JLA/Doom Patrol Special, Silencer, Hungry Ghosts & More in Required Reading: Comics for 1/31/2018
Main Art by Frank Quitely
What do Andy Kaufman, Anthony Bourdain, a dairy-themed alternate-reality Superman and a confusing Star Wars cameo have in common? Zilch—other than anchoring a comic hitting shelves this Wednesday. The final New Comic Book Day of January also offers up DC’s second New Age of DC Heroes title (this time starring a stay-at-home-mom Punisher), a double whammy of impressive Black Mask original graphic novels, Vertigo’s latest sci-fi series, a one-shot starring two instant-fan-favorite Last Jedi stars and the second entry in DC’s magical-academy mystery Mystik U. It looks like 2018 may be priming itself to zoom past as quickly as 2017 did—make sure you take time to savor the sequential-art delights.
Black AF: America’s Sweetheart
Writer: Kwanza Osajyefo
Artist: Jennifer Johnson
Publisher: Black Mask Studios
Black Mask is one of a handful of smaller publishers putting out comics both excellent and unexpected, filling niches that haven’t been explored by more traditional superhero stories and supporting talent from marginalized communities that have been long ignored by traditional publishers. Though the first Black book was crowd-funded, Black Mask got in (almost) on the ground floor to help support writer Kwanza Osajyefo, co-creator Tim Smith 3 and artist Jamal Igle spread the book to the masses. Osajyefo proved to be an imaginative and skillful writer, creating a world that both reflects reality and pushes beyond it. In Black, the team asked the question of what the world would look like if the only people with superpowers were all Black; a young Black man discovers his powers when he survives police violence, and struggles to evade both the police and people who want to control superpowered Black men and women. On the heels of that success, Osajyefo has expanded the world to include a new character and a new perspective on that same premise.
Black AF: America’s Sweetheart centers around a young Black girl, just 15 years old, thrust into a world that’s slowly acclimating to what’s happening, as she must contend with everyday threats on top of the rejection she faces from the people around her—and a supervillain to boot. It’s a smart, sharp metaphor and it expands the universe that Osajyefo and Smith created in important ways, but the surprise draw here is Jennifer Johnson’s art. It’s rich with bright color and texture, a big departure from Black’s raw black and white pages. Johnson’s style could easily fit into a Little Golden Book, which helps make America’s Sweetheart accessible to a wide audience, easing the reader into ethical quandaries and unsettling nuance. Osajyefo is building a new superhero world that’s as compelling as it is unique, leaning on familiar tropes but reinvigorating them with metaphors that have weight and impact. It definitely helps that the book is over 80 pages and priced at $10 or less in most formats and locations, making it the perfect entry point for new readers and a contender for best value this week. Caitlin Rosberg
Eternal
Writer: Ryan K. Lindsay
Artist: Eric Zawadzki
Publisher: Black Mask Studios
Like his collaborators Zac Thompson and Lonnie Nadler, artist Eric Zawadzki made an impressive entrance with his work on The Dregs last year, and this week, readers will get a chance to see Zawadzki’s creative vision writ large in this original graphic novel from Black Mask Studios. Written by Beautiful Canvas and Negative Space creator Ryan K. Lindsay and stunningly colored by Dee Cunniffe, Eternal tells the story of an isolated band of shieldmaidens who refuse to cede their land to invading men. Zawadzki is already an expert at violence, and Lindsay has repeatedly displayed a talent for wringing emotions out of killer situations. Eternal, along with Black AF: America’s Sweetheart, mark Black Mask’s first entries in the original graphic novel market—potentially a fruitful new format for the upstart publisher. Steve Foxe
Hungry Ghosts #1
Writers: Anthony Bourdain & Joel Rose
Artists: Alberto Ponticelli & Vanessa Del Ray
Publisher: Berger Books/ Dark Horse Comics
Hungry Ghosts is the first of four inaugural titles for Berger Books, the Dark Horse imprint run by famed editor Karen Berger, whose tenure at Vertigo helped to shape modern comics in ways that cannot be understated. Written by Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose, who also teamed up for Get Jiro! back in 2016, Hungry Ghosts feels like many of the best episodes of television that Bourdain has starred in: informative, more than a little weird, sometimes unexpected and often only tangentially related to food. The book is framed as an anthology published in multiple issues, with each installment telling several stories. Each story has a different artist, but they’re linked by the central conceit of a dinner party that wraps up with the guests and chefs all telling each other ghost stories. Alberto Ponticelli provides the visuals not only for the dinner party framing device, but also the first of the spooky tales. It’s Vanesa Del Ray that sells the book though, with a tale of pirates and sexual violence that’s horrifying and cathartic at once. Fans of Del Ray’s book Redlands, created with Jordie Bellaire, will feel right at home with her contribution to the issue, and here’s hoping that folks who may not have otherwise picked up Redlands will do so after seeing these pages. Some readers might be put off by Paul Pope’s borderline stereotypical cover art and the unfortunate lettering choices on it, but in true comic book fashion, the cover has little to do with the interiors. Caitlin Rosberg
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