Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 08/22/07

I cannot believe it has been four weeks already, but here we are with Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews and what a week it has been! Lots of great books this week and make sure to check in as I add more reviews later tonight.

Updated - Finally managed to get a copy of GLC and Blue Beetle for this week. Have to remember to add those to the pull list next time I am at my own shop. Not used to having either sell out, but crossovers and tie-ins can do that to lower selling titles. Either way, both were worth the wait.

Comic Book of the Week

Starlord #2 by Giffen & Green II - This book was amazing this week. Stop what you are doing, go out and buy this book now. Go on. I will wait. Back yet? Okay, let us continue.

Every single thing in this book is perfect. The dialogue, the pacing, the characterization and the plot. All of it. Perfect. We are immediately dropped into the action at the outset of this issue and it does not stop until the issue is over. I am not going to go into any major spoilers as I feel this book is too good to have spoiled. My favourite part of this issue though come from the general indifference of Mantis, the Celestial Madonna, while the team is engaged in combat and her eventual breaking out into full on ass-kicking mode. The artistic representation of her is perfect, as best expressed in her combat scenes. The random poses she is depicted in in every combat scene are both hilarious and awesome. I cannot mention Starlord without mentioning Groot, the colossal tree seen on the cover. It is hard to imagine a tree with so much bad ass dialogue, but somehow Giffen manages to make it happen and it is awesome. Finally, the confrontation between Captain Planet, er, Universe and the Shi'ar Deathcry is probably the moment of the week for me. I could not believe it when I saw the outcome of that and you do yourself a disservice by not picking up this issue and seeing it for yourself. Must buy issue. Do not deprive yourself of such an incredible book.

Green Lantern Corps #15 by Gibbons, Gleason & Unzueta - Yet another stellar issue in the Sinestro Corps War crossover. This issue moves the plot along nicely and give the reader an excellent sense of scope of the war and just how big a threat the Sinestro Corps really is. The bulk of the issue deals with the assault on Mogo, the living planet and member of the Green Lantern Corps. We are given some interesting information concerning Mogo and his importance to the Corps outside regular Lantern duties. Apparently, he is the guiding force behind the rings and how they choose new Lanterns. Without him, the rings cannot seek out new recruits. Very interesting revelation and makes this battle that much more dire for the GLC. As this is a fight issue, we are given plenty of action. The artists do an excellent job of displaying the different personalities of each Lantern in the way each is depicted using their ring, whether it is Vath, the ex-solider, using gun constructs to represent his power or his partner, Isamot, using more organic, spike like constructs or even the robotic Stel holding his body together and creating technological extensions with the ring. Each is displayed perfectly and few words are needed to get each person's personality off towards the reader.

The best and worst part of this issue is the fight between Arkillo and Kilowog featured on the cover image. The fight is brutal and awesome all at the same time and Kilowog's, "I care!", line is perfect and emotion packed. The only problem is how short the fight is. No winner was declared and I am sure they will meet up again next issue, but their fight was so good I am left wanting more from it. It is not really a complaint so much as my being greedy.

The issue expands on the Blackest Night prophecy and we see the various omens come to pass as the Children of the White Lobe are revealed to be on Ranx and Sodam Yat is destined to die at their hands. Ranx is also ripping into Mogo's crust to reveal his core, which is also prophesied as to herald the end of the Corps. I love how Johns and Gibbon have built upon this prophecy, first seen back in the 80's in a Alan Moore GL Annual, and cannot wait to see how the Lanterns survive.

The ending of this issue picks up the Lost Lanterns storyline from Green Lantern and shows them meeting up with none other than the Anti-Monitor himself. It was an awesome splash page that gave me an, "Oh f---!" moment and cemented this as one of the best issues in the Sinestro War to date. Cannot wait for next months issue.

Blue Beetle #18 by Rogers & Albuquerque - Blue Beetle is such a fun book. There are several points in every issue of this series that will make you laugh out loud and I cannot think of one issue that was not worth the price of admission. I was concerned this issue would end up being a let down with what appears to be an editorial mandate to get him on the Titans to hopefully increase sales on this sadly poor selling book. I was pleasantly surprised that this issue was one of the best in the run. Every interaction between Blue Beetle and the Titans is memorable and captures each character perfectly. The scene where he is talking to the Scarab while Supergirl, Wonder Girl and Martian Girl all look on and make jokes about him is hilarious. Another great moment is the debate on proper female superhero attire where they make fun of the girls' mini-skirts and belly tops in relation to how improper it is for combat attire. In the end, the conflict of this issue, Lobo trying to stop a rocket from launching, is of little importance as this issue is about our hero meeting the Teen Titans and being offered to come hang out with them any time he wants. And, in this, the book succeeds perfectly, as this is the best the Titans have been written in months. This is an issue anyone can enjoy and there is no major continuity or plot points that will confuse the reader or force you to buy other books to get the rest of the story. While it says it ties into Teen Titans #50, it is more of a side story to that and not an official "part" of any continued story. Great issue that everyone should not hesitate to pick up.

The Amazing Spider-man #543 by Straczynski & Garney - Do not believe the cover for this book. Aunt May, and no one else for that matter, dies in this issue. For the finale of Back in Black, this issue adds very little to the storyline. It actually leaves me wondering why Back in Black did not end last issue with the showdown with Kingpin and Peter throwing his costume off to show it was just him and Fisk, not the black costumed Spider-man, fighting it out now.

As for this issue itself, it is rather lackluster. The majority deals with Peter shunting May out of her current hospital and into another one once the police start investigating the gunshot victim who has her hospital fees paid for in cash and did not file a police report. From here we get a list of the various crimes Peter must commit to keep his aunt from being found out and getting proper care, er, I mean, having something...happen to her. Honestly, I have no idea what he is doing all this for as they do not refuse old ladies with gun shot wounds just because their nephew did not register as a superhero. The fact they try to show the effect these crimes he is committing are having on Peter is another form of contention I have with this issue. Peter has done many questionable things in his time, including striking police officers, and it never became this big of a deal. The only major thing I can think of is the stealing of the ambulance, as that has a direct impact on the well-being of others and impedes their getting proper care. Yet he chalks that up to being grand theft auto and at the end of the issue "dumps" the vehicle on the other side of town instead of bringing it back to the hospital so it can be used to help people.

Some might be able to let all these poor choices slide as the result of Peter being grief stricken with his ailing aunt dying in the hospital, but she has been dying for 30 years now and has, in fact, died once before in Amazing Spider-man 400, in a much better issue with much better pacing and emotional impact than this one.

This is an average to slightly below average issue and pretty much nothing happens in the entire issue. All the emotional impact comes off as forced and contrived or having a 'been done before' feeling.


X-Men 202 by Carey & Ramos - I was really looking forward to this issue, as I had thoroughly enjoyed the previous two parts of this return of the Marauders story, and I am sad to say that this issue was a major disappointment. Nothing happens this issue. We know just as little this month as we did last month and the story does not appear to be going anywhere at this point. I would almost call it a filler issue if not for the fact it was done by Carey and Ramos.

Instead of the promised brawl from last issue when Exodus, with his Acolytes in tow, showed up at the Xavier Institute, we get a random Acolyte using time warping powers to freeze everything in place while Exodus looks for Destiny's diary. When he finds out the pages are blank, he unfreezes everyone and a small one or two page skirmish breaks out where the New X-Men, Kitty and Colossus are taken out with no sweat. From there he questions Kitty on the blank pages before telepathically finding out her mind was altered so she could read the "blank" pages. Then they simply leave the X-Men there. They do not kill them or capture them or cripple them in anyway. Just leave.

Later, back at Sinister's hideout, we find out Rogue is relatively fine, despite a bullet in her chest from Mystique last issue. Apparently, she has the contents on Destiny's journal implanted in her mind and that is why they captured her. The other X-Men the Marauders took down last issue are shown trapped under the building with little to no injuries. Sinister ends the issue by putting on his own Cerebro helmet and searching for Iceman and Cannonball, who are on route to the real diary of Destiny.

Little to no action, little to no plot or character development and a relatively unfulfilling issue that put the brakes on what was a very high paced, action packed storyline.

As this is an Endangered Species tie-in, I feel compelled to mention that for those picking it up or interested in that only. Beast and Dark Beast are in Genosha now digging through more graves of dead mutants. Apparently Beast dislikes Dark Beast's piling up of corpses, despite the fact he is robbing graves without consent and going to cut them open and poke around in their dead bodies, which Dark Beast so eloquently points out to our Beast. They later have a small fight, much like every issue so far, over moral qualms before ending the chapter with the thought process that MGH, Mutant Growth Hormone, which is a designer drug that has been floating around the Marvel Universe for several years now that grants people temporary mutant powers if you have never heard of it, might be the solution to their problems. Not much to say here. I feel that, aside from the first two or three chapters, this back up story could be told at a much quicker pace and seems to be repeating itself and beating a dead horse with the moral issues. I know it is supposed to be building up to Beast doing something he will eventually regret, but it is time to move on with this storyline and give us some meat to chew on in terms of plot development.


Thunderbolts #116 by Ellis & Deodato - I have a love/hate relationship with Thunderbolts. I was one of the avid and loyal readers of the Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza version of the Thunderbolts and find myself upset that they were kicked to the curb so Millar could have something that "impacts" and "changes" the Marvel Universe with his Civil War title. This makes me quite jaded and biased towards the current interpretation of the team, but I do give credit where it is due, as Ellis and Deodato have done an excellent job with the book since taking over. However, it is not my Thunderbolts and I really wish they had changed the name or at least restarted with a new volume to show that they have nothing to do with the old version.

That said, Ellis and co have their first arc under their belts and are ready to really kick things into gear. It looks like they are building Penance up to be their scape goat and are touting him as their Hulk-like menace to go chasing after if they need any public favour. We also see the fallout of last month's arm-eating incident by Venom. It appears most people are just giving up on sight as they do not want to be eaten. Also, prison 42 is mentioned as being overcrowded already and talks of storing people at the Thunderbolts' base are being discussed. This strikes me as odd as 42 was designed for super powered non-registrants or villains. I do not think they have captured that many people that it would be filled already. The end of this book introduces a new character by the name of Mindwave that uses telekinetic powers to beat up several police officers in a police station before promptly surrendering to the last cop standing so that he can be taken away by the Thunderbolts when they show up. I wonder if this character is someone we know posing to get close to the Thunderbolts or infiltrate them somehow. Also, that makes two people this issue that surrender and are captured by the Thunderbolts, which almost seems to me to be building up to some kind of inside job or subtle plot point that might mean something later. Either way, this was a decent issue, but still sticking to the highly decompressed template of previous Ellis Thunderbolts issues. Pick it up if you are interested or currently reading Thunderbolts. Otherwise, it is more of the same from Ellis' version of the team and it honestly reads much better in trade format if you want to wait a few months for it.


The Order #2 by Fraction & Kitson - This was a good follow up to last month's debut issue for The Order. As this is a completely new cast of characters, and they even replaced several from last issue, I find myself wishing they had a more decompressed style for this book so that we could have more dialogue between the characters and learn more about them than the action packed first two issues that we have been given so far. They have introduced lots of great, new characters and there has been lots of action with a touch of character moments, but I find myself not caring in the least about these people because I just do not know them and they are giving me little incentive to stick around with the constant team adjustments, as this issue seems to imply another character will be removed due to their public actions outside the team in a very Paris Hilton style move.

Aside from that complaint, the book is fairly solid and there are far worse books you could choose over this one. If you are on the fence about this one, I would wait another issue or two to see if they give us something to care about here before dropping this book. As of right now, I could have seen this book working much better as an Elseworlds style book starring Avengers characters and being a much better take on celebrity superheroes.

On the plus side, this book contains excellent art and action and has incredible potential to break out into something truly unique in the superhero genre. I will be giving it probably until issue six to give me something to care about before making my drop or keep decision.

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