The Kingpin Tries To Go Straight In the Comics You Need To Read For February 8th

Can a gangster truly go straight Especially one as remorseless, as powerful, as dangerous as Wilson Fisk That’s what he’s trying to get everyone to believe, at least, and in Kingpin #1 (Marvel), he makes a credible bid for seeming like a nice guy, after all. Except, of course, maybe he isn’t.

Matthew Rosenberg (We Can Never Go Home) and Ben Torres know that we’ve seen the story before, even starring the Kingpin himself, so instead they shift it to Sarah Dewey, an alcoholic reporter down on her luck and split from her family. Dewey gets offered decent money by Fisk to write his biography, murders, misbehavior, and more. In the process, we see Fisk, and the high society he trots in, from her perspective, and Rosenberg presents us with a riddle: Is the Kingpin truly changing And if not, what’s his real game

Torres, meanwhile, offers some stark artwork, with thick webbing-like lines and muscular anatomy that make the book feel like a bit of a cross between Frank Miller, the obvious influence, and Howard Chaykin. There’s a hint of wit to Torres’ work; he uses body language to communicate Sarah’s discomfort in a rented gown in a way that leavens a fairly witty exchange of dialogue. In all, the idea may be fairly old hat but the approach is highly intriguing.

Adam Warren’s metaphor of superpowers and self-confidence, not to mention analysis and lighthearted mockery of superhero tropes, is back, and this time with Karla Diaz on art, as Emp finds herself dealing with her jerk teammates, and pretty much every other superhero, bumping uglies (some uglies more literal than others) in a hilarious parody of the overwrought soap opera you sometimes find in superhero books. But at the center of it, as always, is the adorable, relatable Emp, who despite having crappy powers has the rare advantage of a working brain and a moral compass. If you haven’t been reading Empowered, this is a good place to start.

On the more serious side of romance, Sarah Vaughn and Lan Medina wrap up their clever riff on Deadman and DC’s Gothic horror books. This book builds to an unexpected payoff that manages to twist both the typical gothic and the typical horror comic together in clever ways, especially with Medina’s crisp, realism focused artwork. This book has been a refreshing change of pace for Boston Brand, and hopefully Vaughn and Medina will return to him sooner rather than later.

Colin King, aka Ninjak, does not enjoy being messed with, and he especially hates magic. So, finding himself in the company of one of the Valiant Universe’s nastier mages doesn’t do much for his mood, especially not when a veil is ripped away and Colin discovers a truth he’d rather not face. Which Matt Kindt and Marc Laming deliver, rather puckishly, as a string of comic strips making fun of Peanuts, in a reminder that neither of them are interested in a conventional superhero comic.

Miranda Coler is cursed; the pioneer woman can’t die until she kills the men who murdered her and her family. But she also loses some of her memories every time she comes back. The setting is unusually stark, thanks to the writing team’s spare dialogue and Hannah Christenson’s focus on flat planes and hard lines, but it’s an interesting idea, and a clever riff on the horror Western.

Motor Crush #3, Image Comics: Babs Tarr continues to be the star of this intriguing mix of Mad Max and motorcycle racing.

James Bond: Felix Leiter #2, Dynamite: This mini’s focus on relatively obscure James Bond characters frees them up to be more than just background, and tells a fun espionage tale as well.

Detective Comics #950, DC Comics: Detective hits another milestone with an anthology of what’s to come, anchored by a genuinely touching look at Orphan and how she wants to communicate with others, but literally doesn’t have the words.

Namesake #4, BOOM! Studios: Steve Orlando and Jakub Rebelka wrap up their fascinating urban fantasy about a gay man reconciling, in one case violently, with the past of both his fathers, one a human from Earth and one an elf from a world accessible only for a week at a time.

John Carter: The End #1, Dynamite: This book takes the usual pulp theatrics and instead asks what happens when John Carter and Dejah Thoris have a son who’s a monster.

Black History In Its Own Words, Image (Hardcover, $17): Cartoonist Ron Wimberley offers a brief overview, in portrait and illustrated quote, of Black History, inside and outside America, in a spare and engaging hardback.

The Invisibles: Book 1, DC Comics (Softcover, $25): Grant Morrison’s creative breakthrough, and still quite possibly his weirdest, wildest book, gets a new collected volume so all the readers not around during the ’90s can see what the fuss was about.

Weird Detective: The Stars Are Wrong, Dark Horse (Softcover, $18): Fred Van Lente’s skewed take on the world mixes the modern crime drama with Lovecraftian weird geometry and tentacle monsters, and it’s both scary and absurdly compelling.