I brought you an early review of Final Crisis yesterday, but here's the full version of the Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for your viewing pleasure! I cover a wide variety of books this week, ranging from All-Star Superman and Batman RIP to New Avengers and Marvel 1985. Several event driven books are leaving me the bitter and jaded "Comic Book Guy", but I don't think my complaints are completely unfounded. Well, maybe in regards to Batman RIP, but I can't understand my own disliking of that. I can't really expect others to understand it, ahah. Enjoy the reviews and check back tomorrow for the rest of this week's reviews!
ALL STAR SUPERMAN #11Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Frank Quitely and Jamie Grant
You can't do this to me Grant! You can't do this! Why must I be forced to wait another god knows how many months before we see the conclusion to probably the greatest Superman story in history? I don't know if I can possibly take it.
Where other titles fall of the face of the planet due to delays and completely lose my interest by the time their next issue comes out, All-Star Superman, with it's relatively done-in-one stories, has remained a shining beacon of chocolate coated goodness in a sea of broccoli (The broccoli must...die!).
This issue marks Superman's final trials before he dies. Unfortunately for him, Lex Luthor and Solaris are those trials and things don't work out too well for Clark once Lex gains super powers of his own and the red sun radiation emitting Solaris get done with him.
The only thing that kept this from becoming a generic slugfest issue (an awesome one, but slugfest nonetheless) is the introduction of Lex Luthor's neice. Is she new? I've never heard of her, but I doubt Grant just made up a random new neice for Lex, but I wouldn't put it past him either.
Turns out, this neice is quite insane and her dream is to marry a dead man while riding atop an extinction-level event asteroid as it strikes the Earth, killing herself and all of humanity in celebration. Yeah, I think I'm in love. Her conversations with Lex and her general disregard for life is one of many highlights of the issue and I loved how she just stopped her downtown rampage so Jimmy could take her picture and put her on the frontpage of the paper, but not before mulling over the pros and cons of said photo.
The rest of the issue focused on Superman and his Super Robots battle with Solaris. Superman has a special suit to protect him from the red solar rays and he even busts out the Sun-Eater to combat Solaris. Superman eventually ends the battle with a hibernation inducing punch that puts Solaris' lights, literally, out for good, as Superman recalls how Solaris will be rehabilitated in the future and will help humanity. My memory isn't that great, but I think he's referring to DC One Million and the events that occur there, but I could be wrong.
We end the issue with Clark struggling to hand in his final story, the Death of Superman, before collapsing at his desk, his heart stopped and Lex Luthor busting through the wall in a dramatic, cliffhanger ending.
Verdict - Must Read. There's little I can say or do that hasn't been said before by better writers than me. Cloning should be started on Morrison and Quitely and mass production should be ready by 2015 so that we can replace every Superman title's creative team with an army of Morrison's and Quitely's. Only then will my dreams be fulfilled.
BATMAN #677Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Tony Daniel and Sandu Florea
This will be a negative review. I'm telling you this now because I'm almost positive, after loving his opening Batman & Son and the League of Batmen stories, that I am biased against this second half of Morrison's run on Batman.
Where his opening stories were off the wall Morrisonian type tales with insane ideas and things only Grant Morrison could only conceive of happening, it all still made sense and felt like I was reading a Batman story. An LSD, drug enduced version of Batman, but a Batman story nonetheless.
With his Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul and everything that's come after that, I just feel like Morrison is browsing through some old Batman archives, grabbing random stories he thinks would be cool to use and tries to stick square pegs into round holes to form a story.
For instance, we've got "Zur en Arrh" in this issue. It was an old Silver Age story where Batman went to an alien planet where he gained Superman-like powers and helped stop an invasion before returning home at the end of the story. He uses it here as a trigger word for Dr Hurt and seems to be trying to retcon most of the Silver Age stories into parts of an old story where Batman was locked in an isolation chamber for 10 days.
Granted, it's an excellent bit of research into Batman lore that he is trying to incorporate into his story, but I'd wager 99% of the people reading the book don't know about them and the references are probably lost on them. Yet he goes out of his way to try and make them fit into the story that it feels forced and barely makes sense.
Another major problem I'm having is with his new girlfriend, Jezebel Jet, who we've seen all of maybe 5 times, being so involved in his life all of a sudden. She knows he's Batman. He brings her to the Batcave in this issue. She feels free to give him advice on how everyone he knows is afraid of him and Bruce just takes it from her, despite knowing that Alfred could put him over his knee and spank him and he would just take it or that Nightwing doesn't fear him in the slightest and considers him an equal and the feeling is likewise with Bruce. Hell, even Robin doesn't outright fear him. It's more of a father-son relationship where Robin feels ashamed or knows he did something wrong if he gets hollared. Yet Bruce doesn't even correct her on any of this and let's this bimbo that's been in the series for about 2 years and shown up a handful of times tell him how things are.
On top of that, every other time we see her, she's moaning about her goddamn poor country's debt. Even here, she goes out of her way to comment on how the money Bruce spends on the Batcave could have paid off her country's debt. Newsflash Jezebel. You're wearing $1000 dresses, thousands of dollars worth of jewelery and flying around the world all super model-like in private jets. I think you could help out your damn country if you stopped moaning about it for a minute or two.
The fact this Bruce considers this woman so special and considers her the best thing to happen to him in a long time, despite numerous, more involved relationships with Catwoman, Talia, who has a freaking child with, and many other women throughout the years, all of which were more developed than this generic super model. Am I wrong to be infuriated everytime I see her or is she just going to end up being a plot device that either a) dies or b) betrays Bruce and ends up being a part of the Black Glove? If it's b), I think I could justify most of this nonsense if it benefitted the story in the end.
As for the story of this issue, Bruce sends Alfred to watch the movie, The Black Glove, the only concrete clue they have to the Black Glove. Why Bruce didn't go see or just outright buy / rent it eludes me. Maybe Netflix doesn't deliver to the Batcave?
This sets up Bruce's date scene with Jezebel. This is where she marvels at how much money Bruce has and how he outspends her poor, little country. Afterwards, she goes on to insult his relationships with Robin, Nightwing and Alfred by implying she knows more about him than them and that they are afraid of him and won't tell him that he's, literally, acting batty and implies he may have actually created this whole Black Glove mystery in his head and that it would make sense that the only person that could match wits with Batman is Batman. He takes this all in with nary a complaint or response and actually starts to believe her, making me wonder what the hell is wrong with him.
Finally, the League of Villains shows up in the cave as Batman collapses due to the retconned in preprogrammed words, "Zur en Arrh", are said by Jezebel, who is reading off the computer screen, which Bruce mysteriously can't read. It isn't shown what happens to her once the villains show up, but Alfred, fresh from his romp at the movies, get jumped by the villains who beat him to death with bats. Now, it's left open in the final splashpage, but it's implied they intend to kill Alfred and he looks pretty battered and bloodied with the villains pouncing on him for more. Maybe Nightwing saves him. Who knows?
The only other noteworthy thing was the trampling on of Martha and Thomas Wayne's memory. I assume the Black Glove sent some doctored photos or evidence to a newspaper that shows pictures of tracklined arms and brain dead, coked out expressions on the face of Martha and other information about how abusive Thomas was and their drug and alcohol related problems. They go so far as to imply Thomas is still alive and that Alfred may have been the illegitamite father of Bruce.
By issues end, we are left with four possible mystery villains. One is the obvious Dr Hurt behind everything. Another is Thomas Wayne. Third is Alfred, with the missing casebook and other implied nonsense, and the final one is Batman, himself, gone insane.
Verdict - Avoid It. I came away with nothing from this issue. Maybe it's not for me. Maybe I'm being too critical and trying too hard to fit Morrison's Batman into what I perceive to be the "true" Batman image in my mind. I just can't see how throwing old Silver Age nonsense at the wall and hoping it sticks as a coherent story makes this good and I'm very tentative in picking up any future issues of this storyline.
DAREDEVIL #107Written by Ed Brubaker & Greg Rucka
Art by Michael Lark
Two words. Must Read.
The team of Rucka and Brubaker has put together one of hell of a first issue. If you're a fan of murder mysteries or crime dramas or movies, such as The Rainmaker, then this issue should hit all the right buttons for you. All I know is, I'm hooked and it'll be hard for me not to enjoy the rest of this story from two of the best writers in the business.
For those looking for some plot details, Matt is still reeling from the aftermath of Without Fear, where Mr Fear caused irreprable damage to Matt's wife, Milla's, mental state of mind, Matt continues to take out his frustrations on anyone he can, which includes his pal, Luke Cage, in this issue.
Luke turned up looking for some help from Matt and all he got was a punch from Daredevil, to comedic effect, as Luke's bulletproof skin proved to be similar to punching a brick wall for Matt. Luke ends up arranging a meeting with Matt's collegue, Dakota, and lays out the details of a criminal Luke knows is innocent of a gruesome crime, decapitating three children, said criminal has even confessed to.
Dakota takes it upon herself to find out more information about the criminal and finds nothing but suspicions in the police file, whether it be the lack of follow up by the police or the disappearance, and reluctance of the criminal to confess to, of the father of the children, and this leads her to a face to face with the death row inmate. There, he spills out his confession, which she is recording, and tells of his finding religion with his conversion to Islam in prison.
On Dakota's way home, she stops for coffee and is assaulted from behind and threatened to let the convict fry on death row and to stop asking questions. This doesn't go over well as she shows up on Matt's doorstep with a bloody lip and bruised up face.
She's had enough of Matt's moping around and "me against the world" attitude and just cuts the bullshit with him and tells it to him straight to get over it and come back to the real world. She tells him about the case and how she was going to lay a guilt trip on him in an effort to help him out and let's him know she doesn't care anymore, slamming the recording and notes on the table and leaving.
We end the issue with Matt clicking the recording on and then a quick scene change to him showing up at the prison for a sitdown talk with the convict, telling him he's going to save his life.
Verdict - Must Read. If you're looking for the guy in the red pajama's, I'm sure he'll show up more in the next few issues. However, don't let that stop you from picking up a great murder mystery that after just one issue has sunk it's teeth into me pretty damn deep and has me mulling over how this is going to turn out over the coming months. Highly recommended issue.
FINAL CRISIS #1 (OF 7)Written by Grant Morrison
Art by J.G. Jones
For my Final Crisis review, see yesterday's image ladden and spoiler filled post.
Verdict - Must Read
MARVEL 1985 #1Written by Mark Millar
Art by Tommy Lee Edwards
This series is going to be hard to judge off of one issue. It has the makings of something special - beautiful artwork, imaginative narrative from the point of view of a child obsessed with comic books and the discovery that those very characters he worships are real.
However, Millar is strattling a fine line here and, like I said, it is very difficult to judge this story on a single issue. To some, that may be a death knell for this series - another victim of not enough bang for your buck in the opening issues. For others, who are willing to invest some time and money, this series could have a wonderful payoff, granted that Millar can deliver on some of the boasting and promises he has made in several interviews.
For me, personally? I enjoyed this issue. I grew up in the 80's and have read many of these series and know of the events and time period being referenced. This makes it very easy to put myself in the protagonists shoes and I believe this immediate kinship most will feel after reading this is exactly what Millar is counting on to lure longtime comic fans in. For many new readers, relatively speaking, you may not appreciate the same things I do with this issue. Comics were a different sort of animal altogether back in the 80's and little references like the Master of the Universe t-shirt or even the complete lack of knowledge by the young boy in the pre-internet / Wizard days and the smoke the comic shop owner is blowing up his backside about rarity of some comics and prices all are fond memories for me. Your mileage may vary depending on how well you associate with this time period and the characters involved.
That said, Millar has a very slow burn of a first issue here. The art is beautiful and draws me in, but I can sum the contents of the issue up in a matter of a few sentences (and I'm not exactly known for my brevity).
We start with a young boy with divorced parents who turns to comic books as a form of escapism. He, like many of us, lives out these fantastic adventures in 22 page format every month and, by issues' end, he comes to the realization, after several eye witness accounts and some of his own mysterious sightings, which he chaulked up to an overzealous fan dressed up like a comic villain instead of an actual villain, he is nearly caught by Dr Doom and several other villains. As he makes his way through the woods, shocked at the startling discovery of real life super villains, he runs smack dab into the Hulk, ending our issue with a stunning splash page.
Verdict - Check It. This was a Must Read for me and probably any child of the 80's. For newer readers, I'd suspect a much different take on the book to the point you could take it or leave it at a glance. I do believe it's a worthwhile book and has the makings of something special, provided we don't rely entirely on nostolgia, and, as such, I'm leaving it as Check It for now.
NEW AVENGERS #41Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Billy Tan
Everytime I get excited for a chapter in the ongoing Secret Invasion saga, I almost always end up coming away disappointed. Unfortunately, this issue is more of the same.
Previews featured a great scene between Spider-Man, Ka-zar and
Sadly, the previews are about all we see of Spider-Man and company. After their little bit of fun, we get an abrupt scene change, one I missed the small, "Months ago", text box in the corner of before doing a double back to figure out what was going on, and goes off into the past to disclose what was happening in the Savage Land back during the opening arc of New Avengers, as if anyone cared what Ka-zar and Shanna were doing.
For some reason, Bendis decided we needed to know in intricate detail what was going on at that point in time and, for those people in the back row that haven't figured it out yet, tells us that the SHIELD agents that attacked and tried to kill the New Avengers before nuking the vibranium site and erasing all evidence of their existence are, indeed, Skrulls. You can't see it, but I'm shocked right now. I didn't see that coming. Not in a million years. /sarcasm off
After 15 pages or so of seeing the same scenes from New Avengers #1-6 from the angle of Ka-zar and company, we get back to the present day and have "Captain America" emerge from the jungle in another "shocking" cliffhanger that has probably no one waiting in anticipation.
Verdict - Avoid It. I can't see anyone benefitting from this. If you didn't know the SHIELD agents from the first arc of New Avengers were Skrulls by now, turn in your comic fan badges at the front desk, do not pass go and do not collect $200. The opening couple pages of laughs did not justify my wasting $3 on this unnecessary story and, while I haven't been thrilled by most of the SI tie-ins, I haven't felt ripped off or out right regretted any of them like I did this one either.
X-FORCE #4Written by Chris Yost & Craig Kyle
Art by Clayton Crain
With X-Factor's current funk post-Messiah Complex, X-Force continues to be the best X-title currently being published. Yost and Kyle, with Crain's beautiful artwork (I love it, some might hate the digital-ish drawings), have made a team consisting of Wolverine and half a dozen or so knock off Wolverines, for lack of a better description, into an team I care about. I'm not trying to fool you. This isn't the most character driven book on the market, but it's not just glorified blood and guts for 22 pages (more like 18 or 19 =p).
X-23, in particular, probably due to the fact Yost and Kyle created her, has been excellent in this series and, while I didn't agree with her inclusion at first, they've managed to make her return to her living weapon origins and make it believable. This issue, coincidently, gives us an excellent inner monologue from Laura as she calmly and collectively goes over the mission progress and state of mind of several characters, mainly Wolverine, in regards to Rahne's current condition. I loved her reaction to Wolfsbane's de-winging of Angel and the recalling of what Logan said to her, prompting her to just stop fighting and let Wolfsbane tear her apart in leiu of killing her as she originally intended.
My lone complaint with the issue is how fast it seemed to read. We get a quick dialogue with Wolverine, a recap of current events with Rahne and then her brainwashed betrayal, of which only X-23 questioned the Purifier's even leaving Rahne alive to be found, and the dismembering of Angel. This lead to the creation of the Purifier's new choir, a group of devoted individuals with Angel's Apocalypse technology laddened wings grafted to their backs, acquired from Angel's detached wings. The issue ended with Archangel, the blue, metal winged Angel of Death version of Angel, being reborn in spectacular detail, thanks to Crain's artwork.
Verdict - Must Read. Not much story progression, aside from the creation of the Archangel choir, but a lot more character development than I expected from this title and I'm seeing signs of some long term viability in this hack and slash book.
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12 comments:
I agree about Batman, it's really just lost on me. I can't enjoy the book, no matter how hard I try. I'm thinking of dropping acid and then re-reading Morrison's entire run. Maybe then, things will make sense.
Lots of great stuff this week.
UXM was awesome, especially the ending with "Running Sun", "Frosty", "Lady Kitten", and "Angel".
The sequence of events Bendis chooses to revisit in NEW AVENGERS #41 is actually much more consistent with the idea that nefarious corporate interests, et al., were trying to corrupt and eventually take over S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA than it is with machinations by Skrulls.
Why, for example, should Skrulls be mining (Antarctic) vibranium on Earth when it’s a naturally occurring substance and they could mine it on other worlds without any subterfuge?
The role of Yelena Belova and her exchange with Spider-Woman in NA #6regarding the people they “both” work for are incompatible with her being a Skrull, as are, of course, Belova’s burn scars and subsequent bodily modifications by A.I.M. (see NA ANNUAL #1).
Perhaps the most notable element in the story is Bendis’s apparent failure to realize then and now that the vibranium in the Savage Land is called “Antarctic vibranium” or “anti-metal,” has different effects from Wakanda’s vibranium, and is not routinely used for weapons.
Once again, Bendis chooses to do crime fiction-style gunfights rather than have heroes use powers.
I expect that the Captain America in “Secret Invasion” will, like the fake Mar-Vell, be a sleeper Skrull, with Cap’s dynamic personality overpowering the Skrull’s own personality.
SRS
As someone who had decided to read all of Morrison's run up until R.I.P. started, I was pretty psyched, and now I'm very, very confused. What's supposed to be going on here?
Final Crisis was okay, I'm going to hate the layoff period after issue 3. Oh well.
All star Superman is definitely the best superman title available. I love it. At the same time I can't wait for it to be all over, so Grant start making sense on his other books...
Daredevil was okay, I'm not sure if it's a Must Read as it doesn't bring much to the character, but I'm interested in the next issue, which has been a change from past issues.
Haven't read X-Force yet, ArchAngel coming back is pretty much awesome though so I can't wait. Though, I still wish there were less X titles a character could be recognizable from one title to another.
I actually cannot fathom how you can give Batman an "avoid it" this week. There were *huge* reveals and things really got moving with the villains; what more could you possibly have wanted?
As to everyone complaining that they don't know what's going on, the whole thing is actually not that complicated. Go back and read Morrison's run over. It's really amazing stuff, and it's pretty clear when taken at once.
Also, though I was born in the eighties, I certainly have no recollection of eighties comics, but I still thought Marvel 1985 was fantastic. :)
The biggest problem with Batman is that art. Compare All Star Superman/Final Crisis which both have good to great artists on them with Batman, who has the terrible Tony Daniel on art duties. I still can't figure out wtf is supposed to be going on with the one page splash on pg 13.
Here I am to save you again. Nasthalia is a reimagination of a very very old Superman one-off character (http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=23729) and Morrison re-imagined her as the Charon of his Superman pantheon at the end of an earlier issue, "The Gospel According To Lex Luthor".
I love how Grant escalates the sheer ridiculousness of Luthor's mentality, in that, as we see in "The Gospel", he's had an escape route from prison ALL THIS TIME, and yet he'd rather create elaborate rayguns and give himself powers, just to be stylish. Kudos also to Grant's connecting it to JLA: ONE MILLION continuity.
Did you read my comments on your Final Crisis review? They might be helpful.
Kirk, you know, regarding your review on Batman, I've also thought how odd it is how far Batman has gone w/ Jezebel Jet given how shallow the character has been written. Even Alfred has commented on how Bruce has rarely felt like this, or in this issue, Bruce says he hasn't felt like this in a while, but it feels surprisingly forced. And others have critiqued this point as well, rightfully so, IMO.
Having said that, from reading this issue, and even more so from reading your review, I am becoming more and more convinced that she is a plant. Somehow, the Black Glove, which she is a part of I believe, found a way to put her in Bruce's life, perhaps through some hypnotic trigger, one of a few I imagine Dr. Hurt has created for Batman. This is why Batman has come so far w/ her without even getting to know her that well. And it just felt pretty obvious the way she tried to make him self doubt in this issue, doing all the very things that Dr. Hurt had mentioned the Black Gove group would do when it comes to knocking Bruce Wayne/Batman down in psychological ways, making him doubt himself- that's all a part of their plan of attack.
She's rich. Her father was assassinated. Would it surprise you if this possibly cold hearted, femme fatale had him killed in order to take over the family riches? And so, becoming part of the Black Glove (that is if her father wasn't already a part of it, and she just followed him) would be the next logical step. Given what she was saying to Bruce, and then on top of that, it's this exact very night that Mssr. Bossu and his men invaded the cave, it seems to fit. And you just know this would give Talia all the more reason to take her out. And by the way, perhaps this is how Alfred gets saved, as Talia and her people get to the cave just in time, maybe.
Anyway, if all this is true as I suspect, it would make it a lot easier to accept. She has been pretty much the one part of this story I've had an issue with.
Oh, and I also thought it was weird the way Bruce sent Alfred to go to the theater to watch the movie, but I just assumed a) it wasn't available on tape/DVD and that b) he didn't have the time to go see it in the theater- he had his big date.
Lunatic96, no offense, but you are a lunatic. Tony Daniel's art is fantastic. I can't believe you don't like it. It's one thing not to love it, but to hate it? Wow! :P
As for 1985, I liked it a lot. More than anything, I really liked the creepy way that Millar set up the villain's showing up as well as the environment of the town and everything, the whole sense of some Goonies like scary adventure on some random, cold, rainy late Friday afternoon where anything could happen, and nothing else matters but what's going on right now. It felt like that. It just felt so creepy, in a good way, like things that aren't supposed to exist are actually looking right at you for just one impossible moment, or like being at Universal Studios on a TV set of a show we all know and love, like, it's one thing to watch it on TV, being one level removed, but then to be on the actual set, it just feels weird, or to see where things happened that we've always only seen on TV, or in movies, in history books, or in our head, etc, it just gives you this weird, otherwordly feeling. And I felt that with this issue. We've all been in the situation where we're hanging out with our friends at night at some party or at someone's house or whatever, telling our own personal ghost or monster stories, either from first hand experience or something we heard in detail from someone else, each person telling the others a story of how they saw something one night they shouldn't have seen, be it a UFO or a Big Foot... "I swear, for like just one second, he stopped, and looked right at me, he cocked his head to one side, and then ran off into the woods. It was the weirdest thing I ever saw. I'll never forget it. I'm getting chills just telling that story," that kind of thing where everyone's quiet as each person goes and tells his or her own story. It was that sort of creepy, chilling quality that this issue had.
So, between the haunted looking, creepy house deep in the woods, the UK town where you can walk anywhere, including into the woods where old castle remnants remain, creepy old houses that you were always told not to go near, the cold, Fall atmosphere when it gets darker by 5 or 6 o'clock, perhaps somewhere near Halloween, all of that just sets up such a fantastic mood and atmosphere, along with such scenes as standing there outside the house when he sees what looks like the Red Skull standing there in the shadows through the upstairs window staring right back at him, like right out of an Amityville Horror movie, or when townsfolk claimed to have seen a six foot half man, half bird perched atop a building looking right at them, and then doing something they couldn't figure out, and then flying off, and then at the end, running right into the Hulk, looking right up at this giant, green beast who should not be here, he just should not be here. It was all so creepy, it made it a lot of fun to read. If he can keep up with setting up this kind of fun atmospheric mood, on top of the already fun premise, I think this could be a real fun story.
One little bit I thought a little odd though was that they didn't differentiate between the comic book art and the real world the kid lived in, which, I might add, while reading Final Crisis, I couldn't help but think that JG Jones would also have been a great choice for this book... anyway, I read they originally wanted to go with a photorealistic portrayal of the real world to help separate the worlds, so, even though they didn't, I thought that when they showed the kid looking at the comic books, they could have gone with another artist doing the comic art to show the difference. That's a missed opportunity in my book. Oh well.
I hate to burst your bubble heatvision, but tony daniel is a bad artist. Take for example: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/lunatic96/scan15.gif
Batman is apparently standing horizontal on a pillar, and god only knows what's going on with the T-Rex on the right. Not to mention he's pretty bad at drawing facial expressions.
@lunatic - I have to agree with heatvision. Daniel's art isn't perfect by any means, but to outright hate it seems odd. He is a little weak on facial expressions, but his Batman and action scenes are great. Those Joker pages from last month were amazing, too.
As for that image you link, it's an odd perspective that's supposed to show an upward almost fish-eye view of the entire cave, showcasing the various items and obsurdities that Batman has collected over the years of his crusade. As such, the T-REx looks smaller than it is.
I'm not tyring to make excuses for his art, but I think you may be a bit too harsh with him. It's far superior to the fill-in artists they've had over the last year or so, such as that issue Jezebel finds out Bruce is Batman (2 months back?).
@heatvision -I was surprised they didn't go with the old Secret Wars art or "referenced" the style for the scenes by Edwards. Just as you say, it would have been nice to see the difference contrasted between the "real" world and the "comic" world.
Concerning Jezebel, I hope she ends up a plant, but it's still sloppy storytelling to have her waltz in, Alfred, Robin, Nightwing, etc all ignore how Bruce is acting in regards to her, and then blame it all on him being brainwashed back in the Silver Age. It just seems like it's opening a can of worms to just retcon anything to brainwashing by Dr Hurt.
@Steven r stahl - Wow, I didn't even know about multiple kinds of vibranium. Do you happen to know when this was introduced? Old X-Men comic? Black Panther? I'm surprised Broovert didn't catch that. He's usually rock solid as an editor, even if he lets Bendis run a little wild sometimes.
About Yelena, I didn't reread NA 1-6, so can't recall exactly when she showed up or if she was leading the SHIELD Skrull team mining the vibranium, but she would simply follow orders if the Skrulls infiltrated SHIELD and told her to do something. I might go back and reread that to see how she played out in that story again.
Hmm, not sure about the fake Cap turning good / going rogue alla Marvel, but it's a possibility. I suspect he'll die in the fight with Spider-Man / Ka-Zar / Shanna and spare us the headaches of having like 5 Caps running around (Bucky, Avengers / Invaders, Grand Director, this one, etc).
@ethereal - I may have been a little overzealous with my Daredevil review, but I just loved the crime story mystery they had going and really connected with the issue after months of up and down story telling from Brubaker. We'll see how it plays out next month, but I still think it's a great issue and tried to show it as a must read for fans of the mystery theme.
@zeromus - It's not that I (and I assume the others) don't know waht's happening. It's more the why or where's it all coming from all of a sudden.
Dr Hurt and this League of Villains come out of nowhere and have all the actions of Morrison's run pretty much tacked onto them otu of nowhere and we're supposed to accept it.
Jezebel has been completely one dimensional and forced onto us as Batman's love interest to the point he loves her more than any woman, even Catwoman, Talia, etc, and she's claiming to know more than anyone, even Robin, Alfred and Nightwing, about Batman. The amount of trust and faith Bruce has put in her with such limited development is ridiculous to me.
The excellent Joker cliffhanger form last issue was completely forgotten and he doesn't even get mentioned here.
One last thing, to keep this brief, we're also supposed to know all about these brain washing, alien planet and other adventures from the Sivler Age and he references and discusses events that haven't even occured in his run and havent' been mentioned until the last ocuple of issues. To think Batman would be caught so unawares by someone like Dr Hurt, despite knowing about this 10 day isolation chamber and possible brainwashing, is ludicrous and flies in the face of everything he's accomplished as Batman and how he's been written prior to this.
I don't think my Avoid It is too harsh in this case, but, if you feel like expanding on your thoughts as to why the book deserves a higher verdict, I'd be more than happy to post a Second Opinion from you alongside the review. It doesn't have to be a monster 2000 word dissertation or even address all of my points one after another - just whatever you see as the positives or negatives of the book and why you think it's a Check It or Must Read, wehther it's 200 or 2000 words.
@salieri - Thanks for the link.
I, too, love the escalation of Luthor's mentality as the series has progressed and this issue has brought him to new heights. Loved the One Million references.
I'm not sure what you are referring to with the Final Crisis comments. I read them, as I do when I approve all comments, but they were fairly definitive statements and left me little to comment on other than to say "okay" or what have you. Just not sure what you wanted me to say in response to them.
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