This week finds me hurtling into a pile of comic books to get caught up on as much of the releases of the year as I can. Overall, there’s very little this year that has stood out for me the way my previous year’s top picks did. Some good books certainly, but nothing with the same emotional impact of Ducks, It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth, or Do A Powerbomb. Or the epic fun of Action Comics’ War World Saga. Maybe once I sit down to gather my thoughts and really think about what I’ve read this year, I’ll feel differently.
In the meantime, here is a portion of my Patreon-exclusive review of the new Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev joint, Masterpiece. A solid debut issue that has made me eager to read what comes next for our young hero.
The all-star team of Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev reunite in a new crime thriller for Bendis's Jinxworld imprint. The iconic duo's new book centers on a teenage girl named Emma who discovers that her long-lost parents were the greatest criminal couple in history. The discovery might be cool if it didn't come with the threat from one of their old targets, Zero Preston. He kidnaps Emma (who he calls by her secret real name: Masterpiece), and enlists her for a job that will repay him for the billion dollars Emma's parents, whom she never met, stole from him.
Bendis goes back to his Ultimate Spider-Man roots here with a coming-of-age series set against the backdrop of crime and larger-than-life dangers. The story has all the hallmarks of Bendis's style. It is full of snappy dialogue, instantly compelling characters, a shady underworld, hinted-at mysteries, and a wicked sense of humor. Bendis's script spends as much time introducing us to Emma as it does moving plot mechanics forward. By issue's end we are invested in who Emma is as a person -- which makes us want to know more about her parents and how these new revelations and threats will impact her. We get a few cuts to Emma's webcomics (drawn by Bendis), which give us insight into the character's mental view of herself, which is a fun shorthand for both revealing biographical details and her humor.
Emma wants to live a normal life but she is obviously not normal. Even without knowing who her parents truly were, Emma can't help but stand out. She's the author of a successful webcomic and created an app which has already made her independently wealthy before her 16th birthday. There are hints that there is more to her than what we get in this issue and that she knows more than she is letting on. That little question about how much she is hiding from everyone else makes for a compelling hook. Bendis is well known for his heavy dialogue but the most interesting thing about this issue is in what is not said.
Part of what makes that so successful is Alex Maleev's art. This issue is a bit of a departure for the artist, style-wise. He does not do his own colors here, and his figures and backgrounds are stripped down and minimal. He seems to be experimenting with how much he can convey with as few lines as possible. The facial features are stripped down, making the slightest shift in line meaningful. The way Emma arches an eyebrow or purses her lips speaks volumes, especially in the well-placed silent panels.
Random Comic Panel of the Week
No Context Comics
Last week’s No Context Comics, a look at 3 books I don’t read, included Si Spurrier’s Damn them All over at Boom, Superman: Lost at DC, and the final issue forever and ever of Moon Knight (RIP for all time). Click the banner to go read it!
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
In case you missed it, I wrote a big piece on Grant Morrison and Dan Mora’s Klaus. It’s about Morrison’s theology of superheroes and the way Klaus is the ultimate embodiment of that theology through a new kind of secular Christmas story. It’s one of my favorite pieces I’ve written about comics, which I think, is saying something, considering I’ve written a lot about comic books generally and Grant Morrison specifically. Click the ho ho ho to read it.