For whatever reason, I found these Quick Shot Reviews much harder to write than usual. Felt like I had more to say about most issues than I did, but couldn't quite get to the point on most of them. I really liked most of the books I'm reviewing in this batch, so I'm not sure where the difficulty came with them. Maybe I'm just tired.
Now that I've got my excuses out of the way, check out the six or seven reviews I've got lined up for you, featuring everything from Atomic Robo to Nova.
Now that I've got my excuses out of the way, check out the six or seven reviews I've got lined up for you, featuring everything from Atomic Robo to Nova.
ATOMIC ROBO #5
Written by Brian Clevinger
Art by Scott Wegener
I had planned to do a full review of this issue of Atomic Robo, but, while it was still great, it didn't measure up to the previous four outings. There were many pages that were completely wordless and, in a book like this where the wit and comedic dialogue is the best part, that makes for a rather low key issue.
To be fair, there are still a lot of great lines in this, but the story is basically all setup for the big finale next issue. My favourite line of the issue was when Robo met up with the other team in front of two huge doors of the underground complex. One of the characters says, "Those are end boss doors!". My video game nerd side couldn't help but laugh at that.
I guess a quick synopsis of the plot is in order before ending this review. Robo and crew find secret underground base that appeared out of nowhere. They split into two teams and enter. They explore for several wordless pages before finding robots, tanks and other old inventions that Robo has tangled with in the past before ending the issue with a fight with a bunch of robots before Hellsingrad, the villain from the first issue, is revealed and the issue ends with a to be continued.
Solid story that is still worth reading, but no where near as funny or entertaining as previous issues.
Verdict - Check It
BOOSTER GOLD #0
Written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz
Art by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund
"You rear-ended the Flash." Welcome back Booster Gold, I missed you. Whereas the last couple issues have been relatively straight forward and serious affairs, this issue returns to form with what made me fall in love with this book in the first place - the wit and hilarious charm.
While this is a "Zero Hour tie-in", there's not too much dealing with that. The Beetles and Booster run into Parallax and Extant, who Ted actually fights with a flashlight gun, in the timestream. The encounter only serves to send the team off to Booster's time period, but there's a great line by one of the Beetles, Dan I believe, where someone asks if Parallax saw them. He replies, and I'm paraphrasing, "We're a bunch of grown men in blue and gold costumes in a plastic bubble against a rainbow background. Yes, they saw us." It'll be in the Moments of the Week in all it's glory, so don't worry if I got it slightly wrong.
It seems that saving Ted Kord had some dire consequences, as there's a tonne of OMACs searching for Ted and Booster when the other Blue Beetles return to their time periods and blue and gold return to talk to Rip. The menacing look the future Blue Beetle gave as he explained Ted was safe before returning to his own timeline made me think he knew the consequences of saving Ted and used everyone to do it, but it could just be the art.
Verdict - Must Read
CAPTAIN MARVEL #3
Written by Brian Reed
Art by Lee Weeks
Why isn't this title hyped up more by Marvel? Based on this issue, we've gotten more Skrull action than the entire Secret Invasion build up over in Bendis' books. We've got Skrulls impersonating Kree invaders that set up Iron Man and Captain Marvel. We've got Skrulls setting up the religion / cult dedicated to Captain Marvel. CM captured and interrogated a Skrull and that Skrull tells him that he is a Skrull as well. My head hurts. Too many Skrulls.
I'm not sure how this story is going to tie into Secret Invasion, but I'm more interested in it now than I was after the first two issues. While there is a lot of Skrull action here, I'm not sure how important this actually is or if it's worth running out and picking up. Probably won't know until the last issue after this has all played out.
So, if you haven't been picking this title up or had no interest in it before now, I think I'd hold off another issue before running out and picking up all the back issues. Hard to say if this will be important or if it's just some cheap stunt to lure readers in.
Verdict - Check It
COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #11
Story by Paul Dini
Story consultant: Keith Giffen
Script by Sean McKeever
Art by Jesus Saiz and Jimmy Palmiotti
The good for this issue? Uh, the story progressed. The bad? Everything else.
Holly, Harley and Mary defeated the Furies, a New God group that recently took down Hercules and went toe-to-toe with Wonder Girl and a bunch of other heroes before the New God killer killed one of them. Let me point out that none of those characters are super powered outside of some minor enhancements for Harley. They also dispatch a platoon of parademon shocktroopers and take their weapons before moving on to free 'the gods', which I assume will be Athena and the other gods Granny somehow captured.
OMAC is assimilating the entire planet of Apokalips, Parademons are turning into OMACs and the planet is being absorbed or something. For some reason I just can't see Darkseid sitting by and watching this when he could probably destroy OMAC in 10 seconds flat. It's human technology destroying futuristic, by human standards, weaponry and defenses, which are all controlled by a freaking god that makes Superman wet his pants.
Elsewhere, Karate Kid is cured and up and running around, kicking demon ass. I must have missed the scene where he got better, as he even says he has the virus in him still. Last time I recall seeing him, he was lying on the ground dying, unable to even stand on his own power. Una turning into an OMAC made little sense either, but at least it signals that storyline is nearing an end.
In general, lots of random, unexplainable nonsense. Thankfully, it moves the story along to a point where I can probably forget about everything that happened this issue by the time the next one shows up.
Verdict - Avoid It
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #21
Written by Sterling Gates
Art and Cover by Nelson
DC, DC, DC, what the heck are you trying to do to Green Lantern and GLC? Between multiple artists, guest pencillers and this issue's fill in writer, I think you got tired of Green Lantern upstaging the Big 3 and are actively trying to turn away new readers that jumped on.
That's not to say this issue is absolutely terrible, but Gates' writing style is decidedly old school. By this, I mean he uses huge walls of text boxes and characters feel the need to use pointless exposition to announce every little detail, such as whether green makes Boodika look fat or not.
There must be a reason for forcing this story on us in lieu of Tomasi's Mongul storyline, which was put on the backburner for a few issues. I don't know if it's because he needed more time or if DC just wanted to milk some Alpha Lantern hype before the end of that arc in the main GL title.
Oh, the story for this issue? Boodika acts like a bitch with her new Alpha Lantern powers. Other Lost Lanterns want her to help save their friend, who's up for murder. She refuses. We get flashback to who she was before she became a GL. Then Guardians conveniently give her a mission that leads her back to her homeworld to stop her sister, who has become a rogue Green Lantern. I honestly don't care how this story plays out at this point in time.
Verdict - Check It
NEW AVENGERS #38
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Michael Gaydos
First up, the art is terrible. Gaydos is trying to channel the old Alias style here, but something got lost in translation, possibly the colouring or inking, because this is an abomination. Some of the scenes look good, specifically the opening Alias office section, but just look at some of the characters, specifically Ares, who looks like he's going to eat Cage's baby.
Despite the art, I found myself liking the issue. You either love Bendis speak or you hate it and I almost always enjoy reading his character driven pieces. However, I can't understand the position he has Luke taking. Secret home gets destroyed, baby nearly killed as 20 or so villains attack, they have no where else to go and she doesn't even know if her husband survived, so she takes the baby to Avengers Tower and registers so she can protect her child. Luke treats her like she's a nazi or something for protecting their kid. Everything she says to him is perfectly reasonable and it makes no sense for him to treat her the way he does.
Of note, Spider-Man is back in the red and blues, meaning New Avengers has entered Brand New Day's timeline. I still don't know if WWH happened yet in this book, as Avengers Tower is still standing. Marvel's timeline is so messed up these days.
Also, the scene with Iron Fist explaining the new apartment / hideout the team has was great. Loved the reaction to it being the Leader's apartment as everyone needs a refresher course on who he is and why they should care and the full page spread of it all clicking for everyone as to who he actually is.
Verdict - Check It
NOVA ANNUAL #1
Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art by Wellinton Avlves & Mahmud Asrar
I'm not sure what to make of this issue. I liked it, I know that much. But was this necessary? I don't think anything was addressed. It was all a lucid dream in a catatonic Nova's head as the techno organic virus tries to take him over.
This hallucination gives a glimpse of a future where Nova became the 'torchbearer' of the Nova Corps, recreating it and restoring it to its former glory with such members as Gamora and Quasar. Only problem with this future is the Phalanx conquered Earth and Nova is now leading the charge in the final battle to exterminate the last of their numbers. This is all coupled with an altered origin for Nova that features him battling Phalanx with his predecessor on Earth. The issue ends with Nova waking up on the Technarchy homeworld and fighting back yet another TO-virus attempt to take him over.
In short, nothing happens. For a double sized issue, I expected more, but still enjoyed what I was given. Would have liked some progression with the current story though. This makes two issues in a row where pretty much nothing happens with the main story, but some nice moments nonetheless.
Verdict - Check It
Written by Brian Clevinger
Art by Scott Wegener
I had planned to do a full review of this issue of Atomic Robo, but, while it was still great, it didn't measure up to the previous four outings. There were many pages that were completely wordless and, in a book like this where the wit and comedic dialogue is the best part, that makes for a rather low key issue.
To be fair, there are still a lot of great lines in this, but the story is basically all setup for the big finale next issue. My favourite line of the issue was when Robo met up with the other team in front of two huge doors of the underground complex. One of the characters says, "Those are end boss doors!". My video game nerd side couldn't help but laugh at that.
I guess a quick synopsis of the plot is in order before ending this review. Robo and crew find secret underground base that appeared out of nowhere. They split into two teams and enter. They explore for several wordless pages before finding robots, tanks and other old inventions that Robo has tangled with in the past before ending the issue with a fight with a bunch of robots before Hellsingrad, the villain from the first issue, is revealed and the issue ends with a to be continued.
Solid story that is still worth reading, but no where near as funny or entertaining as previous issues.
Verdict - Check It
BOOSTER GOLD #0
Written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz
Art by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund
"You rear-ended the Flash." Welcome back Booster Gold, I missed you. Whereas the last couple issues have been relatively straight forward and serious affairs, this issue returns to form with what made me fall in love with this book in the first place - the wit and hilarious charm.
While this is a "Zero Hour tie-in", there's not too much dealing with that. The Beetles and Booster run into Parallax and Extant, who Ted actually fights with a flashlight gun, in the timestream. The encounter only serves to send the team off to Booster's time period, but there's a great line by one of the Beetles, Dan I believe, where someone asks if Parallax saw them. He replies, and I'm paraphrasing, "We're a bunch of grown men in blue and gold costumes in a plastic bubble against a rainbow background. Yes, they saw us." It'll be in the Moments of the Week in all it's glory, so don't worry if I got it slightly wrong.
It seems that saving Ted Kord had some dire consequences, as there's a tonne of OMACs searching for Ted and Booster when the other Blue Beetles return to their time periods and blue and gold return to talk to Rip. The menacing look the future Blue Beetle gave as he explained Ted was safe before returning to his own timeline made me think he knew the consequences of saving Ted and used everyone to do it, but it could just be the art.
Verdict - Must Read
CAPTAIN MARVEL #3
Written by Brian Reed
Art by Lee Weeks
Why isn't this title hyped up more by Marvel? Based on this issue, we've gotten more Skrull action than the entire Secret Invasion build up over in Bendis' books. We've got Skrulls impersonating Kree invaders that set up Iron Man and Captain Marvel. We've got Skrulls setting up the religion / cult dedicated to Captain Marvel. CM captured and interrogated a Skrull and that Skrull tells him that he is a Skrull as well. My head hurts. Too many Skrulls.
I'm not sure how this story is going to tie into Secret Invasion, but I'm more interested in it now than I was after the first two issues. While there is a lot of Skrull action here, I'm not sure how important this actually is or if it's worth running out and picking up. Probably won't know until the last issue after this has all played out.
So, if you haven't been picking this title up or had no interest in it before now, I think I'd hold off another issue before running out and picking up all the back issues. Hard to say if this will be important or if it's just some cheap stunt to lure readers in.
Verdict - Check It
COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #11
Story by Paul Dini
Story consultant: Keith Giffen
Script by Sean McKeever
Art by Jesus Saiz and Jimmy Palmiotti
The good for this issue? Uh, the story progressed. The bad? Everything else.
Holly, Harley and Mary defeated the Furies, a New God group that recently took down Hercules and went toe-to-toe with Wonder Girl and a bunch of other heroes before the New God killer killed one of them. Let me point out that none of those characters are super powered outside of some minor enhancements for Harley. They also dispatch a platoon of parademon shocktroopers and take their weapons before moving on to free 'the gods', which I assume will be Athena and the other gods Granny somehow captured.
OMAC is assimilating the entire planet of Apokalips, Parademons are turning into OMACs and the planet is being absorbed or something. For some reason I just can't see Darkseid sitting by and watching this when he could probably destroy OMAC in 10 seconds flat. It's human technology destroying futuristic, by human standards, weaponry and defenses, which are all controlled by a freaking god that makes Superman wet his pants.
Elsewhere, Karate Kid is cured and up and running around, kicking demon ass. I must have missed the scene where he got better, as he even says he has the virus in him still. Last time I recall seeing him, he was lying on the ground dying, unable to even stand on his own power. Una turning into an OMAC made little sense either, but at least it signals that storyline is nearing an end.
In general, lots of random, unexplainable nonsense. Thankfully, it moves the story along to a point where I can probably forget about everything that happened this issue by the time the next one shows up.
Verdict - Avoid It
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #21
Written by Sterling Gates
Art and Cover by Nelson
DC, DC, DC, what the heck are you trying to do to Green Lantern and GLC? Between multiple artists, guest pencillers and this issue's fill in writer, I think you got tired of Green Lantern upstaging the Big 3 and are actively trying to turn away new readers that jumped on.
That's not to say this issue is absolutely terrible, but Gates' writing style is decidedly old school. By this, I mean he uses huge walls of text boxes and characters feel the need to use pointless exposition to announce every little detail, such as whether green makes Boodika look fat or not.
There must be a reason for forcing this story on us in lieu of Tomasi's Mongul storyline, which was put on the backburner for a few issues. I don't know if it's because he needed more time or if DC just wanted to milk some Alpha Lantern hype before the end of that arc in the main GL title.
Oh, the story for this issue? Boodika acts like a bitch with her new Alpha Lantern powers. Other Lost Lanterns want her to help save their friend, who's up for murder. She refuses. We get flashback to who she was before she became a GL. Then Guardians conveniently give her a mission that leads her back to her homeworld to stop her sister, who has become a rogue Green Lantern. I honestly don't care how this story plays out at this point in time.
Verdict - Check It
NEW AVENGERS #38
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Michael Gaydos
First up, the art is terrible. Gaydos is trying to channel the old Alias style here, but something got lost in translation, possibly the colouring or inking, because this is an abomination. Some of the scenes look good, specifically the opening Alias office section, but just look at some of the characters, specifically Ares, who looks like he's going to eat Cage's baby.
Despite the art, I found myself liking the issue. You either love Bendis speak or you hate it and I almost always enjoy reading his character driven pieces. However, I can't understand the position he has Luke taking. Secret home gets destroyed, baby nearly killed as 20 or so villains attack, they have no where else to go and she doesn't even know if her husband survived, so she takes the baby to Avengers Tower and registers so she can protect her child. Luke treats her like she's a nazi or something for protecting their kid. Everything she says to him is perfectly reasonable and it makes no sense for him to treat her the way he does.
Of note, Spider-Man is back in the red and blues, meaning New Avengers has entered Brand New Day's timeline. I still don't know if WWH happened yet in this book, as Avengers Tower is still standing. Marvel's timeline is so messed up these days.
Also, the scene with Iron Fist explaining the new apartment / hideout the team has was great. Loved the reaction to it being the Leader's apartment as everyone needs a refresher course on who he is and why they should care and the full page spread of it all clicking for everyone as to who he actually is.
Verdict - Check It
NOVA ANNUAL #1
Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art by Wellinton Avlves & Mahmud Asrar
I'm not sure what to make of this issue. I liked it, I know that much. But was this necessary? I don't think anything was addressed. It was all a lucid dream in a catatonic Nova's head as the techno organic virus tries to take him over.
This hallucination gives a glimpse of a future where Nova became the 'torchbearer' of the Nova Corps, recreating it and restoring it to its former glory with such members as Gamora and Quasar. Only problem with this future is the Phalanx conquered Earth and Nova is now leading the charge in the final battle to exterminate the last of their numbers. This is all coupled with an altered origin for Nova that features him battling Phalanx with his predecessor on Earth. The issue ends with Nova waking up on the Technarchy homeworld and fighting back yet another TO-virus attempt to take him over.
In short, nothing happens. For a double sized issue, I expected more, but still enjoyed what I was given. Would have liked some progression with the current story though. This makes two issues in a row where pretty much nothing happens with the main story, but some nice moments nonetheless.
Verdict - Check It
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3 comments:
as far as GLC, i guess the positive in the story was showing how inhumane the alpha lanterns have become, but some of the backstory was just redundant.
also, how great was the splash page in nova with all of earth's mightiest flying into space all phalanx-ed up?
I think WWH has already happened in the New Avengers time line. In the NA Annual Dr. Strange mentions his hands still not being fully healed. As for Avengers tower... Damage Control is good.
The events in the issue (CM #3) raise the possibility that Mar-Vell is actually a Skrull with implanted memories, who got loose and was acting as the hero would. As I recall, Mar-Vell wouldn’t be in the Negative Zone unless he had to switch places with Rick Jones. The Mar-Vell in this miniseries hasn’t thought of Jones since the beginning; whether that omission is accidental or a clue that Mar-Vell is a Skrull is unclear.
It remains to be seen just how dependent “Secret Invasion” will be on the notion of sleeper Skrulls thinking they’re actually heroes. The idea itself isn’t terrible, since any number of action/mystery stories have used the idea successfully, as have movies (“Total Recall”), but the idea will only work well if the sleeper is the focus of the story. Using sleepers merely as plot devices or for superficial shock value (“Oh my God! (Fill in the blank) is actually a Skrull!”) is bad writing, and trying to retcon a member of the Illuminati, circa the Kree-Skrull War, or any long-term hero into being a sleeper Skrull agent simply because sleepers exist would be terrible writing.
I’ve seen hyperbolic reactions to NEW AVENGERS #38 online. Whether they’re from readers who are madly in love with the characters, or from people who have little experience reading romances and mainstream fiction, they’re still overreacting. Spats similar to the Luke-Jessica one can be found in tens of thousands of stories, but with far less repetition and far more purpose. The argument(s), converted to prose, along with narration, would probably have taken up two to three pages or so of text; in NA #38, the argument takes up most of the issue. The repetition might be “realistic,” in that people arguing in real life may say the same things over and over, but a lot of real life arguments, and the people arguing, are stupid. Bendis had pages to fill, and he filled them, but the words on the pages meant very little.
SRS
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