Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 05/14/08

As you can see, I've finally settled on a new title for the Thursday reviews. They were originally the Quick Shot Reviews, as the actual reviews were quite short and simple reviews for the various books I didn't get a chance to spotlight. Over the past six or seven months since I started doing them, they've gradually grown in length to the point they are sometimes just as long or longer than the the Wednesday reviews.

I let it slide for a while, as I was unsure of what to call it, but it finally started to catch up to me and, after reading over many requests and suggestions, through email and comments, I've decided to stick with the crisis motif and, considering these are the last of, or final, comic book reviews for the week, I decided to name the Thursday reviews after the upcoming DC event, Final Crisis, and they will now be known as the Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews. I've also updated the Wednesday review banner with the same subtext as the above banner. A minor cosmetic change that should help new readers quickly see that the post is about comic book reviews.

With that said, I'll wrap this up quickly by letting you guys get to the rest of this week's reviews in the inaugural edition of the Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews!

BOOSTER GOLD #9
Written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz
Art by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund

The last few issues of Booster Gold left me a little disappointed. The humour and fun had been sucked out of the book in favour of a desolute future storyline and we were going in circles with assaults on Maxwell Lord with BG and Ted going alone and then doing it again with Green Arrow and Hawkman and it looked as if they were setting this issue up for yet another recruitment drive to plan an attack on Lord...again.

To say I was a little unimpressed with the repetitive nature the story was taking would be an understatement. However, this issue manages to redeem the recycled plotlines with the return of the old Justice League International and some actual ass kicking being delivered to Lord and the OMACs for a change.

I was really impressed, for probably the first time ever, with Mr Miracle's elaborate prison cell sequence. I always considered the character a joke and it was an unexpected show of respect from the villains to have him locked up the way he was. I was equally impressed with the female Dr Light, who was the one responsible for putting an end to Lord in an excellent display of power with her killing blow.

Overall, I'm still disappointed with the way this book has turned out ever since Supernova was revealed to be Booster's father, but the series is showing signs of life again with this build up to the conclusion to Johns and Katz' run on the book. Shame they didn't cut the filler issues with Green Arrow and Hawkman and the numerous failed attempts at stopping Lord.

Verdict - Check It


GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #8 (OF 9)
Written by Frank Tieri
Art by J. Calafiore and Jack Purcell

If you've been following the book, or even my reviews, of this title, you'll know that it's far from the best book on the market, but it somehow manages to be a fun read, nonetheless.

This issue picks up on the return of Batman,from last issue, as he puts an epic beatdown on the vigilante named, well, Vigilante. The poor guy didn't stand a chance and Bats just lays into him for an entire issue, as the fight is intersperced with Penquin related interludes, and ends kind of oddly, as Batman lets the murdering, gun totting Vigilante go free, simply telling him to stay out of Gotham instead of carting him off to Arkham. It was the only problem I had with the issue and seemed really out of character for the gun hating Bruce, especially after seeing Vigilante kill some people in previous issues.

As for the Penquin and mob related goodies, the knock off villains start having some infighting before Penquin has a meeting with Stitches. This leads to a rather forced badass act by this Stitches character as he pulls out files on all the random no name villains, claiming he'll kill all their families and friends as he lists off their addresses and other personal information. Instead of, you know, killing him as he sits there all alone, they all cower in fear and leave Penquin to fend for himself. Kind of odd, to say the least. Seems Stitches has also managed to put Tobias in his pocket and Penquin is left alone with the ultimatum to get out of Gotham and to make room for Intergang.

Verdict - Check It


SKY DOLL #1
Written by Barbara Canepa & Alessandro Barbucci
Art by Alessandro Barbucci

I've spoken at lengths about Sky Doll a couple of times already, most recently in this week's previews, but I wasn't sure how I was going to go about reviewing it. I wanted to do it yesterday, but I also wanted to give it a bigger spotlight rather than lumping it in with a bunch of other reviews.

As such, I'll probably run a separate post review for it on the weekend some time, but I'll give a basic breakdown today, just for posterity's sake.

Sky Doll is the first of, hopefully, many Marvel translated comics from European publisher Soleil. It's about a doll, which is basically a robotic "pleasure" toy, named Noa. It is immediately noticeable that Noa is different than most dolls and you could draw parallels to Pinnochio, if you were so inclined. Her life changes drastically after meeting two missionaries, whom she runs away with, and it's a rollercoaster of events after that, as we learn all about the world of Sky Doll.

The creators do an excellent job of blending religion, politics, sexuality and freedom of individuality into one homogonous blend of storytelling. I honestly believe everyone will be able to take different things away from this story when they are finished reading it based on each individual's views on the various topics addressed in the book, specifically in regards to religion and the way they use it to govern and control the docile populace and the use of propaganda to quell any problems or rebel movements.

I can't speak about the storytelling without mentioning the beautiful artwork. It is both unique and captivating and I suspect many will find the foreign style to be as alien and wonderful as the story telling techniques employed.

Simply put, look past the high cover price on this issue, as it's more than worth it, and give this issue a try. Even if you opt not to continue collecting this series, I doubt anyone will regret or begrudge having purchased this issue.

Verdict - Must Read


WOLVERINE #65
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by Ron Garney

Jason Aaron and Ron Garney delivered a great conclusion to one of the best Wolverine stories I've read in a long time and, while the Millar / McNivan, Old Man Logan, will probably sell better, I don't think it's going to measure up to the standard that's been set on this storyarc.

Mystique is done running and is making her final stand against Logan and it ain't pretty for the ol' Canucklehead. He's sniped, blown up, burnt, shot, chewed up and spit out and that's all before he even gets near Raven.

After the opening salvos, we get into the up close and personal stuff, with Wolverine being the best there is at what he does with various slicing and dicing antics while Mystique relies on good, old fashioned bullets to the brainpan. It's a pretty gruesome fight that features Mystique taking claws through arms, her stomach, and so on before the two end it with a double KO, leaving Logan temporarily braindead and Mystique bleeding out.

Meanwhile, this is intersperced with the typical flashbacks that have been running throughout Aaron's run. This time, we see the conclusion to the robbery Logan and Mystique had planned with their circus crew of a gang. It turns out that they were betrayed and the cops show up, killing everyone but Logan and Mystique. The catch? Logan sold them all out for money, not Raven. They meet up on a train later, as they both attempt to flee the city, and Logan claims he was just doing it because he knew she'd sell them out, so he did it first.

It added a nice touch to the book and, while a bit subtle, is also the reason Logan leaves Mystique to live, or die, bleeding out in the desert instead of finishing her off himself at the end. I'm usually torn on these cop out endings, but it just didn't feel like it here and it actually made sense given their relationship and how it's been established in the flashbacks and present day aspects of this story and leaves me a bit sad knowing we won't be seeing Aaron back on this for at least another year, if ever.

The art was great, as usual, but it seems like the naked Mystique aspect of this final battle was getting to Garney, as he was always trying to find creative ways to cover her up and I think it hurt the art a bit. He should have went with a movie version "naked" Mystique to allow him more creative freedom while keeping it PG friendly. Still, hardly a major complaint.

While I'm not a fan of invincible Wolverine, as these wounds should send him into shock or outright disable him for hours, it's still a lot of fun to watch the two tear into each other like this and there was enough story here to keep the action from becoming monotonous or just plain sensationlized.

Verdict - Must Read.

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