Flex Mentallo So good. An honest exploration of the evolution of superhero comics and of the way one experiences the hobby through life — for better or worse. It’s silly superhero metafiction, but Morrison touches it with so much of his own truth. Stellar issue.

2 20
2020-06-26

Doom Patrol This is a great start toward the endgame of this entire run, one that has me excited to see where things up. Like I said yesterday, it’s corporate superhero comics, so there is a good guys win coming, but the way it’s done makes that easy to forget.

1 10
2020-06-22

Doom Patrol A pretty direct extension of last issue, with the intensity continuing to increase basically until it hits a breaking point. I mean, I knew the good guys would somehow win...but this kind of tension makes it easier to forget that along the way.

0 7
2020-06-21

Doom Patrol Epic chase/battle with stellar cartooning throughout. The Candlemaker peels away characters one by one until it’s just he and Cliff, which is the most compelling scenario for us anyway. Though, I suspect the others will somehow return.

1 12
2020-06-20

Doom Patrol This was a quick and ominous issue, with the threat that sort of punctuation marked the last issue bearing down on everyone...until re-enforcements arrive (Rebis!), and are instantly dismantled. A good read, but really sets the stage for next time.

0 7
2020-06-19

Doom Patrol The entire run has worked hard to be odd, but this issue more than any other sheds linear storytelling conventions to give us an abstract look at Rebis and all the parts of their person. It’s a big lift for the art and it’s handled well.

0 18
2020-06-14

Doom Patrol I’ve been excited to get to this issue since Stuart Moore recommended it for our quarantine reading list...and it didn’t disappoint. It’s just Grant Morrison straight up covering the best of Stan and Jack. What results is a fun little diversion.

2 16
2020-06-13

Doom Patrol I like this turn, it feels right...that the Doom Patrol is up against some of their members sympathizing with their absurdist foes while another has their own bizarre agenda to pursue. Undone by their own absurdity, basically.

0 7
2020-06-11

Doom Patrol This was as fun as an oversized issue with multiple artists gets, really, owing mostly to the quality of the artists, which include Jamie Hewlett (!!) and Rian Hughes, with Richard Case drawing the framing sequence.

2 11
2020-06-10

Doom Patrol Some really great art in this issue. I also liked Caulder semi-ranting about how the Justice League are public-facing glory hogs or whatever. The whole point, though, is to get to the twist at the end, which we do.

3 10
2020-06-09

Doom Patrol There are several issues in this run that trade in any semblance of convetional comics plotting for the creators doing anything they want...and I love them all. This is one, along with also the brain issue and the beard hunter story.

3 5
2020-06-08

Catching up because we walked downtown last night...Doom Patrol This arc feels really patient compared to today’s superhero comics. A new threat looms, but the issue is about the characters and their relationships. As the kids say, you love to see it (wait—).

1 11
2020-06-07

Doom Patrol Ah, the guest artists on this run have been great, but it’s always so nice to get Richard Case back. Issues like this feel so patient compared to today’s comics, really relaxing as they close one arc and start the next.

0 5
2020-06-06

Doom Patrol Bonkers. Man who can’t grow beard parodies the popular gun-toting gritty vigilante characters of the time...but only murders bearded men. Reads like an allegory for repressed sexuality and there are more than a few hints to suggest that.

2 11
2020-06-05

Doom Patrol Big issue, culmination of a lot of ideas...Flex, shape of the Pentagon, and all well-ordered and paced too, using classic tension-building techniques and reveals to keep things moving along. Case also outdoes himself here, best-looking issue yet.

2 12
2020-06-04

No tonight for blackout Tuesday, but I want to highlight another book that Jamal Campbell drew recently (and is still drawing now)...Far Sector, which is a very different sort of sci-fi superhero comic with a slow burn and a lot of nuance, written by N.K. Jemisin.

3 32
2020-06-03

Doom Patrol A long-ish thread of short missives tonight, but I was again really immersed in the work of a guest penciller here, not making many notes about this Flex Mentallo origin. I just liked it, and I like the adventure it sets up better than the last.

2 13
2020-06-01

Doom Patrol And here we get an end to the dueling space weirdos arc. The tone at the end was funny enough, almost like the characters themselves were dealing with the simplicity of fighting just to fight, which is delightfully meta fictional.

0 9
2020-05-31

Doom Patrol One thing I like about this arc is a lot of times odd or absurd ideas are portrayed as vaguely pleasant, but this (like the best of David Lynch’s work) suggests that abject terror is equally as capable of being channeled through the nonsensical.

1 5
2020-05-30

Doom Patrol We get the intro of Danny the Street...and STILL MORE impecably-designed absurdist villains. There was a lot to explain in this arc intro, and the script did a great job doling it out with Case’s stunning artwork. See image 3 and 4 here, especially.

6 24
2020-05-25