Grayson #8
Writer: Tom King and Tim Seeley
Artists: Mikel Janin and Jeromy Cox
Cover Artist: Mikel Janin and Jeromy Cox
Publisher: DC
The first arc of DC’s newest books comes to an end in a spectacular fashion. Though not a traditional Bat-Book, this title is easily one of the best in that group. Chaos comes to Spyral as Minos reveals himself to be the leak. Tom King, with Tim Seeley, does an excellent job with this issue as everything building up from issue #1 explodes in a magnificent way. King and Seeley have shown time and time again that they are f ully capable of writing a Grayson who is a hero in his own right, who has been Batman, and who is an extremely capable strategist and fighter. This writing team is doing a perfect job of demonstrating what a well-written book about Dick Grayson would look like. This book is 50% action, 30% humor, and 100% entertaining. With the two-month break, now would be the perfect time to go and get caught up. 4.5/5
Swamp Thing #40
Writer: Charles Soule
Artists: Jesus Saiz, Javi Pina, and June Chung
Cover Artists: Jesus Saiz
Publisher: DC
As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. It’s not everyday that a story is given an ending that it deserves, or even an actual ending when it comes to comics. However, this final issue is a wonderful conclusion to what has been an amazing book and the only complain is that it should have been longer, there should have been more. Charles Soule delivers a fantastic finale to one of my surprising favorites to come out of DC’s new52. Before the launch of this series, I hadn’t read a single Swamp Thing comic and now one of DC’s best titles is ending. Scott Snyder’s run on this book was absolutely great. His run was so good for so many reasons, but most of all because it was an excellent introduction to the Swamp Thing mythology, but at the end of the day his run was about Alec Holland.
Charles Soule took that lead and rocketed off into space. He took this book about Alec Holland and focused it on Swamp Thing and everything that being an Avatar entailed. This finale is a culmination of all of that: the resurrection of the Parliament, the war of the kingdoms, and the downfall of the Machine Queen. Swamp Thing’s trip to a new world mid story, which would have been inappropriate anywhere else, was executed perfectly here. This realm, which is also the narrator to the story, ends up being an exciting show of respect to all forms of creativity and story telling. Jesus Saiz, who has been flawless throughout, doesn’t hold back on this final issue as well. From the minor details to the flawless spreads, Saiz illustrates a magical book. With some inking assistance from Javi Pina and the absolute gorgeous colors by June Chung, this art team delivers a finale worth reading multiple times. 4.5/5
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Arnab Pradhan
arnab@comicattack.net
