Playing Catch-Up: What I've Been Doing

So.

After my two-week break, I'm back to talk comics. Or to catch you up on the comics I've been talking about elsewhere at least.

Since I last posted, I reviewed a whole bunch of comics for CBR (with linkery for you to enjoy):

Daredevil Noir #1
Northlanders #16
Batman Confidential #28
Captain America #49
Punisher #4
Squadron Supreme #10
Green Lantern Corps #25
Astonishing X-Men #29
Skrull Kill Krew #1

And I tackled the career of the awesome Bernie Mireault in a two-part retrospective/interview in "When Words Collide":

Me on Mireault's Masterpieces
Me talking comics with Mireault

But you already knew that, I'm sure.

What do I have in store for the future of "Geniusboy Firemelon"? I don't know, but I'm back!

Squadron Supreme 2 #5 Review

Recently reviewed by me at CBR: Squadron Supreme 2 #5 about which I write the following sentences: "Ten years ago, if you had heard that Howard Chaykin would return to comics in the first decade of the 21st century, and that he would not only end up drawing the Punisher, but he'd be writing a Marvel comic about a parallel universe, you'd probably think, 'I bet it will be great, with Chaykin's signature cynical wit.' Oh, how wrong you'd be."

Read the entire review HERE.

Squadron Supreme 2 #1 Review

Recently reviewed by me at CBR: Squadron Supreme 2 #1, about which I write the following sentences: "The first hero to appear has strange spider-like powers. The second is draped in the American flag. (On the cover to issue #1, though not yet appearing in the issue, is someone wearing a suit of armor -- perhaps one made from iron.) You can see where this is going, right? Just as the Squadron were originally JLA pastiches, we now get pastiches of the popular Marvel characters -- Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man -- appearing in the Squadron Supreme universe. The story doesn't ham it up, and the narrative isn't interrupted by characters winking and laughing with the reader, but this series is clearly designed to play with the Marvel hero archetypes in relation to the DC archetypes of the Squadron. Or maybe not, because the Squadron is barely found within this issue. Maybe Chaykin's new direction is about these strange Marvel analogues replacing the Squadron as the new heroes of Earth. Maybe it's all a meta-commentary on the supremacy of Marvel."

Boy, that cover looks like a mess, but the comic is pretty good.

Read the entire review HERE.