The Cipher 06/16/10
June 16th, 2010 by david brothers | Tags: amanda conner, black cat, cipher, javier pulido, jen van meter, spider-man
amazing spider-man presents black cat #1: words by jen van meter, art by javier pulido, colors by matt hollingsworth, letters by joe caramanga, cover by amanda conner, and cover colors by christina strain.
North beach leathers, matching Gucci sweater… Gucci sneaks on to keep my outfit together, whatever, hundred for the diamond chain. Can’t you tell that I came from the dope game?
sdot
Jay-Z
You know who I love? Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat. Up until her reintroduction in Amazing Spider-Man last year, courtesy of Joe Kelly and Mike McKone, she’d hadn’t had any substantive appearances in a Spider-book in a good long while. She’s been one of my favorite characters since I was a kid, but not for any particular story. She was in my first comic, ASM 316, but all she did there was get dissed by Venom. Not exactly a selling point. But no, I like her because she’s got a great visual, with the white hair, black costume, white gloves and shoes, and tufts of fur. I like her like I like Domino, I think. Her bad luck powers are neat and allow for some fun action, but the real key is that she’s a thief. Heist stories are some of the best stories, and hopefully Van Meter’s story in Black Cat is going to be a good one. I’m feeling optimistic. The team is pretty fantastic all around. Javier Pulido is an astonishingly good artist, Matt Hollingsworth a great colorist, and how crazy is that Amanda Conner cover? Check the preview here. Four bucks is less than optimal, but I’m curious. We’ll see how I feel at the shop.
Looking at the other stuff on my list… this is a surprisingly large week for me. Amazon-wise, Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, Vol. 9
Floppy-wise, I’m looking at Amazing Spider-Man 633 & 634, Atlas 2, Hellblazer 268, Heralds 3, and Unknown Soldier 21. That’s the end of “Shed,” the beginning of “Grim Hunt,” a Jeff Parker/Gabriel Hardman joint, a Shade the Changing Man guest spot, more from the Kathryn Immonen/Tonci Zonjic superstar team, and more from the sadly cancelled book about a lone soldier battling himself and others in Uganda. This is the best week I’ve seen in a good while. I’m juggling a few things, but I figure I’ll have a post on Unknown Soldier up soon. Whether it’ll be about this week’s issue (which is about the life and times of an AK-47) or the series as a whole, I’m not sure.
Other notables: Brightest Day 4 is the first appearance of the new Aqualad, Seven Soldiers of Victory, Book 1
Oh yeah, I did a few movie reviews over at Tucker Stone’s spot. I watched four Akira Kurosawa films at New People here in San Francisco and you guys get to reap the whirlwind.
What’re you buying? What am I missing? What did you like? Check out this week’s books here. Anybody else have characters where they like the idea more than the actual execution on the page? I can’t think of a single great story with Domino, but I like her nonetheless.
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I would probably be all over this Black Cat miniseries for many of the reasons you cited if it weren’t for that pesky four dollar price tag.
All I’m getting this week is Heralds, Hellblazer and Birds of Prey whenever it arrives on the west coast. Oh and I haven’t been to the shop in a few weeks so I’ve still got to pick up all the books I missed when I can afford them.
Is the Seven Soldiers larger Hardcover edition also in the correct reading order?
@Rick: I believe so, but I haven’t seen it personally to confirm. The trades were in the right order, so this should be, too.
I just blew 30 bucks at Amazon getting all three trades for Oni’s Maintenance which is about two janitors who work at a mad science lab that supplies super-villains…
Checking my pull list, today I should be getting Fables (which I’m actually on the fence about keeping with), Savage Dragon, the current Lockjaw/Pet Avengers mini and Knights of the Dinner Table. Which I’m also thinking of dropping and doing the long wait for the Bundles of Trouble collection. I just don’t game enough to make use of any of the extras anymore and it just makes me sad to read them…
I too love Domino sans having read any really great stories with her. However…and maybe I’m on to something here…Domino guest starred in the first (well, second, but I read them right after on another) comic I ever read…much like you and Black Cat. Perhaps it’s just our impressionable young brains holding on to something forever come hell or highwater (read: good stories).
Well, I don’t know about your definition of “great,” but Domino made some appearances in Nicieza’s Cable & Deadpool, and that was at least a good comic.
I’ve always liked the Black Cat, but I prefer her a bit more unambiguously good than she’s being portrayed currently. If you look at her appearances, she wasn’t a thief for very long at all.
Stuff I’m getting that hasn’t been mentioned, let’s see…
New Avengers: I’m not sure what makes this different from the previous New Avengers, or from the regular Avengers title for that matter, but we’ll see.
Web of Spider-Man: Van Lente’s been doing solid work on this title. The rest can be hit/miss, as is usually the case with anthologies, but at least I know the lead story will be good.
I’m also getting the Age of Heros mini, as well as both Deadpool books.
“Anybody else have characters where they like the idea more than the actual execution on the page?”
Anyone who ever collected comic book trading cards, ever.
Domino. Liefeld drawn Cablecomix. Gar-an-teed fan for life material.
I fucking love Moon Knight. He’s my computer background, the only piece of comic art I own, and I can’t name a single Moonie book that I could really to a budding comic fan. I’ve always liked his visual aesthetic and the idea of an insane Batman. Not just obsessive about fighting crime insane, but actually crazy. Hopefully Secret Avengers will give me some Moon-centric stories to rave about.