Reviews, Week of Sept. 24th, 2008

Hoo boy, lotta books this week too. I'm going to be attempting to (finally) break up the Giant Wall O' Text with some images; let me know how well it works, won't you?

AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #17: There's a lot going on in this issue; it's a credit to Dan Slott and Christos Gage that it doesn't feel rushed or cluttered. And it doesn't, thank goodness.

Ant-Man runs into the Shadow Initiative, and they all decide to go and kill the Skrull Queen; also, 3-D Man and the Skrull Kill Krew are doing the road trip thing; also, Crusader has a brief heart-to-heart with Nick Fury. All these plot threads are deftly handled and smoothly written; Ant-Man in particular is a joy in this issue, if a bit more over-the-top than he'd been written in his late, lamented solo series. This issue also provides some hints about the identity of the Shadow Initiative's mysterious Mutant Zero; they seem to be broadly hinting that it must be Jean Grey (or Madelyne Pryor), which would line up with some of the things that Slott has said in interviews, but A) that would be almost too easy, and B) I suspect this writing team of being better with their curveball than that. My money, for the record, is on Firestar (EDIT: or even better, as was suggested to me, Typhoid Mary. Who may or may not be a mutant, I'm unsure, but who fits the bill beautifully).

Harvey Tolibau's artwork is clean and crisp, very distinctive; there are a few moments where he chooses an odd camera angle for certain scenes but really, he deserves a lot more recognition than he gets. I don't hear nearly enough praise for the art on this book - but perhaps that's an unavoidable consequence of the book's writing being so sharp. This has been a remarkable book, playing in the sandbox with some obscure Marvel characters and concepts while showcasing some of the best qualities of Marvel's post-Civil War status quo. Good, good stuff. 8/10

BLACK PANTHER #41: I was once told that the Black Panther, thanks largely to Christopher Priest's stellar run on the book, had become "Marvel's Batman." He's always planning, always thinking ahead, always exploiting an edge.

Unfortunately, this issue is a fine demonstration of how that's not always a good thing. There's a tendency, with some writers, to make Batman simply so badass that it strains credibility; to downplay the very human aspects of the character to showcase his badassery. And here, Jason Aaron makes precisely the same mistake with the Black Panther.

Don't get me wrong; it's a good little story, a self-contained Secret Invasion crossover detailing how the Skrulls try to deal with Wakanda and how the Black Panther makes them stop. But the entire story hinges on the Black Panther's ability to spot Skrull infiltrators (a point made in prior issues of the story, so I'm not giving anything away); the rationale for his ability to do so essentially boils down, in this issue, to "Because I'm badass." Seriously? The Panther God let you see into their souls and that's why you were able to mystically detect Skrulls when Doctor Strange, Professor X, and Iron Man combined could not? Weak, dude.

Jefte Palo's art is scratchy, but it suits the mood of the story wonderfully; it's certainly not cut out for mainstream superheroics but the grittiness of the art plays well with the grittiness of the story. Ditto for Lee Loughridge's choice of color palette, which is very murky, almost dismal. The art is wonderful; the story is serviceable but it's built on a very shaky foundation. And that, in the end, ruins it for me. 6.5/10.

BLUE BEETLE #31: This being my first Blue Beetle review, let me preface this by saying that I was a crazy Ted Kord fanboy. Still am, actually. I was very biased against the very existence of Jaime Reyes, the third Blue Beetle, from the moment he came on the scene.

I love him these days.

His first 25 issues were, on their own, a delightful story that I can find almost no fault with whatsoever; the series' current writer, Matthew Sturges, has a hell of an act to follow. And he's not quite at the same level of brilliance that John Rogers hit, but he's close.

The direction that Sturges has chosen to take has Jaime dealing a bit less with the 'transition to superheroics' stories that Rogers did so well, but instead brings the Beetle a bit more down to earth, embroiling him in the highly politicized issue of immigration, legal and otherwise. It's a natural fit for the series' locale of El Paso, Texas, as well as for Jaime's own Hispanic heritage; it's also a fine, fine line to walk. Thus far, Sturges has avoided favoring any one 'side' of the issue, and it's a good thing, because he's crafting an interesting superhero story that I'd hate to see trip and fall into the morass of platitudes.

If I had to complain about something for this issue, it would be artist Andrew Coelho's tendency to draw guest-star Doctor Mid-Nite with an odd sort of scowl nigh-constantly. That is hardly a reason not to pick up the issue. Not even close. 9/10.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #42: This is not an easy book to write a short review about. Brubaker and Epting's Captain America run has been highly praised by all and sundry, and rightly so; it's just that damned good. It's also been pretty controversial, what with the whole 'Bucky back from the dead and the new Cap' bit.

Suffice it to say that this issue ties up just about all the loose ends, leaves some really intriguing groundwork for future stories, and has a last-panel reveal that is mind-boggling in its awesomeness. As the tail end of a multi-story arc, it'd be hard to recommend to anyone who hasn't read the issues that came before - save that for next issue! - but since I'm assuming that my readers have taste, style, and class, then you don't need me to tell you this issue is awesome. And it is. 10/10.

DAREDEVIL #111: Hmm. So. Lady Bullseye.

I don't much care about Lady Bullseye, who seems too much like an escapee from a '90s Image book. Also, it looks like we're gonna get more ninjas. Great. Like we haven't had overkill on them in this friggin' book. Dakota North is probably the best thing about the story - but she's awfully damn good. And the artwork is top-notch. So a good book, but not one that really gets me fired up and ready for more. 6/10.

DEADPOOL #2: Remember what I said about the last issue two weeks ago? Yeah. More of the same.

I'm still not sold on Way's take on Deadpool, and by now the book needs to sell me on it. If it doesn't have some sort of mega-awesome reveal coming up in the next couple of issues - like the source of the off-white caption boxes, which I refuse to believe are just 'yet another voice in Deadpool's head' - then it'll lose what little forward momentum it's got. Not the most auspicious of starts, but I'm not ready to drop it yet. 5.5/10.

FANTASTIC FOUR #560: ...well now.

Mark Millar seems to be trying on his Grant Morrison Hat - that is to say, writing stories about the High Concept. The problem is, Morrison figures out how the High Concept best works with the characters he's using, and crafts an engaging story using both concept and character - and while he can at times be maddeningly opaquew, he's got more hits than misses.

Millar's FF, however, stars the High Concept - in this case, the Earth being pretty much screwed and what're we gonna do about it - and the characters feel... tacked on, almost. The Fantastic Four themselves feel more like roles than characters; Reed does science-y things, Ben Grimm just wants to chill, Johnny's a crazy hothead. The characterizations come off as shallow, as thumbnail sketches, and this is an easy trap to fall into with the FF but a pretty dangerous one as well. The strength of these characters has always been in their depth, and there's not a ton of that on display here.

It's a serviceable story, and Bryan Hitch's art is phenomenal. But it reads to me more like Millar is using the FF as a vehicle for the story he wants to tell - and that's a different thing from telling a Fantastic Four story. 7/10.

HULK #6: Kinda sucks.

...I suppose I should put more depth into my review than that, huh? Well, let's look at some of the book's ongoing questions.

Does the Red Hulk's identity or reason for existence get explained? Nope. How about Rick Jones' "A-Bomb" transformation? Nuh uh. The reason that the Abomination was gunned down? Nope, still kinda a mystery.

Nothing really gets resolved here. There's a big-ass fight. Thor shows back up. Green Hulk (or as I will now refer to him, Original Recipe Hulk) beats up Red Hulk (who gives off heat, meaning he's Crispy-Flavor Hulk). This book meanders; I'm sure there's a point to all of this but I'm just not seeing it. Whenever Jeph Loeb is working with Tim Sale he creates masterpieces; apparently, whenever he's not working with Sale, he creates things like this (or the so-execrable-that-I-refuse-to-read-it Ultimates 3). Someone get Tim Sale, stat. 3/10.

IMMORTAL IRON FIST: ORSON RANDALL AND THE DEATH QUEEN OF CALIFORNIA: Jesus, there's a title for you.

The second-best thing to come out of the Fraction/Brubaker/Aja run on The Immortal Iron Fist has been the man to hold the title of Iron Fist before Daniel Rand, Orson Randall (the first-best thing being, of course, Fat Cobra - Fat Cobra is awesome and on this I will brook no argument). He's basically a pulp action hero deposited smack dab in the middle of the Marvel Universe. Every so often Marvel's been publishing one-shots about him, which is not a bad thing at all.

Here, Duane Swierczynski moves Orson's personal timeline a bit forwards, dropping him into Hollywood, 1928 - the Los Angeles of Chandler, of Marlowe. It's a touch jarring, as the best Orson Randall stories have been unabashed pulp adventure pastiches, with Randall as a disheveled and downtrodden Doc Savage; here, instead, he's walking down those mean streets through which a man must walk and like that. But damned if it's not a slick story. Swierczynski must have some kind of strong affection for good noir, because that's what he delivers us here, with just enough mayhem and wierdness to suit the story to Orson Randall, and Giusceppi Camuncoli's moody, atmospheric art - not to mention Paul Mounts' fantastic coloring job, juxtaposing the bright and gaudy with the dark and gloomy with aplomb - make the story work beautifully.

It's not a story for everyone - the casual Superhero Fanboy won't be grabbed by it, I suspect - but it deserves a much wider audience than it will probably get. I, however, love me some Chandler, which means that this story was right in my wheelhouse and I loved it. 10/10.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #46: I am not a Legion fanboy. I really started reading the Legion of Super-Heroes consistently with Abnett and Lanning's Legion series; this most current iteration, the so-called "Threeboot," didn't really do it for me.

Even with Jim Shooter writing it, it still doesn't.

Part of that is Shooter's attempt to conjure up some sort of "future slang" for the book that just ends up sounding clunky and forced ("so I zeezeed you - and I got no answer"). Part of it is my utter disinterest in the threat that's being worked up for the Legion to deal with.

But most of it, I suspect, is my knowledge that with Final Crisis underway and with the Legion of Three Worlds story ongoing... this title is almost certainly treading water before hitting some other kind of reboot. It takes a lot to keep my interest in a book under that sort of weight, and this doesn't have it. 5/10.

MS. MARVEL #31: A post-Secret Invasion issue that is crippled by its inability to talk about Secret Invasion, this issue touches on the fact that most of Ms. Marvel's memories were once wiped by Rogue and restored by Professor X - but those memories didn't come with any of their concurrent emotional attachment, so that Ms. Marvel knows she should care about her family more than she cares about, say, some schmuck she's only met once... but doesn't.

It's an odd little story. A nice one, that touches on some of this character's long (and often quite awful) history, but... it doesn't make me care all that much, either. Its purpose, it would seem, is setting up Ms. Marvel's mindset before hitting the last-page reveal - which comes out of absolute left field. I suspect that it will make more sense when Secret Invasion is finished, but taken on its own like this, all it does is make me think 'wait, what the hell?' 5.5/10.

NEW AVENGERS #45: Skrulls of M!

Yet more Secret Invasion backstory, this issue of New Avengers fails to include any damn Avengers in it, once again. Man, that's getting old. It was great at first, getting all this backstory outside of the main story itself, but it's dragging on like whoa here, people. This time out, the story touches on how the Skrull infiltrators dealt with things during the House of M crossover.

First things first - it is gorgeous. Jim Cheung puts in some fantastic work here (but it makes me miss Young Avengers so badly, let me tell you). Does the story do his artwork justice?

Well, it gives him several chances to shine, and he takes them. So there's that. The only problem is, the story doesn't do much more than that. There's Spider-Woman-Skrull during House of M and then it ends and she didn't exactly have a lot to do with that, and then somehow she knows about the events of the Annihilation crossover once all is said and done, despite the fact that we're shown no way by which she might have received said knowledge.

(Unless it's being intimated that somehow the Scarlet Witch is responsible for Annihilation as well - it can be taken that way if you sort of squint - and that's actually kinda awesome)

And that's it. Nothing really happens in this issue. Just 'look! There were Skrulls during House of M! Isn't that awesome?' And... no, it really isn't awesome at all. Damned fine art, though. 6.5/10.

NEW WARRIORS #16: I was - am - an old-school New Warriors fanboy. Probably the only one, I know. But when that book first came out? Damn, but I loved it. This latest iteration of the book... saddens me.

Oh, I love the ideas. The New Warriors as an anti-Registration Act underground team. The de-powered mutant kids who've gotten their hands on technology-based powers. The new Night Thrasher's identity as the brother of the first one (okay, Bandit was an awful character, but this is a good way to use him). And Thrash's overall agenda, finally revealed in this issue, is oddly logical in a comic book setting. The concepts are fantastic, but the execution is flawed.

By starting off with such a large ensemble cast, the book hasn't really given us a chance to get to know all of the characters well, so that when one dies or is captured or whatever, I just don't find myself caring all that much. And without that engagement with these characters - without caring about them - this book is bound to disappoint.

Ironically, that's what I loved best about the original New Warriors series - I developed an affection for the characters. When they were successful I cheered; when they were beaten I winced. In this issue, one of the team accuses Thrash of using them as cannon fodder... and I find myself leveling the same accusation at writer Kevin Grevioux. The concepts are so good that I really, really want to love this book, but the characters themselves can't carry that weight. 5/10.

NOVA #17: Wait, Darkhawk is the head of security at Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. now? That's an... odd choice, considering that when last we saw him he was essentially in superhero rehab.

That's really my only complaint about this issue, which is as good as I've come to expect out of Nova. Abnett and Lanning - who, as I mentioned, I've loved ever since I encountered them on The Legion - have really carved out their own little niche doing cosmic space adventure with a strong human element, just as they previously did at DC (and as Abnett has done with his Warhammer 40,000 writing, as I understand it). This issue is much more down to earth, but maintains the cosmic feel that we've come to expect from this title. And the last-page reveal made my inner fganboy squeal with delight. Consistently one of Marvel's best books of late, this one is. 9/10.

RUNAWAYS #2: Any book with Molly Hayes in it can't be all bad. But sadly, it can't be all good, either.

The problem with this book is simple. Runaways was set up with the status quo that these kids learned that their parents were supervillains. They ran away - thus the name. They picked up superpowers of their own, most of 'em. And eventually, their parents - The Pride - were dealt with and disposed of.

What do you do with a book that's built around the notion of 'kids freaked out by their supervillain parents' when the supervillain parents have been gone for several years now? The answer, apparently, is to flounder about a bit and hope that you stumble upon a worthwhile direction. And there's been no stumbling yet.There's some great moments in this book, but on the whole it's badly in need of a purpose. It doesn't have it yet. 4/10.

SHE-HULK #33: This isn't a story about She-Hulk. It's a story that happens to have She-Hulk in it. There are some intriguing moments here, and Peter David is a heck of a writer - his dialogue sings, and the way he handles Jennifer Walters' inner monologue is spectacular - but the star of this show is Jen's new Immortal Skrull Sidekick, Jazinda.

And I have not yet come across a compelling reason to care about Jazinda. She's not a bad character, just... she hasn't really engaged my interest. David obviously finds her terribly interesting, but I don't know that I do. Which, as you might guess, is not a small problem.

It's the tail end of this book's Secret Invasion crossing-over, it looks like, so maybe next month will grab my interest more. But as it stands, it's a misstep from a writer I've generally learned to trust sight unseen. 5.5/10.

SUPERMAN #680: I am seriously impressed by the fact that this book consisted almost entirely of a fight scene between Atlas and Krypto and I still enjoyed it.

Seriously. A giant fight between a superpowered dog and some lug with no discernible personality (a lug created by Jack Kirby, admittedly, but then again, Kirby also helped create the Dingbats of Danger Street, so he was capable of the odd misstep or two)? That's supposed to sustain my interest for 22 pages?

...well, it did. Which is fairly impressive in and of itself. 8/10.

TEEN TITANS #63: Apparently this is the week for 'issues featuring characters that the creators clearly find compelling as hell but that I find eminently missable.' Because this issue of Teen Titans is all about Bombshell, the Captain Atom knockoff with no discernible history that apparently joined the Titans in the "missing year" of 52 and later quit and became a traitor and then got killed but isn't dead really.

Yeah.

Look, I kinda like Captain Atom. And Bombshell is an interesting visual and all. But this issue is pretty clearly setting out to make her an interesting and sympathetic character that we, the audience, will demand to see more of... and it doesn't quite do that. I'm really not sold on this current iteration of Teen Titans, haven't been since Geoff Johns left; it's really only my affection for some of the characters that keeps me reading this book, and at this rate, that alone won't sustain me. 4/10.

THUNDERBOLTS #124: The Thunderbolts fight Skrulls. Yep, that's about it.

...but they do it with style, they do.

Almost every member of the Thunderbolts is dangerously insane. They end up using this insanity to deal with the Skrulls, from Bullseye's cheerful sociopathy to Penance's angst to Venom's willingness to eat people; it all comes into play, even The Swordsman's creepy fixation on his sister.

This isn't an issue that's going to have, I suspect, any sizable long-term effects on the Thunderbolts and their status quo - it's basically just them doing their thing in the larger context of Secret Invasion. It has its moments of brilliance ("You mean she's not a Skrull?"), and while it may not be, so to speak, important in the long run... the Thunderbolts fighting Skrulls is a surprisingly enjoyable little exercise. 8/10.

WOLVERINE: ORIGINS #28: I have never yet been entirely certain that this book has any pressing need to exist. I have certainly never been in love with much of what's been introduced in it, most especially the character of Daken. He's dull.

However, if it has to exist, at least it now has art by Mike Deodato, Jr., who is far more suited to it than Steve Dillon ever was. Dillon was wasted on this book; Deodato, Jr., however, is a perfect fit for it.

Hmm? The story? Oh. Yeah, still pretty dull, and still concerning itself with Daken and with the machinations of the Least Interesting Villain Of The Decade, Romulus. But it looks great. 6/10.

X-FORCE #7: I never in a million years thought I'd find myself typing this, but... this issue of X-Force was... actually not that bad.

Oh, it wasn't great by any means. X-Force is essentially the quintessential Nineties Comic - there's a lot of darkness and stabbing and gore and over-the-top-ness. It's not enough to have villains, you have to have robot villains who turn people into cyborgs and zombies and there's brainwashing and forced drug overdoses and angst and oh God make it stop.

But this issue has some really interesting bits and pieces; the way Elixir is handled, the Stepford Cuckoos' appearance, and most especially "say hello to your brother" all stand out in what was actually a fairly quiet and interesting issue. If they were all like this, I'd be much more enthusiastic about the book.

They likely won't be, though, so I can go back to calling this book "Super Stabbity Gore Squad X-TREME" by next month. 7/10.

X-MEN: LEGACY #216: The high concept of X-Men: Legacy is that Professor X has gaps in his memory and is effectively going on walkabout to work on that. Also, to have adventures that have their roots in the X-Men's long history and continuity.

Basically, it's the X-Book for continuity fanboys, leaving Uncanny X-Men to be a little more free and unfettered. And I can run with that.

This issue is the second part of a two-parter that sees Xavier showing up to basically apologize to Cyclops for all the times he messed with Cyclops' head, and also to admit that he just had his brain taken over by Mister Sinister not long ago, whereupon Cyclops details Emma Frost to go into the Professor's brain to ensure that he's clean. Which necessitates a sort of 'this was your life' look at some key moments in Xavier's past.

There's very little here that's stunning or remarkable or that we haven't seen before, but that's okay - it's not so much a story about what's happening as it is a story about who these people are. And as a character study of Professor Charles Xavier, it's pretty good - and it's very good as a character study of Emma Frost.

X-Men: Legacy is an interesting little book; it seems to me like it has the potential to be every fanboy's dream... but it also has the potential to become so mired in X-Men continuity - which, let's face it, is a quagmire of immense magnitude - that it fails miserably. So far, it's been pretty good. 8/10.



.....aaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm out. What did you think?

Tuesday Column - Marvel or DC? Why not both?

So you may have heard that there are two big comic book companies, Marvel and DC. The folks at Image or Dark Horse might take issue with that, but to the casual observer, those two names are the gold standard.

You may also have noticed that those two companies tend to attract, for lack of a better word, fanboys. The stereotypical "Marvel zombie" reads Marvel and nothing but Marvel, knows that Wolverine could beat up Batman, and that Superman is lame. DC fans, contrariwise, believe the exact opposite.

The point is, "brand loyalty" seems to hit a certain extreme at some point when it comes to comics fans. Unsurprisingly, this is encouraged by the comics companies themselves - they know that a particularly loyal fan is more likely to buy whatever sort of dreck they happen to publish, be it Yet Another Wolverine One-Shot or Bart Allen's Storied Career As The Flash. They can use loyal fans - or, more precisely, their wallets. The two companies take potshots at one another from time to time, though things tend to be (for the most part - there are exceptions, most of which in recent memory seem to involve Joe Quesada in one form or another) cordial.

The problem is... it's kinda crap, innit?

There used to be serious stylistic differences between DC and Marvel. Marvel was much more grounded in the "real world," with Spider-Man dealing with romantic entanglements and financial issues familiar to most any young person, or the X-Men dealing with the same sort of hatred and predjudice that so many groups deal with even today. DC didn't ignore those issues, so to speak, but they were never focal - discounting the wonderful "Hard-Traveling Heroes" storyline from Green Lantern/Green Arrow, which is still hailed as a milestone today but which, you'll note, didn't exactly sell a ton.

DC's stories were more iconic, more primal - Superman wasn't just a superhero, he was an icon, a symbol. DC's history of characters reaching back to World War II meant that they had a legacy to draw on, a standard to keep to - in short, that the oft-repeated mantra that comics creators are "stewards" of these beloved characters set in earlier for them. Marvel could take a few more chances simply because their characters were newer - it's easier to make Spider-Man a friendless geek when he doesn't have thirty years of history behind him!

So yes, once upon a time there was a serious tonal difference between the two companies. Note the use of the past tense. These days, creators go from one company to another the way free agents switch sports teams; I suspect it's only a matter of time before they start trading creators in the same way ("Okay, Brian Michael Bendis has two years left on his exclusive contract; I'll trade you him for the last year of Grant Morrison's exclusive and three Kurt Buseik freelance issues").And while the two companies maintain distinct tones, the industry itself has gotten a bit more... homogeonized.

DC's Blue Beetle, after all, hits almost all the same high notes that early Spider-Man stories did... Manhunter is every bit as gritty as early Punisher stories... and as for Marvel, they even pulled a history-rewriting cosmic event (after all the remarks about how "we don't have Crises") to bring Spider-Man back to an iconic, well-known status quo. DC, with their long history of treating their characters as icons and cultural treasures, is learning to take more chances, to inject a little more realism... and Marvel, the risk-taking, realistic company, has been around long enough that they're learning the value of an iconic cultural treasure.

So what's my point? My point is, there used to be some value in sticking with one comic company over another. By proclaiming yourself a "Marvel zombie" - as I did, back in the day - you weren't just saying 'I like Marvel comics,' you were also stating a preference for tone and content. You were saying 'I like my comics stories to be a little more relatable, my superheroes to be a little more human, a little more flawed.' But those statements are no longer all-encompassing - my 16-year old Marvel zombie self would have loved the heck out of a number of titles that DC is publishing these days.

Broaden the horizons, fanboys. It'll do you some good. That's all I'm saying.

Reviews, Week of Sept. 17th, 2008

Lotta books today! With twenty-three books to review, some of these are going to be shorter than others; sorry.

ACTION COMICS #869: The "Braniac" arc continues. Here's my problem - Supergirl is all freaked out because apparently this is the real Braniac, and all the Braniacs before him have been "probes"... how does that jibe withall the rest of the Braniac stories that the DCU has seen? Does anyone else remember when Braniac swiped Lex Luthor's daughter? Et cetera? What was all that crap about?

If this was an introduction to a brand-new character, or even the first time we'd encountered Braniac in the current continuity, that'd be one thing, but I don't see how it all lines up. Still, that's hardly a crippling story flaw. This particular iteration of Braniac is certainly a creepy mofo, the art is just peachy, I'm not going to comment on the pulping of the issue thanks to the whole 'Clark Kent drinkin' beer' flap because I think it's incredibly stupid. You can definitely see groundwork being laid here for a long-term storyline, just as DC's been teasing, and it looks like it might just be a pretty interesting one. 7.5/10.

BATGIRL #3 (of 6): When this mini was announced, the Internet Uproar over Adam Beechen's name being attached to it was significant, and rightly so, I should think - a lot of people thought that the way Beechen had handled the character was poor, to say the least, in the past.

Oddly enough, I rather like the way he's handling Cassandra Cain in this mini. It's everything else I have some issues with.

The inclusion of the Bat-family in this mini is something of a given - but I have a hard time reconciling the angry and abrupt Nightwing we see here with the guy we've seen in his solo series. That's the big misstep, to me - Dick Grayson is arguably the DCU's best 'mentor figure;' he's been the sidekick, he's grown to become a hero, he knows what mistakes have been made and he's smart enough not to repeat them. We've seen him mentor and give the benefit of the doubt to characters far more damaged than Cassie has seemed in this book. I'm not real thrilled with Oracle's appearance, either, and Ravager shows up to hang with Batgirl, and clearly this was not a book written with her current Teen Titans continuity in mind...

Cassie, though, is handled pretty respectfully. So there's that. Jim Caliafore's art is not to my liking - someone get this guy an inker with a more delicate line, stat - but he tells a story well, and there's very few 'what just happened?' moments. A deeply flawed series, but not the rampant character assasination that some people might have feared. 6/10.

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #11: Talk about a book that's floundering. The new Outsiders book has had serious issues ever since it was first launched, struggling to find a place and a clear voice. Then it was relaunched as Batman and the Outsiders to, I would assume, capitalize on Batman's name recognition, and it ran into creator issues... and by this point it's kind of like a fish out of water. It's flopping around and gasping and you can't help but feel sorry for it.

Tossing your issue of BatO #11 into the water will not make it magically good. It may, however, still be the best thing you can do for it.

A Batman R.I.P. tie-in for completists only, this book really... isn't worth chasing after. Maybe once it gets its proverbial feet under it - if it ever does - it can be as good as it has the potential to be. But as it stands... just trust me on this. I could write seven paragraphs on how flawed it is, but I have a ton of books this week so just take my word for it for once. Though to be fair, it's quite a good-looking book. 4/10.

BIRDS OF PREY #122: Dull dull dull dull dull. Man, but this book misses Black Canary. The new setting in "Platinum Flats" (DCU-speak for "Silicon Valley") is boring, the villains aren't worth the paper they're printed on (I'm looking at you, Zombie Gizmo), and basically it's forgettable as all get-out... not to mention that the plot has holes you could drive a truck through (the villanous footsoldiers announce that they want Zinda to escape, and no one thinks to search her for transmitters or anything? Isn't Oracle supposed to be smart?).

Basically, Birds of Prey has two things going for it - the last-page reveal promises an encounter that's been a long, long time in coming, even if the villain in question doesn't realize the weight of history he's bringing into play here... and Misfit.

Misfit is awesome. This book needs more Misfit. Right now, it desperately needs it. 5/10.

BRAVE AND THE BOLD #17: A Supergirl/Raven storyline that looks like it was written as a story in Supergirl's solo book. Seriously, wasn't this status quo from about a year ago? Also, the art is muddy and ugly. A sad misstep from a title that I've come to expect better from. 4/10.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13 #5: Oh yeah... Blade is British. Who knew? Well, Paul Cornell did, and he's awesome.

This is definitely a book that's still in 'set up the status quo' mode; it's a tribute to Cornell's writing, and Pat Oliffe's clean, appealing art, that it's as enjoyable as it is. Which is to say, exceedingly. While this particular story hinges on one flaw - Spitfire's quasi-vampirism has yet to really be explained in this title, and it really needs to be, considering that it happened back in the pages of The New Invaders, a book that was read by maybe twelve people. Shame, too, it had some potential as a title, but that's neither here nor there - it's a relatively minor flaw; the only reason it jumps out so much is because the rest of the book is so incredibly good.

Even the Black Knight's scene, which is about as non-action-packed as you can get, is an absolute joy; the dialogue of all the characters just sparkles, and Oliffe's art is fantastic even in the quieter, character-driven scenes; he has a real gift for showing emotion with his characters. If this book gets canceled for low sales I will go on a several-state killing spree because it's absolutely brilliant, and it deserves so many more readers than it's got.

Also, there is a Captain Midlands cameo. And Captain Midlands rocks. 9/10.

FLASH #244: The beginning of a story that I fear is designed to shuffle Wally West off-stage so that the Final Crisis-revived Barry Allen can have the spotlight. If that ends up happening, I will be sad, but given how dull I've found Wally's story ever since he returned, I suppose I couldn't complain too much.

Paco Diaz' art is adequate without really sparkling, and Alan Burnett's story hits the right sentimental notes without being too overwrought. A thoroughly average story that smells of editorial mandate, to me; I suppose it's a blessing that it's as good as it is. 6/10.

GHOST RIDER #27: Ghost Rider's continuity is, to be blunt, entirely messed up. This is nothing newsworthy. Ghost Rider is a dude on a motorcycle with a skull for a head, and the skull is on fire. No one buys books about a guy with a fiery skull-head for in-depth continuity. Hell, no one writes them for in-depth continuity; when ol' Johnny Blaze was first introduced to the world, I am willing to bet that somewhere in the process of his creation, benzedrine was involved. I'm just sayin'.

Still, comics being what they are, they have to at least try to pay attention to all of the old continuity, and that includes Ghost Rider's. So here we get Danny Ketch, who used to be Ghost Rider but isn't anymore (now Ghost Rider is Johnny Blaze again, despite the fact that when Danny was Ghost Rider, Blaze was still around and had a shotgun and... look, it's complicated, okay?). This storyline is sort of an attempt to make it all kludge together. Sorta. Kinda. Only it doesn't exactly illuminate.

Fun read, though. Tan Eng Huat's art is clear as mud (and I know Jose Villarubia has the ability to use bright colors, but he's not exactly showing it here), but that almost suits the story itself, which is also maddeningly opaque. Still, it has nuns with nunchaku, and that's always sorta neat. It's not a stellar book, but it has its moments, and has the potential for more. Eh. It could be so much worse. 6.5/10.

GREATEST HITS #1 (of 6): I was going to pass on this one but had it recommended to me by a friend. Good thing, too.

Greatest Hits is the story of The Mates, who are basically The Beatles As Superheroes, back in the day when they were the biggest thing since sliced bread. It's also the story of the guy making a documentary about The Mates in the present day, who happens to be the son of one of the members.

It's very... earnest, this book is, and it's trying a bit too hard, but it's a neat idea and it looks like it should turn out to be a fun little story. Worth a buy if you've got the spare cash. 7.5/10

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #5: This book is fun and exciting and has some great characters and some lovely - if slightly cartoony in places - art. It's brilliant. Remember how I said I could go on forever about Batman and the Outsiders' flaws? I can do the same thing with this book's merits. It's brilliant.

But if that reveal about the Possible Skrull Agent turns out to be true, I will be livid. 8.5/10.

INCREDIBLE HERCULES #121: I have nothing bad to say about this book. It is brilliant.

Seriously. Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente have created a book that's just plain chock-full of goodness. The dialogue sparkles, the characterization is brilliant, there's something to bring a smile to your lips on every single page, even - especially! - the recap page.

Even the introduction of the Amazons to the Marvel Universe - which could spur some very pointed comparisons to DC's Amazons - seems natural and unforced, springing not from any sort of inter-company nose-tweaking but instead from the mythological roots that make Hercules such an interesting character.

As wonderful as the story is, though, Clayton Henry's art is even better. Every character shines, every expession is true to life, every explosion is suitably dramatic. This is the guy that did the art for Nine Rings of Wu-Tang? Seriously? Wow.

A fun, light-hearted romp... but one that isn't afraid to get Serious And Meaningful, as we saw in the last issue. The Incredible Hercules deserves a chance on any comic reader's pull-list. 9.5/10.

IRON MAN DIRECTOR OF SHIELD #33: An Iron Man book where Iron Man hardly appears! Brilliant!

Actually, this is a Secret Invasion tie-in of a sort, and also heralds the re-titling of the book; it's going to turn into a War Machine series, just as The Incredible Hulk became The Incredible Hercules. Which is okay, as Iron Man is appearing in the vastly superior Invincible Iron Man, which is written by my official man-crush, Matt Fraction. So all is well.

This book... well, basically Jim Rhodes is Tony Stark's Backup Plan. You'd think that, considering that in recent years Rhodey and Tony haven't been on the best of terms (because of all the other times that Rhodey has been Tony's backup plan), that there might be a bit more reluctance here, but no go, apparently. Rhodey's current status quo has never really been explored or explained over in The Initiative, and it isn't here, either, more's the pity; still, considering that the entire plot of the issue can be summed up as 'Rhodey is Tony's Backup Plan and he goes off to fight Skrulls,' there's a lot more meat here than might have been expected. I'm not sold on it, but I'm sufficiently intrigued to keep reading. 7.5/10.

MARVEL APES #2 (of 4): Man, I am so stunned that this book doesn't really suck. It doesn't take itself at all seriously, which is a good thing, and it's chock-full of monkeys.

Including vampire monkeys. I have no idea where the hell that came from. I don't think I care. I am utterly stunned that not only will I be reading the next issue... but I'm kinda looking forward to it. 7/10.

MIGHTY AVENGERS #18: Boy, I bet all those people that regularly read this title and New Avengers are a little irritated by the way they've turned into Secret Invasion Exposition Extravaganza. I mean, I think it's a good way to handle all the backstory, just... it must really bug the folks that buy these books expecting to see, you know, the occasional Avenger.

That being said, this is basically Nick Fury Trains His Secret Warriors. And while I'm far from sold on any of these new characters, who are hazy and ill-defined and not terribly interesting, Nick Fury is awesome. And Bendis clearly agrees with me, because he writes a hella fun Nick Fury.

Stefano Caselli is not a name I recognize, but his art is really crisp - there's some traces of exaggeration and over-stylizing here and there, but generally he's got a nice crisp line. Of all the various Secret Invasion backstory issues, this is easily one of the strongest. 8/10.

MOON KNIGHT #22: I'm not a regular Moon Knight reader, and this issue sure isn't going to convince me to become one. Basically, Moon Knight whups on everyone because he's Just That Badass. And... I just don't much care. Pretty, if murky, art, and a competent but hardly compelling story. 5.5/10.

RANN-THANAGAR HOLY WAR #5 (of 8): Oh, my. Where to start.

This story wants to be Annihilation. It wants to have that same sense of menace, that same blend of classic, nostalgia-tinged space-themed characters, that same sweeping tableau. And it fails.

I mean, Jim Starlin's a legend, okay, he's a phenomenal writer, and I just don't know what the hell went wrong this time. I know that he can write grand sweeping cosmic epics better than almost anyone. But this... I just can't escape the feeling that in Starlin's head, this probably all sounded awesome, but somewhere between his head and the printed page, it's all fallen apart. 3/10.

SECRET INVASION: THOR #2 (of 3): Oh, man.

As mentioned, Matt Fraction is my entirely heterosexual man-crush right now. I like his Thor better than JMS's Thor, which is saying something. But he's firing on all cylinders with this one.

Skrulls attack Asgard. Seems pretty simple, right? But it's also got Beta Ray Bill and it's got a bunch of good ol' boy volunteer firefighters risking their lives to try and put out the flames sweeping through Asgard and it's got hugely cinematic fight scenes. Even the fairly contrived 'get Thor out of the way by having Doc Blake need to deliver a baby' scenes, while blatantly obvious and cliche, are really well-written. And Doug Braithwaite is up to the task; his line is a little blurrier in some places than I might like, but his work brings a wide, epic scale to every scene, even the smaller, quieter ones.

It's an issue-long fight scene... but it's a damn cool issue-long fight scene. 8.5/10.

TITANS #5: Once again... I could go through an entire litany of this book's sins. I really could. It's transparent and dull and the art is stylish but every scene with Starfire is so cheesecake-y that it's not even funny, and how the hell are we supposed to pretend that this book takes place in the same universe as all DC's other books when Starfire is supposedly in outer space in Rann-Thanagar Holy War and Red Arrow is in Justice League of America and the Flash is having his own problems in his own title and is also showing up from time to time in JLA and...

...gah. This book really has no compelling need to exist. It could overcome that by being awesome. It does not. 3.5/10.

TRINITY #16: See last week's review. I don't think I'll be mentioning this book every week; it was awesome then, it continues to be awesome now, and I'll let you know if that changes. 9/10.

TRUE BELIEVERS #3 (of 5): Another case of "I'm sure this sounded awesome in your head, dude." Cary Bates clearly has a great affection for the character of Payback, but the book has not convinced me that I should share that affection. I don't particularly care about her - and none of the other True Believers have had enough screen time for me to form an opinion on them one way or the other.

The dialogue is incredibly stilted, and... you know what this book feels like to me? Fanfiction. Payback is somebody's Mary Sue character.

And yet... and yet, there's enough here to keep me reading. There's a lot of potential for greatness in this book, but it's most certainly not there yet. But it's not half bad. I don't know that I'd recommend it to most anyone, but I certainly wouldn't say 'don't waste your money' on it, either. So that's something. 5.5/10.

UNCANNY X-MEN #502: Everything about the writing of this book makes me happy. Greg Land's artwork makes me less so - Pixie should not look gorgeous for crying out loud, she's supposed to be... y'know, cute at most, this is the kind of thing that leads to those 'tracing porn stars' remarks - but even bad art couldn't make this book awful.

Logan's Maserati does 185. Nightcrawler is building a chapel. The X-Men have an arrangement with the San Francisco police department. Everything about this new status quo makes sense, flows out of what has come before, builds on the past without being too beholden to it. It's fun - and after decades of angst and woe, the X-books desperately need fun. Luckily, in this book, they've got it in spades. 9/10.

X-FACTOR #35: Peter David's writing is Peter David's writing; what am I going to say about it that hasn't been said? If you liked the writing on anything else he's worked on, you'll like it here. Longshot - the real one this time - shows up, and David clearly has a ball writing him; otherwise, this issue is kinda so-so, except...

I really don't love Larry Stroman's art here. Too distorted, too unclear, too sketchy. His figures are almost caricatures, and while his storytelling skills are spot-on - the art flows, the action is clear - the figures are so distorted that it's almost painful to read. The story is good, if a bit pedestrian, and the characterizations are fabulous, but the art makes it easy to overlook the good writing.

If you're a fan of the book, you don't need me to tell you to keep reading - but if you're not, this isn't the issue to pick up and try. It's just too ugly. Shame, too. 6.5/10.

YOUNG X-MEN #6: I like how this book began as a huge fake-out, with Cyclops an impostor (which was pretty transparent, but that's neither here nor there). And by 'like' I mean 'am fairly repulsed by.'

So the book has a steep hill to climb with me. It's making headway - the last page reveal helps - and some of the characters are slowly starting to grow on me, and bringing some other, more well-known characters into the fold in the form of some former New Mutants... that promises to help. But right now I still don't care all that much about most of these characters, and Ben Oliver's art is not to my taste -it's hard for me to put a finger on why, save that his depiction of Rockslide is too exaggerated even for me, although I have to admit that it, too, seems to be steadily improving. All in all, I don't think this is a good book. But again... it's showing signs of learning how not to be an awful book, and that's step one, right? 5/10.



...man, that's a lotta books. See you on Tuesday!

Tuesday Column - What I Like About Comics

So if I'm going to be reviewing comic books, you should probably know what it is I look for in comics, hmm? What I like, what I hate. Besides, it's a fun way for me to talk about some of my favorite books and characters.

It's the story, stupid. A comic can be the prettiest damn thing on the shelves, but if the story sucks, I'll hate it. Comics are a type of storytelling - the story is of paramount importance to me. The book should have a story to tell, preferably a good and interesting story, and then tell it. And as a story, it can fall into any of the pitfalls that a good story might - complex plots are good, overly convoluted ones aren't, et cetera.

Art matters. I know I just said the story is of paramount importance to me, but that doesn't mean that I worship the ground a writer walks upon and ignore the art. I look at it like this - the comic writer writes the story, but it's the artists that tell the story. The writer can have the best story on the block, but if the art is incomprehensible, I won't be able to read it (I'm thinking specifically of Duncan Rouleau's art on Steven T. Seagle's Alpha Flight book - intriguing story, but the art was just so mind-bogglingly incomprehensible that I couldn't keep up).

I like superheroes, dammit. It's something of a trend to look down on mainstream superhero comics. And let's face it; they are kinda silly. But I like them anyway. I don't care. That's why the reviews on this site are going to be superhero-heavy; suck it up and deal.

I like the fun stuff, I like the serious stuff. Sometimes I want my books to be a lighthearted romp (see last week's Patsy Walker: Hellcat issue). But sometimes? I want the deadly-serious-just-this-side-of-pretentious tone that has been exemplified in recent years by the X-Men books. But the best books are the ones that have moments of both. I'm thinking of Matt Fraction's Invincible Iron Man, which is nicely serious but always has one or two lighthearted, make-you-smile moments, as a fine example.

Accessibility matters. I don't want to feel like I have to go and do research in order to understand a comic book. This is the heart of my problem with Final Crisis (for the moment - it's a work in progress, after all). I want to feel like if I do go and do research, it will enhance the story - but not be a necessity for the story. Trinity is a great example - there are bits and pieces of interesting lore dropped here and there throughout the book, and if I go and track them down it makes the book better, but if I don't? I can still enjoy the book. For an older, more classic example, Kingdom Come is chock full of moments that are even more resonant if you know the history and the lore and the references (I'm thinking specifically of the Climactic Battle Scene, where in the backgrounds you can actually see Green Arrow and Black Canary's daughter get wounded, and Dinah and Ollie stop fighting entirely to go and take care of her)... but if you don't know that stuff (as many people, I suspect, did not during their first exposure to the book), it's still a great story. I am a sucker for that stuff.

Lastly, and possibly controversially...

For the moment, no Spider-Man. I'm not going to revive the debate about the "One More Day" and "Brand New Day" storylines. Those debates have been held already. Here's all I'm saying. I grew up with a married Spider-Man. Peter Parker married to Mary Jane Watson-Parker was the status quo for me, and I loved it. I understand why marvel didn't want that marriage to continue, for storyline reasons; I also think that the execution was pretty botched.

Other people have already said that the current Spidey book is a hell of a lot of fun and they love it. That's awesome for them. For me, though, the cognitive dissonance would be too much. I would open the book, expect to see one thing, and see something else entirely. I don't begrudge Marvel the right to do what they wish with their character, or the writers for telling their stories. They're just... not stories for me, right now.

Sometime I might give it a shot. When I do? I'll write about it here. But for now... I'm stepping back. Not boycotting, not angsting - like I said, I hear good things about the current thrice-monthly Amazing Spider-Man, and the people who are enjoying it are right to enjoy it, I'd never tell anyone else they shouldn't love a book that they love... it's just not for me, just now. No harm, no foul.

Now maybe you have a slightly better idea of where I'm coming from with my reviews. This next round I plan on adding some graphics to the post to break up the Giant Wall O' Text, and then there might be more format changes coming down the line, I'm not sure yet. We'll see!

Reviews, Week of Sept. 10th, 2008

So! Inaugural reviews! Let's get this party started, shall we?

BOOSTER GOLD #12: The single best thing to come out of 52 was, in fact, this book, in my not terribly humble opinion; every month it's fun, it's action-packed, it's a ball. I'd been hoping for some way we might get poor Ted Kord back in a supporting role (he was my pick for 'Rip Hunter's True Identity,' before the reveal we got), but nothing's perfect. Still, this book comes close.

Basically, the book's new set-up is essentially custom-made for nostalgia trips. Booster heads back to a particular fondly-remembered era of comics history and shows us why it was so much fun. This trip takes us to the 1970s Bat-books, with a fun Barbara Gordon scene (she's been fairly heavily-featured in this book, hasn't she?) and as relatively straightforward a plot as it possibly can be, considering all the time travel involved. I'm not entirely sold on the long-term viability of Booster's sister as a cast member, as the role of Doctor Who's Companion will only last for so long before it starts to grate, but the book has been so bloody good of late that it's certainly worth continuing to check out. 8/10.

CABLE KING-SIZE SPECTACULAR #1: Bishop chases Cable through time and uncovers a bunch of traps and ambushes set for him. And... that's about it.

Don't get me wrong, it's quite pretty and all, but... I'm not really seeing the point. There's very little here that couldn't have been shown in cutscenes in the main Cable book - a book told from Bishop's point of view at least has the possibility for showing us why he cares so much about the Mutant Baby Girl (by the way, we get a scene with Cable and the kid, who's got to be about two-ish, given that she's talking... and Cable still calls her 'little girl'? Excuse me? He hasn't named the kid? Sorry, doesn't ring true) and how she's so important to Bishop's Dystopian Future... but we still don't get that.

It's an enjoyable, fun, well-contructed and lovely book... that is also eminently forgettable. 6/10.

CIVIL WAR: HOUSE OF M #1 (of 5): We needed a 5-issue limited series about how Magneto rose to power in an alternate continuity? Really? Really?

Well, okay. Let's check it out, then. Hmm. Kinda... dull, isn't it?

The story itself is rather scattered; there's a lot of lead-in and build-up to go over here, from Magneto's rescue from Auchwitz to his building a power base to his declaration of war; the result feels somewhat scattered, almost choppy. Magneto gathers a large group of followers, almost none of which are at all familiar to me and are really non-compelling; the reveal on the final page heralds that we'll get the answer to one of the long-standing questions about House of M but... it's hardly a question I was clamoring to have answered. The art is workmanlike, telling the story without being terribly eye-catching - easy enough to read, but not good enough to make an otherwise missable book into something better.

For completists only. 4/10.

DEADPOOL #1: I'll admit - I was worried about this one. The Wolverine: Origins storyline in which Deadpool appeared did not exactly sell me on Daniel Way's grasp of the character; I'm still not entirely sold, but I'm willing to keep reading, at least.

Way seems to look at Deadpool as a very deadly, skilled assassin who, while certainly insane, is canny enough to use that insanity. It informs his tactics, making him unpredictable. Any writer can have Deadpool dressed as the Phillie Phanatic because it's funny; Way has him do it because it's funny and because the Phanatic costume is comprised of ablative armor. Way's Deadpool plans his attacks carefully, but he plans them through a skewed worldview that "sane" people just can't grasp.

And that's cool, don't get me wrong. It's a very interesting approach. I'm just not quite sure that it jibes with Deadpool as we've seen him in the past. One of the things that made Joe Kelly's Deadpool series so damned good was that 'Pool was outwardly zany, and that he deliberately played up his craziness in order to mask - and cope with - his own all-too-human failings and emotions. Way's Deadpool, on the other hand, plays up his craziness to mask his deadly intent.

It's a departure from what we've seen in the past; what remains to be seen is whether Way's Deadpool will ring true with fans of the character's past incarnations. On the face of it I'm not so sure, and yet I'm interested enough to see where he goes with it. 7/10.

FINAL CRISIS: REVELATIONS #2 (of 5): Gorgeous art. Gorgeous. The story... I'm not so sure about. But hang on a second.

See, Final Crisis is, in many ways, a crossover story for the Information Age. Back in the day, when DC published Crisis on Infinite Earths, there was a need for a certain degree of exposition in the book - Supergirl made sure to mention that she was Superman's Kryptonian cousin, for instance. This was done because fans weren't expected to read every book, every month.

Fans still aren't expected to do that these days, but now they have the Internet. If a reader isn't sure on the history between Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen, they can go to Wikipedia or something and find out. Which means that the exposition and explanation never makes it into the book itself - the creators know that fans have this immense resource of information at their fingertips, and expect them to use it.

This is a double-edged sword, though. While, in this book, Greg Rucka doesn't have to waste half a page explaining to us at painful length about the relationship between Renee Montoya and Kate Kane (the new Batwoman)... that lack of exposition can hurt as much as it helps. Because the scene in this issue where Renee sees Kate is just sort of... tossed out there. And a reader who hasn't read The Crime Bible miniseries, or the Renee/Kate scenes in 52, is going to miss out on the scene's impact. A reader who didn't read Gotham Central isn't going to care as much about the past link between Montoya and Allen. And while comics are built on the continuity of what has come before, it bothers me that readers are becoming expected to maintain encyclopedic knowledge of past continuity in order to enjoy modern stories to their fullest - and if they don't maintain such knowledge, they're then expected to go out and get it.

Future collections of the Final Crisis books are going to have to come with annotations, is all I'm saying, and that seems, to me, to be a bit much.

Anyways, back to the book at hand, which can't quite seem to decide if it wants to be a Question story dealing with the horror of the Anti-Life Equation and the isolation and loneliness caused by remaining unaffected while it sweeps the earth... or a Spectre story dealing with Cris Allen's rage and loss at being the Spectre and the acts he's had to commit since assuming the mantle of God's Vengeance. It tries to be both, and the two stories are currently at such a wide divide that it's hard to see what they're doing in the same book. One is gritty and street-level; the other is vast and cosmic, despite its very human core.

The thematic link between the two, of course, is the relationship between Montoya and Allen... but as I said, it's a relationship that's barely touched upon in this story. As the capstone to a long series of stories involving these two characters it could work, but on its own merits, judging solely by this miniseries, it fails. I need, as a reader, to care about the relationship between these two characters... and all the stories that would make me care about the relationship between these two characters were in other books, published some time ago, and they're not referenced nearly strongly enough here.

For all the story failings, though, I have to say - damn does it look pretty. Still... flawed. Long-time fans of these characters are going to eat it up with a spoon, but there's not enough yet to grab the attention of the less involved fan. It may improve before it's done, but for now this is a story with some serious flaws. 6.5/10.

Green Lantern Corps #28: The Sinestro Corps is going after the family members of rookie Lanterns; this is an awesome idea. The particular villains of this story are dull as dirt, but hey, the idea is cool. It makes perfect sense - the rookies are the ones that haven't learned, yet, how best to overcome fear... and the Sinestro Corps is making them fear for their loved ones. It works, it makes sense, and it has uncomfortable real-world parallels. Interesting.

As a done-in-two story, mind, it's a little abbreviated for my tastes, but it's done very well.

The story also introduces a new GL who has the power to speak with the dead; this is a nice little twist and I dig it... and I have a hunch that he'll be an integral character when it's time for Geoff Johns to do his Darkest Night storyline. So it would be nice if he wasn't such a cipher, but, well, we'll see how well the guy gets developed. A fun little story, if admittedly a trifle short and abrupt; it was good, but it could have been more. Still, definitely a success, by my standards. 7.5/10.

Invincible #52: Boy, this book becomes less suitable for kids with every issue, huh? While the gore is a very nice illustration of a more 'realistic' application of super-strength, it's still... getting to the point where it's almost expected, and that makes it harder and harder for me to say 'this is a great gateway book for new readers.

That doesn't mean it's not a great issue, mind you; it is. Invincible's trials with his new younger brother - being thrust into the mentor role when he's still feeling, in a lot of ways, like a rookie - are a joy to read, and his relative neophyte status shines through even more clearly when Oliver starts asking some hard questions... and he has to admit that he's not entirely sure about all the answers. I suspect I know where the story is going, in the broadest terms, but... well, we'll see, won't we? I'm looking forward to finding out. 9/10.

Patsy Walker: Hellcat #3 (of 5): I adore this book. Adore it.

I have absolutely no idea what is happening half the time, but that's a strength, to me - Patsy just sort of breezes through things nonchalantly and expects it all to work out in the end, somehow, and that approach informs the story; there's no time for exposition because the story's main character won't sit still long enough for it.

It's fun and it's fast-paced and the art is astoundingly good, with a really delicate line that flows smoothly. It's a romp, and I for one would love to see more.

That being said, it's certainly not a book for everyone. It's so fast-paced that it's confusing at times, and I suspect this book will work far better in a collected form than it will with a month between installments, but I, for one, adore it. I must also confess that seeing this book get a poor review elsewhere was one of the main impetuses - is that even a word? - towards finally pushing me to put this site together, so that I could publicly disagree, so perhaps you should take this score with a grain of salt, but... 9.5/10.

SECRET INVASION #6 (of 8): Y'know, I just can't shake the feeling that this could have been a hell of a lot cooler than it is.

What we see in this book, finally, is the culmination of a lot of different storylines, threads being pulled and tied together into the beginnings of a glorious climax. The heroes make it back from the Savage Land. Thor shows up. Cap shows up. The Thunderbolts show up. The Hood's Gang shows up. It should feel enormous and epic and glorious... but it feels kinda rushed, really.

I mean, okay. The final gathering scene, where the two groups meet on the field of battle and like that, it's suitably majestic. Centering it around Thor is really fantastic - if a bit ill-advised, timing-wise, given that the second issue of Thor's own Secret Invasion tie-in mini isn't even out yet - and it feels like a big moment. But... take, for example, the Hood's army of baddies. Where have they been? What have they been doing? Weren't they on-panel for, like, half a minute several issues ago? That's all the lead-in we get with these guys? The Thunderbolts show up and have their moment, a moment alluded to in the last issue of their comic - but they haven't been referenced in the main book at all, really, since the Skrull Captain Marvel showed up to trash their place and Norman Osborne talked him into running away. If you read the Thunderbolts tie-in issues, awesome, their arrival is really cool - but if you didn't, suddenly it looks like they just arrive on-scene, *poof*. Not a word of explanation or anything, they're just suddenly there. Nick Fury and the Young Avengers and all, they get to show up for a quick little Guerilla-style raid, but given all the build-up Nick's gotten in this series, I'd expected more of a payoff, so far it just looks like, well, he's just kinda there, doin Nick Fury Things.

There's the Cabal Of Liberal Hippies From Greenwich Village who're here to welcome the Skrulls with open arms, apparently, in a scene that's clumsy to say the least. Had there been blinking lights spelling out 'aliens are bad and you should hate and fear them, don't listen to these tree-huggers' it couldn't have been less subtle.

There are a couple of great lines - Bendis' dialogue has always been his strongest point, and when he's on it sparkles, and you can always count on him for a few really good lines like "Well, you should have thought about that before you found it funny to turn our brothers into cows," and the storyline in and of itself has been interesting and compelling, but a few problems in the execution have turned what could have been a phenomenal event/crossover story into merely a decent one. I like the way Secret Invasion has been handled as an Event Comic, I like the concept, I may not like all of the ideas and ramifications but in the grand scheme of things it's been handled well. But the pacing has been off, and honestly, it shows pretty strongly here. It could have been great, but instead it's mostly kinda okay.

Beats House of M all to hell, though, for my money. 7/10.

SECRET INVASION: RUNAWAYS/YOUNG AVENGERS #3 (of 3): This is a really fun Runaways story, a fair-to-middling Young Avengers story, and a pretty inconsequential Secret Invasion story.

The upshot is like this - Xavin is one of the Runaways. He's a Super-Skrull. Hulkling is one of the Young Avengers. He's the son of the Skrull Princess Anelle and the Kree Mar-Vell. Apparently there's some kind of prophecy involving Hulkling, and both the Skrull and the Kree want him, so he bullshitted them with the help of Kl'rt (the original Super-Skrull), who agreed to impersonate Hulkling but then apparently changed his mind so he could appear in Annihilation and now he's back on Earth for She-Hulk's tie-in issues... look, it's complicated. Point is, two young teams, two characters with Skrull ties, natural fit, right?

And they are. The Runaways and the Young Avengers met during their crossover mini for the last big crossover, Civil War. So there's history there. The point of this mini is that Xavin knows about the religious prophecies that are guiding the Skrulls in Secret Invasion, and doesn't believe in them, but he does kinda believe in the prophecies involving Hulkling, and is a little confused as to why Hulkling is fighting the Skrulls with his fists rather than, say, announcing his identity and telling them all to stop the shooting. And then there's running and fighting.

Really, more than anything else, this mini is Xavin's story, and it's a good story. If you like the Runaways, you'll probably dig it. If you're a Young Avengers fan, there's enough there to keep you interested. If you just want the skinny on Secret Invasion, it's actually fairly missable, in all honesty - the biggest impact on the overall SI story is that the Young Avengers hook up with Nick Fury, but we saw that in Secret Invasion itself, so it gets only the briefest of passing mentions here. It's a side story, but it's a fun little side story. This is how I like my Event Tie-In Mini-Series to be handled - fun for fans of the characters, but missable without massive regrets. 7.5/10.

SECRET INVASION: X-MEN #2 (of 4): I'm so glad that Cyclops isn't being written as a boring jackass anymore.

The book's high concept is that the Skrulls come to San Francisco, only no one really told them to expect the X-Men - which makes sense, given that they just moved in - and so the X-Men are in position to fight a guerilla war there. This issue is about prepping for that guerilla war - and Cyclops, as the leader of the X-Men, takes center stage.

There was a trend for a long time to write Cyclops as a really boring stick in the mud who hadn't ever had a thought that Professor X had first. And there was some truth to that characterization, and yet... Scott is now in the position that, essentially, he's trained his whole life for. Out of Professor X's shadow, leading the X-Men, making the decisions that no one else wants to make and acting as field general. And the X-writers have allowed him to step into that role with aplomb, which has really revitalized the character.

There's a great little moment where he's telling the amassed X-Men, "look, quit looking at each other like that. If we'd been infiltrated by Skrulls, the Skrulls would be acting very differently right now. We're in good shape." Which is just the way I like to see Cyclops act - he does a quick tactical assessment, comes to a conclusion, and lays out the plan. He's not paralyzed by doubt and he's not constantly seeking validation - he's grown into a genuine leader.

Anyways, that's the issue, really. 'X-Men start guerilla war against Skrulls.' There's a subplot with Nightcrawler's head getting messed up by a Skrull bible thingy, which some reviewer somewhere referred to as a 'Jedi holocron' and I thought that was hilarious. It's interesting, but fairly transparent, sadly.

Cary Nord's art is serviceable - he draws a great action sequence - but a little too blah for my tastes; his characters resemble caricatures of people rather than actual people, and his Emma Frost in particular looks like someone shot her up with heroin before the story, because she looks half-asleep and semi-dazed. It's not so bland as to detract from the story, though, and in general I'm quite pleased with this one. 8/10.

TRINITY #15: It would have been very easy for Kurt Buseik to delay this issue's events for another few weeks, with the confrontation between trinities and the plotlines coming to a head. In fact, that would have been the easy way out. But Buseik wisely realizes that the weekly pace of his book allows him to do some neat things with pacing - that he can have a story quickly move from beat to beat to beat much faster than he could with many comics, because his readers don't have a month's downtime between issues.

The A-story, with the famed trinity, is up to Buseik's usual standards - crisp, clean writing that shows us why we love these characters, reverent without being maudlin or sappy. What Buseik does better than anyone else is burrow down to the iconic core of a character and then give that core a chance to shine, and he's managing it for all three of his main characters here.

The B-story, meanwhile, remains enjoyable, with a broader cast and more chances to pick and choose story beats. It's clear that Fabien Nicieza enjoys writing Hawkman, the story is peppered with cute little moments for a dozen different characters. When Fabien enjoys writing a character it shows in his work - he's one of those authors who do serviceable work when they need to but who really sparkle when they're having fun. This is the guy that wrote the first New Warriors series and even managed to make Speedball interesting and relevant, for crying out loud.

This has been a remarkably fun series, just what the doctor ordered after the abysmal Countdown damn near killed the weekly series all over again. Every week it's been dependably enjoyable. 9/10.



...that's what I read this week, and that's what I thought. All in all, a pretty good week - some really good books, and even the worst of what I ran into was forgettable and inconsequential, not outright bad. If only they could all be like this.