Comic Quickies or This is the End

Nemesis #4: This issue is the grand finale.  Like most Mark Millar comics I've read, aside from Kick Ass, I'm not sure why I bothered with this one.  I'm beginning to think Millar's creating method involves coming up with a bunch of crazy, balls out, brutal circumstances and then linking them all together with thin narrative connections.  For example: A Black-ops team storms a mansion on a covert night mission, a fat dude tied to a bed and wired with c4, the president wired with explosives, the oval office getting blowed up...all these things happen in the span of about a dozen pages, but the problem is that they really don't have any kind of emotional impact beyond a cheap shock value because well, they happen too damn often to mean anything at all.  Yeah a lot of shit gets blown up, and lots of people die, but who cares because no time was ever invested in making those things important.  The onus is on the eye candy and while all the crazy shit happening might look "cool" and be the wet dream of a 14 year old boy it doesn't mean shit to me.  So the question remains: Why bother?  In all honesty, I don't really know.  I'm definitely still finding my way in the comics world, and it is hard to pass up the chance to read one of the BIG name creators in the floppy format.  Shit, I'm still learning my tastes, and I enjoyed Kick Ass enough that I guess Millar got a free pass on this one.  Well, I'm a bit wiser now, and will definitely be more cautious of Millar in the future.

The Bulletproof Coffin #6: Another finale here, and this one was done extremely well.  The previous five issues in this mini-series have consistently been amazing, but I was a bit skeptical that the creative team of David Hine and Shaky Kane would be able to wrap this one up nice an neat.  There is a lot of meta-textual, story within a story action going on through out this series, and I think that element makes it harder to wrap everything up without any kind of weird plot holes.  Well, that wasn't an issue at all here.  Shit, Hine and Kane even managed to plug themselves into the story, along with the rest of the comic production team, in fairly significant, and hilarious roles.   

The Bulletproof Coffin is an excellent mix of action, mystery, meta-textual mayhem, super heroes, lots of weirdness, and some great humor as well.  I feel like this was one of the most under-rated, under-appreciated titles of 2010, and far more deserving of attention than many of the other Image titles that get lots of press and have their first issues sell for $30 on ebay before they hit comic shops.  Hopefully enough people will buy this in trade so that it can be widely enjoyed.  I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that these guys start some sort of new project together asap.

Sweet Tooth #17: I lumped this one in with the "This is the End" theme because I thought this issue was the end of the "Animal Armies" story line, but it turns out I'm wrong and #18 is actually the end of the "Animal Armies" story arc.

I know I probably say this every time I write about Sweet Tooth, but I really think this comic gets better with each issue.  Each time I read one I think, "yup, that's the best Sweet Tooth yet."  This issue is the best Sweet Tooth ever because of the giant punch in the feelings it delivers.

Jeppard has been on an insane quest to rescue Gus for the past few issues, and his crazy plan looks be just about working.  The confrontation between Jeppard and his character foil, Abbot is more amazing than I could have imagined, plus a MAJOR plot twist hits that just about knocked me off my readin' perch.  This issue hits hard on all notes, especially the emotional one, and just like that, I am even further sucked into this crazy world that Jeff Lemire has so wonderfully created.  I can't wait for the next issue.