Time for another graphic novel round-up.
First, Mike Carey’s Lucifer, vol. 7: Exodus . This is, obviously, the continuation of the Lucifer series about which I’ve already said highly positive things. It seems to be on par with the rest of the books, but it’s hard to tell, because reading this single volume alone is like reading a chapter of a book in isolation. It seems to still be going along nicely, though.
Next, we get Mike Carey’s The Furies , his other (single-volume) Sandman spinoff. This one is far, far less successful than Lucifer, though. The art is attractive — it’s in that Alex Ross painted-photograph style — but the story is bland and enhy. It turns out that Lucifer is a far more interesting character to base a spin-off on than the Furies are.
Continuing with the Sandman spinoff theme, we get Bill Willingham’s The Sandman Presents: Taller Tales , which is a collection of short stories based on random Sandman characters. Willingham’s signature work, Fables, is pretty much the definition of bland competence; he brings the same talent to this volume. It’s not bad, but it’s not good, either. It’s just pretty much there.
Finally, totally unrelated to Sandman, we have Warren Ellis’ Ultimate Galactus, vol. 1: Nightmare . Hey, it’s a big ol’ crossover Event book in the Ultimate universe, featuring the planet-devouring Galactus. Or at least, promising to someday feature him, inasmuch as he doesn’t appear in this first volume at all. This is entirely setup, and gets the X-Men and the Ultimates into Siberia to investigate a strange mystery whose resolution is given away in the title. Despite that, it’s reasonably enjoyable, in a totally generic superhero comic book way.
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