Comics Disassembled: Ten Things of Note from the Past Week in Comics, Led by the Rise of Black Label

By David Harper

July 12, 2019

San Diego Comic Con is in two weekends, and you know what that means: a bunch of early announcements dropping! We’re going to look at those and more in this week’s edition of Comics Disassembled, my column that examines ten things I liked or didn’t like from the past week of comics, and we’re going to start off with a quick answer to some questions I was asking a few weeks back.

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This is an actual thing.↩

Notable Replies

actualtotoro says:

July 12, 2019

I’ve never read anything significant with the Question in it, but the limited exposure I’ve had makes me certain I will enjoy this new Black Label book.

I’ve read only marginally more Constantine – aside from maybe two arcs of the latest Justice League Dark and his appearances in the Paul Dini Zatanna collection, I mostly know John from his portrayals in the NBC and CW shows – but I am certainly ready to give this new title a try as well given the team involved. The only Sandman Universe book I’m reading is The Dreaming, which is also written by Spurrier, and that’s enough to get at least the first issue on my list.

Funnily enough, Campbell was one of the first artists to get me into a comic book shop as an adult. I’d appreciated his style well enough over the years – it’s cheesecake, but then (like the dessert) I love a good cheesecake every now and then – and he did a Midtown Comics exclusive variant for the all-women adjectiveless X-Men book’s first issue. I’ve gotten my hands on a few others of his covers over the years, though never the exorbitant collector ones he runs through his site. He’s the reason I almost bought Black Cat, so it’s unsurprising to me to hear that your prediction on sales held up: the man can move books. Still, #1 is fairly incredible.

…with Arnold’s rolodex including people like Gene Luen Yang, Shannon Hale, Tillie Walden, Jen Wang, and Hope Larson…
Prince3PO says:

July 12, 2019

The Lemire announcements are wild! It’s crazy that Gideon Falls is supposed to ship along with that Joker series, how can Sorrentino be so dang talented and able to do that?!?!

I’m super interested in the Question series but I’m also really apprehensive about it. Lemire has mostly done very simple by-the-book stuff in superhero Big 2 stuff aside from Moon Knight. I even enjoyed his Green Arrow, but the enjoyment still is that it’s a very well done vigilante story. I just kinda hope it’s better than that.

Paper Girls news is very cool, especially because they fixed my biggest problem with the series already: they hired a woman to the creative team. Here’s to hoping they get women writers and directors too!
SKTCHD says:

July 12, 2019

actualtotoro:

He’s the reason I almost bought Black Cat,

Black Cat’s a good book! If you like the Campbell-ness of it, it’s worth it for sure.

Prince3PO:

The Lemire announcements are wild! It’s crazy that Gideon Falls is supposed to ship along with that Joker series, how can Sorrentino be so dang talented and able to do that?!?!

I have no idea how this is possible, to be honest. I was concerned about it when it was announced, but Sorrentino was in Lemire’s tweets being like “yo I’m way ahead we good.” I of course had my mind blown by that, but apparently he’s quite efficient!

Prince3PO:

I’m super interested in the Question series but I’m also really apprehensive about it. Lemire has mostly done very simple by-the-book stuff in superhero Big 2 stuff aside from Moon Knight. I even enjoyed his Green Arrow, but the enjoyment still is that it’s a very well done vigilante story. I just kinda hope it’s better than that.

I agree with you, but Black Label is a great fit for him given the freedom involved, and his editor on Green Arrow is working with him here. So I think we might get the best of both worlds. His good superhero stuff with added weight behind it. That’s my hope at least.
Prince3PO says:

July 12, 2019

For me, Lemire is clearly a great writer and the art will be wild but I’m waiting until they talk about the actual concept before I’m as hyped as I want to be.
blank32 says:

July 14, 2019

I use Axe because they have flavours like “rare leathers”. I mean, who doesn’t want to smell like rare leathers? Only lunatics.

Regarding Stasi-themed films, If you haven’t already, check out “The Lives of Others”. I’d also really recommend “The Baader Meinhof Complex”.

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