Welcome to another edition of Last Call Comics. Here, as we continually bolster AIPT’s weekly comics coverage, we catch any titles that might’ve fallen through the cracks. Or those books that we might not cover but still deserve a little spotlight. Either way, it’s a chance to explore more comics, generate some novel insights, and maybe add to everyone’s to-be-read pile.
Once more, happy New Comic Book Day to everyone.
Local Man #9
Courtesy of Image Comics.
Without being too comfortable with the pompousness of quoting myself, I ended my review of Local Man #8 by calling it a “beast that’s only still just getting started.” That’s because this series (from writer-artists Tim Seeley and Tony Fleecs) continues to find new and impactful ways to engage and surprise as it celebrates and tears down superhero stories.
And that was doubly, nay triply, true of issue #9.
Here, we get the finale of the really great “Dry Season” arc, and what a conclusion this issue proves to be (and then some). All of the major threads — the sea creature plaguing Farmington, the boiling tension between Jack Xavier and Chief Bucholz, Jack’s burgeoning powers, and the Jack-Inga Bucholz affair — all reach their respective simmering point in brilliant fashion. Now clearly I can’t spoil too much, but there’s a few notable things to discuss from this issue.
One is the idea that Jack’s various relationships — with both the Bucholzs — are really important (but especially after this issue). The Chief-Jack stuff really plays like a messed up version of Batman and Jim Gordon, and I love what this pairing offers in terms of exploring male ego and this idea of how we’re locked in a state of battle between who we are, who we want to be, and the impact of those movements. They have so much both in common and yet are completely different in key ways, and that back-and-forth continues to be huge.
In some ways, I almost like this relationship over what Inga and Jack have become. That affair has clearly come to serve a rather specific purpose, as Jack and Inga are now sort of positioned like Superman and Lex Luthor (if those two ever did the deed). To some extent, we need that tale of archrivals if we’re really going to move forward (namely in the forthcoming Local Man: Bad Girls), but I just think this dynamic feels a little boxed in so far. Obviously there’s still more story to be told, but as of now I just wish we got a little more claw-on-claw action in this game of cat and mouse. Still, Inga has developed really effectively across this arc, and it’s shocking to see not only what she’s capable of but how it was teased across this whole arc. She’s clearly more than matched in terms of wit and intellect to test Jack, and their back-and-forth hopefully won’t be as mere bitter “exes.”
At the same time, though, this issue wasn’t just about Jack’s relationships but also his further development as a hero. His understanding of his “evolving” powers reaches a peak here, and we see just what Jack’s capable at his peak. It’s a really novel spin on the “I can throw shit real good” ability, and a way to give our hero a larger purpose and to also place him on the path to dissecting these big ideas of redemption, learning to help others, and the nature of a true hero.
It’s also this new understanding of his powers that lets Jack deal with our water creature in a new way, and to prove himself to the folks of his small town, and that’s a great way to show the kind of hero Jack can be even as he’s clearly still figuring out a lot of his “new” career. It’s great to see that this power also represents Jack coming into his own, and stepping away from this need to impress people because he knows his own path. Ironically enough, it’s that little shift that endears him to his hometown — he’s doing the thing heroes do and striving for what’s best for everyone (even if he might think to do something else entirely).
If there’s some downsides, issue #9 wasn’t quite as visually compelling as #8. Now, don’t get me wrong, we do get some really great action and set pieces, including a really inventive fight with the water creature. That moment wasn’t always just pleasing to the eye — I love how such an over-the-top moment was depicted in this very rural setting and what that says about these places and ideas of home — but it felt important thematically. More specifically, the idea of water and its ability to drown and overpower felt important in this phase in Jack’s development, and we got a really powerful visual clue into his mental state as he’s trying to deal with this flood of events and happenings and changes. His physical presence amid that speaks volumes about Jack’s evolution, and that pairs really nicely with his own understandings of his new lot in life.
Still, the giant action scenes aside, I think the rest of this issue’s visual oomph relied mostly on quiet moments and depictions. To that extent, then, I wasn’t quite as blown away as I have been with other scenes. The stuff with Inga, for one, was mostly effective — she’s got little gestures and an overall presence in this issue that balances the homemaker and burgeoning supervillain vibes in a way that feels super interesting. At the same time, though, I think some of Jack’s “performance” in this issue didn’t meet the inherent drama given the sheer number of massive moments that smacked him upside the head. I want a little more oomph and drama from our hero at a vital time, and the fact that it was missing a touch across his face and actions just felt a little irksome. There’s some good moments for Jack to really grab the eye, but not enough considering this issue was a massively transformative one for himself, his family, his town, and his very world. If nothing else, though, the aesthetic of this book locked in even more across this issue, and I continue to love the gritty but weird balance this series has struck.
Based on the big reveal at the end of this issue, things have only begun to get complicated for Jack. But after this chapter, he’s very clearly prepared to further step up, and to tackle the challenges of being a very specific kind of hero with gusto and passion galore. He’s going to need his new powers and his fresh insights (and maybe even his immortal dog) if he’s going to really secure that meaningful next arc. But whatever his path, I’m following along with endlessly bated breath for comics’ most compelling superhero.
Final Thought: A true hero for our weird, super dumb world.
Score: 8.5/10
Sirens of the City #6
Courtesy of BOOM! Studios.
We’ve reached the end of Sirens of the City. It’s been a mostly enjoyable tale from co-creators Joanne Starer and Khary Randolph, as our lead, Layla, has gone on a proper hero’s journey in a tale about personal power, found family, and magical creatures galore. That’s even as the experience has been occasionally uneven — too much focus either on or off Layla, for instance, has complicated this tale and made the journey a touch sluggish at points.
But as we come into the finale with issue #6, I can generally say the end result is a fitting farewell to this mostly great little series that’s as fantastical as it is decidedly poignant and gritty.
For one, this issue is an efficient slice of storytelling, as we get right into the battle between Team Layla (which includes Devi, Rome, and her mother Lilith) against the evil Rat King and his minions/thugs. But it’s also not a really grandiose battle in the way you’d expect (or maybe want?), and that little spin makes all the difference.
It helps, though, that Layla is really given the star treatment here in a big way. She’s not always played the most “active” role in her own story, but here in the finale it’s all about how she’s stepped up and assumed some of her own potential. She’s still very much a scared, uncertain kid, but her performance here shows that she’s all but understood her real power, and she actively fights to control her own destiny and larger life path. That strength feels not only super effective but also quite well earned — a decision rooted in the trials and tribulations she’s faced and a clear moment of emotional payoff for everyone involved. Layla always had a good head on her shoulders, and here she’s using it at last.
But it’s not just that Layla is finally making the right decisions for herself; there’s also the way this stepping up, as it were, influences and informs her various relationships. Without revealing too much, there’s revelations here that complicate and extend her friendship with Marisol and relationships with Lilith and Rome. It’s the kind of hard decision-making that feels beyond the paygrade of a teen, and yet Layla is able to take her newfound confidence and perspective and fight for these relationships and the value they hold. She’s able to understand that the world’s not so black and white, and that by having these tricky, multilayered relations, she’s a much more well-rounded person overall. That’s really what we want for her: to be able to see the true power of getting older and how it’s about making things work that best serve you. It’s about finding the family that’s maybe a little weird but lets you spread your wings your own way.
I think part of her immersion into this new stage of her life is the confrontation with Rat King. As mentioned, it’s not the big, bloody battle you’d expect, but it goes in a direction that’s just as bloody and gut-wrenching in its own ways. It’s a mostly perfect fight that allows Layla to make that final decision to step up, recognize what she really wants from life and her family and friends, and to fight back against a world that wants to steal her thunder and stop her from living a way that’s fully responsive to her own wants and needs. It felt like a confrontation that honored the larger spirit of this book, and tried to give us a villain that felt real and authentic and not some hackneyed, overly cheesy foe. It positioned Rat King as more of an existential threat, and that gave Layla the power to make big decisions over simplified gestures surrounding some cliched notions of good vs. evil.
Said fight gave us these really personal and emotionally resonant moments to understand the decisions these characters were making and the real stakes behind this confrontation. Then, the sheer bloody mayhem of it all just drove home the larger impact of these moments, and the kind of force that doesn’t just make these moments feel hella cool but informs the decisiveness and heart that brought these interactions to such extremes.
That battle aside, there were still plenty of over-the-top violence and general displays of awesomeness from Randolph (alongside colorist Matt Herms). Layla, mostly, came off as being extra powered, with lots of force and intent put into depicting her real strength and presence. Married with her emotional development across this issue, it felt like a really effective way to send home just how much strength these interactions had in finally pushing her across home plate in terms of said development. Randolph’s done a great job of that across this whole dang title — his earnest approach to emotion and humanity, his powerful line work, and his overall range and inventiveness have imbued this book with life and power to spare, and it’s the reason (to reiterate) that I’ve kept reading despite some narrative “hiccups.”
Issue #6, especially, just re-emphasizes all of that skill and intent. So whether it’s those massive fights, the stuff with Layla’s powers, and even a suite of other moments (Layla explaining why the final battle happens at a sugar factory, for instance), every panel continues to drip with raw intensity and a gentle grace, this maddening concoction that grabs readers by the ear as much as it’s tried to guide us into these quiet understandings of massive ideas and themes. And, of course, I absolutely must mention a moment toward the end with Lilith and Layla — it may be the most visually stunning and similarly disarming moment in the whole book. It’ll gut you just like some other moments in this run, but in a way that really drives home those ideas of power, choice, and family. It’s just another way in which Randolph’s work has given this book so much power and intent by handcrafting this endlessly living world.
Like any great miniseries or adjacent title in comics, Sirens of the City teases that there’s much more story left to tell. While I’d be more than happy to read another couple of series, part of me is sort of hoping this is The End. Because despite any minor hesitations, or struggles to make its way up this self-imposed hill, this book ends fairly perfectly. Things aren’t just wrapped up in a neat little package but we get as close to a “happy” ending as we could want without diminishing the journey that still lays ahead for Layla and her “family.” It’s an ending we could only hope for: ample love and joy, new beginnings, a touch of swearing, and the recognition that this weird, ugly life is worth it if you can just be your own hero.
Final Thought: Growing up is the best worst mistake you could ever make.
Score: 8/10
Quest #5
Courtesy of Image Comics.
It’s been a few months since the release of Quest #4. Sure, delays and/or extended waits are A Thing in the comics industry, but it felt like at a time when this book was really making some major headway. After a mostly meh start in #1, the epic journey of Anya, Tor, and Nuru had grown bigger in every conceivable way (more companions, bigger stakes, more robust emotions, etc.)
So, what happens as we re-join our little campaign: is there even more glorious adventure ahead, or were we better off with that extended break? As it turns out, this issue was just what we needed to kickstart our excitement for this book as we round out the very first arc.
Perhaps the biggest reason this issue works is that, thanks to the events of issue #4, we left off just before the big battle with the foul demon Kiat. And because of that, the creative team — Jonathan Luna and Crystal Wood — didn’t have to worry about any more slow build, and instead they got right to what they’ve done best so far: emotionally resonant fantasy with heaps of intent and energy.
This battle is quite sweet — limbs being removed, inventive curses from said ancient demon — but it also facilitated a few important developments. Namely, Anya gets a chance to step up as a leader, the whole party gets to show off (including some important tidbits with the sorcerer/wizard Ravinder), the world grows a little more robust (again, the Southeast Asian influence is becoming all the more rich and organic), and we have a better idea of the lore and history of this world (including how demons came to be and the larger threat that our party is facing).
But it’s so much more than a mere battle, and this gory interrogation scene that follows facilitates a lot of space for this story to achieve those aforementioned goals in a way that exudes its very specific form of charm. Which is to say, the selling point of this book is that overly cheesy, occasionally saccharine approach, but that proves doubly endearing and effective given that the creative team care deeply, and they work to showcase these characters in this world in the way that feels aligned with the rather specific tones and tendencies of, say, Lord of the Rings. Are they the same beast? No, but then that’s not the point — it’s that Quest makes its own decisions about how it uses and references fantasy tropes, and it does so with a firm commitment that can bypass some of that overt cheesy and even the occasionally awkward tendencies (like, the overindulgent dialogue that happens from time to time).
If anything, by tackling more of those efforts in proper fantasy world-building (be it embracing those tropes or battling against them), I think this book has become all the more rich and engaging. You can especially see that in the use of flashbacks with Anya and Deyvan, which remain quite sweeping and affective in all the normal ways this book is capable of but also feel decidedly more subtle, powerful, and about genuinely extending these characters in rather inventive ways.
I think you can also see some of that “confidence” arise in the visuals within this chapter. There’s a certain decision made in how demons are made and/or spread, and it’s a little visual tidbit that I think feels a touch understated, and that’s what this story needs more of right now. Which, again, is to say something that it develops and promotes as this thing that speaks to the book’s overall aesthetic and its place in the grand canon of modern fantasy. You can see more of that also reflected in the way magic is depicted as operating, or the way the world is beginning to grow (again, the Southeast Asian influence is doing wonders to set this book apart as the world grows ever more robust and complicated from a visual standpoint).
Heck, even something like the various kinds of steeds here shows us that this world is growing in a way that it knows what it wants to be. Yes, that may be familiar in all the best ways, but it’s also very much an identity that’s about feeling new/different as well as in line with trying to facilitate some of its mostly specific goals (i.e., showing us a more multifaceted version of fantasy and building on the mere promise of just a well-rounded cast). Maybe there wasn’t as much deliberate magic this time around as the narrative — even if we got some really great bloody battles that have a similar oomph — but it’s clear that this book’s whole style is following a similar path toward growing when we actually need that shift the most.
In some ways, this issue made it clear that the adventure has only just begun. And because of that, I think it’s put some of my initial issues and concerns in perspective — this is still a decidedly young story, and it’s very much finding its footing. But as the team and their mission coalesced in a really important way across issue #5, so too has the sense that the growing pains may be over and we’re ready for a properly engaging, increasingly evocative story about friendship, romance, home, and the endless journey of life. Now, enjoy another rest before the second arc likely reaches new speeds for epic adventuring.
Final Thought: A chapter of big enemies and even bigger revelations.
Score: 7.5/10
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