Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 10/29/08

Got caught up in Halloween related nonsense and didn't get a chance to put these out when I wanted, which is sad, seeing as we didn't get a single trick or treater this year. We don't usually get many near my place (most go to neighbourhoods with more houses and where they're closer together), but there's usually at least two or three kids.

Speaking of Halloween, anyone dress up as a comic related character? I've always been tempted to let my nerd cred show with a comic costume, but never followed through with one. If you've got a picture, drop a link and I'll post it tomorrow in the Moments of the Week.

Anyways, on with the reviews!

AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #18
Written by Dan Slott & Chris Gage
Art by Stefano Caselli

I believe Avengers: The Initiative is falling victim of Secret Invasion's broad strokes, no room for characterization, something earlier issues had that made me care about the various D-listers appearing in this book, storytelling and it only serves to undermine everything Slott, Gage and Caselli, who doesn't actually draw this issue, have built.

For example, Thor Girl fights Ultragirl in this issue and the resulting fight has Thor Girl revealed as a Skrull infiltrator, killed and forgotten in the span of a few pages. This is a character that has been in the book for a fair length of time and was one I was enjoying. Aside from her sketchy origins, what with the Asgardians all 'dying' and her still kicking, she had shown no signs of Skrullification and was receiving some solid character development with Trauma that was thrown out the window for a shock reveal and killing.

In fact, most of the book dealt with the Skrull Kill Krew, along with a select group of random Initiative members, going from state to state killing the Skrull on each team, quickly dismantling the various teams that were setup before we even got a chance to get to know any of them, which is a lot of wasted time establishing them in the first place.

The saddest development was witnessing how far Cloud 9's fun loving, "I just want to fly", character has fallen since graduation. Here, she's hiding in cloud formations and sniping off enemies with adamantium tipped bullets without even batting an eye. I miss the old Cloud 9 and hope they find a way to fix her because she's broken and unlikeable at this point.

The remainder of the issue was devoted to moving people into position for their appearances in Secret Invasion, such as having most of the team converging on Central Park and meeting up with Nick Fury. The remaining members find out from Ant-Man that the Skrulls are going to use the Negative Zone portals connecting each Initiative base as a giant teleporter to phase out a huge chunk of landmass to the Negative Zone, which would result in the Earth's orbit shifting, if their invasion plans fail. Thus, they all set out to blow up the Negative Zone portals, which seems far more compelling than the actual conclusion to Secret Invasion is with the Wasp blowing up.

Verdict - Check It. There are flashes of the old Initiative book pre-SI tie-ins, but they are few and far between. With only one issue left of tie-ins, I wonder if the book will be able to keep me entertained long enough to stick it out for future stories.


INCREDIBLE HERCULES #122
Written by Greg Pak & Fred van Lente
Art by Clayton Henry

I think everyone has to buy this issue simply to see the image of Hercules smiling and giving Cho the thumbs up after he sees Cho in the bedchambers of one of the Amazons. I'm almost tempted to swap it into the banner image.

If funny images aren't enough to get you to buy a comic, it's probably a good thing that Incredible Hercules is one of Marvel's best titles at the moment and this issue continues that success.

First off, while we do get the promised Namor vs Herc fight, it's not as cliched as one might suspect and ends rather comically as Namora breaks the two up fairly quickly and explains the situation to Namor, who chastises Herc for not telling him sooner. Ah, Namor, clearly this isn't your fault. You're a simple fish person and never lose your cool.

From here, we find out Namor is looking for Poseidon, his god of worship, who has been kidnapped by the Amazons. They all team up to find both Poseidon and Cho, who's busy 'impressing' the Amazons with his intelligence, which leads to the aforementioned Herc thumbs up scene and Cho's "get lost, I'm trying to score here" sneer back at him.

One of the sadder moments of the issue dealt with Hercules flashback to his brief time with Hippolyta and the startling realization she was killed when Herc finds her head on a pike while looking for a way into the Amazon compound.

The issue ends with Namor, Herc and Namora converging on the captured Poseidon, who a random Amazon has chained up and a gun to his head. She threatens to kill the god if they step any closer,but I'm at a loss as to what Poseidon's power levels are or how it's possible to do this to a god like him. We'll have to wait and see next issue.

Verdict - Must Read. Lot of fun to read, great flashbacks fleshing out Herc's past and progressed the current plot. Can't ask for much more.


SECRET INVASION: THOR #3
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Doug Braithwaite

Unlike the actual Thor series, the Secret Invasion counterpart is all about action and smashing things. For some, this is the kind of Thor they wanted out of JMS's run. For others, it's exactly what was wrong with past incarnations of the hero. Personally, while I enjoyed this mini-series, having it drop on the same week as JMS's series only served to excentuate the flaws in this book.

Continuing with the cliffhanger from last issue, Donald Blake has arrived on the scene to take over for the defeated Beta Ray Bill. He quickly takes up his hammer and the book turns into a generic action romp with the odd bit of narration to break up the monotony.

The way the issue is laid out doesn't do the book any favours. Like Secret Invasion, itself, this is made up of action scenes that look more like storyboards for a movie than something used to tell an actual story. They look like pin-ups and snapshots that need the silver screen and actors to flesh out instead of standing on their own for a comic book medium. It gives the book a "flip through it" type of feeling, whereby I don't even feel the need to read half the pages with so little dialogue and the widescreen action appeal to it.

It doesn't help that the story ends predictably with Thor saving the day, recovering Beta Ray Bill's hammer and the duo then taking the villain to task while the other Asgardians repel the invaders. There's no emotion here, no purpose and it feels like wasted money in the end.

Verdict - Avoid It. If you've been following this series already, this is more of the same and you won't be disappointed on that end. But, for everyone else, you didn't miss anything and you should spend your money elsewhere.


SUPERMAN #681
Written by James Robinson
Art by Renato Guedes and Jose Magalháes

The New Krypton storyline kicked off last week in a rather low-key opening issue. Picking up right where that special ended, one hundred thousand Kryptonians have taken up residence on Earth in the newly rebigulated (why, that's impossible!) city of Kandor, now located in the Arctic, near the Fortress of Solitude.

Obviously, the people of Earth have taken notice of several thousand Supermen flying around the world and taking in the sights and this issue gives us some insight into how these people are handling the situation.

Herein lies the first problem I had with this issue - why are people so shocked at this? They are acting like this is the first time they've seen people that can fly or aliens or super powered beings when the whole planet is crawling with them. You can't spit without hitting someone with powers in the DCU, yet Perry White is pulling the entire Daily Planet staff off their regular assignments to cover the Kryptonian story.

While this, in itself, isn't that big a deal, when the whole issue focuses on this fantastical reaction to their arrival, it makes it difficult for me to take the premise seriously.

The other problem I have with this issue is the same problem I had with earlier issues of Robinson's run - the dialogue. If you had no problem with the broken English and the continuous, "what a good boy", talk to Krypto from those earlier issues, you probably won't mind Perry White not knowing the difference between the Antarctic and Arctic nor the stiff dialogue between the JLA/JSA members and Superman nor any other dialogue from the issue. Personally, I can't believe this is the same person that wrote Starman and feel either Robinson or his editor, maybe both, are asleep at the wheel when these books get published.

In terms of the actual New Krypton story, this issue simply saw the Kryptonians assemble rather large selection of delegates to meet the president of the United States. Most of the issue was spent showing public reaction to the Kryptonian arrivals and a brief meeting with Superman and a few members of the JLA and JSA, where they expressed concerns over one hundred thousand Supermen showing up out of nowhere.

For the second issue of this event, I found having the focus almost exclusively from the human perspective a tad disappointing. It's been two issues of this story and the only Kryptonians we've met are Supergirl's parents. Sure, we see others flying around and taking up space, but we've yet to see anyone interesting or noteworthy or even potential villains from the group and it's turned this huge influx of Kryptonians and made it feel like only one or two showed up.

The only surprise of the issue came in the form of the final page. During the meeting between the president and the Kryptonian delegates (aka, Supergirl's parents), Doomsday comes crashing down into Metropolis, much to the shock of everyone. To be honest, Doomsday comes off as a one trick pony and, try as DC does, that never really changes. Since killing Superman, he's been routinely defeated and was taken out rather easily back in Infinite Crisis with two Supermen. With an entire army of Kryptonians, I can only see this being done in one or two pages next issue. As for who sent him, I'm guessing General Lane and Lex Luthor released him on Metropolis.

Verdict - Check It. I think the issue only serves to downplay the actual Kryptonians with its human perspective and Robinson's dialogue has continued to turn me off of his Superman. The issue was a decent continuation of the New Krypton storyline, but it lacks the impact and appeal of Johns' setup issues.


THOR #11
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Art by Olivier Coipel

While many people were impressed by the Captain America tribute found in this issue, I found it unnecessary and much preferred the Loki and Baldur scenes in Asgard to it.

That's not to say the tribute was bad, but, at this point in time and with a new Captain America already out, combined with the numerous tributes we've seen throughout the past year, it almost feels like he's beating a dead horse, much like what Thor, himself, was trying to do to stop the media from exploiting Cap's death in this very issue.

However, it's hard to fault JMS for this as it is one of the better takes on Steve Rogers' death and much better than his strawman political diatrab against Iron Man over the Civil War debacle in earlier issues.

For me, though, the best parts of this issue dealt with Loki and Baldur as they watch the other Asgardians partake in a friendly game of capture the flag, red vs blue style. It served to further Loki's machinations (love that word, just say say it out loud, it's no wonder villains monologue) as he continues to manipulate Baldur while Thor is away.

Loki's bait this time dealt with the very war games the gods were playing. Playing devil's advocate, as usual, she discussed how Thor has turned Asgard into a gilded cage and, with the death of one of the Asgardians during a drunken brawl, sowed more discontent in the easily manipulated Baldur's mind. He's not going to be at Thor's throat anytime soon or challenging for the crown, but it's clear Loki has planted the seeds for this sort of situation in the future.

Verdict - Must Read. Thor continues to impress and, while some may find the slow pace tedious or the lack of action disconcerting, I'll take an Asgardian drama over random hammer smashings any day.

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Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 10/22/08

After the event centric set of reviews from yesterday, today's Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews focuses on the rest of the books that came out this week. Sadly, while I didn't get a chance to review all the books I wanted today, I'm going to try and make time on the weekend to bang out the remaining two or three reviews, so make sure to check back for those. For now, hit the jump, etc, etc.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #43
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Luke Ross

Wow, I can't believe how much I enjoyed this issue. While the Bucky and Black Widow relationship rings false to me, everything else was spot on. Hell, I actually like Batroc the Leaper now. I didn't think that was even possible.

As I had hoped, there was some nice meshing of flashbacks to WWII intermingled with the present day story. These are excellent additions to the story and I loved Brubaker's use of them in the earlier parts of the series, as well as over in his Immortal Iron Fist run. The way he weaves them into the tapestry of each character's history is seamless and, as I read them, it feels like these new additions / retcons are fact and happened and he is merely retelling them when it couldn't be further from the truth. To me, that's a sign of flawless writing and I look forward to seeing more of these in the future.

As I mentioned, this issue also saw Bucky and Black Widow in an overly playful relationship that rang hollow to me. I just don't see Black Widow prancing around the apartment in nothing but a blanket and dotting over Bucky in this manner. Especially when you consider how little interaction, of which we've seen Bucky fighting her over Cap's shield more than actually conversing with her. I'm not opposed to these two characters getting together, but it feels like we've skipped a few steps along the way.

After the extended scene with Black Widow, Bucky goes out to clear his head and picks up a report of a break-in at a United Nations Research Facility. Here, we are introduced to Batroc the Leaper, who Luke Ross somehow managed to look awesome, despite Batroc's orange and purple "costume", if that gaudy thing is what passes for a costume these days.

The entire fight between Bucky and Batroc just goes to show that there are no bad characters, only bad writers. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm looking forward to seeing more of Batroc the Leaper and the writing here actually made me believe that he's a credible threat to Captain America.

While there is no clear winner between the two combatants, Batroc and his goons manage to escape with whatever information they stole and we see him delivering it to a Chinese (I think it's supposed to be Japanese to go with the WWII flashback, but Batroc says he doesn't understand Chinese when the mystery man starts speaking another language) man, who, at first, seems disinterested in the Captain America fight until he sees an image of Bucky, sans costume, and realizes it is the Winter Soldier. At this, he states his boss will be most pleased with the new information and we're still left wondering if this will be a new villain or someone from the past we should know.

Verdict - Must Read. While most Captain America issues come away with a Must Read verdict, I think I enjoyed this issue more than any other in recent months, just on the strength of the Batroc portrayal and the fact Brubaker did an excellent job setting up this new storyarc.


FINAL CRISIS: SUBMIT
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Matthew Clark and Norm Rapmund

As good as Final Crisis #4 was this week, it should have been labelled with a, "Read Final Crisis: Submit first.", sticker. While I don't think this tie-in is absolutely essential to read or understand FC #4, it goes a long way to explaining what the heck was going on with Black Lightning and the Tattooed Man.

However, while FC #4 was a great read and as much as I think Submit should be read as a companion piece, I don't think Submit comes anywhere close to being as good as FC #4. I think the reasons behind this stem from how simple and straight forward this issue reads.

It's almost like any one of the numerous Secret Invasion tie-ins in that it fails to address the very thing the tie-in was setup to expand upon - in this case, the "circuit" Black Lightning gives the Tattooed Man - and, instead of devoting an entire one-shot to this rather straight forward 'hero meets anti-hero and butt heads before reaching an understanding' story, they could have simply condensed it all into an extra page or two of story in Final Crisis #4 and it would have been just as good.

Regarding this whole Metron circuit deal that the Tattooed Man showed up with out of nowhere in FC #4 with, it is revealed in this issue that Black Lightning had the pattern stitched into his glove for some, as yet (or maybe I'm forgetting something from previous issues of FC) unexplained, reason and, when things look bad, he makes the Tattooed Man memorize the circuit and tells him to safeguard it for the other heroes. This leads to the Tattooed Man turning said circuit into a tattoo on his body and hiding it in plain sight until we see him again in Final Crisis #4.

The rest of the issue consisted of Black Lightning and Tattooed Man butting heads and disagreeing at every turn as they try to escape the Justifiers. When they finally reach an agreement, the Tattooed Man's son, who TM has raised to hate super-heroes, decides to shoot Black Lightning, thinking he's fighting with his father when the two were having a spirited discussion. It was a random ending that causes Black Lightning to be captured and turned into a Justifier and I think I liked it better, as I had read FC #4 prior to reading Submit, when I didn't know how Black Lightning was turned into a Justifier.

Verdict - Check It. While I think it's safe to avoid this if you are short on cash, it is actually one of the few Final Crisis tie-ins that actually impacts the main storyline and, while I didn't overly enjoy the story, it does explain a lot about what happened with Black Lightning and the Tattoo Man's circuit tattoo seems like it will be important to the storyline, making this worth checking out at the very least.


NEW AVENGERS #46
Written by Brian Bendis
Art by Billy Tan

While this doesn't overly impact the main storyline in any way, we are finally treated to a Secret Invasion tie-that delivered something of value to the reader.

Told completely from the point of view of the Hood and his army of villains, we are shown the events following the fight with the New Avengers and witness the Skrull's attempt at infiltrating this new super powered team and how it goes horribly wrong.

As SHIELD began interrogating Madame Masque, the Hood quickly snuck in to bust her out and, in the process, killed all but one of her SHIELD guards. Before killing the final one, Masque tells him to turn around and we see that all the SHIELD guards were, in fact, Skrulls. Hood takes the remaining Skrull guard back to his hideout to show to the other villains and we see a rather predictable, "Bendis speak", set of reactions from most of the villains, as if every one of their canned responses was cribbed from a Bendis interview.

Thankfully, Bendis doesn't dwell on the whole, "who do I trust?", nonsense again and it quickly turns into an entertaining interrogation scene as they take the Skrull apart, piece by piece, before he can take no more and finally tells them what they want to know. It's nothing new to the reader, but it was interesting seeing the villains take on the Skrull invasion plans and their methods of dealing with the threat of infiltration.

Finally, the best part of the issue and what will most likely be a major plot point in the future, is the revelation of just what demon is contained within the Hood's cloak - none other than Dormammu, himself. There's bound to be controversy surrounding this choice, as the Hood has never shown the kind of power that would warrant the demon being the Dreadlord Dormammu nor does it mesh with the demon form we saw Parker Robbins kill to obtain the cloak in the first place. I'm tempted to say Bendis may have chosen the most recognizable demonic entity due to lack of other choices or just to have a big reveal.

However, while I'm not sure I agree with the logistics behind it being Dormammu, it's hard not to be impressed by that final splash page reveal and I don't hate this choice either.

Verdict - Check It. I actually enjoyed reading the issue and, while another 'fill in the blanks' tie-in by Bendis, it actually gave us something new and intersting to chew on, whereas other tie-ins read like an entire issue devoted to being told being what the heroes had for breakfast before Skrulls replaced them. The reveal at the end has lots of storytelling promise and it will be interesting to see what part, if any, it plays in Secret Invasion's conclusion or the post-SI world.


SUPERMAN: NEW KRYPTON SPECIAL #1
Written by Geoff Johns, James Robinson and Sterling Gates
Art by Gary Frank and Jon Sibal, Renato Guedes and Wilson Magalháes, and Pete Woods

For a one-shot special that is supposed to setup a major event, this read more like an issue of Action Comics and Superman mashed together than a cohesive introduction / jumping on point. I'd imagine you're enjoyment of the issue, on the whole, will stem from your enjoyment of each of those two titles.

Personally, I love the current Action Comics while, after reading a few issues of Robinson's run, it's safe to say I'm not a fan of the current Superman title. As such, I'm a little torn over this issue in terms of how much I enjoyed it.

In fact, considering this is the first part of the New Krypton storyline, I found it odd that the Kyrptonian centric parts of this issue were the weakest ones, by far. When compared to the funeral for Jonathan Kent and Johns and Frank's powerful portrayal of Superman's grief opening the issue, almost everything after that was destined to pale in comparison, but the Kryptonian parts, specifically, were fairly weak and did nothing for me for whatever reason.

For reference, everything dealing the Kryptonians and Kandor boils down to Superman talking to Supergirl's parents, laying the seeds for the obvious difference of opinions between Kryptonians as Humans and someone punching a whale with their new super powers. Yes, someone punches a whale.

Thankfully, while those parts were fairly boring, both in the lackluster art that accompanied them and in the writing, the Johns and Frank penned funeral was just so good, it's hard to complain about anything else that came with such a powerful and moving short story. Frank's artwork during Superman's dream of what he wanted to do to Brainiac (hint: pound him into green paste) was some of the finest storytelling from both a writing and art standpoint that I've seen in a long time. Great stuff that stood head and shoulders above everything else in the issue.

With the influx of Kryptonians and Superman dealing with his father's funeral, that left some time to introduce the villains of the piece in the form of Lex Luthor, who was recruited by the mystery man from Robinson's Superman arc, revealed here as Lois Lane's supposedly dead father.

I'm not sure how I feel about such a casual resurrection nor his villainous turn, but the introduction of Lex to the mix should fun, if only to see his reaction to an entire city of Supermen.

Verdict - Must Read. While I don't think the entire issue warrants a Must Read, I'm giving it one on the strength of the Johns / Frank part of the book and Superman's dealing with his grief over his father's death. The problems with the rest of the book stem from the rather slow opening for a major event and how it seems to have throttled down from the Action Comics Brainiac story that preceeded it.

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Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 10/15/08

Here's the late night edition of the Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews. I covered most of the remaining books I picked up this week with these reviews, but there's a couple that didn't make the cut due to time constraints and one of those I wanted to talk about was X-Men: World's Apart.

I picked this issue up as an impulse buy based solely on Christ Yost's name being attached as the writer. I was quite surprised to find out, as I didn't even flip through it or read about it prior to picking it up, that this continues the story about Storm and Nehzno, of New X-Men fame, from the excellent X-Men: Divided We Stand one-shots. Just when you think it's starting to be a tad contrived, it turns out to be an interesting Storm story with her longtime nemesis, the Shadow King. Was quite pleased with how it turned out and will be getting the next issue.

I'll let you guys enjoy the rest of the reviews, after the jump.

ASTONISHING X-MEN #27
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Simone Bianchi

Short story is this title has been dropped. I'm not sure who this Warren Ellis is, but he's not the same creative mind behind Transmetropolitan, Nextwave, Thunderbolts and dozens of other critically acclaimed titles.

This is about as dull and unimaginative a book as I've ever read. It almost reads like fanfiction whereby the writer is trying his best to hit every possible cliche he can. Say what you will about Brubaker's Uncanny X-Men, which I am far from a fan of, it at least tries to be a good book. This is just boring on all accounts. Three issues and nothing has happened except all the forced cliches and numerous jokes falling flat.

To be honest, I'm not even sure how I would describe this issue. The new mutants with the X-gene on the wrong chromozone are revealed to be from another dimension and SWORD is brought into the mix. I believe this was just so we could be beat over the head with the Beast / Brand animal sex talk and "jokes" that made up the bulk of the issue.

Where Whedon's writing of this came off as funny and genuine, this turns the relationship into a donkey show (see Clerks 2 for details). It's about as subtle as a freight train and I just cringed and moved on after every attempt to make jokes at their expense.

Verdict - Avoid It. Move along. Nothing to see here.


ATOMIC ROBO: DOGS OF WAR #3
Written by Brian Clevinger
Art by Scott Wegener

Atomic Robo continues its second mini-series with another action packed issue. While still set during WWII, this issue jumps ahead slightly from last issue's ending, where Robo was tasked with tracking down the remaining nazi walking tanks.

Surprisingly, after spending time introducing Everett and the other human troops in the first two issues, where Everett was recruited by Robo to help with his mission to destroy those tanks, these supporting characters are no where to be seen. In their place is a new character, The Sparrow (see cover), a British covert operative. I have no problemw ith this little switch of the supporting cast, but assumed we'd be following Lt Everett and Robo throughout the series.

The plot of this issue focuses on both Robo and Sparrow as they try, unaware of each other's efforts, to infiltrate a nazi train and take out Otto Skorzeny, the nazi in control of the walking tanks who nearly captured Robo in the previous issues. This leads to the two into conflict as they step on each other's toes in their attempts to take out Skorzeny, which ended up being a trap set for the two all along.

During the infiltration sequence, we were treated to some excellent dialogue between Skorzeny and a woman whom, I believe, is the brains behind the designs of the walking tanks, among other nazi creations. I really liked the way they so casually discussed the nazi movements and Hitler's decisions and it humanized these villains in the process. Many writers fall into the trap of having all nazi's be the, "arrgh, we're evil and eat babies and because we're nazis we don't need motivations!", trap and it was nice to see these being people instead of hiding behind the nazi card.

The biggest surprise of the issue came at the end as Robo, who has been all but indestructible in the adventures we've seen him in so far, is taken out by an EMP or tazer-like gun as he tried to save The Sparrow, leaving the two heroes stuck on a train about to go off the tracks and showing us that Robo can, in fact, be hurt / disabled - something unheard of up until now.

Verdict - Must Read. Another great read from the Atomic Robo team. Fleshes out the villains of the piece, introduces a new character and puts Robo in some real conflict that shows he's not invincible.


CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI: 13 #6
Written by Paul Cornell
Art by Leonard Kirk

After the shocking stabbing of Spitfire at the end of last issue, I was expecting a quick resolution to that problem with Faiza, the doctor who is now wielding Excalibur, to simply heal her instantly. What we ended up with was far from what I expected and a tad confusing, to say the least.

Spitfire, who is a vampire, was stabbed by Blade last issue. A giant stake in the heart, which I imagine Blade didn't miss with his sneak attack, should have killed her, right? Instead, Pete Wisdom pulls the stake out, Blade jumps out of the helicopter to escape capture and Spitfire is good as new afterwards. I'm a bit confused as to what happens here. Why isn't she dead (undead? Un-undead?)?

Meanwhile, the big magical disaster MI 13 came to investigate turns out to be the Mindless Ones, last seen in Nextwave, and their leader, Plokta, the Mindful One. I'm not sure as to what exactly is going on, but Plokta has taken over a neighbourhood and is inducing dreams of the perfect lives for the citizens living there as he siphons off life energy of some sort.

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of magic for reasons such as the premise of this storyline, but the dialogue and pacing of the story, which doesn't leave you time to dwell on these types of things, more than make up for it.

Captain Britain, who was on the scene first, handles the situation in an unorthadox fashion - he actually talks to the villain to find out what's going on instead of simply smashing stuff first, asking questions later. A rather refreshing take to super heroing.

Meanwhile, Blade, who dropped on site of this magical incursion, ends up clashing with Spitfire, who entered the buildings to save people (ya, that chest wound didn't really do anything). I really enjoyed their dialogue and the entire scene, right down to the final, "oh, Blade is going to get along with her now scene", which ended up going the complete other way as Blade politely asks her to die if she is now in control because she should know she's a monster.

In the end, we cut back to see Plokta offering Captain Britain his greatest desire, his wife, Meggan, whom I'm guessing is currently dead based on the reaction. With how solid the writing has been on the title, barring the whole stabbing / she got better incident, I imagine Cornell will avoid the pitfalls of the cliched "dream world / willpower struggle" that these types of stories can invoke and give us another great issue next month.

Verdict - Must Read. Grab the second or third printings, or even the trades, and get on board this series. Even if you've never been a fan or if you don't have any experience with these characters, just give this book a shot.


MIGHTY AVENGERS #19
Written by Brian Bendis
Art by Steve Kurth

What the hell is wrong with me? I went over this in the previews, but I keep buying these Secret Invasion tie-ins and, every time I do, I tell myself, "No more tie-ins for SI.", yet I find myself always with a new one on the pile every other week. As soon as I read these, I'm immediately filled with regret over the purchase and this issue was no different.

I originally decided to get this issue based on the solicit's promise of a shocking revelation for the future of the Mighty Avengers team. Add the fact Noh-Var was in this issue along with Captain Marvel and I figured he'd be taking over the mantle of Captain Marvel, just as the Illuminati confronted him about in their mini-series, or maybe joining up with the Mighty team or, at the very least, something to make his inclusion in this event worthwhile.

What I got was another, "this is something you know happened, but I have 22 pages to fill, so you get a bunch of filler fleshing out a pointless plot thread that could have been summed up with a one panel flashback in any other title", story.

Yes, you read right. Nothing happens in this issue. We get some pointless scenes of Marvel and Noh-Var prior to their appearance in the last issue of Secret Invasion, where we saw Marvel crashing into a parking lot and Noh-Var just conveniently flying by at the time. It was a throw away scene there and, as this issue is all about the build up to that throw away scene, it makes this a complete throw away issue with no purpose or direction or redeeming qualities. Even the art was less than stellar.

Verdict - Avoid It. Unless, like me, you like flushing money down the toilet for some reason, just avoid this. You read everything this issue had to offer in the page or two it took up in the last issue of the Secret Invasion series.

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Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 10/08/08

Much like a monkey at a typewriter, I've managed to string together various words to form what I believe to be a coherent set of reviews for you're viewing pleasure and you can find those after the jump.

DETECTIVE COMICS #849
Written by Paul Dini
Art by Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs

Dini has been batting them out of the park with this Hush storyline. I, honestly, can't believe how much I'm enjoying it and every issue seems to get better and better.

Last issue ended with Batman capturing Scarecrow while Hush used the opportunity to kidnap Catwoman. Not only did he kidnap her, but he stole her heart, literally, and hooked her up to an iron lung-like machine to keep her alive and left her for Batman to find.

This was all designed to strike at the only woman that Batman has ever really loved and, ignoring the comic book science behind such a feat, I really liked how it was handled. Batman's reaction to the whole thing and the rage on display just worked for me and both Dini's writing and Nguyen's art meshed perfectly during the confrontation between Hush and Batman later in the issue.

Another thing I really liked was the continued fleshing out of Hush's origin and motivation as a villain. The constant comparisons to Bruce Wayne by his mother and the old girlfriend of Tommy's, which I assume will relate back to Batman's relationship with Catwoman when we see the rest of the flashback next issue, contrasted the confrontation between Bruce and Tommy well.

Verdict - Must Read. I'm upgrading this storyline to a Must Read based on how much I've consistently enjoyed it and the fact it's been improving with every issue to the point it's at now.


GREEN LANTERN CORPS #29
Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Art and Cover by Pat Gleason and Drew Geraci

I'm a bit conflicted with this issue of Green Lantern Corps. The sum of its parts are greater than the whole in that the issue is made up of several solid subplots and storylines, but none really mesh well together to form a cohesive narrative.

For instance, the bulk of the issue dealt with Guy and Ice's relationship and, while I like these characters and wanted to see more of them, these scenes ended up just going in circles with each expressing the desire for the other to do something they didn't want - Guy wanting Ice to move in with him and Ice just wanting to establish her life again on Earth. We saw this conflict in previous issues and to spend another entire issue on it just felt like a waste to me.

From here, we had a scene with Mongul, severed arm in tow, smashing into a random spaceship, occupied by newly weds, and stealing all their food. When the husband tells him to just take whatever he wants and leave them alone, Mongul just taps him, which, for Mongul, ends with the man's helmet busted open and him dying of oxygen deprivation.

This little segue lead to the first on-panel Star Sapphire member. I'm not sure if there have been others recruited or not, but she is the first we've seen and she doesn't look as possessed as the cover makes it out to be. She seemed to have a lot of freewill compared to previous Star Sapphires and their desire to wipe out entire planets after having sex with Green Lanterns, but it's still early and we don't know how these new versions will act.

Meanwhile, the Guardians have been monitoring the Sapphire's homeworld and are deciding on what to do about the bursts of energy coming from their new lantern-based Sapphires and, after deliberating with the other Guardians, the scarred, "evil" Guardian ends up recruiting Guy, Arisa and Ion to lead a diplomatic mission to the Sapphire planet.

Verdict - Check It. It's hard to describe, but the subplots just don't mesh very well and the narrative is jarring. The Guy and Ice parts never go anywhere either. However, the good parts definitely outweigh the bad and it was still worth checking out.


INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #6
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Salvador Larroca

I had already made my decision to drop this title after this issue and, after having read said issue, I don't regret it in the least. Now, that's not to say this was a bad issue or that this title is horrible or anything like that. There are just certain books / themes / stories that relate to certain people and not to others. I can recognize that there are good parts to this title and I can see why people enjoy it, but, as I've gone on at length about in previous reviews, this book just doesn't work for me with the deliberate movie feel and direction.

As predicted, the stunning "death" of Iron Man last issue was simply a dummy robot Ezekiel Stane destroyed and it was being remote controlled by Tony, along with dozens of others, in an attempt to stop all four suicide bombings orchestrated by Stane.

While Stane eventually realizes he didn't actually kill Stark, it's too little, too late on his part and Tony, along with several remote controlled Iron Men armours, shows up to lay down the law. However, Tony quickly realizes he won't be able to stop all the bombers in time and opts for a controlled electro-magnetic pulse to shut down the Starktech / Iron Man hearts the suicide bombers were using.

As a side effect, it also disables his Extremis armour (How? We've seen him reboot from EMPs dozens of times and he knew this one was coming as he was the one to set it off) and Stane's bio-armour (defeats the purpose of being built into his skin, but I digress). This leads to some good, old fashioned fisticuffs between the two. What stunned me was that Tony, who's been shown to have some very capable combat training prior to this series, barely takes down Stane in this armourless fight. He does put Stane down decisively in the end, but it wasn't looking good for a little while there.

As a concluding chapter to this opening arc, I think the issue accomplished what this series set out to do - ie. remaking the comic Iron Man so it is more in line with its movie counterpart - but I'm still a little disappointed they threw out all the work done in Director of SHIELD and took several steps backwards with the character, much like they did with Peter Parker in Brand New Day, to do so.


SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE #3
Written by Terry Moore
Art by Craig Rousseau

The solicit made this issue out to have some kind of big secret about MJ revealed to the school and I'm still trying to figure out what it was. I know I shouldn't give solicits much thought, but if they promise something, I usually pay attention to see if it's followed up on and nothing really happened in that regard.

However, disregarding the solicit, this issue continued to impress with the new SMLMJ series. It's a little hard to speak about just what these issues are about, as they are a lot like a Seinfeld episode - they're about nothing in particular.

In fact, this issue is mostly just Liz and MJ talking with a few cameos by Flash and Peter as the two girls discuss everyday things. It's the fact this kind of story is set in the Spider-Man universe with so many familiar characters that really allows us to get into the heads and lives of these characters so easily and this issue is full of believable dialogue and is just entertaining drama.

As the supporting cast and Peter Parker side of Spider-Man has always interested me more than the actual super-villain of the week fights, I have no problem with this kind of story, but I can see why some might not enjoy this type of book.

Verdict - Check It. A much slower pace than previous issues and very little interaction with Peter, but a solid issue, nonetheless.

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Final Crisis Second Opinion Comic Book Reviews for 09/24/08

Second Opinion reviews? What's that? Well, I did these a few times before, but only as single reviews tacked on to my own reviews. This week, however, reader Justin Miousse submitted a whole slew of reviews and I felt they deserved their own post to reflect it. Not being terribly creative nor original, I simply stuck the Second Opinion moniker into the Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews title to reflect this.

As this is a rather light week, comic's wise, I'll try and catch up on the reviews I missed out on last week. For now, enjoy Justin's offering of reviews and be sure to give him lots of feedback! It takes a lot of guts to put yourself out there like this and I think he did a great job on them.

And if you ever feel like you have a review you want to submit, whether one or an entire post's worth, feel free to drop me a line through my contact page. Also, please read the guest post submission guidelines beforehand.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #42
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Steve Epting

I think this issue was a good conclusion to 'Death of Captain America' and a good beginning for the next arc. There was a lot going on in this issue, and despite the rest of the arc being somewhat slow, I don't have much of a problem with it. I'm certain that reading this arc as a trade is much more enjoyable, but this issue brought a lot of things home.

The 'deaths' of Arnim Zola and Red Skull were a shocker at first, especially with the possibility of redemption for The Director and Sharon Carter shooting Crazy Lukin Skull. I'm not sure why he went into a joker-esque laughter before being shot; did he see Sharon? There's also no explanation of what the plan for Sharon and her baby was, but of course it's still an ongoing plot, apparently.

Bucky and Black Widow hooking up was kind of obvious, but seemed rushed without any real buildup. I don't mind the character interaction, but I think more buildup was needed and I'm certain that this will lead to side-plots like Sharon and Steve had.

Verdict - Must Read. I'm going to be remembering what happened in this issue for a while, especially the Grand Director killing, and the last page of Skull's new body.


DAREDEVIL #111
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Clay Mann

This issue was meant to start up the Lady Bullseye arc, but the entire introduction seemed like something that Ed had planned to put in Iron Fist, especially with Danny Rand himself showing up and being one of the first targets. I'm not sure what to think about her origin yet, though. I think having a family link to Bullseye would have made this worse, so I think it's a plus that Bullseye was motivation because of his actions and not because of some family bond.

The biggest part of this issue, although it was only a few pages, was Matt getting it on with Dakota. I've read Daredevil since about issue 90, and I don't have a big problem with Matt 'cheating' on his wife. I think that Matt nearly killing himself in the streets to avenge his wife in prior issues, and then doing this and feeling little to no remorse don't quite gel together. However, it was obvious that it was coming. Matt has a lot of work to do between his wife, and Dakota, which will only make things with Lady Bullseye even more difficult.

I'm a little confused as to how Lady Bullseye is supposed to be so dangerous, especially to all of the heroes on her hitlist, but I'll go with it. I guess The Hand is more dangerous now, but I'll wait and see. On another note, is there supposed to be some crossover with Iron Fist and Wolverine in the future, or what?

Verdict - Check It. I give this a 'Check It', because of Matt Murdock's cheating, and how this felt more like a Iron Fist book.


DEADPOOL #2
Written by Daniel Way
Art by Paco Medina

The first issue was okay. This one is definitely better. I know that whenever I go into this, I can't be too much a continuity nazi. Deadpool has been a comedic character for a while, and breaking the fourth wall has been common place as well. Last issue he was captured by Skrulls, and then offered up his services.

This issue is what I expect to see from Deadpool, in the comedic nature at least. He gets tests run on him by Skrull scientists where it's revealed he basically can't be killed. The Skrulls think it's a good idea that all their Super-Skrulls have this genetic coding in them, which logically sounds really good. Wrong idea. Deadpool goes on to explain that just having the powers isn't enough, and that they need to be used to their fullest. Deadpool, Ninja-Teacher extraordinaire shows up and shows them what it's like to be Deadpool. Limbs are cut off, Skrulls are shot, jokes are made, and Deadpool ends up going missing.

Deadpool ends up throwing all of the Skull plans off and, at the end of the issue, is shown being congratulated by Nick Fury via a monitor. Good Job. It was a great ride, and giving Nick Fury some spotlight in any book is nice. I'm not sure what's going on next issue, which is the major weakness of this issue as it offers up nothing for upcoming storylines. How long are the tie-ins supposed to last?

Verdict - Check It. This issue doesn't offer up anything important, and it's just a fun ride, which is fine for a book that's meant for that audience.


FANTASTIC FOUR #560
Written by Mark Millar
Art by Bryan Hitch

Wow. I have to keep saying this; I haven't liked FF this much in forever. This issue explains pretty much everything we need to know about The Defenders. They're from the future, from a dieing earth. The imagery was great for this. Banner is a descendant of the current Bruce Banner, and Galactus is a future version, which took dozens of Defenders to take control of. This entire issue, despite how much I hate stuff like future and alternate realities, made sense. I am a little concerned as to why Galactus' herald wasn't mentioned, but it doesn't matter much. I'm a little shocked as to how strong they portray Johnny, putting him with Doom and Galactus-level powers.

The reveal of the babysitter being the future version of The Invisible Woman, and the leader of the Defenders, was something that I didn't see coming. I have no idea what's planned for the Fantastic Children, but I'm sure it'll be figured out soon enough, the more interaction with them the better I think.

Just like the rest of Millar-World, I'm loving this. I hope Mark stays on the this title long-term though.

Verdict - Must Read. It's a wonderful issue. Answered a lot of questions, and gave us a major cliffhanger, all while keeping me interested.


MARVEL 1985 #5
Written by Mark Millar
Art by Tommy Lee Edwards

I have no idea how they're going to wrap this series up without a completely random ending, and this issue didn't help that. Not much happened here. Toby's mother is found, alive, but in a rather tight situation, along with Toby's dad. Toby crosses over to the Marvel universe, being chased by a villain (I couldn't recognize him really.) Toby loses the villain, and reaches the Avengers Mansion, where a non-skrull Jarvis gives him a pin and tells him to go see the Fantastic Four, tough luck.

Toby shows up at the Baxter Building, getting told by a hologram that they're too busy for his problems, again, tough luck. Toby rationalizes that if both the Avengers and the Fantastic Four are busy, the best person to tackle alternate realities is... Spider-Man. Toby passes on a note to Peter Parker at the Daily Bugle to meet on the roof, where Toby reveals Parker as Spider-Man, along with Spidey's prior adventures as proof.

I didn't like this interaction much. I understand how easy-going Parker is, so going to him isn't necessarily a bad idea if you have a problem and no where else to turn, but I have no idea what Spidey is supposed to do to help here, unless he goes and busts in the Avengers Mansion and the Baxter building asking for help.

One major complaint, that I can't get over, is how Toby keeps referring to the Marvel Universe to people from there. Did I miss a memo where everyone says they're from the Marvel Universe? I hope this stops because it's really frustrating.

As far as I know, this series ends next issue. How it ends, I can't even guess at. There's so much open space here left to work with it, and I'm scared that Mark is going to leave the series with a cliffhanger. I'm sure that it'll work into the rest of Millar's One Man Event, but it's still a major concern.

Verdict - Avoid It. I'm a little upset at how bad this issue was, despite the awesome cover and prior issues, so I'm giving it an 'Avoid It'. The only meaningful part of the story was the introduction of Spider-man and Toby being in the Marvel Universe, both of which we already knew was going to happen. Skipping this and going straight to the next issue is probably going to be fine.


NOVA #17
Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art by Wellinton Alves

The major reveal at the end of the issue is enough for this to be a 'Must Read'. Nova arrives on earth, chats up his parents, and is told his brother is in trouble. Richie arrives at Pegasus HQ, where his brother works, and finds the place totally trashed. Darkhawk shows up and allegations of everyone being a skrull are thrown around.

I like this little jab at the Skrull Invasion. I don't like the circles it turns in though. Nova meets up with his brother, finally, and we're told that Pegasus actually has a high-tech secret end-all weapon against the Skrulls. Great! There's a problem though, the Skrulls know about it and took over all the computer systems, so getting to the weapon isn't likely, unless they have an alternate computer to work with.

Enter Worldmind. Nova hasn't been the same book without the Worldmind, so getting this part of the storyline worked on as soon as possible is great. I'm not sure what they do, but basically they reboot Worldmind, and hook it up as the computer system controlling the release of the super-weapon. All of this while Pegasus HQ is getting hit by Skrulls, with Darkhawk and some military guards defending, huge sense of urgency here.

The major reveal at the end, makes this entire issue worth it. I'm actually surprised that it didn't show up in the Moments of the Week (Kirk's note - Actually, I couldn't find a scan of this). Wendell Vaughn is back. I'm not sure how, or if it's the Quantum Bands, but he's back. I love this, personally, and this opens so much for the book to work with. However, apparently, Worldmind is still in Limbo since the rebooting brought out Wendell (a little confused on this..).

Verdict - Must Read. That reveal at the end was, well, cosmic.


X-FORCE #7
Written by Chris Yost & Craig Kyle
Art by Mike Choi

I'm not sure how to rate this issue. It felt like a different book than what I had gotten used to in earlier issues. I still loved the issue, but it was different. One of the major differences was the art. I noticed nearly immediately the different art and I think that for THIS issue, it was a good thing. There was very little death and destruction in this one, which gives the book some depth I think.

I like the portrayal of Cyclops in this series. He's not a sex-crazed idiot like in Uncanny X-Men. He's a very logical, down-to-earth and calm guy. Maybe he's a little boring, but I don't think you can miss him in this issue, or, whenever he's on page, he is definitely the headmaster/leader figure.

Cyclops and the rest of the team get Rahne and Archangel to confront each other with a wall of glass in between. Rahne transforms nearly instantly, ripping into Wolverine's arm (The most grusesome part of the book) and showing just how crazy she can get, and has gotten, due to the Purifier injections.

Angel, once threatened, turns into Archangel, destroying the window, and getting blasted by Cyclops in the process, yet keeps on going. Cyclops manages to get him to revert to his Angel form, but it's a definite problem.

We later see Cyclops (later revealed to actually have been X-23's plan) bring in the Cuckoos to help with Elixir, Rahne and Archangel. Wolverine objects, confronting Cyclops on crossing a line that they accused Xavier of (tampering with minds). I can't say I agree or disagree with the issue, but it's definitely important to the future of the team.

This issue actually has a lot of plot lines opened up. Gradyon Creed is back, and being controlled by Bastion. SHIELD get involved due to their involvement with the Purifiers. It's currently unknown what the plan for both is, but it's definitely interesting. Warpath leaves for a time to visit his brother in New Mexico. I'm not sure if this short-term or not, but having him absent is definitely a problem for the power of the team. There's a nice scene where it's shown how much of a problem he's been having with the team and its actions. I like this a lot actually.

The end of the issue shows the Vanisher stealing the Legacy Virus. I have no idea what sort of problem this creates as I thought the Virus was made obsolete.

Verdict - Must Read. As it's great set up for later issues, and has a lot of speculation involved.


LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #46
Written by Jim Shooter
Art by Francis Manapul

I've really enjoyed Shooter's most recent run on the Legion, and having no past experience with the team, or its members, I feel like I've known the for years because of his writing. That being said, this issue, like the others, has a lot of dialogue.

There's a lot of follow up on last issue's developments. The issue begins with Garth being thanked for saving everything, by the president. There's some nonsense about how the United Planets Young Heros will crush the Legion. News comes that due to the cancelled tryouts because of the planetary emergency, the hopeful recruits are making some trouble. Ultra Boy disposes of everyone practically alone.

At the end of last issue Ultra Boy and Saturn Girl were caught doing the dirty, and that's looked at in this issue. Ultra Boy and Saturn Girl both believe that they have to tell Garth, knowing that his reaction won't be a pleasant one. I like this love triangle thing. So far, it's only elevated Garth's status as Lightning Lad, The Leader. However, it's made Saturn Girl seem very much like a naïve character.

Princess Projectra has had a lot of devestating things happen to her lately. Her homeworld was destroyed, her fortune is gone, she lost her royalty status, and all this leads to a pretty tough adjustment period. Despite solving her financial plan last issue, there is a lot that needs to be fixed.

Projectra has an enormous ego and treating everyone equally (including herself) has been, suffice to say, difficult. She's also had a run in with the law, having dealt harm to others in her anger. Garth tries to get the charges removed, but she's sentenced to taking a Psyche-scan (Psychologists got the shaft in the future, didn't they?).

She is found on the roof of the base, crying, by Timber Wolf. She goes to wash the tears away and is contacted by some of her surviving subjects, who give her a magic potion to hide all her emotions so that the Psyche Scan will clear her. They also tell her that she should remain with the Legion for now as it will prove beneficial. During all this, Projectra is battling herself to look upon people equally. Asking Phantom Girl to read her a “ancient comic book, written in the ancient language of English, about the ancient Superman”, well, you get the picture.

Of course, the major storyline lately has been the unknown alien invaders. Last issue Chameleon Kid seemed to have been able to scan one, and it's weapons. Brainac 5, of course, takes interest and, thinking strictly for scientific purposes, asks Chameleon Kid to show him the weapon and proceeds to cut off Cham's arm in the process (it can grow back, but still hurts) so he can evaluate the weapon.

We find out that the planetary emergency and the alien attacks are coming from the same source. Big stuff is going to happen. Garth acknowledges this and Invisible Kid delivers the idea that a recruiting drive might be in order (which based on future solicits, does happen). Brainiac 5 wishes Supergirl was there.

Saturn Girl confronts Garth about the situation with Ultra Boy. Garth takes the fearless leader and puts the team first, saying that despite their differences, he needs both Saturn Girl and Ultra Boy around to help out. Ultra Boy later confronts Garth as well and, while Garth says the same thing to him, he still tells Ultra Boy to stay away from him and that they are not friends.

Projectra also passes the Psyche Scan, being one of the most emotionally-stable patients ever examined. Nice Potion.

I love this book, every issue has this one and done feel, but brings forth more story development, great character development, and I'm excited for every issue.

Verdict - Must Read. If you aren't reading this book, this might not be the greatest place to jump on. It's still a great book, but this one definitely needs, at least, the last issue to be understood properly.

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Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 09/17/08

Here's the rest of this / last week's reviews. I'm going to try and put up the Moments of the Week and the Previews tomorrow, so be sure to check in for those. In the meantime, enjoy these reviews.

ATOMIC ROBO: DOGS OF WAR #2
Written by Brian Clevinger
Art by Scott Wegener

The first issue of Dogs of War fell a little short of my lofty expectations and I think, after reading this issue, I know why. I think Clevinger and Wegener were taking themselves too seriously in their attempt to pay homage to WWII and went for a more somber and dire tone to the story compared to the usual battle driven and one-liner ladden Robo formula.

When you're accustomed to reading about a talking robot from WWI that routinely fights giant insects and blows up pyramids, it's a little jarring when they switch over to the serious tone that the first issue had.

While the first issue was still good, with this second issue, the story has shifted back to the old formula that we all know and love. Even the "serious" letter to loved ones that a soldier was writing manages to poke fun at itself with the final line, "And then there's the robots.", when discussing the horrors of war. It still manages to hit those serious tones the first issue overwhelmed us with, but this issue packs in the trademark wit and charm of the original Atomic Robo series and made for a much more enjoyable read.

Continuing from last issue, Robo is busy trying to take down the armoured robot division of the nazi staging ground in this area and we get some great action and moments as Robo gets tossed around before finally disabling the machine. This culminates with Robo and a platoon of soldiers tracking down several more of the robots before being assigned to a special task force later that night.

Along with the main story was the hilarious backup story, which is set in the present day, as Robo and his team debate what they should do with the giant monster about to crush them - whether to fight it or preserve it or bring it back to the lab to study - and how they would go about doing these things. They even have a nice reference to the first series and how Robo destroyed one of Egypt's pyramids. In the end, one of the teammembers takes out a bazooka and blows the monster away before it does anything to them, ending the debate.

Verdict - Must Read. This was exactly what I was expecting from a new volume of Atomic Robo and I can't wait to read the rest of this mini-series.


CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI: 13 #5
Written by Paul Cornell
Art by Pat Olliffe

I think the best part of this issue, and this is in no way a jab at Leonard Kirk, is that Pat Olliffe did the art. He's by no means the biggest name in comics or anything, but I've been a huge fan of Olliffe since his work on Untold Tales of Spider-Man (amazing and underappreciated series) and Spider-Girl (the original series) and it was great seeing him doing some of his best work in recent memory on this title.

To be honest, this issue of Captain Britain and MI: 13 read a lot like a first issue of any other series. It's fairly slow, introduces us to the cast and sets up the premise and formation of the team. The only difference is that this was entertaining and these moments meant a lot more after getting to know most of these characters over the course of the first Secret Invasion arc, which also rocked and you should get it regardless of what you think of SI.

The addition of Blade to the team was an interesting one. Much like the characters, I had no idea Blade was from Britain and just assumed he was American. While I don't think you have to be British to be in this book, his inclusion makes a lot more sense with that little bit of context.

One thing that has me a little bit apprehensive is the revelation that Captain Britain's powers post-death will rely on his willpower or state of mind in order to be effective. The way they describe it is that he can go from being nigh invincible at one moment to the equivilent of tissue paper the next, all based on how he feels at the time, very similar to Gladiator, of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard. And like him, I get the feeling this will lead to scenes where he gets taken down with ease and others where he'll just wrap up any problems the team has in a deus ex machina way. It hasn't happened yet, but the seeds have been planted to give the writer that kind of out and I hope he avoids that cliche.

After an issue of nothing but talking heads, it was quite shocking to get to the final pages and see Blade welcoming Spitfire onto the jet just to stab her in the chest for being a vampire. The only problem I can see is that, earlier in the issue, Spitfire showed Jack Flag that she doesn't have fangs or those powers anymore. I'm not sure it meant she's not a vampire anymore or not as I thought she was going around biting Skrull necks left and right in the opening arc - anyone know what's up here?

Anyways, it appears she's "dead", but I'm guessing the good doctor will be performing a miracle save next issue. As far as a cliffhangers go, I was expecting something like this, but not a full blown stake through the heart in graphic detail that this ending showed, which caught me by surprise.

Verdict - Must Read. Best new series in a long time. I don't know these characters, aside from knowing them to see them, I have no prior attachments to them and I can't believe I'm enjoying this as much as I am.


SECRET INVASION: THOR #2
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Doug Braithwaite

The second issue of Thor wasn't bad, but it definitely treads familiar ground, as the Secret Invasion tie-ins are wont to do. While Fraction does a nice job with the action and hyping up of the battle and even with the characterizations, it's just hard to feel any attachment or involvement with this story when it's the same basic premise and hits all the same notes as every other Secret Invasion tie-in.

For instance, like the X-Men or Inhuman or Runaways / Young Avengers tie-ins, this one deals primarily with a major Skrull attack on a specific area, it has tailor made Super Skrulls, there's the talk about trusting each other and dealing with the overwhelming odds and it goes through the same pace with the setup first issue, "defeat" of the second issue and the "comeback" in the third.

While this shouldn't be a reason to dock points from an otherwise fine story, it's just hard for someone, like myself, who reads a lot of these books to not notice these glaring similarities in every single tie-in so far. Some manage to rise above the others by mixing it up a bit or with some stellar characterization, but this Thor series just feels like it's going through the motions and it really hurts my enjoyment of this second issue.

In fact, nothing major really happens. At least, nothing you wouldn't expect. As the title is Thor, it was obvious that he'd be coming back in after they let Beta Ray Bill have the spotlight for this issue and that's just what happens as we have the Skrulls destroying Asgard and the Asgardians all banding together to fight back against insurmountable odds. This leads to the releasing of a Super Skrull that manages to take down any and all challengers, even tossing Bill aside like a ragdoll (poor Bill, you just haven't been the same since Simonson left all those years ago). This all culminates with the return of Donald Blake, fresh from delivering the baby he left to tend to last issue, and with him, the return of Thor to set up our next issue.

Verdict - Check It. It's just more of the same from the SI tie-ins. It's better than most, but not much original or noteworthy to see here. Mostly narrative of battle scenes, to be honest.


THE WALKING DEAD #52
Written by Robert Kirkman
Art by Charlie Adlard

It's always a pleasure to see a new The Walking Dead at the shop. It's not always on time and the online shipping times are never accurate, but walking into the shop every other Wednesday and finding a new issue of this book is one of life's great joys.

After a couple of slow issues to help us catch our breath after the shocking conclusion to the No One is Safe storyline, issue 52 heralds the next big push for this series. While still more of the same transitonal pacing of the last few issues, this one re-introduces an old character to the mix, which, as you can see by the sword on the cover, ends up being Michonne, and this is a welcome addition to duo of Rick and Carl.

While it has been great seeing Rick and Carl's relationship progress in new and interesting directions since his wife and Carl's mother died, the interactions, all at once, were starting to become stale and lacked the meaning after two or three issues of it.

With the return of Michonne, we see a new side of Rick and the way Carl reacts was perfect. This young boy, forced to live through these unimaginable hardships and not even given a moment to mourn his own mother, crumbles at the first sign of a mother figure and it's heart warming to see how he interacts with Michonne.

After some catching up on what happened at the prison (Michonne was busy with the Governor and not present at the time), Rick and Michonne are confronted by two strangers on horseback in the middle of the night and the cliffhanger reveals they are Glenn and Maggie, both who got married and left the group prior to the prison massacre. It looks as if the series will be coming full circle with a return to the Hershel farmstead.

Verdict - Must Read. Another stellar issue that introduced some much needed supporting cast members to the now culled group and they end up being some familiar faces to boot. Lots of great character moments, specifically with Carl, too.

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