Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 01/30/08 - Updated

Busy week here and I'm slowly, but surely, making my way through all the books. In the meantime, here's the initial wave of reviews for the Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews. I'll be adding a couple more before the end of the night, most likely some of my DC books as I get around to them. Anyways, enjoy and be sure to check back later for more!

UPDATE - Added Black Adam and Green Lantern reviews.

Comic Book of the Week

BLACK ADAM: THE DARK AGE #6 (OF 6)
Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Art by Doug Mahnke & Christian Alamy

To start, a small correction from my previews of this book. DC listed it as 6 of 8 for some reason, causing a state of confusion and euphoria in me as I thought the best mini-series in years was being extended a couple more issues. Alas, it was never meant to be and the fact this series is over is the only flaw in an otherwise masterpiece.

Quick recap for those foolish enough to not pick this title up. Adam needs am amulet to allow Faust to ressurect his dead wife, Isis, whom he failed to revive once already. Adam has part of the amulet and just needs the last part to finish it. He's being pursued by the JLA and a covert agency with magic Rock of Eternity 'god killer' bullets. Last issue ended with Adam finding a platoon of god killer mercenaries waiting for him at the final amulet piece.

This issue begins with Black Adam, literally, tearing through the entire squad of mercenaries. The narrative during this is equisite, with Adam stating how he will paint this planet red if he has to to save Isis as he turns the arctic landscape into a bloodbath. The massacre ends with Teth walking over the ice as one of the men bangs on it from below before falling to his icy death.

However, one of the men lives, barely, and raises his gun and tags Adam with a bullet, much to his surprise, as reinforcements in helicopters fire on him. He escapes into the arctic waters with his completed pendant, but not before placing the bullet in a passing seal's mouth. As the tracer bullet rises, the mercs, JSA and JLA are waiting to strike as a seal sticks it's head out the hole in the ice.

With his pursuers thwarted, Adam makes his way back to Isis in human form so as to not waste anymore of her magic essence, which is temporarily giving him his Black Adam powers in lieu of his magic word.

However, as Adam enters the hometown of the Marvel family, he decides to take a pit stop. As he walks along the streets, he quietly spouts shop names and what have you in hopes of guessing his new word. He eventually stops at a small shop for food. Seeing the waiter preparing a child a Chocolate Egg Cream (it's a milkshake like drink), which has neither eggs nor cream in it, he decides to order one himself. As he orders, down comes the lightning. Yes, his magic word is Chocolate Egg Cream and he is now fully Black Adam again. The word, as childish as it sounds, makes perfect sense for that same reason - Billy Batson is a child and thinks like one.

Powers restored, Adam returns to Faust to revive Isis. It fails, as many expected, and before Teth can kill Faust, he points out he wasted too much of her essence and she's dead because of him. The scene is really well done and Adam is ever the tragic foil as he flies off screaming at his own failure.

However, Faust is a bastard of the highest order and replaced Isis' bones with those of Ralph Dibney, which is why it failed. Returning to the basement of the tower, he proceeds to revive the real Isis, who is apparently under his control, and uses her to open a doorway out of the tower, freeing him of his prison. The series ends with Adam making his way to the Khandaq Embessy, where he laments the loss of his wife and his complete failure, unawares of Faust's trechery.

To say this series wasn't epic on every level would be an outright lie. Many mini-series start strong and fizzle out or are constantly at the cusp of greatness, but never quite make it and many more are just plain bad. Black Adam delivered in every single issue and this final capped off one hell of a joy ride through the whirlwind that is Black Adam's tragic life. There are even hints of a possible sequel, as Adam didn't really stop that organization that chased him and we all know there will be hell to pay for Faust when Black Adam finds out about Isis. Hopefully this will be picked up upon after Final Crisis.

Verdict - Must Read. There's going to be a gaping hole in my monthly purchases and heart where Black Adam used to be. If you didn't follow this, I implore you to pick up the trade


CAPTAIN AMERICA #34
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Steve Epting

This issue read ridiculously fast. Thankfully, that's the only complaint I have for it.

If you haven't figured out by the cover, the multiple posts on various comic sites and internet chatter, this issue features the debut of the new Captain America, aka Bucky aka Winter Soldier aka "I got blowed up by Nazi's" Lad. If you've been following the series, you know Bucky is a certified badass now and Cap requested he take over when he died.

Not wanting to take the shirt of Cap's proverbial back, Bucky and Tony designed the newer, shinier and uglier costume depicted on the cover. It was actually Alex Ross' fault, but I digress.

Before the new Cap can make his debut though, we need to get a sit-rep on what the Skull's been up to since last issue. He's used Lukin's corporation to drive oil prices through the roof, collapse the US housing market with mass forclosures and generally cause mass rioting and chaos across the country. In an attempt to further this, he tries to steal gold deposits during the rioting with some RAID goons.

Queue Captain America, who goes into action for the first time. The suit looks much better drawn by Epting, but doesn't look great. The red gloves have got to go. Blue would look better I think or just basic black. Fashion aside, Bucky does a solid job on his first outing and ends it by making use of his sidearm in a nice kneecapping / shield toss combo.

That's it for the action this issue. They spent a lot of time on TV reports and showing off the new Cap design before ending it with Iron Man trying to convince the higher ups that the Red Skull is behind all their current problems. The exchange ends with Faustus activating the missing SHIELD agents he had under control. They just happen to be at the protest outside the White House dressed in their SHIELD outfits with automatic weapons. As you can probably guess, they open fire on the crowd, killing dozens on national television as the issue ends. For some reason, I don't think that's going to lessen the civil unrest, rioting or protests.

Verdict - Must Read. Short, but oh, so sweet. If you aren't reading Captain America, I recommend picking up back issues starting around the time he died. While it all relates to earlier issues, they aren't pivotal to understanding what's going on. It's a crying shame if you're skipping this book because you don't want to jump in and not understand what's going on.


COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #13
Story by Paul Dini
Story consultant Keith Giffen
Scripts by Tony Bedard
Art by Pete Woods and Tom Derenick

I really enjoyed this issue, but there are a shitload of questions here. I'll tackle them as I go, but I'd like to point out none of them are questions that impact how much I enjoyed this action packed issue.

First up, let's deal with the Monarch vs. Prime fight. I believe the deciding factor on whether you enjoy this issue is if, after you read the line of dialogue, "I'll kill you to death!", from Prime, and you are happy with that equal parts retarded and hilarious sentence, then you will love this issue and have no problems with any of it. I have no qualms with it and felt it had a guilty pleasure / B-movie / All-Star Batman quality to it.

Back to the fight though, is Monarch god? Seriously, is he? I know his suit contains his power and stops him from blowing up, but after a back and forth battle with Prime, which saw Prime diminish in size and bulk as the Guardian energy he absorbed faded, Monarch's chest piece is ripped open completely and he annihilates the solar system or galaxy or whatever. It was insane the amount of damage he did.

Supposedly, most of his army, such as the Extremists or Crime Society, died in the blast, making me wonder what the point of giving them a mini-series and one shots and Arena weekly was all about. Prime said the first nuke-like explosion from Monarch actually hurt him and he was super sized then. By the end of the issue, Prime was child-like, so I'm not sure if he survived this supernova-like explosion. I think Johns has said he has plans for him, so I doubt he's gone yet.

The Challengers were in this issue as well and Donna sees the Source Wall writing hand thing write a message to go to Apokalips. Monitor 51 decided to help them get there before his world died. However, before that little trip came Batman and Red Robin's adventures versus Monarch's army, which had a Joker of their own. Batman went nuts and jumped on him without any regard for who else was there. Before he can kill this Joker, Ultraman punches the back of his head in! Ya, it was pretty gruesome. Joker makes a joke about crying over it to Red Robin as we get a scene change. Flashback later and Joker has a giant rock where his head used to be. Good times.

Finally, can anyone say Darkseid? Ya, he was behind Solomon way back at the start. We all kind of knew he was the big bad and assumed it, but it's outright confirmed here. If they'd done little things like this at the start and scattered throughout the series DC would have had a much better book on their hands.

Not sure what they're building to though. I think the series will end with the death of the New Gods. The Amazons and Mary will tie-in to this with Granny Goodness, but again, don't see the point at this time. I take it Monarch isn't dead, so I don't know what he'll do next. Jimmy is repository for the dead New Gods or something. Possibly dies at the end to birth the new New Gods? Things are coming to ahead, but, again, it doesn't make up for the horrendous pace and storytelling of the first half.

Verdict - Must Read. I can understand why some might not like this book, but it really takes a few issues to get into and if you start back just before this Earth-51 war, I think you'll really enjoy this entire string of issues. Many people just look at one scene, like the "kill you to death" one and claim the book is still crap when it's just not the case. Might not appeal to you, but it's far from the trash it was for the first 30 issues.


DAREDEVIL #104
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Michael Lark

Mr Fear is really frakking up Daredevil's life right now. Daredevil must have made fun of his haircut, kicked his dog and told him his mother dresses him funny because this is some messed up shit he's doing to Matt as of late.

Picking up where we left off, Matt has Ox chained up and the blowtorch fired up and ready to blow. Ox thinks he won't do it and, to be honest, neither did I, but Matt cuts into him with the torch to get things rolling. As predicted, it doesn't last, but he does improvise. Instead of burning him, he nerve strikes him, causing him to be blinded. Having the torch burning something nearby, he then proceeds to use precision nerve strikes, all of which he claim should hurt more than a blow torch burning him (how the hell does Matt even know that factoid?) to make it appear he is actually burning him. Yes, it's an odd, round about way of doing things, but I guess having the hero blow torch someone is best left for Punisher MAX and not the warm and fuzzy normal Marvel U.

Needless to say, Ox gives up the information on Mr Fear. Matt leaves him there to rot as he makes a date with Mr Fear. Unbeknownst to him, The Hood has been keeping tabs on him and floats down out of invisibility to have a chat with Ox. They come to an arrangement and call to warn Mr Fear of DD's arrival. Matt didn't like having to beat up thugs for nothing and heads home once he realizes the wife is probably in trouble.

Lily, who visited Milla at the end of last issue, seems to have triggered a response in Milla that drives her insane again and Milla, off panel, beat the nurse half to death before crumbling in the corner as she mental cracks under the strain of Mr Fear's drugs. Matt shows up to comfort her as the cops approach.

Finally, it turns out Mr Fear was off meeting The Hood at the behest of Ox. This was a great scene and Brubaker is doing an excellent job with the Hood character. He's very competent, even without the army of goons at his command, and I'm curious to see where this goes and how it's affected by the New Avengers Annual.

Verdict - Must Read. There's some excellent scenes and Matt's fall from grace continues as his world crumbles around him. Mr Fear teaming with Hood can only make things worse. Next month's cover is one that dares people to just try and not pick it up and I can't wait to read it.



GREEN LANTERN #27
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Mike McKone and various

This was a much better outing than last month's offering. I think Johns just needed a break because the last one felt like it was phoned in compared to this and previous work.

However, the art still isn't up to snuff. McKone does a well enough job, but after months of Reis and van Sciver, this is a huge step down. To be fair, the colouring seems to be a major factor, as this looks a lot like flats, only base colours applied with no real computer or digial effects. This is kind of a nitpick, as the art isn't atrocious or even close to being like the last issue of Teen Titans was. I feel Sinestro Corps War elevated the book to the top tier of comic books and I don't think there should be noticable dips in quality like this anymore. Maybe I'm expecting too much though.

First on the agenda for this issue, though, is the Alpha Lanterns. These are Green Lanterns that were mutilated by the Guardians and turned into Manhunter / Green Lanterns, designed to police the Green Lanterns like a GL Internal Affairs. Next month will see the GL CSI team. That's a joke. I hope. Back on topic, John Stewert was actually selected for this, but because he's not a relatively unknown character, he refuses. I'm sure there was a story based reason as well. Something about not knowing the new laws.

I was kind of disappointed at some of the GL's they chose. Not because I disagreed with the reasons, but because they were some personal favourites. Well, not that giant spherically shaped beach ball GL. I don't think anyone likes him. I hope the process ends up being reversible for some of them.

The first order of business for these Alphas? It seems everyone thinks the killing of Amon Sur was actually murder (ed note: it was). After a lengthy debate, it's decided she be put in the jail until a trial. She says no and a mini brawl starts. Before it can go anywhere, the Alphas show up and go Manhunter on everyone, draining the rings of all power and leaving everyone a bit leary of what the Guardians have done.

There were two other things of note in this issue. Scarecrow (yes the Batman villain) was actually chosen as the new bearer of Amon Sur's Sinestro ring because he could instill great fear. Johns pulled the rug out from under us though as Hal and John showed up to capture the ring before it could choose a host. Bastards.

The other event was one of the Guardians, the female that was scarred by the Anti-Monitor, requests a lone Green Lantern to hunt down the Anti-Monitor's corpse before anyone can use it for ill, like, say, a giant black lantern power battery. Sounds like a solid plan, but when asked if the other Guardians approve of this, we get a close up of the Guardian's eyes, which have pupils of the Black Lantern Corps symbol in them, as she eerily agrees that they all want this done. Corrupted by the Anti-Monitor's scar? Possessed by the Anti-Monitor's spirit? The one who imprisoned the AM in the black battery? Who knows?

Verdict - Must Read. Johns was back to form this month and the Alpha Lantern story is actually going somewhere now. There were a lot of subplots going on in the background here as well and all of them quite interesting, especially the 'evil' Guardian one.


WHAT IF? SPIDER-MAN VERSUS WOLVERINE #1
Written by Jeff Parker & Paul Tobin
Art by Clayton Henry

I am so happy I bought this book. It is the epitome of what a What If? should be. It doesn't spend page after page beating you over the head with back story or recaps, there's no "Watcher narrative" summarizing the new events as you go and it delivered a complete and satisfying alternate story that I'm setting aside as a potential Best Single Issue for 2008.

If you've read Spider-Man VS Wolverine, you know Spidey went to Europe, Wolverine was over there trying to help a friend, Spidey inadvertently kills said friend, the two have a little fight and Peter goes home to cry about it with MJ. I skipped or possibly goofed on some details, but that was 20 years ago and I can barely remember yesterday, but that's the jist of it.

This issue has Wolverine stopping him before he can return to the US. He's found the girl that Pete killed's sister and Logan wants him to help save her. Peter, feeling responsible, stays and helps. He ends up killing the Crimson Dynamo after Wolverine cut his power supply and, in the end, the entire mission ends with more than a few killings. Spidey isn't doing any killing, but he had a couple accidental kills while Wolverine killed everyone he could. Pete ends up staying with the girl, knowing she's still marked for death and feeling responsible for her and her sister's death, along with Logan and a mercenary that was helping them throughout this.

The mercenary starts training Pete and they eventually hone his spider sense to near precognative levels. They eventually start stopping attacks and attempted killings of the girl and over time, Peter becomes similar to Wolverine in terms of stance on killing. They even take proactive roles as they stop various terrorist cells and so on.

It's really well done and the build up is so gradual that it feels natural. Never did I get the feeling that this wasn't Spider-Man or "he'd never do that!". The improved spider sense was genius and I really liked that aspect of the story. This also featured one of the best alterations to Spidey's costume I'd ever seen with new colour schemes and general design changes.

Verdict - Must Read. Few comics have left me as giddy as a school kid as this book did. Great art, excellent story and a cool and unique take on established characters with lots of memorable mmoments. I see myself going back to this book over and over throughout the years to come.


Y: THE LAST MAN #60
Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Art by Pia Guerra & José Marzan Jr.

The final issue of Y can be summed up in one word - disappointment. I came away from this wishing they had just ended it with #59 and that's a pretty damning statement in regards to the quality of this issue.

As many predicted, they went with a time skip for this issue and it's 60 years in the future. Cloning is how they are surviving and growing as a community. Yorick has been cloned multiple times and we see most of the issue through one of the clones eyes. Yes, he looks identical to Yorick from 60 years ago.

Our Yorick supposedly tried to kill himself on his 86th birthday and is locked away, as seen on the cover, in a straightjacket. They sent the cloned Yorick to cheer him up, apparently. They have a little chat, Yorick makes some jokes and claims his suicide was a joke, as in he was 86'd, but no one gets it. He's got an army of cloned Ampersands living with him in there and, after a few random flashback scenes, they attack the clone while Yorick escapes out the window. The issue ends with Yorick's straightjacket blowing in the wind.

The issue just didn't click with me. It had it's moments, but they were few and far between. I wanted to see what happened to people, find out how the world changed, if men were ever going to make a comeback. All I got was Yorick locked up and a bunch of clone nonsense. There's not even any fallout from the death of 355 or the ending from last issue. We don't even see Yorick's kid or the numerous supporting characters, unless it is in passing or the occasional name dropping.

Verdict - Check It. It's servicable, but I would rather ignore it completely and will probably never go out of my way to read it again. I'd say Avoid It, but this is the last issue and we'll never get any Y ever again. So it's worth it in that regard, but it wasn't what I expected, it wasn't what I wanted, it didn't answer any lingering questions I had and it failed in properly showing me the future of these characters and the affects and lasting impressions they made on the world were.

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