Rand Bellavia takes a look at his growing longbox, and reflects on comics released in September 2017.
writer: Tom King
pencils: Clay Mann
inks: Seth Mann
colors: Jordie Bellaire
letters: Clayton Cowles
Poor Kite Man. Before he was a punchline in the animated Harley Quinn show, he was a punchline in the comics. But a big reason that he got popular enough to end up on a TV show was because of the brief moment that Tom King made us feel bad for him in this issue of Batman.
Kite Man’s whole thing is being lighter than air, but this issue gets pretty heavy.
How heavy? Kite Man tells his kid about the Myth of Sisyphus.
And then they have a big laugh together.
Within the larger story of a war for Gotham between the Joker and the Riddler, we learn that the Riddler killed Kite Man’s son. This is pretty far from “Kite Man, Hell Yeah!” but King finds a way to bring us full circle.
But (kinda) good news! Kite Man was conspiring against The Riddler with Batman the whole time, so he gets revenge (sorta) and a measure of self-respect.
written by Jody Leheup and Sebastian Girner
art: Nil Vendrell
color: Mike Spicer
letters: Dave Lamphear
This book — which tells you exactly what it is with its title — has a sequel that is just coming out now. If you enjoy fun adventure stories with the absurd turned up to 11 you should be reading this comic. (If, however, you’re the type who asks questions like “But why can the bears talk?” then maybe this isn’t for you.)
For all its silliness, this book has a huge beating heart, as demonstrated by this wonderful exchange between Suzie and our titular hero’s adoptive bear mother.
We also get this surprisingly serious scene between Suzie and her former boss in the FBI.
Also, bear traps!
But don’t worry, you also get lots of bears — shirtless, fighting, and challenging your suspension of disbelief:
creator and writer: Jeff Loveness
artist: Juan Doe
letterer: Dave Sharpe
Jeff Loveness just announced that he’s been tapped to write the Avengers: Kang Dynasty film. This comes on the heels of his script for the third Ant Man film, which stemmed from his work on Rick and Morty. But before all of that, he had a brief, glorious, and largely unheralded career as a comic book writer. World Reader was his first creator owned comic, and this last issue is really something.
After five issues of our main character chasing a mysterious alien being who seems to be destroying all life in the universe, she learns the truth.
She’s been chasing God.
The idea that it is illogical to assume that God creates out of benevolence when we create out of need was first presented in comic book form by Grant Morrison during their Animal Man run, but Loveness really fleshes it out here. Instead of presenting the notion — as Morrison did — as a fleeting thought during a peyote trip, here we have a character confronted with the reality of this image of God, then able to have a conversation with the Creator about it.
She even manages to give him a pep talk.
Like many creators creating stories about creators creating stories, this story is about Story. (See Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, as well as Loveness’ later masterpiece Judas.)
Ultimately, this is a story of hope.
In our moments of greatest doubt, even (especially?) the most creative among us look to our stories to give us hope. Here it happens quite literally, as the creation gives the creator the perspective needed to carry on. And who is to say that this isn’t the true meaning of life?
Endings don’t get more hopeful than this, people. Seek out the work of Jeff Loveness. It is life affirming stuff.
Other Comics I Read from September 2017
- All-New Wolverine 24
- Amazing Spider-Man 32
- Archie 24
- Avengers 11
- Batman 31
- Batwoman 7
- Black Bolt 5
- Black Hammer 13
- Black Magick 8
- Bloodshot: Salvation 1
- Briggs Land: Lone Wolves 4
- Champions 12
- Crosswind 4
- Daredevil 26
- Dark Nights: Metal 2
- Dastardly and Muttley 1
- Defenders 5
- Descender 24
- Detective Comics 964, 965
- Divinity 0
- Faith and the Future Force 3
- Generation Gone 3
- Generations: Iron Man & Ironheart
- Generations: Miles Morales & Peter Parker
- Generations: Ms. Marvel & Ms. Marvel
- Glitterbomb: The Fame Game 1
- Hawkeye 10
- Infamous Iron Man 12
- Invincible 140
- Invincible Iron Man 11
- Iron Fist 7
- Jessica Jones 12
- Justice League/Power Rangers 6
- Kamandi Challenge 9
- Kill or Be Killed 12
- Luke Cage 5
- Mage: The Hero Denied 2
- Marvel Legacy 1
- Mighty Thor 23
- Mister Miracle 2
- Ms. Marvel 22
- Ninjak 0
- Old Man Logan 28
- Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man 4
- Postal 22
- Rebels: These Free and Independent States 7
- Saga 47
- Savage Things 7
- Secret Warriors 6
- Southern Bastards 18
- Spider-Man 20
- Spider-Men II 3
- Super Sons 8
- Superman 30, 31
- Thanos 11
- Totally Awesome Hulk 23
- Walking Dead 171
- Weapon X 8
- Wild Storm 7
- Wonder Woman/Conan 1