DC’s ‘Plunge’ is No Routine Dive
March 7th, 2020 by Gregg Senko
Debuting in February under DC’s Black Label (for readers age 17 and older), comic book writer/creator Joe Hill proudly released his latest effort, Plunge. Hill is best known as the mastermind behind the best-selling Locke & Key series, which is now a popular Netflix series. Plunge offers up a very different feel from its mainstream predecessor, though there is no less suspense in this nautical adventure. At two issues in, things are ramping up in this superbly paced story.
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With Free Comic Book Day a little over a month away, comic book publishers are busy promoting their titles that will be released on the fan-favorite, unofficial holiday. Until then, there is still plenty to get excited over, especially from the good folks over at Marvel who always have a slew of new titles up their sleeve. With a new series released this week, free titles on the horizon and an old face getting his own series this spring, there is indeed plenty to prepare for, Bub. Snikt!
Technically he never left, but the black-clad Sith Lord has had two ongoing monthly series from Marvel in recent memory with this being the third. The most recent was the 25-issue series that was absolutely brilliant from start to finish (and one I hated to see come to an end). While that prior series took place during the tale end of Order 66, the new series picks up during the events of The Empire Strikes Back when he and Luke faced off in person for the first time.
I do long for the days of Robert Venditti writing X-O Manowar. I also miss the ongoing Vader series dearly. Alas, all good things must come to an end, but fear not! Each year the comic book industry provides new surprises as well as continuity of greatness. In addition, it is important to mention the case of two landmark achievements in 2019. Both the series Detective Comics and Marvel Comics each reached their 1,000th issue this year and both were done very differently. The former was a collection of short Batman stories, while the latter was a massive collection of one-page stories ranging from Daredevil to Darth Vader. Personally, I found nothing to be gained by a story contained on a single page, but to each their own. Enough talk, onto the awards!
The timing of Marvel’s latest comic book mini-series is certainly no coincidence. As anyone who lives near a TV, computer or other human may know, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker debuted in theaters this past week. Coming out the same exact day was issue one of four of The Rise of Kylo Ren. The series is written by the very talented Charles Soule, who is known for penning other Marvel titles such as Star Wars, the second Darth Vader series, Lando as well as Obi Wan & Anakin. If you wanted answers that weren’t given to you in the new film trilogy, The Rise of Kylo Ren should be your medicine.
DC has been releasing one-shot issues of various villains throughout 2019, each a single tale dedicated to one baddie. All going under the heading Year of the Villain, we have thus far been graced with issues covering the Riddler, Black Adam, Sinestro, Black Mask and Lex Luthor. The latest addition to this doom-dealing lineup is none other than the most popular DC villain, the Joker. Hot on the heels of the successful motion picture of everyone’s favorite clown (sorry, Pennywise), we go back to the ink and paper roots for Batman’s arch nemesis.
At the end of July, Dark Horse Comics released issue #1 of a mini-series that made its debut with little fanfare. Manor Black came out on July 31st and holds this aura of a small independent film in the sense that it may not have widespread notoriety, but it serves up one very engaging story. Written by Cullen Bunn (Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe) and Brian Hurtt (The Damned), and its eerie visual tone courtesy of Tyler Crook (Harrow County), the four-issue tale is currently halfway through its release, but what is Manor Black all about?
Like Endgame or not, there is definitely a Marvel high that’s wafting through the air right now. Entering its second weekend, the final Avengers movie will, without question, continue to behave like a financial behemoth. Although this is the end for the super team, it’s certainly not the end for all things Avengers. New to comic book stores this month is a fresh take on the group, dubbed Savage Avengers! Issue #1 came out on May 1st and I had the privilege of feasting my eyes on it earlier today.
It has been a long time in coming, about 80 years to give you an idea. That is no coincidence either. This year marks the 80th birthday of arguably the second most famous super hero in the world; Batman. While Action Comics got its start in 1938 and featured everybody’s favorite Kryptonian, it actually arrived more than a year after the debut issue of Detective Comics. However, that’s not to say Batman is older than Superman as far as publications go. On the contrary, the Caped Crusader arrived in 1939, courtesy of writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane. Fast-forward eight decades and it’s time to honor one of the greatest comic book characters around.
Whereas 2018 was not the best year for films (in my humble opinion), it proved to be an exceptional year for comics. The world of Spider-Man saw one massive tie-in after another between the PS4 game, the upcoming animated film and the Spider-Geddon series. Valiant did a slight but impactful retooling of its popular Ninjak series, now referring to him as Ninja-K, the eleventh assassin of his kind (A through K) in Her Majesty’s service. DC made their own statement with the Drowned Earth story arc, establishing the importance and strength of Aquaman as the half-Atlantean, half-human gets ready for his own feature film later this month. Long story short (too late), there was no shortage of entertainment from comic book publishers these past twelve months. You’ll see some familiarity from last year on this article and a few new titles that are certainly worth checking out. After all, why else would they be on this list?
About a decade ago, I remember first seeing a new title from Image Comics called The Astounding Wolf-Man. Taking the concept of a super hero and combining it with a werewolf was definitely unique, though some may dispute the title character’s super hero-ness. Nevertheless, I flipped through a few pages and felt the artwork was rather cartoonish…at first. After reading the issue in its entirety, I thought it to be a great marriage of dialogue and visuals. Fast-forward to 2018 and Image releases another supernatural-inspired series with that similar animation-style art, the Exorsisters. Would history repeat itself and I’d find myself loving this story?
After recently seeing Sony Picture’s Venom in theaters a few weeks ago, I caught the trailer for the upcoming animated feature film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. While the movie looks to be rather promising, I didn’t think much more of it at the time than a new format of introducing Spider-Man to the big screen. A day later I saw news of the soon-to-be released Spider-Geddon comic book mini-series, which the cover seems to portray as a massive love letter to every rendition of Spider-Man that has been created in recent memory. It seems there is much more going on than a Spidey slug fest and a new movie cartoon.
So far I’ve found 2018 for comic books to be the complete opposite for the year’s movies. For instance, my top 10 films of the year list is looking rather bleak while my comics list is abundant with top tier stories. Hey, keep ’em coming! I’d rather have a top 10 list that is forever changing as opposed to one that is stagnant and empty. These titles have proven to be attention grabbers with great stories and great art that just don’t stop…unless it’s a mini-series, then, you know, that’s pretty finite. The titles in this group each have their own unique characteristics that put them on the list as recommended reading. Here are five comic book titles for 2018 that you shouldn’t be passing up.
DC has a massive library of characters to its credit. Some, like Batman (of course), are so successful that there is never a need to shelve the character in any form in comics. Then you have others like Plastic Man which disappear for years at a time, and are then brought back fresh and revamped. Finally, there are those super heroes that are commonly found in the pages of DC Comics, but for some reason or another, disappear for a short time and finally make a big splash in their return. This is certainly the case for Carter Hall, better known as the mace-wielding, sky-soaring hero known as Hawkman.
So for a few months now I’ve been tackling DC’s latest arsenal of new titles for 2018. The one I’ve anticipated the most has finally arrived, The Curse of Brimstone. It recently arrived on store shelves and through Amazon’s Comixology in tandem with another new DC release, The Immortal Men. While I haven’t picked up the latter yet, I dove into Brimstone rather quickly. Writer Justin Jordan (The Strange Talent of Luther Strode) brings a hot pen to the book’s pages as Philip Tan (Final Crisis) delivers the scorching visuals. Pack some sunscreen because this book is going to burn.
It’s taxing to find good horror on comic book shelves. Many titles that try their hand at the genre are underwhelming while others may just come across as kid-like and are more goofy than scary. Now don’t get me wrong. The horror gems can still be found out there. The first to come to mind is Joe Hill’s resounding Lock & Key, which not only turned some keys, but plenty of heads as well. This title didn’t garner international attention because the covers were pretty. Content was solid to say the least. Yet that brings us to today when horror comic books aren’t exactly commonplace. Let’s correct that right now. I give you Infidel.
Im a big Aquaman fan, but as the saying goes, behind every great man is a great woman. For quite some time, the one-time rival and now love interest of Arthur Curry, Mera of Xebel, gets her own comic book series. Though it is a limited series, something tells me DC is testing the waters to see if sales will allow her to get her own ongoing story. For now, I’m just excited this has come out. DC released issue #1 of the Mera: Queen of Atlantis at the end of February. Pardon me for a being a little late to the game, but as the other saying goes, better late than never. Plus, this is one title that is worth the wait.
In keeping up with DC’s ongoing barrage of new titles this year, the latest arrival in our hands is issue #1 of The Terrifics. This compact super team is led by Mr. Terrific himself while joined by Metamorpho, Plastic Man and newcomer Linnya Wazzo. I really can’t wait to just dive in and start talking about this, but I’m wasting time and space to fill up enough dialogue so I there’s a big enough paragraph in place before you click on the title to read more. I know, cheap journalistic move, right? Yeah, guilty as charged.
