This week in the world of funny books Superman breaks his chains, Batman gets a tweak to his origin story, Wolverine has to deal with a competing school, zombies continue to walk and a gorilla is packing heat in not one but two new comics!!!

WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN #31

The new Hellfire Academy is open for business and among its faculty, staff and student body are several mutants from Wolverine’s Jean Grey School. Among them is Quentin Quire who has decided to go against his better judgment and play the hero but has our favorite snarky, telepathic bad boy bitten off more than he can chew? And what if his intended damsel in distress doesn’t want to be rescued?
Final Verdict: I dropped WATXM a while ago because I thought the book had become aimless and Jason Aaron’s writing was as bland as bland could be. All the promos of the early issues had been flushed away and things did not look to be in any way poised to get better. However I decided to give the book another look since this issue was the start of The Hellfire Saga storyline, it featured a couple of my favorite X-villains in Mystique and Sauron and the focus was going to be put on my favorite character in this entire series, Kid Omega/Quentin Quire.
I have mixed feelings about this issue. Aaron gets every scene with Quire absolutely perfect and some of the new kids at the Hellfire Academy are really fun especially Snot. Also Nick Bradshaw’s art is perfect for this book when it focuses on the students. However I had issues with some of the characterizations in the book. For one Mystique wouldn’t be working for an annoying little twerp like Kade Kilgore and I have no clue why Husk has turned into a raving lunatic. But most of misgivings get put aside just for the opening line of Sauron’s lecture to his students on the first day of class:

“I am Sauron. Supreme ruler of this classroom. Master of all second period!”

I would put up with losing two units of life-force every day to be taught by that eloquent S.O.B.
Grade: C+

THE WALKING DEAD #111

Rick and his crew are still planning their offensive against Negan as they await Jesus’ arrival at King Ezekial’s kingdom with more troops but ya know what they say about what happens when the cat is away…homicidal gang leaders show up at your home and start making trouble. Yep, Negan shows up a few days early at Alexandria looking for the payment of supplies that Rick owes him and merriment ensues.
Final Verdict: This was mostly just an issue full of set-up as the series careens toward the inevitable big showdown between Rick and Negan which I had no problems with because in this issue Robert Kirkman was able to do something I though was impossible and that was make me not completely hate the character of Negan. Sure I still don’t like him all that much and consider him to be a piss poor less interesting clone of The Governor but the crazy bastard does something in this issue that just made me soften to him a little bit. Still can’t wait to see him die though.
The rest of the book is just training and yapping and yapping and yapping some more.
Grade: B-

SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #1

Superman gets a new book on the same week that his movie comes out and this one is written by Scott Snyder and drawn by Jim Lee!!!
Final Verdict: Why this book wasn’t called MAN OF STEEL I will never know…it’s like the folks at DC have no concept of what synergy is. Anyhoo this issue throws a lot at the reader…we get a really cool new way that Superman uses his x-ray vision that I can’t recall ever seeing before; we get a pretty interesting revision of just what was dropped on Japan to end World War II; all of Superman’s supporting cast is present and accounted for and Lex Luthor proves to be the coolest recently convicted criminal ever to be transported to the hoosegow. Snyder has a great feel for Superman and Clark Kent as well as the rest of the supporting cast. he also lays some pretty intriguing groundwork for what could possibly be a major addition to Superman’s rogue’s gallery while Jim Lee does some of his best work since JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 with this book.
And Supes and Lex also have a scene that is eerily reminiscent of a famous one from the original SPIDERMAN movie. I guess Jim Lee was in a cheeky mood when he drew that panel.
Grade: B+

SIX-GUN GORILLA: LONG DAYS OF VENGEANCE #1

A poacher raid on a troop of gorillas in the jungles of the East Congo in 1849 leads to a traveling circus owner gaining custody of the surviving baby gorilla and along with his daughter, raising the gorilla to be the feature attraction in his show.
Final Verdict: This book opens with a page that makes the titular simian, Kumba, look like a gorilla version of Clint Eastwood’s “Man With No Name” before taking us on a journey into Kumba’s past to see how he ended up becoming so good with a six-shooter. The comic felt a bit too sparse in the amount of story we are given but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t totally intrigued about the adventures of Kumba and just what happens to send him from star of the circus to gunning cowpokes down in the high plains. So hats off to creators Brian Christgau and Adrian Sibar (whose art on this book is just magnificent!) because they have created a very compelling world. Plus it’s a big ass monkey shooting guns…who doesn’t think that is cool?
Grade: B

BATMAN #21

Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo hop in the Wayback Machine to give us a glimpse at the formative years of a pre-cape and cowl Bruce Wayne as he returns to Gotham City fully trained and ready to begin his mission to rid the city of the criminal scum that have made the city their home.
Final Verdict:
Snyder is a brave soul for going back to what has become pretty well worn territory for Batman but he has a bit more freedom to play around with Batman’s early years since this is the New 52 Universe version of the character and as long as the main points remain the same little stylistic flourishes are more than welcome. And flourish Snyder does. He intersperses corporate intrigue, appearances by two of Batman’s most classic villains and a much more brash Bruce Wayne than we are used to seeing. Throw in Capullo’s always stellar art and you have a continuation of the top notch work these two have been doing since the relaunch of this comic that has made it one of the best books on the shelves for the past few years.
Grade: B+

SIX-GUN GORILLA #1

Journey to the far flung future where a civil war is raging under the auspices of a shadowy entertainment industry that feeds an apathetic reality TV loving public images from the front lines thanks to cybernetic cameras implanted in the eyes of death seekers who agree to be cannon fodder for the public’s viewing pleasure. Into this mix is thrown a sad sack, heartbroken librarian who has lost the will to live but has one mission of love to complete before he can end it all. One problem…this librarian has no skills or weapons at all and he is in the middle of a battlefield. Lucky for him a gun-packin’ gorilla has taken a shine to him.
Final Verdict:
What are the odds that two comics featuring gun-toting simians would come out in the same weak let alone comics featuring different takes on the same public domain character? Well we live in a golden age folks because that is what we are given this week. Simon Spurrier’s take on the character is a lot less reality based than the earlier reviewed book and he goes all out with the wild touches that make up this twisted future. I do take issue with the minimal amount of gorilla that we get in this comic but when he does show up it is quite memorable. I think I am hooked for all six issues of this mini-series.
Grade: B