I was busy working on some database stuff and lost track of time, but I did manage to pump out this batch of reviews before bed. Wasn't really disappointed with anything I picked up this week. They weren't all like this week's JSA, but, aside from Countdown, which doesn't even count at this point, nothing really stuck out as being overly bad. As always, feel free to let me know what you think of the reviews and any other books you may have picked up this week. On with the reviews!
FANTASTIC FOUR #556Written by Mark Millar
Art by Bryan Hitch
Fantastic Four #556 is flawed, but enjoyable comic. There are numerous inconsistencies with the rest of the Marvel Universe in regards to the crux of this issue, ie, the battle with CAP, the modified Hulkbuster-like sentient robot from Nu-World.
As I said, CAP is on a rampage, executing his programming to seek out and destroy all forms of weapons and starts with an Alaskan military base. After frying five hundred or so soldiers and destroying the base, SHIELD puts the call out for all available super-heroes to come stop this thing.
That's all fine and dandy. We're in a post-Civil War world where this kind of thing should be a piece of cake to do. However, as the Fantastic Four, sans Reed, arrive on the scene, CAP has mopped the floor with thirty or fourty super-heroes, including most of the Mighty Avengers and even unregistered heroes, such as the New Avengers. Yes, this robot took out the Sentry, the most powerful being on the planet, and even Tony Stark, a man that can interface with any electronic device on the planet. How SHIELD put the call out to the New Avengers, Dr Strange, Hercules, the Young Avengers and several other non-SHIELD personal, got them all up to Alaska and didn't arrest anyone remains a mystery.
The other heroes eventually wake up, after the three FF hold their own against the robot, but you have to pretty much ignore everything that's going on in the Marvel Universe proper to look past the various hero appearances here. This is written for trades and is off in its own little bubble anyways, so I doubt anyone will be overly bothered by this.
Outside the battle, the issue managed to find time to expand Johnny's subplot with the super-villain girlfriend and it looks like his reality TV show is still in the works. There's not much to say about this, though, as it's mostly just laying foundation for the next four part arc, but I'm not sure I buy Johnny letting a criminal go like this, even if it's for some quality time between the sheets.
But, in the end, this is a fight issue and there was very little in the way of character moments. I did, however, love the last splashpage with Reed. CAP, after finishing up with heroes, initiates his teleporters and starts targetting foreign countries' military bases, as well, and, just as everyone is panicking in the control rooms, Reed comes on the line telling everyone to sit tight because he's on his way as the splashpage shows him coming back from the other side of the universe (don't ask) on one of the Fantasticars (or a hoverbike-like vehicle at least). It's rare to see Reed having a badass moment like this, so I still can't help but smile everytime I look at that page.
Verdict - Check It. Despite some glaring holes in the story, I still enjoyed this book. It's not the best book on the market and, if you came on expecting Ultimates, you'll probably be disappointed. But, when all things are said and done, this is just fun to read and that's all you can ask for.
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #14Written by Geoff Johns and Alex Ross
Art by Dale Eaglesham and Ruy Jose
It took its sweet time getting here, but goddamn if this wasn't one epic issue. Johns just might have redeemed this arc after the plodding pace and basically four or five issues of filler combined with delays.
The opening pages had me scared we were just getting another issue of talking heads that don't really say anything noteworthy. However, after the hilarious seating arrangements for their meeting (ex. Mr America had to sit on a lawnchair), things get serious with the who goes and who stays discussion on who should help take down Gog.
Before they can finish their discussion, Gog teleports into the room with Sandman, who had been tasked with tracking Gog down, pierced on his staff and an all out melee breaks out between Gog and the JSA. This was what I signed on for when I heard about the Thy Kingdom Come storyline and damn did it feel good to finally get to see this story finally pay off.
However, I didn't get to the best part yet. After taking down most of the JSA, Gog is standing triumphant with KC Superman and Amazing Man held by the throat in each hand. Before he can bask in his victory, we get a splashpage with our Alan Scott in full Kingdom Come armour with his son Obsidian and a preview box at the bottom that states, "Next: Someone gets beat up. Bad.". It has hit the fan people.
Verdict - Must Read. It should be a crime to be this good. I want to be mad about Sandman's death (not sure if he's actually dead or not) or nitpick over the fact Alan somehow managed to create identical armour to his Kingdom Come counterpart, but it's hard to hold any of this against the book or even really make a decent case for either in light of everything else that happened.
NOVA #12Written by Andy Lanning & Dan Abnett
Art by Paul Pelletier
I want to review this month's issue of Nova because it rocked, but I find myself at a loss for words (yes, I know, hard to believe). It's basically what you'd expect based on solicits and what you know from last issue.
Warlock uses his glow to save Nova, "dying" in the process, and Nova buys time for Tyro, Warlock's Technarch companion, to escape from the adult, who is there to battle the child to the death.
After a futile struggle and some fun interaction from Nova and the Worldmind, which has been lacking as of late with the whole Phalanx virus deal, Tyro returns to help battle the Technarch adult. Suffice to say, he gets ripped in half and eaten in about 10 seconds flat. However, the mutated transmode virus Warlock gave Tyro wipes the Technarch's programming or personality and leaves the consumed Tyro take over. Trust me, it makes some kind of sense in the book, but is almost impossible to explain.
With the faculties of an adult Technarch at his command, Tyro then embues the husk of Warlock with some lifeglow and brings him back to life, resulting in a pretty funny scene as he clues in that the Technarch holding him is actually Tyro.
Finally, Tyro frees Drax and Gamora from their Select-itude. It was great seeing Drax again and the 'destroying' comments he used to make all the time in the first Annihilation were sorely missed. I was confused with Gamora, though. She acts like her life is worthless and she has no purpose after being freed from the Phalanx. Doesn't sound like Gamora, one of the deadliest assassins in the universe, but I'll wait and see where this goes, seeing as she shows up in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy series. With everyone free, they all agree to kick some Phalanx ass and make their way back to the Annihilaton: Conquest series.
Now, just going through the summary, it sounds dull. Maybe that's my fault, but don't be fooled, this was an excellent issue. Art was great, lots of fun moments and it wrapped up the whole "barely powered Nova infected with the TO virus" storyline that had been dragging on a bit too long for my tastes.
Verdict - Must Read. I probably should have saved this for a Quick Shot review, but I liked the issue so much, I felt like I had to write it today, despite a general inability to express in words how great this issue was.
WOLVERINE #64Written by Jason Aaron
Art by Ron Garney
I can't believe how much I am enjoying this Wolverine / Mystique storyarc. There's lots of action, a great game of cat and mouse between Mystique and Wolverine and some interesting flashbacks that flesh out the backstory and history between the two characters. Add some great art and story and it's hard to pass up.
After Mystique hooked up, in disguise of course, with the US military, using them as human shields to stop Logan's pursuit, Wolverine enlists the aid of some insurgents he had some run ins with in the past. I wasn't sure what to expect here, but it was pretty funny when Wolverine's big plan was to blow himself up and have the insurgents, disguised as local police, deliver his remains to the US as a road side bomb victim for identifaction. It was actually pretty clever, but I think I would have went with a more stealthy entrance or, at least, one that didn't involve being blown up.
Once inside, Logan bursts from his body bag, still burnt and healing from the explosion in a rather disturbing looking image. It wasn't like I hadn't seen him regenerating from nothing before, but there was just something about the way Garney drew him coming out of the bodybag with the half regen'd look that made me do a little cringe for some reason.
Free of his bodybag, Logan quickly makes his way through the base and hides in wait in Raven's new office. When she finally returns, the chase is on again as, after a brief tussle and chitchat, Mystique makes a run for it, leaving Wolverine to deal with a couple guards. This leads to a rather funny scene where she shapeshifts into a pin-up model that a couple soldiers are looking at and, once distracted, disables both and makes off with a vehicle, leaving one of them saying they'd just been beaten up by Ms December.
Issue ends with Mystique stopping the vehicle in the desert. Tired of running, she loads up with guns, much like the cover image, only naked for some reason. Yes, she shapeshifts out of her clothing. I'm not sure why, but I'm not going to argue either...
Verdict - Must Read. I found myself more anxious to read this issue than just about any other book in my pile this week. I don't know what it is, as I'm not really a big Wolverine fan, but Aaron and Garney are doing a great job pulling me into this story. Only fear is they cop out on the conclusion to this storyarc next month.
WONDER WOMAN #19Written by Gail Simone
Art and Cover by Bernard Chang
I've been giving Simone's run on Wonder Woman a lot of praise since she started. It's well deserved, but this was the first issue that's fallen a little flat, in comparison, which is odd, since I enjoyed the first part of this storyarc. I think the problem stems from Simone adding too many plot twists to what should have been an otherwise straight forward story.
Case in point, last issue, we were introduced to the Khund, an alien race Diana has had conflict with before. They worship her and errected statues in her name after they defeated her, being the warrior race that they are. They brought her to their planet to help combat an alien menace that was killing Khunds by the millions, destroying them city by city, with no way for the Khunds to fight back. The issue ended with Diana in one of the strange craters of a former city, it filled with a strange green liquid, and was confronted by a random Green Lantern.
Seems like it should have been a straight forward 'stop the renegade GL, save the Khunds' or 'find the real culprit with the GL' type of story. Nuh uh. We needed the GL to have a tragic past and want revenge on the Khund, the green liquid is some kind of sentient alien thingy that is helping / using / in cahoots with the GL, the Khunds had to betray Wonder Woman and try to bomb the city and we needed the requisite fight scene with the GL. It was chaotic and painful to follow near the end. In fact, I have no idea how this book ended.
It was fine up until after Diana fought and then made peace with the GL and we got his backstory, but it all went to hell after that. The ending consisted of Diana telling the GL to do something, then we get a scene of him explaining the GL oath to some Khund. Where'd he get the ring? How's this stop the Khund from attacking other planets and civilizations? Who's the Khund (I think it's the princess, but can't tell)? Where'd the green goo go? What the hell was it?
In spite of the confusion and ending of this issue, this isn't Countdown bad or anything near that. I don't regret buying this book and I still enjoyed it, to an extent, but I also acknowledge there were definitely some flaws in this book and I probably over emphasized them in the review.
Verdict - Check It. This arc is over and for a two issue arc, it was hit and miss, but nothing I'd consider dropping the book over. I think the next arc should decide if Simone will be able to keep Wonder Woman interesting.
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7 comments:
I was under the impression that this was the Alan Scott from the Kingdom Come universe. Does our Alan still wear an eye-patch?
i think sand is pretty much immortal (his body is living silicon)
isnt the green lantern in kingdom come hal? in that last scence, alan looks exactly like the old hal
but yes this was a great issue. even the infinity man was in it
I presumed that was Kingdom Come Alan, somehow having made it into our reality; how on Earth would regular alan have pushed his Lantern into his chest that fast?
I just assumed it was armour he made for himself and not the "lantern in the chest" version from Kingdom Come. Alan is pissed off when Gog shows up and hurts the kids, then he's not seen again until the end of hte issue. Since there's no reason for anyone else from the KC world to show up and Obsidian is his son, I just assumed it was our Alan. I guess we'll find out next month for sure.
Damn, now I wish they'd kept him without his left eye. That way we'd know for certain.
I thought the Gamora part of the Nova issue was great, and gave her more character and personality than anything she's said or done in recent times.
This was a person with no direction or purpose in the universe, just stumbling forward wasting her life away doing nothing of consequence or that truly mattered to her. Life was one big exercise in going thru the motions. Then suddenly, she's got the Phalanx in 'er, and despite it's nature she loves the feeling of having direction, purpose, and conviction. I think this was the best thing anyone's done with her to make her real and believable to me. Her life has basically been...nothing, and in this scene we realize she knows as much deep in her heart.
That was great shit. I'm surprised more people were confused by it than moved.
@salieri - Well, he had the domino mask on earlier in the issue, similar to the one at the end. I'm pretty sure it's our Alan, but Johns could throw us a curveball.
@big tom casual - That's a great analysis of Gamora's feelings and I'm sure that's what Abnett and Lanning were going for with it and I have no problem with that.
But, where I get caught up is that I've never seen her portrayed like this before. I suppose it's the fact we only see her once a decade when they trawl her out for a random cosmic crossover, but it just came out of nowhere, especially with how she and Nova were portrayed in the last Annihilation.
I guess I just expect super-heroes who usually only make guest appearances or play supporting roles once in a while to go from crisis to crisis with little to no change.
It would be like if Cloak started showing up randomly as a taxi service for the Avengers, but never explaining why he's not with Dagger, what he's been doing or why he isn't made a team member. Ya, he can do it, but it's completely random and unexpected. If we saw a mini where something like this was set up and then it happened, ya.
With Gamora, she just goes from shacking up with Nova in Annihilation to being a Select and the minute she's freed, she starts bawling about no direction or purpose in life.
I'm willing to wait and see where they go with it though and I expect them to expand on it with Guardians, so it's not as big a deal as this huge diatrab makes it out to be.
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