Detective Comics #854

My only brush with Greg Rucka came through his work on 52. Where he put a lot of work into the entwined stories of  Batwoman and The Question. So I guess it’s only fitting that I get reacquainted with his work through a book that stars those two characters. Yes I’m aware they had their own post-52 miniseries, but I didn’t read that as, to me , that particular story seemed to have been played out in the pages of 52 already.

At first glance the Kate Kane in this book seems vastly different than that one who appeared in 52. She’s less a socialite and more of an army brat. She’s got tattoos and it’s implied she sleeps (or slept) around. Yes, she’s still a lesbian, and yes it comes up but only in a way to flesh out her “committed to the mission” mindset.

Before this book, id you’d asked me to point out art by JH Williams I woul’dve had no chance. Would not know him from a bar of soap. After reading this book I have every panel burnt out to my brian. In a good way of course. And the panel layout. Wow. There’s one two page sequence depicting that I loved. A series of lightning bolt panels depicts Batwoman talking to Batman then heading back to base and changing back into civillian clothes, underscored by a shot of Batwoman, on her motorcycle, shooting across the page.

There’s this incredible amount of energy that crackles off every page.

Meanwhile over in the Question backup…sorry “co-feature”, Renee Montoya seems to have become DC’s answer to the Heroes for Hire. Using an email account and/or website to solicit investigative work. Her first case pitting her against human traffickers.

It reads like it was originally pitched as a full length story that’s been slimmed down through precise cuts. Nothing is missing really, but there’s no great explanation of the bad guy possible motives, just that he’s the damn bad guy.

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1

After the letdown of an event that was Brian Michael Bendis’ Secret Invasion I harboured a feeling that, given half a chance, Matt Fraction could easy write the next Marvel event. And here it is.

I’m glad it’s not a company-wide thing as I really couldn’t handle another one of those from Marvel. But it does carry the Dark Reign tag, which I cna’t really get enthused about. Even though most of the Marvel side of my pull list involves Dark Reign in some way.

The story seems organic enough. At the end of Secret Invasion, when Norman Osbourne was given the job of…well whatever the hell it is he actually does, he put all mutants on notice. Telling Emma Frost that if they couldn’t control themselves then he would. Or words to that effect.

In this first issue of the indeterminately long miniseries (there’s no “#1 of #3″ on the cover, just “Chapter One”) Simon Trask organises a march on San Fransisco in support of a new law to sterilise all mutants, which of course leads to all hell breaking loose. Really, nobody watched the first 10 minutes of Die Hard 3?

With half of San Fransisco on fire Norman Osbourne makes good on his promise and sends in the Dark Avengers to control things. Which of course they don’t because they’re all psychopaths. Then Norman takes Emma Frost aside reitterates whats he first told her and then promotes her to Leader of All Mutants. Charles Xavier shows up to talk down Cyclops, but it’s revealed to the  reader that the real Charles Xavier is lying in a prison cell with his brain leaking down his shirt. None of which makes a whole lot of a sense.

But, this is only the first issue, and I’ve got enough faith that Fraction will spin out a few interesting concepts before bringing everything to a decent conclusion.

Of  course Marvel get full praise for keeping Greg Land as far from this story as possible. Marc Silvestri handles the art in a passable fashion. It’s a lot more basic than his linework from back when Grant Morrison wrote the book, with most of the humans looking like scarecrows. And a small but significant drawing of a continuity-breaking, male Loki.

Complete List

Detective Comics #854
Green Lantern #42
Astonishing X-Men #30
Avengers: Initiative #25
Dark Avengers #6
Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1
Immortal Iron Fist TP Vol 04 Mortal Iron Fist
Ms Marvel #40
New Avengers #54
Runaways 3 #11
Secret Warriors #5
Thunderbolts #133
Uncanny X-Men #512
X-Factor #45
X-Force #16
Wizard Magazine #214

Green Lantern #38

There’s no messing around with the Hal Jordan-as-a-Red Lantern stuff from the end of the last issue. It’s dealt with by the middle of the book, in a way that puts a lot of emphasis on why the Blue Lanterns exist. Of course there’s a  downside in that it unfortunately destroys my theory that Hal Jordan would control all the rings by the end of the War of Light.

There’s a lot to enjoy in this book. The way it jumped from Ysmault to Earth to Qward to the Vega System providing little hooks into future storylines. Like Carol Ferris returning to the Star Sapphires (now Violet Lanterns) after playing a major part in their formation way back in The Sins of the Star Sapphires story arc; Sinestro escaping back to Qward to prepare for his incursion into the Green Lantern Corps book to face off against Mongul for the leadership of Sinestro’s eponymous Corps; and the Controllers heading to the Vega System to remind everyone that the Agent Orange story starts next month.

As the Blackest Night mini-event gets closer both Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps books are picking up a lot of momentum, especially this book. I still remember how slowly Secret Origin plodded along just to set up Atrocitus as the Red Lantern big bad, so I really shouldn’t complain about pacing. I got what I wished for.

X-Force #12

Back in New X-Men Kyle and Yost spun some really great tales featuring the kids versus long time X-Men foes like Reverend Stryker. When they announced the move to X-Force (along with initial character sketches) I was, much like the rest of the internet, immediately skeptical. A year later I’m happy to say that I was wrong. X-Force is good. Better than it deserves to be, for sure, But I like it.

Well ‘liked’ might be a better word. This issue was just very, very underwhelming.

It starts off with the team quickly realising that they weren’t exactly successful in keeping Bastion from the getting his robot hands on the Legacy Virus (as seen last issue). D-grade mutants start showing up in the middle of pro-human rallys, with their powers flaring wildly out of control, killing all the protesters.

Apart from that, not a whole lot actually happens this issue. There is an incredibly awkward exchange between Rahne, in wolf-humanoid form, and some sort of Asgardian wolf-god. But the less said about that the better.

If I was going to choose a shining moment it would be finding out, on the recap page of all places, that Domino has a real name.

Just so I don’t end on a downer I thought I’d mention the colouring. The usual muted grey/brown palette gets a huge kick this issue with the addition bright oranges and pinks of the energy spikes spinning off the Legacy Virus-infected.

———–

I’m off on holiday next week, so no reviews for a couple of weeks. Once I’m settled in I’ll be changing the reviews up a bit. I’m running low of the spare time needed to properly review a books so I’ll just be reviewing the one book each week. I’m going to randomly pick the book out of the weekly pile so it could be the worst or it could be the best.

Complete List

Green Lantern #38
Trinity #39
Avengers: Initiative #22
Mighty Avengers #22
Ms Marvel #36
New Avengers #50
Runaways vol 3 #7
Thunderbolts #129
X-Force #12
Wizard Magazine #210
Angel #18

Final Crisis #7 (of 7)

Well this was certainly something.

If you didn’t read Superman: Beyond before this final issue I would imagine that this would come across as a garbled mess.  Even after reading S:B, it still has a lot of rough edges.

It’s main strength is that it doesn’t play out as a typical event line-wide comic (though it is hindered by misdirected marketing on DC’s behalf). There’s no great universal upheaval that affects every single character. This is Superman’s story and, to a lesser extent, Batman’s. But it is enjoyable, and that’s the main point.

Like all serial minis there’s a lot of questions left unanswered. I could write these down, but instead I’ll direct you to The Final Crisis FAQ project over at Comics Should Be Good. They seem to be doing a better job of it.

Legion of Super Heroes #50

Wow. I take back everything I said about Final Crisis’ empty ending.

I’m well aware that Jim Shooter had to hack at the main plotlines he’d been building for the past year, but this is just ridiculous. What should be a huge monumental battle between good and evil is not much more than a skirmish between seven Legionaries and a handful of bad guys.

The dangling thread about the fate of Dream Girl, something given all of three panels over the last four issues,  is given a resolution at the very end, but with most of the work seemingly handled off panel it just comes across as filler. Then there’s the big reveal last issue of Princess Projectra being the final Big Bad. But that’s completely dropped.

I’ve only read one issue of Geoff John’s Superman and the Legion of Superheroes and the two issues of Legion of Three Worlds, but they’ve been a lot more fun to read than the last year or so of this series. I guess that’s the major problem I had with this title. Jim Shooter forgot to make it fun, and it suffered for that.

Long live the Legion!

Note: I’ve read that Jim Shooter didn’t even write this last issue. Can’t wait to here the story behind that.

New Avengers #49

I sat down to read this fully expecting that the “search for the baby” plot would be stretched out for at least six issues. That Bendis managed to resolve it in under 22 pages, with next-to-no decompression, is nothing less than a small miracle.

If Bendis can keep that pace up for at least half a year then I’ll be a happy guy.

Complete List

Final Crisis #7 (of 7)
Legion of Super Heroes #50
Trinity #35
Avengers Initiative #21
Ms Marvel #35
New Avengers #49
Runaways 3 #6
X-Force #11
Wizard Magazine #209 Dark Avengers Cvr

There was just no way I could get to the city on Boxing Day to pick up a stack of comics. I was too busy spending every hour of daylight trying to build a barbeque. So I’ve lumped both Boxing Day and day after New Years Day hauls into the one post.

Incognito #1

Incognito is fantastic. Mark my words: This will be the stand out title of 2009.

Incognito is the story of Zack Anderson — one time supervillian, now lowly file clerk. After ratting out his evil superpowered boss, Zack has a new identity thanks to the Witness Protection Program. There’s a downside though, as he’s forced onto meds to dial back his superpowers to normal human levels by his government-appointed handler.

Mostly the book is about Zack trying to deal with a life in a world he really doesn’t care for.  And the interactions with people he views as being beneath him (ie. everybody). If these parts weren’t written as well as they are then the book would just fall apart.

There’s small moments when the book hearkens back to the original pulpy Golden Age comics of yesteryear. Case in point: his powers were given to him and his brother by an overzealous scientist in a dank cave. Using SCIENCE!

Things like that really appeal to me.

I’ve never come across Phillips’ art before, but I like it. It reminds me of David Aja’s style on the first few arcs of Marvel’s Iron Fist. Characters are expressive and action scenes are kinetic and bloody. In civilian clothes Zack is a beaten down white collar in a dead-end job. But when he puts on the domino mask he seems to stand taller, with more authority. It’s the little things like that that make a book great.

If I had to complain about something it would be that the supporting characters aren’t that well defined. I don’t know anything about his brother or his ex-boss. At one point the handler threatens Zack with putting him in the same prison cell as the boss, but the scene comes across a bit flat as at that point there’s no indication of who his boss is. Having Zack not really react to the threat doesn’t help that much either.

There’s a note in the back of the book from either Brubaker or Phillips or both that suggests if I liked Incognito I should read Criminal. Based on what I’ve seen in Incognito I’ll be grabbing the first Criminal trade as soon as I can.

Ultimatum #2 (of 5)

I’ve been slowing pairing back my Jeph Loeb-written books. Waiting until they’ve completed a story before seeing them off. But this, this Ultimatum bullshit is just so horribly written and presented that I’m teetering on giving up on the entire Ultimate universe altogether. A universe where an obese man who’s never before shown cannibalistic tendencies can chow down on the entrails of a woman and enjoy it is not a universe I want to read more about.

I bitched and moaned about Ultimates 3, but when it ended I hope editorial would reign Loeb in a bit. Maybe teach him that there’s a big difference between the Marvel 616 and Ultimate universes. But no, once again they’ve given him carte blanche to produce Ultimate shit.

Finch’s art doesn’t help either. He was great on the first arc of New Avengers, so I’m not sure what went wrong. Sure foreground characters are recognisable, but with this new sketchy style he’s rocking everything else behind them is a mess.

The one good thing is that Ultimate Thor no longer speaks in the Shakespearean way that was introduced in Ultimate Power (and more popularised  by the original 616 Thor) and has reverted back to something similar to how he was portrayed during Ultimates 1 & 2. That this is the only good thing I can say about the issue is depressing as all hell.

Complete List 26/12:

Final Crisis: Secret Files #1
Green Lantern #36
Trinity #31
Avengers: Initiative #20
Ultimate X-Men #99
X-Force #10
Wizard Magazine #208 Wolverine Movie Cvr

Complete List 2/1:

Flash #247
Trinity #30
Incognito #1
Ms Marvel #34
New Avengers #48
Runaways 3 #5
Ultimatum #2 (of 5)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #19

It’s incredibly hard to review this issue of Buffy. The previous issue shipped nearly 3 months ago so I’ve forgotten nearly everything that’s happened in this storyline. All I remembered when going in was Buffy was 200 years in the future with Fray (the last Slayer), Dark Willow was again the Big Bad, Nice Willow was trying to get Buffy back and Dawn was in the forest with Xander.

To properly review this issue I’d have to go back through the last few issues to catch up. Due to poor filing skills thats not going to happen, so I’m stuck reading this book with only a vague recollection of whats come before.

So, the story. Buffy fights Fray. Fray fights Buffy. Dark Willow tries to kill Buffy “to save the world”. Dawn and Xander fight ghostly goblin-things with some help from magical forest sprites and a handful of Slayers. Buffy kills Dark Willow. Buffy returns to her present. Oh, and Riley makes an appearance at the end with a Twilight scar on his chest.

So Twilight is the Initiative? This and many other questions remain unanswered in this issue.

The art serves the story well. While the characters are not hyper realistic like in the ongoing Angel series, I was still able to recognise Riley easy enough.

The 3 month delay is a real shame, because up until this point Season 8 has been a lot of fun to read. I’m worried that the huge delay shook a few readers loose. I’m sure this storyline will read a lot better in trades. So someone Jefah should enjoy it a lot more than I did.

Double shame is the consistently bad Jeph Loeb is writing the next issue. It makes me wonder if they’re intentionally trying to lose readers.

Thor: Man of War

How do you surpass the Blood Colossus — a vengeful giant made from the blood and flesh of fallen vikings and powered by a god — that appeared in Thor: Reign of Blood? The short answer is “you don’t”. But Man of War doesn’t suffer from a lack of Blood Colossi at all.

This, the third (and last) book in Matt Fraction’s series of Thor one-shots is a great yarn about what happens when gods get pissed off at humans, other gods and existence itself. While a lot darker and grittier than Reign of Blood, or Ages of Thunder before it, Fraction still manages to weave a lot of black comedy (the best kind of comedy!) into the story.

The book is divided into two halves with a different artist handling each part. Clay Mann (really?) does a decent enough job on the first half, right up until the Storm Giant shows up. The next few pages of battle were incredibly hard to follow, until I spent a few minutes staring at each panel and trying to suss it all out.

The final part, drawn by “artist” Patrick Zircher, is a lot easier to read. Maybe because he didn’t feel the need to invoke the z-axis like Mann. Odin and Thor’s final battle has just the right amount of bloody Viking action to keep me wanting more. But sadly this looks like it for Fraction’s Thor. You will be missed.

Wolverine: Origins #30

It feels a bit weird to be reviewing the last issue in a two book crossover. But after last week’s far too happy reviews I needed a book I knew would be bad. Of course I wasn’t counting on Buffy dropping the ball this week.

Anyway, on to this issue. It begins with Wolverine squaring off against against his *shudder* son Daken. At least it lets Mike Deodato draw the one good panel in the entire book. A worm’s eye view of the two, claws out and ready to get slicing. While this is happening Profesor X lies dead on the floor. victim of a psychic bomb planted deep in Daken’s mind. Oh, whats that? He’s not dead just unconscious? It seems the damage from the bomb triggered in the last issue was ineffective against the “fractured nature of his mind”. Uh, right.

Wolverine retreats to his happy place in an attempt to hold back the beserker rage he’s well known for. But then his “Julie Bowan in white lingerie moment’” quickly becomes “Grandma making out with Shooter McGavin while wearing a KISS mask” and the fight is back on.

Professor X brings them both into Wolverine’s happy place and explains that Daken draws his rage from the same place. Back in the real world Daken stabs Sebastian Shaw before he can kill Professor X. Then Daken and Wolverine wander off to rejoin their own storyline. Phew.

Deodato’s pencils are fine, but hey’re let down by substandard inking. The less said about Daniel Way’s writing, the better.

Complete Pull List:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #19
Legion of Super Heroes #48
Trinity #26
Ms Marvel #33
Runaways vol 3 #4
Thor: Man of War
Ultimate Origins #5 (of 5)
Ultimate X-Men #98
Wolverine: Origins #30
X-Force #9
Wizard Magazine #207