Hi all, just your friendly neighbourhood Aussie here to drop some quick reviews for you all. I’ve got a smattering of publishers to represent here with looks at Secret Avengers, Fantastic Four, Conan: Road of Kings, Detective Comics, and Thunderbolts. No bad comics here, though nothing a superb masterpiece either. See what falls between and how.

Conan: Road of Kings #2

Written by Roy Thomas
Art by Mike Hawthorne

This book continues the tradition of being just a damn fine Conan book. It’s got the look and the feel, though sometimes the writing feels more like the old Marvel Conan comics but it’s written by Roy Thomas so you kind of have to expect that.

This issue sees Conan resting up in a town called Shadizar the Wicked. You know there’s plenty of mischief to get into in a town like this and Conan certainly gets into the thick of it. Krimsar, the only surviving pirate from the previous issues cataclysmic boating accident, prods Conan into some thievery, not that Conan usually needs much pushing to engage in a bit of taking what he wants. I don’t really like how easily this weak fool is able to push Conan’s buttons, he should be above that sort of play, but it gets Conan to enter the bejewelled tower so I guess it works for the narrative even if it feels a little forced on the character.

Once in the tower, a typical Conan/Howard moment occurs as a tentacle guardian of the riches emerges and battles these two shadows of the night. Of course, the sentry is first activated when Krimsar grabs the one jewel you know you shouldn’t grab. Note to self – if I’m ever robbing a temple or tower or throne room, make sure to leave the ruby in the eye of whatever statue it is in. It never works out well. Basically, the entire scene is kind of a barbarian mash up of what would happen if Scrooge McDuck kept a dianoga in his money pit. If that sounds like fun for you then, yeah, this comic is going to deliver.

Verdict – Check It. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled for Conan comics, but I usually set the bar high for his four colour adaptation. This one is good but it lacks that great feeling. Conan is his usual assertive self, with the men and the women, and the art from Hawthorne is very fine but overall I get a thin feeling from this tale. It’s getting there, sure, but it’s not blowing my socks completely off. I’ll stick with it but there’s better Conan books out there.

Detective Comics #873

Written by Scott Snyder
Art by Jock

I was a massive fan of the last two issues, and the start of Snyder/Jock’s run on the title. The first issue was good and in my opinion the second issue topped it. The stage was set with Dick Grayson infiltrating an auction of gruesome Gotham accoutrements, and of course the main selection was a Robin themed item – probably the worst weapon you could associate with a ward of Batman.

The first two issues set up a vibe, this felt like some gritty 70s flick. It had a Polanski tone that made me think we were back on the streets. This was a detective putting his feet on the trail and his body on the line, and by the end of the last issue we could see that Dick had certainly put his body on the line. The cliffhanger left him attacked by this Auctioneer’s gas and threatened with the violence of a mob of Gothamites high on the horror of life in their fair town. The stage was set and the stage was dark indeed.

This issue opens with a great sequence of Dick beating his way through the people and through the toxin in his system. His internal monologue is strong, especially as he fights the gas, which is making him hallucinate and picture the crowd as monsters, by remaining true to the facts. He reminds himself who these people are and where he is. It’s a great calming technique to keep his head in this dangerous situation.

My first gripe comes with Dick’s escape. Once we see he is out it’s all just assumed he gets away. I want to know completely how he got away from these people. They didn’t seem like the kind of crowd to just stop because he gets more than two metres away, these were blood thirsty people and they’d track him mercilessly just to feel the thrill of the kill but we don’t see what happens and so I don’t really know how Dick does it. This is all too easily glossed over and makes the escape, and the threat, feel weaker because of it.

Though, it must be said, my favourite moment of this year comes when Dick wakes up after the attack. The toxin is still working in his system and he imagines that he has lost his legs. It all turns out to be a gas induced hallucination, natch, but there was a moment where I really wondered if it might be real. I’m sure they could hook him up with some cybernetic legs, or something, and I was a little worried. It also seemed more plausible because I didn’t know if he had truly escaped, or how, so that was effective. The imagery of Dick with bandaged stumps is my pick for moment of the year, so far.

From here, the resolution comes too quickly and easily. Snyder races Dick back to the Auctioneer and has him stage an in-flight attack at 30,000 feet. There doesn’t seem to be any challenge for Dick to track the bad guy down and then tackle him, it’s again glossed over and feels weaker because of it. It doesn’t really take much skill, just one hell of a Batplane manoeuvre.

There is a creepiness to Guiborg as he uses some Venom and Man-Bat juice to freak out and become a literal monster. I thought this was a shame because the creep with the mask and the cane seemed like such a classy and insipid criminal that I didn’t ever imagine him being the sort of villain to take himself onto the front line. I had almost hoped to see him scurry away and live to creep out another day. This guy’s introduction had me feeling the same vibe I got when Jason Aaron introduced his villain, Dr Rot,

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