Ok, so the comic reviews have been non-existent since before San Diego Comic-Con. Here’s where we get back on track.
BUY ‘EM
ULTIMATE COMICS: SPIDER-MAN #1 – So the reboot of the Ultimate Marvel Universe has taken place and if may end up better for it in the long run. After the effects of Ultimatum, the dead have been counted and mourned. Among the fallen is: Cyclops, Professor X, Wolverine, Beast, Dazzler, Angel, Nightcrawler, Juggernaut, Magneto, Polaris, Havok, Gambit, Sunspot, Psylocke, Blob, Madrox, Dr. Storm (father to Johnny & Sue) and over one hundred thousand people killed when Magneto trigged a tidal wave that flooded New York. Sue has taken over the Baxter Building, Ben has joined S.H.I.E.L.D., Johnny is wandering around and Reed moved back in with his parents. Whew, crappy year for them. Also thought dead was Spider-Man, who was seen rescuing people by J.J., prompting him to write an obituary that shows Spider-Man to be the hero everyone knew him to be. Surviving by the skin of he’s teeth with the help of Hulk and Spider-Girl/Woman (his own clone…), Peter is now working at a fast-food restaurant, hanging out with girlfriend Gwen Stacy and enjoying being appreciated by the people of NYC. On top of it all, Aunt May, Gwen and MJ all know Peter’s secret, making his home life a little easier. Thankfully, Brian Michael Bendis is still writing this title, but I would like to see him focus more on what he’s writing in the mainstream Marvel U. Artist David Lafuente pages look great and lend the book a very “tweeny” feel that this Spider-Man title needs. If you were a fan of the early Ultimate U and fell off or need a good title to jump on – this is it.
ULTIMATE COMICS AVENGERS #1 – Mark Millar and Carlos Pacheco team up to bring us the return of the Ultimate U’s greatest heroes. Carol Danvers, the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D., has brought the Ultimates/Avengers back into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s umbrella of influence. Hawkeye’s got his head screwed on a little better after the events in Ultimatum, Tony is dealing with Ultimatum by “submitting to every urge” that strikes his fancy and Cap is still kickin’ @$$ and takin’ names. The issue opens with Hawkeye asking Nick fury to lead a black ops team to track down Cap and bring him in. Millar then shows in a flashback that Cap has learned that the international terrorist, The Red Skull, is actually his illegitimate son who is not only insane, but faster and stronger than Cap. He’s also discovered that the government knew about his relationship to the Skull and has gone AWOL to confront him. Again, if you were a fan of the early Ultimate U and fell off or need a good title to jump on – this is it. This will be as close as you can get to the movie version of the Avengers due in 2012 without Marvel releasing an actual movie adaptation.
BLACKEST NIGHT #2 – This is what a comic event should be. Blackest Night has very slowly gaining steam since the Sinestro Corps War and is now in full swing. Characters are dying, more will die and long forgotten characters are back. A Guardian has manipulated, betrayed and incapacitated the Guardians on Oa and has brought the Prophecy of Blackest Night/Light War to bear. Lead by the resurrected Black Hand, the Black Corps draw their power from a battery made from the corpse of the Anti-Monitor (him again…?!?). The skull of Bruce Wayne has been stolen, J’onn J’onnz, Aqauman, Elongated Man, Deadman, Hawk and many, many more characters has been brought back from the dead for no other purpose but to kill the living to add to their ranks. Hawkman, Hawkgirl and Aqualad/Garth have already fallen. The honored fallen of the Green Lantern Corps on Oa have also been brought back. This is the real apocalypse of the DC Universe. That Crisis/Countdown garbage from the last few years was a financial and critical joke. Writer Geoff Johns has fully redeemed himself after turning Hal Jordan evil over a decade ago. He has been setting this story up since the return of Hal to the Corps. I’m please to see that Ivan Reis is finally getting his due on a premier title since beginning on Lady Death in the ‘90’s. This comic, along with the rest of the Blackest Night tie-ins, are worth picking up and will set the stage for the DCU for years to come. Well, at least until they write themselves into a corner and retcon for the thousandth time…
THE MARVELS PROJECT #1 – I’m still kinda on the fence about this new title from Marvel. Dealing with the rise of heroes in the late ‘30’s – early ‘40’s, MP looks mainly to focus on Namor, Human Torch and other heroes of the day. I’m waiting to find out how Alex Ross is attached to this title as the story seems familiar. Dr. Thomas Halloway befriends an old dying man named Matt Hawk while working at the hospital he’s assigned to. Hawk tells all of these fantastic tales of the coming rise of the heroes or Marvels. Turns out, Hawk was the Two-Gun Kid in years past and met most of the Avengers during one of their time travelling adventures. I’m giving this title another issue before I throw it in the recycling pile strictly because of the Ed Brubaker script and Steve Epting art.
THE STUFF OF LEGEND #1 – If you only pick up one book on this list, make sure it’s this one. It’s hard for me to put into words how incredible this book is. this title sold out at my comic shop in two days. I knew it would be a hit just from the bit I read in the Free Comic Book Day issue. Every aspect, from the plot to the dialogue to the art, is amazing. This will be a sleeper hit that everyone will be looking for the first issue tens years from now. Don’t let the cover fool you, story is a lot like Toy Story for grown-ups. Here’s the breakdown from the back of the issue:
The year is 1944. An allied force advances along a war-torn beach in a strange land, outnumbered and far from home. Together, they fight the greatest evil they have ever known. Never ending waves of exotic enemies come crashing down on them, but they will not rest. Thousands of miles away, the world is on the brink of destruction. But here in a child’s bedroom in Brooklyn, our heroes, a small group of toys loyal to their human master, fight an unseen war to save him from every child’s worst nightmare. Led by the toy soldier known as the Colonel and the boy’s faithful teddy-bear named Max, the toys enter the realm known as The Dark. There they will face off against the Boogeyman and his army– a legion of the boy’s forgotten, bitter toys. Fighting to survive insurmountable odds, the toys will discover this is a battle not only for the soul of a child, but for their own as well…
The thing that don’t reveal is that when they enter The Dark via the boy’s closet, they become real. The Colonel becomes a real soldier; Teddy becomes a real grizzly bear and so on. Published by Th3rdWorld Studios, The Stuff of Legend is written by Make Raicht and Brian Smith with art by Charles Paul Wilson III. Search this one out, by it on eBay if you have to. It’ll be one everybody will be talking about for years.
ADVENTURE COMICS #1/504 – Hasn’t Superboy/Connor Kent been dead for a while. I still don’t know how he came back, but this was a great read. The genetic clone of both Superman and Lex Luthor, Superboy has moved to Smallville to live on the farm with Martha Kent and Krypto. It looks as if writer Geoff Johns (the current golden boy at DC…) is looking to retell the Golden Age origin of Superboy with new characters. In the Golden Age stories (and the Smallville TV show stories as well…) Superboy and Lex started out as friends, but soon became bitter enemies when one of Lex’s plans/experiments went wrong. Besides Johns’ above par dialogue, the artwork by Francis Manapul is incredible. Formerly working on the Superman title, Manapul definitely knows he way around the Superman Universe.
UNCANNY X-MEN #514 - Utopia Part Four. The $H!T has officially hit the fan! While Emma’s new team of Dark X-Men (Namor, Cloak & Dagger, Mimic, Weapon Omega and Wolverine/Daken) rush to confront the new sentinels that Simon Trask has unleashed. Formerly a normal person, the new “Sentinel Nano-Virus” kills them turning them into machines simply following their programming. Prof X and Beast are still captives of Dark Beast and Cyclops has been planning. Writer Matt Fraction has turner m’man Cyclops into a strategic mastermind of Dr. Doom proportions. Really. When Wolverine says, “D@mn, that’s cold,” you are a bad-@$$. While Osborn and Emma have been executing their plans, Cyclops has assembled teams (TEAMS!) of X-Men to individually deal with the Sentinels, Dark X-Men and the Dark Avengers. He’s sent Domino, Mirage, Mindee and Psylocke to recon and recruit, while he and the rest of the team hit strategic targets and study their opponents. I can’t wait until Dark Avengers #8 hits the stands – X-23 versus Daken!
WAR OF KINGS #6 - This is the big throw down we’ve been waiting for: Black Bolt – King of the Inhuman/Kree Empire versus Majestor of the Shi’ar Empire – Vulcan. Black Bolt is ready to fire the Inhumans ultimate weapon; one that will cost him his life when fired. After being humiliated by one of the Darkhawks in front of his underlings, Vulcan rushes to confront Black Bolt in final battle. Crystal, not caring what happens, uses Lockejaw to teleport to Black Bolt just as he seemingly destroys Vulcan. Crystal uses here powers to make the weapon’s payload inert and as Crystal and Black Bolt are teleporting away, Vulcan reforms himself and rips Black Bolt away from Lockejaw just as the bomb detonates. Most of the Shi’ar Fleet is wiped out in the blast and back on the Shi’ar homeworld, Gladiator is proclaimed Majestor by the people. But one question still remains: who’s gonna be in charge now? The Shi’ar have called a cease-fire and asked for terms of surrender. Havok and his crew of StarJammers are calling it quits. I don’t know why this couldn’t be ended in six issues instead of six plus a one-shot. Nevertheless, I’m onboard ‘til the end. I gotta know how the cosmic side of the Marvel U shakes out this time…
RED ROBIN #3 – Tim Drake has alienated all of his friends who are convinced he’s having a breakdown over the death of Bruce. As Red Robin, Tim has been scouring the globe, trying to find some hint that Batman is still alive. Bumping into a new incarnation of the League of Assassins, Tim has found a believer in an enemy: Ra’s Ah Ghul. Ra’s also thinks that Bruce could still be alive and has placed his people at Tim’s disposal. Tim almost went to the dark side when Ra’s was resurrected, now he’s even closer to the edge. It’s not the best art or dialogue around, but I’m a sucker for Robin…
TERRY MOORE’S ECHO #14 – I review this title every month and have officially run out of different ways to says this book rocks. If you haven’t picked up an issue or Volumes 1 or 2 of the TPBs yet – shame on you. Plus, Moore just sold the movie for this title the day before San Diego Comic-Con started. Just read it already. If you like Buffy, Smallville and the like; you’ll like this.
Batman #689 – The saga of Dick Grayson as Batman continues… Dick is still having problems with Damian as Robin and is still trying to make the Batman persona his own. The problem is, Dick is a little showier than Bruce ever was and the bad guys are starting to take notice. Especially Two-Face, who knows this is not the original Batman as is feeding Dick clues to bring down Penguin and lure Dick into a trap. I still say that Mark Bagley will be the one thing that keeps this book from being accepted. Every time I look at his stuff, I think Spider-Man or Thunderbolts. Not Batman. He would be better suited to draw X-Men Forever if Tom Grummett wasn’t doing such a good job. Thankfully, Judd Winick’s script overshadows the art, bringing new aspects to Batman no one has explored. Give it a shot.
RECYCLE IT!
CABLE #17 – Man. A year ago, I was the biggest fan of this book. But the art (please re-retire Paul Gulacy. let us remember you on Master of Kung-Fu…) and the story seem to be getting progressively worse every single issue. If it wasn’t for the Messiah War cross-over, I bet this would be cancelled already. The on-the-run story is played out. Do something new.
DOOM PATROL #1 - This actually has the potential to be a good series simply because Keith Giffen is writing it. Although his choice of projects is dubious. Doom Patrol? Really? Have many times have they cancelled this book? I was looking forward to the artwork by Matt Clark, but the inker “Livesay” utterly destroyed the pencils. If I was Matt, I’d be insisting that a new inker be assigned. It made his pencils seem like a first issue rookie again. Horrible. Sorry Keith, I tried to read it, but the art chased me away…
THE RED CIRCLE SERIES OF ONE-SHOTS – J. Michael Straczynski is doing a great job on Thor over at Marvel, but that doesn’t mean he can take crap characters from a defunct company and make them good. Ain’t gonna happen. Look at what Alex Ross is trying to do with Project Superpowers. Crap. And he’s Alex Frickin’ Ross! These rejects from the 1940’s couldn’t maintain themselves at Archie and they won’t at DC. No matter who is working on them. Pass.
Did I miss something you wanted reviewed or just disagree with my opinion? Let me know!
