The Weekly Crisis - Comic Book Review Blog

Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 07/01/09

2009-07-04T23:59:00.001-03:00

Happy Independence Day to all my American readers. Canada's birthday celebration delayed these reviews (I didn't get my books until Friday and didn't get around to reading most of them until today), so you can, to quote South Park, "blame Canada" for the lateness of the reviews this week.

While no where near the quantity of last week's comics, this week certainly topped it in terms of quality with Batman and Robin, Green Lantern Corps, War of Kings and several others leading the charge. The only book that really failed to deliver for me was Captain America: Reborn, which I was less than impressed with and actually has me contemplating the future of Captain America on my pull list.

Hit the jump to find out what I thought of this week's comics and check back tomorrow for the Moments and Cover of the Week features.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #2
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Frank Quitely

Batman and Robin #2 was another spectacular outing from Morrison and Quitely that has all but washed away any lingering doubts about this return to the Batman titles (As you'll recall, I didn't much care for Morrison's first stint on Batman). While not a perfect issue, it did hit all the right beats and there are few comics that were as satisfying a read as this one turned out to be.

The best part of this issue and quite possibly my moment of the week had to be the Alfred and Dick talk that broke up an otherwise action packed issue. To be honest, if this was an 8-page comic just featuring Alfred's pep talk, I'd probably still pay the full price for the issue. It was that good. It wasn't Dick whining about not being able to fill Batman's shoes or any kind of rehash of Battle for the Cowl or the recent Winick Batman issue. No, this chat showed the precise differences between Bruce and Dick, gave a classic Alfred pep talk, similar to how he's always been there for Bruce, and was just about the best character moment for either character that I've read in years.

The rest of the issue, in comparison, was actually fairly straight forward and amounted to mostly a straight out brawl at the police station. If not for Quitely's art, this section would not be nearly as dynamic or enthralling as it ended up being. However, Quitely's art fails later in the issue, particularly when Robin meets up with Pyg. I'm still not exactly sure what happened there. At one point, Robin is covered in the red headed Annie doll lookalikes and the next there's someone with explosives blowing up that looked more like Robin, who was at the bottom of a dogpile a moment ago and now is standing, exploded than the actual person with the explosives. There's also two random people cowering in the background that were not shown anywhere else in the issue or previous scenes. It was just very chaotic and a bit uncharacteristic of his work.

Again, while I loved the issue, I'm also a little concerned about the pacing of the arc. Quitely is only on for three issues, to my knowledge, and this arc should be done next month. We still have no idea who the bad guy is, what he's after, what he's even doing or anything else. They just attacked a police station, there was some action, somehow we're at an abandoned amusement park and there's a bunch of crazies running around. I've been enjoying the hell out of it, but there's a lot left open to be covered in the next issue.

Verdict - Must Read. It's fun. Pure, unadultered fun. Something I can't say about too many comics. Is it perfect? No. Are there flaws? Yes. Do they matter? Not a bit.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN #1
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Bryan Hitch

Before I start tearing into this comic, know that I'm holding it to the ridiculously lofty standards of the actual Captain America comic that this story is picking up the threads from. It's also a comic that has received a large amount of hype and Marvel has invested a fair amount of time promoting as what I assume is their replacement for a big summer event for the year.

My little disclaimer out of the way, just what the hell was this? Are there two Ed Brubakers working for Marvel? This can't be the same writer that has been working on what has been quite possibly the best comic of the past five years or so, can it? This, this just can't be the same guy. It can't.

We've gone from a psuedo realistic comic, set in its own little bubble in the Marvel Universe with a core cast of characters and recurring villains and side characters that dove tail in and out of the story as need be, all in an organic nature, to this...thing. This issue featuers multiple, clunky narratives, magic time travel guns, a time travel resurrection plot that is just one big rip off of Slaughterhouse Five (or Lost for those that view television as the be all and end all of original ideas) and a bunch of new characters, most of whom have never even appeared in Brubaker's Captain America before, showing up to give boring, Wikipedia regurgitating recaps of past events and numerous other inconsistencies that just have me shaking my head over how big a train wreck this return of Steve Rogers is turning out to be.

The biggest problem I have with the issue is the afforementioned magic gun and time travel bullets or whatever they are. I was hoping, praying even, that Sharon Carter's dreams of Cap's return and the magic gun were just that, dreams. Unfortunately, they were not. They're actually going forward with the ridiculous retcon (and I can't see it as anything else) that the gun Sharon used to kill Captain America was some kind of hybrid Dr Doom time travel platform gun that fired bullets that somehow trapped Steve Rogers in the timestream.

This retcons the tragic and uncharacteristically real (or as a real as superhero deaths get) death of Steve Rogers on the stairs of a courthouse defending his principles and being the hero that he's always been and turns it into one big joke. Why would you even try and play this up in the mass media the way they did? This is something they make fun of comic books and their readers for when people try to defend the medium. It's ridiculous and one of the worst things I've ever read. I really can't see how this is from the same Ed Brubaker that's been writing the series all along. It's like some back door he pitched to Marvel to undo it that he thought would never be used and it's not being thrown back at him. I hope it's Marvel forcing him to do this because it's like he took everything he built over the past few years and just blew it up in our faces.

Another major problem with the issue is the art. I never thought I'd be saying this about Bryan Hitch, but his art is terrible here. It's rushed, sloppy and looks unfinished. Outside of the odd splashpage or random panel, this is far worse than anything he's been doing on Fantastic Four, where he was going for the looser and less detailed artwork in favour of a faster pace. There's also a definite feeling of deja vu with every second face looking almost identical to other people in the story or people from his Fantastic Four, which also came out this week. That said, it's not the worst art you'll ever see, but open your Ultimates or Authority or even Fantastic Four and you can see for yourself that this is far from the quality you'd expect from Hitch and, compared to Epting, Guice and Ross on the Captain America monthly, this just doesn't cut it for me.

Finally, as I'm just too animated over this series and borderline fanboy nerd rage here, I want to talk about the Captain America in time sequences. Many compared it to Lost's use of time travel, but it's much more like Slaughterhouse Five (great book, grab it for like $7 on Amazon or $10-15 at a bookstore) than Lost.

The basics of it is that Steve Rogers is trapped outside of time. I assume he actually died when he was shot, but he's not really dead in the traditional sense as he can experience any part of his life at any point in time and in any order. One moment he's dying, another he's at Normandy and yet another he can be reliving his time as a child. Actually, reliving is the wrong term as he's not dead and is actually alive and that is still the first time he is experiencing that moment, despite already knowing about it. Time just does not apply to him in the typical sense. At least, that's my understanding of what's happening to him so far.

To be truthful, I have no problem with reliving Cap's life and telling a great little retrospective tale celebrating the living (dead?) legend, but that is not what this story is about. This is about magic time bullets and stupid comic book physics to bring a character back from the dead and have an event about it. Go reread Captain America and just try and tell me that this series follows up on anything from it in a similar manner. It's like the switch from Thunderbolts to that Fight Club nonsense or as drastic (but no where near as entertaining) a switch up as X-Men to Morrison's New X-Men. It's like we threw the entire theme and feel of the book out the window.

Verdict - Avoid It. Unless you absolutely need to know why Steve Rogers is coming back or just want to continue the story from Captain America, I see no reason to pick this book up and would not recommend it to anyone looking for a continuation of what was going on in Captain America. Unless something drastic happens, I may even end up dropping both Reborn and the monthly Captain America over this.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #38
Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Art by Patrick Gleason and Rebecca Buchman

Green Lantern Corps doesn't need Blackest Night or any other event to push the envelope. It's basically its own event book as it is. Every issue features breakneck pacing, tonnes of action, a handful of character moments and plots that weave in and out of each other with a grace rarely seen.

However, as good as GLC is, it couldn't possibly keep that pace up without occasionally cutting some corners in an attempt to serve its parent title, Green Lantern, and the upcoming Blackest Night. Case in point, with Blackest Night starting right after (or at the end, technically) this issue, it felt like Tomasi and Gleason just ran out of room for their current stories and had to put the breaks on everything, effectively ending everything whether the stories were ready for it or not.

The biggest culprit in this regard was the Sinestro Corps' occupation of Daxam. What was an engaging struggle for freedom between the Daxamites and the Mongul led Sinestro Corps, one which saw Ion sacrifice himself to free his people and also an epic battle between Mongul and Arkillo, ended in a simple two page splashpage with some text boxes. In the face of resistence from the yellow star powered Daxamites, Mongul just gives up and says he and the rest of the Sinestro Corps are leaving. There's no fight, no retribution, no conclusion. We didn't even see what Arkillo had been up to during this after several scenes playing up his subplot post-Mongul fight. Whether Tomasi just misjudged time or page counts is anyone's guess, but for what was the biggest subplot of the Emerald Eclipse arc, this was not the way anyone could have expected it to end.

Another subplot that seemed to drift by the wayside was the Sinestro's daughter plot. After being revealed to be Soranik Natu two issues ago, we didnt' even see Natu last month and she only shows up briefly here to tell us she really is Sinestro's daughter and then is never heard from again. It was a subplot I was concerned about at first, then bought into fully after it was fleshed out and now I'm back to wondering what was the point of it. It was introduced and almost forgotten instantly.

Doom and gloom about the rushed feeling of several of the subplots in this issue aside, I actually really liked it and highly recommend the book to anyone who'll listen. It is not bad and these faults are only minor quibbles in comparison to the amount of space I devoted to talking about them. Could these things have been handled a little better? Yes, but I'm sure some will be picked up in Blackest Night proper and, if not, they were still endings of a sort and not something to get dwell on either.

The main plot of this issue actually dealt with the lesser of the various subplots from Emerald Eclipse - the riot on Oa, which, up until now, had been relegated to various macro view splashpages of those events. The destruction of Oa's green lantern shell was immediately picked up on and played out with confusion and lots of symbolism, which got a little heavy handed at times. While, yes, I guess the Green Lanterns could be seen as a symbol of hope and order for the universe, the destruction of their little bubble won't have people crying in their sleep or wondering who will protect them now either. I'm also not sure why the Guardians didn't just make a new one. Didn't seem too taxing to make it the first time...

I assume the destruction of the bubble was to make way for the Black Lantern rings, which were shown at the end of the issue craving flesh and flying through the universe. I'm guessing they bust into the Green Lantern morgue and we have some Sinestro Corps War Special deja vu with an opening salvo on Oa to kick off the event.

Speaking of Blackest Night, the Guardians are probably due for a big fall when all's said and done. They give the order to the Alpha Lanterns to start executing prisoners from the riot, which is promptly broken up by Guy and Kyle, who can't believe what they're seeing. This wasn't even Scar leading the other Guardians by the tails like usual. They required no prodding to kick off the killings and even brought the prisoners out in public for all to see when Kyle and Guy questioned the need for secrecy in the executions. It ended with the Guardians sparing the two prisoners Kyle and Guy made promises to spare/commute sentences for if they helped with the riot and the rest were burned to ash by the Alpha Lanterns. Guy and Kyle were temporarily suspended and sent back to Earth for safe keeping in what I assume will be a bloody opening salvo on Oa for Blackest Night.

Verdict - Must Read. While there's some disappointment with the sudden ends to several key plots from the past few months, it's hard to fault the book for it when the rest of it was so damn good.

MARVEL DIVAS #1
Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Art by Tonci Zonjic

Let's get this out of the way right now. This is not a cheesecake book. There's no T&A and nothing remotely similar to the nonsense spewed in the solicits or during the promotion and introduction of the book by Marvel back when it made headlines for all the wrong reasons.

It's basically a bunch of girls talking about guys, getting catty over the popular super heroines and acting like, well, divas. There's some great dialogue here that had me doing my, "oh snap", impressions or laughing out loud, like when Monica has to carry everyone and compares her being the only one that can fly with being the only one with a car in high school. And then there's also some bad dialogue that feels like it was ripped straight from a Desparate Housewives or Sex in the City episode or from some random movie, like a, 'vomited in my mouth', line or what have you.

For an issue built almost entirely on the strength of the dialogue, it can be hit or miss. I did enjoy it, though, which is something I never thought I'd be saying about this book, especially after the whole brouhaha about it when it was originally announced. If I had to compare the book to anything, it would be much in the same vein as Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane in terms of tone and the blending of super heroes and the female perspective of the stories.

However, one issue people may have with the book is the introduction of the cancer subplot. As was much speculated upon after sketches of Firestar featured scribbles about breast cancer, it does, in fact, turn out, by issue's end, that she has been diagnosed with cancer. Angilica had been missing from the entire issue and the others had been wondering where she was and she shows up at the end to play the cancer card (I sound like a douche wording it like that) to add some impact to an otherwise light hearted and fun issue. I'm a bit leary of how they will treat this, as the tone of the book and series did not give the impression of any kind of deep or serious issues being covered, but I'll have to wait and see what they actually do with it next issue before passing any real judgement.

I'd be remiss if I did not speak about one of my new favourite artists, Tonci Zonjic. I can't really put my finger on what I love about his art, which I first came upon in a recent Dark Reign: The Cabal issue, but I just love it. It's got some great facial expressions that really fit this book and both times I've seen his work, it's been accompanied by muted colours that really show off the line work. This isn't a Bryan Hitch or Steve McNiven, but you could make an argument for similarities to another one of my favourite artists, David Aja. Don't think I would have enjoyed this issue as much as I did without Zonjic's artwork animating everyone perfectly.

Verdict - Check It. While some parts of the story fell flat, I was actually quite pleased with the purchase. The book isn't for everyone, but if you like Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane or even BKV's first volume of Runaways, you'll probably enjoy the dialogue and feel of this miniseries.

WAR OF KINGS #5
Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art by Paul Pelletier

While I really enjoyed this issue, there were several nagging aspects of it that I can't seem to let go of for some reason. It's like I want to love this issue as much as every other in the series, and it was good, but I just can't.

But before jumping into some of the problems I had with this issue, I want to discuss what I enjoyed. First off, the opening page with Black Bolt playing with Lockjaw put a smile on my face. I just loved seeing Lockjaw rolled over, tongue hanging out, as Black Bolt is petting him. Juxtaposed with the somber news of Lilandra's death and, later, the realization that Black Bolt was going to sacrifice himself to save his people added a lot more weight to the quit moment than that scene had any right to have. Great moment that you don't see too often.

Another great scene dealt with Talon, of the Fraternity of Raptors and as seen in War of Kings: Ascension. I've really enjoyed everything with Talon and his putting Vulcan in his place here was an excellent moment.

Also, as with the earlier chapters in this series, Crystal, Gladiator and Ronan managed to steal every scene they were in. I can't believe how much each character has grown since the series began. Gladiator, in particular, is no longer just that guy with the mohawk who showed up in random X-Men space stories anymore.

Finally, there's the promise of the Black Bolt/Vulcan fight that we've seen on just about every cover and has been on everyone's mind since the whole War of Kings began. As a self professed Black Bolt fanboy, I'm looking forward to seeing him put that petulant brat in his place next month.

However, all the good aside, I want to discuss those nagging concerns I had mentioned earlier. One is the use of the T-Bomb, which is a weaponized Terrigen Mists that would turn everyone in the universe into Inhumans. Unless they expected everyone to die, similar to the Silent War miniseries where humans were exposed to the mists and all died within a few hours, I'm not sure how giving all of your enemies super powers would really help or make them fall into line. This doesn't even touch on the ridiculous nature of such a plot device that would sacrifice Black Bolt to "convert" everyone to their cause.

In fact, that suicide mission from Black Bolt felt, especially in light of how easily Vulcan stopped the T-Bomb and confronted Black Bolt, felt out of place with the rest of the war and how the story has gone. It's like they didn't have any room to finish the epic they were playing out, so opted for some crazy hail mary pass to end the event. Now, if this all turns out to be due to the manipulation of Black Bolt's insane brother, Maximus, who's been playing the content weaponeer for the Inhumans of late, I'll be willing to overlook this. Otherwise, it just seems wrong and out of character for anyone to think this was a good plan.

All in all, not really a huge complaint, as I actually want to see the fight that came about as a result of the actions, but, still, this was the first time I'd been disappointed by something in this event, so it felt like something that needed mentioning.

Verdict - Must Read. Great action, lots of character moments and, ignoring the odd way Abnett and Lanning moved us to the endgame with the T-Bomb, the promise of the final showdown next issue has me dying to find out what happens next.

TMC Vol 5 - June Edition

2009-07-03T23:59:00.003-03:00

This month's TMC - The Monthly Crisis cover is courtesy of Frank Quitely's Batman and Robin, which debuted earlier this month. Both Ryan and myself have reviews handy for the much anticipated title and we've even got a round up of what your fellow readers and other comic news sites and bloggers thought of it.

For those unawares, TMC is a fake comic magazine I put together earlier this year as a free download that featured my year end rewards, reviews and even some Final Crisis annotations. While the act of creating a magazine was too much to do a monthly basis, the fake magazine proved so popular that I just couldn't leave it alone and, thus, these month end posts were born and have become a staple of the blog. If you missed any news, reviews, moments of the week or any of the numerous opinion or editorials posted here at the Weekly Crisis, these posts provide a detailed account of everything we've done for the month in a convenient and easy to navigate post.

Hit the jump to see what you missed or just refresh your memory on everything from the past month!

Cover Story - Batman and Robin

Bought/Thought - Batman and Robin #1 - by Kirk Warren
Batman and Robin #1 Review - by Kirk Warren
Batman and Robin #1 Review - by Ryan Schrodt

OP/ED

A Collection of Random Thoughts Vol 7 - by Eric Rupe
5 Possible Candidates for The Flash: Rebirth Mystery Villain - Guest Post by Kelson Vibber of SpeedForce.Org
A Collection of Random Thoughts Vol 8 - by Eric Rupe
Reader Question - Did You Go to the Shop on Monday? - by Kirk Warren
Action is His Reward - by Matt Ampersand
Thoughts on Solictations for September 2009 - by Eric Rupe, Matt Ampersand & Ryan Schrodt
JMS Off Thor - by Kirk Warren
A Collection of Random Thoughts Vol 9 - by Eric Rupe

Reviews

Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 06/03/09

Batman and Robin #1 - by Kirk Warren
Captain Britain and MI13 Annual #1 - by Kirk Warren
Dark Avengers #5 - by Kirk Warren
Superman: World of New Krypton #4 - by Kirk Warren
Ultimate Spider-Man #133 - by Kirk Warren
War of Kings #4 - by Kirk Warren

Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 06/10/09

Batman #687 - by Kirk Warren
Fantastic Four #567 - by Kirk Warren
Flash: Rebirth #3 - by Kirk Warren
Green Lantern Corps #37 - by Kirk Warren

Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 06/17/09

Cable #15 - by Kirk Warren
Captain America #600 - by Kirk Warren
Captain Britain and MI13 #14 - by Kirk Warren
Dark Reign: Young Avengers #2 - by Kirk Warren
War of Kings: Ascension #3 - by Kirk Warren

Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 06/24/09 Part I
Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 06/24/09 Part II

Avengers: The Initiative #25 - by Kirk Warren
Dark Avengers #6 - by Kirk Warren
Detective Comics #854 - by Kirk Warren
Gotham City Sirens #1 - by Kirk Warren
Green Lantern #42 - by Kirk Warren
Guardians of the Galaxy #15 - by Kirk Warren
Nova #26 - by Kirk Warren
Secret Warriors #5 - by Kirk Warren
Thor #602 - by Kirk Warren
Wolverine: Weapon X #3 - by Kirk Warren
X-Force #16 - by Kirk Warren

Ryan the Iowan's Comic Book Power Rankings for 06/03/09

06. The Boys #31 - by Ryan Schrodt
05. Mighty Avengers #25 - by Ryan Schrodt
04. Amazing Spider-Man #596 - by Ryan Schrodt
03. Batman and Robin #1 - by Ryan Schrodt
02. Secret Six #10 - by Ryan Schrodt
01. War of Kings #4 - by Ryan Schrodt

Ryan the Iowan's Comic Book Power Rankings for 06/10/09

12. Uncanny X-Men #511 - by Ryan Schrodt
11. Flash: Rebirth #3 - by Ryan Schrodt
10. Ender's Game: Recruiting Valentine - by Ryan Schrodt
09. Batman #687 - by Ryan Schrodt
08. Action Comics #878 - by Ryan Schrodt
07. Amazing Spider-Man #597 - by Ryan Schrodt
06. X-Men: Forever #1 - by Ryan Schrodt
05. Booster Gold #21 - by Ryan Schrodt
04. Absolution #0 - by Ryan Schrodt
03. Green Lantern Corps #37 - by Ryan Schrodt
02. Red Robin #1 - by Ryan Schrodt
01. Anna Mercury 2 #1 - by Ryan Schrodt

Ryan the Iowan's Comic Book Power Rankings for 06/17/09

11. The Boys: Herogasm #2 - by Ryan Schrodt
10. Cable #15 - by Ryan Schrodt
09. Incognito #4 - by Ryan Schrodt
08. Dead@17: Afterbirth #1 - by Ryan Schrodt
07. Streets of Gotham #1 - by Ryan Schrodt
06. Supergirl #42 - by Ryan Schrodt
05. Power Girl #2 - by Ryan Schrodt
04. Mighty Avengers #26 - by Ryan Schrodt
03. Elephantmen #20 - by Ryan Schrodt
02. Green Arrow and Black Canary #21 - by Ryan Schrodt
01. Captain America #600 - by Ryan Schrodt

Ryan the Iowan's Comic Book Power Rankings for 06/24/09 Part 1 of 2
Ryan the Iowan's Comic Book Power Rankings for 06/24/09 Part 2 of 2

20. Immortal Iron Fist #27 - by Ryan Schrodt
19. Barack the Barbarian #1 - by Ryan Schrodt
18. Amazing Spider-Man #598 - by Ryan Schrodt
17. X-Force #16 - by Ryan Schrodt
16. Green Lantern #42 - by Ryan Schrodt
15. Detective Comics #854 - by Ryan Schrodt
14. Wonder Woman #33 - by Ryan Schrodt
13. Gotham City Sirens #1 - by Ryan Schrodt
12. Star Wars Legacy #37 - by Ryan Schrodt
11. Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1 - by Ryan Schrodt
10. Red Sonja #45 - by Ryan Schrodt
09. Dynamo 5 #22 - by Ryan Schrodt
08. Incredible Hercules #130 - by Ryan Schrodt
07. GI Joe #6 - by Ryan Schrodt
06. Teen Titans #72 - by Ryan Schrodt
05. Nova #26 - by Ryan Schrodt
04. Dark Wolverine #75 - by Ryan Schrodt
03. Guardians of the Galaxy #15 - by Ryan Schrodt
02. Runaways #11 - by Ryan Schrodt
01. Uncanny X-Men #512 - by Ryan Schrodt

Anna Mercury Vol 1: The Cutter TPB - by Eric Rupe
The Darkness Vol 1: Accursed TPB - by Eric Rupe
Batman: Ego and Other Tails TPB - by Eric Rupe
Usagi Yojimbo Vol 1: The Ronin TPB - by Eric Rupe
Justice Society of America Vol 2: Thy Kingdom Come Part One TPB - by Eric Rupe
The Boys Vol 1: The Name of the Game TPB - by Eric Rupe

Moments of the Week

Moments of the Week for 06/03/09 - by Kirk Warren
Moments of the Week for 06/10/09 - by Kirk Warren
Moments of the Week for 06/17/09 - by Kirk Warren
Moments of the Week for 06/24/09 - by Kirk Warren

Cover of the Week

Cover of the Week for 06/03/09 - by Kirk Warren, Ryan Schrodt & Matt Ampersand
Cover of the Week for 06/10/09 - by Kirk Warren & Matt Ampersand
Cover of the Week for 06/17/09 - by Ryan Schrodt & Matt Ampersand
Cover of the Week for 06/24/09 - by Kirk Warren, Ryan Schrodt & Matt Ampersand

Trade Waiting - Final Crisis

2009-07-02T19:04:00.002-03:00

Final Crisis is perhaps the most interesting event book put out by Marvel or DC in the past decade. Excluding the story itself, there is the disaster that was Countdown to Final Crisis, the surprising small scope of the event itself with its lack of tie-ins and the lack of fallout from DC's line of books (no, a couple of Aftermath miniseries barely related to the event and put together as an after thought does not count as fallout) and, last but not least, the fan reaction to the story which still divides people to this day. As mentioned before, I'm a huge fan of Grant Morrison, so I enjoyed Final Crisis even though I don't think its flawless nor the modern masterpiece that some other fans praise it as. Hit the jump for my review of Final Crisis.

FINAL CRISIS
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by J.G. Jones, Doug Mahnke, Matthew Clark, Marco Rudy, and Carlos Pacheco
Collects Final Crisis #1-7, Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1-2, Final Crisis: Submit plus material from Final Crisis Sketchbook

Considering how expansive the Final Crisis hardcover is, it's hard to figure out where to start for this review, so I guess I'll start by saying that Final Crisis truly encompasses the idea of what an event book should be. It is epic in both scale and intent unlike so many other event books from the past decade. It is not mere fluff and filler. Characters from every corner of the DCU fill the pages with the greatest heroes facing down the ultimate evil in an attempt to save existence itself from total annihilation. The story just feels like an epic, which is what Morrison was going for, and it is a credit to his skills as a writer. This is not to say that all of the other recent event books have been bad, though most have, it's just that they fail to live up to their event status.

Despite the fact that Final Crisis does become truly epic at the climax of the story, it actually starts off fairly low key with a man on the street build up to the end of the world, which is an aspect of the story I really liked. In fact, the first three issues feel more like a prologue to the story than part of the story itself at times. Morrison takes his time slowly building the tension and suspense while still moving events forward. One of the effective ways Morrison does this is with the methodical way the evil New Gods go about eliminating some of the top members of the Justice League.

First, with Martian Manhunter, then Batman, and finally Superman and Hal Jordan. The amount of ground Morrison covers in those first three issues helps out as well. There is a sense that something big is going to happen and Morrison helps establish this with the way he has various small scenes that take up a page or only a few panels. I know this "channel zapping", as Morrison described it, wasn't the most popular idea at the time, but I do like it, both when I read the first few issues as singles and in the trade. It allowed Morrison to hit the high points of his various plots and covered a lot of ground while doing so while still moving the story forward at a brisk pace. It work well in both the beginning of the story and the end while contributing to their different tones. The slow burn of the first three issues stands in stark contrast to the way many of the later events are paced, which is probably the reason I liked it as much as I do.

After issue #3, the collection then moves on to the tie-ins, Superman Beyond and Submit. Submit, a minor tie-in, shouldn't have really been in the collection. It's a perfectly fine story and provides some nice background to the events in Final Crisis #4, but it adds nothing essential to the overall story and the style and tone of the issue does not gel with the rest of Final Crisis, despite being written by Morrison.

Superman Beyond, on the hand, was an interesting failure. It deals with one of Superman's two side stories in Final Crisis (the other being Legion of Three Worlds) and follows the Monitrix named Zillo Valla as she recruits Superman, along with four other Supermen from across the Multiverse, in order to save her people from destruction.

After escaping from their mysterious attack aboard the Echo of Midnight, the group crash lands in Limbo, which is a place last seen in Morrison's Animal Man run.

There, Superman and Earth-5's Captain Marvel discover the secret origin of the Monitors and the Multiverse, which is what Superman Beyond is mostly about. This is also what makes Superman Beyond an interesting failure. The main problem with the Monitors is that they were always more plot point than actual characters, even in Countdown.

Morrison sets out to create a whole mythology and history for the Monitors of Nil, and he succeeds to a degree. It turns out that they are a race of Science Gods that are descended from Monitor, a conscience void that the Multiverse exists in. Ignoring the fact that Morrison's story doesn't mesh well with what has come before, he never fully explains the concept. The foundation that Morrison starts out with is solid enough, but the details are just not there.

Morrison also muddles the concept some more with the idea of "stories," which the Monitors are defenseless against. The idea of a story is the driving force behind the Monitors and their downfall. It is an interesting idea, but Morrison, again, never really fleshes it out enough in a coherent way to make it truly work.

Parts of Final Crisis, Superman Beyond in particular, are aware that they are, in fact, a comic book story. For example, the ultimate weapon used to defeat Mandrakk in Beyond (he returns for the end of Final Crisis though) is a giant Superman statue/robot.

Mandrakk himself, a fallen Monitor and the incarnation of Evil, is also treated as a living story. There is also a scene where Superman writes down his own epitaph, which also served as foreshadowing for the end to Final Crisis, that reads "To Be Continued." As with the Monitors, it is all a great idea that fails upon its execution either due to lack of exposition on Morrison's part or a lack of pages to fully flesh out the ideas.

The problem with Superman Beyond is that Morrison is trying to fit two ideas that really needed their own miniseries. Both ideas needed a lot more fleshing out than they got, so everything feels compressed and kind of jumbled. The narration isn't the best either, which is another hindrance. The underlying ideas are good and if you read the issues a couple times you can get what Morrison was going for, but, ultimately, they just need more room to breath.

The truly wonderful thing about Superman Beyond though are the various Supermen. As mentioned above, Captain Marvel of Earth-5 is part of the group as is Overman of Earth-10 and Captain Adam, the Quantum Superman of Earth-4 as well as Ultraman from the Anti-Matter Earth. Morrison was born to write Superman and it's obvious from the way he handles the various incarnations that appear in the story that he has a firm grasp of what makes the character tick. He does a good job of introducing the Multiverse characters and establishing their personalities early, but some of that is also because of how most are built on the standard archtype. It is also interesting just to see the various Supermen interact with each other. Mahnke's art is also a visual treat, especially since DC removed the 3-D aspects from the story, which make it much clearer.

After the tie-in interlude, the collection picks back up with the main story again with issue #4, which picks up some weeks after Darkseid has enslaved most of the Earth using the Anti-Life Equation. Morrison continues his carefully plotted story that focuses on the fall of Dan Turpin and the rise of Darkseid, which I found particularly compelling. I like the idea that Darkseid had to ruin a noble spirit in order to fully manifest, which is made all the more meaningful since Turpin willingly gave in, adding more to the idea that Evil has truly won.

There are also some nice moments with Barry Allen and Wally West up against the new Furies. The focus on Black Canary, Green Arrow and the Tattooed Man at the Hall of Justice was also good. Morrison also does a good job with the post-Anti-Life Equation Earth and makes it seem believable that Evil has truly won.

Issue #5 is the last strong issue before things begin to break down, narrative wise. It mostly focuses on the Battle for Bludhaven and the assault by Darkseid's forces on the last remaining human strongholds. Darkseid himself finally gets a decent amount of page time, which is pretty good stuff, and Morrison starts introducing the plot threads that will eventually bring about the climax of the story.

Issue #6 six is where things start to get a bit too chaotic for my tastes. Morrison continues with the various plot threads he's been pushing the forefront, but the "channel zapping" method starts to fail. Not for any reasons of narration, but that there just isn't enough room for Morrison to fit it all in.

For example, Batman finally shows up again after vanishing in issue #2 and it comes out of nowhere with little set up. Many of the other scenes, aside from the Battle of Bludhaven, also need a lot more breathing room. Morrison is basically writing too large of a story into too small a space. Luckily, Morrison does manage to squeeze in the essential plot details so nothing important is lost.

This narrative breakdown continues in issue #7 as well. Some things get more space than others, but some need more face time, sometimes much more, than the limited page count could afford. The biggest example is Mandrakk's reappearance and defeat, which felt flat, and Darkseid's fall is less than impressive as well. Morrison does make up for it to a degree by bringing the story to a quiet, yet mostly satisfying close.

Morrison also just plain "gets" a lot of the characters and, because of that, manages to produce a lot of great moments that can be found throughout the series. Morrison also manages to make the story feel epic by using the "channel zapping" method since he hits a lot of different plot lines which makes the story feel like a world wide crisis, something many events fail to do with their limited scope. The subject matter and scope of the story also help with that epic feeling. Morrison described the story as the "Lord of The Rings" of the DCU and while Final Crisis doesn't live up to that claim, it does come close.

Final Crisis is not the best superhero story there ever was nor is it Morrison's best. What it is though is the kind of superhero stories that I want to read. Superheroes are, by their very nature, a slightly silly concept and there has been a continuing trend in superhero books to downplay that aspect by making things more "serious." Final Crisis celebrates the idea of stories and the unlimited potential of the medium where other stories seem more content to imitate the grim and gritty "realistic" stories of the past. Marvel is the biggest perpetrator of this trend since they style their stories as "superheroes in the real world," which completely misses the point.

Final Crisis is, ultimately, a story about awesome and fantastic people doing awesome and fantastic things, which is what superheroics should be about. Morrison manages to maintain that sense of wonder that makes superheroe stories work so well. It also manages to maintain a sense of levity while still making Darkseid a threatening and imposing character because Morrison treats the material seriously without taking it too seriously or trying to make it as realistic as possible, if that makes sense.

One thing I don't really have much to say about is the art. I like Jones's work and the various designs he came up with and I love Mahnke's work, but I just feel DC really should have waited for Jones to just finish the whole thing. Mahnke's work looks rushed at times, most likely due to the army of inkers and the fact it was rushed, as does Jones's at time, and it does no one any favours. There are also problems like the fact that Mahnke's Darkseid is no where near as imposing as Jones's was, but I don't think it's really so bad that it's worth getting into. The art is basically good in the early stages, loses some of its detail in the later parts and proves that if collections are going to be your final product than your work should be tailored to look good in your final product.

Verdict - Must Read. Despite some flaws, both major and minor, Final Crisis is still an epic and engaging story that treats superheroes with the fantastic wonderment that is lacking is so many other superhero stories.

Like this review? Interested in this books? Purchase Final Crisis from Amazon.com and help support The Weekly Crisis.

Comic Book Review Power Rankings for 07/01/09

2009-07-02T02:51:00.003-03:00

Things slow down a bit this week for the Comic Book Review Power Rankings. After checking out 20 books last week (Part 1 and Part 2), I took it easy with only 8 titles to kick of July. While the Rankings might be a bit smaller this week, you can still expect big things with such high profile releases as the long-awaited Captain America: Reborn #1, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s Batman and Robin #2, the newest issues from the always great War of Kings and Secret Six, and more. You can check out the full reviews and Rankings after the jump!

For the uninitiated, the Comic Book Review Power Rankings is a countdown from worst-to-best of my weekly comic book haul. Before reading the issues, I preRank them based on the creative team, previous issues, solicitations, and gut instinct. The final Ranking number is based upon how the issues actually turned out. I attempt to keep everything as spoiler free as possible, but keep in mind that there may be the occasional minor spoiler that I overlook. As always, I can be reached via responses to this thread or at ryanreviews@gmail.com.

Before we get into this week’s Rankings, I do want to spotlight a new webcomic that launched today, THE FUTURISTS by acclaimed artist Mitch Breitweiser and his partner-in-crime Patrick Stiles. The creators promise to tell an epic tale of a quest for eternal life gone horribly wrong and the first episode looks promising. Breitweiser is one of the best artists in the industry today and brings the same level of quality to the webcomic that he does to his work with Marvel. If you’ve got a minute, I’d highly recommend checking The Futurists out at http://www.whoarethefuturists.com/.

08. THE BOYS #32
Written by Garth Ennis
Art by Carlos Ezquerra and Tony Avina
Letters by Simon Bowland
Cover by Darick Robertson
preRanking: 07

• The Boys, once one of the best comics on the market, has been on a downward spiral as of late, with a few disappointing issues in a row and the incredibly disappointing Herogasm spin-off. This week’s issue shows some signs of life, but ultimately succumbs to a lot of the issues the book has been facing over the last few issues.
• The issue follows up on the vicious attack by Payback on the Female from last month, focusing mainly on Payback’s attempt at making a final blow against the Boys.
• The story itself is brief, with more action than substance and, being an issue of The Boys, the violence is over-the-top and excessive. The problem is that it really serves little purpose. While it is interesting to see how “capable” Butcher is at taking down “capes,” even this loses its impact by the end of the issue.
• The subplots focuses on an ill-fated attempt to “retcon” Annie’s origin and darken her image, which is an interesting commentary on certain aspects of modern comments, but it’s nothing new nor is it very insightful. While it’s always great to see Annie get the spotlight and the moment she stands up for herself is fantastic, the overall act is getting a bit stale.
• The good news is that, even though the plot is a bit much the jokes are getting stale, Ennis continues to write all of the characters well and does a great job of throwing in moments of development amidst the excess.
• When Darick Robertson has been handling the art chores for most of the book, fill-ins like this are simply disappointing. Carlos Ezquerra’s art lacks the strong anatomy that Ennis brings and is riddled with design and style inconsistencies. It’s a poor fit for the issue and generally unimpressive. Plus there are a few weird moments where it looks like Hughie is traced from pictures of Stalin and that doesn’t really work for me.

Verdict: Permission to Avoid. There are some interesting and well-done moments here-and-there in this book, including some strong character development for Annie and the first time we really see what Butcher is capable of, but ultimately the issue’s excessiveness feels stale and the poor art destroys all hope for the issue to rise above Burrito Book statues.

07. CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN #1
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Bryan Hitch, Butch Guice, and Paul Mounts
Letters by Jor Caramagna
Covers by Various
preRanking: 04

• Launching out of the misfired hype (but strong execution) of Captain America #600, Captain America: Reborn #1 is pure setup for the return of Steve Rogers, who apparently didn’t die in Captain America #25 after all.
• Despite lots of statements and interviews stating otherwise, I can’t help but feel that the return of Steve Rogers was haphazardly put together based upon the events of this issue. It’s full of deus ex machina twists and a bit of time travel nonsense that is entirely too convoluted to be effective.
• Ed Brubaker’s character work isn’t bad, but strong character voices can’t overcome the absurdity of the plot; plus, most of the dialogue is used as exposition, which takes away from the fact that Bru has a good handle on the character voices.
• I was a bit surprised to see that Butch Guice was co-illustrating this issue given the hype surrounding Bryan Hitch being the artist. That being said, I didn’t feel like either artist lived up to their abilities here.
• The character designs and amounts of details presented are wildly inconsistent. Some pages look incredibly unfinished, which is never a good thing. Plus, there are a few moments early on in the issue where the star on Cap’s uniform is so poorly rendered that I’m shocked the panels would ever be allowed to see print. Yikes.
• The best thing I can say about the art is that it looks like both men are borrowing some style points from Mitch Breitweiser; but then again, if both men are going to depart from their usual styles to imitate Breitweiser, why not just hire him?

Verdict: Read with Caution. I’m going to hold off saying that you should avoid this issue because there are seeds planted that could bear interesting fruit and I’m a bit intrigued by the predicament that Steve Rogers finds himself in at the end of the issue. It’s all setup, so there is still the possibility that the next issue could redeem this one. However, you should approach the issue knowing that the plot device to bring Steve back is unnecessarily complicated and doesn’t appear to be as well-thought out as recent interviews with the creative team would have you believe. Plus, if you are expecting Ultimates-level Hitch, you are going to be disappointed.

06. UNCANNY X-MEN #513
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Terry Dodson, Rachel Dodson, and Justin Ponsor
Letters by Joe Caramagna
Cover by Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson
preRanking: 05

• Spinning out of last week’s Utopia one-shot, this week’s Uncanny X-Men kicks off the title’s crossover with Dark Avengers that finds Norman Osborn and Emma Frost attempting to take control of the war between human protestors and the nearly-extinct mutant population by starting their own version of the X-Men.
• This issue is a solid introduction to the new Dark X-Men team thanks to strong character work by Matt Fraction. I’m especially impressed with how he introduces this team in the midst of developing other offshoots of the human/mutant conflict, giving clout to both sides of the argument. Clearly Norman Osborn is meant to be the villain, but its cool to see Fraction develop strong arguments both for and against what he is doing.
• While it is great to see Fraction fleshing out the argument, I am a bit shocked to see that he doesn’t do that much with the fact that Emma has clearly sold out her students and peers. There are a few lines of anger from Mercury, but most of it seems to be directed at the situation; should someone, especially Cyclops, be pissed about this?
• The biggest problem for the issue, however, is the fact that too much of the issue is simply rehashing what we saw last week in the one-shot. With the exception of the introduction of the Dark X-Men, there isn’t much new here at all. This issue could’ve added three or four pages of setup and completely negated the need for the one-shot.
• The art by Terry and Rachel Dodson shows flashes of brilliance and is solid throughout most of the issue. Unfortunately, there are some pages towards the end that look nothing like the style they employ through most of the issue. I was actually shocked to find out that there were no credited fill-in artists here. That’s not a good thing.

Verdict: Read with Caution. If you read last week’s Utopia one-shot, there isn’t much of a need to read this issue. You can look at the cover and see who the members of the Dark X-Men are, which will fill you in on the only info of relevance that hasn’t already been covered. If you didn’t read the one-shot, then you will probably enjoy this issue a bit more. Fraction’s character writing is solid, but his storytelling is a bit iffy, which is about how things go for the art by the Dodsons as well.

05. MARVEL DIVAS #1
Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Art by Tonci Zonjic, Jelena Kevic Djurdjevic, and June Chung
Letters by Cory Petit and Chris Eliopoulos
Cover by J. Scott Campbell
preRanking: 08

• I will openly admit that the only reason I picked up Marvel Divas is because a lot of other comic bloggers seemed really interested in the issue based upon the previews; I didn’t get what all the buzz was about at the time, so I thought I’d pick up the issue to see if maybe they were on to something.
• The good news is that the issue is far more complex and interesting than the dreadfully insulting solicitations and cover would have you believe. The bad news is that my gut feeling that this would be the superheroine version of Sex and the City wasn’t very far off base.
• The issue follows Patsy Walker, Photon, Firestar, and Black Cat as they dish about their love lives and their careers in an attempt to make themselves feel better about the fact that the Invisible Woman and She-Hulk are more glamorous than they are. That’s an oversimplification of the plot, but only slightly.
• Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa does a good job of selling each character’s personality and setting up the interaction, provided that you can stomach the saccharine and catty approach that he takes. If you’ve ever seen an episode of Sex and the City you’ll know what to expect. I suspect that is what Aguirre-Sacasa is going for, so I applaud him for nailing that.
• It’s interesting how Aguirre-Sacasa attempts to find just the right balance between sassy, materialistic stereotypes (again, writing to the genre) and stronger proto-feminist portrayals with the characters. I can’t quite put my finger on which side is dominate, but I will give him credit for trying to hit both.
• Tonci Zonjic’s art has a lot of strong qualities. I dig the fluidity of the art and the linework is extremely clean. There are subtleties in the expressions that simply floored me. The problem is, when you look at the lead character’s side by side, the only major difference in how they are drawn is the color of their skin and the shape of their hair. Excellence in style and a lack of variety battle it out with no clear victor.

Verdict: Mildly Recommended. Marvel Divas is considerably better than it really has any right to be. The story is asinine and the style is a rip-off of what I consider to be the least interesting original programming in HBO’s history, but Aguirre-Sacasa seems to achieve everything he is working towards both in terms of plotting and execution. I’d love to see more variety of Tonci Zonjic, but as it stands the art is pretty solid. This issue really isn’t my thing and so it’s unlikely that I’ll pick up #2, but if you are the target audience, you are probably going to love it.

04. BATMAN AND ROBIN #2
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Frank Quitely and Alex Sinclair
Letters by Pat Brousseau
Cover by Frank Quitely
preRanking: 06

• I’ve been extremely vocal in the last few years about my feelings towards Grant Morrison’s recent work, especially his simply abysmal take on Batman; that makes it all the more surprisingly that I found myself really enjoying this week’s Batman & Robin, even more than I did with the first issue of the series.
• On the surface, the issue is a solid action-oriented comic that finds the new Dynamic Duo (Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne) taking on the mysterious Cirque D’Etrange, who have attacked the GCPD headquarters. Digging deeper, it is an interesting character-focused look at how Dick Grayson is dealing with being Batman, especially in regards to training a new Robin.
• I really, really enjoyed the interaction between Dick and Damian. Morrison really nails it when Dick is imitating Bruce throughout the issue, so much so that he really doesn’t need to beat the reader over the head with it towards the end of the issue. This serves as a nice parallel to Damian’s attempts at filling in as Robin, especially with his take on Robin being that the Boy Wonder should be a shorter version of the Dark Knight.
• I wasn’t quite as thrilled with the way that Morrison pushes the “newness” of the team throughout the issue. It’s clear that this isn’t the previous Batman and Robin and a few comments on that is enough, but Morrison brings it up too much throughout the issue. We can get the point without having it dumbed down over and over again (then again, had he taken this approach with Final Crisis, it would probably have been readable).
• Frank Quitely’s art in this issue is a majorly mixed bag. On one hand, his fluidity and expressions are top notch. He nails the tone and the pacing of Morrison’s script; the chemistry between the two is undeniable.
• On the other hand, I hate how bulgy his designs are and how wavy his lines are. It looks bad, to be quite honest. I simply don’t get what he is going for. Plus, his design for Damian’s face seems to change with every subsequent page.
• Also, there is no need for fancy layouts when the storytelling choices are so baffling. First, present me with a logical sequence of action, then worry about crazy panel borders.

Verdict: Strongly Recommended. I know that Frank Quietly is a fan favorite, but his lack of artistic discipline on a number of levels kept this issue from being a “must-read” book. That being said, Grant Morrison is does an amazing job of character development here, showcasing skills that have been completely missing from his work over the last few years. This one is a ton of fun, despite some fairly major flaws.

03. GREEN LANTERN CORPS #38
Written by Peter Tomasi
Art by Pat Gleason, Rebecca Buchman, Tom Nguyen, Randy Mayor, and Gabe Eltaeb
Letters by Steve Wands
Cover by Pat Gleason, Rebecca Buchman, and Pete Pantazis
preRanking: 03

• Emerald Eclipse comes to a shocking conclusion this week as Green Lantern Corps completes its buildup towards this summer’s Blackest Night event.
• If for nothing else, you have to applaud Peter Tomasi for the massive scope of this issue. This one has a majorly epic feel with Tomasi covering a lot of ground in such a short amount of space; he does a great job of wrapping up all of the current storylines, introducing new elements, and setting up a very interesting status quo for the title as we head into the upcoming event.
• I love Tomasi’s use of Guy Gardner here, as it feels like a culmination of the last few years for the character. His oafish veneer is dropped in the face of serious issues and he emerges as a major leader, while still retaining his hot-headed nature and ferocious loyalty. This characterization is the key to the effectiveness of this issue.
• On the flipside, I’m really beginning to think that Tomasi simply has no clue on what to do with Kyle Rayner. We’ve seen him be forced into an unnecessary relationship (with fellow Lantern Soranik Natu), fall back on tired stories (the artist gig), and now reduced to being Guy’s toady. Yikes.
• Between the events of this issue and the events of the last Green Lantern issue, I’m really interested in seeing how they redeem the Guardians following Blackest Night. This is getting ridiculous.
• Speaking of ridiculous, the biggest low-point in this issue for me was the two-page spread that “wraps” up the Arisia/Ion/Daxamite/Mongul story. This was majorly disappointing.
• Although I’m still confused as to why he changed things up, Pat Gleason’s rounder, more open designs really started to grow on me in this issue. I still prefer his more detailed style that he had been using up until recently, but he’s showing better control with the new style here.
• Then again, I knew Gleason would come around. He is one of the best artists in the industry and deserving of far more recognition than he gets. This issue is another solid example of why I believe that.

Verdict: Strongly Recommended. This issue features extremely solid art and an insanely epic scope that makes it the perfect lead-in to Blackest Night. The poor conclusion to the Ion vs. Mongul subplot left a bad taste in my mouth, as did the usage of Kyle Rayner, but the rest of the issue was fantastic. Green Lantern Corps is amongst DC’s strongest titles and this issue is yet another fine example of the quality you can come to expect from it.

02. WAR OF KINGS #5
Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Art by Paul Pelletier, Rick Magyar, and Wil Quintana
Letters by Joe Caramagna
Cover by Brandon Peterson
preRanking: 02

• With just one issue left in this amazing miniseries, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning kick things into high-gear as the Inhumans unleash their endgame on the Shi’ar Empire, who stumble into all sorts of trouble following the death of former-Empress Lilandra last issue.
• This is easily the best character writing Abnett and Lanning have displayed in this entire miniseries, rivaling even some of their best work from Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy. Every single major player from this story gets a least a line or two of solid dialogue with unique voices.
• I loved the interaction between Crystal and Medusa here, which is a great culmination of Crystal’s development through the series. Likewise, I’m glad to see DnA doing a bit more with Rachel Grey, who has been criminal underused in this event.
• While the pacing and character writing was simply superb, I had two major stumbling blocks with the writing. First, I didn’t read War of Kings: Ascension, so I was totally lost on the stuff with Talon; DnA definitely should’ve done more to clear that up. Secondly, the T-Bomb concept is cool, but I refuse to believe that anyone would be dumb enough to think that would end the war. Stupid move, Inhumans, stupid move.
• Paul Pelletier has shown tremendous growth over the course of this miniseries and this issue is a fine showcase of that. In particular, I’m really digging his expressions here. The connection between body language and facial expressions is top notch and he is doing a great job of being subtle, but effective.
• Plus, as per usual with Pelletier, the action is stellar. He has a great sense of motion and impact, which brings a ton of excitement to the table in the few scenes were the battles start picking up. Plus, he absolutely nails the final page standoff between Vulcan and Black Bolt. I can’t wait to see what he brings to the table when they fight it out next issue.

Verdict: Don’t Miss This Issue. Once again, the creative team behind War of Kings delivers an amazingly well-executed issue that does a great job of balancing a huge cosmic war with personal character issues. Despite some logical missteps and an assumption that I read all of the tie-in issues, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning continue to prove they belong with the elites of the comic book writing world while Paul Pelletier’s growth as an artist is on full display here. It may not have taken the Top Spot this week, but this issue is still a book you shouldn’t miss under any circumstances.

01. SECRET SIX #11
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Nicola Scott, Doug Hazlewood, Mark McKenna, and Jason Wright
Letters by Travis Lanham
Cover by Daniel Luvisi
preRanking: 01

• Another month, another win for Secret Six, which has now pulled in an unprecedented five Book of the Week honors in 2009, tying the record of most #1’s in one year set in 2008 by Criminal—but doing so in just over half a year.
• This issue sees a lot of problems developing for the titular team as they squabble over the ethics of their current contract while learning more about their simply insane employers.
• As per usual with this series, the character voices and interaction is paramount to the success of this issue. There is more personality in one page of this issue than there is in nearly every other issue on this week’s Rankings combined.
• I love the twisted sense of honor and duty that Gail Simone develops throughout this issue. Every single character, both good and bad, has their own spin on these concepts in this issue. From Bane’s protectiveness of Scandal to Deadshot’s insistence on honoring the dead to the villains’ attempts at saving the world through slavery, this entire issue centers on these concepts and the individual perversions thereof.
• That being said, this issue is a virtual clinic on how tight plotting and effective characterization can be used to have an entire issue reinforce a singular theme. This allows Simone to create a complex story that moves as smoothly a simpler one and showcases exactly why she is a master storyteller.
• It should come as no surprise that the art by Nicola Scott with assists from Doug Hazlewood and Mark McKenna is nothing short of spectacular; after all, this art team rarely has even so much as an off page. The expressions are great; the art is fluid; the consistency is impeccable—it’s simply a great looking comic.
• I was really impressed, however, with how clean the storytelling is. Scott uses very simple grids effectively, occasionally mixing up the number of panels, but never straying from basic layouts. Because her panel choices are so great and follow such logical sequences, she doesn’t need to do anything fancy. This is something some “big name” artists should be taking notes on (I’m looking at you, Frank Quietly).

Verdict: Don’t Miss This Issue. It is simply ridiculous how good this title is month-in-and-month-out. Once again Gail Simone and the talented duo of Nicola Scott and Doug Hazlewood (with help from Mark McKenna and Jason Wright) produce an amazing issue with loads of personality. It’s sick, twisted, depraved, shocking, and ludicrously charming. This issue excels on all levels and was an easy pick for the week’s best book. Do not miss out!

Supergirl's Super Shorts

2009-07-01T16:00:00.001-03:00

Supergirl's costume has always been a hot topic for debate among fans, especially in regards to her current exposed midriff version. However, a recent article on Newsarama brought to my attention that the costume received a minor addition in Supergirl #36 in the form of the red shorts you see above. I actually own the issue the banner image is taken from and failed to even pick up on them, so am a bit disappointed with myself for missing it. It just goes to show how subtle a change it was and how they didn't attempt to draw attention to the shorts either.

When asked for the reasons behind the shorts, Supergirl artist, Jamal Igle, had this to say:

“One of the reason why I went with the shorts rather than just draw the skirt in a way where it was either longer, or I never showed it flying up was that I wanted freedom of movement,” Igle said. “With the fight between her and Reactron on the rooftop in issue #40, she’s doing martial arts and moving around. It makes sense that if you’re doing martial arts, you’re going to have something that’s going to cover you a little, especially if you’re wearing a skirt.”

Hit the jump for more on Supergirl's costume, what I feel is wrong with it and some thoughts on how I'd fix it.

Super Shorts Are A Start

While I like the change over to the shorts (it's practical and makes more sense than fighting crime in a mini-skirt, especially when you can fly), it doesn't fix the underlying problem that this costume is just plain bad. I'm not the type of person that gets all worked up over gratuitous T&A or makes a big to do about how women are generally objectified in comics all that often, but Supergirl's costume just plain does not work for me. It's trashy and deliberately sexed up for an underaged, teenage girl. To fight crime in it is just plain ridiculous and I shake my head everytime I see her in a comic.

Super Skank

I don't think I have to explain just how wrong this looks to anyone. Those saddle bags on her sides are actually her hips. While Igle has been doing wonders with lengthening the skirt, adding shorts and various other minor touch ups and fixes to the character, it doesn't fix the fact that this above image is the standard appearance of Supergirl by just about every other artist in DC's stable.

Blue Diaper Syndrome

Here, we see why the skirt is just plain impractical from both a functional and artistic standpoint. No, that isn't a blue diaper Supergirl is wearing. It is, in fact, her skirt magically flying up to cover her panties. Having her in a micro skirt forces artists to do just what Igle wanted to avoid and used as his reasons for adding the shorts to the costume. While the red shorts help fix this problem, it's just a bandaid for the bad costume design.

JLA: Cry For Skin

In the same interview, Igle made mention of a new costume in the works for Supergirl and I had hoped it was to line up with this promo shot of JLA: Cry for Justice where Supergirl is shown in the classic, midriff-less Supergirl costume:

However, that was not meant to be as DC went back and forced the artist or colourist to fix the piece, as evidenced by the newest previews for the issue:

Yes, as you can see, the midriff is back again. Disappointing, to say the least.

How to Fix Supergirl's Costume

A recent preview from DC's The Source featuring Supergirl's mom shows off a costume change I'd like to see Supergirl adapt:

While it could use a little work for Supergirl, making the switch to the classic Supergirl costume and using the pantyhose/leotard pants for the legs, similar to her mother here, would look good while still resembling a costume someone would actually wear in public. It would line up with what other Kryptonians are wearing as well and just generally look better than the current Penthouse pin-up costume she's been wearing.

Red Shorts - Yay or Nay?

While I've outlined many of the problems I have with Supergirl's costume and what I think of the shorts, I want to know what you think. Do you like the current costume? Did you know about the shorts before this? Are the shorts a good addition to the costume or just a temporary fix? How would you fix her costume? Sound off in the comments below.

A Collection of Random Thoughts, Vol 9

2009-06-30T15:02:00.001-03:00

For this edition of A Collection of Random Thoughts, I will be talking about Old Man Logan, Marvel's new Golden Age fetish, various musings about Civil War, X-Men and DC continuity, shared universe, some Cup O' Joe follow-up plus a new reader challenge. You can find all these and more after the jump.

There Is Exaggeration and Then There Is This

(click for a larger image)

Marvel's Golden Age

Marvel seems to be dredging up a lot of their Golden Age material for their 70th Anniversary books and are even including some of their Golden Age characters and history in their in-continuity books. There's the upcoming Marvels Project, The Torch and even the recently finished Avengers/Invaders maxiseries. It seems odd for a company that generally ignores its past to a large degree in favour of telling 'new' stories to be bombarding us with so many Golden Age stories. I wonder how long it will be before we start hearing people complaining about Marvel's "Golden Age fetish", similar to how they always bring up DC's Silver Age fetish?

Maybe I'm Over Thinking This But...

Can Wolverine "regrow" his teeth if they get knocked out?

The Ultimate "Evil" - Bureaucrats!

It occurs to me that two of the biggest villains or, rather, antagonists in the Marvel Universe recently have basically been glorified bureaucrats - Tony Stark and Norman Osborn. I know that Osborn is actually a villain, but what really villainous stuff has he done of late? I don't think consolidating his power really counts as being truly evil. And Tony Stark was basically the bad guy because he decided to enforce the law. That's just so...boring. Where's the fun in that? Marvel's insistence that their shared universe has to closely mirror the real world is starting to lead toward some uninspired stories.

Speaking of The Superhuman Registration Act

Tony was right, Steve was wrong. End of story. There is no way to spin it so Steve is right in the end. Training and registering heroes is a good thing and the only problem with Tony's side is some of the stupid things they did that were unrelated to the actual SHRA.

You Know There Is Something Wrong When...

Spider-Man spends half of the first Brand New Day trade complaining about the benefits of registering under the SHRA.

You Never Really Have Haters Until You Write An Event

By haters, I mean the foaming at the mouth insane kind. The crazy kind for who, no matter what you do right, the slightest mess up is grounds for being immediately fired from Marvel or DC. It's going to be a sad day when there are Ed Brubaker or Dan Slott haters. A sad day indeed.

Miniseries vs. Ongoings

When Mark Millar's and Steve McNiven's Old Man Logan arc delays caused Marvel to release issue #73 of Wolverine before issue #72, people started wondering whether or not Old Man Logan should have been done as a miniseries instead of in Wolverine's ongoing series. The answer is no, it should not have been a miniseries.

The point of doing something like Old Man Logan is draw people to your ongoing series to possibly increase sales on the book afterward. Plus, there is the argument that a character's biggest stories should be in their ongoing titles, not a spin off miniseries. You could counter with the idea Old Man Logan isn't in continuity, so it shouldn't be in Wolverine's main title either, but it is in continuity and tangentially connects to Millar's Fantastic Four run.

The X-Men vs. DC

It occurs to me that if DC had tried to publish a book like X-Men: Legacy people would have been up in arms about stuff like "inaccessibility" and "continuity porn" yet, there was no such outrage about X-Men: Legacy. If you actually stop and think about it, the X-Men alone are a continuity nightmare, more so than the entirety of DC, yet it receives nowhere near the amount of complaining that is leveled at DC. I wonder why?

My Review of The Incredible Hercules: Love and War

Shared Universes

Why is it that publishers are so eager to set up shared universes? I read on Wikipedia that CrossGen had one even though their books didn't really have that much in common and Dynamite is now looking to start one with their Project Superpowers stuff. What's the point? Most of these fail to catch on and there's no real benefit to a shared universe other than limiting stories being told, so I'm always confused when a publisher attempts to build up a new shared universe.

Preferred Formats

A lot of people in the comics industry, both insiders and fans, dogmatically cling to the 32 page floppy/pamphlet/single issue as the primary, or only, form comics should take. I have nothing against people who enjoy single issues, but I find this attitude incredibly misguided. 1) It takes away options from the consumer, always a bad thing, and 2) there is plenty of proof that comics that fail as single issues can survive in other formats.

Over at Marvel, both Spider-Girl and Runaways sold well enough in digest form for the single issues to stick around. At Vertigo many of the series survive on the strength of their trade sales alone while Avatar is serializing Warren Ellis's FreakAngels as a webcomic and then releasing the material in collections.

These are just a few examples of comic books that find success outside of the traditional single issue format, yet comic publishers continue to treat it as the only way to release comics while the industry continues to decline. Maybe, instead of trying to force to customers to buy a specific format, they should start offering more options to attract a greater number of consumers.

Cup O' Joe Redux

I've read a couple more of Joe Quesada's new columns at CBR, but, as before, the art is the only thing of value to be found. It is still filled to the brim with corporate double speak and non-answers. There is also is this gem of an answer that illustrates my point...

Kiel Phegley: Personamanx also asked, "Joe, are there any plans on releasing The 'What if the Runaways became the Young Avengers?' as a one-shot? Because I had virtually zero interest in all of the main stories in those 'What Ifs,' and I think that I’m not the only one.

Joe Quesada: While there are no plans for releasing it as a one-shot at the moment, the story has been compiled and can be found in the “What If?: Secret Wars” TPB. Pick up a copy and C.B. Cebulski will personally send you an email of thanks.

Best. Red Lantern. Ever.

Reader Challenge - Try Something New

Variety is the spice of life, or so the saying goes. So, if you only read Marvel, try some DC books and visa-versa. If you read only Marvel and DC, try some Dark Horse and Image. If you only read American comics, try some manga or European comics. Just try something new, you may find something you really enjoy.

Post-Crisis Comic Book Previews for 07/01/09

2009-06-29T22:50:00.001-03:00

After unloading over a dozen books last week, Marvel and DC have given my wallet a breather with a relatively light week. However, it seems both companies saved their big guns for the Canada Day releases. Biggest mover and shakers are obviously Captain America: Reborn and Batman and Robin. There's also War of Kings and Green Lantern Corps.

Speaking of Canada Day, I'm not sure if comics will be shipping out for me on Wednesday with the holiday and all, so reviews may or may not be delayed until Thursday when the shop reopens.

Hit the jump to see what books I'll be picking up this week and what I have to say about each.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #2
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Frank Quitely

"Batman Reborn" continues with the reteaming of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, WE3, New X-Men)! In a blazing Gotham City police department, the new Batman and Robin face the bizarre, fighting freakshow that is the Circus of Strange and find that they don't make as good a team as Batman had hoped! Meanwhile, the mysterious Sasha escapes from Professor Pyg and vows vengeance on the people who killed her father.

Kirk: Was surprised at how much I enjoyed the first issue of Grant Morrison's return to a Batman title after how much I disliked the latter half of his previous run. Looking forward to seeing what he does with Dick and Damian in this second outing.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN #1
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Bryan Hitch

Following the events of Captain America #600, Steve Rogers’ closest friends and allies may have found a way to bring back the original Captain America. Or is what they found something more sinister? The Red Skull’s greatest plan to destroy Captain America has been in motion and its completion is almost at hand. Will Captain America be lost forever or will he be REBORN?

Kirk: It seems like only yesterday we knew nothing about this series and now it's already here. Not sure how I feel about that. The lackluster reveal in Captain America #600 and sour taste after all that media attention a few short weeks ago has kind of killed any excitement for this issue. Oh, who am I kidding? It's by Ed Brubaker with art from Bryan Hitch. I know I'll love it the minute I get my hands on it, but the actual project doesn't have me all that thrilled just yet.

FANTASTIC FOUR #568
Written by Joe Ahearne & Mark Millar
Art by Bryan Hitch

The penultimate chapter of THE MASTER OF DOOM, as Reed Richards is offered a Solomon’s choice by the triumphant Marquis of Death!

Kirk: What's with Joe Ahearne being credited for co-writing with Mark Millar? Seems like an odd time to bring on a collaborator. Quick Google search lists Ahearne as a British writer/director for shows such as Dr Who. Curiouser and curiouser.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #38
Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Art by Patrick Gleason and Rebecca Buchman

"Emerald Eclipse" hits its shocking conclusion leading directly into BLACKEST NIGHT. The sciencell riot causes a new law to be doctored into the Book of Oa as Kyle and Guy fight against it. What fate awaits the honor guards, and who will be left standing from the riot that shook Oa to its core?

Kirk: New law is no feeding the mogwai Red Lanterns after dark. Those gremlins can cause riots in the sciencells. Alternate law is to keep them away from water.

MARVEL DIVAS #1
Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Art by Tonci Zonjic

Diva (dee-vah), noun: An unusually glamorous and powerful woman. See: Patsy "Hellcat" Walker; Felicia "Black Cat" Hardy; Angelica "Firestar" Jones; and Monica "Photon" Rambeau. What happens when you take four of the Marvel Universe's most fabulous single girls and throw them together, adding liberal amounts of suds and drama? You get the sassiest, sexiest, soapiest series to come out of the House of Ideas since Millie the Model! Romance, action, ex-boyfriends, and a last page that changes everything! Let your inner divas out with this one, fellas, you won't regret it!

Kirk: Egads, what is this doing on my pull list? After a marketing 101 failure when introducing this book the first time, I had all but forgotten about this much maligned series. Recent previews for it have actually restored some faith in the project and Zonjic's art looks great, as always, so I'm going to be giving this first issue a shot to see what's what. Solicit is still horrible, though. Just who is Marvel marketing this towards?

SECRET SIX #11
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Nicola Scott and Doug Hazlewood

A former Wonder Woman is now a slave? That's just the first shock as the Secret Six face a new enemy with a heart of ice and an entire country at his command! All this plus the return of Mockingbird! It's all heading towards a confrontation against one of DC's biggest powerhouses, and the Six don't stand a chance…

Kirk: It's Secret Six. If you aren't reading it, we can't be friends anymore.

WAR OF KINGS #5
Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art by Paul Pelletier

The high impact, critically acclaimed sci-fi epic rages towards its explosive climax! Last issue’s jaw-dropping cliffhanger has everyone scrambling! Vulcan’s once unbeatable and vast war machine is grinding to a halt! Black Bolt’s forces are struggling to survive! It’s all coming down to the final clash, king vs. king! But where will the other power players place their loyalty, and can anyone imagine a solution as extreme as the one Medusa is proposing? The Universe is about to change forever in what IGN.com calls “a veritable dream for science fiction/fantasy fans…War of Kings is event comics

Kirk: Ignore the IGN quote. This event is amazing and you don't need to be a sci-fi or fantasy fan to enjoy it. You just have to like good stories. Simple as that.

Cover of the Week - Uncanny X-Men

2009-06-28T18:54:00.002-03:00

Welcome to another edition of the Cover of the Week, here at the Weekly Crisis. Kirk is once again very busy, this time in preparation with a project for the blog that we will reveal soon, so you get your friendly neighborhood Matt Ampersand again instead.

This week marks an unprecedented event, as all three of us, Kirk, Ryan and myself have gone with the exact same cover as our top choice. What cover could possibly have earned such honors? It is the cover of Uncanny X-Men #512, so hit the jump to see our thoughts about it.

Kirk, Matt, and Ryan's Cover of the Week - Uncanny X-Men #512

Kirk: Love the detail put into the cover, from the double helix filled border to the artificial aged look to everything in between. Just a unique and great looking cover.

Matt: There's a lot to love in this Yanick Paquette cover. The amount of little details, the colors, and the character design. Ultimately, I think the reason it works so well is because it combines all it's elements to tell a story, or at least to introduce the story inside the book.

Ryan: I'm definitely agreeing with everyone on Uncanny X-Men. Simply a gorgeous cover that looks well-worn and pulpy--a perfect fit for the wonderful story contained within.

Runner-Ups: Wolverine: Weapon X #03, Last Days of Animal Man #02, G.I. Joe #06

Comic Book Moments of the Week for 06/24/09

2009-06-27T23:59:00.001-03:00

With so many books out this week, it took some time to gather up all of the images and put together this post for the Moments of the Week. I'm sure I missed some, particularly the death in Runaways this week (couldn't find a single scan of it from any of my regular spots), so feel free to let me know or throw a link out to an image in the comments if you think I missed something.

My moment of the week was the Bullseye vs Elektra fight in Dark Reign: Elektra. Great action, great art, great dialogue, great everything.. The anti-moment of the week goes to either the New Avengers just sitting around watching TV and watching Logan leave for the whole mess in Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men Utopia or another New Avengers related moment in their own book where they defeat Dormammu and show off the new Sorceror Supreme by, uh, beating the ultimate magical entity over the head with a wooden stick.

Feel free to let me know what your moment or anti-moment of the week was in the comments below and enjoy the moments!

Amazing Spider-Man #598

I noticed some speculation on the mystery man in the tube from the last issue of Amazing Spider-Man, but the only thought I had was Ben Reilly. The "G Stacy" nameplate can't be just there for fun, so I assume this is the male Stacy from the Sins Past storyline being used as a test subject for the new goblin/super solider serum.

Odd that she goes from the former Menace transformation to this one, even with any kind of help Norman Osborn may have given her. I've seen shots of her with green skin as well, so I assume this is an error and she should be green here.

Astonishing X-Men #30

Oh snap, Forge.

Sad meta commentary on the state of the current X-Men (the conversation took place after Beast had Agent Brand send a death star laser through a Ghost Box to destroy the alternate dimension's populace).

Avengers: The Initiative #25

What the hell did Gravity ever do to Norman Osborn to deserve THIS??? By far, the most evil thing Norman has ever done and I'm speaking of a person that throws blondes off bridges.

Dark Avengers #6

My favourite part of the issue. Just felt spot on for how Norman's been portrayed of late.

Dark Avengers - Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1

"Hey Wolverine, we know there's all this crap happening out west and that Norman, the guy we all hate and has made our life miserable, is out there messing stuff up, but if you want to take off, we won't mind. What? Help you? No, no, this is a mutant crossover. There's no way we could possibly get involved or help you out despite all the things you've done for us and all the times you've been there with us or even with how much we all want to get payback against those fake Avengers. Have fun. Dont' forget the souvenirs."

I must have missed the X-Men Legacy spoilers from the last issue, so can anyone fill me in on why there are two Xaviers and why the "good" one looks like he was shot and left in a corner?

Dark Reign: Elektra #4
While doing these moments, I realized I forgot to review Dark Reign: Elektra. It was the best issue of the miniseries so far. The Bullseye/Elektra fight was full of excellent dialogue and some great moments like this one where Elektra takes the still warm bullet casing and cauterizes a wound to deny Bullseye the pleasure of seeing her bleed.

Great ending that sees Elektra finally get payback against Bullseye after all these years. However, does Bullseye have a healing factor or what? He's been getting stabbed and gutted and otherwise taken apart in just about every outing these days...

Dark Wolverine #75

Daken has said more on this one page than all of his tenure in Dark Avengers. Bullseye's response to this was to promptly throw that arrow through Daken's shoulder.

Aside from messing with Venom's head, Daken isn't actually joking. He's not above sleeping with men to get what he wants and did so with one of the male staffers earlier in the issue. Stupid, sexy Wolverine.

Detective Comics #854

Wanted to show off at least one page of JH Williams's art from this week's Detective Comics and went with this beauty.

Gotham City Sirens #1

About the only thing I found interesting in this issue was this ending scene where Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn attempt to extort the information about Batman's identity from Catwoman. However, it's still kind of odd since, well, they all know he's dead and it won't really do them much good anymore to know who he was.

Green Lantern #42

Hal Jordan's version of his own corps of constructs.

Mmmm, I need a hamburger. I WANTS a hamburger. But, in all honesty, who doesn't want a hamburger? If I had an orange ring, I'd have hamburgers every day.

The Guardians had to have known Larfleeze would immediately go to the Blue Lantern homeworld if they told him where it was. Blue seemed fairly strong against orange when Hal used it, but he also had his green ring. Not sure how much offense the blue's have when there's no Green Lantern around to pump up.

So, is that a pair of hands coming out of the ground or is it some kind of construct? The perspective is weird, so I can't really tell how large the hands are. Could go either way, but I think they're hands from someone coming out of the ground.

Guardians of the Galaxy #15

The Adventures of Lockjaw and Cosmo - fund it Marvel!

Looking kind of Magus there Adam Warlock. The tearing people in half thing is kind of evil, too. Might want to get the purple skin checked out after this is all said and done.

Immortal Iron Fist #27

Misty said yes, for those wondering. She's also pregnant with Danny's kid. Not sure if that was just revealed here or in previous issues.

New Avengers #54

Magic works by hitting things with sticks. At least, that's the only magic from this issue of New Avengers.

Surprised Loki is being so open about betraying Norman Osborn, even with the Hood basically out of the picture with no more Dormammu powers. Also, I'm shocked, shocked, that the Hood failed, again, to defeat the Avengers. I think he's 0-32 in the past year or so worth of stories. Loki should just leave him there to rot. Any idiot off the street has a better chance than the Hood with his track record.

Nova #26

That's a whole mess of dead Nova Centurions.

Secret Warriors #5

Nick Fury's first rule applies to just about any situation possible.

His second one sucks if you happen to be the guy getting shot in the back.

Thor #602

Sif is finally saved by Thor. Shame they couldn't be bothered with updating her costume. She looks like something out of the 70's or 80's, especially compared to Thor's new threads.

Thunderbolts #133

It's revealed that the formerly dead blonde Black Widow is working with Nick Fury to infiltrate the Thunderbolts. One thing I noticed in this exchange is that Nick almost calls her by her real name and it looks like it was going to be 'Tasha, as in Natasha aka the original, red headed Black Widow. Could be wrong, but seems plausible enough to me.

X-Force #16

Just an awesome splashpage. Clayton Crain should be the only one allowed to draw Apocalypse anymore.

Comic Book Review Power Rankings for 6/24/09 Part 2 of 2

2009-06-26T20:46:00.001-03:00

Thanks to everyone who checked out yesterday’s Part 1 of this week’s Comic Book Review Power Rankings. In tonight’s post, I’ll be counting down the Top 10 books of the week, including the week’s biggest surprises (both from the X-Men franchise), as well as new issues of Dynamo 5, Nova, Red Sonja, and more. Check out the full reviews and Rankings for the week’s best books after the jump!

For the uninitiated, the Comic Book Review Power Rankings is a countdown from worst-to-best of my weekly comic book haul. Before reading the issues, I preRank them based on the creative team, previous issues, solicitations, and gut instinct. The final Ranking number is based upon how the issues actually turned out. I attempt to keep everything as spoiler free as possible, but keep in mind that there may be the occasional minor spoiler that I overlook. As always, I can be reached via responses to this thread or at ryanreviews@gmail.com.

10. RED SONJA #45
Written by Brian Reed
Art by Walter Geovani and Vinicius Andrade
Letters by Simon Bowland
Covers by Paul Renaud, Fabiano Neves, and Jackson Herbert
preRanking: 12

• Red Sonja’s hunt for the Blood Dynasty continues in this briskly paced issue that finds the titular character confronting two warring clans whose bitter fight over the Blood Dynasty leads to all sorts of troubles for everyone involved.
• It’s great to see Sonja coming into contact with a different type of culture than what we are used to seeing her with. Brian Reed has already broadened the scope of the series to include European-esque merchant cultures and here we see a very Asian inspired culture. It’s a refreshing change from the usual sword-and-sorcery societies that have been the backdrop of Red Sonja’s adventures since her creation.
• The issue moves very briskly, with Reed’s minimal dialogue working perfectly in concert with Walter Geovani’s art to control the pace. While I think that the pace does move too quickly to establish some of the plot points, I do have to commend Reed and Geovani for their synchronization.
• I was very pleased the overall look of the art in this issue, however. Vinicius Andrade’s coloring problems from the past few issues have all but disappeared and Geovani takes advantage of the larger panels to give the issue a very bold, epic look. The events of the issue are narrowly focused, but the art gives it a much grander feel that I’m totally digging.

Verdict: Mildly Recommended. This issue just barely misses out on a stronger recommendation. The story is a lot fun and the art is amongst the best I’ve seen from Walter Geovani, but the issue lacks depth and moves far too quickly. It is very much a what-you-see-is-what-get type of book and I’d love to see this creative team build something more.

09. DYNAMO 5 #22
Written by Jay Faerber
Art by Mahmud A. Asrar, Yildiray Cinar, and Ron Riley
Letters by Charles Pritchett
Cover by Mahmud A. Asrar and Ron Riley
preRanking: 03

• This week’s Dynamo 5 is the most ambitious issue of the series since its first story arc, with Jay Faerber and Company delivering an intense action packed issue that plants the seeds for a number of storylines yet to come.
• The issue is almost all fast-paced action, with most of the issue focusing on the titular teams battle against a new villain, Braintrust. In the midst of this, Faerber throws in some interesting subplots that are sure to cause major problems for the team in future issues.
• The pacing of the issue is extremely brisk through the action sequences, with Faerber scaling the dialogue down to mostly quips and “combat chat” while Yildiray Cinar quickens the pace with larger action-oriented panels. In contrast, Faerber slows things down considerably for the subplots with Mahmud Asrar.
• This is a good move to build tension by bringing readers to the edge with the battle, only to pull it back momentarily before returning for more impact. Plus, this allows reader to focus more on the building subplots with the slower pace.
• Unfortunately, because the plot takes the forefront in these scenes and the action is so brisk, the shining personalities that the book is known for take a back seat. There is only so much Faerber can do with the characters and so they do feel a bit stale.
• This is one of the best issues in terms of “teamwork” since Asrar and Cinar begin teaming up on the art. Their styles blend better here than they have in any other issue, making the transitions smoother and giving the issue a more cohesive look.
• I especially enjoyed Cinar’s more unconventional panel layouts during the fight scene, especially the “Shut Up” page that looked like an impact balloon. It’s great to see him branching out, though these pages do feel a bit out of place due to the rest of the issue sticking to more conventional layouts.
• While the blending of artists worked great and Cinar’s layouts were fun, I was a bit disappointed on the overall quality of the art. I hold these artists to very high standards due to their previous work, but I felt like this issue lacked the energy they normally bring and their expressions weren’t nearly as sharp. Granted, subpar Asrar and Cinar is still better than most, but I did feel a bit let down here.

Verdict: Strongly Recommended. This isn’t the best issue of Dynamo 5 by any means, but I do feel a bit of the “magic” returning to the title after a string of disappointing issues. Faerber is clearly cooking up something exciting here and the art team puts in a strong effort, even if it wasn’t their best work. I can’t say this is a “must read” issue, but is one I’d say you are better off picking up.

08. INCREDIBLE HERCULES #130
Written by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente
Art by Ryan Stegman, Rodney Buchemi, Terry Pallot, Raul Trevior, and Guru eFX
Letters by Simon Bowland
Cover by David Williams and Guru eFX
preRanking: 07

• Picking up where last issue left off, this week’s Incredible Hercules #130 recounts Pluto’s trial of Zeus in the Underworld, while Amadeus Cho and Zeus try to make amends with their parents.
• I really like the parallel structure between Cho and Hercules here, with Cho off to atone for his issues with his parents while Hercules does his best to help Zeus during his trial. Very cool stuff.
• Unfortunately, the trial itself doesn’t fair quite as well as the concept. I felt that Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente lost their focus far too often here and after a while, the scenes started to get repetitive.
• This isn’t help by the very dense dialogue towards the early parts of the issue, which slowed the book to a glacial pace. By the time things started picking up again, my interest began to falter.
• I’m not sure if I’m horrified or incredibly amused by the line “Shut your ambrosia hole!” I do know that it felt out of place and forced, even if it did make me both chuckle with amusement and recoil with disgust.
• The art by Ryan Stegman is top notch, being an improvement upon his already-great work last issue. He wastes little space in his panels and stayed consistent in his style and storytelling structure throughout.
• As a bonus, he also showcases some of the most expressive characters of the week. His facial expressions were especially strong, though I was also pleased with his use of body language (something I think is getting lost with a lot of younger artists, despite being ridiculous important for setting the tone of a scene).
• I was less impressed by the few pages by Rodney Buchemi, assuming that I’m correct that he handled the scenes with Cho going to visit his parents. His line work wasn’t quite as polished as Stegman and his open designs lacked the detail and depth that made the rest of the issue so great to look at. It’s not that Buchemi’s art is bad necessarily, but there isn’t much of it and it doesn’t quite hold up against what Stegman is doing.

Verdict: Strongly Recommended. The strange pace of the story and the fact that it was entirely too convoluted left a bad taste in my mouth, but the superb effort by Ryan Stegman is worth picking up the issue for. I don’t often point at an up-and-coming artist and guarantee big things, but this issue shows a lot of promise for him. I think the last time I was this interested in seeing an artist’s career flourish would have been when I first saw Francis Manapul’s Iron and the Maiden work for Aspen. Let’s hope that Stegman’s career follows the arc that Manapul’s has.

07. GI JOE #6 (09)
Written by Chuck Dixon
Art by Robert Atkins, Clayton Brown, and Andrew Crossley
Letters by Robbie Robins
Covers by Dave Johnson and Robert Atkins with Andrew Crossley
preRanking: 09

• After moving at an incredibly slow pace for the last five issues, IDW’s GI Joe relaunch picks up the pace with this week’s issue, possibly the strongest issue since the title started earlier this year.
• I really dig how this issue feels like a culmination of the previous issues, with Chuck Dixon covering a lot of ground over the course of the issue, bringing together the Destro and Baroness storyline with the Scarlett and Snake Eyes subplot.
• Dixon is able to fit so much into the issue because of the breakneck pace that he uses from beginning to end. The issue is full-throttle from beginning to end and, in a testament to Dixon’s skill as a writer, no plot points feel shortchanged and the issue as a whole remains satisfying (unlike other briskly paced issues this week).
• While I did enjoy the overall plot and the parallel origins of Destro and Snake Eyes (which I’d never seen presented as such before), I was a bit put-off by the character writing here. Certain characters voices work well (most notably Destro and Baroness), while almost everyone else felt completely interchangeable.
• I most certainly did not dig how over-the-top the Scottish accents were on Destro’s goons. Dixon throws in a few key words or inflections into Destro’s dialogue to help push the idea that he is a Scot, but his toadies are simply ridiculous and cartoonish.
• Robert Atkins really hits his stride in this issue. He continues to use a very basic, straightforward approach that works great with the pacing and storytelling aspects, while he tightens up his consistency and improves his expressions considerably in this issue. It is great to see him overcome problems that plagued his work over the last few issues.

Verdict: Strongly Recommended. This issue sees both Chuck Dixon and Robert Atkins resolve a lot of issues that were holding this title back since its launch. There are still some problems in this book that are a bit too glaring for my taste, but the strong action and fun approach to Snake Eyes and Destro made this one a very enjoyable read.

06. TEEN TITANS #72
Lead Written by Bryan Q. Miller
Lead Art by Joe Bennett, Jack Jadson, and Rod Reis
Backup Written by Sean McKeever
Backup Art by Yildiray Cinar, Julio Ferriera, and Rod Reis
Letters by Sal Cipriano
Cover by Joe Bennett and Bellardino Brabo
preRanking: 15

• Teen Titans ne of the week’s biggest surprises, with Bryan Q. Miller making an impressive debut as the writer. Given that I may be one of the world’s biggest Ravager fans, this especially surprising, as I felt the lead story outshined the backup.
• The plot of the lead story isn’t tremendously original as it follows most of the team on a “night out” to get away from all of the drama in their lives, which is balanced against Wonder Girl being present for a massive prison break on Alcatraz by members of the Fearsome Five.
• Miller has a great grasp on the characters, writing really strong interactions, especially with the “boys club” of Static, Kid Devil, and Blue Beetle. I really dig how he writes all of the characters as teenagers rather than as slightly more dramatic superhero adults.
• I especially loved how oblivious Kid Devil was to the dilemma Blue Beetle found himself in with the flirtatious Aquagirl and his girlfriend, Traci 13. This interaction was very organic and just plain fun.
• I have to admit, I’m getting really tired of Calculator being such a prominent villain. While this does tie-in with some dangling plot threads left by Sean McKeever from during his run, I have a hard time getting into the story because Calculator is the villain. We’ve seen him too much and still he has yet to do anything all that interesting.
• The art by Joe Bennett and Jack Jadson in the lead story was stellar. Every panel is filled to the brim with details and the choices of perspective and action helped the story move along well. Between that and the good expressions, they really sell what Miller is trying to do in the story.
• Surprisingly, I wasn’t exactly blown away by the Ravager story. McKeever’s ability to give her a compelling voice is evident, but I feel that he got a bit preachy and longwinded with his narration. It reminded me a lot of how Wolverine stories with lots of narration tend to get repetitive and dull; Ravager isn’t someone who normally goes on and on, so it created a disconnect between the reader and the character.
• Yildiray Cinar continues to really step it up for his work with DC. His Dynamo 5 stuff is great, but it seems like he is putting a much stronger effort with his storytelling an action here. There are some issues with his expressions, especially in wider shots with smaller characters. Still, his strong sense of motion and good logical sequencing really impressed me.

Verdict: Strongly Recommended. Given how disappointing this series has been over the last several months (especially during the abysmal Deathtrap crossover), I wasn’t expecting much out of this issue. In fact, were I not for the Ravager back up, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. I’m glad I did, though, as everyone involved put in a solid effort that was much stronger than I could’ve imagined. Miller’s great take on the characters and the great art in both stories made this an issue you’d be wise to pick up.

05. NOVA #26
Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Art by Andrea Divito and Bruno Hang
Letters by Cory Petit
Cover by Daniel Acuna
preRanking: 01

• Richard Rider resumes his role as Nova Prime in this issue, which focuses on his return to the job and the disappearance of his brother and fellow Nova Corps member, Robbie.
• This is a very basic story, with strong character writing and a fun sense of adventure. It reminds me more of the classic Marv Wolfman Nova stories than most of the previous issues.
• The issue a bit light, with a straightforward plot and fun interaction, but is ultimately a tad on the forgettable side. The highlights are Nova unleashing on the Shi’ar and Ko-Rel as the new Worldmind, but these moments are a bit on the fleeting side.
• Andrea Divito’s art has a ton of energy, strong layouts, and fits perfectly with the story that Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning are writing, especially as the art also reminded me of those classic issues from the 70s.
• My only major issue with the art is its simplicity. The clean designs and minimal linework gives the issue a very open feel, but also makes it devoid of depth. A bit of shading here or there would really punch it up and make it look a tad less dated (I love a throwback sensibility, but not a throwback style).

Verdict: Strongly Recommended. I feel like I’m being very nit-picky in my review of this issue, but that’s because there really isn’t a lot to complain about. The story is fun, the characters are great, and the art is a strong match. The problem is that it’s a tad “vanilla” and a bit old school. Given that the story opens itself up to be more exciting, I can’t help but feel that there are missed opportunities in this otherwise fun issue.

04. DARK WOLVERINE #75
Written by Daniel Way and Marjorie Liu
Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Onofrio Catacchio, Marte Garcia, and A. Street
Letters by Cory Petit
Cover by Lenil Yu and Laura Martin
preRanking: Unranked

• After already reading my weekly haul on Wednesday (which included only 19 books), I stopped at my local shop on Thursday and was convinced after a bit of prodding to give Dark Wolverine a shot. I’ve never cared for Daken and had no initial interest in picking this one up because of that. That was silly of me.
• The mission of this issue is clear: Take a relatively uninteresting and totally unnecessary character (Daken) and convince readers who feel alienated by his sheer existence that he is actually awesome. Well, Daniel Way and Marjorie Liu, “mission accomplished.”
• It’s simply staggering how much characterization Way and Liu pack into this issue. Every line of dialogue and piece of inner monologue adds another layer to Daken, making him one of Marvel’s most intriguing and complex characters by the end of the issue. He’s so interesting, in fact, that I’m willing to overlook the stupid tattoos and ridiculous haircut (seriously, Daken, you look like flippin’ Sanjaya—curses to Joel McHale and The Soup for causing me to even know enough about Sanjaya and his hair to make that joke).
• Daken’s manipulation of the other characters is brilliant, showing he is just as ruthless as Wolverine, only with a smarter edge and bigger mean streak. I especially loved his “pass” at Venom and his utter cruelty towards Bullseye.
• What I found most interesting about the issue, though, is the fact that Way and Liu do such a great job of setting up who Daken is and what his motivations are, I found myself not only more interested in him, but in the Dark Avengers as a whole.
• The art team did a fantastic job on this issue. It’s very consistent with strong designs. Normally artists that utilize the open style that Guiseppe Camuncoli uses here struggle with anatomy and a sense of realism, but that is not the case here. I think that is a true testament to the careful linework of the artist.
• For those of you who have read the issue, honestly, how cool was the cracked mirror page? That is a great example of how an unusual layout can be used in an otherwise straight forward issue without feeling forced. I totally dig it.
• There were some rough patches with the art, most notably the odd-looking Thing and the weirdness of Daken’s teeth, but these are few and far between.

Verdict: Don’t Miss This Issue. I can honestly say that my biggest problem with this issue is the fact that it costs $3.99 and there isn’t much in terms of extra content. Otherwise the character writing is superb and the art is very strong. If just a few of the minor problems in the issue could have been resolved and the price dropped to a reasonable $2.99, this would have been a major contender for Book of the Week. I almost missed this one, but I’m asking, nay, demanding that you don’t make that same mistake.

03. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #15
Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Art by Brad Walker, Victor Olazaba, Livesay, and Jay David Ramos
Letters by Chris Eliopoulos
Cover by Salvador Larroca
preRanking: 02

• This week’s Guardians of the Galaxy is one giant ball of crazy action as the Inhumans, the Shi’ar, and the Guardians battle it out in Knowhere after Martyr (Phyla-Vell) kidnapped Crystal last issue.
• This issue feels like a celebration of what makes this series so great—big action and unforgettable characters. Most of the cast only gets a line or two, but everyone comes across as memorable and has a moment to shine. There are few writers that can infuse a book with that much personality.
• The writing supports the sense of chaos with lots of jump cuts between scenes, but doesn’t cause problems because of the logical progression of events.
• The only thing that felt out of place in the writing was the use of the “post-mission testimonials.” While these are signature elements of the series, they are so few here and they add so little to the text that they probably could’ve been skipped altogether.
• The issue features strong art by Brad Walker, whose fluidity both in terms of character movement and actual page construction is the key to this its success. He uses a wide variety of layouts and panel sizes throughout the issue, which is perfectly in line with the tone and style of the writing. It’s always great to see the structure of the art reinforce the narrative.
• There were a few moments, however, that simply didn’t look “right.” The most prominent is Rocket Raccoon’s first appearance in the issue, where he looks more like a deranged bear, though a lot of the scenes with Gamora were equally as problematic. As strange as it sounds, the best way I can describe these moments is to say that it’s like he forgot how to draw the characters and just winged it, unsuccessfully.

Verdict: Don’t Miss This Issue. This issue is a fine example of why Guardians of the Galaxy is more fun to read than any other comic on the stands today. The great character work, intriguing action, and strong art make this issue the total package. This one was a major contender of the week’s best issues and was just a few minor issues away from taking the honor.

02. RUNAWAYS #11
Written by Kathryn Immonen
Art by Sara Pichelli and Christina Strain
Letters by Auda Eliopoulos
Cover by David Lafuente and Christina Strain
preRanking: 05

• It looks like the third time’s the charm for Marvel’s attempt at recapturing the magic of Runaways after Brian K. Vaughan left the series. While both Joss Whedon and Terry Moore met with near-epic failure, Kathryn Immonen simply nails it and returns the series to old form with this issue.
• Now, I will admit that the prom plot that sets this issue in motion is a bit hokey, but it does serve a purpose in that it highlights the fact that the titular characters are still teenagers, are extremely hormonal, and that there is still a disconnect between Molly (and now Klara) and her teammates.
• It’s a silly plot device, but it perfect sets up the status quo and through it Immonen needs little setup as she puts in a clinic on creating unique character voices while returning the team to its roots. She clearly knows and loves these characters, writing them with extremely clarity and an earnestness that was missing from both Whedon and Moore’s runs.
• Plus, I give her bonus points for writing one of the few Klara scenes I’ve actually enjoyed (Klara becoming a TV junkie).
• I’m really impressed with how well Immonen captures the tension between the characters, both emotionally and sexually. This is really speaks to who I was back in high school with invoking unnecessary nostalgia or alienating the now adult me.
• So, I have to ask, why haven’t I heard of Sara Pichelli before her joining this title? She takes everything that was great about her performance last issue and builds from there. The expressions are phenomenal, as are the designs in general. Why can’t other artists draw kids and teens as kids and teens this well?
• I also have to give kudos to Christina Strain whose great job coloring this issue unifies Pichelli’s work with all of the artists prior without taking away its refreshing take on the characters. Too often Strain isn’t given credit for being as important to this series as she is.
• While I can’t say too much without giving away the story, but I will say that I was absolutely heartbroken by the death in this issue and the creative team does a great job of handling this scene. Of course, I’ve got my fingers crossed that this death is what spurns on the return of my favorite Runaway, Gert.

Verdict: Don’t Miss This Issue. To put it simply, Runaways is back in a big way! This is precisely the breath of fresh air that this series desperately needed. Both Kathryn Immonen and Sara Pichelli nail everything about the characters to make this the most enjoyable issue of the series since BKV left. I just hope that they can continue the momentum they build here, as it has been way to long since this was “can’t miss” series.

01. UNCANNY X-MEN #512 (18)
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Yanick Paquette, Karl Story, and Justin Ponsor
Letters by Cory Petit
Cover by Yanick Paquette
preRanking: 18

• The week’s biggest surprise by far was Uncanny X-Men, which was yet another series I considered dropping before picking up this week.
• This refreshing, off-beat issue follows Beast’s crew of science nerds as they head back in time to find some answers to how the mutant species can rebuild itself, only to find themselves faced with familiar threats in an unfamiliar time.
• This issue incredibly fun and adventurous, making a great change of pace from how dramatic and dull the series has been as of late. I can’t say that I would expect a semi-steampunk story to work so well in the realm of the X-Men, but Matt Fraction nails it without making any concessions on the plot or the characters.
• Fraction’s character work here is great. All of the character’s interact organically with strong, unique voices and the new characters introduced are tremendously enjoyable. I wasn’t that familiar with Dr. Nemesis before this issue, but now I’m a huge fan; likewise, I hope that Fraction finds some way to revisit Nemesis’s parents, as they were incredibly interesting.
• This is one of the best uses of the Hellfire Club since their first appearances under Chris Claremont and that’s not even counting their giant old-timey Sentinel (which was awesome, by the way).
• Yanick Pacquette’s art is a perfect fit, as he handles the period pieces with the same ease and grace that he does the more modern scenes. He fills the issue with fun details and strong expressions while utilizing a slightly modified style that is reminiscent of Kevin O’Neill’s work on League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (which makes a lot of sense, truthfully).

Verdict: Don’t Miss This Issue. Truthfully, I nearly dropped the book before picking up this issue and I have no idea how much longer I’ll stick around after, but I’m so glad I picked this one up. This is one of his first works at Marvel that I’ve felt that Matt Fraction unleashes the genius that made him one of the hottest star on the indie scene (which reminds me, if you dig this issue, you must hunt down Fraction’s Five Fists of Science—trust me!). When you add in the brilliant art by Paquette, you get an amazingly fun and well-constructed issue that beat out some very tough competition to become this week’s Book of the Week.

Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 06/24/09 Part II

2009-06-26T13:30:00.002-03:00

No, you're eyes are not deceiving you, with so many books out this week, I just had to issue another outing of the Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews (the first batch of reviews can be found here) in order to do reviews for all the books on my buy pile. Hit the jump for more review-y goodness.

AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #25
Written by Chris Gage
Art by Humberto Ramos

This issue promised a great many things, most prominent of which was the bold new direction in which the book would be going in. While the idea of Norman Osborn taking over the Initiative and turning it into a super villain training ground sounds great in theory, it lacked a great deal in execution.

In fact, it was mostly just a whole lot of talking and very little actual doing for this new direction. We're treated to page after page of exposition filled promises of this new direction and can see a lot of the potential being set up, but nothing ever really happens here that we already didn't know was happening or going to happen. Add in how far behind the timeline of the rest of the Marvel Universe this storyline and title has been of late and it just seems odd reading about these events that are supposed to be Earth shattering when they should have happened months ago.

Another problem I had with this issue was the overt actions of the Hood and Norman Osborn. Why is the Hood showing up so brazenly and making himself known to so many people, such as Tigra, when he's a well known and wanted criminal? I was under the impression he'd mostly be hiding in the shadows working with Norman or other high ranking Initiative personel to further their goals, not sitting in on recruiting meetings with heroes and former Initiative members.

One thing that also hurts this new direction is that the book spends so much time on Norman Osborn and trying to show us how corrupt and evil this new regime is when anyone that has been reading the book since its conception will already know that it's been about as corrupt as it could possibly be from the start. This current HAMMER driven Initiative actually seems less corrupt than the previous incarnation so far.

While the issue wasn't terrible or outright bad, I'm just not feeling the love for it anymore and had been looking for a reason to stay for a while. I'd honestly been hoping this issue would be the one to finally make me want to stick around, but it's just lost the magic the book once had. Shame, really.

Verdict - Check It. This is a good jumping on point for people interested, but the new direction is also a good jumping off point for others, such as myself. While not a bad book or issue, I feel it's served its purpose and it's time to move on.

DARK AVENGERS #6
Written by Brian Bendis
Art by Mike Deodato

This issue was made up of roughly three separate parts - one with the Cabal meeting, another dealing with the Dark Avengers and the missing Noh-Varr and the third following Sentry's wiping out of the Atlantean terrorists. Each section had its moments, but I found, despite enjoying this issue, that a lot of it felt like fluff and that it read extremely fast, despite the various plots being followed. I'm not sure why I feel this way, but it just seems like Bendis is trying to overwrite every scene and make everything feel more important or dramatic than it actually is. Odd feeling, sorry I can't describe it any better than that.

Let's start with the Cabal meeting first. I really liked Norman's and Namor's exchange, particularly Norman's sense of entitlement and authority. It was one of the better scenes in the issue and Deodato did some great facial work on everyone's reactions to it. I'm a little disappointed at the more cliched Namor retort, though. The whole "surface world is evil" mentality hasn't been as two-dimensional as it was shown here in a while and Namor has taken action against these Atlantean terrorists and decried them back during Civil War/the early days of the Initiative, so I'm not sure why he's lashing out in this manner.

Jumping to the missing Noh-Varr subplot, it seemed to be too casually handled. We never see Noh-Varr in the entire issue and no one knows where he is or even when he left. There's the innuendo about Moonstone's relationship with him, but nothing is ever really expanded upon and we just sort of go around in circles for a bit. I assume he left when he found out they are villains while sleeping with Moonstone in the last issue, but, seriously, that can't be the whole reason, can it? He burned a giant 'F--- You' into a city when he first arrived and has done things just as bad, if not worse, than some of their members. I just felt they spent a lot of time on this scene and, in the end, told us nothing.

Finally, there's the Sentry moment, which honestly has me just as freaked out over how crazy he's become lately as some of the Dark Avengers have been reacting to him of late. This was a powerfully executed scene where Sentry is sent to kill all but one terrorist and return that survivor for public relations reasons. Norman telling him to let the Void out for this and Bob's confusion over how he's been telling him there is no Void and just the silent fade away wiping out of the Atlanteans really worked for me.

Verdict - Check It. A good issue, but felt extremely light at time. Read incredibly fast as well. At $3.99 a pop, I should feel a little more satisfied after reading it than I did, but very few actual complaints about it either.

DETECTIVE COMICS #854
Written by Greg Rucka
Art by JH Williams and Cully Hamner

I've been looking forward to reading Greg Rucka's and JH Williams's Detective Comics since their tenure was announced and took a little extra time to let the issue sink in before reviewing it. While one could argue this is a fairly simple story in terms of execution, the level of detail and beauty of the art and layouts warranted a second read through before actually reviewing it.

As such, to start things off, I want to talk about the most immediate and, quite possibly, my favourite part of the book - the artwork of JH Williams. I'm not one to typically gush over the artwork and typically give most artists the shaft in terms of credit for my enjoyment of a comic. My usual feeling is that art is secondary to the story and it's either doing its job or so bad it brings down the book.

In regards to Williams's art, it's absolutely stunning. The layouts are dynamic and something you rarely, if ever, see from other artists and the use of colour, particularly the crimson red permeating the book, is visually striking. I also enjoyed the dual art styles used in the book - one for the Batwoman scenes and another, lighter tone used for the civilian, Kate Kane, scenes. The civilian scenes almost look as if they were not inked, or inked a great deal less than the Batwoman ones, but I'm not an expert on art techniques, so can't tell if that is the only difference or not. I know there are a lot more earth tones and lighter colours than the Batwoman scenes and the red is used far more often for Batwoman related scenes. All in all, it was a visually stunning read and worth picking up just to see Williams's art - something I rarely, if ever, say about a book.

Thankfully, the art is not the only good thing about this book. Rucka more than carries his own on this book and I, as a person that didn't overly care for Batwoman coming out of 52 (didn't hate her, just didn't see a reason for her existence at that point), am enthralled by the character. I honestly want to know more about her, her motivations and just plain see more of the character and where this storyline is going.

The plot seems to be picking up on threads from 52 and the Crime Bible and I have no problem with that. It's a solid concept, but I felt they didn't do a good enough job filling people in on the 52 subplot. It is like we're expected to know who Kate is (I don't think she's even called by her full name in this issue, just Katherine by her father), what happened to her in 52 (they mention her being stabbed, but no real explaination for new readers) and any other pertinent information. I know these things, but it's worth mentioning that it's anything but reader friendly for people expecting an easy jumping on point for Batwoman's new starring role in Detective Comics.

My one major complaint about this issue has nothing to do with the Batwoman part of the story. In fact, it's entirely to do with the Question co-feature. While I don't think the co-feature was a bad story, it felt like, well, a back-up story. I know that sounds odd, as it is a back-up story, but I'm talking those useless back-ups from the 90's that added cost to a book and no one wanted to read. To me, this felt like a non-story. It was 8 pages of the Question walking around with no depth or characterization or explaination as to what she's been up to. It's only the first part of her back-up, so it might get better as more time goes on, but it felt, to me, like they cut up a story, added some fluff to try and make it work in an 8 page format and then shipped it off. It's an incomplete reading experience to me and I hate that. Put it out in a miniseries if you want to tell me a story. Don't butcher it into little pieces and try and put it out in 8 page snippets.

Verdict - Must Read. Disappointment over the co-feature aside, the actual Batwoman related story was just about as good as I could have possibly hoped. I don't say this often, but you almost owe it to yourself to buy it for the art alone. The excellent and engaging story is only going to be a bonus to Williams's art.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #15
Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art by Brad Walker

War of Kings has been a real boon to the Guardians of the Galaxy series. A book that started off strong, it had been flagging for a few months before War of Kings gave it the shot in the arm it needed. This issue continues the trend of strong issues from this book thanks to the momentum of that event and, while mostly a wall to wall action story, there's still enough plot and character moments to make this more than just a standard event tie-in book.

The most interesting aspect of this issue, to me, has to be the Adam Warlock/Magus scenes. I'd wondered if Warlock was becoming or actually is Magus in past issues, but this issue all but confirms there's something wrong with him. During a fight with the Shi'ar Guardsman, Magique, Warlock again turns purple (last issue, he blamed his purple/pale complexion on being in space or some such), this time of his own accord, and lashes out at Magique with a powerful spell before moving on to literally tear the other Shi'ar troops to pieces in a brutal act of violence.

Is Warlock actually Magus or is he being influenced by his evil, alternate timeline self or does it have something to do with his being born prematurely during Conquest? Is the other coccoon the Church of Universal Truth has the actual Warlock? Lots of questions with no answers over this scene and I'm looking forward to seeing where Abnett and Lanning go with Warlock in the future.

While every member of the Guardians had their moments, from Rocket Raccoon clawing away at Mentor to Cosmo's, "Are you God?", moment with Lockjaw, the only character I absolutely cannot stand is Phyla-Vell. I know she died/was reborn as the avatar of death or some such in order to bring Moondragon back to life, but I really can't stand her new 90's extreme-like attitude and I barely liked her prior to this regression. I can't recall wishing for the death of a character as much as I have been with her as of late. The fewer pages she appears on, the better this book will be.

Verdict - Check It. Enjoyable read with many good character moments to go along with the action packed plot.

SECRET WARRIORS #5
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Stefano Caselli

Secret Warriors should seriously consider changing its name to Nick Fury: Agent of Awesome because this book seems to be about Nick Fury, Nick Fury being awesome and Nick Fury doing things that lead to awesome things. Those Secret Warriors? They cameo in their own book again this month. I think they show up on one panel in the entire issue. In fact, they've been receiving less and less face time as the book has progressed and I'm not sure if that even bothers me because of how great everything Nick Fury related has been.

Case in point - this issue sees Nick organizing his former Howling Commandos and ex-SHIELD employees in an effort to storm a HAMMER facility to steal themselves a helicarrier or five. Yeah, think big or go home is his motto. The opening sequence with one of their moles in HAMMER giving the speech about the two things Nick Fury taught him before killing the HAMMER stooge was, while not directly a Nick Fury moment, awesome by association, adding more credibility to my book name change suggestion.

Another amazing moment came from Dum Dum Dugan and all the credit for the textless scene can be given to Caselli's artwork. He's really stepped up his game for this series since his Avengers: The Initiative days and I honestly hope they don't try to bring in fill-in artists for him like they did on that book even if they have to have delays.

Unfortunately for Nick and his Howling Commandos, Hydra has come across some leaked information about this impending raid and made plans of their own to strike at Fury while he's engaged with HAMMER. Credit has to be given to Hickman for making Hydra a credible threat for possibly the first time in, well, ever. He's given a face to several characters in the typically cannonfodder filled organization and each one feels like a legitimate threat to our heroes.

Verdict - Must Read. Wall to wall action and the chaos and pandimonium of this raid on the HAMMER facility is brought to life beautifully by Caselli. If you've been trade waiting this series, I think you're going to be in for one hell of a treat when it gets released because even as a monthly, this flows perfectly from one issue to the next. My only complaint is physically waiting for a new issue.

THOR #602
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Art by Marko Djurdjevic

With the news of JMS's impending departure from Thor, I feel I should savour these last few issues as much as I can. God knows the delays between releases of each issue of this series really hurt the flow of the book, but it's been just so damn good, it's hard to justify switching to trades, similar to how I viewed All Star Superman and its release schedule woes.

This issue was a real treat for me due to the fact William received so much face time. As a refresher, William is the human currently in love with the Asgardian, Kelda, and the two left with the other Asgardians for their new home in Latveria.

Speaking of Latveria, William spends a great deal of time discussing the matter of making deals with Dr Doom with Baldur and the candid conversation between the two was probably the high point of the issue for me. However, not all Asgardians took a liking to poor Bill and, possibly at Loki's behest, several tried to provoke him into a fight, which felt a little forced to me, especially with everyone celebrating their new home.

The only problem I had with the issue was the sudden return of Loki's male body. He sort of mentioned possibly getting his old body back in the last issue when he warned Thor of Sif's current situation, but there was absolutely no indication or reaction from anyone towards his new/old male body and gender switch. As I was quite enjoying the reactions the female Loki could provoke from people and the more sublte manners in which he was able to proceed due to his new looks, I was just shocked to see him in the body without a single mention to the reader or any indication from the other Asgardians that, hey, he's not a girl anymore.

On the Thor side of things, the Dr Strange cameo to fix his hammer felt a bit forced, but might just be my knowledge that JMS is a huge Dr Strange fan and pushed to have him in his Amazing Spider-Man run previously. With everything going on in New Avengers and the whole no longer being Sorceror Supreme, it just didn't seem right to have him here doing such high level magics to fix the hammer, even robbing Thor of his Odinforce to do so. Speaking of which, that's a huge nerf to his power levels. I assume Sentry is officially the top dog on Earth now that Thor has been depowered.

Verdict - Must Read. Some minor nitpicking aside, this was another excellent issue of Thor and it should be interesting to see what JMS does with the few issues he has left.

X-FORCE #16
Written by Craig Kyle & Chris Yost
Art by Clayton Crain

Okay, what the hell is going on with this crossover? How can a two book event be so disconnected from each other that the simplest of concepts, such as character costumes or serious injuries to characters, can be completely ignored from one issue to the next? Do I review this book, the final part of an event, as a separate entity or should it be lambasted for not being able to reflect events from the previous chapter in the crossover?

For instance, Wolverine was injured to such a degree that he had regressed to a mindless animal and was lashing out at anyone that came near him. He also had no facemask on. This issue he starts off speaking and completely coherent with his mask back on no worse for wear fighting back against Stryfe.

Another one was with Domino. She criticized Vanisher over his suggestion to just kill Kiden so they could return home and told him it's tough for everyone else to have to kill their friends and then Domino just shoots her in the head as X-23 is having a moment with her friend. It made no sense to me to go from last issue's portrayal to this one.

Yet another inconsistency is Bishop's mechanical arm, which was reduced to a stub by Stryfe in Cable, yet is, while slightly damaged, a fully functional arm in this issue, even having a still working time travel device and a visibly working hand. Hell, even the damn epilogue has Bishop looking different than in the issue (the epilogue is by the Cable writer and artist). He was stabbed across the side of the head by Wolverine in the issue, yet is missing an eye in the epilogue and has no other scarring from three adamantium claws across the side of his head. His arm is also nearly fully developed, even moreso than in the early parts of the issue.

My question is, how can you mess up fairly simple concepts like this? It's not like it's just cosmetic things (well, the Wolverine mask bit was). These are all major plot points that are just plain wrong from one issue to the next and pulled me out of an otherwise action packed issue. All I could do, literally, was pick up on mistake after mistake instead of sit down and enjoy the issue.

In fact, the only really part of the book I could sit down and enjoy was the Apocalypse related parts and that's because he had barely appeared in any other book outside of the odd one page cameo. This made it almost impossible to mess him up. Add Clayton Crain's stunning rendition of him (there's one splashpage of him in Death/Angel that I would kill to have a poster of) and Apocalypse stole the issue. He even narrated most of it, adding more impact to his revenge on Stryfe.

Looking back on the event, it amounted to little more than a bunch of mindless gore with little plot and a really broken concept of time travel that I have never seen used in any other time related story. The ending actually has everyone scrambling to get to different locations so they when they return, they return to the exact spots their friends were kidnapped and being held at prior to this event. It also seems like they will be saving Boom Boom, who died when they were shunted to the future, which I assume means they expect to either come back to the exact moment they left.

Verdict - Check It. Taken on its own, I think this is probably the strongest issue of the entire event, but it's also the most disconnected from everything that came before and, as a concluding chapter, should reflect the various plots from previous issues. The fact it didn't made for a jarring and disconnected reading experience.

Comic Book Review Power Rankings for 6/24/09, Part 1 of 2

2009-06-25T23:36:00.008-03:00

This week marked one of the largest weeks for comics in recent memory, with an absurd number of books hitting comic book shops everywhere. Falling right in line with that, The Comic Book Review Power Rankings also had a huge week, as I picked up 20 titles this week, including high profile releases like Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia, the final issue of Immortal Iron Fist, the first issue of Runaways featuring the book’s new creative team and the debut of the new Dark Wolverine series. With that in mind, this week’s Rankings will drop in two installments, the first of which will feature the comics Ranked #20 through #11, with the remaining Rankings being posted Friday night. You can check out the first installment after the jump!

20. IMMORTAL IRON FIST #27
Written by Duane Swierczynski
Art by Travel Formean, David Lapham, Juan Doe, Tomothy Green II, and Javier Rodriguez
Letters by Nate Piekos
Cover by Kaare Andrews
preRanking: 06

• One of Marvel’s most unique and offbeat series comes to a close with this issue…in an incredibly un-unique and clichéd manner, leaving me scratching my head and wishing for better days.
• The issue finds Iron Fist dealing with the closing of his company, being attacked by familiar enemies, and proposing to Misty, who is apparently pregnant. Yes, I know that’s a spoiler, but you should know it before I go into my next rant.
• Is the Marvel Universe completely devoid of birth control? The number of out of wedlock pregnancies in the 616 is staggering. Plus, this is super cliché and adds nothing to the character, who really didn’t need anything to begin with. Also, remember when Joe Quesada pitched a fit for years about how marriage aged Peter Parker too much? Guess what, it does the same thing to other characters and babies make it even worse. This is simply a dumb move and a ridiculous ending to what was an awesome series.
• The plot isn’t helped by the writing, as it is filled with heavy-handed narration and stiff dialogue. This is not Swierczynski A-game by any means.
• The art doesn’t fare any better, both in the main story where the inks are so heavy that the linkwork is completely lost or in the sketchy, unfinished flashbacks. This is probably the week’s worst art, which pains me considering the title has been known for strong art throughout most of its previous 26 issues.

Verdict: Permission to Avoid. There is really no reason to pick up this simply horrible book, even if you are a major Iron Fist fan. The lackluster and uninspired writing combines with the even more lackluster and uninspired art to do nothing to help the simply ill-advised plot. This is the definition of Burrito Book.

19. BARACK THE BARBARIAN #1
Written by Larry Hama
Art by Christopher Schons and Rachelle Rosenberg
Letters by Crank!
Covers by Tim Seeley and Rachelle Rosenberg
preRanking: 19

• Despite my better judgment, I picked up Barack the Barbarian out of sheer curiosity on what the legendary Larry Hama could do with the premise, which is both intriguing and baffling. I can’t say that I didn’t warn myself.
• The issue does exactly what it sets out to do, create an analogue for President Obama’s rise to power set in a Conan-esque setting and featuring all of the major political players of the last few years (all stemming from Obama stating that he is a fan of Conan comics in a recent interview).
• The problem is that the issue is simply too “in-your-face” about its satire. The premise is interesting enough and the political landscape is rife with situations and characters to fit the book, but nothing comes together here because you don’t really have to think about what is being said. The analogues are simply force fed to the reader through a mix of recycled jokes and cringe-worthy dialogue.
• Now, I wear my super-liberal political leanings proudly, but I was shocked that there was so little redemption for Republicans in this issue. John McCain gets the best treatment, which is a little off-putting considering he is presented as a once-great warrior turned into a bumbling puppet for Sarah Palin (I didn’t say it was off-base, I just said that it’s one-sided). Basically, unless you are a fan of Obama, you’ll want to steer clear of this one.
• The art has a loose feel that is reminiscent of the average political cartoon that you’d find in your local newspaper, which works fine on some levels. Unfortunately, when the book turns towards action, the art falls apart due to its stiffness and lack of impact.

Verdict: Permission to Avoid. I can’t help but view this as a wasted opportunity. You can see the potential in the issue, but the lack of depth and insight in the satire, as well as the ill-fitting art, keep this one from being anymore than a surface gag that couldn’t even keep my interest (and I’m a ridiculously huge Obama supporter).

18. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #598
Written by Joe Kelly
Art by Paolo Siqueira, Marco Checchetto, Amilton Santos, Jeromy Cox, and Chris Chuckry
Letters by Chris Eliopoulos
Cover by Phil Jimenez
preRanking: 16

• American Son trudges along this week with a head-scratcher of an issue that left me way more confused and disappointed than satisfied.
• After being shot in the head last issue, the titular hero is okay due to “scientific” cloth made by Reed Richards that could save millions of lives if it were mass produced, but instead serves as a cop-out of a cheap plot device from last issue. Honestly, if you are going to render a shot to the head pointless, you might as well not even bother. Osborne capturing Spider-Man would be just as effective if the Dark Avengers beat him down and we wouldn’t have to deal with ridiculous plot points like this.
• On the subject of ridiculous plot points, it turns out that Harry Osborne is not the father of Menace’s baby. I won’t spoil it for you, but I will say that it was just as stupid when this person impregnated Gwen Stacy a few years back.
• I will say that Joe Kelly does his best with the characters and writes some fun interaction, especially any time that Bullseye is involved. Unfortunately, sometimes strong character writing can’t overcome bad plotting.
• I wasn’t very pleased with the art either. Paolo Siqueira and Marco Checchetto are both capable artists, but make some baffling moves in terms of perspective and storytelling choices here. The art simply doesn’t flow and that doesn’t even include the shocking moment when Menace goes from being in street clothes to being in her villain outfit in just seconds (seriously, it’s one page street clothes, next page villain suit, with no transition).

Verdict: Permission to Avoid. Technically, the writing isn’t so bad and the art is more subpar than terrible, but the plot was horrendous. The tension comes cheap and the swerves have no build-up whatsoever. This is not the type of book that Joe Kelly or this title are known for and certainly not the type of book I enjoy. The only reason this one is Ranked as high as it is because the Bullseye/Hawkeye stuff made me chuckle. Yikes.

17. X-FORCE #16
Written by Craig Kyle and Chris Yost with Duane Swierczynski
Art by Clayton Crain
Letters by Cory Petit
Covers by Clayton Crain and Kaare Andrews
preRanking: 13

• The Messiah War crossover wraps up in this issue where an awful lot happens and yet the pre-crossover status quo is maintained.
• Writing-wise, Craig Kyle and Chris Yost deliver exactly what you’d expect from them. The character work is superb, as everyone has a unique voice and interacts organically. Even characters I consider to be uninteresting (like Apocalypse—never been a fan) come across well.
• They also do a great job at building the tension with solid pacing and reactions. As the issue rockets towards the conclusion, I felt completely sucked in.
• The problem is that there is simply no payoff. Almost all of the problems are resolved and the main characters are precisely where they were when the crossover started. For the most part I’ve enjoyed the ride (the X-Force issues more than the Cable issues), but in the end, I found myself asking why I bothered when all of this buildup ended with little actually happening.
• I’m a firm believer that some artists are meant to be cover artists. Their work is eye-catching and looks great at a first glance, but falls apart when taken over the course of a full issue. This issue really reinforces that belief.
• Clayton Crain’s art is simply too stiff, too dark, and too ill-defined to be effective on the interiors of this issue. He captures the tone well, but quickly becomes more distracting than anything else.

Verdict: Read with Caution. There is a lot to like about this issue. The character writing is solid and it’s incredibly intense. Unfortunately, I just can’t get over the fact the poor art and the fact that I left the issue feeling like nothing happened over the course of this storyline.

16. GREEN LANTERN #42
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Philip Tan, Eddy Barrows, Jonathan Glapion, Ruy Jose, Nei Ruffino, and Rod Reis
Letters by Rob Leigh
Cover by Philip Tan, Jonathan Glapion, and Nei Ruffino
preRanking: 04

• Agent Orange has been excellent thus far, so I was incredibly shocked how much the story derailed in this final issue. This is certainly not what I expected.
• The issue focuses mostly on Hal’s battle against Larfleeze and has quite a few interesting moments, including Hal taking on the Orange Lantern ring and stealing a page from Larfleeze’s book by creating his own “Construct Corps” with his ring. Unfortunately, these cool moments are fleeting and stick between long bouts of uninteresting dialogue and disjointed storytelling.
• Part of the problem is that Hal’s quipping does not fit with the tone of the story at all. He’s always been cocky, but I felt like his verbal baiting of Larfleeze strayed too far from the moment, really taking away from the immediate danger he is in.
• Also, are we really supposed to be hating the Guardians this much? They’ve made some horrible decisions as of late, but until the end of this issue, they’ve always felt like they were for the greater good. Their final action in the issue goes too far though. I felt sick reading it and I’m not sure that is what Geoff Johns meant to be going for (and if he did, I feel that they’ve become irredeemable at this point).
• The big problem here though was the art. Philip Tan and Eddy Barrows have a few strong pages of action, but the vast majority of the issues is muddy and terrible inconsistent, especially in regards to the heaviness of the inks.
• Also, what is the deal with the “painted” panels and why do they appear as singular panels on top of vastly different pages? This is distracting and simply a poor, poor choice.

Verdict: Read with Caution. I’ve loved this storyline thus far and was really looking forward to Hal’s showdown with Larfleeze. Unfortunately, some odd bits of dialogue and mind-bogglingly disappointing art completely threw me for a loop. It’s just good enough to pick up, but be warned.

15. DETECTIVE COMICS #854
Written by Greg Rucka
Lead Story Art by JH Williams III and Dave Stewart
Lead Story Letters by Todd Klein
Backup Story Art by Cully Hamner and Laura Martin
Backup Story Letters by Jared K. Fletcher
Cover by JH Williams III
preRanking: 08

• The long awaited debut of Batwoman’s “ongoing series” drops this week as Greg Rucka introduces her new status quo and sets her up against a new villain in the main story of Detective Comics while he does nearly the exact same thing in the back up with the Question.
• Fans of Rucka won’t be surprised that his character work is strong here, developing each character’s voice from the get-go. Since Rucka has taken charge of both of these characters since 52, they come across exactly as expected.
• Unfortunately, the burden of setting up the world’s of both characters makes this issue a fairly dull read. It’s nice to see that there is a plan for both of them, but the plot for both stories takes a backseat to the setup. Considering this happens for both stories, it’s really hard to trudge through the issue without losing interest.
• JH Williams III is one of DC’s most critically acclaimed artists and I believe it’s with good reason. This issue shows off everything there is to love about his work, including amazing panel layouts, impressive anatomy, and a strong ability to draw the reader’s eyes to certain places on the page. This is the style that he uses during the “Batwoman” sequences and its really impressive.
• Unfortunately, when Batwoman ditches the costume and becomes Kate Kane the art style switches to a very bland grid system with very standard comic book art. Based upon the level of detail (or lack there of) and strange design choices (like Kate’s hair), it honestly looks like Williams put a lot less effort into these scenes. Although it is cool that he slowly fades in between styles when Kate becomes Batwoman or takes off her mask, it’s still a jarring shift and makes me wonder why he doesn’t just use the far superior style that he is known for rather than forcing both.
• Cully Hamner’s art in the co-feature is considerable more consistent than Williams and showcases a great attention to line widths and shadow-work, which I think shows a lot of growth from Hamner since his Blue Beetle days. Beyond that his work is satisfactory, if not a tad bland.

Verdict: Read with Caution. Greg Rucka has the unenviable task of setting up new status quos for two main characters in this issue and he does his best to keep things interesting, but it’s hard to stay focused after reading two stories with nearly identical plots. The story is really going to have to pick up in the next few issues to keep me on board (or Williams will need to stick with the one art style that really works for him rather than do what he is doing in this issue).

14. WONDER WOMAN #33
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Aaron Lopresti, Matt Ryan, and Brad Anderson
Letters by Travis Lanham
Cover by Aaron Lopresti and Hi-Fi
preRanking: 10

• The very strange and very disjointed Rise of the Olympian concludes with this week’s issue of Wonder Woman, which sees the Amazons fighting sea-monsters, some interesting “God-war,” and a major shift in Diana’s status quo.
• There is a ton going on here, but the action completely overshadows the plot. I suppose that wouldn’t be as big of a deal if the setup for this issue worked better. There was so much attention paid to Genocide in the early parts of this arc that it was far too easy to overlook Zeus’s machinations. To tell you the truth, based upon all of the “payoff” in this issue, I’m really not sure that I realized half of the subplots in this story were actually happening.
• That being said, this issue works really well as an action comic. The pace is extremely brisk and builds up towards the final battle; the problem is that these aspects don’t work quite as well for the more personal stories going on here. The issue doesn’t slowdown when it needs to, lessening the impact of the issue’s revelations.
• Aaron Lopresti’s art remains a mixed-bag, reinforcing my long-held belief that he simply needs to take more time with each issue. This may mean that he stops being a “monthly artist,” but I’d love to see the amount of detail, the cool panel borders, and the fun layouts appear on every page, not just two or three pages per issue.
• In the midst of this, while some pages are crazy dynamic and filled with details, other pages look incredibly stiff and some of his wider panels are devoid of expressions. An artist as good as Lopresti should not have comics this uneven.

Verdict: Read with Caution. Wonder Woman #33 is not necessarily a bad comic, but it does have to carry the burden of a poorly executed story arc that culminates into some very major problems for this particular issue. The writing is solid and Lopresti has some great pages, but the issue is ultimately ineffective due to these lingering problems.

13. GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #1
Written by Paul Dini
Art by Guillem March and Jose Villarrubia
Letters by steve Wands
Covers by Guillem March and JG Jones
preRanking: 14

• The final June launching post-Batman RIP (and probably the most surprising of the bunch) drops this week with Gotham City Sirens, an issue that is pure set-up from beginning to end with a few hints of what is to come, but very little depth or any sort of subplot.
• While I really enjoyed the interplay between the book’s three main characters (Harley Quinn, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy), the “right place, right time” premise for the three living and working together felt really forced, which puts the book at an immediate disadvantage.
• That being said, I’m glad to see that Paul Dini is using this as an opportunity to expand on story beats left hanging from his Heart of Hush storyline earlier this year, including a very clever way of putting Catwoman in a disadvantageous position (which makes her need her compatriots more than they need her).
• The best part of the issue is the way that Dini plays the three very different characters off of one another, though I was surprised to see that he uses Poison Ivy as the “straight man” to Harley’s “nut case” personality and Catwoman’s more cautious and calculating personality. It’s a fun dynamic that works really well.
• I’m glad to se Guillem March moving away from the pure cheesecake art that he is known for. Unfortunately, he’s developing a new problem of severely drawn-out anatomies that are incredibly unnatural looking. We aren’t seeing quite as many butt shots, but instead we see Catwoman with a 6-foot torso. Yikes.
• March’s storytelling also needs a lot of work. His panel choices don’t always make the most sense, with character’s positions in rooms, the way they are facing, and their sequential actions not always gelling with the panels before. This is extremely distracting, especially with such a master storyteller handling the script.

Verdict: Mildly Recommended. For an issue with a weak premise to begin with, too much time is given to setting up why the characters are together rather than having them do something interesting with their team-up. That being said, the character interaction itself is solid. Given a bit more polish on some very basic storytelling skills from Guillem March and this could become a very entertaining series once the plot picks up a bit.

12. STAR WARS: LEGACY #37 (11)
Written by John Ostrander
Art by Jan Duursema, Dan Parsons, and Brad Anderson
Letters by Michael Heisler
Cover by Jan Duursema
preRanking: 11

• Following the whirlwind of status quo-rocking events of the last few stories, Cade and and his crew go back to their pirating ways and find themselves in a heap of trouble on Tattooine as they get caught in the dirty deaths of Sith Imperials and the Black Sun
• You’d think I’d be used to it after 37 issues, but John Ostrander’s reliance on Star Wars slang still grates on me and it’s especially bad here. I’m glad that they are including translations in the back of the issue, but every time I come across one of these slang words, I completely lose focus. This is a case where moderation should be exercised and simply isn’t.
• I dig the seediness of this issue, especially in terms the dialogue and character interaction. This is a perfect tone for the story and a fine example of how Ostrander isn’t just a master of character voices, but also of making those voices work ambiance with the larger story.
• Unfortunately, the story seems to lose focus at times and repeats itself unnecessarily. After a while, the double-crosses and back-stabbing loses its flair. By the end of it, I stopped caring who was going to turn on who; I just wanted them to get on with the inevitable confrontations.
• Another strong issue from Jan Duursema, but at this point her work is becoming formulaic. It’s almost always good, but there is little variation. It’s probably a bit odd of me to be complaining about something being good, but Duursema is so consistent that her art is becoming just the background for the story rather than part of the story itself. I want to see her mix it up a bit.

Verdict: Mildly Recommended. There is really nothing technically wrong with this issue. John Ostrander’s character writing is sharp and Jan Duuresema’s art is exactly what you’d expect. Unfortunately, the plot is a bit hum-drum and neither creator is doing anything spectacular here. It’s a solid effort, but don’t expect to be wowed.

11. DARK AVENGERS/UNCANNY X-MEN: UTOPIA
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Marc Silvestri, Michael Broussard, Eric Basaluda, Tyler Kirkham, Sheldon Mitchell, Joe Weems, Marco Galli, Rick Basaluda, Jason Gorder, Jay Leisten, Sal Regla, Jon Sibal, Ryan Winn, and Frank D’Armata
Letters by Chris Eliopoulos
Cover by Marc Silvestri
preRanking: 17

• This one-shot, setting up the upcoming Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men crossover was a “make it-or-break it” issue for me, as I’ve been comtemplating dropping Uncanny for sometime. Despite some hang-ups, this issue was enjoyable enough to keep my attention and intriguing enough to have me wanting more. I just hope that the series stops floundering and picks up on some of the momentum coming out of this issue.
• The plot in this issue is simple, but effective and putting all of the character’s into place for the crossover. Things starting heating up in San Francisco with the anti-mutant movement gaining steam and causing riots, leading to Norman Osborne to clamp down on the X-Men and enact a back-up plan that ties into Emma Frost’s involvement with his Cabal.
• The success of the issue stems mostly from Matt Fraction's ability to build tension by balancing the more chaotic and quieter moments of the issue, selling the escalation towards the issues final pages extremely well. The story does drag a bit towards the middle due to the expanded page count, but the pay off in the end is worth it.
• This is highlighted by some very strong character work, especially with some of the lesser-known characters in the X-Men universe having a chance to shine with the more established names.
• While Marc Silvestri is credited as the main artist on the issue, the credits (and overall look of the issue) reveal that apparently every artist employed by Top Cow got a shot at drawing or inking something in the book.
• That being said, I’m impressed that the general style is kept consistent throughout the issue. Each artist brings something different to the table and alters the look of the page slightly, but you have to applaud whomever directed the creative process on this (which had to be insane).
• The problem is that the art is pretty uninspired and stiff, plus most of the women look too much alike. These are all problems that I’d say are over-arching problems with Top Cow’s artwork as a whole, but its especially prevalent here.

Verdict: Mildly Recommended. This was a fun issue that showed that Matt Fraction still has some interesting things up his sleeves with the X-Men. The art was more of a distraction than an enhancement, but it was still good enough overall to keep me interested in at least one or two issues of the crossover. Very little of the plot is given away due to the slow burn nature of the issue, so don’t consider this one required reading if you plan on sticking around for the crossover.

Be sure to check back tomorrow night for the remaining Rankings as I countdown to this week’s #1 issue!

Trade Waiting - The Boys Vol 1, The Name of The Game

2009-06-25T18:20:00.004-03:00

Garth Ennis is not a writer whose work I generally enjoy. However, the man is obviously talented, even if what he writes holds little appeal to me. Eventually, I did pick up the first volume of Punisher MAX and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I decided then to give some of Ennis's other work a second look and The Boys was one of his books that I was interested in. Aside from generally hearing some good things about it, I can't say curiosity didn't play a large role in my decision to start with it either. After all, DC decided to stop publishing the book, forcing it to another publisher. Hit the jump for my review.

THE BOYS VOL 1: THE NAME OF THE GAME
Written by Garth Ennis
Art by Darick Robertson
Collects The Boys #1-6

The Boys is, obviously, a super hero satire. A savage and vicious one at that, but it is well done. I know super hero satires can be ill received at times simply because they are satires, but I do enjoy a good one, so I had no problem with the book in that regard.

Unsurprisingly, none of the super heroes in the book are decent people. In fact, that could apply to the vast majority of the characters in the series. I also buy into the premise that super heroes could, or would, be a bunch of assholes or otherwise unpleasant people. It's not that much of a stretch when you think about it and most heroes are not the do-gooder, boy scout Superman type to begin with.

The Boys is also part of the "realistic" super hero genre with Ennis having super heroes as celebrities moreso than heroes and there is an entire Super Hero Industrial Complex, as it were, which helps to explain why many of the heroes are less than heroic. In fact, in a meeting with The Seven, a member of Vought-American, a corporation that funds The Seven, sits in on the meeting, and the scene is spent with the heroes arguing over merchandising rights and profits. The Boys themselves are also part of the realistic bent, being a covert group funded and backed by the C.I.A. to keep the heroes in check. All of this is not to say that The Boys and Ennis has anything besides utter contempt for super heroes, which is obvious on the first reading, but, rather, the story is something more than a vicious satire of the genre. The point is that The Boys functions, quite well in fact, as a story with or without the satire aspect.

The Name of The Game is your basic introduction arc and Ennis manages to introduce a lot of players but still manages to give enough of an intro so that the readers can get a good sense of the characters. Wee Hughie, a civilian, and Billy Butcher, the leader of The Boys, are the two main characters of the series. Hughie is recruited by Butcher after his girlfriend is killed, accidentally, by a member of The Seven, the JLA analog, named A-Train, who is a Flash analog.

Most of the trade deals with Hughie's introduction to The Boys and Butcher's some times less than honest attempts to get him to join. Ennis does a good job characterizing both Butcher and Hughie while having Hughie's decision take up the six issues without having it feel decompressed. Part of Hughie's intro into the team involves The Boys' attempts to blackmail the Teenage Kix, a Titans analog of sorts, which is also a message to the super hero community that The Boys have returned. Something goes slightly wrong with the mission with the implication that someone betrayed The Boys. The story winds down with a showdown between The Boys and Teenage Kix during which Hughie accidentally kills a member of the Teenage Kix. The story ends with Hughie joining The Boys and The Seven aware of their return.

Ennis works in several other subplots and character introductions into his main story. The three other members of The Boys don't really get the attention aside from their short introductions where you get the basics of their personalities. The same goes for many of the other supporting and minor characters. For example, the most Ennis does with most of The Seven is show us that they are, in fact, assholes.

The one minor character that does get some attention is Starlight, a new member of The Seven. She is perhaps the one decent character in the entire series besides Hughie. Needless to say, her induction into The Seven goes less than perfectly. She's almost hopelessly naive so her introduction is an eye opener for her, but, in the end, she does join The Seven. There is an interesting scene where she and Hughie, without knowing who the other is, discuss complications with their new jobs. It's a nice little scene and does provide some insight into both characters. Starlight is the character I'm most interested and want to see where she goes next, but I doubt that's going to be anywhere good considering the tone of the story.

The art by Robertson is pretty good and he does a decent enough job with the material. It's nothing special and can be a little inconsistent at times. That said, he is a good story teller and his facial expressions add a nice, extra layer of detail and visual impact to Ennis's scripts. The gore is also something he handles pretty well. It's never too much, but neither is it too little to have an impact. And, speaking of gore, The Boys did not live up to its reputation, as it were. At least to me and I am only six issues into the story, so it could get worse.

Verdict - Must Read. Despite some minor qualms with the story being vicious for the sake of being vicious, Ennis has his reputation as a great writer for a reason and the The Boys is one of the more interesting and unique superhero books out there right now, even if its whole point is to tear them down.

Like this review? Interested in this books? Purchase The Boys Vol 1: The Name of the Game from Amazon.com and help support The Weekly Crisis.

JMS Off Thor

2009-06-25T11:39:00.005-03:00

Bleeding Cool is reporting that J. Michael Straczynski is ending his run on Marvel's critically acclaimed Thor this September. Bleeding Cool's source is Diamond's Previews catalogue, which lists Thor: Defining Moments Giant Size #1 (what the hell kind of title is that?) as the conclusion to JMS's run on the God of Thunder.

As befit the news of Captain Britain and MI13's cancellation, I figured the banner image for this post was picture perfect for my reaction to the news. My only hope is that Marvel brings in Matt Fraction and Patrick Zircher as the new creative team to take over. You will remember both from the spectacular Thor: Ages of Thunder series of one-shots.

What of you? Will you continue reading Thor with JMS off the title? Who do you want to take over for him? Sound off in the comments below.

Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 06/24/09

2009-06-24T23:59:00.001-03:00

After the delay in last week's Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews, I wanted to make sure I got some reviews out for everyone on Wednesday this week. However, I only managed to get a handful of the dozen or so books I picked up this week reviewed, so I'll be updating tomorrow with the rest of them. Enjoy the reviews and catch you on the flip side.

GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #1
Written by Paul Dini
Art by Guillem March

Gotham City Sirens is an odd book. There's a lot of promise with the concept of a book focusing on three of Batman's rogues gallery, all of which have been pre-existing relationships already established between them. Add Paul Dini, who's had plenty of experience with all three characters, even co-creating one of them, and it seems like a sure fire hit.

Sadly, the first issue of this new series was fairly disappointing and, quite frankly, forgettable. There's little on offer that stood out as vaguely interesting and even less that shows any promise for potential in the future.

If I had to compare this issue to another book, it would be just about anything from Chris Claremont's modern work. However, it's not due to the quality of writing, but moreso due to the fact this issue made it feel more like the book was a gift to Dini so that he can play with is pet characters off on his own, similar to Claremont's X-Men Forever.

The reason I feel this way is due to the characterizations, which felt almost paper thin, as if they were mere characitures of themselves. Take Harley Quinn, for an example, she sounded more like a DCU animated version than the one that had been in Countdown for the past year or so. Despite referencing current events, everyone felt that way to me - like they were stereotypical personalities for the characters moreso than the present day incarnations. Another example of this being a Dini pet book was the mandatory Zatanna cameo. While she was involved in Catwoman's recent heart problems with Hush, it still felt like she was forced into the book just to have her appear.

The final problem I had with this issue was that it felt like mere cheesecake, which probably isn't that surprising with the "diva" action promised in the solicits and a book starring three female villains. From Harley being dressed in some porn star schoolgirl outfit to Zatanna taking a dip in a jacuzzi, a lot of it just felt like it was designed around showing off the girls in the book. Add some new Z-list villain that nobody cared about and who took up the bulk of the issue and nothing really clicked for me here.

Verdict - Avoid It. Nothing to see here. Move along now.

GREEN LANTERN #42
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Philip Tan and Jonathan Glapion

Aside from some disappointment over the quick reversal of last issue's cliffhanger, I think this was possibly the strongest issue in the Agent Orange arc. Just seemed to have much better pacing and the flow between subplots, like the John Stewert/Fatality bit or the discovery of the Black Lantern, it all just clicked for me this month.

Now, to touch on that reversal of last month's cliffhanger, for those unawares, Larfleeze cut Hal Jordan's Blue Lantern ring hand off to conclude last issue. It was shocking and unexpected and full of dramatic irony with how Hal's been responsible for cutting off other Lanterns' hands in the past. However, Johns simply copped out on it and made it all a dream sequence for Larfleeze caued by the Blue Lantern ring showing him his hopes and dreams.

I'm probably nitpicking over this, as it's, sadly, a major part of periodicals to have these types of endings each month to drive reader interest, but it always bugs me when the cliffhanger is a complete lie, such as the recent Captain Britain and MI13 dream sequence victory for Dracula, which is almost identical in execution to this Green Lantern bait and switch. While we've seen the blue rings do this before with John Stewert, I think we can all agree this is much more blatant and serves only as shock value. I can only imagine how it will read in a trade where it's this huge reveal of his hand cut off followed by a "it's a dream" page.

Overly long winded nitpicking aside, the rest of the issue followed up on this quite well. Hal finally using his blue ring and creating his own Corps of willpower constructs, similar to Larfleeze's Orange Lantern Corps, were great and I look forward to seeing more on the Fatality/John Stewert "relationship". The Guardians making another deal with Larfleeze quickly blew up in their faces as he took the information given to him about the Blue Lantern homeworld and quickly set off to claim it and the rings as his own, just as Sayd and Ganthet were reruiting another new recruit (the one that received Hal's ring when it flew off maybe?). As the blue ring seemed to be quite effective against orange when Hal used it, I imagine it will be a fairly interesting fight between those two corps.

In regards to the quest for the Anti-Monitor's remains, Ash and Saarek both arrived on the Black Lantern homeworld, which their rings could not identified as its location was "classified". I assume Scar has it classified on everyone. What appears to be the first Black Lantern or possibly its "Guardian" emerged from the ground with two white/zombie pale coloured skinned arms flailing out screaming for flesh. Actually, the flesh speech bubble looked like a black lantern, similar to when other rings announce things, so maybe a Black Lantern ring was simply detecting/calling out for the flesh? Whatever it was, I wasn't actually expecting zombie flesh craving villains to make up the Black Lanterns, but I guess the whole dead rising from their graves thing should have gave that away...

Verdict - Must Read. Very solid outing for Green Lantern that did an excellent job of balancing the numerous subplots occuring in the book.

NOVA #26
Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art by Andrea Di Vito

With Richard Rider back as the Nova Prime and that striking cover promising some pay back against the Shi'ar, I was expecting some high flying action from Nova this month. In that regard, I was disappointed, but that doesn't mean the issue was bad either. Far from it, in fact.

Abnett and Lanning took a much more logical approach to Nova's return by having him help with the extraction of the various Nova Centurions scattered about the numerous hot zones. There's a bit of clunky exposition during the opening of these scenes where they use several new recruits to verbally tell us what is going on, but otherwise it was a very well written sequence of events that culminated with Nova arriving on the planet where the former Nova Prime was captured and Richard discovers the platoon of troops were slaughtered by the Shi'ar - revealed by a rather large pile of empty and bloodied centurion helmets.

From there, we see the work of the Fraternity of Raptors (although they don't actually appear) with the Shi'ar waging war on the ceded territories of Ravenous. We find out Ravenous's forces have fought the Shi'ar to a standstill and this forced Vulcan to send Strontian, Gladiator's evil cousin, to assassinate Ravenous. Robbie Rider, Nova's brother and whom Richard was looking for, oddly enough shows up to save Ravenous, ending the issue with Strontian trapped in a forcefield of some kind. I doubt she's overly phased by this and we'll either see Robbie getting trounced next issue or Nova coming in for the save.

Verdict - Check It. While I quite enjoyed the issue, it was fairly laid back and straight forward in its execution and lacked any real tension or drama that would warrant a must read verdict. It's just sort of there and fans of the book will love it while those wondering what all the fuss is about the book will probably be left wondering, "that's it", if they jump in on this issue, so that's why it gets a check it from me.

WOLVERINE: WEAPON X #3
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by Ron Garney

After being blown away by the second issue of Wolverine: Weapon X, I probably had unreasonably high expectations going into this third outing. Despite not reaching those lofty expectations, the fact that this issue still managed to impress me speaks volumes for just how good this opening arc is shaping up.

Last issue was all about Wolverine finding and confronting Strikeforce X only to find out they were highly trained and could give as well as they could take and were easily on par with, if not better than, Wolverine in a straight up fight. Logan ended that issue by exercising the better part of valour and fleeing into the jungles of Columbia with the hopes of picking off his enemies one by one.

While we did get to see some of this cat and mouse play followed up in this issue, the bulk of it was actually devoted to fleshing out the backstory behind Strikeforce X, why they exist and who's funding them, which was mostly expressed through the investigative journalism of the new female supporting character introduced in this arc, Ms Garner. It all seems to be a corporate powerplay by a contracting firm called Blackguard to create elite mercenary squads and bribe congress to pass a bill to use them and mass produce more of their kind for dropping into war zones and what have you and seems to be a likely parallel for Blackwater and the US military with the comic book twist, of course.

This was all juxtaposed with Strikeforce X tracking Wolverine. The catch was where I expected Wolverine to systematically take down the entire platoon, Aaron opted to ignore the cliches and have the Strikeforce team be somewhat competent compared to most groups that just get taken apart one by one. While, yes, Logan does manage to capture one and critically injure another, the team actually holds up quite well and even outwits him at the very end when their captive escapes and even removes his own eye, which had a tracking chip Wolverine had planted in it. I was honestly shocked at how well they made this Strikeforce X, which could easily be a joke of a group in any other writer's hands, into a legitimate threat to Wolverine and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens when they clash again next time.

Verdict - Must Read. I can't recall the last time a Wolverine comic was this good, but even the most staunch detractors of Wolverine will have to step up and take notice of this book if it continues to put out quality issues like these first three.

X-Force #16 Review

2009-06-24T14:54:00.000-03:00

X-FORCE #16
Written by Craig Kyle & Chris Yost
Art by Clayton Crain

Okay, what the hell is going on with this crossover? How can a two book event be so disconnected from each other that the simplest of concepts, such as character costumes or serious injuries to characters, can be completely ignored from one issue to the next? Do I review this book, the final part of an event, as a separate entity or should it be lambasted for not being able to reflect events from the previous chapter in the crossover?

For instance, Wolverine was injured to such a degree that he had regressed to a mindless animal and was lashing out at anyone that came near him. He also had no facemask on. This issue he starts off speaking and completely coherent with his mask back on no worse for wear fighting back against Stryfe.

Another one was with Domino. She criticized Vanisher over his suggestion to just kill Kiden so they could return home and told him it's tough for everyone else to have to kill their friends and then Domino just shoots her in the head as X-23 is having a moment with her friend. It made no sense to me to go from last issue's portrayal to this one.

Yet another inconsistency is Bishop's mechanical arm, which was reduced to a stub by Stryfe in Cable, yet is, while slightly damaged, a fully functional arm in this issue, even having a still working time travel device and a visibly working hand. Hell, even the damn epilogue has Bishop looking different than in the issue (the epilogue is by the Cable writer and artist). He was stabbed across the side of the head by Wolverine in the issue, yet is missing an eye in the epilogue and has no other scarring from three adamantium claws across the side of his head. His arm is also nearly fully developed, even moreso than in the early parts of the issue.

My question is, how can you mess up fairly simple concepts like this? It's not like it's just cosmetic things (well, the Wolverine mask bit was). These are all major plot points that are just plain wrong from one issue to the next and pulled me out of an otherwise action packed issue. All I could do, literally, was pick up on mistake after mistake instead of sit down and enjoy the issue.

In fact, the only really part of the book I could sit down and enjoy was the Apocalypse related parts and that's because he had barely appeared in any other book outside of the odd one page cameo. This made it almost impossible to mess him up. Add Clayton Crain's stunning rendition of him (there's one splashpage of him in Death/Angel that I would kill to have a poster of) and Apocalypse stole the issue. He even narrated most of it, adding more impact to his revenge on Stryfe.

Looking back on the event, it amounted to little more than a bunch of mindless gore with little plot and a really broken concept of time travel that I have never seen used in any other time related story. The ending actually has everyone scrambling to get to different locations so they when they return, they return to the exact spots their friends were kidnapped and being held at prior to this event. It also seems like they will be saving Boom Boom, who died when they were shunted to the future, which I assume means they expect to either come back to the exact moment they left.

Verdict - Check It. Taken on its own, I think this is probably the strongest issue of the entire event, but it's also the most disconnected from everything that came before and, as a concluding chapter, should reflect the various plots from previous issues. The fact it didn't made for a jarring and disconnected reading experience.

Thor #602 Review

2009-06-24T14:53:00.001-03:00

THOR #602
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Art by Marko Djurdjevic

With the news of JMS's impending departure from Thor, I feel I should savour these last few issues as much as I can. God knows the delays between releases of each issue of this series really hurt the flow of the book, but it's been just so damn good, it's hard to justify switching to trades, similar to how I viewed All Star Superman and its release schedule woes.

This issue was a real treat for me due to the fact William received so much face time. As a refresher, William is the human currently in love with the Asgardian, Kelda, and the two left with the other Asgardians for their new home in Latveria.

Speaking of Latveria, William spends a great deal of time discussing the matter of making deals with Dr Doom with Baldur and the candid conversation between the two was probably the high point of the issue for me. However, not all Asgardians took a liking to poor Bill and, possibly at Loki's behest, several tried to provoke him into a fight, which felt a little forced to me, especially with everyone celebrating their new home.

The only problem I had with the issue was the sudden return of Loki's male body. He sort of mentioned possibly getting his old body back in the last issue when he warned Thor of Sif's current situation, but there was absolutely no indication or reaction from anyone towards his new/old male body and gender switch. As I was quite enjoying the reactions the female Loki could provoke from people and the more sublte manners in which he was able to proceed due to his new looks, I was just shocked to see him in the body without a single mention to the reader or any indication from the other Asgardians that, hey, he's not a girl anymore.

On the Thor side of things, the Dr Strange cameo to fix his hammer felt a bit forced, but might just be my knowledge that JMS is a huge Dr Strange fan and pushed to have him in his Amazing Spider-Man run previously. With everything going on in New Avengers and the whole no longer being Sorceror Supreme, it just didn't seem right to have him here doing such high level magics to fix the hammer, even robbing Thor of his Odinforce to do so. Speaking of which, that's a huge nerf to his power levels. I assume Sentry is officially the top dog on Earth now that Thor has been depowered.

Verdict - Must Read. Some minor nitpicking aside, this was another excellent issue of Thor and it should be interesting to see what JMS does with the few issues he has left.

Secret Warriors #5 Review

2009-06-24T14:53:00.000-03:00

SECRET WARRIORS #5
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Stefano Caselli

Secret Warriors should seriously consider changing its name to Nick Fury: Agent of Awesome because this book seems to be about Nick Fury, Nick Fury being awesome and Nick Fury doing things that lead to awesome things. Those Secret Warriors? They cameo in their own book again this month. I think they show up on one panel in the entire issue. In fact, they've been receiving less and less face time as the book has progressed and I'm not sure if that even bothers me because of how great everything Nick Fury related has been.

Case in point - this issue sees Nick organizing his former Howling Commandos and ex-SHIELD employees in an effort to storm a HAMMER facility to steal themselves a helicarrier or five. Yeah, think big or go home is his motto. The opening sequence with one of their moles in HAMMER giving the speech about the two things Nick Fury taught him before killing the HAMMER stooge was, while not directly a Nick Fury moment, awesome by association, adding more credibility to my book name change suggestion.

Another amazing moment came from Dum Dum Dugan and all the credit for the textless scene can be given to Caselli's artwork. He's really stepped up his game for this series since his Avengers: The Initiative days and I honestly hope they don't try to bring in fill-in artists for him like they did on that book even if they have to have delays.

Unfortunately for Nick and his Howling Commandos, Hydra has come across some leaked information about this impending raid and made plans of their own to strike at Fury while he's engaged with HAMMER. Credit has to be given to Hickman for making Hydra a credible threat for possibly the first time in, well, ever. He's given a face to several characters in the typically cannonfodder filled organization and each one feels like a legitimate threat to our heroes.

Verdict - Must Read. Wall to wall action and the chaos and pandimonium of this raid on the HAMMER facility is brought to life beautifully by Caselli. If you've been trade waiting this series, I think you're going to be in for one hell of a treat when it gets released because even as a monthly, this flows perfectly from one issue to the next. My only complaint is physically waiting for a new issue.

Guardians of the Galaxy #15 Review

2009-06-24T14:49:00.007-03:00

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #15
Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art by Brad Walker

War of Kings has been a real boon to the Guardians of the Galaxy series. A book that started off strong, it had been flagging for a few months before War of Kings gave it the shot in the arm it needed. This issue continues the trend of strong issues from this book thanks to the momentum of that event and, while mostly a wall to wall action story, there's still enough plot and character moments to make this more than just a standard event tie-in book.

The most interesting aspect of this issue, to me, has to be the Adam Warlock/Magus scenes. I'd wondered if Warlock was becoming or actually is Magus in past issues, but this issue all but confirms there's something wrong with him. During a fight with the Shi'ar Guardsman, Magique, Warlock again turns purple (last issue, he blamed his purple/pale complexion on being in space or some such), this time of his own accord, and lashes out at Magique with a powerful spell before moving on to literally tear the other Shi'ar troops to pieces in a brutal act of violence.

Is Warlock actually Magus or is he being influenced by his evil, alternate timeline self or does it have something to do with his being born prematurely during Conquest? Is the other coccoon the Church of Universal Truth has the actual Warlock? Lots of questions with no answers over this scene and I'm looking forward to seeing where Abnett and Lanning go with Warlock in the future.

While every member of the Guardians had their moments, from Rocket Raccoon clawing away at Mentor to Cosmo's, "Are you God?", moment with Lockjaw, the only character I absolutely cannot stand is Phyla-Vell. I know she died/was reborn as the avatar of death or some such in order to bring Moondragon back to life, but I really can't stand her new 90's extreme-like attitude and I barely liked her prior to this regression. I can't recall wishing for the death of a character as much as I have been with her as of late. The fewer pages she appears on, the better this book will be.

Verdict - Check It. Enjoyable read with many good character moments to go along with the action packed plot.

Detective Comics #854 Review

2009-06-24T14:49:00.006-03:00

DETECTIVE COMICS #854
Written by Greg Rucka
Art by JH Williams and Cully Hamner

I've been looking forward to reading Greg Rucka's and JH Williams's Detective Comics since their tenure was announced and took a little extra time to let the issue sink in before reviewing it. While one could argue this is a fairly simple story in terms of execution, the level of detail and beauty of the art and layouts warranted a second read through before actually reviewing it.

As such, to start things off, I want to talk about the most immediate and, quite possibly, my favourite part of the book - the artwork of JH Williams. I'm not one to typically gush over the artwork and typically give most artists the shaft in terms of credit for my enjoyment of a comic. My usual feeling is that art is secondary to the story and it's either doing its job or so bad it brings down the book.

In regards to Williams's art, it's absolutely stunning. The layouts are dynamic and something you rarely, if ever, see from other artists and the use of colour, particularly the crimson red permeating the book, is visually striking. I also enjoyed the dual art styles used in the book - one for the Batwoman scenes and another, lighter tone used for the civilian, Kate Kane, scenes. The civilian scenes almost look as if they were not inked, or inked a great deal less than the Batwoman ones, but I'm not an expert on art techniques, so can't tell if that is the only difference or not. I know there are a lot more earth tones and lighter colours than the Batwoman scenes and the red is used far more often for Batwoman related scenes. All in all, it was a visually stunning read and worth picking up just to see Williams's art - something I rarely, if ever, say about a book.

Thankfully, the art is not the only good thing about this book. Rucka more than carries his own on this book and I, as a person that didn't overly care for Batwoman coming out of 52 (didn't hate her, just didn't see a reason for her existence at that point), am enthralled by the character. I honestly want to know more about her, her motivations and just plain see more of the character and where this storyline is going.

The plot seems to be picking up on threads from 52 and the Crime Bible and I have no problem with that. It's a solid concept, but I felt they didn't do a good enough job filling people in on the 52 subplot. It is like we're expected to know who Kate is (I don't think she's even called by her full name in this issue, just Katherine by her father), what happened to her in 52 (they mention her being stabbed, but no real explaination for new readers) and any other pertinent information. I know these things, but it's worth mentioning that it's anything but reader friendly for people expecting an easy jumping on point for Batwoman's new starring role in Detective Comics.

My one major complaint about this issue has nothing to do with the Batwoman part of the story. In fact, it's entirely to do with the Question co-feature. While I don't think the co-feature was a bad story, it felt like, well, a back-up story. I know that sounds odd, as it is a back-up story, but I'm talking those useless back-ups from the 90's that added cost to a book and no one wanted to read. To me, this felt like a non-story. It was 8 pages of the Question walking around with no depth or characterization or explaination as to what she's been up to. It's only the first part of her back-up, so it might get better as more time goes on, but it felt, to me, like they cut up a story, added some fluff to try and make it work in an 8 page format and then shipped it off. It's an incomplete reading experience to me and I hate that. Put it out in a miniseries if you want to tell me a story. Don't butcher it into little pieces and try and put it out in 8 page snippets.

Verdict - Must Read. Disappointment over the co-feature aside, the actual Batwoman related story was just about as good as I could have possibly hoped. I don't say this often, but you almost owe it to yourself to buy it for the art alone. The excellent and engaging story is only going to be a bonus to Williams's art.

Dark Avengers #6 Review

2009-06-24T14:49:00.005-03:00

DARK AVENGERS #6
Written by Brian Bendis
Art by Mike Deodato

This issue was made up of roughly three separate parts - one with the Cabal meeting, another dealing with the Dark Avengers and the missing Noh-Varr and the third following Sentry's wiping out of the Atlantean terrorists. Each section had its moments, but I found, despite enjoying this issue, that a lot of it felt like fluff and that it read extremely fast, despite the various plots being followed. I'm not sure why I feel this way, but it just seems like Bendis is trying to overwrite every scene and make everything feel more important or dramatic than it actually is. Odd feeling, sorry I can't describe it any better than that.

Let's start with the Cabal meeting first. I really liked Norman's and Namor's exchange, particularly Norman's sense of entitlement and authority. It was one of the better scenes in the issue and Deodato did some great facial work on everyone's reactions to it. I'm a little disappointed at the more cliched Namor retort, though. The whole "surface world is evil" mentality hasn't been as two-dimensional as it was shown here in a while and Namor has taken action against these Atlantean terrorists and decried them back during Civil War/the early days of the Initiative, so I'm not sure why he's lashing out in this manner.

Jumping to the missing Noh-Varr subplot, it seemed to be too casually handled. We never see Noh-Varr in the entire issue and no one knows where he is or even when he left. There's the innuendo about Moonstone's relationship with him, but nothing is ever really expanded upon and we just sort of go around in circles for a bit. I assume he left when he found out they are villains while sleeping with Moonstone in the last issue, but, seriously, that can't be the whole reason, can it? He burned a giant 'F--- You' into a city when he first arrived and has done things just as bad, if not worse, than some of their members. I just felt they spent a lot of time on this scene and, in the end, told us nothing.

Finally, there's the Sentry moment, which honestly has me just as freaked out over how crazy he's become lately as some of the Dark Avengers have been reacting to him of late. This was a powerfully executed scene where Sentry is sent to kill all but one terrorist and return that survivor for public relations reasons. Norman telling him to let the Void out for this and Bob's confusion over how he's been telling him there is no Void and just the silent fade away wiping out of the Atlanteans really worked for me.

Verdict - Check It. A good issue, but felt extremely light at time. Read incredibly fast as well. At $3.99 a pop, I should feel a little more satisfied after reading it than I did, but very few actual complaints about it either.

Avengers: The Initiative #25 Review

2009-06-24T14:49:00.004-03:00

Wolverine: Weapon X #3 Review

2009-06-24T14:49:00.003-03:00

WOLVERINE: WEAPON X #3
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by Ron Garney

After being blown away by the second issue of Wolverine: Weapon X, I probably had unreasonably high expectations going into this third outing. Despite not reaching those lofty expectations, the fact that this issue still managed to impress me speaks volumes for just how good this opening arc is shaping up.

Last issue was all about Wolverine finding and confronting Strikeforce X only to find out they were highly trained and could give as well as they could take and were easily on par with, if not better than, Wolverine in a straight up fight. Logan ended that issue by exercising the better part of valour and fleeing into the jungles of Columbia with the hopes of picking off his enemies one by one.

While we did get to see some of this cat and mouse play followed up in this issue, the bulk of it was actually devoted to fleshing out the backstory behind Strikeforce X, why they exist and who's funding them, which was mostly expressed through the investigative journalism of the new female supporting character introduced in this arc, Ms Garner. It all seems to be a corporate powerplay by a contracting firm called Blackguard to create elite mercenary squads and bribe congress to pass a bill to use them and mass produce more of their kind for dropping into war zones and what have you and seems to be a likely parallel for Blackwater and the US military with the comic book twist, of course.

This was all juxtaposed with Strikeforce X tracking Wolverine. The catch was where I expected Wolverine to systematically take down the entire platoon, Aaron opted to ignore the cliches and have the Strikeforce team be somewhat competent compared to most groups that just get taken apart one by one. While, yes, Logan does manage to capture one and critically injure another, the team actually holds up quite well and even outwits him at the very end when their captive escapes and even removes his own eye, which had a tracking chip Wolverine had planted in it. I was honestly shocked at how well they made this Strikeforce X, which could easily be a joke of a group in any other writer's hands, into a legitimate threat to Wolverine and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens when they clash again next time.

Verdict - Must Read. I can't recall the last time a Wolverine comic was this good, but even the most staunch detractors of Wolverine will have to step up and take notice of this book if it continues to put out quality issues like these first three.

Nova #26 Review

2009-06-24T14:49:00.002-03:00

NOVA #26
Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art by Andrea Di Vito

With Richard Rider back as the Nova Prime and that striking cover promising some pay back against the Shi'ar, I was expecting some high flying action from Nova this month. In that regard, I was disappointed, but that doesn't mean the issue was bad either. Far from it, in fact.

Abnett and Lanning took a much more logical approach to Nova's return by having him help with the extraction of the various Nova Centurions scattered about the numerous hot zones. There's a bit of clunky exposition during the opening of these scenes where they use several new recruits to verbally tell us what is going on, but otherwise it was a very well written sequence of events that culminated with Nova arriving on the planet where the former Nova Prime was captured and Richard discovers the platoon of troops were slaughtered by the Shi'ar - revealed by a rather large pile of empty and bloodied centurion helmets.

From there, we see the work of the Fraternity of Raptors (although they don't actually appear) with the Shi'ar waging war on the ceded territories of Ravenous. We find out Ravenous's forces have fought the Shi'ar to a standstill and this forced Vulcan to send Strontian, Gladiator's evil cousin, to assassinate Ravenous. Robbie Rider, Nova's brother and whom Richard was looking for, oddly enough shows up to save Ravenous, ending the issue with Strontian trapped in a forcefield of some kind. I doubt she's overly phased by this and we'll either see Robbie getting trounced next issue or Nova coming in for the save.

Verdict - Check It. While I quite enjoyed the issue, it was fairly laid back and straight forward in its execution and lacked any real tension or drama that would warrant a must read verdict. It's just sort of there and fans of the book will love it while those wondering what all the fuss is about the book will probably be left wondering, "that's it", if they jump in on this issue, so that's why it gets a check it from me.

Green Lantern #42 Review

2009-06-24T14:49:00.001-03:00

GREEN LANTERN #42
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Philip Tan and Jonathan Glapion

Aside from some disappointment over the quick reversal of last issue's cliffhanger, I think this was possibly the strongest issue in the Agent Orange arc. Just seemed to have much better pacing and the flow between subplots, like the John Stewert/Fatality bit or the discovery of the Black Lantern, it all just clicked for me this month.

Now, to touch on that reversal of last month's cliffhanger, for those unawares, Larfleeze cut Hal Jordan's Blue Lantern ring hand off to conclude last issue. It was shocking and unexpected and full of dramatic irony with how Hal's been responsible for cutting off other Lanterns' hands in the past. However, Johns simply copped out on it and made it all a dream sequence for Larfleeze caued by the Blue Lantern ring showing him his hopes and dreams.

I'm probably nitpicking over this, as it's, sadly, a major part of periodicals to have these types of endings each month to drive reader interest, but it always bugs me when the cliffhanger is a complete lie, such as the recent Captain Britain and MI13 dream sequence victory for Dracula, which is almost identical in execution to this Green Lantern bait and switch. While we've seen the blue rings do this before with John Stewert, I think we can all agree this is much more blatant and serves only as shock value. I can only imagine how it will read in a trade where it's this huge reveal of his hand cut off followed by a "it's a dream" page.

Overly long winded nitpicking aside, the rest of the issue followed up on this quite well. Hal finally using his blue ring and creating his own Corps of willpower constructs, similar to Larfleeze's Orange Lantern Corps, were great and I look forward to seeing more on the Fatality/John Stewert "relationship". The Guardians making another deal with Larfleeze quickly blew up in their faces as he took the information given to him about the Blue Lantern homeworld and quickly set off to claim it and the rings as his own, just as Sayd and Ganthet were reruiting another new recruit (the one that received Hal's ring when it flew off maybe?). As the blue ring seemed to be quite effective against orange when Hal used it, I imagine it will be a fairly interesting fight between those two corps.

In regards to the quest for the Anti-Monitor's remains, Ash and Saarek both arrived on the Black Lantern homeworld, which their rings could not identified as its location was "classified". I assume Scar has it classified on everyone. What appears to be the first Black Lantern or possibly its "Guardian" emerged from the ground with two white/zombie pale coloured skinned arms flailing out screaming for flesh. Actually, the flesh speech bubble looked like a black lantern, similar to when other rings announce things, so maybe a Black Lantern ring was simply detecting/calling out for the flesh? Whatever it was, I wasn't actually expecting zombie flesh craving villains to make up the Black Lanterns, but I guess the whole dead rising from their graves thing should have gave that away...

Verdict - Must Read. Very solid outing for Green Lantern that did an excellent job of balancing the numerous subplots occuring in the book.