwined by their need for one another if they intend to see the stars. It is a poignant love story that hit me right in the heart of all my feels (pardon the vernacular). Although it’s hard to narrow it down, my favorite story in the anthology is “The Graves of Wolves.” It is the tale of two men and their alien son living in a tank to protect each other from a weaponized darkness. One day, scruffy dad takes cricket son out to hunt and they end up fleeing from an all-consuming shadow as it descends upon them. I want to nerd out about the ingenuity of this story’s simplicity, but I can’t say more without spoiling the ending. Unfortunately, it’s somewhat difficult to go into a deeper discussion on Beyond without spoiling ANYTHING because it is a short story collection.
The stories included in Beyond are all so sharp and clever in their use of classic genre themes that it is an absolute shame that they run the risk of being branded as simply “queer” as a result of the anthology’s title. It’s a shame that genres that traditionally pride themselves for being inclusive still require queer stories to announce themselves as such.
The fact that there is a chance family friendly this book wouldn’t be welcome in a general sci-fi collection opens a lot of room for discussion about the nature of the genres in question. That discussion, however, can be saved for another time after you read this fantastic collection that combines themes, narratives, and stylizations of art that will inspire and delight anyone and everyone.
Matthew Burbridge is a Digital Editor at ComiXology and his dream is to stop leaving socks everywhere and celebrate by buying his girlfriend one thousand Pomeranians, and then immediately regret it because one Pomeranian is already a lot of work.