The Comics Column #1: Dreams and Awakenings

Greetings, citizens of Earth-Prime! Neoplasmic here, with the first installment of the latest RPC feature series, The Comics Column! I’m going to be covering a bunch of comics I’ve been reading, some current and others a bit older. This time around, I’m going to discuss Artemis & the Assassin, Gotham Central, X-Men, Cyberpunk 2077: Trauma Team, Sandman, Lonely Receiver, and Marauders, so we have an eclectic mix to get through! Suit up and get ready to fly, everyone!

First up, let’s take a glimpse at life in the year 2077 with Dark Horse’s Cyberpunk 2077: Trauma Team #1. Written by Cullen Bunn, with art by Miguel Valderrama and colors by Jason Wordie. The series follows Nadia, an EMT working for a privately owned company called Trauma Team International. Their clients call on them at any time, in any situation. One day Nadia and her team were called in to extract a critically wounded man during a gang shootout, but things went sideways, and Nadia was the only survivor. She did manage to save the client, but it’s clear that the experience left her scarred. Bunn and Valderrama do an excellent job of exploring the effects of that mission on Nadia’s psyche, and succeed in setting the tone of the dark and violent world of Cyberpunk 2077. It can be a bit difficult to tell Nadia apart from her teammates during the book’s battle sequences, because Trauma Team members wear similar outfits, but the art is very expressive and colorful, and Bunn’s script shows us just how deep-seated Nadia’s trauma really is. Highly recommended.

Next up is Aftershock’s Lonely Receiver #1, written by Zac Thompson, with art by Jen Hickman and lettering by Simon Bowland. After a bad breakup with her ex-girlfriend, a video producer named Catrin Vander attempts to soothe her lonely heart by purchasing an AI life partner, patently designed to attend to her every need. However, her digital girlfriend begins to exhibit astonishingly lifelike behavior, and soon, things between them begin to sour. Catrin is a damaged, controlling, extremely lonely and insecure soul, and her separation from her AI companion causes her to lose the final vestiges of her sanity. There’s a lot to love here, from the all-too-relatable relationship angst to the pastel-drenched nightmare of living in modern times. Thompson and Hickman bring us a connected world where everyone is disconnected from each other, and Catrin is a character that I can’t help but have sympathy for, even though she’s clearly screwed up. I can’t wait to see where this story takes us, even if the end result may be even more horrific and psychologically terrifying than one might expect. Read this book now!

Writer Stephanie Phillips and artist Francesca Fantini then take us on a time-traveling action adventure with Artemis & The Assassin #5, published by Aftershock. This issue features the conclusion to what I hope is the first of many miniseries featuring Maya, a time-traveling assassin, and Virginia Hall, an American spy who worked with the British Special Operations Executive during World War II. Hall was so successful at her clandestine activities that she earned the nickname “Artemis” and became an expert in support operations such as organizing resistance movements and offering safe houses and medical aid to downed airmen and soldiers trapped behind enemy lines. The book chronicles Hall’s encounters with Maya, who is tasked with assassinating her, but fails. Soon enough, Maya discovers the true purposes behind her mission, and she and Hall become allies against the corrupt mastermind who trained her. Phillips’ brilliant writing spotlights a woman I had never really heard much of in Virginia Hall, and Fantini’s art is beautiful and full of personality. I love this book! Drop what you’re doing and read the entire miniseries!

Marauders #11 and #12, written by Gerry Duggan with art by Stefano Caselli (issue 11) and Matteo Lolli (issue 12) and published by Marvel, follows up on the long-gestating plot thread of Kitty Pryde’s death and impending resurrection, once Prof. Xavier and the Five special mutants figure out why it hasn’t worked before. (And yes, I know the comic refers to her as Kate, but to me, she’s always been and ever will be Kitty, and I stand by that.) Of course, we all know that death doesn’t ever stick in the X-books, so Kitty’s back and apparently a fundamentally different person. Since the Jonathan Hickman-helmed soft reboot of the X-Men line, I’ve felt like a lot of characterization has seemingly been off, or at least a little bit strange, but I like the decision they made with Kitty here. Her reunion with Nightcrawler was a sweet moment, as was her exchange with Wolverine, which showed that she hasn’t forsaken her roots. But I hope that Kitty and her crew are able to exact some manner of revenge on Sebastian Shaw, who deserves every bit of what he’s going to get. Read it if you’re a Kitty Pryde fan, like me.

X-Men issues 11 and 12, once again published by Marvel and written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Leinil Francis Yu, tie in to the recent Empyre storyline and set the table for the upcoming X of Swords crossover, respectively. Yu’s artwork remains the major highlight of this book, with his take on Magneto in #11 looking incredibly badass. Exodus also pops up yet again, implanting some very intriguing ideas into the young and impressionable brains of his students. Issue 12 features the villain formerly known as Apocalypse making a connection with a summoner from Arakko, who sets the stage for some dangerous new players in the X-Men mythos. X of Swords is definitely an interesting idea for an X-crossover, bringing forth some high-fantasy elements and throwing them into the X-books’ normally sci-fi-tinged world. Some of it’s going over my head, I’ll admit, but I’m interested in seeing Apocalypse’s endgame come to fruition in the crossover. I just don’t want Storm to turn bad. Not my favorite issues of the soft reboot, but Magneto rocked it in issue 11.

Time to go back to a pre-New 52 DC Comics era with the deluxe edition of Gotham Central, volume one. Collecting the first ten issues of the critically acclaimed series, writers Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka and artist Michael Lark bring a stark realism to Gotham City as they focus on the police officers who live and work in the shadow of the Batman. The book really is a sort of NYPD Blue-esque police procedural, with just a few appearances by the Bat himself, but the real gem here is the characterization on display. Renee Montoya is the standout here, as the main multi-part storyline in the TPB re-establishes her status quo, with the other cops serving as great supporting characters. There are dirty Internal Affairs officers, deals with a certain Two-Faced character that go sour, a new (at the time) police commissioner who doesn’t have a solid relationship with Batman, and a ton of unique narrative elements at play, especially for a series set in a superhero-centric universe. Rucka, Brubaker, and Lark immediately set the series apart with the tone of the book, particularly through the art, which is excellent. I cannot recommend this one enough. Go buy it now!

Finally, Sandman volume one is the first compilation of Neil Gaiman’s comic book masterpiece, featuring art by Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, and Malcolm Jones III. Published through DC’s mature readers line, then called Vertigo, this comic is straight up Victorian horror and supernatural/occult storytelling. The main character, Dream, is the lord of sleep and the entity who can control the type of dreams people have while sleeping. Of course, I’m simplifying things here, but he’s an amazing character with a great visual design, and his run-ins with Lucifer, the lord of Hell, and John Constantine, a human warlock, are handled very well here. Gaiman and his artists know how to ratchet the psychological horror, and their vision of Hell itself is a grotesque menagerie of demons and gooey, fleshy towers with skulls at their base and it’s all very terrifying and eye-catching. Lucifer’s design is great, as well; he comes off as this narcissistic yet charming figure whose rule over Hell may be in jeopardy. There’s a mystery at play that captures your imagination and compels you to read more. And the final issue in the collection, #8, introduces us to Dream’s sister, Death, and I’m already falling for her character. She’s just as interesting as Dream, but in a completely different way: Dream is moribund and depressed, while Death is perky and upbeat, which seems paradoxical. Gaiman is a master at subverting our expectations, and Death is a prime example of that. So, yeah, this is a classic series for a reason, but if, like me, you haven’t ever gotten around to reading it, there’s no time like the present to do just that!

There you have it, our first issue of the Comics Column! I hope you all enjoyed it, and if you have any suggestions you’d like to make to improve this series or any books you’d like us to feature, let us know in the comments below or through our social media links! Until next time, Renegades, I remain…