Rounding out this week's Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews are reviews for Invincible, Batman Confidential, Gotham Underground and more! If you haven't yet, feel free to vote in the new poll for your Comic Book of the Week, which you can find to the right and make sure to check back tomorrow for the Comic Book Moments of the Week!
BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #18Written by Fabian Nicieza
Art by Kevin Maguire
This issue was just plain, old fashioned fun. There's no continuity bogging this down, no need to worry about where it fits or how it ties into Batman RIP or other DCU events. You just need to sit back and enjoy the ride.
Picking up on the previous issue, Batgirl is chasing Catwoman, who has stolen her father's coded notebook. It was a great cat and mouse chase through Gotham that played off each character's inner dialogues and their verbal interactions were equally catty. Okay, I'll quit with the cat puns now. The issue ended with Catwoman fleeing into a nudist hedonist club, pretty confident Batgirl won't strip down to follow her. How wrong she was as Batgirl strips down, save for her mask, teasing us as the issue ended.
This issue continues with the fun as Batgirl strips down, mortified as can be, and chases after Catwoman. After some hilarious inner dialogue and "is that your finger" comments, she finds Catwoman and manages to recover her dad's notebook, but not before starting a riot and fighting her way out of the club, just narrowly escaping Catwoman.
Catwoman catches up to Batgirl in another fun fight scene that sees a small puppy snatch up the notebook as Catwoman gives chase. A mysterious shooter fires at them, but Batgirl elects to chase after the notebook, given that the shooter never bothered to fire a second shot.
Watching Batgirl attempt to get the dog to drop the notebook as Catwoman is occupied with the other junkyard dogs was gold. "What would Batman do? One punch. Right to her cute, wet nose..", just as the dog drops it. Look for it in the Moments of the Week, along with a whole lot of scenes from this issue.
Before Batgirl can escape with the book, we finally get some insight on why Catwoman needs this book so badly. She screams out she needs it to save someone's life after Barbara questions what the going rate is on a book like this that she needs it so badly. Before she can convince herself Catwoman is or isn't lying, Catwoman is shot in the shoulder by the mysterious sniper, causing her to fall from the building.
Verdict - Must Read. This is part two of a five part story and it's been nothing but fun and games for me. Love the Catwoman / Batgirl dynamic and you can see how much fun the creators are having writing and drawing this book. It just shines through in every page. On top of all the fun, there's an interesting mystery developing with regards to this notebook and Catwoman's motivation for needing it. Great stuff all around.
BOOSTER GOLD #10Written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz
Art by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund
Mr. Mind takes control of Booster's dad! Okay, now that I've spoiled the hell out of this issue, you have no reason not to read the rest of the review. Oh, and Ted Kord dies, again, just in case you want to skip spoilers.
I have to say, I've been a little rough on Booster Gold since around issue six. The title took a serious change in tone from the humour driven plots to a serious "grim and gritty" future tale that sucked the humour from the book for me. Add in I wasn't the biggest Ted Kord fan (didn't hate him, just no mad gushing over his return like other fans) and I was really starting to lose interest in an otherwise great title.
This issue changed all that. Skeets is back and "shitting" all over Maximillion, literally, while tossing around some great lines. How Johns and Katz have managed to keep the true star out of this book for so long will remain a mystery to me.
Skeets wasn't the only one making with the funnies. Even Mister Miracle and Ted were throwing some one-liners around. Loved the, "I hate time travelling nazis", scene.
The crux of this issue seems to revolve around Booster fading from existence after having messed with time once too often. The time sphere the Ultra-Humanite destroyed last issue was the original time sphere Booster used to come back in time. With it destroyed, the current Booster was pulling a Back to the Future fade out every once in a while during his fight with his "father".
Yes, Booster's father isn't quite himself. It seems Mr. Mind, in his larva state post-52 (or is that pre-52? He did go back in time, but it does take place after 52...my head hurts.), is inside Booster's dad's head, literally, pulling his strings. I loved this scene and it finally makes sense how Booster's drunken loser of a dad is leading a time travelling super-villain team. Didn't see the Mr. Mind reveal coming at all and that made it all the better.
In the end, the true hero, Skeets, is the one to save the day by sending some feedback into Booster's dad's ear, causing Mr. Mind so much pain he was forced to try and escape. Booster blasts him as he's leaving the ear, taking his father's ear off in the process. Mr. Mind managed to survive, but only until Ted could walk over and squash him like a bug. Well, he's already a bug, so it's not "like" a bug, but just squashing him. You know what I mean.
After seeing Booster fading out and getting an update from Skeets, Ted takes action the only way he knows how - by killing himself to fix time. I'm not sure how this worked, as Ted would have to die back at the hands of Maxwell Lord in Infinite Crisis, not in the current broken timeline, but the Black Beetle, who reveals himself as Jaime Reyes' "greatest enemy", does his best to try and stop Ted from fixing things. I wonder if Black Beetle will show up in the future in the Blue Beetle book. He makes claims that Jaime killed someone, most likely a girlfriend or wife, close to the Black Beetle and Mr. Mind promised him Jaime would never become Blue Beetle as long as Ted doesn't go back.
Verdict - Must Read. It seemed like more happened in this issue than the last four or five issues combined. It had action, comedy, major reveals and was just a joy to read.
GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #9 (OF 9)Written by Frank Tieri
Art by J. Calafiore and Jack Purcell
This was actually a strong, character driven piece to an otherwise summer popcorn flick style mini-series. However, for such a long series, I expected more of a conclusion than we got here and it feels like I paid for nine issues of complete set up that may or may not be picked up any time soon, especially with a major Batman event going on and this taking place before Salvation Run, timelinewise.
However, the issue should be judged on its own and not based on the purpose or entirety of the series and this issue excelled where the previous eight did not - with strong character driven plots.
The best part of this issue had to be the Penquin / Riddler "talk". Riddler, fresh from a brutal beating issued at Penquin's command has put two and two together and figured out that his friend, Penquin, did it to save him, as Riddler would have been killed if higher ups had found him snooping like he was.
The two villains (well, Riddler is technically reformed and Penquin is "legit", to a point) have a nice sit down chat that explores the deeper friendship the two have and is definitely one of the better Batman rogues gallery portrayal in ages.
The rest of the issue merely wraps up the mini-gang war that was going on in Gotham while Batman was in Arkham and, just as Penquin is about to be killed by Intergang's thugs, Batman comes to his rescue. However, Batman isn't here just to save his life. He lets Penquin know that he owns him now and that he will report everything to Batman concerning Intergang and what's going on in Gotham, to which Penquin was actually quite happy to agree to.
This could be a great new dynamic for Penquin, who'd become more of a background fixture as the black market dealer / Iceberg Lounge owner of Gotham in recent years. I hope Paul Dini picks up on this in Detective and does some similar work with Penquin as he has with Riddler. However, I feel this might just end up being picked up in six months time when Tieri takes over for Dixon on Batman and the Outsiders, which would be a long layoff for the myriad of loose ends in this series.
The final segment of this issue has Commissioner Gordan and Batman talking and Gordan making some jokes about how Robin couldn't match up to Batman's "sneakiness". After Batman leaves, Gordan notices Robin fighting below and mentions how he must have missed him. As it fades out, we see a "kick me"-like "Robin Fan Club" taped on the back of Gordan's coat, a funny little send off to the series.
Disappointingly, the only mention of Spoiler, who originally "returned" in this series, was a piece of paper saying, "Sorry", to Penquin. I still don't know if that was the actual Spoiler or where the cloaking device, which we didn't see in Robin, came from or went.
Verdict - Check It. If the entire issue was as good as the Riddler / Penquin scene, this would easily be a Must Read and one of the best issues out this week, but it was only part of the issue and the rest brings it down to Check It status.
INVINCIBLE #50Written by Robert Kirkman
Art by Ryan Ottley
Oh, Invincible, it's been so long since we last met. I just don't know what to do with you anymore. I'm seriously considering just dropping the book and switching to trades as the singles have been less than fulfilling. Each issue has it's moments and it's definitely a great book, but all momentum is being sapped from the title and bad issues, like the recent "let's advertise every Image title and character over the course of half the book" issue, just stick with me longer and seem to outweigh the good issues more than they should. Delays for this milestone issue #50 just add to the problem when the issue is merely good instead of incredible. Speaking of Invincible #50, that's what this review is about! I guess I should talk about it a little instead of harping on oft-delayed comics.
Invincible #50 brings about yet another new status quo for young Mark. This time, his mentor and employer, Cecil, has deigned to employ several villains Mark helped capture over the past couple of years worth of stories and we've been building to Mark finding out about this for some time now. This issue signals that confrontation and it's not pretty for Invincible.
It seems Cecil has implanted a chip in Invincible's inner ear which scrambles his equilibrium and causes him extreme pain to the point of causing him to collapse and bleed from the ears. Coupled with the army of super powered zombie robots putting a beat down on Mark and he's not fairing too well in this fight.
Now, Cecil doesn't want to kill Invincible, he just wants him to fall in line again. Mark doesn't want anything to do with him and attempts to flee at super speed. Cecil pursues him through the government teleporters and eventually catches up to him at the Guardians base, where Invincible is attempting to tell them about what Cecil has been up to with the employing of villains and creation of the zombie soldiers.
The Guardians, confused at first, don't know who to trust, but Cecil eventually just has his army attack them all, pushing the team to side with Mark. Rex manages to destroy Cecil's controller, but it causes the chip in Mark's head to go off non-stop as the robot zombies pound away on him. Robot manages to stop the signal in time, but Mark slaughters a few zombots before grabbing a hold of Cecil.
He doesn't kill him, but we get the requisite, "I don't work for you anymore and stay away from me and my family.", speech and Cecil packs up and leaves the bloody and battered Mark to his own devices.
We end the issue with the knowledge most of the Guardians will be leaving the government funded team and Invincible manages to, finally, hook up with Eve.
I was ready to write Cecil off as a completely generic and uninspired "heel turn" until I read the backup stories featuring him. They really added some much needed charactere development and managed to give me some sympathy for a character that seemed about as bland and unoriginal as could be up until this point.
The backup told how Cecil received the scar on his face and his early days as a government employee all the way up until he began heading up the Earth's last line of defense. Seems the scar is actually the only piece of original skin he has left. He lost almost all of it when some villains slaughtered a dozen or more government agents and he was the only one to survive.
However, years later, during an attack on the Pentagon, those same two villains show up to save him. In an obvious parallel to the current story, he can't believe the government is employing these murderers and, after they save him, he blows both away, just as the super heroes show up to see him do it. He ends up in jail for his "crime" and, only after some convincing, does he take over in his current position.
It was a great little back up and it even showed the lengths to which Cecil would now go to save Earth "at any cost". There was even a nice scene of Omni-Man's "first" apperance on Earth as we see the Cecil meeting up with him and requesting his aid. They ignore the fact they know he's lying about his mission on Earth and Cecil only wants to use him to save Eart and doesn't care why he's lying. Probably should have thought that one through, in hindsight.
Verdict - Must Read. I give it a Must Reat because it was a great issue, but there's times I feel I should be giving it a Check It simply because I've lost so much interest due to the constant delays. This'll probably be my last monthly issue of the title as I switch over to trades.
WONDER WOMAN #21Written by Gail Simone
Art by Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan
Wonder Woman is still doing an excellent job under the watchful eye of Simone and Lopresti has been more than worthy as the successor to the Dodsons. I absolutely love his attention to detail, specifically in regards to the frames for certain pages, which are similar to the swords and ivy on the cover image to the left.
However, the current storyline seems to be high on character interactions and completely lacking in plot development. Wonder Woman and Beowulf are excellent together and have some of the best chemistry I've seen between two characters in recent memory. I hope he sticks around after this storyline as a recurring character.
The plot, though, just doesn't carry any weight and is almost non-existent in my eyes. Wonder Woman has to kill the devil. That's about it. We don't really know why she has to team up with Beowulf or what the Stalker's goal or objective is, but they have a sorry attempt to explain it with a scene of the Stalker going to see an Oracle, complaining about selling his soul to the devil and the Oracle telling him he'll need four sword bearers to kill the demon. Beowulf is one and I'm guessing Wonder Woman is another. Once Beowulf joins the group, they are seen taking down what looks like a Conan type of character, but it's not really explained.
Verdict - Check It. While the plot is flailing, I still enjoyed this title and would recommend it to just about anyone interested in some good comics. It's not the best, but it's definitely worth checking out and good characterization always trumps plots in my opinion and this book has plenty of great character moments to make up for the story.
X-FORCE SPECIAL: AIN'T NO DOG #1Written by Charlie Huston & Jason Aaron
Art by Jefte Palo & Werther Dell'edera
I think Marvel is overdoing it with these one-shots as of late. It seems like every other book has a random one-shot every other month. It would be fine if they were like the Immortal Iron Fist or X-Factor one-shots that are by the same creative team that does the monthly and actually contribute to the characters or current storyline in some way, such as information on Quicksilver or expanded Orson Randall history, but most are complete fluff pieces.
Ain't No Dog is, sadly, one of those filler stories. There is no story related to the current X-Force title and, in fact, X-Force doesn't even show up in the issue. We get one story with Cyclops asking Wolverine to go kill someone and another about Warpath having a crisis of faith about how he's becoming nothing but a killer and straying from his "proud Indian heritage". No other members show up in this issue and it's pretty much a Wolverine one-shot with absolutely no story, character development or purpose for existing.
Wolverine just kills an army of Purifiers, harps on us about how smoking is bad for you and can cause cancer in the second of two thinnly veiled anti-smoking campaigns we paid for taking up pages in stories. The other being this week's Amazing Spider-Man for those interested. If Joe Quesada doesn't want people to smoke, take it to the streets or donate to those anti-smoking Truth commercials or lobby the government to stop selling the poison in the first place. He doesn't want to show smoking in Marvel comics? Fine, but don't lecture me on it after I already paid for the damn book.
Aside from the smoking and the fact the story is just mindless killing by Wolverine, I actually didn't hate this issue. The art was excellent and really fit the mood of the story. I just don't see a need for this story or issue, though.
On the Warpath side of things, Warpath just goes on about how his tribe lives off the land and uses everything from the animals it kills, such as sinew for bows, furs for clothing, etc. I live in an area with a lot of Native Americans and they don't hunt with sticks and bows. They live in heated homes, overfish with nets and traps, hunt animals with high powered rifles and shotguns and, in general, are no different than everyone else living in Canada. I don't see any of them making anything out of caribou carcasses or dressing in bear pelts like he's going on about here, but maybe they do that in his fictional tribe.
In the end, the whole point of his tirade was that he doesn't like killing Purifers because he can't make Purifer themed clothing out of them, I guess. Okay, that's a bit harsh, but if he has a problem killing people, I don't see why he needs to bemoan how his tribe used everything from their kills and try to relate it to his killing of Purifiers. It just doesn't make any sense to me.
Verdict - Avoid It. I enjoyed this for what it was, but, if I had it over again, I'd probably just avoid this altogether. Aaron's backup story was way too short to get anything done and I was hoping for more from it, too. Great art and some nice fight scenes in Wolverine's half to help distract from the lack of story, though.
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1 comments:
I've been checking up with Underground on scans_daily. It seems to me that Frank has been able to put more character and intelligent writing into Penguin and Riddler than Dini - who is far too used to writing for Kids' cartoons - has done in his entire sloppy run on 'Detective'.
While Dini's basic shtick for Riddler is 'not a good detective' and his Penguin is 'greedy little bugger', Frank fleshed them out into being capable, honourable, stylish - the moment where Penguin looks at the Joker and says "I'm In" completely caps all his appearances in 'Detective'.
Frank should write Detective Comics next, in my informed opinion.
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