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.