Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 08/15/07

It is that time of week again and here to help you with your comic crisis is Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews! No one book really stood out from the rest this week, but nothing overly terrible either with the exception of Countdown. Next week looks much more promising with Starlord and Green Lantern Corps to name a few. So, enjoy this weeks reviews, it gets better next week!

Comic Book of the Week

Captain America #29 - Another stellar issue by Brubaker and Epting / Perkins. I dare say that Captain America sans Captain America is a much better book than when he was the starring character. A lot of things happen in this issue and it still leaves me wanting more. Tony Stark and Maria Hill reveal that Sin, with the help of the new Serpent Society, infiltrated the SHIELD holding area and freed Crossbones before he could be escorted to the Raft. While they are left wondering how they gained the security codes and easy access, we already know that Dr Faust has brainwashed several SHIELD agents during psychiatric evaluations to allow Sin such easy access. Stark knows there must be a mole and I wonder how long before this leads back to Faust and the Skull. I really loved the way the artists managed the page layouts for this "flashback" scene. The way the video screens Stark is watching appear to blend in and out to show the Sin attack and come back out to the discussion by Stark is amazing. It is very cinematic and reminds me of The Matrix interrogation scene when the camera appears to go through the monitor to the room with Neo and the Agents. Very well done scene and Epting and Perkins do not get as much credit as they deserve for this book.

The rest of the book is dedicated to the Black Widow and the Falcon / Sharon Carter's pursuit of Bucky before he assassinates Tony Stark, who Bucky blames for Cap's death. With the knowledge of Crossbones' escape, Bucky postpones his vendetta with Stark and begins tracking down Crossbones, as he is Bucky's only lead to the Red Skull. His clues lead him to Lukin, who the Red Skull is actually sharing a mind with thanks to the Cosmic Cube since Bucky assassinated Skull back when he was the Winter Soldier. We are left with Bucky cornered by Crossbones and Sin with what appears to be the self realization that Lukin is the Skull. That was my interpretation of the final scene and we will have to wait another month to find out if that is true.

Brubaker has turned Captain America into one of the best books on the market and this continues even with the main character dead. Do yourself a favour and pick this book up along with any back issues or TPB's you can find.



Sub-Mariner #3 - Unlike most covers that display various fights between super heroes, this issue actually delivers on the cover's promise and then some. If you have been following this mini-series, you know we ended last issue with Namor at the Xavier Mansion looking for Charles when Wolverine meets him at the door. This issue's ensuing fight scene is sparked as Wolverine compares Namor to Bin Laden showing up at his door step. As a non-American, I find this comparison a bit over the top and distasteful for a comic book that stars super powered individuals. To compare a character like Namor to a real life terrorist like Bin Laden in a fictional universe that has people like Dr Doom and Magneto with kill counts in the millions is a bit much.

Ignoring the reasons for the fight, I really enjoyed the fight between these two. Wolverine has his plot armour on so that he can stand up to Namor, but for the most part, Namor beats the piss out of him for several pages before Xavier steps in and saves Wolverine any further punishment. I was hoping for some Illuminati type discussion to take place between the two of them, but it was not even mentioned. Felt like wasted potential to me. Xavier helps Namor find his rogue sleeper cell, but refuses to help him deal with them and basically kicks him out of the mansion as he is appalled by Namor's use of sleeper cells to spy on the United States. Coming from someone like Xavier, a member of a covert Illuminati group that attacked the Skrull home world, mind fucked Noh-Var and the countless other things Xavier has done, such as mind wiping Magneto and so on, and it comes off a bit contrived and high-and-mighty of Xavier to do so.

From here, Namor wipes the floor with several of the Sentinels that try to stop him from leaving the Institute before he runs into our final grudge match of the issue versus Venom. I had completely forgotten he was in this from the previews a month or so ago and it took me by surprise to see him bringing Namor down. Nice to see a covert Thunderbolt attack and Venom is used quite well here. Venom is not in Namor's strength class, but they fit him with some nano-tech gun that deprives Namor of oxygen to his cells somehow and allows Venom to take him down.

All-in-all, this issue is an excellent fanboy book where we get to see some excellent comic book fights and not really have to worry too much about story. While the previous paragraphs might seem negative, they are really just minor gripes about a story that should not be taken overly serious. Ignore the minor plot points and enjoy a knockdown, slugfest of an issue. It is worth it for the final splash page in my opinion and while not the best book ever, you should not regret buying this issue.


New X-Men #41 - I love me some New X-Men. I know it is not the best book on the market and it does not have the big name creators or any hype or outspoken fan following, but I love reading this book each month. It has a very old school vibe in that something happens every issue and no characters ever feel safe, but also has a modern edge to it both plot and characterization-wise.

That said, the current Quest for Magik is probably my least favourite New X-Men arc in recent memory. It has lots of cool scenes like Santo's magic power up and Dark Pixie and Anole's new abilities along with X-23's multiple deaths. All that consider, I am just not digging this magic oriented arc. It is good and all, but it is no Nimrod or Striker or any of the earlier arcs pre-House of M. However, an average issue of a great title is still more fun than sub par issues of other books and hopefully, now that this arc is over, we can get back to the higher quality arcs of earlier issues.

As this is an Endangered Species tie-in, I should comment on that for those wondering if they missed anything in one of the X-titles they may not pick up. This is part eight of Endangered Species and, to be honest, not much has happened since Beast met up with Dark Beast, who hails from the Age of Apocalypse timeline. Last chapter spent time discussing Nate and Jean Grey, but this one has the McCoy's searching through one of Mr Sinister's old labs and, aside from a small scuffle with an outdated robot sentry, not much else happens. No discussion aside from some minor ethical and moral expositions by our Beast. Not sure if this is a padding chapter for an ancillary X-book or if the events of this chapter will eventually lead somewhere. If you are buying for Endangered Species only, skip this issue as absolutely nothing happened on that front.


Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man #23 - This is sadly the last issue for Peter David and crew and it is probably his best issue to date. I honestly was not a fan of the evil Uncle Ben or future Goblin storyline and had not been overly impressed with PAD's run on FNSM with the exception of the Mysterio arc. This is not his fault though as Marvel is solely to blame. The very first issue of this book was forced to tie into the horrendous The Other storyline and Civil War followed that and Back in Black after that. This book simply was not given any chance to establish itself or build an identity for itself. Every ounce of momentum was killed with the next big crossover. In the case of Back in Black, only JMS' Amazing Spider-man was allowed to really do anything with the storyline and the other titles were forced to tread water so that JMS could tell his story and not have anything spoiled. For this reason alone, I am glad they are cancelling all the Spider titles in favour of a thrice a month Amazing Spider-man.

All that taken into account, I am sad to see PAD go. He was one of the few writers to even try to establish a working supporting cast outside of Aunt May and MJ. This is definitely the best Spidey book in a long time and very self-contained. Lots of great moments in this issue as it focuses primarily on Peter and J. Jonah Jameson in the fallout of his firing Robbie Robertson. This issue is the first to truly deal with how JJ has taken Peter's "betrayal" and his revealing himself as Spider-man. A true character piece that harkens back to the glory days of Spider-man when the book was about Peter Parker and his friends, not Spider-man and his enemies that today's books focus on. The best issue of PAD's run and sadly his last. I recommend this issue for any fan of Spider-man, new or old, and anyone in general as it is a great comic book that anyone can enjoy.


Countdown #37 - I am beginning to hate reviewing Countdown. I typically buy more Marvel then DC and it leaves me with little DC to review each week. As Countdown comes out weekly, it seems like all I do is bash DC whenever I review one of their books. For those that love DC, please hold out for my Flash review below before writing me off as a Marvel fanboy.

After two weeks of relatively average issues, Countdown is back down in the gutter this week. To start, the art is atrocious. I consider myself an average amateur artist. I will not make money off anything I draw and have no intentions of doing so, but I can honestly say that I could have pencilled a million times better issue of this book in half as much time as the no-name penciller this week. I do not know if DC has just given up on the book and cannot be bothered putting any talent on it or what, but as an avid comic reader, I cannot believe this book made it to print with art this bad. Do not let the cover art fool you as it is no where near representative of the contents of the issue.

Storywise, it appears DC has decided they will add a main plot line to the myriad of stories and are beating it over our head that a great disaster or crisis is coming. I believe every single plot line states this with maybe the exception of Jimmy Olsen this week. It just seemed out of left field and thrown in to make people believe something actually might happen in this book and that the storylines are, in fact, linked. If it had been spread out over several weeks, it would not come off so poorly, but to have every major plot line allude to this crisis at the same time is hamfisted at best. While the last two issues seemed to at least move stories forward, this issue has none of that nonsense. We are back to the non-story, two page per storyline formula for this week. The only thing that happens is the ending with Jimmy and Clark Kent and his apparent knowledge that he is, in fact, Superman. It is more of a shock ending to get people to come back next week then an actual plot point that was built up to by the writers. My biggest complaint is the apparent need to recap the previous events of the last few issues by the Rogues. This is a weekly comic with minimal space for actual story progression and they feel the need to have Trickster and Piper beat us over the head with walls of speech bubble text to bring us up to speed on something we read not one week ago? They barely do this in monthlies anymore and they feel the need to do this to fill pages in a weekly?

Save yourself the money and just "Byrne" this at the store if you have any interest in it still. Maybe when this renames to Countdown to Final Crisis they will make a concerted effort to offer us a weekly, quality comic like 52 as opposed to slapping half finished pencils and regurgitated plot points from multiple DC books together and calling it a book.


Ultimate Spider-man #112 - Well, this is the beginning of the "new" Ultimate Spider-man with Stuart Immonen on art chores. Coming from a die hard Bagley fan from back on his original Amazing Spider-man run, I am glad he is finished. This has nothing to do with the quality of his work or any dislike towards him at all. I just feel like it was time for a change. Immonen brings a fresh new coat of paint to the premier Ultimate title and everything old is new again. I would love to have Bags back for the occasional fill-in issue or annual, but Immonen is what this book really needed.

Bendis seems to be fired up with the new blood as well as this is probably his best issue in months. I love the new look for Kitty and it is painfully obvious she still cares for Peter. The "partner up to look after a fake baby" is an old cliche from sitcoms, but is handled exceptionally well here and I look forward to the Spider-man and Shadowcat plus baby hi-jinxes that are sure to follow with their partnership.

This is a great jumping on point and an excellent debut [yes, I know he did flashbacks in last issue] for Immonen and I, personally, cannot wait for the Superfriends, Iceman and Firestar, to show up in the coming months. Worth every penny and a must buy for everyone that loves comic books.


Quasar #2 - I am usually all giddy after reading any issue related to Annihilation: Conquest, but this week's Quasar left me with a lukewarm reaction. The issue was better than Wraith, but not as good as the previous Quasar or anywhere near Starlord or Nova's offerings. This sounds negative, but the latter two offerings were some of the best books put out this year, so it was tough follow-up act for Quasar to deliver on.

This issue picks up with Phyla-Vell and Moondragon in space battling a Brood-like alien when Phyla goes crazy again from the corruption inside her Quantum Bands taking over. The alien is killed outright and Moondragon barely manages to get Phyla to reign herself in and retake control of herself. From here, we get a brief origin recap on who and what Moondragon is and where her powers and name are derived. I did not know much about the character previously, but had researched enough from Wikipedia to make this rather long retelling a bit redundant for myself, but I am sure some new people found it interesting. Considering how the book ended, I am pretty interested in finding out what happens next issue thanks to this recap. I was disappointed to find little to no information on the mysterious figure Quasar is looking for, but now that the Super Adaptoid is on his trail, things should pick up next issue on that front.

This issue continues the story and gives us a little action, but the main focus is Moondragon and what happens to her at the end of this issue. Still well worth the price of admission and an excellent addition to the Conquest saga. If you can afford more than Nova and Starlord each month, make sure this book is the next one on your list.


The Flash #231 - I just want to say I love this cover. When it was revealed that the last Flash was ending at issue 13, I was saddened when I thought this supposed preview cover for issue 14 or 15 was going to be scrapped. Glad to see it carry over to this new issue.

With the All-Flash Special, I was assuming they were going to give us a jumping on point for new and old readers to come back to the series. Colour me surprised when they followed up on the death in the last issue of Flash The Fastest Man Alive. That issue built not only on TFMA, but also the recent revival of Wally in Justice League of America's Lightning Saga. This left me wondering how they would return to the old series and numbering and whether it would actually be a "beginning" like the cover states or a live grenade of past plot lines carried over. I am happy to report that this issue is realtively reader friendly and should make an excellent jumping on point for anyone interested in a return to the Flash and did not pick up the previous series.

This issue establishes the return of Wally and does not bog new readers down with long drawn out explanations on what happened to him or how he got back or anything along those lines. We get a brief introduction to the Flash's children and why they have powers and how they differ from Flash himself. The book reads really well and my only real complaint is the art. Actually, I am not sure if it is the art or the colouring they used. The washed-out, faded water colour look does not suit the high octane speedster aspect of this book and is a major distraction to me. Otherwise, this book was an excellent return for Wally and family and worth a look for anyone interested in the fastest man alive. I was disappointed at absolutely no mention or alluding to the death of the previous Flash, but it is possible the picture Iris throws across the room was of him, but that would be an odd action to take for someone who was close to them. While I do not want them dwelling on the previous series or events, I would still like some mention of the sacrifice made and the effects he had on Keystone City. Despite this, I am still looking forward to the next issue and more of the scarlet speedster family.

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