Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 12/28/07

Just a light update for tonight. I got stuck with some more holiday related, mandatory visiting that made it impossible to even read my books until literally just now. I'll make sure to get the rest covered in the Quick Shot Reviews tomorrow and the Moments of the Week will be on Sunday due to the lateness of this week's release date. I won't bore you with all the details, so hit the jump the reviews!

Comic Book of the Week

CAPTAIN AMERICA #33
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Steve Epting

There is no other book that is as consistently good, no, excellent as Captain America. It was easily my Comic Book of the Week, as it's been almost every time it's come out since I started this site.

This issue delivered on the promised Winter Soldier VS Iron Man fight as well as set up next month's debut of the new Captain America. On top of this, they managed to find time to set the Skull's master plan into motion and deliver several excellent character moments. Most books settle for one of these things. Cap delivers on all of them.

The Bucky / Iron Man fight did a good job of showcasing both characters without jobbing out either one. Bucky's attempted EMP was easily stopped by Iron Man and his quip afterwards left me wondering if he remembered Civil War at all. The only thing I really had a problem with was the one thing I have a problem with all of Iron Man's fights. Is his helmet held on with masking tape or something? I know Bucky has the bionic arm and all that, but this is the most advanced piece of tech on the planet and I think a child could pull that thing off. Aside from that one gripe, the fight was great all around.

The fight ended with Tony telling Bucky about Cap's letter and, later, showing said letter to him. As most expected, this obviously led to Tony offering Bucky the job as the new Captain America. It was handled well and, while no big shocker, was still quite enjoyable to see. I don't agree with the new Cap's costume, but I suspect Bucky will fill the role perfectly.

Verdict - Must Read


GREEN LANTERN #26
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Mike McKone

The biggest problem I have with Green Lantern #26 is that it isn't Green Lantern #25. I, honestly, can't think of any comic that could have followed up on the pure awesomeness that was GL #25 and having a guest artist step up to the plate for this issue sure didn't help things.

Now, that doesn't mean this issue was bad. However, this just felt like more epilogue. After Green Lantern Corps and the Ion special, did we really need another epilogue-like issue?

It was nice to see Cowgirl back in the series, but, in all likelihood, I'm betting a vast majority of the readers just started reading GL with the Sinestro Corps War - a storyline she wasn't even featured in. It just felt like a token jesture and I really don't see much coming out of that subplot with the Alpha Lanterns, Red Lanterns and the build up to Blackest Night coming.

And speaking of the Alpha Lanterns, this issue had nothing to do with that storyline, aside from a single page at the beginning of the book, despite the fact this was touted as the beginning of the Alpha Lantern story and it's even stated on the cover.

I know it sounds like a lot of nitpicking and general bitching, but I actually did enjoy this issue. The Sinestro and Hal stuff was excellent as was the Lost Lanterns' encounter with Amon Sur. However, these scenes were stuck in an otherwise uneventful epilogue issue.

Verdict - Check It. Still a solid read, but nothing nearly as ground breaking or adrenaline pumping as previous issues. Felt like a "Taking a break, see ya next month!" type of issue.


TEEN TITANS #54
Written by Sean McKeever
Art by Eddy Barrows, Joe Prado & Greg Tocchini

I love time travel / alternate reality / etc stories. It's just fun seeing different takes on my favourite characters. However, sometimes the writers get way too caught up on the time travel aspect and the whole story devolves into a complete disaster, leaving the reader confused and unsure of what the heck they just read.

Unfortunately, this issue was just that, an unmitigated disaster in terms of story and plot. Every other issue seemed to have a clear and definite story that was building to something bigger. This 'conclusion' was impossible to follow. People start fading in and out of reality and there's new futures created and pretty much nothing, as far as I can tell, was really answered in terms of why these Titans came back in time or what their actual goal was. In short, the wheels fell of the wagon on this story.

While I feel the story ended up as a train wreck, there was still some shining moments in this issue. I loved all Martian Girl's lines and Blue Beetle's scenes were excellent as well. The hints of future betrayals, such as Kid Devil's warning that Blue Beetle would betray them and the new future for the Titans' showing Robin and Martian Girl dating behind Wonder Girl's back and joining forces with Lex Luthor. I wonder if McKeever has any plans for these plots or if it's just going to be a dangling plot that can be picked up on at anytime.

Verdict - Check It. It's not a pretty ending, but if you've been following this story, it's worth picking up for some of the stuff that's going on here.


THOR #5
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Art by Oliver Coipel

This is probably the first issue of Thor that I have thoroughly enjoyed. It might have something to do with the fact that this is probably the first issue of this book that I would actually call a Thor comic book. There isn't a hint of JMS's political and world views expressed in this issue and he doesn't use Thor and other heroes or villains as props in his political agendas. This is just a Thor story at heart and all I can say is that it's about time.

The opening of this issue immediately told me I was going to like this month's offering. It featured one of the townsfolk erecting a mail box at the base of Asgard so they could give Thor and the other Asgardians an invitation to a party. I just found the entire scene with him putting it up and Thor coming down to check his mail hilarious and the end of the issue with all the gods showing up to the party because of the promise of cake just capped off a great sequence.

Oh ya, despite how much I wrote about Thor checking his mail and everyone eating cake, this issue actually features a lot of progression in Thor's quest to find the rest of his Asgardian breathren. It seems he's already found a large chunk of gods since last issue and is currently trying to find Sif. Heimdall can't seem to locate her, but points out a disturbance that is blocking his view that sets Thor on his way to investigate.

What he finds is dozens of people trapped in an underground bunker and supposedly Sif is with them. Their captor appears to be someone inside the Destroyer armour, which leads to a lengthy battle with Thor. Thor, wishing to free his friends before the Destroyer can kill them, doesn't bother to pick and choose or try to identify exactly who it is he is freeing. The act of freeing his breathren reveals it was Balder locked inside the Destroyer armour. It seems he blames Thor for the destruction of Asgard during Ragnarok.

The biggest revelation comes when Thor goes to check on 'Sif'. The beautiful woman turns out to be a new, more female version of Loki. After revealing he no longer plans to cause any trouble since his destiny with Ragnarok is over, Thor allows him to go free for the time being. The various other gods that were trapped and free by Thor have all vanished, leaving Thor bewildered as to what happened. At the end of the issue, it is revealed that this was all orchestrated by Dr Doom (!) to free various evil gods, such as Enchantress, what looks like a Frost Giant and another that looks like a close up on a snakes eye, among others. I'm not sure what Doom has planned here, but it looks like Marvel is planning something big with him, as he has this and his alliance with Namor and Atlantis as some very noteworthy developments for him as of late.

Verdict - Must Read. The first true issue of the new Thor series and a welcome change from the ham fisted spiel JMS has been throwing at us. Anything with Doom in it pretty much gets my seal of approval and the return of Loki was definitely interesting, to say the least.

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