CMYK Reviews

I had intended to review the ten #1s sitting on top of my stack, but only got through seven.

Batman and Robin: Year One – Dynamic Duos #1 (Writer & Story: Mark Waid, Story/Artist: Chris Samnee, Colorist: Matt Lopes, DC Comics) – This is all set up, but well written and with great art. Robin is rambunctious, Batman terse, Alfred helpfully tells us Bruce has a date, and there’s a group of child muggers who nearly get wrecked by Wayne . The most intriguing character in this first issue to me is Catwoman, who pops up on maybe two pages but is always up to something. 4 stars

The Foundry #1 (Writers: Mike Mignola & Chris Roberson, Artist: Christopher Mitten, Colorist: Michelle Madsen) – Solid weird science as you’d expect from Mignola. Strong art sets the mood. This is a table setter, but the introduction of the characters works well. 3.5 stars

Gastronomique #1 (Writer: Marguerite Bennett, Artist: Helena Masellis, Colorist: Nisha Singh, BOOM!) – This is a buzzsaw of a book. Fantastic art meshes tremendously with its body horror story. During the French Revolution, Lady Charlotte is an assassin asked by her sister in the French Revolution to kill a man who ate the latter’s child. That man is Tarrare. Like, the old timey French dude that ate everything, which you may know about if you’re prone to Wikipedia deep dives like me.

There is sex, but it is not erotic – it’s pretty far from that, actually. Charlotte is a detached psychopath whose narration shows the path she took to get in this predicament. Sex is depicted casually in a few scenes, but there’s more eroticism shown in Tarrare’s eating exploits than anything involving someone’s genitals. This is an eerie book. No one in this story is right.

It’s a hell of a set up, and I can’t wait for the rest of this story. Unlike Wu-Tang, this is not for the children. 5 stars

Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theatre Presents: Roar of the Worlds #1 (Writer/Artist: Kyle Baker, IDW Publishing) – If you like this comic will be determined by your reaction to the following sentence. Godzilla fashions nunchucks out of severed legs of the Martian war machines from War of the Worlds to fight them off.

I like the art – it’s chunky and bold. It gets a touch hard to follow with some of the smaller panels, though. There’s a love triangle as a storyline for some humans that is present but underdeveloped, but that’s not why you’re here, of course – you’re here for Godzilla fighting giant Martian robots, and that is delivered. This issue includes as a backup story part three of Tom Scioli’s Robin Hood/Godzilla story, Godzilla and the Golden Arrow. It has very bold art; I don’t have much to say about it, since I haven’t read the rest of it. 4 stars.

Jeff the Land Shark: Superstar #2 (Writer: Kelly Thompson, Artist: Tokitokoro, Colorist: Jim Campbell, Marvel Comics) – The day Kelly Thompson stops writing Jeff is a day that’s going to be extremely sad. Tokitokoro is a fantastic artist for this, with a very cute style that fits the character and vibe extremely well. Jeff is in the Mojoverse as a captive of Mojo, being forced to star in the Jeff Coast Avengers with a number of superhero hybrids. Ken the Septapus comes into play late in the issue. Great humor. 4.5 stars

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1 (Writer: Bryan Hill, Artists: Valentine De Landro & Nico Leon, Colorist: Bryan Valenza, Marvel Comics) – Solid first issue that introduces a new love interest and a new villain for Miles and his father. I like the art in this and the writing is solid. There’s promise here. 3.5 stars.

Nano #1 (Writers: Matt Kindt & Alexandra Grant, Artist & Colorist: Natacha Bustos, Flux House) – Protagonist Sana & partner Lukas are operatives tasked with undermining the omnipresent energy firm Nano. They’re sent undercover to investigate the company, with Lukas as a scientist and Sana as a gym teacher at the local school. I really liked the use of color in this – the artist uses strong choices that grab attention. The plot does a great job of building intrigue as it goes on. I’m looking forward to the next issue. 4 stars.

Yumi: 00EX#1 (Writer: Doug Wagner, Artist: Hoyt Silva, Colorist: Kevin Lennertz, Image Comics) – Ehhhhhhhhh.

Yumi was dating Richard, an MI agent who goes missing. So she goes on a rampage through MI headquarters, and later in France, to find him

Outside of four pages of random chibi art for flashbacks, which isn’t really a bad choice, I’m not really a fan of the art in this. Faces in further away panels have a lot of extra lines which don’t make sense – they’re not scars because they’re not drawn regularly, and they’re not anything to do with expressions. The main character, Yumi, is very shallow – a walking failure of the Bechdel test, if Yumi isn’t talking about her love interest, she’s talking about Billie Eilish or Cardi B, or with her unheard father. An action sequence interspersed with references to memes doesn’t do much to dispel the “lol random” feeling of the character.

I’ll give this another issue, but of all the #1s in this post, this is the most likely one I’m going to drop. 2 stars