Mayday 1-5

On May 24th, Image is issuing the collection of "Mayday", the just concluded Alex de Campi and Tony Parker mini-series, featuring a pair of Russian spies on the run in 1971 America. Labelled as a Codename Felix adventure, the book is slated to be the opening storyline in a series featuring the Cold War adventures with a realistic bent.

The veteran writer has made a name for herself in the industry with the spy-inspired "Smoke", and "Mayday" certainly starts off with an intelligence agency briefing before it veers off into the strange and poignant. By the end of the first issue, the protagonists' extraction mission has been firmly charted through America's counter culture underbelly, with the creators making it clear that both will stay on as a part of the story. Thus, the numerous office-based scenes don't serve only as framing devices, but the agency infighting actively acts to heighten the drama. 

Thanks to Parker's contribution, these dialogue intense sequences flow well and feature distinctive character designs. The artist of "This damned band" is certainly at home when the story switches to the wild world of sweaty, Vietnam era America. Only in "Mayday", the sex and drugs and rock'n'roll gets seen from the eyes of the outsiders and punctured with horrible violence, showcasing his clean and dynamic work.

The 45 year distance allows the creators to present the Russian spies in a more balanced way, with danger coming to them from both sides. The writer is clever to portray them as victims but never shies away from the hurt they inflict back on their new surroundings. Of the two, Felix is decidedly the more active participant, with this initial series serving to set the stage for his further Cold War adventures. On the strength of "Mayday", the readers can only hope that de Campi and Parker will continue on as a team long enough to tell them.

Ultimate Comics: Thor

"Ultimate Comics: Thor" marked writer Jonathan Hickman's first foray into Marvel's once relevant Ultimate imprint. It lead to his taking over the core "Ultimates" title and giving him a chance to be one of the last authors that truly defined the since cancelled line of comics.

Pairing Hickman with a veteran superhero artist like Carlos Pacheco, the company seemed adamant that he starts working off Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's template. Only a year before, the penciller collaborated with Millar himself on a spin-off Ultimates mini-series that ended up as some of the writer's last work for the company. On "Ultimate Comics: Thor", Pacheco manages to work in Hitch's vein, which helps when the story constantly calls back to the celebrated artist's genre defining run. 

Without being able to actually relaunch Thor in his image, the writer is thus poised to fit his story around previous continuity, resulting in a splintered timeline that gives rise to only slight innovation. The Asgard flashbacks are perhaps most noteworthy, setting up this creative team's version of the Warrior's Three. The origin story eventually ties in to the World War Two scenes featuring Baron Zemo, with the present day sequences serving as framework.

Throughout, Pacheco's clean layouts and solid figurework help maintain the brisk pace and create strong fight sequences featuring the Frost Giants. These keep the mini-series on level with some of the imprint's more workmanlike entries, but the hurried last act prevents it from being more than a prequel to the original "Ultimates" run. By relegating the present day showdown with Loki to the previous series, "Ultimate Comics: Thor" gains a barrage of scenes featuring Nick Fury and eventually the Hulk, which genuinely rob this story of its real conclusion. Eventually, both Hickman and Pacheco end up restaging Millar and Hitch's sequences with added context, which speaks a lot to the publisher's lack of confidence in their own creative abilities. 

On the back of this story, the writer has gone on to have his own critically acclaimed run on "The Ultimates", but unfortunately it wasn't popular enough to save the imprint from swift cancellation. Still, it paved the way for his work on Marvel's mainstream "Avengers" titles, with Hickman eventually helping the publisher relaunch their entire superhero line, where Pacheco has remained a valuable asset.

Catwoman: When in Rome 1-6

In 2004, DC published "Catwoman: When in Rome", acting as a spin-off of the Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's popular "Batman: Dark victory" storyline. Released following the duo's stint on Marvel's prestige books, the mini-series acknowledges the tie-in, but exists largely to tell it's own story.

Ostensibly, the series elaborates the character's origins, but by the time of it's publication the company had already went ahead with a different version of the character. Taken as a collaboration of the two talents well suited to telling the stories together, "When in Rome" turns into a treatise on the character's appeal.

Characterized as a sexy thriller with a healthy dose of humor, the series truly reads like an artifact from a different era. The heroine looks and acts like a sex bomb, her "costume" merely a couple of curios added to her skintight leotard. That is not to say that Catwoman doesn't spent a large part of the story wearing even less, but she takes it all in stride.

The plot concerns Selina arriving in Italy with a purpose that reveals itself only later on, after she has already become complicit in affairs of a criminal don she'd never heard about before. The tone and atmosphere are seductive enough that the reader doesn't really question the many twists and turns rocking the story to and fro from the Batman universe, confident that it will all make some kind of sense in the end. Loeb is of course pedantic enough to ultimately clear up any confusion, but it's Sale's work that leaves the lasting impression.

The whole presentation strikes the reader as very visual and gorgeous to experience, with beautiful ink washes by Dave Stewart making for a spin-off that has all the hallmarks of a major publishing project. Putting Catwoman in an idealized Italian setting, the artist pairs her with contrasting figures of a love interest and a comedic foil. It is the original character that proves the more memorable, as the Riddler's role in the story ultimately feels as shoehorned as most of the other plot elements pertaining to the story's status as a Batman spin-off.

What attracts about "When in Rome" is precisely the chance of watching two acclaimed creators enjoying themselves. Reading this well paced, politically incorrect story it's clear that the duo are having fun which has the effect of charming the reader into accepting both the goofy and the intriguing bits.

It might be a footnote in the duo's opus, but Loeb and Sale's work here should absolutely be taken into consideration by a reader looking for a lighthearted DC story with high production values.