Comic News And Reviews

By Ron Marz (writer), Michael Gaydos (guest artist), Troy Peteri (letters)

The Story: After the exceptionally traumatic events of the last few issues, Sara is ordered to see her Department’s psychiatrist. Following the appointment, she makes a trip to the cemetery to visit her sister’s grave, but runs into the master of the Darkness in the process.

What’s Good: As much as I absolutely loved last month’s one shot, it felt rather ill-timed and I’m very glad the focus is back where it belongs—on Sara’s quest to find and recover her daughter. Or at least her attempts to deal with the emotional and psychological fallout from the event.

Ordinarily the lack of actual action and plot progression in this issue would bother me, but Marz does such a fantastic job with the characterization, and his dialog sounds so real and is so moving, that keeping the action part of this story (at least temporarily) confined to the Artifacts title doesn’t do either book any harm. I’m not sure how long my patience will hold out on that front, but as long as Marz keeps his writing at this level, and as long as Artifacts continues to deliver solid plot progression, I don’t think I’ll have much to complain about.

I have to give special props to Michael Gaydos. I was extremely disappointed when I heard this issue would be drawn by a guest artist–especially after Stjepan Sejic’s bravura outing on #138—but Gaydos knocks this one out of the park. While his art is nothing like the hyper detailed, cover-worthy panels that are Sejic’s signature, Gaydos’ rough but expressive pencils and colors are perfect for this story. (His full page splash of Ground Zero in New York is one of the most beautiful and haunting renditions of that famous image I’ve seen.

What’s Not So Good: This is a nearly impeccable issue. If were to single out anything, it would be Sara’s rather odd desecration of Kenneth Irons’ tomb. It’s not a gratuitous scene, nor is it terribly out of character, but the transition from Sara mourning at her sister’s grave, to her tearing apart a mausoleum feels forced and awkward. I understand that pages and panels are limited, but spending a little extra time on that tone shift would have made things a bit smoother.

Conclusion: Can I just say how much I love Witchblade lately, and Top Cow’s direction in general? Compelling storytelling, beautiful artwork and dynamic characters make this a series not to be missed.

Grade: A

-SoldierHawk

Filed under: Image Comics, Top Cow Tagged: | Witchblade, Ron Marz, Michael Gaydos, Comic Book Reviews, Weekly Comic Book Review, Troy Peteri, Witchblade #139 review, Witchblade #139

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by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Stuart Immonen (pencils), Wade von Grawbadger (inks), Laura Martin & Rain Beredo (colors), and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story: A mystically roided up Wolverine takes on Agamotto for the fate of the universe.

What’s Good: This arc has bothered in a way; Bendis seems so intent on convincing us of the scale and stakes of this conflict but, perhaps due to the facelessness of the bad guys, I never quite bought into it.  Last month’s issue promised a mystic battle of epic proportions, yet again, but this time, we get an issue that truly delivers on that.  New Avengers #6 is just as big in scope and action as it promises to be.

The duel between Wolverine and Agamotto is well done, with Agamotto taking on various forms from the Marvel Universe and Wolverine’s past.  It feels explosive and, well, powerful and in that sense, it does what it’s meant to.  What really helps out the duel, however, is how Bendis emphasizes the Avengers team and keeps it from being just “Wolverine vs. Agamotto.”  By watching the battle, showing concern, and giving support, the battle with Agamotto instead feels like a team effort by friends and, as such, it becomes a lot easier to root for Wolverine and emotionally invest in the battle itself.  It’s one of those situations where Bendis is really able to highlight the chemistry this team has.

The conclusion of the conflict will no doubt be a source of some controversy, but the event itself is well done.  Bendis delivers on his promise of a major character death and, all told, it’s done in good taste.  The character goes out in truly heroic fashion and it feels appropriately important and massive in scale.  Better still, it leaves behind a new and very compelling villain.  It also leads to an excellent final page where Daimon Hellstrom wonderfully sums up who the New Avengers are and what makes them unique as a team.

The real star this month, however, is Stuart Immonen.  His action scenes are as exciting as ever and his characters are, as always, very likable.  What’s really awesome though is how he alters his style when depicting Wolverine’s duel, which is rendered in a really awesome, almost painted feel.

What’s Not So Good: Yeah, that character death.  As I say, the event itself is a blast to read and it’s all very tastefully done, but it’s hard not to be miffed at just who gets killed.

I’ll try my best not to give it away, but it’s a character that had so much potential.  Worse still, Marvel, Bendis in particular, ironically enough, have done so much to build the character up over the last year or so that killing the character off now seems almost like a betrayal.  Perhaps this will be a short absence for the Avenger, which would admittedly be a bit more acceptable, but right now, it feels as though Marvel didn’t know what to do with the guy/girl, so just pushed him/her off the table.

I also found Ben’s dialogue to be a little off this month.  Ben has a very distinctive voice, so much so that Bendis can’t get away with having him say throwaway lines that sound exactly like any other character.  He may be able to get away with that now and then with some of the other Avengers, but not Ben.

Conclusion: Mixed feelings about that death aside, this is a fun issue that provides a strong finish to an at times uneven arc.

Grade: B

-Alex Evans

Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews Tagged: | Spider-Man, Marvel Comics, Iron Fist, Danny Rand, Avengers, Fantastic Four, Brian Bendis, Stuart Immonen, New Avengers, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Wolverine, Ms. Marvel, Peter Parker, The Thing, Brian Michael Bendis, Mockingbird, Comic Book Reviews, Marvel Universe, Dr. Strange, Weekly Comic Book Review, comic reviews, Ben Grimm, Alex Evans, Victoria Hand, Eye of Agamotto, Dr. Voodoo, Heroic Age, Bobbi Morse, Daimon Hellstrom, Marvel mystic, Avengers Mansion, Agamotto, New Avengers #6, New Avengers #6 review

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By: Scott Snyder (writer), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors), Steve Wands (letters) & Mark Doyle (editor)

The Story: Plots connect in a big way as Snyder starts to reveal more of his big concept vampire story.

What’s Good: Boom!  This was the issue that we were waiting for.  American Vampire has been consistently good, but it had been putting together a run of 8.5/10 quality issues that were almost boring to review.  How many times can you say, “The story was entertaining, the characterization is outstanding and the art is awesome”?  Reviewing monthly comics that are continually outstanding like Scalped or The Walking Dead can almost get dull because they are always good.  The biggest compliment that this reviewer can give American Vampire (the series) is that it has quickly entered that rarefied air where it hard to review.

But, every once in awhile, a really great series serves up a superlative issue and this is one of issues for American Vampire.

So, what makes this issue such hot stuff?  Let’s start with the way the Snyder is connecting the various plots elements that he has woven throughout this series and the Old West stories that Stephen King was telling in the first story arc.  One assumed that they would tie together nicely and we’ve had hints of that over the last few issues, but it is all pretty clear now and it is nice to see how the characters all fit.  Not only that, but the actual tying together was very elegantly done as Snyder smoothly took us back and forth between the stories.

What’s more, the bigger world is getting more and more interesting now that we have an ancient clan of vampire hunters and are learning that not only are there American vampires and Euro-vampires, but all sorts of other kinds of vampires and that they are at war with each other.  That means we have a whole mission of discovery to embark upon!  Very cool!

Rafael Albuquerque had to be fairly restrained in his art the last few issues.  Those issues were very good, but it was nice to see him let off the leash to draw some kick ass vampires in this issue.  On top of that, it is almost like drawing the vampires got Mr. Albuquerque excited because even the normal “talking heads” panels in this issue crackle just a little more than normal.  Nicely done.

What’s Not So Good: There really isn’t much to criticize.

Conclusion: Outstanding.  The story is interesting and well told and the art is spectacular.

Grade: A-

- Dean Stell

Filed under: Vertigo Tagged: | Vertigo, vampires, Dave McCaig, review, Steve Wands, Rafael Albuquerque, Dean Stell, American Vampire, Scott Snyder, American Vampire #8, Mark Doyle, American Vampire #8 review

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by Nick Spencer (writer), CAFU (pencils), BIT (inks), Santiago Arcas (colors), and Swands (letters)

The Story: We’re introduced to the world of the THUNDER Agents and their modus operandi.

What’s Good: I really wasn’t sure what to expect out of this book, but what I got was decidedly unique from anything offered by DC.  It’s very much a Nick Spencer book and feels sleek and modern much like a Marvel comic might, but still has that grain of DC kookiness.  It has the atmosphere of a spy-book and actually felt quite a bit like an answer from DC to Marvel’s Secret Warriors and, of course, the fact that I’m even making that comparison is a very good thing.  Honestly, as far as tone goes, I can’t remember reading a DC title quite like this.

There’s no mistaking that this issue is a high quality product on both the writing and art fronts.  As far as the writing goes, Spencer’s dialogue and plotting just feels smart.  It occasionally gets flowery in its dialogue, which is welcome, but it also carries the cold effiency and the crazy twists, turns, and back-and-forth conspiracies of a good spy yarn.  At times, the twists and the dialogue might strike some as a little too flashy or larger-than-life, but I loved every second of it.  It makes the book feel bold, exciting, and constantly intelligent, making for something far, far from your average, run-of-the-mill superhero comic.

CAFU also helps make the title stand out.  Despite this being a smaller property, CAFU gives the book a big comic feel.  His work is incredibly polished and slick and has a high-budget feel that looks distinct.  Combined with Arcas’ colors, the book also somewhat steers away from grittiness, opting instead for an inviting look with just the hint of a wacky, Doom Patrol feel.

What’s Not So Good: Nick Spencer makes a very daring creative decision with this first issue, and I don’t think it pays off, or at least not enough to justify it.  Basically, in order to better establish the world of the THUNDER Agents and the unique tone and hook of the book, the team itself actually never shows up outside of a final 3-page montage.  In fact, one of the four characters on the cover doesn’t even show up at all.  Of course, none of them have any dialogue and we really have no idea who any of them are or, even, what their names are.

This makes a first for me, as I can’t remember ever having read a first issue of a team book that didn’t have the actual team in it.  Spencer instead chooses to focus on the team’s previous members and the THUNDER Agent’s organization.  Problem is that even the support characters we do meet receive characterization that feels a little flat.

This, combined with our never meeting the main characters, makes it hard to really get a firm handhold or personal investment into this series.  There’s just nothing personal to grab a hold of, which isn’t a good thing for a first issue.  Honestly, this book feels like an extended #0, not a #1.  It’s very, very good as a #0, serving as a kind of preview or intro, but unfortunately, that’s not the purpose this should issue should have served.

Conclusion: A hard issue to grade, really.  It’s unmistakably a high quality product with excellent writing and artwork on a technical level, but it’s all marred by very odd creative decision.  I feel like I’m still waiting, albeit excitedly, for the first issue.

Grade: B -

-Alex Evans

Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews Tagged: | DC Comics, Frank Quitely, Comic Book Reviews, DC Universe, Weekly Comic Book Review, comic reviews, Alex Evans, Lightning, Nick Spencer, Cafu, THUNDER Agents, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, THUNDER Agents 1, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1, Higher United Nations, Dynamo, Spider, Tower comics, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 review

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By: Mike Carey & Peter Gross (creators), Vince Locke (inks on a few pages), Chris Chuckry (colors), Todd Klein (letters) & Pornsak Pichetshote (editor)

The Story: Our heroic trio takes their act to the States and we get more confusing background on the mysterious organization.

What’s Good: Peter Gross does a wonderful job with the art in this series.  It seems sad that we don’t mention it more because this series just doesn’t lend itself to sexy splash pages very often, but the panel-to-panel art is just nice and tight linework.  Every so often, Unwritten brings in a guest artist just to change up the look a little bit.  So, the 5 pages inked by Vince Locke are a real change and really do jiggle the look of the book, making it clear that we’re doing something new in that scene and that the reader should pay attention.

The story is also entering a new phase.  Tom Taylor now accepts that he is some kind of magical construct created by his “father” for reasons unclear.  And he has magic, even if he doesn’t really know how to control it.  Presumably, we’ll learn more about this power and why Wilson Taylor created Tom to fight this mysterious organization.

What’s Not So Good: This is several issues in a row of The Unwritten where the story had been confused.  Some of it is due to the plot becoming a bit complex.  They could fix that problem by simply adding a recap paragraph at the beginning of the issue.  Just do it.  Does Dan DiDio’s proclamation against recap pages extend to Vertigo?

But, the pacing also seems to be a bit of a problem as well.  Part of the reason that it is hard to remember specific plot points from issue to issue is that the action is darting around between scenes.  Some information is covered very quickly whereas some rather mundane character development scenes are driven into the ground.  And, speaking of character, of all the characters in the book, the main character (Tom Taylor) is the one who elicits the least feeling from the reader.  He is just kinda there and to the extent that you feel anything towards him, you probably think he’s a bit of a dick.  His companions are far more interesting and for this reason, when [SPOILER] Lizzie makes romantic with Tom in their hotel room, it was a little cringe worthy.  We like Lizzie, but recognize that she is emotionally damaged and seeing her making out with Tom (who is just a blah character) felt like catching someone taking advantage of your little sister.

I’m a huge defender of the single-issue comic book, but this story is getting to the point where it might read better in trade.

Conclusion: The story is now confusing and the splendid art can’t save it.  This is the worst issue of Unwritten so far and is actually subpar when compared to the hypothetical “average comic on the shelf”.  It makes me sad because I’ve had a soft spot for this series since it launched, so I hope it improves.

Grade: C-

- Dean Stell Filed under: Vertigo Tagged: | Vertigo, Mike Carey, Chris Chuckry, review, Comic Book Reviews, Weekly Comic Book Review, Todd Klein, Peter Gross, The Unwritten, Dean Stell, the Unwritten #19, Vince Locke, Pornsak Pichetshote, The Unwritten #19 review

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By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Dustin Nguyen (penciller), Derek Fridolfs (inks), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: We get a history of the Bat-world as a visually-cool expository lump at the beginning of the issue. Then, into Steph’s problems fitting into college life and then her action as Batgirl, chasing that nut-case grad student who made those sci-fi vampires last issue. Weird thing is, he’s being chased by some robed people and let’s just say that Steph gets a little too close.

What’s Not So Good: I thought I’d start on the negatives with this review, just because the visuals really make or break a story for me. It doesn’t matter how good the writing, plotting or characterization is; if the lines and colors on the page don’t work for me, the writer’s craftsmanship never even gets tested. I felt that was about this issue. We’ve been relatively spoiled on this series with some pretty consistent and competent artwork through the first year by Garbett and Scott. Nguyen and Fridolfs on the Batgirl art chores didn’t work for me. Stephanie became stylized, unattractive and older. In costume, her proportions seemed wrong (check out a couple panels of long, stick legs) and the faces and textures reminded me of Giffen’s work when he was inking his own pencils on the early Ambush Bug stuff– unattractive. I also found it a bit disappointing that there were a bunch of panels bereft of background. If I’m shelling out $2.99, please give me all the art I’m due, unless there’s a stylistic or storytelling reason not to do the backgrounds. I couldn’t think of any for this story, but I might not have all the answers.

What’s Good: Major’s color work was good, especially the red skies of Gotham and the lurid bat-signal. On writing, Miller has Stephanie Brown tone perfect and has reinforced the book by bringing Oracle back. These are, I think, the two important pieces to the vitality of this series: Steph’s self-deprecating thirst for acceptance and adulthood, and Oracle’s mentorship. I got pretty worried when Oracle took a powder. I’m ready to let Proxy go back to wherever she came from, although this issue she served as a handy excuse for Miller to make this issue accessible to new readers. Smart move, and it was fun enough that someone who’s been following Gotham’s news for a couple of years didn’t find it slow.

Conclusion: Miller has begun some clever story work. I’d say for now that it’s worth buying at this price, but if the current art team stays on, I may slide Batgirl off my pull list. Mike Marts: Please send back Garbett and Scott!

Grade: C+

-DS Arsenault

Filed under: DC Comics Tagged: | DC Comics, Dustin Nguyen, Guy Major, Derek Fridolfs, Comics, Reviews, comic books, Comic Book Reviews, Weekly Comic Book Review, Oracle, comic reviews, Lee Garbett, Trevor Scott, Gotham, DS Arsenault, Bryan Q. Miller, Barbara Gordon, Stephanie Brown, Mike Marts, Proxy, Batgirl #15, Batgirl #15 review

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By: Dan Slott (writer), Humberto Ramos (pencils), Carlos Cuevas (inks), Edgar Delgado (colors), Joe Caramanga (letters) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

Spider-Girl back-up by: Paul Tobin (writer), Clayton Henry (art), Chris Sotomayor (colors), Joe Caramanga (letters) & Nathan Crosby (editor)

The Story: Spidey enters the Big Time with Avengers action that was better than anything that has been in the actual Avengers comics, science prowess, love and a new job.

What’s Good: This is the perfect Marvel comic book.  It has everything: Iconic character?  Check.  Big action?  Check.  Guest stars that make sense for the story?  Check.  Good characterization?  Check.  Creative use of classic villains?  Check.  Outstanding art?  Check.  Friendly to a new reader while not dumbing it down for long-timers?  Check.   Absence of decompressed storytelling and endless talking heads?  Check.  And this is the biggie…  Feels tied into today’s Marvel Universe?  BIG CHECK.

This comic really has it all.  What makes Spider-Man special are the contrasts.  In this issue we see him function as an Avenger, issuing orders (in typical “aw shucks” mode) to Thor and Iron-Man and using his genius-level brain to solve a problem that is befuddling Reed Richards and Tony Stark.  But, after this reminder of what a powerful hero Spider-Man is, we see that Peter Parker is broke and has nowhere to sleep.  Not even his friends really want to let him crash because he’s gone to the well too often.

What makes Peter special is that he COULD be Tony Stark and have the riches and women, but his sense of responsibility to be Spider-Man requires him to make sacrifices that make his private life so painful.  When is the last time that Tony Stark stood up a dinner date because he was beating up muggers?  This is why we cheer for Peter Parker and love it when things occasionally go right for him.  And they do start to swing his way in this issue….in a big way.  Not that it’ll last, but we can enjoy the moment.  As we transition from the Spidey “brain trust” of rotating writers to Dan Slott doing all the writing, it is so nice to see how clearly Slott understands why Spidey is special.

Humberto Ramos’ art is up to the task of telling this story with Slott.  Between he and Cuevas (on inks) they have made a really nice looking comic.  The characters are very nicely drawn in a cartooning style that works so much better for superheroes than any sort of photorealism.  There is great variety of line thickness, perspective, panel and layouts.  It is also very nice how they do the little things like not abusing splash pages and breaking panel borders in effective ways.  Bravo.

But what really sets this issue apart is that it happens NOW.  The story references daylight savings time (which happened last weekend).  It references recent story lines in Avengers, FF and Doomwar.  It references material from earlier issues of ASM and has copious editorial boxes referencing earlier issues.  Among the many things killing single issue comics is that they do not feel like they’re happening now or even in the same universe.  Kudos to Slott and the editorial staff for making an effort to be current with other Marvel stories and connecting the dots!  That’s especially important as Marvel seems to be sticking with a $3.99 price, because they need to make their comics better.  Better means a more coherent universe and less decompressed storytelling.

Finally, the Spider-Girl back-up is in no way dwarfed by the excellence of the main story.  That seems a tough task, but if you’ve read Tobin’s work on the Marvel Adventures book, you know he is a very good story teller.  Make sure to check out that title when it debuts next week.

What’s Not So Good: Not much.  It’s a shame to seem Michelle (the roommate) exit stage left.  And why didn’t Norah have a tie on?  Thought that was her trademark?  Those are the biggest quibbles with this issue.

Conclusion: Perfect comic book.  For those bitching about $3.99 comics, you won’t mind if they are all this good.

Grade: A

- Dean Stell

Filed under: Marvel Comics Tagged: | Dan Slott, Humberto Ramos, Marvel, Amazing Spider-Man, Chris Sotomayor, Edgar Delgado, Joe Caramagna, review, Comic Book Reviews, Weekly Comic Book Review, Clayton Henry, Paul Tobin, Dean Stell, Stephen Wacker, Amazing Spider man 648, Carlos Cuevas, Nathan Crosby, Amazing Spider-Man #648 review

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Writers: Ed Brubaker, Peter David, Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost, and Mike Carey

Pencilers: Mark Silvestri, Billy Tan, Scot Eaton, Humberto Ramos, and Chris Bachalo

There probably will be spoilers in this about the entire Messiah Trilogy. Thou hath been warned!

Last week I wrote about Endangered Species and how it set the tone for Messiah Trilogy and everything that follows. Now it’s time to get into the real meat of the Messiah Trilogy with the crossover event Messiah Complex.  Rereading this for probably the 100th time, I can say this right off the bat—it still gets better with every read. Complex is simply one of the best stories to have come out in comics in years. Out of all the major events in the past ten years, I honestly hold Messiah Complex as the best. Does it have its faults? Of course. Every story no matter how well told will always have a few glitches, no matter how minor. But just looking at the entire Messiah saga, Complex has the strongest writing and the strongest art (Well, Messiah War has fantastic art, but it’s not exactly the same. Next week…next week). So before we get into the story and how it works in this trilogy as a whole—and the implications of some of the scenes/motifs—let’s look at this awesome creative team.

First off, did you see that list of writers? If that’s not a perfect group of writers, then I don’t know what is. Just going by these names, anyone who picks up this graphic novel should know that they’re in for a great read. Each writer is great—and more importantly, they’re consistent. Of course it’s important for a writer to stand out on their own, but in a crossover—especially one as big as Messiah Complex and the later Second Coming, consistency in style and tone is extremely important. It may be five writers, but the story should read one. The reader should not notice a change in writers, and the fact that Brubaker and company were able to do this not only proves how talented they are, but also show their ability to work with other great writers—knowing when to pick up traits or possibly give suggestions—and create a great story as one. In one of the two sequels to Messiah Complex, we’ll definitely see instances of one writer not wanting to play with the others because the abrupt shifts in characterization and tone scream at the reader (I’ll keep you guessing for now, but I’m sure most of you know which story I’m talking about).  I am all for individuality, and if you read all these writers’ respective books, you can get that. But seeing so many talented people working together is one of the biggest treats of the book.

A similar rule applies to the art, but not to the same degree. For the most part, I don’t think that new readers will see much a difference between Tan, Silvestri, Eaton, and Bachalo—but Ramos certainly sticks out. For new readers, this can be distracting until they’ve read it enough or have read enough comics to pick up the more subtle differences between the other artists. Once that distinction is made, the pairing of artist to series makes a lot of sense. Each series—New X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, and X-Men—had different functions. Uncanny set the groundwork for each act, and Billy Tan’s artwork is certainly the most defined. X-Factor developed the act and generally took it into darker territories, Eaton’s art and the inker carried that through. The New X-Men chapters always served as the penultimate to each act where something pretty crazy would build up, and Ramos’s style fits perfectly to that. And finally, in the X-Men chapter, we have the closure of each act, but left with a little uncertainty, Bachalo brings that feeling.

But let’s get into the actual story and how it works for the Messiah Trilogy. Obviously, Messiah Complex is the most important chapter as it gives the most important character—the mutant messiah baby, who as of right now, doesn’t even have a name (she gets her name in the Cable series). From Endangered Species, we know just how impossible a new mutant would be, so when Cerebra freaks out because of a mutant birth, then it’s a very big deal. And everyone is trying to get this baby. The Mauraders (Sinister’s folk) and Purifiers have an all out war trying to get the baby first, and the X-Men arrive at the scene barely 30 minutes late, after an entire town has been destroyed. But neither the Mauraders or the Purifiers have the child—Cable got to the baby first. He just needs to regroup with the X-Men and all will be well, right? Not so much. Before Messiah Complex, it turned out that half of his team were traitors. Oh, and then Bishop, one of his allies on the X-Men, begins to hunt him down to kill the baby. And then there’s that small matter of Cyclops—Cable’s own father—putting together a task force to reclaim the baby and kill his son. So, Cable’s trust in the X-Men is a little short. But everything is made clear to both Cable and Cyclops, and Cyclops decides to trust in his son, sending him and the newborn baby into the future. Oh, there’s also a giant metallic dinosaur thing hunting them the entire time too, not to mention Jamie Madrox and Layla Miller being sent to the future to investigate what the Messiah Child meant for mutant kind, and Xavier is shot in the head by Bishop.

So, Predator X—this seems like the most random element of the story, and it could easily be mistaken for something thrown in just to make the story more “cool.” It actually serves a very important purpose. No matter how much Cyclops prepares—and most people will remember this story as the story where Cyclops grew a pair—there will always be something he just can’t anticipate. Like a 2 ton metal dinosaur that eats mutants trying to snack on the newborn messiah baby. Every player in Messiah Complex has an endgame. Bishop wants to make sure his future doesn’t happen. Cable knows that the Messiah child will ultimately save everyone, and wants to bring her away from the madness. Sinister and Mauraders…well, it’s not entirely clear, but it’s obvious that this baby is going to be extremely powerful—why wouldn’t they want it? Mystique wants the baby because in a prophecy by Destiny, she learns that the baby will save Rogue, her dying daughter—and Mystique nearly kills the baby to do this. The Purifiers want to kill the baby so that they can squash the mutant species. And the X-Men want their savior. What does Predator X want? A snack. Predator X is chaos on four legs with some fierce teeth. There is no way to prepare for that except to fight it head on. Literally—Wolverine jumped into this thing’s mouth to gut it from the inside out.

About the future—this is actually an important theme to the Messiah Trilogy. In Endangered Species, Beast went to Forge who built a device to monitor the future, showing that in all futures, there are no more mutants. In Messiah Complex, two possible futures spring up. This is what gives Cyclops the hope he needs to make the impossible decisions (like sending Wolverine to kill his son). So why not take a man who can be in three places at one and send two of his dupes into the possible futures? Granted, they didn’t expect the ten year old (or however old she was at this point) Layla Miller to stowaway with one of the dupes. We only see one of the two possible futures, in which mutants are put in camps. It’s Bishop’s future, and after a horrifying experience, Madrox returns—without Layla—to the present to warn them. Of course he’s too late, but at least Cyclops knows it wasn’t his son who caused the sentinels guarding the mansion to turn on them (oh yeah, that happened too—seriously, a lot happens in this story). Going into the future will actually be an important factor in each part of the trilogy. Messiah War, takes place entirely in the future, and in Second Coming, X-Force must go to the future to save the present.  And of course, Messiah Complex ends with Cable and the baby going into the future. This is where a plot device works very well as a metaphor. What is the Messiah Trilogy truly about? The future. It’s about a hopeless cause finally having the chance to survive and actually have a future. In Endangered Species, where there was no hope, there were no futures. But now that there is hope, one can dream of the future. And in the comic world, why just dream of the future? Why not go there?

Finally, there’s the apparent death of Professor X at the hands of Bishop. Of course, he doesn’t die—but his body disappearing in the last frame is kind of weird. Cyclops actually declares at that point that there are no X-men anymore. But why? Why end this story of hope with the temporary disbanding of the heroes? Why end it with the father of the X-Men dead on the ground? Wasn’t this supposed to be a story about hope being rekindled? Yet here we have the heroes giving up, and the next page is Cable and the baby alone in the future with Cable telling her it’s only going to get harder. What happened to the hope? Yes, a mutant baby has arrived, and there is hope, but not much. Hope must be saved for later. The X-Men are only at the beginning of a very dark time. The ending of each story is very important to how we will feel when the trilogy does end. If Endangered Species, Messiah Complex, and Messiah War all ended with hope, then how could Second Coming actually end? The entire trilogy and lead-in was crafted in a very effective way to tease hope to us. That’s why Endangered Species ended with Beast literally burying his species and why Messiah Complex ends with the X-Men giving up on the dream that Xavier carried for so long. And Cyclops especially had to give up this dream if he was ever going to find a way to truly lead his people. As he eventually says to Xavier: “you had a dream, I have a plan.” Cyclops had to stop dreaming of the future and start planning for it. Next week, I’ll discuss the ending of Messiah War.

There are two more things that deserve mentioning, both having to deal with death. In the course of the events, Caliban, a mutant tracker who can locate any mutant, dies protecting Warpath. Again, the X-writers chose the best character for this. Sure, Caliban wasn’t the most important of X-men, but take a look at his power—he finds mutants. His death symbolizes that they are never going to find new mutants or a cure for M-Day, as Beast tried so hard to do. Instead, mutants will arrive unexpectedly as the baby did.

And lastly—and big spoiler warning if you haven’t read Second Coming—the first face that they focus on in the crossover is none other than Nightcrawler, who perishes in the third part of the trilogy. What’s amazing about this is it shows that the story was indeed writing itself. At this point, the writers weren’t planning on killing Nightcrawler—and we’ll talk more about his death in a couple weeks—but for some reason, Silvestri and Brubaker decided that the first face we needed to focus on was Kurt’s—who represents faith in the X-verse. It’s a bit of dramatic irony that it starts with Kurt. This also proves that the trilogy is worth rereading. There are a dozen little connections like this that maybe the writers planned and maybe they didn’t. But when you read the entire trilogy and open it up again to see the face of a beloved character that died? It ties it all together in a beautiful way.

Next week we’ll get into the heavily criticized Messiah War—the “Two Towers” installment of the trilogy. Until then, I’m going to ice my hands. I think this may have been one of the longest reviews I’ve written. Thanks for reading my crazy ideas.

-Roman Colombo Filed under: Marvel Comics, The Graphic Novel Reader Tagged: | X-Men, Humberto Ramos, Chris Bachalo, Ed Brubaker, Mike Carey, Craig Kyle, X-Force, Peter David, Christopher Yost, Cable, Billy Tan, X-Men: Second Coming, Roman Colombo, X-Men Messiah Complex, X-Men Messiah War, Mark Silvestri

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By Gail Simone (writer), Alvin Lee and Adriana Melo (pencils), Jack Purcell and JP Mayer (inks), Nei Ruffino (letters)

The Story: Black Canary is forced to issue a challenge to Shiva, a fight Dinah is almost certain she won’t be able to survive. This crisis is replaced by another equally vexing one when Huntress steps in and makes the challenge in her stead.

What’s Good: First, let me say how refreshing it is to have a small, two-issue arc like this. Not that epic five and six issue arcs are bad, but it seems like every book I read lately is going that route, so a nice, simple short story (albeit one that I’m sure leads into bigger things) is very much appreciated.

I really enjoyed the way Simone handled Huntress in this issue. The way she sees herself vs. Black Canary is unexpectedly moving (although I really wish they had used a line other than the overly blatant, “you have people who love and need you…I don’t.” Wee bit oversimplified and emotionally manipulative for my taste), and it also nails Huntress’ protective and impulsive nature very well.

The climactic fight between Huntress and Shiva is quite good and very well scripted; it’s a great example of a comic book fight scene done right. Simone and Lee/Melo make sure that the reader knows where all participants are at all times, and that each panel flows logically from one to the next. That’s starting to feel like a lost art, and I’m glad to see it well executed here. Clearly, Simone and her art team are on the same page.

What’s Not So Good: Not many; this was a very solid and exciting issue. I have to say though, Huntress ordering, “go get me my work clothes,” followed by a panel of her zipping herself into her hilariously tight and skimpy costume had me rolling on the floor. Only in the comics do “work clothes” involve putting on less than what you are currently wearing. Batman can get away with a line like that; Huntress, not so much.

Conclusion: While it still doesn’t reach the heights of Secret Six or Simone’s early Wonder Woman issues, this is still a very well executed book filled with great character moments and an excellent fight scene. Despite the fact that this issue closes a story arc, it’s not a bad place to go if you aren’t familiar with the Birds of Prey; this issue is a better introduction to them and their various quirks than #1 was.

Grade: B-

-SoldierHawk

Filed under: DC Comics Tagged: | Gail Simone, Adriana Melo, Comic Book Reviews, Weekly Comic Book Review, Nei Ruffino, Jack Purcell, Birds of Prey, Alvin Lee, JP Mayer, Birds of Prey #6 review, Birds of Prey #6

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By: J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Brian Ching (pencils), Rick Ketcham (inks), Rob Schwager (colors), Simon Bowland (letters) & Mark Paniccia (editor)

The Story: Thor engages in cosmic-level battle with Oblivion before falling to Earth as an amnesiac Donald Blake and being taken in by a beautiful widow.  Together they will find healing.

What’s Good: If you feel like Thor is too strong to be on Earth because he would break things if he really unloaded with his full might, you’ll probably enjoy the first part of this issue.  Here we see Thor as his cosmic best, doing battle with Oblivion, a cosmic entity who is in league with the Chaos King.  This portion of the issue is really good cosmic action.  It has BIG scenes, bright colors and Thor standing alone against a real heavy hitter.  It also allows the art team to shine, especially the colors from Schwagner.  Cosmic action is all about the colors.  Just think how nice these comics will look digitally instead of printed on cheap paper!

The best thing about this issue is the art.  It is really nice.  It is just a shame that the story isn’t better.

What’s Not So good: As good as the first half of this comic is, it is unnecessary tie-in to the Chaos War event.  Tie-ins are very difficult to do well.  If they are too central to the main story, you are abusing the readers who just read the main event.  But, if they are too disconnected (as this comic is), it just feels like, “In case you were curious, this is the detail on the fight that Thor was in that we didn’t have time to show you in the main Chaos War.”

The second half of the story just doesn’t work at all.  Although he is victorious (I think) against Oblivion, Thor is struck down to Earth where he lands in the snowy, North Carolina mountains and is found naked and not remembering his own name by a beautiful widow who is suffering from the loss of her family.  This could be the plot for a romance novel.  It is also intensely frustrating to have major characters doing things like this that have NO EFFECT in the other Marvel Universe comics.  Of course, we should be used to it, but this amnesiac episode is probably not going to feature in the pages of Thor or the Avengers.  These tertiary titles really need to give storytelling right-of-way to the major titles.  This is the editor’s fault.

This comic also has two flaws from a basic “how to do comics” standpoint.  First, the majority of the story is told via wordy narration boxes.  Perhaps that isn’t technically “wrong”, but it is boring.  Second, it doesn’t do a good job of telling us the names of the bad guys.  If you aren’t familiar with Oblivion, you might not know “who” it is that Thor is fighting.  The name does appear once in a narration box, but so do a lot of other bold and italicized words that could be the name for a cosmic entity.  Then on the final page, Donald and the lovely widow are confronted by some demonic nasty thing.  It is presented as if we should know what this thing is.  For a book that is rife with narration boxes, why not have one to explain what this critter is?

Conclusion: This is why we don’t buy event tie-ins. And that’s a shame because Chaos War proper is really good, so there was hope that the tie-ins would be of high quality also.  This comic just needed a little stronger editorial control and if this was the best story they could come up with for Thor’s role in the Chaos War, they should have just skipped it.  In this economy, with single-issue comic sales going into the toilet, it is amazing that Marvel continues to shovel things at the wall to see what sticks.

Grade: D-

- Dean Stell

Filed under: Marvel Comics Tagged: | Marvel, Thor, Rob Schwager, review, Comic Book Reviews, Weekly Comic Book Review, Simon Bowland, J.M. Dematteis, Dean Stell, Mark Paniccia, Brian Ching, Chaos War, Rick Ketcham, Chaos War: Thor #1, Chaos War: Thor #1 review

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By: Eric Wallace (writer), Fabrizio Fiorentino (art), Rex Ogle (editor)

The Story: Family Reunions, Part 2: There’s a whole lot of fighting by a lot of people in this book. Does any of it matter? No. The show-stealing action is the Dick Grayson-Wilson Slade fight. Slap down!

What’s Good: It’s been a while since I’ve picked up a Titans book and I’m glad I opened this one up. There’s a lot of history between Slade and Grayson. The wrinkle this timer is that Dick is in the Batman suit. Wallace and Fiorentino both draw out that history into awesomely bloody conflict. Could Robin have handled Slade in the old days? Nope. Can he now? Slade is certainly surprised by how Dick has grown. The fight shows us how much. He’s more flexible and adaptive now, despite having a base fighting style that Slade is still able to exploit. Fiorentino’s art is beautiful, evocative and clear, especially for all the action. The poses are dynamic without being too exaggerated. The camera angles are effective and the fight moves surprising. Check out Slade taking down Dick’s high-kick. The action elsewhere in the book was fun, but I really tuned in for Dick Grayson, who is really near the top of my list of favorite characters.

What’s Not So Good: I found the blood a bit gratuitous and not quite following the laws of physics or material sciences (it came through Wilson’s mask). Fiorentino also has a weird way of looking at light and shadows that makes some of his scenes look like the light source is omnidirectional. Check out the big double-splash page where Arsenal is in a gooey bind. The light is coming from everywhere. The shadows (the few that there are) don’t seem attached to anything. I think the art also suffered from a lack of backgrounds. A large proportion of the panels had the action happening in some sort of visual ether. So while the stuff that was drawn was pretty good, as a comic reader, I want more of a visual experience than I got from this book.

Conclusion: You only need one reason to tune into this book and it’s the Grayson-Slade slap-down. Sit back in your easy-boys and enjoy it!

Grade: C+

-DS Arsenault

Filed under: DC Comics Tagged: | Batman, DC Comics, Reviews, comic books, Comic Book Reviews, Weekly Comic Book Review, comic reviews, Dick Grayson, DS Arsenault, Rex Ogle, Titans #29, Titans #29 review, Wilson Slade, EWric Wallace, Fabrizio Fiorentino

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by Jeff Lemire (writer & artist), Jose Villarrubia (colors), and Pat Brousseau (letters)

The Story: Jepperd and the hybrid cultists prepare for war, Gus makes good his escape, and Singh and Abbott unearth some secrets about Gus’ family.

What’s Good: This is one hell of an issue and the best issue of Sweet Tooth to come around in a while, and that’s saying a lot.  It perfectly mixes big events/reveals with build-up for future issues that, all told, leaves the series at a fever pitch with more momentum and excitement behind it than ever before.  What has often been a slower, quieter, thoughtful series is suddenly transformed, for the time being, into a rollicking and absolutely riveting thriller of a book.

There’s so much to like about this book.  First and foremost is the change in Gus.  While his childhood innocence is still there, he has emerged as a natural leader.  His relationship to his fellow hybrid escapees is sincere and genuine, but he’s also clearly the one they look to.  Gus almost ends up like a weird, dark kind of Peter Pan, leading a band of isolated children through a strange world filled with murderous adult figures.  It’s up to Gus to call the shots, and, more important, instill hope and comfort to his group and the results are a wonderful read.

The big events, however, relate to what Singh and Abbott dig up at Gus’ old home.  It hints at very interesting things to come for the series but, more than that, it lends the book an almost supernatural, or at least speculative, tone.  During these scenes, and the book’s amazingly written montage conclusion, Singh narrates by reading from Gus’ father’s “bible.”  This bizarre book actually reads like a legitimate holy book, written specifically for Sweet Tooth’s world.  It’s filled with the appropriate metaphors and language, but it carries a very eerie prophetic power.  It leads one to wonder whether there were some powers at work in Gus’ father’s work.  Even if not, this narration, and this bible as a whole, lends the book a very, very ominous and downright chilling tone.  More than that, it makes this issue and the events it builds feel important.  The last few pages will have you starving for the next issue, which is not generally something Lemire has focused on in Sweet Tooth.

The weird sense of the supernatural doesn’t just extend to the “bible” however.  There’s also a shared dream sequence between Jepperd and Gus.  It not only highlights the characters’ unique bond (doing so purely through wordless images and symbolism), but it gives the issue a sense of strangeness.  I don’t expect there ever to be telepathic explanations, but that only makes the sequence all the more effective and unsettling.  It’s all key to the atmosphere of Sweet Tooth and Lemire’s unique storytelling.

What’s Not So Good: Admittedly, with so much going on, the issue’s overall structure is a little ramshackle.  The transitions between ordinary scenes, to narrated scenes or montages, to a sudden and lengthy wordless dream sequence is a bit hammered together.  I think it’s really just the fact that Lemire switches so rapidly between three very different methods of storytelling: standard comics dialogue, narration, and images alone, and the fact that all three of these methods are kept isolated from one another and in their own, lengthy portions doesn’t really make for the most cohesive whole.

Conclusion: Mr. Lemire, you make good comics.  The best issue of Sweet Tooth in a while.

Grade: A-

-Alex Evans

Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews, Vertigo Tagged: | DC Comics, Jose Villarrubia, Comic Book Reviews, Weekly Comic Book Review, Jeff Lemire, comic reviews, Vertigo Comics, Alex Evans, Abbott, Sweet Tooth, Gus, Jepperd, hybrid, Singh, Sweet Tooth #15, Sweet Tooth #15 review

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By: Kieron Gillen (writer), Salvador Espin (art), Jim Charalampidis (colors) & Dave Sharpe (letters)

The Story: Hope and her new entourage (a.k.a. the “Four Lights”) head to Tokyo to meet a budding mutant with a bad disposition who they hope will be the fifth light.

What’s Good: Hope.  That is the only really good thing about this issue.  She has become a pretty important character as various X-writers have developed her over the last ~3 years and she has been central to that last three big X-events (Messiah Complex, Messiah War & Second Coming).  So, it is nice to see the spotlight shine on her a little bit as a central character without the story being about everyone trying to kill her.

Espin’s art is quite good in places.  He has a couple of odd moments with Wolverine and Cyclops (who look 28 years old), but the art is just fine and good in places.

What’s Not So Good: Many things… This is just a problematic story and concept.  It is understandable that Hope needs page-time.  She is a potential big-time character and we all CLAIM to want new characters, so Marvel must use her somewhere.  And the existing X-books are so crowded that she would have to be included at some other character’s expense.  But, it isn’t clear that she’s going to be a good enough character yet to carry an on-going series.

Marvel may realize that because Hope is still running around with Rogue.  That teacher/pupil relationship has a lot of potential, except that Rogue is filling a very similar role in X-Men Legacy.  So, why not just plug Hope into Legacy and give that title some more juice?

Marvel may have realized that having Rogue on-board was not enough, so when Hope and the Lights get to Tokyo, they are met by none other than Cyclops and Wolverine.  Really???  Does Wolverine have to be in this book too?  Why couldn’t you send Colossus or Storm and say, “Cyclops is really busy leading the mutant race and Wolverine is on 2 Avengers teams!”  Or why not do something inspired and send Dr. Nemesis so he can study the new mutants?

And given that this final “light” is pretty hostile, why are the four newbie mutants being sent into harm’s way?  Especially with Cyclops on-site?  Wouldn’t Cyclops say, “Rogue and Hope! What the hell are these kids doing here?  They are the first new mutants we’ve seen in years.  Take them back to Utopia immediately!  Logan is going to physically carry Hope and rub her on this new mutant so we can all go home.”  Hell, Cyclops barely trusts Cannonball to be involved in missions and he’s been around for 30 years.

Conclusion: Hope is a potential star, but so many problems are solved by just rolling Hope into X-Men Legacy.  I guess Marvel wants to keep Gillen busy and acclimate him to the X-universe since he is taking over co-writing duties on Uncanny X-Men in a few months, but this probably wasn’t the way to do it.

Grade: D

- Dean Stell

Filed under: Marvel Comics Tagged: | X-Men, Marvel, Wolverine, Cyclops, review, Comic Book Reviews, Weekly Comic Book Review, Dave Sharpe, Kieron Gillen, Dean Stell, Generation Hope, Generation Hope #1, Salvador Espin, Jim Charalampidis, Generation Hope #1 review, X-Men Hope

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By: Fred Van Lente, Zeb Wells, Bob Gale, Joe Kelly, Mark Waid, Marc Guggenheim & Dan Slott (writers), Max Fiumara, Michael Del Mundo, Karl Kesel, J.M. Ken Niimura, Paul Azaceta, Graham Nolan, Mark Pennington & Adam Archer (art), Morry Hollowell & Antonio Fabela (colors) & J.M. Ken Niimura & Joe Caramanga (letters)

The Story: Brand New Day and the thrice monthly Amazing Spider-Man goes out with a bang and each of the writers (and many of the artists) who were part of BND get to play.

What’s Good: These oversized ASM issues are just gold.  In addition to the “main story” by Fred Van Lente, there are all sorts of short stories that will scratch just about every itch a Spidey-fan might have.  Of the short stories, the winner is probably the fun Norah Winters story by Joe Kelly with art by the very unique J.M. Ken Niimura.  But, there are all sorts of short stories in this issue and although they are all different, they all show just how central Spider-Man is to Marvel’s NYC and the people who live there.

But, the star of the issue is the main story by FVL.  Van Lente is one of the best writers that Marvel has, that doesn’t seem to be settled into one of the major titles.  The guy is so versatile and funny and never cranks out a stinker.  This story is focused squarely on the love life of Peter Parker and his inability to make a move on Carlie Cooper.  Peter’s love life is so central to the tale of Spider-Man and FVL does a great job of capturing the essence of Peter’s problem.  He has no luck with the ladies, but he never has any shortage of smart, attractive and available women hovering around his life.  If he could just get his act together, he could go far and that is the story of this issue.  FVL also gets bonus points for having Spidey fighting crime in a cheap Spider-Man Halloween costume.  Brilliant!

Artwise, this is a really strong issue.  With that set of artists, it is all over the map in terms of style, but none of it is bad.

What’s Not So Good: It is a real shame that BND is over.  Clearly an almost weekly Spider-Man book was an editorial nightmare and those editors deserve a round of applause.  But it was very nice to have ONE Spider-Man book to buy and one hopes that going to a bi-weekly schedule will not mean the launch of a secondary Spider-title.

No other complaints about this issue.  BND was a real winner, especially over the last 50 issues.  The only turd was One Moment In Time which we must heap scorn upon once more.  Other than that, it was just golden Spider-Man comics and it’ll be sorely missed.

Conclusion: Brand New Day goes out in style, letting most of the creators and characters that had a role get a chance at the spotlight.  Hopefully Big Time will prove a deserving successor to this excellence.

Grade: B+

- Dean Stell

Filed under: Marvel Comics Tagged: | Dan Slott, Marvel, Amazing Spider-Man, Fred Van Lente, Marc Guggenheim, Adam Archer, Karl Kesel, Mark Waid, Paul Azaceta, Bob Gale, Antonio Fabela, Zeb Wells, Joe Caramagna, review, Comic Book Reviews, Morry Hollowell, Weekly Comic Book Review, Mark Pennington, Joe Kelly, Max Fiumara, Dean Stell, Michael Del Mundo, J.M. Ken Niimura, Graham Nolan, Amazing Spider-Man #647, Amazing Spider-Man #647 review

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Oct 26th 2010 By: David Uzumeri

Today, Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods -- the feature-length documentary by Respect! Films, directed by Patrick Meaney -- was supposed to drop but seems to not be available until December 15, at least. It's a very well-crafted piece of work, a clear labor of love and result of the fairly extensive access Morrison and his friends and family gave the filmmakers. While it's an interesting documentary on its own, it's of special interest to anyone who's ever read a Grant Morrison comic and asked themselves: "Where the hell is this guy coming from?" Talking With Gods has your answer, and it's one that I couldn't take my eyes away from, interesting and entertaining for experienced Morrison scholars and casual readers alike.

Wrapped up in the layers of mystique and mythology, it's easy to forget that Grant Morrison is a real person, a guy who listens to music and loves his wife and misses his dad.

The Grant Morrison Legend is certainly self-perpetuated, and unquestionably interesting, but Talking With Gods allowed me to really peer through to Grant Morrison, The Dude for maybe the first time. What makes Meaney's film so effective is that he doesn't canonize his subject - while there's a great deal of hero worship going on in the interviews with critics and other creators, it feels like Meaney's reporting on an existing bias rather than manufacturing one in editing. As a result, it gives us an honest look not only at how he's influenced an entire generation of creators, but also connects the themes and concepts of Morrison's work to his childhood and everyday life.

As someone who studies Morrison out of a deep passion for his work, there was still a great deal of new material for me in here, and the stuff I already knew was presented in new contexts and from new perspectives. Take, for instance, the thematic link between Final Crisis: Superman Beyond and Morrison's childhood. His parents were both huge anti-bomb activists, and his entire childhood was spent mentally and emotionally dealing with the spectre of nuclear holocaust. Discovering superhero comics was, for him, a revelation, since they presented a depiction of reality that implied that existence wasn't hopeless and death wasn't right over the horizon - replacing the apocalyptic narrative with the heroic. This personal experience mirrors almost exactly the events of Superman Beyond, where Superman travels to the world of the Monitors and replaces their apocalyptic prophecy of which they all live in fear with the story of an infant boy rocketed from a dying planet.

The movie also offers a great deal of insight into his creative process; interviews with numerous artists touch on his scripting style, the way he collaborates and the intersections between magic, drugs and writing. Cameron Stewart, Frazer Irving, Chris Weston, Steve Yeowell and Jill Thompson all have wildly different interpretations on the collaborative creative process with him, and watching them talk about it is a joy. Additionally, co-writers like Mark Waid and Geoff Johns make appearances, although drama addicts everywhere will probably bemoan the lack of a segment on the falling out with Mark Millar.

These are the kinds of insights I was able to gain from TWG, and I'm sure I've only scratched the surface. More than just a documentary of his personal or artistic lives, it looks at the intersection between the two, and asks the viewer to make up his or her own mind. Did Grant Morrison really trap a scorpion loa in the base of his spine with a tattoo? Did he really win his wife over with a ritualistic prayer to Aphrodite? I have no idea. Do I believe that Grant Morrison believes? Absolutely. In short, if you have any interest whatsoever in the man's work and where it comes from, this is pretty much must-viewing, with the fact that you get to see pages of Invisibles get Ken Burns Effected as a bonus.

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Jason Aaron (writer), Renato Guedes & Michael Gaydos (pencillers)

The Story: The Devil continues to torture Wolverine’s soul in Hell in new and creative ways, using old foes such as Sabretooth and old friends such as Silver Samurai to push him closer and closer to the brink of defeat.  However, a small sliver of hope appears with Puck, dead Alpha Flight member.  Meanwhile, Mystique and Logan’s girlfriend, Marita, team up with the Ghost Riders and Hellstorm to hatch a rescue plan for everyone’s favorite canucklehead.

What’s Good: Aaron is beginning to ramp up his ‘Wolverine Goes to Hell’ storyline and the reading experience benefits greatly from the forward momentum found here.  From the solidifying of the rivalry between the Devil and Wolverine due to their battle of wills and how, according to Puck, that might be the key to Logan’s escape to Mystique’s motivations being (somewhat) illuminated, I’m finally feeling like we’re getting somewhere.  It’s also nice to see Melita get some character development and spotlight after months of being around in the periphery of the plot.  I’m hoping Aaron has some interesting plans about where to go with her relationship with Wolverine that doesn’t involve her dying or being driven away by his inner beast or some such.

There are lots of other bits and beats in the issue that pushed the story into solid territory for me:  Aaron favorites Hellstorm and the Ghost Riders’ appearance, the presence of Sabretooth (although mute) after years of absence, Spidey’s reaction to Melita’s phone call, and the revelation of just who is orchestrating this whole affair in a wonderfully drawn back-up by Gaydos.  I was also pleased to see, what I took as, a nice little homage to Uncanny X-Men issue #251’s amazing cover of Wolverine crucified, which still sticks with me to this day.

What’s Not So Good: Three months in and I’m still unconvinced that Guedes is the right artist for this assignment.  His style worked well some time ago on the Superman titles over at DC, but they’re just not dark or rough enough to fit the violent, dirty world of Wolverine.  He makes an effort, sure, but unfortunately it pales in comparison to a penciller like his predecessor Ron Garney, who seems to have been born to draw the pint-sized X-Man.  I’m also sorely unfazed by his depictions of Hell and the Devil.  It’s all too colorful for me, particularly the purple Satan, who looks more like a rubber-suited guy in a suit than anything to be afraid of.

Conclusion: The ramping up of events in this issue, along with plenty of pleasing moments and a back-up story drawn by the always-awesome Michael Gaydos equal a jump in enjoyment when it comes to reading this title for me.  While I’m not convinced of Guedes’ contributions, this chapter of the story was otherwise solid.

Grade: B-

-Joe Lopez Filed under: Marvel Comics Tagged: | Wolverine, Jason Aaron, Michael Gaydos, Comic Book Reviews, Renato Guedes, Weekly Comic Book Review, Sabretooth, Wolverine #3, Wolverine #3 review

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by Robert Kirkman (writer), Ryan Ottley (pencils & inks), Cliff Rathburn (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors), Sheila Saldana & Ivan Plascencia (color assistants), and Rus Wooton (letters)

The Story: The Coalition’s band of heroes clashes with the Viltrumites above Viltrum.

What’s Good: Robert Kirkman is notoriously merciless when it comes to the shocking death of beloved characters, and nowhere is that clearer than this month.  It’s been a long time since we’ve had a significant death in Invincible, and so we’ve been sort of lulled into a false sense of security.  This month, there is not one but two character deaths.  One that most readers probably figured was inevitable, while the other death….wow.  Jaw-dropping and utterly ruthless on Kirman’s part.  The best part is that there’s next to no build-up for such a significant event in the series.  You literally turn the page and start collecting  your jaw from the floor.

Other than these character deaths, the story told this month is a big one.  There’s a big, epic, and literally explosive event that it is really impressive in it scope.  There’s also a ton of action and as you know, when it comes to Kirkman and Ottley, that’s a good thing.  It’s always stunning just how goddamned violent and bloody Invincible is, and it’s often easy to lose sight of that.  The blood flows in gallons this month and Ottley does some horrible things to the human anatomy as the super-punches fly.  The action is a total blast.

Really, though, with that big event, the character the deaths, and the buckets of action (and blood), this is the issue where it all comes together for the Viltrumite War.  This is the crescendo of the arc/event and it feels it.  All the pieces are on the board and I look forward to #76.  Let’s hope the wait isn’t anywhere near as long this time.  That said, I was pleasantly surprised at how little the lengthy delay affected by enjoyment of this issue.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Ryan Ottley artwork is gorgeous and absolutely packed this month, as you’d probably expect from an issue like this.  It’s immediately clear why the delay occurred, as there were some pages that had me feeling bad for the guy.

What’s Not So Good: There’s little getting around it: at $5.99, Invincible #75 is overpriced.

The problem is that Invincible has stalwartly stayed at $2.99 and this is double that.  I would expect double the content, or experience, or at least something significantly more than the usual installment.  When you pick up this issue, it certainly feels really thick, but it’s kind of deceiving.

The Invincible main-feature is 16 pages longer.  However, so much of that is taken up with double-page spreads that it certainly doesn’t feel 16 pages longer.  In fact, it won’t take you much longer to go through than your average issue of Invincible.  Couple that with the fact that this issue is almost entirely an extended fight scene, and you have an issue that feels far shorter than its page-count suggests.

And honestly, I actually found the sheer number of double page spreads a little tiresome.  At one point, it feels excessive, just one after another, none with any words on the page.  Sequential storytelling seemed to take a break, turning the book into an artbook or poster catalog.

The Science Dog and Tech Jacket back-ups are also inconsequential.  The Science Dog feature is fairly worthless if you’re unfamiliar with the first two installments in Invincible #25 and #50, while the Tech Jacket feature is a regular anyway by this point, and its mediocrity has already worn out its welcome

Conclusion: Good, but not $5.99 good.

Grade: B -

-Alex Evans

Filed under: Image Comics, Reviews Tagged: | Robert Kirkman, Image Comics, INVINCIBLE, Ryan Ottley, Fco Plascencia, Mark Grayson, Cory Walker, Allen the Alien, Nolan Grayson, Coalition of Planets, Viltrumite, space racer, Viltrumite War, Omni-Man, Viltrum, Oliver Grayson, Kid Omni-Man, Tech Jacket, Thaedus, Viltrumites, Geldarian, Geldarians, EJ Su, Talescria, Invincible #75, Viltrum Empire, Battle Beast, Thragg, Science Dog, Aubrey Sitterson, Invincible #75 review

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Christos Gage (writer), Mike McKone (penciller)

The Story: The revolving spotlight falls on Reptil this issue as Humberto is made Class Leader of the Academy, making a childhood dream of his come true.  But what happens when Reptil realizes that his dreams have been ruined by the secrets and lies that permeate not only the Academy’s mission statement but also the motivations and actions of his classmates?

What’s Good: “Reptil is lame.”  That was my first thought when I was done reading the special Avengers: The Initiative one-shot that introduced the character a couple of years ago.  A kid that can shape shift parts of his body into dinosaur parts kind of sounds interesting on paper maybe, but the execution did nothing for me.  When I saw that he was going to be on the roster of the Academy team, I’m pretty sure I rolled my eyes.  This issue has changed my opinion immensely.  I still think the dinosaur powers thing, even with the upgrade of going “full Dinosaur”, is sort of blah.  However, Gage has managed to make me completely disregard that aspect of the character by centering on Reptil’s inner workings.

You’d think that the characters who are morally questionable would easily be the more intriguing, but positioning Reptil as the good kid trying to hold it all together, despite knowing that the people around him are doing bad things, has proven that assumption wrong.  Gage establishes the character’s motivations smartly, making it his dream since childhood to be an Avenger.  This not only adds an interesting layer to his place here, but it also gives his motivations about keeping the team together an added dimension.  He desperately doesn’t want to lose this good thing.  It’s an easily understood emotion that any reader can understand and makes the character that much more relatable.  Kudos, Gage. You made me like Reptil.  Who’d have thought?

I was also pleased to get a scene focusing on Finesse and Quicksilver’s secret pact.  It’s an element of the title’s plot that has made me happy since it was introduced in issue #2, and I’m eager to see where it goes.  Humberto’s cathartic talk with Jessica Jones was also a nice surprise.  Gage shows that he’s not only bringing characters from the other Avengers titles in just for the gratuitous cameo, but for reasons that are story appropriate.  That makes the unexpected guest appearances that much more enjoyable.

What’s Not So Good: Reptil turns into a dinosaur.  Still think that’s lame, sorry.

Conclusion: Another month, another Avengers Academy issue better than the last one. No surprises here.

Grade: A

-Joe Lopez

Filed under: Marvel Comics Tagged: | Christos Gage, Mike McKone, Weekly Comic Book Review, comic book reviewsw, Avengers Academy #6, Avengers Academy #6 review

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By: Grant Morrison (writer), Cameron Stewart, Chris Burnham, Frazer Irving (artists), Alex Sinclair and Frazer Irving (colorists), Mike Marts (editor)

The Story: We see Thomas Wayne in 1765 summoning the demon Barbatos. We then shift forward to now, where Dr. Hurt is facing Batman, Robin, and DC’s spoiler for the whole Return of Batman miniseries. Problem is, Hurt’s got a lot of help, Dick has been shot in the head and the Joker is the wild card (so to speak).

Publishing Issues: I gotta get this out of the way before I do the rest of the review. On my way to my LCS, I was thinking of what a great thing it was that DC had taken its time to fully explore the implications of the death of Bruce Wayne and how I liked how they were taking their time to bring him back right. I thought the same thing contentedly as I read this issue, until I got to page 15, where suddenly I see two Batmans, one of whom is Bruce Wayne. I rubbed my eyes, flipped back a couple of pages, and find that the build up and explanation offered is….”You came through the fireplace.” WTF? OK, I don’t read most of the message boards for a reason. I want to be able to read each comic on its own terms, creator to reader, no intermediary. I think that’s honest. It took me a while to connect some of the whisperings I’d heard about publication schedules and finally realized that this issue occurs *at least* later than The Return of Bruce Wayne #6, if not later. So, I’m not going to get into my frustration, but needless to say, I felt a bit like someone had told me who the killer was before I’d finished my popcorn in the movie. Totally, totally not cool on DC’s part. I don’t care what their editorial/creative problems are. If some fraction of DC’s comics routinely get delayed for one reason or another, DC should build that into their business plan, especially on something as coordinated as an event. Now I don’t even want to read ROBW #6. Nice work, DC.

What’s Good: First part of the book (Thomas Wayne in 1765), was very moody and cool, classic Morrison. And visually impressive, even if that artist’s style isn’t 100% to my taste. The fight between Batman, Batman, Robin and the 99 Fiends was dynamic, but I never felt like anyone but the fiends were in real danger. It felt a bit like filler. Despite this, Damian certainly stole the show. Check out the visuals and the outcome of his fight with the guy with the flame thrower! The Hurt/Batman conflict in the Bat Cave continued the fun, and Pyg was twisted and depraved in central Gotham. The ending with the Joker was unexpected, tone-perfect and satisfying.

What’s Not So Good: The eclipse of Dick Grayson. Dick and Bucky (for the same reasons) have become two of my favorite characters in comics. But as soon as Bruce appeared on the stage, Dick was transformed from the menacing Dark Knight into the deferential teenager, like the growth and maturing he’d done (not only as Night Wing, but as Batman) hadn’t occurred. Emotionally disappointing for me, because I like Dick better as a character than Bruce. Other issues I had included the relay race visual feel on offer with three artists on a book. The denouement (the creation of Batman Incorporated) didn’t sit right with me either. It felt tacked on and sudden. It wasn’t the appropriate denouement to have (in fact, a true denouement didn’t really occur, other than for Dick to comment that his head was sore). After 2-4 years (depending on how you count) of uncertainty, I needed a bit more of an emotional slide to bring me down. And, my last complaint, of course…the publishing schedule that ruined The Return of Bruce Wayne.

Conclusion: If you can get over DC’s editorial/publishing snafu, this issue will do a lot to bring some closure, but some of its transitions are a bit jagged. It’s a clay-footed beauty of an issue.

Grade: B

-DS Arsenault

Filed under: DC Comics Tagged: | Batman, DC Comics, Grant Morrison, Bruce Wayne, Alex Sinclair, Comics, DC, Reviews, Joker, comic books, Comic Book Reviews, Black Glove, Weekly Comic Book Review, comic reviews, Chris Burnham, Batman and Robin, Dick Grayson, DS Arsenault, Damian Wayne, Professor Pyg, Mike Marts, Cameron Stewart, Return of Bruce Wayne, Frazer Irving, Thomas Wayne, Dr. Hurt, Batman and Robin #16, Batman and Robin #16 review

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By Mark Waid (writer), Jorge Molina (pencils), Frank D’Armata (colors), VC’s Joe Sabino (letters)

The Story: En route to their new assignment, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes discover a prototype bomber drone that has been hijacked by the Nazis. In a daring feat befitting their heroic alter-egos, the pair leap onto the drone, which they discover is set to self-destruct. Rogers manages to let go and drop off just in time to save himself, while the rest—quite literally—is history.

What’s Good: I’ve been looking forward to this book since it was first announced, and was not disappointed by this first issue. It encapsulates everything I love about Cap—his humility, heroism, determination—and also hits on what is, to me, one of the most fascinating and most often overlooked aspects of his character: the fact that is displaced from everything he once considered reality. The character has been around long enough now that it is not brought up much (aside from the occasional reference or throwaway line.) We take for granted that yeah, he served in World War II, was frozen, defrosted by the Avengers, and so on. We rarely stop to consider what experiencing something like that would really do to a person. Cap may be stronger than us by several hundred degrees, but the super soldier serum didn’t take away his essential humanity. Anyone put in a situation like his would be more than a little shocked and confused (quite understandably so). Cap is usually portrayed as so calm, stoic and in control that it’s nice to see him have to deal with this critical and emotional event in his history.

I could go on for pages with specifics—how awesome the two splash pages that transition between past and present are (not only do they look great, they perfectly establish just how sudden and immediate the change was from Rogers’ perspective), how excellent and well characterized Rogers’ reaction upon waking is (he reaches for his costume—the only safe and familiar thing—and, despite his confusion and fear, responds instantly to cries for help), and how effective little details (like the empty word bubbles that gradually fill in as Rogers’ hearing returns) are. But that would cause this review to take up far, far more space than I’m allotted . A large part of this success is due to Mark Waid’s excellent writing. While Ed Brubaker is and will always be the definitive voice of Cap for me, Waid’s credentials are not to be ignored, and he proves here that he knows Cap—and the craft of writing—a well as anyone.

What’s Not So Good: I could complain about the overuse of computer generated blur effects in the artwork (I really, really hate it), but I enjoyed the book so much that it seems petty and persnickety to do so.

Conclusion: Despite Marvel’s instance on maintaining the $3.99 price tag, if you have any interest in Captain America, this is one series that it might be worth gritting your teeth and bearing the extra cost for. This part of Cap’s history isn’t often dealt with, and I have a feeling the ride is going to be a fun and fascinating one.

Grade: B

-SoldierHawk

Filed under: Marvel Comics Tagged: | Captain America, Mark Waid, Frank D'Armata, Comic Book Reviews, Weekly Comic Book Review, VC's Joe Sabino, Captain America: Man Out Time #1 review, George Molina, Captain America: Man Out Of Time #1, Captain America: Man Out Of Time #1 review, Captain America: Man Out Of Time

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