PULL! Mithrandiel's Comic Reads - Week of 8/18

By: Mithrandiel

That magical time is upon us again - new comic book day! Take a look at some of my reads from this week!

The God Of Tremors [Peter Milligan]

In this magazine-sized one-shot, Peter Milligan tells the sad tale of a boy experiencing seizures in a time, and place, where such behavior is relegated to demonic possession. Subject to horrific "exorcisms", the boy begins straying from his strict Christian upbringing and appeals to an unknown idol: The God of Tremors.

This horror-themed tale has a superb aesthetic, brought brilliantly to life by Bloodborne comic artist Piotr Kowalski. Milligan's ability to convey a well-paced and contained narrative, with a proper beginning, middle, and end, can be easily overlooked because he does it with so little challenge.

My main gripe is that these magazine-sized reads don't fit in my standard boxes, and so this will have to sit alongside Cullen Bunn's Eden for now, until more publishers catch on and start producing more fantastic tales like this one! 9/10

The Trial Of Magneto #1 [Leah Williams]

With the Hellfire Gala concluded, the tragedy of the Scarlet Witch's death has now evolved into suspicion, and outright accusations of murder. After the X-Factor does some preliminary investigating, the prime culprit is none other than Max Eisenhardt - Magneto! Will the tenuous alliances that have supported Krakoa thus far finally snap?

Rejoice, Magneto fans, the metal-bending antagonist of old returns in a big way in this issue, and Leah Williams captures his persona brilliantly within these pages. While the Magneto of recent years has been far more understanding, amicable, restrained...in the wake of his daughter's death, Magneto is enraged, and out for blood. Especially when the council votes against resurrecting her (resurrection's gone a little wobbly since HoX/PoX).

The art is splendid, as usual for one of Marvel's longest running series, but as with most great comics, it's the writing that really does the heavy lifting as the Trial of Magneto arc kicks off.

So excited to see what comes next. An excellent read. 10/10

Kang the Conqueror #1 [Collin Kelly]

The master of time, Kang the Conqueror, seeks out his younger self for reasons yet unknown. Determined to mold the boy into a titan worthy of the title "Conqueror", Kang shares his knowledge and pushes him to his limits. Confronted with a potential weakness of his new pupil, Kang does something so horrific that he may have spelled his own demise, at the hands of himself?!

Once again with a solidly written title coming in hard and fast! Collin Kelly's Kang is a great re-introduction to a villain that may have been a bit more obscure, but is getting more and more attention in the mainstream - most recently with his Immortus variant being featured in Loki. As a master of time and interdimensional travel, the upcoming Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness seems a perfect film to stage his formal introduction, and so this 3-issue run is very well-timed.

With solid art and a great narrative voice for Kang, this is a fantastic opening issue. I'm definitely eager for the next installment! 9/10

Radiant Black #7 [Kyle Higgins]

The super-suit-powered heroes of Radiant Black have teamed up in the most recent issue, tackling a common enemy who is very good at, well, kicking their ass.

Standing alongside a pair of potential allies and a bitter enemy, Marshall and the other Radiants (?) face off with their mysterious foe, and in the process get a glimpse at a much bigger conflict that they appear to have been pulled into.

Higgins continues to impress with his library - Radiant Black has been a tremendous success for Image so far, and he just recently released his second issue of Ordinary Gods, which has hit the ground running and is also receiving critical acclaim.

Marcelo Costa's action sequences continue to impress, capturing movement and teleportation with dizzying accuracy. Higgins dialogue and narrative pacing also works very well.

Overall, continually impressed by this series and looking forward to more. It is evolving more and more into a proper "Sentai" series like Power Rangers (hmm what a crazy random happenstance), but with a bit less hokey-ness. 8/10

Eat the Rich #1 [Sarah Gailey]

This one was just a little too on-the-nose. There's certainly a lot to explore with the subject matter, but ultimately none of the characters were particularly interesting, the atmosphere was uncomfortable but not unsettling, and overall the storytelling was just clunky and forgettable. Not motivated to pick up the next issue, which is too bad because Sarah Gailey has done some award-winning work in the past.

This just isn't it. 6/10

Moon Knight #2 [Jed Mackay]

After the strong re-introduction to the often-memed superhero known as Moon Knight, Jed Mackay had another obstacle to clear in providing a strong 2nd issue. An obstacle I am so very glad to share that he tackled beautifully.

This issue has some great pacing, pitting Moon Knight against a unique enemy while exploring his temperament and powers in a cool way. We also get to peek a bit more behind the curtain at some of his allies and friends, as well as rivals lurking in the shadows.

Overall this continues to be a fantastic continuation of the Moon Knight legacy - though I wasn't terribly concerned with Mackay at the helm given his work with Black Cat...but that's a conversation for another time.

In any case, great issue! 9/10

Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins Series III #3 [Jody Houser]

Vox Machina are finally getting a chance to have some down time following their recent adventures, relaxing at a local fair. Of course, it's not meant to last as a mysterious, frost-wreathed woman appears and freezes everyone in the town square. Pursuing her through a mysterious portal, the party is determined to bring her down, and save their troublesome rogue Vax in the process.

We are huge fans of Critical Role here at The Geekly Grind, so it's no surprise that the comic scratches a particular itch for us. Olivia Samson's art is endearing, and very versatile - capturing epic action-packed sequences just as easily as tender moments between characters. The dialogue remains snappy, and overall it's a fantastic romp for any fans of fantasy. 9/10

That will cover it for this week's installment of PULL! See you next time!