Comics

Rocket Raccoon #6

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Rocket Raccoon #6The latest issue of Rocket Raccoon returns one of my favorite former Guardians of the Galaxy (whose leaving was never properly explained only to be replaced by Marvel characters like Carol Danvers and Venom who don’t fit in the oddball team concept nearly as well). While performing a series of jobs to payback all of his princess ex-girlfriends, Rocket receives and email which leads him to Knowhere to pay back a debt to Cosmo.

Even though they’re not on panel together as much as I’d like, I love the pair of Rocket and Cosmo and hope the telepathic dog may eventually find his way out of Marvel’s dog house and give us more appearances like this. The job is simple. Bizarre, but simple. Cosmo enlists Rocket to help a retired military mech whose friends (from the same junkyard paradise where all mechs go to live out their twilight years) have been stolen to be sold at auction.

And so Rocket and his nonsense-speaking friend (“Brute” only communicates in bianary) head into action. The result of which, as expected, is pretty damn entertaining. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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The Flash: Season Zero #3

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The Flash: Season Zero #3Captured by the circus, the Flash learns the tragic origin of Mr. Bliss and discovers the ringmaster’s powers firsthand as Bliss feeds Barry his greatest fear and worst nightmare simultaneously stopping the Scarlet Speedster dead in his tracks. With the help of a couple of Bliss’ unwilling minions, Caitlin and Cisco are able to rescue their friend from the circus but not before the damage had already been done.

Along with Bliss’ full introduction, the main takeaway from The Flash: Season Zero #3 is how the ringmaster uses his power to control those around him. The Flash doesn’t need to take down the entire gang, just one man (albeit a man who can look straight into his soul and feed him his darkest fears).

The issue also illustrates that Barry’s deepest fears and nightmares don’t involve the legion of evil meta-humans waiting for him, or even the mysterious man in the yellow suit who stole his life, but the two most important people in his life he feels he has failed: his parents. For fans.

[DC, $2.99]

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Usagi Yojimbo: Senso #5

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Usagi Yojimbo: Senso #5Setting up the mini-series finale next month, Usagi Yojimbo: Senso #5 brings Buichi Kubo to the land of the Komori Ninja Clan as old enemies will put aside their differences to work together to take on the invading aliens and their tripods of destruction.

Although there’s plenty of action, we don’t get as much of Usagi Yojimbo in this issue as the majority of the the issue focuses on the kamakaze attack of the Komori and samurai and most of the final few pages deals with Lord Noriyuki attempting to convince the Shogun’s emissary Minister Hina of an unconventional plan to destroy the last of the alien invaders.

As Usagi Yojimbo: Senso #5 comes to a close it teases us with what writer/artist Stan Sakai has in mind for the finale as everything involving the alien destruction has led to the creation of a weapon powerful enough to take on the enemy. That last panel is amazing! I can’t wait to see it unleashed! Worth a look.

[Dark Horse, $3.99]

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Detective Comics #37

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Detective Comics #37After taking down a delusional Mad Hatter, Batman turns his attention to a crime that Harvey Bullock has been persuing for weeks without any real leads other than graffiti left as a signature for each crime. The death of a Wayne Enterprises’ executive brings the detective and Batman both to Wayne Tower just in time to discover what explosive situation Anarky has left for them.

After a couple of months off, Brian Buccellato and Francis Manapul return to Detective Comics with the opening of this new arc. I’ve never been a huge Anarky fan, but the villain does have his uses especially if (as this issue suggests) this is the first time he’s been active in Gotham City.

The method which the super-villain uses to turn the office building into a bomb works (at least for a Batman comic book), although we still don’t know why he has chosen to target a building full of Bruce Wayne’s employees or what Anarky’s end game might be. Worth a look.

[DC, $3.99]

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Secret Six #1

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Secret Six #1Spring of 1980. That’s the first time I picked up a comic book, and the first Batman story I ever read was Batman #323 which featured both Batman and Catwoman being bested by lesser-known villain known as Catman. Needless to say I was an immediate fan. Sadly, the following two decades weren’t kind to the character who resurfaced in 2005 as the break-out star of DC’s Villains United giving birth to the first iteration of the Secret Six.

With the new Secret Six #1 Gail Simone returns to the comic (along with her run on the original Birds of Prey) which made me a lifelong fan of her work, albeit through the craptastic lens of DC’s New 52 filter. Playing on similar themes of the Six being brought together and controlled by an unknown master called Mockingbird, Secret Six #1 opens with Catman being kidnapped and locked-up with a group of five others and tortured by a mysterious voice who wants answers to a question that has yet to be asked.

The first issue doesn’t sell me immediately on the series, but (unlike so much of the New 52) doesn’t immediately turn me off of beloved characters, either.

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