The Weekly Pull: Ultimate X-Men, Outsider, Rat City, and More
04/09/2024 04:38 pm EDT
The Enfield Gang Massacre Vol. 1
- Written by Chris Condon
- Art by Jacob Phillips
- Colors by Jacob Phillips with Pip Martin
- Letters by Jacob Phillips
- Published by Image Comics
Writer Chris Condon and artist Jacob Phillips have carved out their own niche in comics with a fusion of Western and neo-noir storytelling set deep in the heart of Texas. What began as McCarthy-influenced modern tales in That Texas Blood takes a turn to investigate older tales of Ambrose County set in the mid-19th century. The six-issue miniseries The Enfield Gang Massacre visits a classic arrangement of Western fare; it features both a gang of outlaws led by the eponymous Montgomery Enfield and a Texas Ranger hot on their trail. Those already familiar with Condon and Phillips' work will know to expect anything but familiar tropes from such a seemingly familiar arrangement. However, nuanced characterizations, twisted drama, and brutal depictions of violence remove the Western genre's romantic notions in order to dig deeper into the peoples and history they reflect. While the circumstances and outcomes may be brutal, that's not to say the story is altogether cynical. There's no denying the regional beauty of Texas as depicted by Phillips or the deeply sympathetic motivations, humor, and outlooks possessed by even the most tragic figures riding across that landscape. The Enfield Gang Massacre delivers a modern Western that delivers an entirely new spin on old-world elements in a comic book unlike anything else on the stands today. -- Chase Magnett
Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons
- Written by Frank Tieri
- Art by Inaki Miranda
- Colors by Eva De La Cruz
- Letters by Nathan Widick
- Published by IDW Publishing
The dichotomy of Godzilla Minus One and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is proving that a wide variety of stories can be told around the iconic kaiju. That wealth of possibilities has me especially excited for the collected edition of Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons, IDW's recent series pitting Godzilla against a bunch of 16th-century pirates. The end result is sure to be genuinely weird and entertaining. — Jenna Anderson
Outsiders #6
- Written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing
- Art by Robert Carey
- Colors by Valentina Taddeo
- Letters by Tom Napolitano
- Published by DC
DC's Outsiders relaunch has really started to hit its stride, delivering high-concept premises on top of a pretty enthralling central mystery. This week's issue promises to take Batwoman, Luke Fox, and Drummer into "The Place Between the Pages", an idyllic small town that may or may not be a stand-in for comic purgatory. I am always a sucker for physical manifestations of comic book "limbo", so I'm very much looking forward to seeing how this creative team tackles that concept. — Jenna Anderson
Rat City #1
- Written by Erica Schultz
- Art by Ze Carlos
- Colors by FCO Flascencia, David Ramos, Marcello Iozzoli
- Published by Image Comics
My brushes with Todd McFarlane's Spawn universe have been fleeting but something is interesting about Rat City. We've seen this kind of thing before, where a comics publisher takes a beloved superhero persona and reimagines that idea with a new hero under the mask and sets it in the not-too-distant future (think Spider-Man 2099 and Batman Beyond). That's the playbook that Erica Schultz, Ze Carlos, and the rest of the Rat City crew are pulling from as they introduce Peter Cairn, the Hellspawn of the future. However, there's another twist in the formula beyond the cyberpunk sheen. Unlike Al Simmons, Peter Cairn isn't dead but empowered by the Hellspawn as a living person through his prosthetic legs, which were somehow affected by a "necroplasmic detonation" Al pulled off before his disappearance. A living Hellspanw opens a whole new world of possibilities, and I'm eager to see where Schultz and Carlos take Peter's adventures. -- Jamie Lovett
Tales of the Titans
- Written and art by various
- Published by DC
With several comics recently being published and a live-action movie rumored to be on the way, it's proving to be a great time to be a Teen Titans fan. The Tales of the Titans anthology is definitely helping that cause, with an impressive roster of creatives working to redefine the origin stories of Starfire, Donna Troy, and more. Anyone who is a fan of DC's ever-popular super team probably needs to add this to their collection. — Jenna Anderson
Ultimate X-Men #2
- Writing and art by Peach Momoko
- Letters by Travis Lanham
- Published by Marvel Comics
The relaunch of Marvel Comics' Ultimate line was met with deserved skepticism given how superhero reboots and relaunches typically chase old ideas rather than anything genuinely exciting. But there's no denying that the new set of Ultimate comics has delivered every bit as much talent and creative innovation as the original line, and there's no better example of that early in the schedule than Peach Momoko's Ultimate X-Men. The debut issue took the established premise of a world rediscovering the metahuman legacy stolen from it and took the concept of mutants as far from the superhero genre as possible. While there are certainly still mutants developing powers in adolescence, without the pre-existing notion of superheroes to determine how they should present themselves, readers find the series' protagonist engaged in a story much closer to the magical girl genre. There are elements of self-discovery, teen angst, and wildly colorful adventures with life-and-death stakes, but no need to revisit old X-Men tropes and concepts that have been repeated far too often across the past 60 years. Every page turn in Ultimate X-Men reveals something new emerging from a handful of familiar characters, like Armor and Storm, much like a butterfly from its chrysalis. If the series' future holds as much promise as its debut, then Ultimate X-Men #2 is, without a doubt, the most exciting comic book to arrive this week. -- Chase Magnett
Uncanny Valley #1
- Written by Tony Fleecs
- Art by Dave Wachter
- Letters by Pat Brosseau
- Published by Boom Studios
Writer Tony Fleecs is on a hot streak weekly, with the success of books like Stray Dogs and Local Man. For his next project, he's teaming with Dave Wachter, who has worked on Marvel's Punisher and IDW's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, for Uncanny Valley, a story about a young boy with cartoonish powers. The premise is similar to the recent Image Comics release Something Epic, but with a seemingly more lighthearted tone that leans into the cartoonishness of it all. Uncanny Valley looks like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? in comic book form, and that certainly makes it worth a look.
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