Sometimes, the staff at Graphic Policy read more comics than we’re able to get reviewed. When that happens you’ll see a weekly feature compiling short reviews from the staff of the comics, or graphic novels, we just didn’t get a chance to write a full review for. Given the lack of new comics, expect this weekly update to begin featuring comics that we think you’ll enjoy while you can’t get anything new to read – only new to you.
These are Graphic Policy’s Mini Reviews and Recommendations.
Logan
Joker #13 (DC)– James Tynion, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith, and Arif Prianto get down to brass tacks in Joker #13 with Vengeance fighting the cannibalistic Sampson family over Joker. This issue really unleashes the disgust/gore factor with a montage of different body parts the Sampsons are eating until Vengeance makes herself known as a force of nature. Gordon doesn’t appear in the story with Tynion focusing on Vengeance and Mr. J himself, who basically tells Vengeance that she’s a nobody aka a gimmick made for one story while cracking jokes about the lack of seasoning on him. Joker #13 is a clearing of distractions: hillbilly cannibals turned oil barons won’t take out the Clown Prince of Crime nor will a clone of a more prominent villain. Something else will, and it’ll go down in the series finale. The Punchline backup is a straight up courtroom drama from James Tynion, Sam Johns, and Belen Ortega with Punchline and her lawyer at their manipulative best painting her as a scapegoat for Gotham’s Joker problem. In a world where assault rifle wielding teenage murderers can go free, it holds a harsh mirror at the justice system in harlequin trappings. Joker #13 is honestly one of the few issues in the series where the backup is better than the lead story. Overall: 8.4 Verdict: Buy
Superman: Son of Kal-El #9 (DC)– Bruno Redondo and Adriano Lucas come in from Tom Taylor’s other DC book, Nightwing, and help deliver a touching resolution to this two part crossover. Lucas uses a brighter palette for the action sequences set in Metropolis while Redondo works his magic with inventive cutting, layouts, and well-timed splash pages. Dick Grayson and Jon Kent make for a great team with Nightwing taking on a mentor role and empathizing with him and drawing on his own experiences when he took over for Batman during the Grant Morrison run. Taylor also uses the crossover between Nightwing and Superman: Son of Kal-El to strengthen the Truth subplot with Dick Grayson investing money in this investigative journalist platform and giving them something to hunt down/write about in future issues. The crossover with Nightwing was a shot of adrenaline for Superman: Son of Kal-El, a title that seemed to be growing stale a little bit, but Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo have righted the ship by focusing on high-energy visual storytelling and Jon Kent struggling with saving everyone in his new role as Superman. Hopefully, the fun visuals and use of city spaces continues when Redondo goes back to Nightwing though. Overall: 8.9 Verdict: Buy
Well, there you have it, folks. The reviews we didn’t quite get a chance to write. See you next week!
Please note that with some of the above comics, Graphic Policy was provided FREE copies for review. Where we purchased the comics, you’ll see an asterisk (*). If you don’t see that, you can infer the comic was a review copy. In cases where we were provided a review copy and we also purchased the comic you’ll see two asterisks (**).
Source: Graphic Policy
