Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 08/01/07

Welcome to the first Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews! Lots of great books out this week and some truly spectacular moments sprinkled throughout. Look forward to reviews on World War Hulk, Countdown, Uncanny X-Men and many others. As this is the first edition of the Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews, I am still working on the format. I have put all books in one post this week. I may decide to change it to book per post or Marvel in one, DC in the other or so on. Also look for more reviews later this evening when I get a chance to read the rest of my pull list.

Comic Book of the Week

World War Hulk #3 - I was truly worried when I saw the previews for this issue. I seriously thought Pak might be trying to make Ross and his commandos a true threat to the Hulk and his warbound. Thankfully, Pak continues to deliver with this issue of WWH. Rest easy knowing this is the best $3.99 you will spend this month.

I will try not to spoil too much about this issue, but it is basically a throw back to the old General Thunderbolt Ross days for the first part of the issue while simultaneously giving us some back story for the uninitiated. The bulk of the issue concerns the final Illuminati member and his attempt to dissuade the Hulk. This member has some awesome moments and his splash page at the end of the issue is incredible to say the least.

This issue also tells us what Hulk is planning to do with the captured heroes. It seems Hulk brought a lot of compliance discs from his gladiator days in Planet Hulk and he has his army building an arena for our viewing pleasure. WWH keeps building more and more momentum each month and I honestly see it delivering the goods after these first three issues. My one complaint is Sentry. Marvel made a Superman character and he does not fit the rest of the Marvel Universe on Earth proper. If he was a cosmic character he could do well I believe. However, stuck on Earth with more "realistic" heroes, he is forced into non-committal every time he appears. The only time he has been used properly has been in his original mini-series and the recent Silent War, where he debates the merits of action versus bringing Black Bolt into the battle. The latter being the only good use of his sideline cheer leading act. It is painfully obvious that they are just doing this to keep him from intervening until the very last issue of this story where the Superman character will be brought in to wrap the series up. I have no problem with this, but the way they are beating around the bush with it is what bothers me.

Despite my one little comic geek complaint, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this book. It is the definition of what an comic event should be. This is easily the best book this week and is full of awesome moments. Cannot wait for the next issue. Must buy book. Best of the week hands down.

Uncanny X-Men #489 - Brubaker continues his Search for Magneto arc and this issue proves to be continuing his build up / decompression phase. By this I mean nothing really happens this issue. Lots of sound and fury signifying nothing. Brubaker seems to be suffering from the Marvel mandate to have stories fit into neat little TPB sized packages. He is an excellent writer, but it seems team books, or maybe just the X-Men in particular, are not his forte. This is by no means a bad book though and this issue has some excellent scenes, such as Human Torch's interaction with the team and Caliban's breaking of his Xbox 360 controller. I always get tense fighting Nazi's myself. Nothing to be ashamed of Caliban.

This issue brings nothing new on the Magneto front and only the most die hard X-Men fan will find this issue a must have. Check it out if you are interested in seeing where this storyline eventually ends up. Otherwise simply wait for the eventual trade.

Seeing as this is an Endangered Species tie-in (do not start me on this cheap 90's tactic of using back up tie-ins to sell every ancillary X-title to me), I may as well weigh in on the back up story. If you have been paying attention, you will know that Dark Beast from Age of Apocalypse fame is the mysterious other character beating our Beast to each location on his journey. This issue deals with the fall out of their meeting up in the last part of Endangered Species. Lots of interesting dialogue between these two characters and I am glad to see their relationship being fleshed out more as they are both opposites of the same coin. I feel they wasted the Dark Beast character for all these years since AoA came out. This is an excellent edition to the ES storyline and probably pushes the lackluster UXM issue into the buy category for me.

Countdown #39 - There is not much left to say about Countdown. If you are buying it, you are stuck buying it for another 38 weeks. If you are not buying it, you have saved yourself a lot of grief.

This issue actually picks up the pace a little and is probably the most action packed of all the Countdown issues released. Even with this added bit of action, the series still manages to trudge along at a snail's pace and leaves more questions then answers with each passing issue.

Why is Karate Kid going to Oracle? How did he learn of her? I doubt she was the most documented "hero" of the 31st century and even if known about, how did she find her base of operations? Do these events take place after Lightning Saga? Before? Before he spoke to Batman, but after the Saga?

What is the point of all the Athena action and why is Harley so out of character from her usual insane self? This better not end up being just an Amazon's Attack tie-in story arc.

How did Trickster and Piper escape from a wine cellar, while chained together with electric shock handcuffs and being cornered by the Suicide Squad? To be able to get away from them after being jumped while they ate is a bit much, even if they were not so severely handicapped to start with. And what is with the gay jokes every time these two show up? Is this the type of humour I should expect from the "spine of the DC Universe" as DiDio calls Countdown?

If the Monitor could move Todd and Donna through reality as he is shown doing this issue, why did they waste so much time finding Atom to shrink them in the first place?

This issue wasn't a complete waste like most issues of Countdown, but the book is just barely keeping it's head above water. I believe, at this point, I am simply reading it still because it is weekly and always in the pull list as opposed to any merit the actual book might have. The best part of this issue was the correction of the brutal artistic portrayal of Question last week that had many concerned they had redesigned the character altogether. Renee is back this week looking spectacular, despite only appearing in the last couple panels.


Thor #2 - Decompression seems to be the order of the day, especially in relation to any new series launched in the last several years. Two issues in and nothing has really happened in Thor that could not have been addressed in three or four panels. Despite the fact nothing has happened, I was much happier with this issue compared to issue one. I love the new design for Thor and am quite happy he has not retained the Norse-speak of previous incarnations. The art on this book is incredible as well. Every panel is crisp and clear and the facial expressions are fantastic.Sadly, the best part of the issue though is the Next Issue panel where we are promised a throw down with Iron Man.

My biggest complaint so far though is the reintroduction of Donald Blake. I like the potential dynamic of the human vs god and the payoff that can be had from a story perspective, but it is completely thrown to the way side in each issue so far. It is as if there is no point to Blake or the non-existent supporting characters. It is only two issues in though, so hopefully Blake does not exist purely for the dramatic transformation panels each issue.

Despite how the review might read, I actually am enjoying the series despite all this, but cannot in good faith recommend this book as a must buy. Check it out if you are interested in Thor at all or are a fan of JMS's writing. Otherwise wait for the eventual trade that will read much better due to the decompressed story.

Ms. Marvel #18 - If you enjoyed Nextwave, and let us be honest, all 12 of us who read it did, you must buy this issue. This issue contains one of the funniest exchanges between two characters I have ever read and contains the word "fleshcapades". Yes. It is glorious. As for the actual issue itself, it is mostly a set up issue for the next story arc for Ms Marvel. Reed makes excellent use of dialogue and knows his characters personalities and back stories. However, he really needs someone to plot his books for him as the storyline themselves are the weak point of Ms Marvel. Buy it for Aaron Stack, check it out for Ms Marvel.

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