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This Week in Comics: 05/10/2010

Don’t you hate that “Yellow Submarine” is on Revolver? The song is okay on its own, but it’s a touch of cartoonish psychedelia that disrupts the record for me, which has some of my favorite Beatles songs (“Eleanor Rigby,” “Taxman”) on it.

I will say, however, that I love “Octopus’s Garden.”

So welcome to This Week in Comics, where every day is a comic book and every day is also Yellow Submarine.

MONDAY

First Issues

Frenemy Of The State #1 (of 5), $3.99

(Christina Weir/Nunzio De Filippis/Rashida Jones/Jeff Wamester)

Oni Press

Here’s something I didn’t expect: Rashida Jones doing her own celebrity cash-in comic. It’s a decent premise, I suppose — an heiress is really a secret agent!!! — and it’s written by a couple of pro writers as opposed to some cheap hack. It could be good, but maybe we should wait for the movie instead?

TUESDAY

New Manga Day

Biomega Vol. 2

(Tsutomu Nihei)

VIZ Media

Is that a bear in a hoodie?

WEDNESDAY

Mainstream Superhero Stuff

Justice League Generation Lost #1

(Keith Giffen/Judd Winick/Aaron Lopresti)

DC Comics

Remember when I wrote a bunch of nonsense about the importance of Grant Morrison’s JLA run? Well, I also feel that way about Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis’ Justice League/Justice League International/Justice League America — it’s not only a good superhero comic, but it’s hilarious. Morrison has returned to the characters a bunch of times, but it never feels cheap or like a sad reunion tour situation because, well, Morrison’s a comic book writer and he can do all sorts of things with the characters. However, the Giffen/DeMatteis run worked with minor DCU characters in a very specific context — and even defined some of these characters — so I fear lightning won’t strike for this third attempt to return to that classic era.

THURSDAY

Not Quite Friday, but Still Exciting

Flash #2

(Geoff Johns/Francis Manapaul)

DC Comics

Surprisingly, I liked the debut issue of the new Flash series. This is because (even more surprisingly) it was not continuity porn and full of way too many speedsters. Instead — and this is most surprising of all — it was a solid (even fun!) superhero comic with only one Flash in it. Still, the first issue just sets up all our characters (cops, girlfriends, etc) and the story arc’s killer hook, so it could still go ass-up with this second issue. But I doubt it — it was pretty impressive.

FRIDAY

TGIA(lot of things about this)

Batman: The Return Of Bruce Wayne #1 (of 6)

(Grant Morrison/Chris Sprouse)

DC Comics

We all saw this coming, right? That’s not the point.

First of all, we have Grant Morrison writing what will surely be a crazy story about Bruce Wayne’s travels through time. It seems a bit similar to Captain America reborn as far as timestreamy resurrections go, but on a much more epic scale. For one thing, we have a Caveman Batman! Cavebatman!

Secondly, we have a different artist drawing each issue. First Chris Sprouse, then Frazier Irving, then Cameron Stewart, then Yanick Paquette, then — I don’t know, but it’s gonna be good. I predict at least one Frank Quitely issue.

Thirdly, I love everything about this.

Fourthly, sign me up.

SATURDAY

Essential Reading

Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune: The Complete Sunday Newspaper Strips Volume 1: 1933-1935

(Roy Crane)

Fantagraphics

Ever notice that newspaper comics were a lot better back in the day? This is a medium that gave us Windsor McCay and Will Eisner — two of the most important comic creators of the century — and their artistic successors give us Garfield and For Better or Worse. Fuck you, cartoonists. Pay that shit forward.

Roy Crane’s Captain Easy is something I just discovered while looking for books to put into this section, but I find it fascinating. Page-long installments, each divided up into four tiers and further into a bunch of panels. I want to read this comic all day and study how Crane cuts up a page.

I am a comic book writer, and these are my concerns.

SUNDAY

Last Issues

Siege #4 (Of 4)

(Brian Michael Bendis/Oliver Coipel)

Marvel Comics

I like Siege. It’s got hitting and high stakes and it’s only four issues so Brian Michael Bendis has to write in a more compressed manner than usual, so it makes for quicker pacing. Also, lots of superhero fighting. I’m in.

Danny Djeljosevic