Best of September

In this post I'm reprinting reviews of items that received a rating of 4 or better in the month of September:

Gotham Central #23
by Greg Rucka, Michael Lark & Stefano Gaudiano
Rucka starts off a new arc, "Corrigan," with the return of two of my favorite detectives: Allen & Montoya. They stumble across a nasty bit of gang activity and get involved in a shooting. In most comics that would be the end of it, but with Gotham Central you know it's just the beginning. I'm very curious as to what's up with Corrigan and how he might be related to The Spectre's old alter ego. Oh yes, the gang war appears to be related somehow to the umpty-million part crossover in the Bat-titles, but guess what? It doesn't matter--you can actually enjoy this and not have a clue as to the whole "War Games" thing.
Rating: 4 (of 5)


Promethea #31
by Alan Moore & J. H. Williams III
"In This Issue: The World Ends!" And that's just halfway through--the remainder of this issues shows us what happens after and brings to story to a close. It's quite fitting, then, that there's still one issue left. Alan Moore has used Promethea as a vehicle to explore various ideas about the nature of reality, and here he explores eschatology. He also manages to invoke the Strong Anthropic Principle--I'm not a strong believer (I'm more of a Weak Anthropic man myself) but I've got to admire any story that brings it into a comic book. Williams really gets to show off his artistic chops in this issue, and I do hope that he manages to land a prime gig once Promethea comes to a close.
Rating: 4 (of 5)


Tiempos Finales, vol. 1
by Samuel Hiti
It's so refreshing to come across a book that looks like nothing else I've seen before. The art, reproduced in two-tone (black and brown), is something of a cross between Paul Pope and Goseki Kojima. We get long establishing shots and travel montages, grotesque creatures and tension-filled battle sequences. The plot involves a being of light who is sent to possess a host on Earth to stop a demonic creature from rampaging through the five towns of San Pablo. There are a couple of passages--some kids in the street in the middle and a woman and her donkey at the very end--which don't seem to contribute to the narrative, but maybe they'll make more sense in the second volume (nine volumes are planned). Otherwise, this is a great self-contained story. It's only $10, so go buy it.
Rating: 4 (of 5)