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?