Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 06/04/08

Rounding out the rest of this week's reviews are Invincible Iron Man, Ultimate Origins, Trinity, Nightwing and the Robin / Spoiler Special. While yesterday's reviews were full of Must Read titles, the ones spotlighted in today's Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews didn't fair quite as well. None were overly bad, but most were flawed books that fall short of the bar. Hit the jump for all the reviews.

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #2
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Salvador Larroca

I'm sorry, I just can't take that cover seriously. I laugh everytime I see it.

This issue was roughly the same as the first one. It seems Marvel has tasked Fraction with writing a movie Iron Man for the Marvel Universe, despite flying in the face of everything that's been established since Extremis was introduced. That doesn't make it a bad series, but it does come off as a slap in the face to anyone that's been following along since Ellis relaunched the book and introduced Extremis.

Speaking of Extremis, do the editors or Fraction have any idea what it is? I only ask because they spend a rather lengthy amount of time mimmicking the Iron Man movie with heat seeking missiles chasing Tony around because of his "rocket boots" and having him lament the fact he's still using them. Ever since he's gotten the Extremis powers, the armour hasn't even required the rocket boots or gauntlets to fly. All of the pieces fly on their own, as you can see when he suits up. The red armour pieces fly and attach themselves to the gold part, which is a techno organic sheath that hides in the hollows of his bones and comes out on command. The so-called rocket boots are entirely for show. Best case scenario is they may add some extra speed or help stablize his flight, but he does not need them to fly and it just felt like they wanted to have a movie-like scene of him cutting the jets and blasting the missiles instead of actually knowing the character's current abilities.

Another oddity is his relationship with Pepper. They haven't been an item in years, but they have her returning to form with the jealous act as Tony parties with a bunch of random girls, which is another problem for me. Yes, Tony is the billionaire playboy, but he's currently the head of an international peace keeping organiztion called SHIELD. You may have heard of it. I don't begrudge him partying with the ladies, but he hasn't really been shown to act like this in a long time, especially since his newfound responsibilites and guilt from the fallout of Civil War. I have no problem if they wanted to return him to this role, but it's a drastic switch that seems forced in to tie into the recent movie. Smart business plan and probably a reason the book is doing so well and well received, but not exactly great for longtime readers.

And, no, this isn't an, "oh, it's not Director of SHIELD", bitchfest on my part. It's just the point of view of someone that's been reading Iron Man for a long period of time and not thrilled with the drastic changes and near Brand New Day-like change in character. This issue isn't bad, though, and my complaints are entirely based on the shift in character personalities, relationships and ignoring of recent events to line up with better with a movie.

Picking up on the threads from the debut issue, Invincible Iron Man #2 delivers fun action, in the form of a raid on AGM, the AIM offshoot specializing in genocide, which is lead by none other than MODOG, a genocide version of MODOK. I'm not sure if it's MODOK renaming himself or actually a new version. They never really specify and I'm not up to date on my MODOK history to know if this is him or not. It's a fun battle with some great inner monologue from Tony and the afformentioned movie-like heat seeking missile scene. Good, mindless action that sets the pace for the issue and ends with Tony tossing MODOG into space (uh, did he kill him/it? That confused me a bit).

From there, we get to see Stane's mass production of the Iron Man tech and outfitting of terrorists with the new suicide bomber tech from last issue. The first target of this issue was a group of Phillipine heroes, along with the large crowd of people, who were being honoured for their help with the aftermath of a tsunami that hit the region. There's some really cool looking and named throwaway heroes depicted here and I would honestly have liked to have seen more of these guys before Fraction unceremoniously offed them all with some suicide bombing monks.
The aftermath of the devestating bombing has Iron Man at a funeral for the fallen and who shows up, but the God of Thunder, Thor. He ignores Tony for the entire duration of the funeral, but Tony manages to corner him at the end for a brief chat not unlike the one from JMS's Thor confrontation. There's no fighting between them this time, but there's no love loss either. Thor even goes so far as to "tap" Tony's armour with his hammer, actually chipping it with the light touch, which is overselling Thor's power if you ask me, but humourous nonetheless.

However, I'm still confused why Thor hates Tony so much but has yet to even talk to Reed Richards or Hank Pym, the two guys that, you know, cloned him into a cyborg turned killing machine and were the ones that were controlling Clor in Civil War. Tony barely had anything to do with it and is still getting all the flak and blame from it. Hopefully this non-fight talk is the start of healing the rift between the two heroes.

The issue ends with Stane introducing himself to Tony Stark at a party. Tony, for all his intelligence and cunning memory, doesn't remember Stane and, even after Stane jogs his memory a bit, doesn't seem to connect his presence with any danger until a group of suicide bombers bust through the doors to the party and we end the issue with the upper parts of the building exploding.

Now, Tony has a healing factor that rivals Wolverine, so he should be fine and I imagine Stane has something similar with his newfound powers. I doubt Tony will even be hospitalized after this and I'm surprised there was no SHIELD personel at the party to provide security for a bunch of suicide bombers entering the building and trying to assassinate the director, but it's good action and I imagine that's what this book is going for, opting to leave the more continuity based trappings to the Director of SHIELD title.

Verdict - Check It. With several continuity blunders that several scenes are built on, I'm not inclined to give it a Must Read, but, if you're a new Iron Man reader, I'd imagine this issue would be more than adequate for your tastes and probably a Must Read issue with ease. I suspect Extremis will be on the way out and we'll see a return to classic Tony post-Secret Invasion to play more into this title's strengths.


NIGHTWING #145
Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Art by Rags Morales and Michael Baer

Nightwing was another enjoyable read from Tomasi. Can't recommend this title enough. It's hasn't been a perfect run, but when the characters are written so well, it's easy to overlook the rather comical and cheesy plot the villains are employing with zombie-like grafting and the current baby factory army they're using.

The story is, unfortunately, still going in circles. Talia is in league with Dr. Kendall, the mad scientist digging up graves and whom Robin and Nightwing fought several issues ago. Talia thinks he is working for her, but he's secretly creating an army from the fast growing, super powered babies of the Great Ten's Niang Guan Jun.

There's a breif fight between Nightwing and a group of the super powered children, all grown up and with wings grafted onto them by Dr. Kendall, that ends quite badly for Kendall's men.

Nightwing assumes this is an attack by Talia, who threatened him last issue, and takes his frustrations out on her, sending a similar ultimatum, along with a picture of her sleeping, to "persuade" her to leave his loved ones alone. The issue ended with Nightwing tracking the flying soldier's back to their base and, hopefully, next issue will end this plot so we can focus more on the great characterization Tomasi has been doing. Speaking of which, the scenes with Batman, Robin and Alfred were excellent and the best part of this issue.

The last major development to talk about has to do with Ra's al Ghul. He was captured by Batman and hidden away in Arkham under an assumed name and kept heavily sedated. Through a series of events, he manages to acquire a guard's fountain pen, stab himself in the wrist and nearly bleed out, forcing the guards and doctors to give him a blood transfusion. I assume this was to bleed the drugs out of his system as he is fully awake at the end of the transfusion and escapes Arkham, killing anyone that got in his way, prompting the question, why bother resurrecting him, putting him in a new body, locking him away in Arkham and then simply breaking him out again, all in the span of about six months?

Batman opts to go after Ra's and leaves Talia and Kendall to Nightwing. I'm not sure if this will play into Nightwing's book and some kind of war between Talia and Ra's, if it will factor into Batman RIP or something else entirely.

Verdict - Check It. Great characters, great dialogue, but a plot that goes in circles and is less than spectacular. I'm loving the book with Tomasi at the helm, but I think he needs to just kill this story already and move onto something better.


ROBIN/SPOILER SPECIAL
Written by Chuck Dixon
Art by Rafael Albuquerque and Victor Ibáñez

This was a fun read that re-establishes Spoiler and Robin's relationship after her recent return to the land of the living last month. The issue is broken into two parts. The first is a present day story that has Tim and Stephanie going on a "date" of sorts and the second gives some background on what Stephanie was doing in Africa with Leslie over the past couple of years and shows why she came back to Gotham.

While both stories were fun reads, neither reached out and grabbed me like I was hoping. In the first half, Spoiler narrates the story with her diary entry, which was a nice touch by Dixon, staying in line with her previous appearances, and has Spoiler asking Tim to come out and help "babysit" Stephanie's friends as they "creep".

I must be getting old because I've never heard the term creeping before and it's constant use reminded me of the recent parkour useage in Amazing Spider-Man that beat the reader over the head. Creeping is basically where a bunch of teenagers go hang out in a restricted area and this issue sees them break into an old steelmill factory and just chat and hang out.

It quickly turns sour as the cops break up the party, but not before one of Steph's friends picked up a random doll she found and they found themselves being shot at by some mysterious thug. Turn out, a little girl was kidnapped and the doll belonged to her. Robin and Spoiler suit up and track the thugs to their hideout and rescue the girl.

It was standard super heroing and the only thing that really stuck out to me was Albuquerque's art, which I really enjoy, even if it's not at the level of a Hitch or McNiven, and the little bit at the end where Robin, who had been cold to Stephanie all issue, seems to be warming up to her again.

The second half of the issue was a much better story, but didn't really do much to explain Spoiler's days in Africa. At least, it didn't really have to be told. It's basically just Steph and Leslie treating some villagers, Steph going off to help find one child's lost dog and then some militants taking over the village and Steph donning some African garb and putting a stop to it. This seems to be enough to spark her desire to return to Gotham and that's all she wrote. It was a pretty straight forward story and, to be honest, I was quite happy with the two or three lines of recap in the last Robin issue where she told them pretty much the same thing about her being in Africa with Leslie. This didn't need to be told and didn't really offer much.

Verdict - Check It. I wasn't blown away by this issue like most of Dixon's Robin issues, but it was still a purchase I was ultimately happy with, but that's more with my love of Spoiler than with the actual contents of the issue. It was probably similar to how the recent Thunderbolts one-shots by Gage were okay outings, but don't really compare to the actual series by Ellis. That's how I view this in relation to the Robin series. Fills in some stories and is a decent read for fans of the characters but nothing that's absolutely a must read for anyone.


TRINITY #1
Written by Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza
Art by Mark Bagley and Art Thibert, Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens, Tom Derenick and Wayne Faucher and Mike Norton and Jerry Ordway

Let's get this out of the way quickly. Unless you readers want me to keep covering Trinity each week, I see absolutely no reason to continue buying this weekly for the next year and will otherwise drop it. It's no Countdown, but it's no 52 either.

This first issue is broken into two stories, one focusing on the Big 3 and the other focusing on their future villains, Morgan Le Fay and Enigma, who both see they will have to recruit a third in the form of Desparo. I had no problem with the format of the issue and it's being broken up into two stories, but the stories being offered left a lot to be desired and did little to make me want to stick with this for the next year.

On the Busiek / Bagley side of things, we have some great dialogue and interactions with Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. I liked Wonder Woman's claim that she does not have a secret identity like the other two and that her's is merely private. She is always Diana Prince, even when not acting as Wonder Woman. Batman and Superman are forced to act as completely different people when they are in their civilian forms and it was an interesting, if obvious in hindsight, observation.

It appears the trio are all having similar dreams, but with different themes. They all depict a being that's been imprisoned trying to escape and calling out to them. Superman's is of a cosmic entity, Wonder Woman's of a more godly nature and Batman's mirrors them with a depiction of someone imprisoned in jail. Based on Superman's dream, it appears the villain of the piece will be Krona, of Crisis on Infinite Earths and JLA / Avengers fame and a character Busiek has some experience writing. It's not confirmed and I'm only guessing at this point based on the dream-like face in the cosmos that Superman saw, but I'm pretty confident with my guess.

Bagley's art was great, but, to be honest, felt a little rushed or lacking in detail compared to his Ultimate Spider-Man and Marvel work. It still looked fantastic, especially for a weekly book when compared to 52 and Countdown, but not up to par when compared to Bagley's previous work.

The second half the story features the introduction, as far as I know, of Enigma, a character that seems to be part Riddler and part Two Face. He has intimate knowledge of ancient magic and impressive technology at his command and appears to be from the future, but that is unconfirmed. To be honest, I hate the character and he is a big part of why I have little to no interest with continuing with this storyline. Horrible, horrible dialogue and just a terrible character for someone that is supposed to be Batman's foil for this evil trinity team.

Enigma has sought out Morgan Le Fay and is recruiting her to help him claim the mysterious power that is haunting the dreams of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. The two find out that the Big 3 are magical conduits and represent the arcana, as revealed by a random woman playing with tarot cards in one of Morgan's spells.

From there, we get some glimpses at future events, which I suppose are supposed to entice us to pick up the rest of this weekly series, and the only thing that stood out to me was an alternate future / timeline that showed Green Arrow as the protector of Gotham City, a billboard with Lois Lane on it and what looked like Astro City's Hanged Man and a sidekick confronting Green Arrow and Speedy.

McDaniel's art was absolutely atrocious and about on par with his work on Countdown Arena. I don't know what happened to McDaniel in recent years, but he used to be fantastic back when he was doing Nightwing in the 90's. I hope they have other artists lined up for the back up work or these will easily be the weakest part of the series.

Verdict - Check It. Some may enjoy this new weekly, but I'm just burned out on them after Countdown and 52. DC should have experimented with shorter versions, like quarter or half year weeklies instead of another 52 marathon. I'd probably pick this book up if it was actually a monthly or bi-monthly book with full artwork by Bagley, but a weekly just isn't for me anymore and this opening salvo just didn't do anything for me.


ULTIMATE ORIGINS #1
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Jackson Guice

It's all connected. At least, when you retcon everything, it's all connected. This series is set to redefine the Ultimate Universe and answer questions nobody asked.

The main players are Wolverine, Kingpin and Nick Fury and we start with them back in WWII, where a black man (remember, it was a different time back then and skin colour was a bigger issue than it is even today), an American and a Canadian teamed up to loot homes in Sicily before Fury and Logan were caught in the act by a commanding officer. Fisk managed to escape, I think, as he was hot in the leg, but it never showed anyone carting him off to jail like they did with Fury and Wolverine and he's never seen again after that.

Fury ended up in an American prison where he acts as the Ultimate Isaiah Bradley, "volunteering" for some Super Soldier serum testing. The serum is a success on Fury and his eyes end up glowing red and he practically explodes from his restraints in rage. He tears through the guards and personnel at the facility and escapes to find himself in downtown New York.

Meanwhile, in Canada, Wolverine has been captured and is undergoing some tests of his own. He escapes and flees into the snow filled landscape. He's quickly shot down and recovered by the guards, who are all amazed at his wounds healing up before their eyes.

It is revealed, three years later at the Weapon X facility, that they have developed the first mutant genome and that Wolverine is the first mutant, codenamed mutant zero. It's an interesting take on the ultimate mutants as it means humans created mutants in the Ultimate Universe and they imply they are going to spread the mutant genome to people around the world. Whether they turn it into a virus or breed Logan with people to produce new mutants or what have you is left open at the end and I'm sure we'll see more of this in the future.

Verdict - Avoid It. Aside from the mutant revelation, there's nothing worth really seeing here and it's not exactly a story worth telling or reading at this point. This could have all been implied or told in Ultimate Spider-Man / X-Men / etc and it would have worked just as well and probably more effectively than making a big deal of it with a rather lackluster first issue.

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