Friends and neighbors, it is my sincere wish that all of y’all will get to enjoy a nice long Memorial Day weekend. I know not everyone gets Monday off — and if you’re one of them that don’t, I hope you at least enjoy a not too stressful Monday. But it is definitely the weekend now, and that means it’s time for… FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Tonight’s brawl comes to us from April 1977’s Iron Fist #12 by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Dan Adkins, and Don Warfield. Iron Fist finds his way into Avengers Mansion — and onto Captain America’s hit list.

Hope y’all enjoy this (hopefully) long holiday weekend, and I reckon I’ll see y’all back here on Monday.

Rocket Girl #5

The cops are closing in on Dayoung Johansson, but the citizens of 1986 New York help hide her by disguising her with contemporary fashions. Meanwhile, one of the ’86 cops meets up with one of the 2013 Quintum Mechanics security goons — and they’re exactly the same person. But why can’t the future version remember ever meeting himself in the past? Meanwhile, in the futuristic 2013, Quintum Mechanics is making its bid to take over everything by dispanding the Teen Police and ordering a city-wide curfew. Is there going to be a way to disrupt the power play from the past? And what will it mean for the future?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Beautiful art by Amy Reeder and a cool ending (or maybe a sorta-maybe ending) from Brandon Montclare. I absolutely love Reeder’s facial expressions and body language, and I really hope this series will continue.

American Vampire: Second Cycle #3

Pearl’s new refugee recruit, May, is a vampire who’s been vampirized by the Gray Trader, and it’s turned her into a gigantic monster with vampiric mouths opening up all over her body. Pearl and the kids are rescued, barely, by Skinner Sweet, who’s had his own harrowing close encounter with the Trader. And Pearl also encounters her late beloved Henry — but of course, it’s not really Henry — it’s the Trader himself. What does he want? Can anything stop him?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Deeply nerve-wracking horror coupled with Rafael Albuquerque’s always-amazing art. Anything that scares the crap out of Skinner Sweet has got to be uncommonly bad news.

Ghosted #10

Nina Blood Crow has been taken over by a monstrous bird spirit and is gonna kill the heck out of everyone except Jackson and Trick, who are going to sneak out — until Trick shames Jackson into trying to make things right. He releases the other possessed women from their prisons and throws the mad cult leader into the fire — but can he stop Nina from killing him? What kind of sacrifice will be made to see everything made right? And what new band of villains has Jackson in their sights now?

Verdict: Thumbs up. A nice ending to this storyarc — maybe not as much spooky stuff, but plenty of action and betrayals and revelations. And the cliffhanger promises some more wonderful ghosty stuff to come.

Today’s Cool Links:

• This is a very long article, but it’s definitely worth reading. And fer cry-eye, actually read it — don’t assume you know what it’s about, because you don’t — and you’ll learn a lot of stuff you need to know. Quite frankly, Ta-Nehisi Coates is a national treasure.
• David Goyer needs someone to bash his face in with rocks.
• Everything you need to know about the new edition of Dungeons & Dragons.
• Here’s a really interesting piece on research into how and why dogs play.
• Ed Piskor draws the infamous Rob Liefeld Levis commercial in the style of Rob Liefeld.

Andre the Giant: Life and Legend

A graphic novel biography of the biggest wrestler who ever lived? Well, okay, I’m fine with that.

It’s actually really straightforward. It’s a collection of vignettes about the life of Andre Roussimoff, a man afflicted with acromegaly, who became world-famous as a professional wrestler and actor. We get Andre at just 12 years old, already too big to ride a schoolbus, getting a ride from playwright Samuel Beckett. We get Andre flipping a car over. We get Andre intimidating the law at a bar in Dallas. We get Andre insulting Bad News Brown with an inappropriate racist joke and making up with him years later.

We get Andre slowly suffering more and more as his condition worsens. We get Andre getting into fights both in the ring and in real life. We get Andre hanging out with friends and strangers, both famous and obscure. We get a bunch of short stories about Andre during the filming of “The Princess Bride.”

And we get truly epic tales of how much Andre could drink. Because the man could drink a heck of a lot.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Great work on both cartooning and storytelling by Box Brown.

This certainly qualifies as a warts-and-all biography — and there are a lot of warts to cover. The most obvious example is Andre’s racist joke and feud with Bad News Brown. Even if he was simply ignorant about how offensive those jokes were to Brown, Andre still comes off looking like a colossal jerk. In fact, he looks like a jerk pretty often — being rude to fans, using his size and strength to intimidate and humiliate people, drinking and drinking and drinking and drinking…

But it’s also a very affectionate biography, too. Andre is a jerk, but he’s also a hugely charismatic jerk, and he also has lots of moments of compassion and kindness and friendship and humor. He inspired great loyalty and affection in many people who knew him, and his struggles with his condition — as well as his refusal to give in to despair and his vast zeal for life — are entirely inspiring.

You’ll read this, and you’ll want to go watch his matches or his movies. So go pick it up.

Shutter #2

Kate Kristopher, once the world’s greatest explorer, has been kidnapped by a robot and a bunch of ghost ninjas, while little mouse people imprison her in a crystal gem prison. And then a bunch of lion gangsters driving a flying car attack, all while the NYPD’s saucer police try to contain the mayhem. Kate makes a narrow escape, but winds up in the hospital, while the lions and ninjas go to jail. But powerful sorcerous interests want Kate — and they may be closer to her than she suspects.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Such a wonderfully weird, bizarre book. But I do hope Kate starts acting a bit more proactively — she doesn’t do much in this issue.

Hellboy in Hell #6

Hellboy is still trapped in Hell, and it seems that his punishment is to hang around listening to 19th-century fops rattle on. But then he gets attacked by a vampire, and there’s a great big brawl all over Hell. Does this great battle mean anything to the future of Hell — or is it all a dispute over an old card game?

Verdict: Thumbs up. It’s ultimately a light, fun story — and there’s still some interesting hints about Hell’s future being talked about at the very end. Ahh, yes, plus we also get to enjoy Mike Mignola’s artwork — that’s always a big plus.

The Returning #3

Beth Turner has been cornered by a horde of changers — people who’ve had a near-death experience and are now dangerous homicidal maniacs — and they really want her dead. But somehow, Beth discovers that she’s able to fight them all off and even kill a couple of them, even though she’s just taken a bullet to the shoulder and has never been a fighter. She makes her escape and goes to a local diner, hoping to get cleaned up and get on her way. But the local folks recognize her, and one of them shoots her in the stomach. After she fights them off, too, she runs into Marcus Harmon, her mysterious benefactor. He tells her that changers are actually possessed by demons, he and she are both possessed by angels instead, and it’s their job to destroy the changers based on the names that appear on their bodies wherever they’ve been wounded. So why has Marcus’ name appeared on Beth now?

Verdict: Still not really sure about this one. Usually by this point in a short horror series, the explanations are all out of the way, but in this case, there are just more and more mysteries piling up. Don’t know how they’re going to wrap it all up next issue…

Well, now, my children, we’ve come up on another weekend, a much-needed break from drudgery and toil, and that means it’s time for us to get our all-too-brief break started with… FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Tonight’s battle comes to us from 2000’s World’s Funnest by Evan Dorkin and a ton of artists, including David Mazzucchelli, doing a near-perfect pastiche of Jack Kirby. Mr. Mxyzptlk has chased Bat-Mite to the worst place in the Multiverse: Apokolips!

Is it my imagination, or does Mxy look an awful lot like Kirby himself in that one panel?

Hope y’all have a great weekend, with not too much cosmic destruction and madness…

Astro City #12

Our full focus in this issue is Ned Carroway, a man addicted to fine clothing and armed robbery. He manages to combine his passions into a career as a costumed criminal, usually as a member of a gang of similarly dressed crooks. Besides his solo career as the Gentleman Bandit, he’s been a member of the Sweet Adelines, the Menagerie Gang, the Gatsbys, and more. But can Ned ever find true happiness? Or does happiness for him really extend no further than expensive Italian shoes and a crisply ironed shirt?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Wow, it’s the first Astro City comic that doesn’t have Brent Anderson on pencils. Graham Nolan does a fine job, though, and I’ve got no complaints about his art. The story itself is exceptionally grand, even with minimal use of superheroes. Ned is a great character, and it’s especially cool to get a look into the world of the themed bank robbers who populated Silver Age comics.

Captain Marvel #3

After Captain Marvel recovers her spaceship from the alien Tic, she agrees to accompany her back to the planet her race has adopted as their new home — a planet that appears to be poisonous. But Tic’s people place some of the blame for their predicament on the Avengers, and they don’t have a lot of faith in human superheroes who show up insisting they know what’s right for everyone. Can Cap win them over?

Verdict: Thumbs up. A lot of it is really kinda by-the-numbers, but Carol’s conversation with Eleanides, the leader of Tic’s people, is really very grand. She’s calm, wise, charismatic, compassionate, but also quite furious — and probably justifiably so — at Earthlings’ insistence on meddling in things they have no business meddling in.

Lumberjanes #2

The Lumberjane Scouts are going to enjoy a canoe trip down the river. Some of them are eagerly anticipating it — some of them are maybe a little too terrified of the possibility of lake monsters. Everything’s going perfectly well — until there’s a waterfall where no one knew there was going to be one. And then there’s the seriously fer-sher giant three-eyed lake monster that comes up out of nowhere. After some gloriously demented exclamations of surprise and terror (“WHAT THE JUNK IS THAT?” and “HOLY MAE JAMISON!” were my favorites), the girls wind up on land, but far from camp — and their only food is stolen by a mysterious three-eyed eagle. And then there’s the ominous tunnel deep underground…

Verdict: Thumbs up. Still not real into this “Adventure Time” style of art, but the story really is fun, goofy, and scary, and that’s a very good thing.

Moon Knight #3

Moon Knight encounters a criminal menace he can’t beat down — a gang of ghosts running around New York beating people up. Marc can’t manage to lay a glove on them, but they have no difficulty kicking his ass all over the street. But the Khonshu side of him reveals that he does have a way he can strike back at the ghosts — entirely without his own knowledge, Moon Knight had been collecting magical armor designed to let him touch the spectral world. The rematch goes much differently.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Outstanding art and storytelling. I absolutely love the design of the skeletal Khonshu and the similar design of Marc’s ghost armor. The action is, of course, grand, but the resolution of the whole thing is even better. Come on, folks, it’s early in this one’s run — better jump on the bandwagon now.

Loki: Agent of Asgard #4

After a thrilling (and snarky) duel of trickery (and swords), the great Asgardian hero Sigurd has managed to steal his ancient sword Gram away from Loki. He takes it to Kaluu, a meditating magician in Tibet, so he can exchange it for the opportunity to escape from the Valkyries, who intend to torture him all through the afterlife because he’s slighted them somehow. Unfortunately, it turns out that Kaluu isn’t really Kaluu — and he intends to torment Sigurd even more terribly. Can Sigurd get out of this? Or will the seemingly dead Loki have to save his bacon?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Nicely done action and (naturally) trickery — and not just on Loki’s part. Sigurd spends most of his time lying, and Kaluu is all about the untruths. And I must say I’m also enjoying Sigurd a lot — I wouldn’t mind seeing him with his own series — he’s a wonderfully devious character, especially for someone who’s supposed to be a great hero.

The Returning #2

I missed this one for a while, but finally managed to pick it up last week. Beth Turner is on the run — her family has been murdered and everyone in town thinks she’s a changer — someone who died briefly and then becomes a homicidal maniac later. She turns to her sole remaining friend for help — but then gets attacked by the gas station attendant she’d thought had been killed. And after that, she’s rescued by the man who she thought was a changer out to kill her. But is he really on her side? Should she believe him, or is the convenient FBI agent she meets going to help her escape to a place of safety?

Verdict: Ehh, dunno. It’s kinda all over the place — and the paranoia is high enough at this point that I don’t know who we should be trusting — or if we should be trusting anyone at all. That may be by design, but for now, it feels a bit directionless.

Revival #20

Dana Cypress is terrified that the FBI will discover that her sister killed the rotten Check Brothers, but it turns out they just want her expertise with Revivers — it looks like one has gotten past the quarantine zone and made it into New York City. The sheriff discovers that the mayor’s wife is a secret — and insane — Reviver. Lester Majak consults with an old friend from a nearby Indian reservation about the ghosts haunting the woods. And Em meets up with a daredevil Reviver named Rhodey Rasch who likes dressing up as Jesus just to freak out the squares — he thinks he can help cure Em’s slowly decaying body by jumping off bridges with her.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Lots of bleak, glorious, freaky, gory fun. If y’all haven’t been reading this, could I suggest y’all go get the trade paperbacks as soon as you can? It’ll help you get caught up quick, and they’re absolutely grand to read.

She-Hulk #4

Jennifer Walters is frustrated by the fact that she was able to get Kristoff Vernard, the son of Dr. Doom, granted legal asylum, only for his father to kidnap him back to Latveria. After a chat with fellow superhero lawyer Matt Murdock, Jennifer undertakes a covert mission into Latveria to confront Dr. Doom — but does even the She-Hulk stand a chance against Dr. Doom — especially when he breaks out the giant robot to fight her?

Verdict: Thumbs up. The art is just phenomenal. There’s this one glorious silhouette midway through with Shulkie and Daredevil fighting crime in San Francisco that’s absolutely amazing. And the story ain’t at all bad either — I like the fact that Jennifer figured out a third way out of the confrontation with Doom.

Veil #3

The wizard Cormac is hiding out inside a deserted church making plans against the politicians who tried to use him, and he also manages to take control of Veil and bring her to him.

Verdict: Thumbs down. This series is so absolutely inconsistent. In the first issue, Veil was a quirky innocent who spoke in rhyme. In the second, she’s almost completely normal. In this issue, she does absolutely nothing aside from getting mind-controlled. It’s infuriatingly erratic.

I’ve been treated to a very rare day off, so I got a slight head-start on the weekend. But lemme help y’all get caught up with some wonderful comic book violence. It’s time for… FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Tonight’s battle isn’t the bloodiest or most savage, but it still gives me a lot of joy. From August 2009’s Tiny Titans #17 by Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani, here’s the funny cartoon version of the Battle for the Cowl!

That’ll do it for me. Y’all enjoy the rest of your weekend, and I’ll see y’all back here on Monday.

Rat Queens #6

I heard a lot of good stuff about this and finally picked up the first trade paperback last month. It was great fun, so I figured I’ll pick it up ongoing from here on out.

Our setup here is a fantasy series starring a team of hard-partying mercenaries — Hannah, a cynical elven rockabilly spellcaster, Violet, a hipster dwarven fighter, Betty, a childlike drug-abusing halfling thief, and a human atheist cleric who gets her abilities from an eldritch abomination she refuses to worship. In their first storyarc, they beat up a bunch of monsters, a vast conspiracy tried to kill them, they abused a lot of substances, and they got busy with people they loved, or at least lusted after.

So, with this new issue, we’re working on wrapping up old storylines and starting a few new ones. Hannah’s on-again, off-again relationship with Sawyer, the city’s leading law enforcement agent, gets more contentious, but probably gets wrapped up permanently. The Rat Queens fight off a bunch of mushroom people. Dee’s husband makes his entirely unexpected return. And the Cult of N’Rygoth is coming back in a big way.

Verdict: Thumbs up. This series is crude and hilarious and action-packed and awesome. Go pick it up — the trade paperback is out, and this issue also makes a good jump-on point.

Red Sonja #9

Sonja is seeking the world’s greatest artisans in order to get a dying tyrant to release thousands of slaves. Her quest this time sends her to collect Aneva, the world’s greatest courtesan — but she’s hampered by the fact that she has no money to get into Aneva’s presence, and by the fact that it’s been a long time since Sonja enjoyed any carnal pleasures of her own, and she’s a bit… distracted. She offers Aneva the tyrant’s promised gold, but Aneva is more interested in staying where she is to start a courtesan’s guild and to keep her cruel master Captain Ferox from torturing her friends. Can Sonja convince Aneva to accompany her? Can the two women learn anything about each other’s lives?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Great art and story, and a rare chance to see Sonja’s rarely displayed ability to rock a gorgeous dress while still kicking ass.

Black Widow #6

Natasha has been captured aboard the yacht of an old enemy called Damon Dran, the Indestructible Man, who doesn’t seem to be as unstoppable as he used to be. She manages to escape the armed thugs guarding her, only to run into the monk assassin she thought she’d killed, now outfitted in built-in metal armor to make him even more difficult to harm than he’d been before. Even then, Dran is captured easily — but what if the conspiracy Natasha’s fighting goes even deeper? Is there anyone she’s able to trust?

Verdict: Thumbs up, but it’s another near thing. The art is exceptionally nice, but the story still feels a bit light and inconsequential.