Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 05/21/08

Nothing really wow'd me in this week's edition of the Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews, but, at the same time, there wasn't anything groan inducing either. It's not a win, but I'll take it. That's not to say there wasn't anything good this week. It's just that the books I chose to spotlight today were middle of the pack and none of them really managed to stand out from the rest of the pack.

One quick thing before I let you guys go. As I'm always trying to improve the site in some way or another, I made some minor changes to my contact page., which you can reach by the link provided or by clicking the Contact Kirk button in the navigation pane above the banner. It's now much easier to contact me, as all you have to do is fill out a quick and easy form and I can get back to you as soon as possible. No need to fire up or log into your email client of choice. Not a big deal, but just thought I'd point it out to so it doesn't go unnoticed.

Hit the jump for the full reviews and feel free to let me know what you think in the comments. As usual, I'll try to update later tonight, but, if I don't manage to get anymore up, look for the rest of the reviews tomorrow in the Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews!

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #560
Written by Dan Slott
Art by Marcos Martin

Round 2 of my return to the Brand New Day era of Spider-Man was still a much better offering than my first sampling of it back in January, but I'm still not sold on a full return to the fold at this point, as this was a good issue, but not nearly as good as last week's opening salvo.

This week's issue focuses heavily on Paper Doll, who, technically, never referred to herself as that. She did get upset when Spidey called her that, though.

She's still a one-dimensional (Get it? Paper? One-dimensional? Bah, forget it.) character, in that her only motivation and drive seems to be to kill anyone that threatens or intefers with the actor, Mr. Carr. We still know next to nothing about it her, not even her name, or what she refers to herself as, or even what her powers actually are.

For instance, she can go all Chameleon on walls, blending in at will with her paper thin body, but it seems to be limited to artwork or graffiti. She never once bothered to blend in with white walls or normal brick. It was always a poster or painting. Furthermore, she can engulf anyone and compress them into paper thin versions of themselves, effectively killing them, like she did with the waitress Peter snapped a photo of Carr smacking around last issue. No blood or organs are destroyed. Everything is just paper thin. She's still a mystery, to say the least, and it appears she'll be a one off villain, showing up for this arc or until Carr, whom she loves, spurns her or is killed off.

Which brings me to our next big development. Carr is dating a mystery girl. I'll give you three guesses as to who said mystery girl is and the first two don't count. Yes, the big "surprise" is he is dating none other than Mary Jane Watson Parker. I'm not sure if Marvel is mocking us or what, but she is reading the book, Faust, which seems way out of her league and is a reference to a man who makes a deal with the devil, and responds to Carr with a line about how she makes looking beautiful so easy as, paraphrasing, "It's magic, I guess.". QUESADDAAAAAA!

The last thing I want to comment on is the paparazzi angle of this storyline. What's up with everyone hating Peter for taking photos of celebrities for money and letting the DB spin the story whatever way they want? He did the same thing with Spider-Man for years. Spidey actually makes a difference in people's lives. He puts his ass on the line everyday and everyone, including Robertson, was willing to let Jonah drag his name through the mud and twist facts to make everyone hate him, but no one said a damn thing about it! Celebrities make movies, get paid millions, end up in rehab 9 times out of 10 and contribute nothing to society remotely close to what Spider-Man does while doing everything their power to be in the public limelight and having their image splashed on posters everywhere. Yet that they all complain about. The mind, it boggles.

Verdict - Check It. I like Paper Doll, but the mystery and creepiness has sort of been lost with how much limelight she got this issue and, sadly, no Screwball this time around, but I'm hoping to see her at least one more time before this arc concludes. It was a good issue, but it felt more like the opening BND arc instead of the fun I had with the last issue.


CAPTAIN AMERICA #38
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Steve Epting

After all the hype and praise I gave this series last year, going so far as to name it my Best Ongoing Series of 2007, I'm really becoming disenfranchised with this book due to the incredibly slow burn Brubaker is employing ever since Bucky took over for Steve as Captain America. The story has completely stalled and it's like watching paint dry at this point. While this is the best paint I've ever watched dry, it's still extremely boring.

Yes, we're getting some action every other issue, but it consists of Bucky and/or Falcon beating up faceless AIM henchment or watching the villain get away. And all I can figure out about the Red Skull's master plan is that he wants to get his candidate elected president, which is not until November (not sure what the date is in the Marvel Universe, but I assume it would match up with our November). On top of that, it's been like that for months now.

However, there are signs of life here. The "Steve Rogers" that Sharon Carter found a few issues ago? Well, turns out he's the Grand Director, which several readers successfully guessed at in my comments. I was unfamiliar with his backstory, but the issue does a good job of summarizing who he is, what he did and what, ultimately, happened to him. For those curious, he was the 1950's Captain America that replaced Steve when he "died". He had a modified Super Soldier serum and Nomad was his "Bucky" during that time. Faustus eventually got a hold of him and turned him into the Director and tried to start a race war, which our Cap eventually stopped. But not before the Director had half his body burned. They didn't explain where he'd been or how he was "asleep" for all this time.

Obviously, Arnim Zola has been working on his restoration and Faustus is handling the reprogramming. He'll be playing the part of Steve Rogers and sowing more confusion among the populace. I imagine he'll openly back the 3rd Wing Party, the Red Skull's independant platform for his candidate, as well.

This lead to the requisite "breaking in" period for Bucky as he and Falcon attacked some AIM goons at an abandoned factory before Zola made his escape, leaving them with nothing but a burning building.

Verdict - Check It. Wait for a trade is probably the best advice. I'm flat out yawning after reading it. It's the same stuff with two steps forward, 3 steps back for story progression. We're exactly where we were six months ago and I'm left wanting more.


INCREDIBLE HERCULES #117
Written by Fred Van Lente & Greg Pak
Art by Rafa Sandoval

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, GOD SQUAD! Okay, I'll stop now.

For starters, this issue features a bunch of gods and pantheons I have absolutely no experience with and I only know a handful of them by their Marvel Universe appearances (for instance, I know about a lot of Japanese gods and myths, such as Izanagi-no-Mikoto, but have never seen them in a Marvel comic.).

The only people I really know are Hercules, Athena, Cho, Snowbird, of Alpha Flight fame, and Amatsu-Mikaboshi, from the Ares mini-series a few years back, which was excellent, by the way. So, to say I'm a little underwhelmed by our "gods" is putting it gently.

As for the story, Athena, who called together the pantheons and unveiled the decapitated Skrull head last issue, has been living among the humans in a menial job ever since Amatsu-Mikaboshi destroyed their lands. She unconvered the Skrull at her workplace after her sister, a muse, had a vision of the Skrull invasion and the God-Eater coming to claim them all after humanity is wiped out and they are replaced by Skrull gods.

As such, the other gods are offering a champion of their own for this journey to slay the two Skrull gods that are preaching this holy quest to conquer Earth to the Skrulls. I've never seen or heard of the Skrull gods before, so I'm guessing they are new.

This results in a ragtag band of gods, as the other pantheons sense treachery in Athena's mission and are not going to commit their forces to this venture and leave their kingdoms open to invasion by the Greek pantheon, who are without a home at this time and might want to usurp the other kingdoms for their own use.

Of course, she told them Hercules would lead, which he had heard nothing of, or even of this foolhardy quest, to begin with. This results in some fighting when Amatsu-Mikaboshi shows up, as there is bad blood between he and Hercules, and it spills over into the entire Squad having a nice brawl before the God-Eater shows up to mock them and, then, join them in their quest. Again, I have no clue who this is, so I'm at a loss as to his powers, purpose or motivation for this.

We end with Athena sending the team on their journey in a mystical vessel just before the Skrull invasion begins. She tells Cho he will be responsible for saving Hercules when he is at his lowest by doing the hardest thing he ever had to do, leaving it vague, as gods are wont to do.

Finally, we have Amatsu-Mikaboshi asking Hercules if Athena's lovely eyes have always been so green, as we get an ominous fade out of Athena and her green eyes, which I don't recall them being that colour. Skrull? Seems to conflict with sending them to kill Gods and not really taking any big guns out of the picture to do it. Also, her advice to Cho and general concern seem to contradict this, but it's Marvel, so everyone's probably a Skrull and we'll replace them all with the Ultimate Universe in a years time or something.

Verdict - Check It. Not sold on the God Squad just yet, as I have no clue who they are and nothing impressive happened here. I liked the return of Amatsu-Mikaboshi, as he was great in the Ares mini, so there's at least one plus here. I hope no one turns out to be a Skrull and betrays them, as that would be all too predictable and cheesy at the same time.


JUSTICE LEAGE OF AMERICA #21
Written by Dwayne McDuffie
Art by Carlos Pachelo

At times, I wonder how McDuffie feels about his run on JLA. Aside from his opening arc, every single issue he has written has been an editorially mandated event tie-in of some kind, whether it's Tangent: Superman's Reign, Salvation Run or the current Final Crisis event.

Hell, even his opening arc was forced to tie into the Green Arrow and Black Canary wedding. He was even kept in the dark about characters he could and couldn't use until his plans started to conflict with other stories, such as Green Lantern.

Simply put, he's being treated like a fill-in writer when he's capable of so much more and it's kind of disappointing to see him reduced to that. It's like he did something wrong and is being punished here. Despite that, he seems to be making his run work on some level, as it's typically DC's best selling title every month, so I guess he can't be all that upset over it.

This issue, despite that imposing cover, has almost nothing to do with Libra or the Human Torch Flame. It consisted of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman entering their secret, hidden clubhouse room in the JLA headquarters and chatting for half the issue. It reminded me of the JLA #0 issue that Meltzer did where they mull over the past, talk about new members and basically shoot the shit.

Some of the items on the table were fun to read, such as Batman ribbing Clark over his "cheating" on Lois as Wonder Woman gawks at what she's hearing with incredulous comments and looks of disbelief. This leads to them discussing her new power set, whereby she steals from other members of the League instead of drawing on animal totems. Clark is amazed he even knows about this, but it's Batman, so prep time trumps anything and he's known about this from the very beginning. It's funny and I'm pretty sure only Batman could possibly get away with such ridiculous jumps in logic and that's why we love him.

They also discuss Black Canary's leadership and how she's developing. This secret meeting just served to undermine her character and position as leader in my eyes and, despite their intentions and what they say, felt like they were going behind her back and flat out saying she's not qualified to lead them. That's about the only thing I disliked about this Trinity secret clubhouse they have going here.

In the rest of the issue, we get to see the Human Flame rob a bank, lament about losing to the Martian Manhunter many years ago and now remaining off the radar and only doing lowkey break and enter jobs or the occasional bank heist. He's quickly interrupted by Red Arrow and Hawkgirl, who get their asses handed to them by this scrub, who burns Hawkgirl's wings off, causing her to crash into a police cruiser, and nearly burns Red Arrow to death (how do they intend to explain him running around on fire and the getting rid of said burns and scarring?).

However, Hawkgirl quickly catches up to him on foot and, before taking him down, is grabbed by the neck, from behind, by Libra, who tosses her into some garbage, giving her a concussion. He brings the Human Flame back to his strip club turned hideout, which we saw in DCU #0, and introduces him to Lex Luthor, Grodd and a few other big name villains, who are all on the fence and doubting Libra's boasts and offers for membership in his Injustice League. Uh, I guess they get out of Salvation Run just fine and dandy? Grodd seems to be in good spirits for getting shot and kicked off a cliff, too.

Verdict - Check It. Nothing Final Crisis related here, despite the cover's heavy focus on Libra. You won't miss a thing and I can't see this Human Flame guy going anywhere in the future, so no big loss missing his appearance either.


JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #15
Written by Geoff Johns and Alex Ross
Art by Dale Eaglesham and Ruy Jose

This is definitely a step up from a few months ago, when absolutely nothing related to the Kingdom Come aspect of this story was happening in this title, but it was a bit of a let down from the last issue and that epic final cliffhanger splashpage.

Instead of a huge battle between Green Lantern, Obsidian and Gog (technically, he isn't Gog, just a guy named Matthew), we get a few pages of them fighting, Power Girl offering the dumbest advice I've ever heard (hint: super strong people wearing armour do it for decoration. It's not actually heavy and they won't sink in water.), and the team back to the generic dogpile fighting that doesn't really do anything for me.

Don't get me wrong, it was still good, but it lacked any real emotion. No one is getting hurt by this monster, who the entire team can't even slow down, let alone stop, yet everyone is still just jumping on him and he keeps going. On top of that, Johns decides to keep pushing his new members, like Judomaster, for example, and giving them a lot of pages to strut their stuff. I guess if you love these 4 month old characters enough, these are great scenes, but watching them get steamrolled by Gog instead of showing me the KC armour GL / Obsidian / Gog fight after that cliffhanger last month just burns me up a bit.

Our big brawl didn't even have a proper conclusion. Gog boom tubes (there was a boom, I guess he has boom tubes) half the team to the Gog statue and promptly gets eaten by said statue, which is then revealed to be an alien entity and not from Earth as it starts growing into a giant, golden Gog with a purple face, prompting a big WTF from me. Oh ya, Sandman is still alive and explains this to everyone.

There was a Green Lantern #25-like "Next Year in JSA" page at the end that offered some VERY interesting previews of future storylines. We have someone, off panel, dying in what looks like the jungle area they are currently in, Earth-2 and Kara going home, which we all knew, Magog's arrival and, saving the best for last, Black Adam and Isis (!) taking over the Rock of Eternity!

Verdict - Check It. Let down after so much promise at the end of last issue, but still a good issue in its own right. Only problem is it had to follow up on probably the best JSA issue since it relaunched. The one page preview at the end almost makes me want to make this a Must Read. Look for it in the Moments of the Week.

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