Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 08/29/07

Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews brings you a relatively slow week in the comic world. As always, enjoy the reviews and feel free to leave comments or suggestions for any books I might not cover to be featured here.

Comic Book of the Week

WWH: Avengers The Initiative #5 by Slott & Caselli - Another great issue by Slott and Caselli. This book has successfully avoided being bogged down by mandatory WWH tie-ins and actually manages to use the event to further its own storylines at the same time.

Last issue had several Initiative members break rank and head off to help fight the Hulk. This issue reveals they were captured and taken to Madison Square Gardens, where the Hulk is keeping his prisoners. Gyrich does not want news of these Initiative members being put in danger without proper training nor the fact they are lead by a former New Warrior getting out to the press as it would spell the end of the Initiative program. Therefore, they send the Shadow Initiative in to retrieve them, dead or alive. The team consists of Trauma, one of the best new characters of this book, the Scarlet Spiders, three unknown characters using Iron Spider-man costumes seen in previous issues, the Bengal, Constrictor and the mysterious Mutant Zero. This team manages to infiltrate the Gardens and free the Initiative members while the Hulk is busy battling the US Army in downtown New York, as seen in World War Hulk #3.

I really enjoyed this issue. Trauma and Cloud 9 get lots of attention this issue and we are treated to several clues about the identities of the Scarlet Spiders and Mutant Zero. The Spiders all appear to be military men. They are very disciplined and obey orders. I do not see them as former heroes or villains like other members, but it is still too early to tell. Mutant Zero apparently cannot be "activated" more than once per mission and there is no need for her to attend mission briefings for some reason. I have no idea who this mutant could be, but look forward to finding and seeing more on her. Constrictor and Bengal reminded me of the old Thunderbolts days before Ellis took over when it was villains trying to be heroes, not villains being forced to work for the government. Constrictor is especially entertaining and I cannot wait to see more of the Shadow Initiative. Great to see everyone still terrified of Trauma as well, as the last time most of them saw him, a girl shot MVP in the head because of his powers.

Great issue all around and I, honestly, cannot find a single bad thing about this issue, a very rare thing considering it was a mandatory tie-in issue to a huge event. Those types of books are typically the worst of the lot. Probably the best Avengers book on the market today.

Teen Titans #50 by Various - This was the best Titans issue in a long time. McKeever did an excellent job on his first issue and I expect great things from him. His Spider-man Loves Mary Jane convinced me he knows how to write teenage characters and he does an excellent job with the young Titan team.

The issue is broken up into several smaller sections, handled by various artists and writers, including Johns and Wolfman, two of the definitive Titans writers from the past. The entire issue is more of a tribute to Impulse / Kid Flash, who died as the Flash several months ago. I was a little put off by the rehash of the funeral at the start, but that quickly disappeared when I saw how much better it was handled and how the book quickly branched off into excellent side stories.

Ravager is one of my favourite Titans and she gets plenty of good scenes in this issue, especially the skinny dipping in the pool with Kid Devil.

The Impulse flashbacks near the end by Wonder Girl were hilarious as well. They reference the Young Justice days and are great reminders for how under appreciated that series was.

I was also happy to see Wally West, the Flash, in this issue. He has barely been touched on in relation to Bart's death and it was great to see how much it affected him in this issue and his reaction to Bart as the new Kid Flash. The flashback scene was a great throwback and appreciated.

Blue Beetle #18 gets rehashed here without totally negating last week's issue. They managed to take most of the fight and transplant it in this issue almost word for word. You miss out of some of the funnier moments and character interactions from Blue Beetle #18, but it conveys the contents of the issue for the people that do not want to be forced to buy ancillary books to understand Teen Titans. Well handled by both books and you should not feel like you missed out or feel cheated if you did or did not buy both books.

Finally, the book deals with the future Titans. Throughout the book, we see various attacks on the JLA members, like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and so on until finally we see the Flash taken down in front of Robin and Wonder Girl by the two currently dead Titans, Superboy and Kid Flash. Was a great end to a great issue and anyone remotely interested in the Titans should pick this up as it is a great jumping on point as well with the new writer and new storyline starting. Pick up Blue Beetle as well. That book rocks and deserves a chance from everyone.

Countdown to Adventure #1 by Beechan & Barrows with backup by Gray & Fiorentino - Drop the main Countdown series and pick up this. It is a million times better than the sub par stuff DC is throwing out week to week. This issue comes with a huge $3.99 price tag, but it is well worth it in my opinion.

This issue sees the return of the space fairing cast of 52 in the form of Starfire, Animal Man and Adam Strange. At this point, I do not know how this new adventure will tie into Countdown or if the Countdown is just there to reference the Forerunner back up story. As for the contents of this issue, the first half is dedicated to our 52 compatriots while the latter half is focused on the origin of the Forerunner race. I can see why they packaged these two stories together as a single issue as the Forerunner story reads very much like a backup story and would be a terrible standalone issue in my eyes. That is not to say that it was a bad backup story. Quite the opposite actually. But it is told in a very generic style with average art at best.

As this is the first issue, the main story is mostly build up. We see what the trio from space have been up to in their time since 52 and there does not appear to be any major villain or menace obviously apparent at this point. The only plot points we are given are Starfire and Animal Man's powers are both not working properly and Adam Strange being replaced by a new champion from Earth in the form of Champ, a movie star that Animal Man is stunt doubling for as well. There is one other oddity in the form of Animal Man's son and Champ both freaking out in a similar manner when questioned by Animal Man and Adam Strange respectively. Each person gets a crazed look in their eyes and seem overcome with rage or anger. Whether this is a side effect of some disease the space fairing team brought back with them or something else remains a mystery.

The Forerunner origin story is quite entertaining for me, as she was one of the better aspects of Countdown and I was enjoying her character until they shunted her out of the weekly with the promise she would show up in a future tie-in miniseries, which I am reviewing here today. Looking past the cheesy, "tell me your origin Forerunner", premise where Monarch requests her origin, this story shed a lot of light on the Forerunners and apparently they are from the forty-eighth Earth, where humanity was a war mongering race that has gone extinct. Earth, now a war world for other races to wage conflicts, sparing their own planets in the process, is where the survivors of each war from the different races have bred over the years to become the formidable Forerunner race. Another major revelation by Monarch is that the Monitors have apparently used one of their other slave races to wipe out the Forerunners, making the now named Forerunner, Viza Aziv, the last Forerunner in the multiverse.

I enjoyed both stories for different reasons and feel it justifies the price tag attached to this issue. The first one for its ties to 52 and the new adventures of those characters and the second story for its revelations pertaining to Countdown and the Forerunner race. Others who are only interested in one of the two stories may feel burned by the hefty price though, especially considering the lackluster art in the Forerunner story. If the rest of the Countdown miniseries end up like this one, this will mark the first time an event's tie-ins will far surpass the main book.


52 Aftermath: The Four Horsemen by Giffen & Olliffe - DC really dropped the ball on these 52 follow-ups. They have all been fairly decent quality, but are also robbed of any momentum and hype they had through the huge downtime between the end of 52 and launch of these books. The other books I refer to are Black Adam and Metal Men. All good books launched long after they should have been.

This issue picks up after the destruction of Bialya, which was destroyed by Black Adam for harbouring Death during World War III in 52. A great deal of time is spent setting up the story for the rest of this six part series and I feel this issue wastes too many pages putting the pieces in place. In fact, I can almost guarantee that most people could do without this issue and start picking up this series next issue and not miss a beat. It is not that this issue is terrible or not worth buying, but that nothing plot worthy really happens until the final couple pages. The interactions between the post-52 Clark and Bruce are well done and quite enjoyable, but have been seen in other books already months ago, robbing these scenes of any impact or freshness they may have had. Wonder Woman's role in this issue feels tacked on, just to let people know that she is actually going to be part of this crossover.

I have my doubts about the need for this series to be six issues, but I think this issue brought enough to the table for most to at least take a look at. Not much happens, but the interactions between Superman and Batman are especially well done and we see the rebirth of the Horsemen by the end of the issue and, with how one manages to take a bite out of Superman, literally, we see that they will actually be a major threat to the three heroes as well. I will save judgment of this series for later, but I am not sure if this series will be worth the money by the end of the day or not.


Black Panther #30 by Hudlin & Portela - I am not a big Black Panther fan, but I loved Marvel Zombies and their Ultimate Fantastic Four appearances, so have been picking this run of the book up. Hudlin does an okay job with them, but if zombies are not your thing, then you are going to hate this issue and the previous parts of this story.

While I believe Hudlin has been merely cashing in on the Marvel Zombies phenomenon, this final issue is one of the stronger of his arc. I actually find he writes the zombies better than he does the rest of the characters in this book. Zombie Spider-man is spot on and I really enjoyed the fake Thanos / Death encounter this issue. This issue could be a major development for the zombies come Marvel Zombies 2, as the zombies learn how to use Galactus' world devouring abilities to feed their hunger at the end of this issue when they devour the Skrull planet. I am interested in finding out if this will play any part in the next Marvel Zombies miniseries.

If you enjoy fun zombie stories, this book has been a great source of it for the last few issues. While not a perfect story arc by any means, it is fun and enjoyable and that is all that really matters.


Fantastic Four #549 by McDuffie & Pelletier - This is probably McDuffie's best issue on Fantastic Four since he took over. This issue wraps up the Frightful Four (or is that Five with the addition of Klaw?) storyline with an action packed issue that delivers one of the best Sue Storm moments in a long time. My only complaint is the addition of Klaw. He is a long time Panther villain that seems to be thrown in for the sake of being there. He did not really offer much to the book aside from the great splash page last issue and McDuffie uses him and throws him away in the span of a couple pages. Otherwise, this issue delivers in spades and even has time at the end to send our team of heroes off to the follow up on the Oditopian artifact they found. If he can keep this pace up, McDuffie might salvage his run on FF before Millar and Hitch take over.


WWH: X-Men #3 by Gage & DiVito - This issue finishes up the mandatory X-Men tie-in to the WWH event. Gage has done an excellent job of delivering a fanboy slugfest with this series and if you were honestly coming into this series expecting some deep, story driven plot, it is your own fault for your disappointment.

While some are upset with how easily Hulk brushes away the X-Men, it is very much in line with how Marvel has had him take down everyone else in the Marvel Universe so far, from the Avengers to the Fantastic Four to everyone in between. This issue brings the Juggernaut back in full force for another shot at the Hulk after his powers seemed to fade on him last issue and aside from the end to their fight, it was worth the wait. I wonder if the developments in his character will have lasting effects on him or eventually bring the Juggernaut back to his villainous roots. I was surprised with the ending of this series though. I figured they would eventually come to a conclusion similar to the one here, but I seriously thought Hulk would eventually capture Xavier to complete his Illuminati collection.

In the end, this issue delivered everything it promised and more. Lots of memorable moments and lots of action packed fanboy moments, , including Hulk kicking Monet's invulnerable ass to New Jersey this issue or previous issues' Wolverine throw down or breaking off Santo's arms and throwing them miles away. It is hard for any X-fan or comic fan in general not to walk away with something they enjoyed in this issue. Definitely one of the more fun, if not really needed in the grand scheme of things, WWH tie-ins.

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