Rant Reviews--Three Comics With Three Different Sociopaths.

I discussed these in-depth on my first-ever podcast, but still wanted to get my thoughts down in text too about these three comics that seem to involve sociopaths, interestingly enough. They are Detective Comics #875, Daken: Dark Wolverine #7, and Osborn #4.

Detective Comics #875
I don't know if it is because Scott Snyder is such a great writer on this title, or Francesco Francavilla really turns in some stellar art, but I truly dug this comic--which is a feat in and of itself after my lukewarm reception to the last issue. Really though, this comic is both scary and suspenseful, masterfully moving between the past and the present for the purpose of the story with the art complimenting these shifts beautifully. The basic plot is that Jim Gordon's son James--who is an admitted sociopath--has claimed to be cleaned up and taking pills to keep his less-than-positive tendencies in check and Jim Gordon can't help but think about the past with James and how it relates to a past case he is currently working on. Batman of course shows up at the end, but this is really Gordon's show, and that's just fine, because this is just a really good comic.
4.5 out of 5 stars.

Daken: Dark Wolverine #7
I discussed in my podcast how despite both Daniel Way and Marjorie Liu being credited on the cover only Way is listed as a writer on the inside of the comic, and the strangeness doesn't end there with the back of the book listing this as a prelude to the "Collision" cross-over between Daken and X-23 but this book making no mention of that and instead labeling itself Part 4 of Act 2 of Empire; this has nothing to do with X-23 till the last page when she and Gambit just seem to suddenly show up. I assume we will learn how they got where they are at the end of this issue in X-23 #8, which is part one of this cross-over, but I just am annoyed by the whole business. I see how thematically the characters line-up, hell they are related with Daken being Wolverine's son and X-23 being his female-clone pseudo-daughter...so I guess they are siblings.

It seems at the end of the issue Daken is trying to do something related to the defunct Weapon X program and I suppose X-23 will be trying to stop it, so things should be interesting. Oh, the issue also spends too much time focusing on some mobsters we've never seen before fighting and acting like it is important to the story, so that drags down my score something fierce. Still, a decent enough issue and I look forward to what comes next.
3 out of 5 stars.

Osborn #4
I really do love this series, I have since the amazing issue #2 and the series continues to impress with Kelly Sue Deconnick's writing and Emma Rio's art. Between Deconnick writing some great monologues by Osborn and dialogue between everyone else, and Deconnick providing art just cartoony enough to be fun but serious, I just want to cuddle up with this series and take it home like a puppy. This issue isn't as incredible as #2, but it is clearly building to something that will probably be an incredible conclusion in issue #5, which I will be both excited for and saddened by because it means the end of the series. This is awesomesauce, pick it up.
4 out of 5 stars.