Comics: It's Good for What Ails Ya

by Dee. 12/26/2023

Greetings, gentle readers: November had some excellent comics options for me this month. Among them, Canary from Dark Horse, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom from DC, and Star Wars: Visions - Peach Momoko from Marvel Comics. Allons-y!

Canary (Dark Horse): Scott Snyder and Dan Panosian bring you a modern horror, Western lore and quasi-historical tale of a collapsed mine during the final days of the Gold Rush. The Canary Mine company dug too deep, and unleashed horrors on the local population. It's up to federal marshal Azrael William Holt and a brilliant geologist to discover the root cause of the rash of brutal murders happening out in the Rocky Mountains.

As an action-packed, beautifully detailed first issue, Canary is soaked in red: the gunfights, the blood spatters and the overall mood. The people are represented by cool hues of blue, a sharp contrast to the yellows within the backgrounds.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (DC Comics): This was a monster of a special issue, clocking in at 60 pages. That does include an ad or five, but you are looking at a big one-shot. Aquaman is getting married to Mera finally, so his super-heroic responsibilities are taking a back seat to his relationship with her.

There's cameos from Wonder Woman and Flash, sounding more exposition-y than usual. Anti-superhero forces are amassing again, and this time, we're looking at a heavily armed paramilitary group. In a strange twist, their metabomb transfers some of Arthur Curry's powers to the Big Baddie. Big Baddie then transforms the paramilitary group into aquatic terrors (sure, okay, they've gotta crash the wedding underwater) and sends them to wreak havoc.

Atlantis is awash (yes, another pun) with beautiful blues, while the human world is oranges and browns. All of the architecture of Atlantis is highly detailed, in contrast to the mundane mini-golf scene with Arthur's father.

In a separate story, Black Manta takes control of a manned ship and its crew. He's planning something nefarious, no doubt. His story's color scheme is blue with pops of red during the action scenes. Ocean Master heads up a third tale in which he escapes torture from a bizarre subset of vampiric Atlanteans. The connections to the main Aquaman story are not fully apparent, though I'm sure well-read Aquaman fans will tell me otherwise.

Star Wars: Visions - Peach Momoko (Marvel Comics): Two great tastes: Star Wars and the elegant watercolors of Peach Momoko. Momoko is a triple threat, bringing a story, covers and writing to the table. This was also done with the Demon Wars saga, which showcased some of Marvel's superheroes in a Japanese folklore style.

This tale revolves around the Sith and a rising cult. The first issue is completely wordless, much like the issue Momoko did for Darth Vader: Black, White and Red. The art still speaks volumes (forgive the pun), and the watercolor lends itself to an ethereal, spooky mood. Fortunately, there's an explanation on the inside of the front cover as well as our cast of characters.

That's all for now, so I'll see you next month!

Dee