Time for the Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews! I only have a handful of reviews for you right now, but I'm hoping to add a couple more before the night is through. Right now, it looks like Mighty Avengers might be my Book of the Week, but I still have several books in my pile to go through, like X-Factor, GLC and Wonder Woman, so we'll see how things work out before I hand out any honours. Hit the jump for all the review action.UPDATE - Added GLC & Amazing Spider-Man reviews.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #546Written by Dan Slott
Art by Steve McNiven
I'm too lazy to get the actual cover, so I'm still sporting that old What If? one.
So, this is it. The supposed Brand New Day. I'm not sure what to think. I think I like it though. There's a lot of things that are hard to swallow and I think there's some things that just don't fly with the way Peter would or should act, but there's none of the old 'nerd rage' flaring up telling me to hate this issue the way I dispised One More Day.
Most who are reading this probably already know the details of what happens in the issue, so I'll spare the full spoilers. Coming out of OMD, Peter wakes up in Aunt May's house, the 30 year old, unemployed loser still living at home. Somehow Aunt May has an amazing house that looks to be a lot better than the one that burned down pre-Avengers Tower.
Later, Peter goes on a job search, which I found pretty funny, but had seen in previews already. After his last interview, he's called by Harry and invited to go out clubbing with his girlfriend and the hot, nerdy roommate, Carlie, whom Peter ignored in the last part of OMD. Well, he completely ignores her at the club as well and oggles Harry's girlfriend the entire time. He also gladly takes hand outs from Harry to help him cover his rent. That really bugged me for some reason. I just never saw Pete as the type or person to take hand outs unless there was something seriously wrong, like hospital bills or something. To just casually pocket the cash seemed out of character for me and rubbed me the wrong way.
This money issue continues with Peter confronting Jameson about some money he owes him for royalties on photos he sold him long ago. I can understand wanting to stick it to JJ, but the way he flips out and goes off the deep end over some cheques when he's just been told the Bugle is in the middle of a hostile takeover and has frozen all employee's pays rings hollow. And this is after he took the free money from Harry, meaning he technically didn't need that money right at that moment, making him seem like more of an ass to me.
The new villain, Mr Negative really impressed me. He wasn't all that much when I first say his character design a while back, but seeing him in action in this issue won me over. Not sure if he's physically in Spidey's league or if he just relies on his weapon as the killings were done off screen and he used a energy-charged sword thingy.
Finally, the art was exceptional, but I'm biased towards McNiven. I only wish he had some actual Spider-Man to draw in this issue. I do have a small complaint though. A lot of his faces look very smug. These instances where they look like that seem to accompany the scenes that I hated, like accepting money from Harry or his discussion about marriage at the club, and almost made it seem like the characters were laughing at me and throwing it back in my face that there's nothing I can do about the changes to Spider-Man. It's a weird complaint and I'm not sure I explained it well and I don't even know if it's only something I see or if it's something everyone can notice. Regardless, the art was excellent and anything bad I can say about it is only nitpicking.
Verdict - Check It. I'm not sure if it's a Must Read book or not. It's so odd and different from what Spider-Man has been for so long and there's things that just don't sit right with me. I like it on one level and then there are times I hate it. I think I'll know after the next issue whether I really like this or not.
COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #16Story by Paul Dini
Story consultant Keith Giffen
Scripts by Tony Bedard
Art by Pete Woods and Tom Derenick
Surprisingly, Countdown to Final Crisis was everything I hoped it would be this week. Really. It was good. They spend no time, with the exception of maybe one page, on the other, crappier storylines and focus everything, as they should, on the Monarch vs. Monitors battle and it actually delivered for once.
Picking up right where last issue left off, Monarch's forces are systematically taking over Earth-51 and his super powered army is busy battling the Monitors.
Meanwhile, Monarch is busy giving the verbal beat down on Solomon, who's dejected after killing Bob and failing to save the Multiverse. He teleports back to the Monitor nexus and is then dressed down by the few Monitors not currently fighting on Earth-51. Even later, as the poor guy tries to cry it out, Superman Prime shows up most likely with the goal of finding his own Earth. I wonder if he'll be tricked into going to Earth-51?
On the Donna and Jason side of things, Donna gets a beat down from an evil Donna who is revealed to be under the sway of Queen Belthera, whom I thought was written out of the series. Seems she's under Monarch's banner and using her bug army to take out the populace. Jason is nearly killed by "Doc Ock" of the Extremists before this Earth's extra paranoid Batman saves him and brings him back to the Batcave. This cave has a Red Robin shrine in it and it is revealed Jason Todd died on this Earth 10 years ago. I assume this will lead to Jason becoming Red Robin like the Countdown teaser image showed.
Honestly, I think everything clicked in this issue. There were no wasted scenes and none of the dialogue felt stilted or groan inducing. There wasn't even any pointless deaths of random characters as far as I could tell, which is a first in a while I think. This issue won't get anyone who isn't buying this series to pick it up, but it's definitely a nice change of pace over the typical issues.
Verdict - Must Read. DC's doing a great job on this Earth-51 / Monarch vs Monitor war and this is the best Countdown has ever been in my opinion. Probably has something to do with no Amazons, Mary Marvel, Jimmy (okay, one naked bug girl page of his story was here), and no Karate Kid stories. It's funny how good a story can get when they stop focusing on pointless garbage.
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #20Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Art by Patrick Gleason & Prentis Rollins
This was a good issue let down by the multiple artist changes throughout. The artists don't even have the same styles or compliment each other like Reis and Van Sciver do on the main GL title. When the art in this issue is good, it's nice, but the sudden dips in quality as you turn the page are really jarring.
The issue basically deals with Guy and Kyle wanting to run away from their lives and all the responsibilities and hardships they've had to put up with over the past year. The two decide to move to Oa permanently. Once there, the two have a hilarious conversation with Salaak as they request permission to open up a new bar on Oa. It might not come off as funny for new comers, but if you know Guy and Salaak and have seen how they interact over the course of this title, there's no way you won't enjoy this scene.
On the Sinestro Corps side of things, Mongul, the big yellow guy on the cover there, gets aquainted with the new ring he acquired last issue. He does this in badass fashion as he request the ring tell him everything it knows about its functions. When the ring informs him it will take roughly a 100 hours to do this, Mongul simply replies do it as time means nothing to him and proceeds to stand there for the better part of a week listening and learning. Later he crows over the body of his dead sister, who he killed early on in the Green Lantern title. Yes, he left the rotting corpse in his throne room so he could gloat over her decaying body. It appears he's going to be hunting down any and all rings that are currently seeking new owners and claim them as his own, but that's just my speculating based on the last page.
One thing that was curious to me was when the Guardians were tracking Sinestro rings A bunch of them just randomly blinked off their scans and they could no longer track them. Did they go back to Qwaard in the Anti-Matter Universe? Is that why they couldn't track them? Do they stop showing up when they get new owners? Were they destroyed or something? Also, what's up with the last page? It says "To Be Continued" and then says stuff about Mongul and the Alpha Lanterns but to check in GLC #23. This is issue #20, so what's up with the next two issues? One last question I have is with Mongul's ring. Why wasn't he transferred to Qwaard when he received it like Amon Sur or anyone else was? Is it because the Anti-Monitor is "dead"? I thought it was just the ring that pulled you into the Anti-Matter Universe.
Verdict - Must Read. Despite the multiple artists, this is still a good read that sets the stage for future issues. Mongul appears to be returning to his father's pre-Crisis status of badass, but I hope they don't punk him out the first chance they get. The guy has been through enough. Let him at least maim a Green Lantern before you have Ion or Guy put a beat down on him.
HULK #1Written by Jeph Loeb
Art by Ed McGuinness
I'm going to start positive before I lay any criticisms on this piss poor attempt at a comic book. The art was excellent. I'm not usually a fan of McGuinness' style. I don't consider it bad artwork or horribly crafted, it just doesn't click with me usually. However, unlike how I felt about his earlier work, I really like his art here. His style really suits the characters and he does a great job with the action scenes. The only complaint I have about his art is the lack of background work. While the characters all look great, many backgrounds are completely barren or consist of a plain, washed out sky or generic background image. It's a small complaint though and I assume it was due to time constraints.
As for the actual story, this is 100% a Jeph Loeb story. Remember how inane and pedantic Ultimates 3 was? This issue isn't quite as bad as that, but it's close. If you recall, the previews for this issue showed a blanked out last panel during Samson and She-Hulk's CSI scene recounting the red Hulk's fight with the Abomination. That blanked out scene was a picture of the Hulk holding a gun. Not some giant energy gun or heavy artillary. No, he was using a six-shooter revolver and the next page has him shooting the Abomination. Who cares if he's super strong and easily defeated him. He had to bus' a cap in his ass because that's hip and edgy and cool according to the Book of Loeb.
On top of the foolishness that was the red Hulk, Loeb has Doc Samson, who has been having a resurgence of late with his excellent appearances in Warren Ellis' Thunderbolts and the Knauf's Iron Man. In this book though, he's a brain dead thug. A Russian super team showed up to claim the Abomination's body. They had some words, but showed no signs of fighting the US heroes. They just wanted to claim the Russian Abomination's corpse since this incident happened on Russian soil. One minute they are all talking and the next page, with no provocation that I could see, Samson just starts wailing on one of the Russians, inciting a pointless fight to distract us from the completely ridiculous and contrived lack of story this book had. Hercules has more brains than this Doc Samson.
Finally, Loeb decides to let us all in on who the red Hulk is - none other than Rick Jones. While it's not completely revealed, we see him wake up with the tattered pants that Banner usually has and a destroyed oil pipe line of Hulk proportions in the valley below him. Unless Loeb tries to be 'smart' (please God, don't let him try), it's almost guaranteed to be Rick Jones.
Oh ya, remember WWH's ending? The one with Bruce Banner in a coma / stasis tube? SHIELD got tired of that and woke him up and put him in an Ultimates-style glass box where, if he Hulk'd out, he obviously couldn't just bust out or anything.
Verdict - LOEEEEBBBBB! Does Loeb just spin a wheel and use whatever retarded idea shows up? This reads like bad fanfiction. Do not buy this book. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.
MIGHTY AVENGERS #7Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley
Wow, just when I was ready to write Mighty Avengers off, team Bendis & Bagley goes and floors me with this issue. I'm not saying it was Cho's fault for any negativity directed towards the book when I heap praise on Bagley this time around, as it was as much the fault of Bendis' story as it was Cho's lateness.
Everyone pretty much knows the basics of what happens here. It's already been covered in Illuminati and New Avengers. However, Bendis does the impossible and manages to make these scenes interesting despite being the equivilent of a in-depth rehash of stuff we already know.
The team's ripping of Tony over his former femdom was great. Ares' stole the scene with his comments and thought bubble. Spider-Woman's reintegration into the team was a lot of fun. I loved Ms. Marvel's reaction to her friend rejoining and there was another hilarious Ares' thought bubble. In fact, just about all the thought bubbles were great here with the exception of Wonder Man's speech.
Speaking of Wonder Man, I think Bendis is reading my mind because I can't believe anyone approved that leisure suit jacket "costume" he's been sporting. It made no sense. It looked horrible and I can't imagine anyone being able to move or fight in that thing. I think Janet's fashion intervention was the best thing for that character in the last decade. Loved Carol's line about how Janet already showed these costume designs off to Luke Cage. However, his new suit didn't really strike me as being that great either, but it's an improvement and I'll settle for baby steps with regards to his costume.
Finally, it looks like the symbiote invasion was started by Tony Stark instead of Dr Doom. There's clean up crews in space working on Tony Stark's satellites, so I assume it came from one of his that were destroyed during the Ultron stuff. Maybe one of Doom's was near by and got caught up in the wreckage? Also, seeing Mark Bagley drawing symbiotes, as much as he must hate it by now, is always awesome. His Venom and Carnage are the designs I will always associate with them and Cho's cover image doesn't even compare with what Bagley does in the final few pages of this issue.
Verdict - Must Read. Just plain fun. I was laughing and had a stupid smirk on my face the entire time. Only thing wrong with this issue is that it should have come out like 5 months ago.
NOVA #10Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art by Wellinton Alves
Sadly, this was the worst issue of Nova since issue #1. Reading this issue really bummed me out because I usually love this title. Nothing clicked with me this time around though.
Instead of picking up on the Technoarchy homeworld, it appears Nova and Gamora were ensnared in some kind of cosmic, subspace web for some kind of wormhole creature or something. Ya, that teleporter thing he stepped into last issue wasn't exactly a one way trip.
After waking up with Gamora in his arms, the duo quickly agree to a cease fire in light of their new surroundings. What happened to Gamora's Phalanx Select programming exactly? I thought it was a "kill Nova no matter what" command and not a "hey, cuddle up with your ex and talk about your feelings instead of killing him" command.
It's not that these were badly written scenes, but the entire situation seems manufactured by the writers and only serves only to pull me out of the story. All this relationship stuff with Gamora could have been handled in a much better fashion after Nova deals with the Phalanx and Gamora and Drax were freed from being Selects. None of this stuff reads like the Gamora and Nova that killed Ko-Rel and went to have sex in the showers afterwards. If they were that callous and unfeeling there, why is Gamora now getting all puppy dog eyed with Nova and reminiscing with him about their old love life?
Verdict - Check It. While I still liked this issue, it was no where near as good as earlier issues in the series. In fact, we are back where we started in terms of story by the end of the issue and it feels like I could have skipped this issue and not missed a beat next month.
Follow each of us on Twitter:
6 comments:
Just curious, did you like Loebs first arc on Superman/Batman? I can't think of much else of his I liked.
The first symbiote victim in Mighty Avengers is maybe the best thing I've ever seen.
Learning it started in New Avengers months ago momentarily made me think of hunting it down, but then I remembered what NA art is like :(
Thanks for the reviews as always. I have some random thoughts to share. I love how everyone on the internet claims they're not reading Spider-Man anymore, yet they take up PAGES on the blogosphere to say it. Spider-Man fans are dysfunctional like Peter Parker. We ain't going anywhere. That being said, I think I'll need six months before I declare a verdict on this direction, despite my anger with One More Day. On another note, your Hulk review was spot-on, I have never seen Doc Samson act so out of character. Even She-Hulk challenging him during his "CSI" reenactment was over the top as well. But I still agree the ending of Supreme Power was a huge WTF moment and with Loeb at the helm, I'm sure it will continue. Lastly, while I sort of enjoyed the latest issue of Mighty Avengers (still annoyed by the delay for this story), Sentry's wife coming back from the dead just doesn't add up for me. How much power does this guy I have. I'm not buying it, unless Bendis has another ace up his sleeve. Thoughts?
@black ice - I read the first dozen or so issues I think for the President Luthor stuff. It was decent but it was quickly becoming more and more foolish as it went on. Things like Darkseid being phased by a punch from Batman or the giant half Supe, half Bat robot / rocket thingy.
The last thing I recall really liking that came from Loeb would be Dark Victory, but that was kind of a rehash of Long Halloween and was mostly held up by Tim Sale's art. LH was excellent though, but after its success he quickly started copy and pasting the "mysterious death in first issue followed by 12 issues of high profile villains showing up and a retarded twist or cop out reveal at the end" formula.
@randallw - ya, the baby symbiote was pretty funny and you aren't missing anything from NA. It mostly summarizes next issue I would imagine since the symbiotes just show up at the end. Even so, you won't miss much from what I'd argue was one of the worst issues of NA in a long time.
brother129 - I'm not sure if you're referring to me in particular with the devoting pages to OMD, but I am a long time Spidey fan. I actually quit reading it back during that whole Gathering of Five garbage when they made the Aunt May that died in ASM400 an actor. It was the final straw and I just quit and never came back as a full time collector.
However, I'd flip through it at the stands or pick up the occasional 'hyped' issue, but never really collected it again. I guess I kind of got sucked in with the Civil War tie-ins and some of the PAD issues of FNSM. I quickly got tired of the Back in Black and was ready to quit halfway through that but decided to stick it out for BND to see one of my fav writers, Slott, and my fav artist, McNiven.
I've actually tried to curtail the nerd rage over most of this stuff that I kind of regret buying and I think I've got a lot less actual OMD related posts than most. 2 issues left of BND to blow me away, so you'll know by the end of the month if I'll be covering it much longer.
Regarding Mighty Avengers, I still have no clue what's up with his wife's return. I think a commenter mentioned it might be a Skrull, but to repair the entire section of hte building before the fight ended and replace her seems a bit much. And then this issue she's begging Tony to remove his powers, which sounds like a Skrull not wanting Superman around. I hope he actually addresses this next issue.
i remember you liking New Frontier. you should read the Spirit. issue 12 was his last issue
fucking loeb.
at least we weren't hit with dead son metaphors or funeral imagery in that creative abortion. just glad I did get stupid at the lcs and buy it.
as for BND, I can't endorse OMD by buying it. plus this whole issue seemed like it came straight out of the 70s.
but x-factor was awesome.
Post a Comment
Thanks for checking out the Weekly Crisis - Comic Book Review Blog. Comments are always appreciated. You can sign in and comment with any Google, Wordpress, Live Journal, AIM, OpenID or TypePad account.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.