quick takes 1/21/07
I'm jittery because the Bears are playing (can't help it; it never leaves you, like malaria), so we'll see how I do here...
Ultimate Spider-Man #104...The Ultimatized version of the Clone Saga concludes; it has been no masterpiece, but it has been Good, and the usual suspects are the reason: expressive, fun art from Mark Bagley that puts you right in the heart of all the fisticuffs; and funny, humanizing dialogue from Brian Michael Bendis. And it also employs melodrama while avoiding the pitfalls of melodrama, the way the original story could not. Good.
Gen 13 #4...As expected, this series begins to hit its stride. The art remains fine, though this time it's Sunny Lee instead of Talent Caldwell; to tell the truth, I wouldn't have noticed, which is not an insult to either artist. But the story develops a heart this issue, and, perhaps surprisingly, it's Grunge, who gets first look at how the team has been manipulated by its masters. I have no clue where this whole thing fits into past Gen 13 continuity, or if the reset button has been hit, but for the first time I'm curious about where this is headed. Good.
Godland #15...A new series for me; I'd heard interesting things and decided to pick it up. Basically, it's the Fantastic Four with harder science fiction and some cussing. The art is unapologetically cribbed from Jack Kirby, and possesses many of his charms, though not all of his storytelling magic at its best (who could match that?). The story, by the uneven Joe Casey, manages to be both more mature than the original Fantastic Four stories and remarkably free of cynicism. Good, and I'm looking forward to learning more about this one.
Helmet of Fate: Detective Chimp...Nabu's helmet needs a new host, and it's going to try out several members of DC's back catalogue. In this issue the DC Universe's simian sleuth gives it a try. Detective Chimp, revived from what I must assume to have been deep obscurity by Bill Willingham in the recent Day of Vengeance miniseries, is a surprisingly compelling protagonist, and Willingham writes him here as his usual unsentimental self. Because is pretty obvious that DC is not going to put a monkey in the costume of one of its traditional powerhouses permanently, this story rises or falls on whether the monkey does anything interesting while he does have the helmet on. And he does. Good.
The Spirit #2...Terrific storytelling from Darwyn Cooke, whose cartoony art really ought to be given a try by more artists on mainstream titles, considering how welcoming and coherent it seems. As someone who has never read The Spirit, the bar to enjoyment for me would be that he would be just another boring square-jawed guy in a domino mask, but as written and drawn by Cooke he's actually quite human and pleasantly fallible. If it's the same thing every issue it might get old, but so far, so Good.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Space Between #1...On the other hand, this is terrible. The art is actually the best I've ever seen on a Star Trek comic, except for the graphic novel Adam Hughes drew, but the story...ugh. Really, really dry, with one compelling sci-fi idea but absolutely no heart. Bad.
Fantastic Four #542...On the strength of Dwayne McDuffie's excellent Beyond! miniseries, I'm checking out his run Marvel's flagship title, and it's pretty Good, with some ideas about Reed Richards that are actually quite disturbing. Which I suppose had to be put forward by someone, considering the Events of Civil War. The challenge with this series will be to deal with the fact that the team has been torn in two by Civil War; will McDuffie take the easy way out, and write only half the team? Or will he show what everyone is up to while they work out their differences?
Ultimate X-Men #78...A Shocking Death, but, as so often happens in this series, the lack of human interaction between characters minimizes the drama. Bad, and while I'll keep reading this series, I probably won't review it again for a while.
Thunderbolts #110...Warren Ellis succeeds in making the post-Civil War Marvel Universe look like a dystopian nightmare the likes of which we usually only see in...well, alternate versions of the Marvel Universe imagined by Warren Ellis. One does hope that a little humanity will show through at some point, but the villains snarling at each other this issue are doing so in an interesting way, with interesting motives and foibles behind them. Good.
Agents of Atlas #6...The excellent miniseries concludes, with an unexpected rehabilitation of one of Marvel's most malevolently stereotypical bad guys. The lack of a giant fight at the end is perhaps welcome, but considering that what we get instead is exposition, a little fisticuffs doesn't seem so bad. Still, the ending is among the more moving things I've read in a comic recently, tying the whole series together beautifully in one page, and giving the comic a last minute push to Excellent.
Shadowpact #9...The generic plots and villains of this series always put me on the brink of dropping it, but something always brings me back, and this time it's a good old-fashioned cliffhanger ending. It also helps that the art's settled down into good old-fashioned DC house style. Good.
Y: The Last Man #53...A throwaway character Vaughn used to make a point several years ago pops up again, this time with something important to say. There are many wonderful things about this series, but one of them is the way Vaughn can show us the humanity of his characters even as it's obvious that trauma has radically altered their psyches. Excellent.
Birds of Prey #102...It turns out that Oracle's merry band of non-avian-themed heroines is not quite as cohesive as it might have appeared, raising all sorts of interesting possibilities for intra-team drama. Some terrific art makes this quite Excellent.
Battlestar Galactica #5...I would be quite surprised if Greg Pak is not offered a chance to write for the TV series, as his stories for this comic have been dead on EXACTLY what you'd expect to see on the show. The latest storyline is the best yet, with a fascinating theory of Cylon behavior revealing a new level of sneakiness for the robotic villains. Excellent.
Wonder Man #2...We learn just how the villainess from last issue got so messed up, and it's certainly understandable how she ended up wanting to kill lots of people. The art is a bit sketchy, but does the job. Good.
Cable & Deadpool #36...A slightly inconsequential issue, perhaps because it's a Deadpool solo story, but plenty of laughs and some good moments portraying Deadpool and the Taskmaster's interesting relationship. Good.
She-Hulk #15...After the last few issues have been phenomenal, this one's just OK, with She-Hulk using her smarts and a little help from her friends to beat the Abomination, but less character development than usual, which is what has made this series so good overall. Burchett's better at drawing stories than fights, anyway.
Tranquility #2...Not quite as good as the first issue, with some of the historical sidebars distracting from the story, and a little too much sentimentality surrounding a character we didn't know that well; after all, it's only the second issue. OK.
Justice Society of America #2...I really get tired of Nazi villains, but a truly surprising ending and some really special artwork from Eaglesham push this one into the Excellent category.
quick takes 01/14/07
Trickling in late, a few more of last month's reads, and a few of this weeks...
Punisher #43...This time, the Punisher is going to have to kill some girls, not that he hasn't done it before. They're the wives of criminals he has killed. They are pretty unsympathetic, being an interesting combination of racist, crazy, and manipulative. Plus they're going to hire a complete psychopath, ably and shockingly introduced picking up a victim at a nightclub. So far it's sort of talky, even with the violence, the way Ennis can occasionally get. Still, having adversaries for the Punisher who at least have some kind of emotional need to get back at him, rather than a need for revenge or a simple business need, is potentially interesting. Good, for now, but will likely get better.
Astonishing X-Men #19...A new storyline, except not really, but it is a change of setting, I suppose, to outer space, where the X-Men have always had pretty good stories. It's been so long since I read the early issues of this series that I'm blanking on what the Breakworld is, but it's not boring in the slightest trying to figure it out. The characterization is still strong; I really, really like what Whedon has done with Kitty Pryde. The art is beautiful; seems like Cassaday had a bit more time this time. Good.
All-Star Superman #6...Another terrific issue of the best comic out there. At first I was worried when the Supermen from other centuries showed up, as having a bunch of ultra-powerful characters about can give a story problems on the human level, but Quitely makes them such memorably odd (and, at first, threatening) characters, and Morrison as per usual knows exactly where his story's heart is. Excellent.
Ultimate X-Men #77...This title has always left me a little cold, except for parts of Vaughn's run, and Robert Kirkman's run is doing nothing to change my overall opinion. It made sense to Ultimatize Spider-Man because his current continuity has a much different, older character, and it made sense to do the Ultimates and Fantastic Four because the idea was obviously to take both of those properties in a different direction. But the X-Men is basically the same, with only minor changes and a streamlined universe that just seems much smaller than the regular one. I love the characters, so I've kept reading it, and it was certainly a welcome alternative to the period of time when Chuck Austen had his hands on mainstream continuity, but I've never looked forward to it the way I do most of the series I read. In this issue, Professor X, acting like he's a teenager, too, declares his love for Jean Grey, which is certainly an interesting take; we'll see if it actually shakes up the status quo. OK.
100 Bullets #79...It's been a while since this issue had a shocking, meaningful death of a long-running character, but here it is. The final confrontation has been building up for an awfully long time, but the art is still gorgeous, the dialogue still both revealing (in the sense of just a few words encapsulating a character) and cryptic (in the sense of sometimes you just have no idea what people are talking about), and the violence still very real. Good.
New Avengers #26...I suppose it was inevitable that Hawkeye return to life, seeing as how he's popular (I really like him, too), his death was meaningless, and his killer was a person who can reshape reality. I'd still rather he'd stayed dead. But this issue does have its strong points, including beautifully misty artwork from Alex Maleev, and subtle hints about what's next for Scarlet Witch. Good.
Powers #22...Our heroes have to stand by helplessly by as an invisible, all-powerful supervillain kills person after person. Good.
Desolation Jones #8...This is one of the better series Ellis has ever done, and it's been sneaking up on me. The damaged protagonist is actually quite different than the usual Ellis protagonist; usually, they're cynical, but this guy's just exhausted. And, even with the art change, the book feels like it's in Los Angeles more than most stories, even ones written by Ellis, feel like they're anywhere. In this issue, Jones takes a taxi ride. Excellent.
Squadron Supreme #7...A truly destructive, nasty fight between Hyperion and Redstone; so nasty, in fact, that you forget this series has left the MAX line. Sometimes I wish Gary Frank's artwork were a little more expressive, and that Zarda could look a little less like a model and a little more like an Amazon, but overall I'm quite satisfied and enjoying this the best of any of Straczynski's work so far. Excellent.
She-Hulk #14...Awesome Andy's issue, as we delve deep into the soul of an android with a box for a head. No lie: I was deeply moved. And Rich Burchett has really become a terrific artist for this series. Excellent.
Runaways #23...I'm cautiously optimistic that Whedon will do well with these characters, but even if he doesn't I have high hopes that they will thrive well in the Marvel Universe, because Vaughn has stamped their personalities so well. (Especially the hilarious Bruiser.) It's worrisome to me that Alphona is leaving, too, though, because not every artist captures these characters as well as he does. This issue is Excellent, by the way.
quick takes 1/08/07
Many comics to review...holiday buildup...thank you Marvel for decreasing the number of ads...please don't do it again.
Civil War #6...I'm sort of done reviewing this as a comic. It's an event. I don't think it's been great, and I don't think it's been awful. I certainly like it when the status quo gets shaken up, as that's the only way to create actual interest in characters that have been around for so long, and this event has done that. On the other hand, Mark Millar writes a terrible Captain America, somehow not able to find a shred of nobility in a character that should embody it. I don't mind if heroes make bad choices, but they should still talk like themselves. Very few Millar characters talk like anyone but Millar characters. Art is still pretty good, though it would have been better to have Salvador LaRocca do it and get it out on time. In the end it's just OK.
Civil War Front Line #10...As story, this has been a sight better than the main series, except for those awful backup stories comparing the Civil War to actual historical wars. In this issue, they turn Speedball into a new character. Lots of people are troubled by this, but to me they're just saying he lost his mind, and I buy it. Certainly his character will be in good hands in his new series, which I hope Warren Ellis writes for at least twenty issues or so. I'm less interested in Tony Stark's alleged machinations. OK.
Annihilation #5...By far the superior crossover to Civil War. Not even a close comparison. Drax and Ronan, like Tony Stark, are powerful men making dubious use of their power against great evil. But there's no straining for plausibility here, just big fights for the fate of the universe that feel like they really matter. I hope a good regular series comes out of this, but I have no idea what it would be. Excellent.
Incredible Hulk #102...Speaking of new directions for characters that some people do not like, the Incredible Hulk has now been in another dimension or outer space or something for almost a year. Personally, I really like the story. The Hulk, who was sort of gloomy the last time I read him regularly, has become a sort of Cranky the Barbarian, righting intergalactic wrongs by beating up bad guys. His supporting cast, always key in making him interesting, has been pretty good considering that it's all new with this storyline. This issue, the Hulk literally puts his body where the danger is to save his friends. Giving your personal flesh as food as a way of cementing an alliance is pretty cool. Excellent.
American Virgin #10...Adam Chamberlain's origin issue, and the best issue so far of this series. It turns out our hero has not always been such a goody two-shoes, and it turns out he's had a lot more pain in his life than I had assumed. He's all the more interesting for it, and so is this series. Plus, a deadly plane crash. Excellent.
Teen Titans #42...Kid Devil's origin issue. Geoff Johns specializes in revitalizing obscure characters; here he is again, giving Blue Devil's erstwhile sidekick several rich veins of angst and three years to live. Surprisingly effective guest art from Peter Snejbjerg, who did some okay work on Starman and a Preacher special but who seems much more at home in hell. I would have thought I'd have tired of this series by now, but I really haven't. Good.
Criminal #3...After everything went to pot last issue, Brubaker spends this issue setting up just how everything is going to go to pot next issue. One of the reasons Brubaker is good is that he can really get your hopes up that things are going to go well for his characters, and then dash your hopes. His protagonist is also a smart man with limited options making bad decisions. Always good for a laugh. Excellent art from Sean Phillips, who aparently is equally good at zombies and the real world. Excellent.
Midnighter #3...It's official: Garth Ennis is a great superhero writer. Too bad he hates superheroes. Excellent.
Secret Six #6...A terrifc ending to a terrific miniseries. Somehow the protagonists lose none of their sympathy, even though they're mostly pathetic psychopaths, sociopaths, and wannabes. How on earth did the Mad Hatter become believable as the emotional heart of a team? Excellent, though the art was a little patchy throughout.
New Avengers: Illuminati...Pretty uninspiring, as I guess I should have expected. If you're going to create a retroactively powerful and important superteam, they should do something retroactively powerful and important, not go after those poor Skrulls, who, let's face it, have had their empire eradicated too many times to seem a major threat at any point in history. This story could have been taken care of with Skrull Kill Krew: Illuminati, frankly. Eh.
Birds of Prey #101...The new direction is working great so far, with an interesting and believably dangerous new adversary, great artwork (especially Barda's aerial dogfight), and a cliffhanger that is both hilarious and terrifying. Excellent.
Bullet Points #2...Haven't gotten to #3 yet, and I'm not that eager, frankly. Remember when Straczynski was the biggest thing ever to hit comics? Well, aside from Supreme Power and parts of Rising Stars, he's turned out to be pretty run-of-the-mill. Still, he's proved a competent guardian of most characters, if not exactly the mind-blowing font of story we all used to think he was. His big idea here is "what if Peter Parker got hit by the gamma bomb and what if Steve Rogers wore high-tech armor?" The answer is, well, then Peter Parker would be the Hulk and Steve Rogers would be Iron Man. Nothing remarkable here, but definitely acceptable fun. OK.
Gen 13 #3...These Wildstorm Universe relaunches, with the surprising exception of Midnighter, seem so far to be critical and commercial flops. Too bad; most of these characters have been written pretty well at times in the past, but so far just about all of these top flight writers seems horribly miscast. (OK, Wetworks is written just fine, too, but the art is offensively bad.) Gail Simone, so successful with a bunch of grownups on Birds of Prey and a bunch of crazies on Secret Six, and absolutely inspired on her sublime Tranquility, seems lost here in the world of teen angst. The art is pretty good, but something's just not clicking. I remain hopeful. OK.
Ex Machina #25...A pretty good character piece for Mayor Hundred's bodyguard, with the usual sublime art. I am, however, beginning to worry that a closing plotline is just not going to develop. We'll see. Good.
Wonder Man #1...A textbook example of why Peter David is such a good writer; he easily transforms the undistinguished and bland Wonder Man into a compelling protagonist who knows just how undistinguished he is, and accepts it. And also, we have an interesting conflict. Excellent.
Punisher War Journal #2...It has a nice way of contrasting the Punisher with Captain America, but I've discovered how many Punisher books per month I'm interested in reading, and the answer is less than two. OK.
The Spirit #1...Pretty good relaunch of Will Eisner's classic. No, I've never read any Eisner, either, though I guess I probably should. This issue mostly makes me remember how much I enjoyed Brubaker and Cooke's Catwoman, but it does have some pretty funny dialogue and an originally grotesque villain. Good.
Fallen Angel #11...More tales of cold, cold revenge, with terrific art. Lee's son Jubal is the most interesting character right now. Still Good, though apparently no one is buying it any more. Too bad.
Ultimate Power #3…Now we go back and learn the story from the Squadron’s point of view, and this mini is all the better for it, with more motivation in place. Greg Land, who did some terrific zombie disaster art in Ultimate Fantastic Four, is right at home portraying the attack of an interdimensional muck monster. Good.
Crossing Midnight #1…An intriguing new Vertigo series from Mike Carey, with lovely understated art from Jim Fern, who I believe drew an issue of X-Factor once. The narration is a bit heavy and expositional, and I’m not sure that the atomic bomb as pseudomystical event is a story that needs to be told again, but it’s unique enough that I’ll try another few issues. Good.
Battlestar Galactica #4…The artwork continues to improve, but is still cartoony enough that I only feel 90% like I’m watching the TV show when I read this. Which sure says a lot for Greg Pak’s writing. He’s got the same kinds of ideas as the writers of the show, which I don’t get to watch on account of not having a TV. Good.
Newuniversal #2…More crazy fun from Warren Ellis. I can only imagine what the fans of the original New Universe think of this, but not having read anything of the original myself, I’m enjoying it as a sort of successor to Planetary, with world-spanning weirdness among previously normal people. Ellis usually chooses one focus character, but here he’s got at least six, and the story feels big. I hope it can deliver on the promised bigness. Good.
Winter Soldier: Winter Kills…A terrific one-shot that finally brings me around to the idea of Bucky still being alive. The whole enterprise is worth it for the conversation with Namor at the end, which shows proper respect for Marvel history and gives us great characterization of the cranky old Avenging Son, who’s probably due for another try at a regular series. Ed Brubaker is a workhorse and I hope he’s the one guiding Cap’s continuity for a while. Reliably good art from Lee Weeks. Excellent.
Jack of Fables #6…Jack may be a schemer, but there’s got to be something more to him than schemes, or the device will get tired. It’s mostly just scheming here, but to the extent that this title exists to bring us information on the fables that haven’t made it into the regular book, it works. A lot of the fun of both series is spotting all the characters you can, and for all that this has been billed a solo title, it’s actually got quite a lot more than just Jack in it. Still, he’s in control. Let’s see if he’s going to evolve at all, because Jack being Jack isn’t going to be fun for more than fifteen issues or so. Good.
Ultimate Vision #2…Brandon Peterson’s art, which seemed perhaps a little flat in the Ultimate Extinction series, is really marvelous here, showing brilliantly the scary bigness of Galactus or whatever they’re calling him in the Ultimate Universe. Storywise, just as it looks like AIM is becoming just a pack of boring mad scientists, the REAL bad guy shows up. Tarleton, incidentally, was the original name of Modok in Marvel continuity. Something tells me he’s going to end up a little more powerful here. The Vision herself spends most of the issue disassembled, but she’s managed to locate a friend who’s just as compelling a protagonist. Excellent.
Ultimate Spider-Man #103...A seemingly ill-advised plot point is quickly swept away, and this continues to be Good and much better than the original clone saga, which, I must admit, I did not read all of but did not think was that bad. We have only six more issues to enjoy Mark Bagley's brilliance, but not to worry because he's being replaced by...
Nextwave #11...Stuart Immonen, who draws his penultimate issue of this soon-to-be canceled treasure of a series. There are promises of miniseries somewhere down the line, but given the full plates of both creators, I really only hold out a fool's hope. Still, we'll always have the mad brilliance of these twelve issues, which read like Ellis and Immonen put them together in the same room with The Best of Monty Python playing in the background. Excellent.
52 #34...The best series DC has ever produced, in my opinion. One of the only comics out there today that gives one the delight of a truly enormous story, the way reading X-Men used to, but better. And yet it's still completely comprehensible. This issue, the Question dies in bed, in a genuinely moving scene. (Incidentally, last week's Christmas issue was a gem, too.) Excellent.
X-Men #194...Speaking of X-Men, it's doing just fine these days. Humberot Ramos is not an artist I would automatically pick for the relentlessly serious X-titles, but the cast of oddballs Rogue has assembled for her strike force look just write as drawn by the guy who gave us Impulse. Mike Carey sure does throw a lot of new characters at you, but so far it's not too confusing. Good.
Y: The Last Man #52...Plenty of soap opera shenanigans afoot here, including an alleged crush that I'm not sure I buy, but I can't complain when the central mystery remains so tantalyzingly close to being solved, and yet so far out of my imaginative grasp. Always Good at least.
Checkmate #9...Just as much fun as the old Suicide Squad series was, but the added layer of realistic espionage jargon and conflict that Greg Rucka is able to provide, thanks to his chronicling of the adventures of Tara Chace, makes it all the better. The melding of superheroes and grunt feds is seamless. Excellent.
Thunderbolts #109...Considering how "cosmic" the final storyline has been, this final issue of Fabian Nicieza's run is surprisingly down-to-earth and not a little moving, with a deep look at how these characters, many of whom started out and existed for years as nothing more than bombastic, clownish villains, have evolved into real people. Nicieza, a giving writer, works hard to tie up his own plot threads and pave the way easily for the new team to take over. The departure of Donny Gill, which nearly happen off-panel it's so understated, is especially well-done. I have not read even half of Nicieza's work on these characters, and it's going to be a pleasure to track them down in back issues. Excellent.
Daredevil #92...full up of ads, and all the worse for it, as Michael Lark's subdued style has trouble peeking out from behind them. It's probably worth the patience and expense to wait for the trade when it comes to end-of-the-year Marvel stories, as apparently they're going to lard us up with ads in November and December from now on. Anyway, this issue is the evil villain explaining her plan, and Brubaker pushes it hard but it still comes off cliche. OK.
Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes #25...The bad guys show up, but they're actually good guys warning about REALLY bad guys, who are about to show up. Pretty fun and Good.
Cable & Deadpool #35...Cable lets Wade spend some time with his bad memories, with predictably mixed results considering Wade is mostly a conscienceless killer. Mostly. Excellent.
Justice #9...Alex Ross clearly possesses some kind of complicated personal ethics concerning who the DC characters are, and these ethics have been offended enough by recent DC continuity for him to write this exceedingly odd tale in response. There's always a potshot in here at a better story; in this issue it's Villains United. Nevertheless, this remains a fun romp with beautiful art; a weirdly inspiring spread of the Justice League "wearing" the Metal Men into battle closes this issue. Good.
Fables #56...A Christmas issue, with Santa Claus, who is, of course, a Fable himself, charged with making sure the Adversary doesn't try to invade via the North Pole; I suppose someone has to. There are sappy elements here, but Santa also gives Flycatcher an important quest, which is pretty promising. Good.
Loveless #14...Not quite comprehensible, and extremely nasty. I guess now I'm just waiting for some kind of resolution. Eh.
Hellblazer #227...This story has been going on for way, way too long, and continues to galumph through until the final pages, which bring unexpected hilarity to this glum Glaswegian enterprise and actually have me anticipating eagerly the next issue for the first time in quite a while. OK.
Shadowpact #8...The Ragman's family history saves the day. Despite the inability of Willingham to come up with interesting adversaries for his quite likable, unique heroes, this series continues to be just odd enough to keep my interest. Shawn McManus' art, which has a comic touch, helps tremendously. OK.
