Quick Comic Book Reviews - 39 issues reviewed

I've been trying out a lot of issues these past few months and thought I'd review them.

X-Factor #216-220 by Peter David and Emanuela Lupacchino

In X-Factor #216-219, the team is hired by J. Jonah Jameson to find an old friend. Unknown to the team, Jameson funded a black ops program that created super-powered women who blame him for being used as government guinea pigs. And Guido dies…kinda. In X-Factor #220, Rahne and Shatterstar try to get to know each other for Rictor’s sake and run into a young, deadly Rahne-doppleganger/demon.

Good: Peter David is still one of the best writers in the industry. There’s a great bit with Jonah arguing against a crowd of anti-Muslim protestors. There are great moments with Monet and Guido even before he’s fatally injured. Black Cat plays a major role in the story. It had great character development and interaction.

Bad: A young Rahne demon. Ugh.

Buy/Skip: Buy #216-219, skip #220.

Fear Itself #1-3 by Matt Fraction and Stuart Immonen

Sin found a hammer that makes her powerful and other people in the Marvel Universe are finding hammers. I know that’s not the Marvel tagline but that’s what I’m getting at. The first three issues don’t explain what’s going on or what the threat really is. There’s nothing interesting going on – just seems like destruction for no reason. Odin orders Thor arrested and Asgard leaves earth. Oh, and the Bucky Barnes incarnation of Captain America dies…again.

Good: I only had to suffer though 3 issues – if I’d have waited for the TPB, I would have been stuck with a crappy story.

Bad: Crappy story, no clear threat, Thor treated like a criminal while Odin loses his mind. What the hell is this thing about.

Buy/Skip: You can take the next 4 months off if anything says ‘Fear Itself’ on it. Skip it.

Ultimate Spider-Man #157-159 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley

The Death of Spider-Man story-arc sees our hero scrambling to evacuate his house because the Sinister Six has broken out and know his secret identity. After evacuating Aunt May and Gwen, Peter goes looking for the Sinister Six and sees The Punisher about to fire on Captain America and does the only thing he can: tackles Cap and takes the bullet meant for him. Now, with a life threatening injury, he sees the Sinister Six heading toward his house and goes after them. Torch and Iceman get caught in the crossfire and it’s up to a mortally wounded Peter to stop the Sinister Six.

Good: Holy crap. Everything.

Bad: Nothing.

Buy/Skip: Still my favorite title and while I don’t like the thought of this version of Spider-Man dying, I can’t wait to see the final battle. Buy these titles and buy all the trade paperbacks.

Avengers vs New Ultimates #3-4 by Mark Millar and Leinil Yu

Gregory Stark is running SHIELD and The Ultimates and is trying to apprehend Nick Fury and his Avengers. The problem is that Nick Fury has been set up and the only way to prove his innocence is to stay free so his enemies can’t just kill him to cover it up.

Good: Great big action with high stakes and great artwork.

Bad: I’m not exactly sure what’s going on because I didn’t get #1 or #2 but that’s my fault.

Buy/Skip: Buy it. Stories with the Ultimates all result in the maximum amount of property damage and the craziest action and these two issues deliver on both.

Brightest Day #14 by Geoff Johns, Peter Tomasi, Ivan Reis, and Joe Prado

Deadman is looking for Batman, the man he thinks the White Ring is meant for. On his quest to find him, he is killed again and relives his first life and death before the ring resurrects him again.

Good: Boston Brand wants to live and he’s eager to shed the white lantern ring so he can start that new life. His romance with Dove is a nice touch. I love when Boston asks Batman how he knows who he is and Batman’s response is: “I’m Batman.”

Bad: I only bought #14 so I don’t know the back story.

Buy/Skip: I ordered Brightest Day volume 1 to see if I liked the series. For now I’ll just be checking out the collected editions unless the first one sucks.

Teen Titans #93-95 by JT Krul and Nicola Scott

The Teen Titans travel to Pakistan to help Cassie’s mother look for Solstice’s missing parents. What they find is a mythic evil and a portal to another universe where demons rule. The Teen Titans are being defeated and captured one at a time and used to power a giant demon.

Good: Solstice brings a new dynamic as a super-powered guest. At the beginning of #93, there is a great two page intro that explains who the Teen Titans are and why they were formed.

Bad: #93 says “Introducing Solstice” but her first appearance was in Wonder Girl #1. #95 shows Conner and Rose kissing but it turns out it’s a demon who looks like Rose. And Raven is essentially useless as she usually is in the title.

Buy/Skip: Skip it. It’s fun for #93 and becomes boring after that.

Alpha Flight #0.1 by Fred Van Lente, Greg Pak, Ben Oliver, and Dan Green

Chaos War brought the original Alpha Flight team back from the dead in time to take on the Purple Man’s daughter.

Good: Great one-issue story that reintroduces you to the team and lets you see them in action.

Bad: Where the hell is Puck and Box? Chaos War resurrects everyone but them?

Buy/Skip: Buy it and try the new Alpha Flight title.

Venom #1-3 by Rick Remender and Tom Fowler

Flash Thompson has been many things, bully, quarterback, and war hero. Now Flash Thompson has been recruited by the government to be the new wearer of the Venom symbiote. While wearing the suit, Flash has to stay calm because if he gets angry, the suit will not only take control and bond to him, the government will detonate a chip in his body and kill him. Venom’s assignment is to locate a shipment Antarctic Vibranium which can be used to make bullets that go right through any metal. In order to complete this assignment, he’ll have to go through Jack O’Lantern, Kraven, and Spider-Man to do it.

Good: Nice to see a hero in the Venom symbiote, especially since they’re both connected to Spider-Man. I haven’t seen Jack O’Lantern in decades – he’s a cool looking character who racks up a nice body count here.

Bad: The estranged Betty relationship and the constant reminder that the government could kill Flash at any moment.

Buy/Skip: Skip it. Eventually the Flash-version of Venom might be a character I like but it won’t be a result of this mini-series.

Batwoman #0 by JH Williams III and W. Haden Blackman

Batman thinks Kate Kane is Batwoman so he observes her in and out of action.

Good: Tells Kate Kane’s origin and introduces the character to new readers through Batman’s eyes.

Bad: Nothing yet.

Buy/Skip: Buy it and try the ongoing series.

Moon Knight #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev

Marc Spector is a Hollywood writer whose days of being Moon Knight are far from over. When Captain America, Spider-Man, and Wolverine come to fill him in on an influx of criminal activity in his new city (Los Angeles), it’s time for Moon Knight to go to work.

Good: Great writing by Brian Michael Bendis. Nice twist ending to the first issue – Moon Knight should be on some kind of psychological medication.

Bad: I’m not a big fan of the artwork.

Buy/Skip: I’m going to get a few more issues before I bang the gavel on this title but so far it’s a lot better than the last volume’s Moon Knight #1.

Flashpoint #1-2 by Geoff Johns, Andy Kubert, and Sandra Hope

Barry Allen wakes up in the Flashpoint universe. It’s a universe where he never had the accident that turned him into The Flash and where no heroes know who he is. It’s a world in which Cyborg is trying to assemble the world’s heroes to take on the global threat posed by the Amazon / Atlantean war but is having no success. Meanwhile, Barry has convinced Batman to help him recreate the lab accident that made him into The Flash.

Good: I love a good parallel universe story. So far there’s enough mystery to keep me interested and the way Barry’s life is different in Flashpoint (his Mother is alive but Iris is with someone else) is bittersweet. The art and writing are fantastic.

Bad: If Professor Zoom is behind changing the world and is keeping a close eye on Barry, why not kill him.

Buy/Skip: Buy it. This is a great start to what promises to be an exciting mini-series.

World of Flashpoint #1 by Rex Ogle and Eduardo Francisco

Traci 13 stars in this title where her father sits on the HIVE Council which is planning to launch nuclear missiles. Traci 13 tries to stop the launch but isn’t successful.

Good: This title gives you a good overview of why the Flashpoint universe’s history is different from the DC Universe we know and shows you which villain or ideology rules what part of the world.

Bad: Traci 13 isn’t a strong enough or engaging enough character to keep my interest.

Buy/Skip: Buy it just so you know the topography and history of the Flashpoint universe but skip issue #2.

Flashpoint: Batman: Knight of Vengeance #1 by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso

Thomas Wayne is Batman in the Flashpoint universe. He’s a ruthless vigilante who isn’t afraid to kill his enemies. Jim Gordon is a cop who is friends with Thomas and knows his secret. The Joker has kidnapped Harvey Dent’s kids and Batman is on his trail.

Good: A tougher, more ruthless Batman. The story is interesting.

Bad: It’s a little boring – nothing really happens in this issue. Batman is more interesting in Flashpoint #1-2 then he is here.

Buy/Skip: Skip it. Stick to reading about Batman in the main Flashpoint mini-series.

Danger Girl and the Army of Darkness #1 by Andy Hartnell and Chris Bolson

In this latest Army of Darkness crossover, Abby Chase is trying to recover a kidnapped man and runs smack dab into an artifact that scares her: a page from the necronomicon ex-mortis.

Good: I like the concept of Danger Girl but the stories usually aren’t this good. I like not introducing Ash in the first issue and Abby starting to look for him at the end of this issue.

Bad: Nothing yet. Let’s see how the next issue shapes up.

Buy/Skip: Based on the first issue I’ll probably pass on this mini-series and buy the TPB instead. Looks like this will be a good story.

Amazing Spider-Man #658-659 by Dan Slott, Javier Pulido, Fred Van Lente, and Stefano Caselli

Spidey has taken Torch’s place in the Future Foundation and immediately finds himself on a cosmic adventure. Unfortunately, Peter’s dating a detective who investigates his latest excuse for running off.

Good: By changing Peter’s job, introducing new supporting cast members, and having him on the FF, Slott has a lot of things to play with and really takes advantage of all the new elements.

Bad: Nothing so far.

Buy/Skip: I will continue to buy until Spider-Island. I’m not looking forward to that upcoming storyline.

Spider-Girl #1-3 by Paul Tobin, Clayton Henry, Tim Seeley, and Sergio Cariello

Since her introduction, Anya Corazon has gone from super-powered Arana to the completely human Spider-Girl. When Anya’s father is killed in a Red Hulk rampage, she’ll learn new things about her friends and become extended family to the Fantastic Four.

Good: Anya’s not just a great character but has a great supporting cast from a friend who lost her mother in a super-villain attack to Sue Richards. The writer prefers character development to action which allows you to take in Anya’s grief. It’s been a long time since a comic book made me cry.

Bad: No complaints here.

Buy/Skip: I’ve just ordered the first trade paperback and suggest you do the same….immediately.

Incredible Hulk #626 by Greg Pak and Tom Grummett

Betty Ross’ behavior is erratic and every transformation in to the Red She-Hulk is bringing her closer to not being able to change back. Unfortunately Betty has teamed up with Tyrannus to steal Pandora’s Box.

Good: I like that Bruce can mostly control his transformations.

Bad: Everything else. I don’t know who thought it was an awesome idea to turn Bruce’s entire supporting cast into Hulks, but they should be fired, then rehired, and fired again (because once doesn’t properly express my irritation).

Buy/Skip: Skip! Skip! Skippity doo dah. I got into Hulk during Pak’s amazing Planet Hulk and World War Hulk and got out before Hulk War (or whatever it was called). It looks like I got out in time.

Sigil #1-3 by Mike Carey and Leonard Kirk

Samantha Rey is a normal high school student whose birthmark turns out to be a Sigil of great power. Now that her mother is dead, it’s up to Sam to take her place as a cross-time champion. But first, Sam has to learn to wield the sigil, master time-travel, and pass her history test.

Good: Crossgen Comics is back and while the first incarnation of the character might have been a bit boring, Mike Carey has grounded the character and made her interesting. There is enough mysterious and interesting stuff here to keep my interest.

Bad: The girls who pick on Sam. It’s a little weird that they’re mad at her over some boy that doesn’t seem very special (it doesn’t even seem like he likes the bullies or that Sam likes him either – so why the problem?).

Buy/Skip: Buy the title. With Marvel bringing back the Crossgen line, this could be the start of something special and this is the ground floor.

X-23 #10-11 by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda

When Gambit feels Laura could use a familiar face, Wolverine joins them with Jubilee in tow. Laura and Jubilee work out their differences while the four of them look for someone selling a modified version of X-23’s trigger scent.

Good: X-23’s past is really tapped into and having Jubilee going through something similar is a rich, dramatic vein I haven’t seen tapped so well. The action is secondary to what X-23 is going through. I haven’t seen Gambit in a while and it is nice seeing him in the mentor role.

Bad: I don’t have any complaints.

Buy/Skip: On the strength of these issues I will be getting the trade paperback and any other trade paperback in this series to see what happened in the first few issues too.

 

Quick Reviews

Here are a bunch of quick reviews on some titles I’ve picked up over the last few months. None of the following issues are books I normally pick up (though I’ll be collecting Scarlet, X-23, and Asset from here on).


Scarlet #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev

Brian Michael Bendis is one of my favorite writers and while I don’t like every title he’s done, this book is especially well done. I hadn’t heard anything about the title and by the time I spotted the second printing, the first two issues had already sold out.

Scarlet breaks the fourth wall by talking directly to the reader, telling her story. Most first issues struggle to keep my interest while they introduce a character (or a few) and try to give me the origin, an adventure, and a mission for the main character (or characters). This issue gave me a person who I got to know quickly, an origin, and a mission.

I sum Scarlet up this way – she is the female Punisher. Losing someone close to you and looking for revenge isn’t a new idea but Bendis’ breaking of the fourth wall and his ability to tell character-driven stories sets this title apart. I can’t wait to read the second issue (if I can find it).

Batgirl #14 by Bryan Q. Miller, Lee Garbett, and Trevor Scott

Batgirl and Supergirl team up to take on 24 Draculas set free from a 3-D film by a science experiment gone wrong. I like the fact that Stephanie and Kara (Batgirl and Supergirl) know each other away from their super-hero alter-egos and hang out.

This is a fun one-issue team-up story. It’s nice see Stephanie interacting with characters outside the Bat-family. Hopefully the writers will mix her in with other characters outside Gotham in the future.

Wolverine: Weapon X #16 by Jason Aaron, Davide Gianfelice, and Dave McCaig

This issue deals with the aftermath of Nightcrawler’s death during the events of ‘Second Coming.’ Kurt requests Logan do one last thing for him in his will. While Logan is busy fulfilling Kurt’s request, the readers are treated to conversations the two have had before and throughout their friendship.

I bought the issue because I’m a big fan of the Logan/Kurt friendship. I go back to the Chris Claremont & John Byrne days so I have a great affection for that configuration of X-Men. But I admit that I haven’t been a big X-Men fan in years. I did get and read ‘Second Coming’ because I’m a huge New Mutants fan. When Nightcrawler died, I thought what all X-Men fans thought, “I wonder how long he’ll stay dead?”

Despite all that, it was a great story and a terrific way to end the series.

Batman #703 by Fabian Nicieza and Cliff Richards

I picked this one up because it’s the first issue after Grant Morrison’s run so I wanted to see if a new writer could bring this title back to life for me. During the course of this issue, Damian learns something unexpected about his father while Dick sees the similarities between his time as Robin and Damian’s.

If I knew that Bruce wasn’t coming back in the next month or two I might have been more involved or moved by the story (I think bringing Bruce back so soon takes away from the impact of his ‘death’). It was an okay read but I won’t be back until Bruce is back and things are back to normal.

Iron Man: Kiss and Kill – Iron Widow by Joe Ahearne and Brian Ching / Glitch by Karl Kesel and Eric Nguyen

Judging by the cover, this was a story featuring Iron Man, Wolverine, and Black Widow teaming up. Instead, it was two stories – one with Black Widow and one with Wolverine. Both were boring. It’s been months since this first came out so I’m sorry I couldn’t warn you sooner.

Amazing Spider-Man #640-641 by Joe Quesada, Paolo Rivera, Danny Miki, and Richard Isanove

These two issues occur during the ‘One More Day’ story arc when Aunt May is in the hospital but the world is looking to find and arrest Peter.

I bought these two because I thought I’d heard that the Peter/Mary Jane split that happened in ‘One More Day’ would be undone and I wanted to read about that. What I got instead was a retcon of the original ending where Peter and Mary Jane originally made a deal with Mephisto. In this, Peter goes to Dr. Strange and Dr. Strange is able to convince Reed Richards and Tony Stark to try and erase everyone’s memories like they did with The Sentry.

In this version, Peter and MJ are the only two who now remember that he’s Spider-Man. So for those of you who were actually enjoying the last year’s worth of stuff will be unhappy to know that none of that stuff ever happened now. Also, the way to take the sting out of a crappy storyline (Clone War?) is to ignore it ever happened and put out good stories not retcon old ones. Still, this does solve the ‘how will they get back together’ thing.

Ultimate Spider-Man is still the only Spidey title worth reading (it’s one of my favorite titles).

Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man #1 by Paul Tobin, Matteo Lolli, and Christian Dalla Vecchia

I’m not sure if this title is a continuation of the old title or a true #1 because the story starts with our hero aggressively going after a crime boss and Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker have already dated and broken up. Every so often I picked up issues of the old title because they were quick, one-issue stories that were fun. This title isn’t fun. Gwen is narrating about wanting to interview Spider-Man for an unnecessary amount of pages (plural). I didn’t get a good introduction to Sophia, Peter’s girlfriend, so no opinion there. I won’t be picking up issue 2.

Pilot Season: Asset by Filip Sablik, David Marquez, and William Farmer

Asset is the story of “Madeline” (probably not her real name) who is an assassin who manipulates other people into killing her target. In this issue she convinces a guy she’s dating that she’s being abused by her ex-boyfriend so he kills the ex. “Madeline” uses dating sites to find the perfect asset to manipulate.

The story is good and the idea of using dating sites to find people to use as assassins is unique. I’m definitely voting for this title as I’d like to see where it’s going.

X-23 #1 by Marjorie Liu and Will Conrad

X-23 is an interesting character when she’s starred in her own mini-series’. This is the first issue of what may be another interesting series starring X-23. There’s a lot of great stuff with her and Storm discussing Nightcrawler, Emma and Cyclops discussing the impact of putting X-23 on the X-Force squad, and the New X-Men’s reaction to seeing her again. But by the end of the issue, X-23 has relocated from Utopia to a mutant halfway house. What’s her job? We’ll probably find out in issue #2 but the series is off to a great start.

But is this a great jumping-on point for readers? After the main story, Logan narrates X-23’s story from her first appearance to that first issue so that readers are all caught up.