The Weekly Haul: Reviews for May 1, 2008
War is the topic du jour in comics this week, with battles breaking out or warming up in darn near every issue. But instead of mindless battling, most of this week’s comics gave a deeper look into the costs and reality of violence. A reflection of our times, perhaps?
Book of the Week: DC Universe #0
The narration — leading to a very well done reveal that I won’t spoil — is appropriately vague and ominous, letting us know that storm clouds are brewing (though without falling into such cliché). The issue appropriately establishes the seriousness of the war on the horizon, though the elements of that war remain opaque.
While DC still has a lot to make up for after the painful Countdown, this issue goes a long way toward that end, not so much picking up from Countdown #1
The best scene is that with Batman and Joker, a meeting that starts out almost exactly like all of their interactions at Arkham, then twists in a new, foreboding direction. The layouts, which are extremely creative if not consistent, offer another highlight.
In the long run, though, this issue is only as good as the event that follows it.
Runners Up:
Elephantmen: War Toys #3 — In what could be just an excuse to draw some cool human-animal hybrids fighting with big guns, this series has offered a very solemn look at war. The Elephantmen are next-gen Hessians in a war between humans, and their animal instincts lead to atrocities.
It’s a gruesome reflection on how people wage war, that in battle humans become as ferocious and bloodthirsty as animals. A female guerilla soldier opposing the Elephantmen, Yvette, serves as the point of reason in this tragedy, her life in exchange for the animals gaining some humanity.
New Avengers #40
Giving motivation to villains is key to making a great comics event, and the plight of the Skrulls becomes very relatable, as does their turn toward religious extremism and their hatred of earth’s heroes. He loves you indeed.
Okay, I’ll admit that I have yet to check out The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. While this might not seem like such an egregious sin at first, consider the fact that I lived less than an hour away from the museum for nearly five years and, well… there’s really no excuse.
After the brain drain of New York Comic Con, I couldn’t bring myself to pack up and head to Boston for 
In many ways, Bill Mauldin lived out the American Dream, starting out as a physically unimposing ‘desert rat’ in the southwest, then joining the army and becoming a star soldier-cartoonist, and retiring as one of the best known editorial cartoonists in the country. He died in 2003.
, author Todd DePastino takes that famous life and digs out all the strange truths, the contradictions, the unknown motivations. Mauldin was a deeply conflicted man, DePastino finds, alternatively successful and unhappy because of his deep drive for acceptance.
In the latest issue of 
In today’s brand-new episode of 
Born in 1965, Nat Gertler started in comics as a translation writer, working on the English language adaptation of Speed Racer for Now Comics back in 1988. 
Even people who’ve never picked up a comic book are looking forward to seeing the new Iron Man movie debuting tomorrow, starring Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark, "the cool exec with a heart of steel!"
