This week the comic haul consisted of a measly 9 titles (DC/Wildstorm: 4, Marvel: 5). There are three really good books, two absolutely horrible books and two literary adaptations that will sit on the shelf for awhile. Overall, it wasn’t a very good week for new comics.
READING LIST
February 10, 2010
ULTIMATE ARMOR WARS # 4
AMAZING SPIDERMAN # 620
PUNISHERMAX # 4
ADVENTURE COMICS W/BLACK LANTERN SUPERBOY # 7
BATGIRL # 7
February 11, 2010
BATMAN AND ROBIN # 8
SHIELD # 6
In the “read me” queue
DARK TOWER: BATTLE OF JERICHO HILL # 3
ENDERS GAME COMMAND SCHOOL # 5
REPORT CARD
THE GOOD
Punisher (Max) #4 (w: Jason Aaron/a: Steve Dillon) continues to deliver an excellent Kingpin-retcon, Punisher-style. And by “Punisher-style”, that really means “Garth Ennis-style”. The Kingpin makes his move. Aaron’s version of “the Russian” takes on Frank and that is not good for Frank. Aaron & Dillon’s run is really holding its against grand expectations. Grade: A+ (story: A+/art: A)
The Amazing Spider-Man #620 (w: Dan Slott/a: Marcos Martin & Javier Pulido) is real treasure. It is like a grown-up version of the 60’s cartoon. There are shout-outs to classic Spidey stories (Capt. Jean DeWolfe), there are more villains than you can shake a stick at, and a plot and dialogue that keeps on moving. What is strange about “Gauntlet” is the incongruity between storylines. What is great about “Gauntlet” is that in the middle of this long epic, you can have cohesive storyline that just works. From story to art, Amazing #620 is a great Spidey book. It does have a “throwback” sort of feel to it (augmented by Martin & Pulido’s art), but in the end this issue really pulls together all the (sometimes wandering) plotlines from the Mysterio story, but also picks up one of the lingering on-going plots. Grade: A (story: A/art: A)
Batgirl #7 (w: Bryan Q. Miller/a: Lee Garbett) just gets it. For years, Stephanie Brown, aka Spoiler, now Batgirl has been a useless wasted plot in Robin’s (Tim Drake) otherwise exemplary story. Or maybe what made her interesting just escaped me. About two issues ago, I got it. Or maybe something clicked with the character, but as Batgirl was about to fall from the “pull list”, suddenly this title became a valuable part of the current “new Batman” story. Batgirl (the title) gets it, even more than “Batman” (the title). There is a certain chemistry between Batgirl and Robin. In the old days that was Dick and Babs. Forever that has been Dick & Babs. Until Batgirl #7. The beautiful part of the new relationship between Robin (Damian) and Batgirl (Stephanie) is that both remain in character, which is apparently a hard thing for DC to manage and still… find chemistry. There are bad guys. There is a plot. And Batman too and Oracle to round out the cast. Batgirl #7 is a comic that makes you believe that Bruce can be gone, that Dick is Batman. And more importantly, a legacy survives Bruce. Of course after this wonderful story, you turn to the “DC Nation” page and you see the six covers for Batman: Reborn (or whatever they’re calling it) and you sigh and wonder why you bother. Grade: B+ (story: B/art:B+) advertising: F-.
Adventure Comics #7 – featuring Black Lantern Superboy (w: Tony Bedard/a: Travis Moore). I have a “pull list”, I’m sure we all do. Adventure has been on that list since it’s re-launch. I knew there were changes afoot and I knew they were coming sooner rather than later. No offense to Bedard, but as I picked up Adventure #7 and saw the splash page, my heart just sunk. The brilliant Geoff Johns/Francis Manupal storyline was gone again and I was holding yet another Blackest Night ancillary story. Then I turned the page. The two-page introduction to Conner Kent was a surprisingly good trip in the WayBack machine. Back to the Four Supermen and in two pages, Bedard (mostly) catches the reader up with Superboy. It was still easy to expect the worst, but that never came. Instead, with Cassie (Wonder Girl) and Krypto along for the ride, Adventure Comics #7 is a really good Conner Kent story. The tale even ties itself (with a very clever comment from Cassie) to the previous Adventure storyline. Moore’s art is nothing to write home about, but the strength of Bedard’s plot & dialogue carry the day. Grade: B (story: A/art:B-)
THE BAD
Ultimate Iron Man: Armor Wars #4 (w: Warren Ellis/a: Steve Kurth) is just uninspired, uninteresting and a model of the unfortunate direction of the Ultimate-verse. After three issues of the tired old cliché of Stark fighting armored guys to get his technology back we finally get back to the “meat and potatoes” of the mini-series: the Ghost and that black box. Two unremarkable twists and reveals later and we’re left wondering if any title surviving Ultimatum was a good thing. Grade: C- (story: D/art: B+)
UNREADABLE
Batman & Robin #8 (w: Grant Morrison/a: Cameron Stewart) is sadly unreadable. Unless you really need one more Batman running around (think a Morrison version of Brubaker’s `70`s Captain America) or you need one more dead hero who is going to come back the next, or same issue (think Kyle Rayner), you can skip this book. I wish I had.
The Shield #6 (w: Eric S. Trautman/ a: Marco Rudy) marks the end of this title’s run on my personal “pull list”. The Shield is still a good idea, a modernization of sorts of lots of familiar patriotic DC heroes and like Rudy’s artwork deserves better treatment than he has been getting. He would make a good addition to Robinson’s Justice League. The Inferno second feature (w: Brandon Jerwa/a: Michael Gaydos) is better than the other Red Circle back-up Hangman (and the Shield for that matter).
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