Comic Book Reviews (Week October 21, 2020): Batman Issue 101, Dead Day Issue 4, and More!

Welcome! In this week’s comic book review round-up (October 21, 2020), I will be covering Batman issue 101, Something is Killing the Children issue 11, and more.

Of course, I will need to begin with Batman issue 101. The latest comic book story served as the aftermath of the “Joker War” event. Writer James Tynion IV presented a new status quo for Batman/Bruce Wayne. He doesn’t have billions of dollars to play with anymore. So, he will need to operate at street-level (similar to his many Robins, I guess).

While I wouldn’t mind seeing a more stripped-down version of Batman (he had too many Bat-toys), I didn’t appreciate the fact how, in my opinion, the “Joker War” seemed to have taken place as an excuse to, more or less, give Tynion a clean slate after Tom King’s years-long run. I don’t know if I’m reading too much into it, but I think Tynion’s not a fan of exploring Bruce’s romantic side in the manner King was interested in. Having Bruce and Selina take a one-year break made sense (kind of), but I think it could have been handled much better.

Tynion didn’t break them up, of course. But it’s clear that moving forward, he will be focusing on Bruce and his interactions with the long list of criminals in Gotham instead of having the Bruce-and-Selina duo clean up the city.

Does it have obvious queer characters? Yes.

Recommendation: Hmmm.

Dead Day Issue 4

Dead Day issue 4, by writer Ryan Parrott, allowed certain secrets to be revealed. With Mel bringing Jeremy to her home, I liked how Parrott handled the conversation Jeremy and Daniel had. I understood why Daniel said Jeremy’s death was haunting their family. Mel has created a new life for herself, and I think it’s time for Jeremy to move on. It will be interesting to see what happens to Jeremy now that he knows Brandon’s his son and not Daniel’s.

Also, kudos to Daniel for being a very supportive husband. I hope nothing happens to Daniel and his family during the fight everyone’s getting ready for.

Now, I have to say I found the secondary storyline focusing on Widow Mother’s cult to be quite weird. And that’s saying something considering Dead Day is a comic book about the dead coming back to life and numerous people being okay with zombies roaming around until sunrise.

Does it have obvious queer characters? No.

Recommendation: Pick it up.

Big Girls Issue 3

Writer Jason Howard continues to deliver with his very interesting original comic book series. We got a flashback to Ember’s childhood as well as more information about what certain humans plan to do with the monstrous Jacks. I have a feeling Ember’s understanding of her world is going to change very soon. Are Jacks really capable of human speech? Can they be tamed? I can’t wait to find out.

Does it have obvious queer characters? No.

Recommendation: PICK IT UP! 

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Issue 55

I don’t think I will ever have anything to complain about when it comes to writer Ryan Parrott’s run of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comic book series. The latest issue showed our young heroes having a very bad time trying to fight the Dark Rangers. They needed immediate help, even if it came at a price. I don’t want to spoil what happened, but having a mysterious Green Power Ranger enter the scene is going to cause a lot of drama and I’m here for it.

With the recent news about the Power Rangers franchise getting new movies and TV shows spearheaded by Jonathan Entwistle, I hope the creative team looked at the amazing work being done in the comic book part of the franchise. 

It’s kind of… well, it’s kind of adorable (for the lack of a better term) to see Hollywood continue to try and make Power Rangers a “thing” for the big screen. The 2017 Power Rangers film was a flop. As a fan of this long-running franchise, I think the only thing that could work is an animated adaptation of the Shattered Grid storyline. Anything else just won’t do well, in my opinion. Some properties are just not made to have live-action films meant for the big screen. And I think Power Rangers is such a property. And you know what? There’s nothing wrong with that.

Anyway, here’s hoping Entwistle and his team give the loyal Power Rangers fandom what they want and start working on the well-received comic book stories.

Does it have obvious queer characters? No.

Recommendation: PICK IT UP.

Something is Killing the Children Issue 11

I still don’t understand why some streaming network hasn’t decided to give Something is Killing the Children a live-action adaptation. Writer James Tynion IV has been hinting about sharing some big surprise in his newsletters very soon. I have my fingers crossed said surprise is this comic book coming to Netflix as a live-action series. It’s so good!

With hungry monsters looking for their next meal, Erica’s on borrowed time. She needs to figure out a way to get to Brian so the ritual that allows Erica to kill the monsters can be performed. Erica also has to keep James safe. I’m glad that James’ tagging along with Erica. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of role he will play.

Something is Killing the Children issue 11 offered us more information about the secretive organization Erica’s part of. They know about what’s happening in Archer’s Peak and they have their own plans about how to handle such a situation. As far as I know, the people working under Old Dragon have no qualms about killing innocent people as long as it meant the monsters are dealt with. The organization is also quite vast, using connections in Silicon Valley to prevent social media posts about the monster incident from going viral, cutting off Wi-Fi as well as cellular reception in Archer’s Peak. Even traffic’s being diverted. Things are only going to get worse from here.

Does it have obvious queer characters? Yes.

Recommendation: PICK IT UP!

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You can read our review of Nightwing issue 75 here.

The second issue of Tynion’s highly enjoyable Razorblades: The Horror Magazine is also out. You can pay what you want to support the project or read it for free.

Which comic books did you pick up this week? Did you read Batman issue 101?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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