Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 12/16/09 & 12/23/09

Merry Christmas everyone.  I've brought a special set of reviews for everyone to enjoy over the holidays with a double batch consisting of this week's and last week's reviews.  I've organized them by date, so you'll see the newest ones at the start and last week's in their own section about half way down.  You can see what I thought of these books after the jump.

Reviews for 12/23/09

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #615 & 616
Written by Fred Van Lente

Art by Javier Pulido

 No, you're reading that title right.  I'm actually reviewing both this and last week's Amazing Spider-Man together.  I was actually a little disappointed I didn't get to review this last week as I had been quite down on Amazing Spider-Man of late.  Seeing as I enjoyed last week's issue a great deal, I wanted to make sure I got a review of it out, even if it's a little late.  Since it was a two part story with Sandman, I figured doing both reviews together would work best.

First off, I wanted to discuss the art.  I rarely speak of art unless it's a JH Williams or Darwyn Cooke-like offering or, sadly, if it's something so bad, it detracts from the book.  Amazing Spider-Man has been having some difficulties with artists of late, often times having two or three different artists per arc or even issue and an army of inkers to back them up.  It's rare for something to stand out, but Javier Pulido really impressed me.  I have little experience with his work, but his work here has ensured I never forget him in the future.

Pulido's art is a mix between Marcos Martin, an artist I've expressed great love for in the past, particularly with his work on Spider-Man, and Paul Pope, a name everyone should be familiar with.   It's expressive and unique and I absolutely love every scene in which Spider-Man appears.  He just jumps off the page and he has this energy about him, even when he's standing still or simply talking to Betty Brant.  His Sandman is fantastic as well and how he plays with the sand constructs and the fights with Spider-Man are spectacular.  Add some muted colouring and it was the complete package for this two-parter.

However, the art wasn't the only thing that stood out from the typical Amazing Spider-Man issue.  I had expressed a loss of interest in the title after several lackluster arcs in a row and was seriously considering dropping the title (again).  These two issues changed that and made me realize how much I love Spider-Man all over again.

There's no Brand New Day nonsense, no nods or winks at the reader about this new setting or deal with the devil.  It's Spider-Man being Spider-Man.  He's out there doing everything in his power to save a little girl from a villain and even in victory, he still loses.  I wouldn't be surprised to see this issue be fondly remembered by many readers in the years to come.

The plot was pretty simple - a girl gets kidnapped, her mother and several others are killed by what appears to be Sandman and Spidey tries to save her.  In between, we learn of the girl, how she views Sandman as her father (he's not really her father), Sandman's emotions over a girl calling a "freak like him" daddy, the realization that Sandman's splitting himself into multiple Sandmen actually fractures his psych and those "other Sandmen" killed the girl's mother without his knowledge and it just becomes so much more than a typical super powered slugfest.

Which brings us to the end of the issue.  Spider-Man saves the little girl from Sandman, but she still views him as "daddy".  Spidey promises everything will be alright, yet it ends up amounting to him turning her over to child services and the little girl, who was a princess with her "daddy" in her sand castle is now turned over to a foster family.  And not some happy family, but one of those "adopt for the extra cheque each month" types of families with a mess of adopted children.  It's clearly not the happy ending Spider-Man promised when he "saved" the girl.

Verdict - Must Read.  Don't give too many of these to Amazing Spider-Man anymore, but I think this two-parter deserves it on the strength of the story and art and the fact it's an instant classic Spider-Man story that I'm sure I'll be re-reading in the years to come. 

DARK AVENGERS: ARES #3
Written by Kieron Gillen

Art by Manuel Garcia

"You wanted them to know everything the God of War had to teach.  

They know it now." 

Spoken by Ares to Norman while sitting upon a throne of skulls, the broken bodies of the fallen layed out before him.  It is a powerful ending to a perfect miniseries by Kieron Gillen and Manuel Garcia.

To be honest, I had little to no interest in this series when it was first announced.  Then I read that Kieron Gillen was writing it, the same person responsible for Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter, and I knew I'd be reading this series.  I just didn't think it would turn out this good.

Gillen took Ares, someone who, save his God of War miniseries from a few years back and the odd cameo in other books, like Secret Warriors, has been portrayed as an absolute meathead and lackey that'll go with whoever's in charge at the time, and made me care about him again.  Not only that, but he humanized the God of War with the inclusion of his personally trained team of Shades and the use of Ares other son, Kyknos, as the antagonist of the story.

Ares was captured last issue by his son because he stayed behind to ensure the Shades got out alive.  The Shades are given the option of leaving and getting help or sending their ship back with an SOS message and staying behind to help Ares.  They choose the latter and, well, things don't go well for them.  They save Ares, but at great cost to themselves, as my opening quote from the final pages of the book ominously implies.  It's a human piece set among gods and leads to a great scene between Ares and his son that perfectly encapsulates what it means to be the God of War. 

Add to this the final scene with Norman Osborn, who attempts to establish his authority over Ares only to have Ares put him in his place with a simple stare, and it's a fitting end to what is easily one of the best miniseries to come out this year.

Verdict - Must Read.  If you aren't following this series, I implore you to pick it up or at least pencil the trade into your future purchases.  You've missed out on something special by skipping this series and it will change how you view Ares as a character, especially if Bendis's Avengers titles are the only times you've seen the character.

THOR #605
Written by Kieron Gillen

Art by Billy Tan

What is there to say about this issue that doesn't come off fanboyish?  I could use platitudes and various buzz words to describe how good it was.  I would love to spend the next several hundred words praising it.  In fact, I think I will.

But first, I should go up and change the title of this issue to Dr Doom #605 because, honestly, this is Dr Doom's book.  Hell, Thor may appear, but it's almost like he's the bad guy assaulting Dr Doom with how much we get inside Doom's head and, save one section with Balder, practically see the entire events from his persepctive.

This could be a bad thing if written by most writers, but Kieron Gillen simply gets Dr Doom.  His speech and mannerisms are perfect in every way and I would love to see him given a 3-issue Dr Doom miniseries in the same vein as his recent Beta Ray Bill and Ares miniseries. 

If you recall, Dr Doom was assaulted by the Balder led Asgardians last issue and sent his reanimated army of dead Asgardians cyborgs (oh god, only in comics does that make any kind of sense) to deal with them.  I loved the view from Balder's perspective.  He's really grown as a character under JMS's tenure and Gillen continues with it here, showing us how he views each "monster" as their former selves with small insights into each's past.  You connect with these abominations in the span of a few pages and see how difficult it is for Balder at the same time.  What were once just canonfodder for the Asgardians are now people.  Great stuff.

Last issue also promised an epic battle between Doom and Thor, who just arrived on the scene to aid his fellow Asgardians.  This is a fantastic fight sequence that is sadly interrupted by Thor having to aid Balder, who had been overwhelmed by Doom's minions.  Doom takes the opportunity to fetch Kelda's body, to which the Asgardians were here to find, and tosses the lifeless corpse from his walls while telling them to take the body and leave him be.  It's classic Doom, the gesture both being empty, only there to goad Thor on, and showing off Doom's superiority complex, as if a lifeless husk would be enough to appease them.

This, however, is where a Doombot makes its appearance.  Thor unleashes his rage, wiping out the entire spire of the castle where that Doombot once stood.  I simply hate - hate - Doombots.  They rank up there with Life Model Decoys and other cop outs that are used time and time again to end a threat or confrontation.  It robs meaning from most encounters when it's solved with a simple robot stand-in.  Thankfully, this Doombot has a purpose and it was to draw on the power Doom seeks to power the Destroyer armour.

Speaking of which, it's not the actual Destroyer armour.  Simply one Doom constructed himself.  It lacked a proper power source to which Doom found slivers of it could be extracted from the Asgardians themselves.  Thor informs Doom that it is the Odinforce.  Doom simply replies with a, "Is that what you call it?  I call it 'Doom's'."  How perfect can a line be?  The issue then ends with the real Doom entering his Destroyer armour and smacking Thor around.

Before wrapping up the review, I just have to say how impressed I am with Billy Tan's artwork here.  He's always struck me more as an "Image artist" with a generic 90's style.  He's really stepped it up here with dynamic composition, excellent attention to detail and just brings these fights to life.

Verdict - Must Read.  Even if you weren't a fan of JMS's Thor, you should be reading this.  How often do you get to see Thor and Dr Doom throw down like this?  How often is Dr Doom written so perfectly?  And how often does someone pick up the pieces of an aborted, yet critically acclaimed run and cap it off so perfectly?  Buy this issue. You won't regret it.

 

WOLVERINE: WEAPON X #8
Written by Jason Aaron

Art by Yanick Paquette

Jason Aaron and Yanick Paquette have put together something special on this arc of Wolverine: Weapon X.  It's creepy, dark, twisted and a whole lot of fun to read and unlike anything you'll likely read from a mainstream super hero comic - especially a Wolverine one.

Simply put, Wolverine finds out something strange is going on at a sanitarium and begins investigating, gets captured due to some form of psychic attack and has been a "patient" at this hospital ever since.  Aaron has slowly pulled back the curtain on the madness that lurks inside this hospital over the first two issues, but let's the cat out of the bag in this one and, well, it's over the top crazy in a way you can't help but sit back and enjoy.

Speaking of crazy, Aaron writes good crazy.  If I didn't enjoy his writing so much, I'd have some serious concerns about his own mental health with how delightfully twisted some of these ideas are (remember, one man had two chainsaws grafted to his arms last issue).  I suppose there's a fine line between genius and insanity.  Thankfully Aaron is skirting this perfectly here and it makes for a fantastic read.

However, this issue isn't without its faults.  The first two issues left me wanting to know more about just what is going on with the hospital, how Logan got here, what they are doing with the patients in the restricted area and so on.  This issue addresses all of these questions, but at the expense of the atmosphere that was building with those first two issues.  Aaron literally lets the cat out of the bag here and puts a stop to everything he'd been doing to fill in the blanks.  I wanted to know these things and they are all valuable pieces of information, but I think it would have served the story more to space the reveals out a bit more.  Throwing it all at us right away was a bit jarring and killed forward momentum and the creepy, unknown feeling the story had up until this point.

Verdict - Buy It.  Excellent read and unlike anything you'll read in mainstream super hero comics.  A creepy, dark and twisted story that answers a lot of lingering questions from earlier issues of the arc, but at the expense of that same creepy atmosphere they were building.  Still top notch work.  Highly recommended.

 Reviews for 12/16/09

DARK AVENGERS #12

Written by Brian Bendis

Art by Mike Deodato

+ Pretty art. Mike Deodato does good super heroes.

+ Sentry and the rest of the Dark Avengers' reactions to him. They had concerns and joked about when he'd go nuts before, but now they outright fear him and have no idea how long it'll be before he becomes another Scarlet Witch.

+ Victoria Hand has been fleshed out a lot in this arc. I hope she sticks around post-Siege.  Maybe they'll have Fury apologize to her for dismissing her claims in that flashback and take her on, assuming he takes over SHIELD again.  

- Sentry's power-up.  Why give him Molecule Man's powers?  His Superman-like powers already put him out of place in the Marvel Universe.  He doesn't need to be able to manipulate molecules to the point he can reform himself every time and is basically unkillable.  Writers, especially Bendis, have to make up ridiculous ways for him to be taken out of the fight in every story he appears in to the point he's become a joke.  The fact he lost to the Hulk makes even less sense now than it did in World War Hulk. 
- Molecule Man got jobbed out. Bendis wrote himself into a corner and needed to get out of it quick so he could get into Siege next month.  This means Molecule Man gets to "die" [he'll get better] to Sentry's new powers just so they can go back to New York and be done with the whole Dinosaur, Colorado adventure.

- Ambiguous ending.  Was Norman Osborn going insane or is Loki controlling him?  I'm usually all for letting readers decide things and having multiple meanings to things based on reader experiences, but this is a key plotpoint for a major storyline and it's so ambiguous that no one can really tell what's going on in that last splashpage.

Verdict - Check It. A lot of negatives listed, but, ignoring the Sentry power-up, I didn't hate this issue.  It's pretty straight forward and concludes abruptly, but great art, some interesting character developments for Hand and Osborn and bonus points for not dragging this out for six issues.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #43

Written by Peter Tomasi

Art by Pat Gleason

Click here for my review of Green Lantern Corps #43 (spoiler warning).

REALM OF KINGS: INHUMANS #2

Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning

Art by Pablo Raimondi

I am loving this Inhumans miniseries.  It's not the ongoing by Abnett & Lanning that I was hoping for, but it's hitting all the right notes for me, from political intrigues to more Crystal and Ronan to just following the Royal Family post-War of Kings.

Last issue ended with lots of questions regarding the arrival of the Mighty Avengers.  I was left with the same bewildered look and expression that Queen Medusa had.  Thankfully, their arrival and how it matches up with a recent Mighty Avengers issue is quickly explained.  I'm happy to say, in light of how they botched the entire return of Captain America, Marvel managed to match this up rather well and both dovetail into each other without necessarily requiring you read both titles.

Like the first issue of this miniseries, the characterizations and interactions between people are the highlight of the issue.  Sure, we have Devos the Destroyer attacking, but he's more of a means to an end and merely there to provide some action.  The real meat of the issue is with how the Inhumans react to the appearance of super heroes "meddling" in their affairs again and the dialogue between both factions.

I really enjoyed the political discussions of how super heroes appearing to "save the day" was fine and tolerated in the past due to the fact the Inhumans were the unwanted "failures" of the Kree and hidden away from the world without purpose.  They always had their royal family and what not, but now they are the royalty of an entire empire and trying to establish their rule and need to prove themselves worthy.  Having heroes show up undermines their position and I liked how this was shown in their tone and interactions with the Mighty Avengers. 

However, not all the voices were spot on.  Hercules comes off more Shakespearean than usual.  He was still written well and acted the same, but a bit theatrical in his expressions.  Hank Pym is also a bit off from what I've read of Dan Slott's Mighty Avengers.  The difference here, though, is that he's much more subdued than in Slott's book.  He's written more competent than usual (or, at least compared to pre-Slott era), but it doesn't feel like Abnett and Lanning are beating us over the head with how great Pym is either.  So, it's a more enjoyable Pym, but a bit noteworthy to point out for those reading Mighty Avengers that he may feel off a bit compared to how Slott has portrayed him.

My only complaint about the issue is that it's lacking a direction or any real connecion to Realm of Kings.  An Inhuman expedition discovers Black Bolt's "voice pattern" eminating from the Fault at the end of the issue, but that's about the only connection to the other Realm of Kings titles.  I much prefer this focus on the Inhumans, the Royal Family and the politics behind ruling an empire, but it seems more geared towards an ongoing or non-Realm of Kings series and leaves a bit of a "what's the point?" feeling to this story.  Where does this fit in in Realm of Kings?  Where is the story going?  There's some Kree related unrest brewing, the bit about Black Bolt and hints of Maximus possibly being evil again (please don't go that route), but, otherwise, this is just a day in the life of the Royal Family.  I like that, but could be an issue for those looking for more out of this miniseries.

Verdict - Buy It. I'm tempted to give this a Must Read rating, but there are concerns about the direction the series is going, where it fits in in the grand scheme of Realm of Kings and if it will progress beyond the day in the life of the Inhumans setting it currently has. 

SPIDER-MAN: THE CLONE SAGA #4

Written by Tom DeFalco & Howard Mackie

Art by Todd Nauck

Spider-Man: The Clone Saga has been an interesting experiment.  Marvel has taken a much maligned story from the past and is dusting it off and retelling it in a more streamlined and, hopefully, better fashion.

On the one hand, I liked the original Clone Saga, though know it has its faults.  So, I feel like this project is a bone they are throwing to those fans of the original story to whom Marvel has all but ignored over the past decade.  On the other, I can't help but wonder what purpose this serves.  Will they make this the new continuity and start referencing the Clone Saga again?  Why remake such a controversial story?  What is the goal of this?

Ignoring questions about the purpose of the title, which still plague me, I'm still at a loss as to explain how I feel about this issue.  I'm not really sure why I continue to buy it.  I have my piece of nostolgia packed in the closet and even as bound hardcovers on the shelf.  While it opened well enough and that same nostolgia had me happy to see Ben Reilly and Kaine and the rest of the Clone Saga trappings back in action, the series has progressively gotten worse.  It's never what I would call bad or down right horrible, but it's not exactly great either.

This issue, in particular, just goes through the motions, hitting random Clone Saga plots in a mish mash of converging storylines.  We've got Ben as Spider-Man fighting Doc Ock, random sightings of Ben's supporting cast at the Daily Grind coffee shop, cameos by Peter and Mary Jane "retired" to Forest Hills with Aunt May and Kaine doing random errands for his mystery boss, who ends up not being Norman Osborn.

It's all familiar, but different enough to be jarring, much like previous issues.  The time skips that accompany each issue only serve to compound the feeling and give a detached feel to the story, like none of it matters as we hit each and every beat from the Clone Saga at breakneck pace.

Verdict - Byrne It. If you have interest in the Clone Saga, you probably read the original. Stick with that. For morbid curiousity, just flip through it for some nostolgia at the shop.  While not terrible, nothing really worthwhile to see here either.

X-FORCE #22

Written by Chris Yost & Craig Kyle

Art by Clayton Crain

Necrosha.  I did a primer on the event a while back and was looking forward to coming back to the title after dropping it post-Messiah War.  I was coming back mostly because I had all the lead in issues to this event from New X-Men and earlier X-Force issues and, well, I figured it would be fun watching the team tear through zombies.

That said, the prologue issue of the event left me a little flat.  The first part of the X-Force centric Necrosha story was similar in that it failed to conenct with me.  It consisted of a series of unconnected fights with dark and muddled art and just a stream of back from the dead characters being introduced page after page.  It was much like reading every Blackest Night tie-in, where a random Black Lantern comes back to fight the hero of the issue, except all condensed into one issue.  The few bits with Selene and her Inner Circle that moved the plot forward and explained the event were the only ones that really interested me.

Thankfully, this issue was much better than the previous one.  It was much more focused and, while we still see the odd undead mutant fighting the X-Men or X-Force, it's not nearly as bad as the new fight and dozen or so new undead characters introduced every other page in the previous issue.

Selene and her Inner Circle remain the best part of this issue, too.  Eli Bard's failure of his queen and subsequent attempt to coerce Blink to help him was also enjoyable.  It also led to the Inner Circle being deployed to fix his mistake, which leads to a direct conflict with X-Force set for the next issue.

Verdict - Check It.  While I enjoyed this issue more than the previous chapters of Necrosha, I'm still not sold on the event yet.  This issue felt more like the event was just starting and that things are finally moving beyond the Blackest Night-like "bad guy comes back from dead, fight breaks out" stage that the first two parts were, so there's potential for this to really start ramping up from here.

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