6.04.14 [Weekly Reviews]

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Moon Knight #4 (Marvel): With aerosolized brain spores being used to ingest dreams(!), Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey create a sort of Sandman-esque take on the dream state by fusing a lot of psychedelic science into the fiction. Shalvey’s matter-of-fact minimalism reminds me of Carla Speed McNeil here, especially in the figure work, surrounded by trip hop colors from Jordie Bellaire. I really enjoyed the way Moon Knight’s costume transmogrifies into the familiar when he descends into the dream state, insinuating that maybe that’s the real world, and everything we’ve been seeing prior is the Matrix-like illusion. It’s never said outright, but the subtle implication is all kinds of fun. I guess it’s also worth noting that Brian Wood and Greg Smallwood were finally announced as the “Season Two” team taking over with issue 7, and I couldn’t be happier about that. While Wood is no Ellis (who is?), he’s the perfect writer to address a character in full-blown identity crisis grounded in New York City, and Smallwood’s innovative art on Dream Thief has the perfect amount of bold experimental glee. Grade A+.

The Woods #2 (Boom! Studios): There’s a big exposition dump up front as the faculty “resets” their status for the reader, and Maria comes off a little too self-assured and poised for the average high-school student, but otherwise I really enjoyed the follow-up to the strong debut from James Tynion IV and Michael Dialynas. Tynion is careful to infuse the work with the uncertainty of his beloved horror genre, and overall I just really appreciate where this book sits in terms of early 21st century genre fiction. Remember how so many TV shows began with plane crashes in the wake of 9/11? I’m talking about Lost and Fringe and Flash Forward, as if that was the most horrific thing we could imagine. In the pop culture collective consciousness of a post-9/11 world, we have a conspiratorial need for fiction (and even reality sometimes, take a look at the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, the way that people just crave a “story” or a conspiracy, they just refuse to believe that a) things break, b) the ocean is vast, c) we may never know) that fits some type of preconceived tidy narrative. I think The Woods sits nicely in this storytelling milieu. Grade A.

The Wake #9 (DC/Vertigo): I’m starting to think this could have probably been done in just 8 issues and has perhaps lingered on a little long, but I’m still enjoying it. Snyder has always written with a certain cinematic flair, and Sean Murphy’s imaginative visuals are basically the type of wild-eyed expansive art that makes you want to read comics in the first place. Grade A.