sdelmonte | This Week's Comics - Runaways, Spirit, Batman and the Outisders, Robin

Angel: After the Fall 4 apparently came out, but most shops in the Northeast didn't get enough copies. Including mine.

Runaways 29 – Errrr. Stuff happens. Lots of it. None of it interests me in the least. I could say that the three months since the last issue don’t help. But I think this is just a really overwrought, confusing story. It’s strange how Joss has so much control over his characters and plots in the Buffy comic and has none at all here. This is a mess. I will get the last part, since some of what we saw at the start of the arc was interesting and needs resolution. Otherwise, though, I can’t wait till Terry Moore takes over.

The Spirit 14 – Doctors are being murdered, and the Spirit is on the case. The new creative team of Sergio Aragones, Mark Evanier and Mike Ploog takes over, and I can say that this is very much the kind of story that Will Eisner gave his readers. Which both a strength and a weakness. We don’t want to see this comic turn into just another DC super-hero muddle, and I am sure we won’t get that. But Darwyn Cooke pushed the Spirit towards the edge, perhaps more than Eisner did, but effectively. After a year of sometimes compelling storytelling, it feels like a step backwards to have merely entertaining and fun.

Batman and the Outsiders 4 – In French Guiana, Batman and his team – joined by Green Arrow – look to stop Brother I’s scheme to launch something into space aboard an ESA satellite. Somewhere in this issue is a very good comic looking to get loose. The ideas for a good team book built on Batman are there. Dixon handles the cast well. The art is great. But it all seems poorly put together. I keep thinking that someone handed Dixon a set of ideas he has to use, and he can’t break free just yet. Given that there are better books and that I am reading plenty of Batman, I am not sure how long I want to wait to see Dixon get the chance to tell his own stories.

Robin 171 – Speaking of Dixon telling his own story, this is a prime example of that. Robin continues searching for Violet, and wondering why he keeps seeing reminders of Steph. And from the first page to the last, this is a strong old-school Chuck Dixon urban hero comic with the urban hero he knows best. I will admit, as many critics pointed out, that there is nothing really new about this series now. But I don’t care. The dialogue is strong, the art is clean, the pacing is great, and things are just unpredictable enough to keep me guessing. This is the sort of super-hero comic I love, and it’s good that DC is giving me at least one.