This was a good week! 11 titles (5 Marvel, 3 DC/Wildstorm and 3 indies). The worst of the lot wasn’t really that bad. X-Men: Second Coming continues to shine. The Amazing Spider-Man makes a Wells/Bachalo inspired comeback, while Batman and Robin also rises to the occasion behind Morrison/Clarke. The only thing missing this week was a healthy dose of Avengers or Siege titles. Sure, there were like five last week, but well as that story is going, it seems to be dragging on forever!
The Score Card
UNCANNY X-MEN # 524 ★★★★★
AMAZING SPIDERMAN #630 ★★★★★
ASTONISHING SPIDER-MAN/WOLVERINE #1 ★★★★★
AVENGERS ORIGIN #2 ★★★★☆
BATMAN AND ROBIN #12 ★★★★☆
STEALTH #1 ★★★★☆
RED ROBIN #12 ★★★☆☆
BRIGHTEST DAY #1 ★★★☆☆
IRON MAN: PUBLIC IDENTITY #2 ★★☆☆☆
LEGEND
★★★★★ = Really, really good.
★★★★☆ = Better than average.
★★★☆☆ = Average.
★★☆☆☆ = Below average.
★☆☆☆☆ = Not good.
☢ = Unreadable.
Breaking it Down
The Top Dog (Greg’s Top Pick of the Week)
UNCANNY X-MEN # 524 ★★★★★ (w: Matt Fraction/a: Terry Dodson) To date, to my recollection, only Captain Mar-Vell has gone to that Great Beyond and stayed there. Colossus died and came back. Jean died and came back and died and came back and… Captain America died and came back, but wasn’t really dead.. heck, Barry Allen is back. Kyle Rayner was dead for like a whole 18 pages. And Bruce Wayne was dead but is coming back, but wasn’t really dead either. So, in some jaded regards, the passing of a favorite X-Man is a little sad and on the other hand, just another Wednesday. But there is a weight to these stories, this “Second Coming”. Cyclops isn’t a fumbling leader burdened by the weight of self-doubt and angst. He’s in charge. There is a huge crisis at hand and it is palpable throughout the issue and not just because the X-Men are burying one of their own. From Cable, to Cyclops and even Magneto Fraction captures these long-storied characters with passion and verve. And in the end, it is Wolverine who carries the story: in silent panels (yeah, the ones he talks in, not so much). If Uncanny X-men #524 (really? 524?!?) was just about saying good-bye it would have been a good story. But the onslaught (pun intended) of Bastion’s menace continues. Now, the X-men are holed up in their Utopian sanctuary. Their defenses compromised. And a favorite friend is laid to rest. Bring it on Second Coming. Bring it on.
The Good
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN # 630 ★★★★★ (w: Zeb Wells/a: Chris Bachalo) Chris f#*($#^!n’ Bachalo. This reviewer is an unabashed fan, and his work on Spider-man is always awesome. In Amazing #630, Bachalo even mixes a little “Romita-esque” feel to his pencils. Wells manages three plots (Black Cat/Peter Parker/the Lizard) storylines well and crafts his dialogue masterfully. Amazing Spider-Man #630 is a model for all Spider-Man books. There’s an action set-up sequence, there’s three (count them, three!!!) Peter Parker sub-plots, there’s an on-going story (Gaunlet/Grim Hunt) and then there is the main event… the Lizard. This is an extraordinary issue.
ASTONISHING SPIDER-MAN& WOLVERINE #1 ★★★★★(w: Jason Aaron/a: Adam Kubert). Jason Aaron is a super-star. That is not an exaggeration, hyberbole or hero worship (sign my comic?!?...just kidding. sign my comic?!?). Aaron who has delivered admirable work in Punisher Max and Wolverine: Origins hits a huge home-run in Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #1. Really, it’s not a “Spider-Man”/”Wolverine” story so much as it’s… just pure awesome. It’s Peter Parker and James Logan Wolverine Weapon X Patch Howlett like you’ve never even imagined before…and it’s awesome. Aaron & Kubert tell a story that jumps back in time, forward in time and then sideways in time that should make the creators of Lost weak in the knees.
AVENGERS ORIGIN #2 ★★★★☆ (w: Joe Casey/a: Phil Noto) “Psst. What’s a mee-ul-neer?” Awesome. This mini-series has a very fresh (as in “not stale” or “re-hashed”) take on the origin of the Avengers. Iron Man’s armor looks awesomely clunky and impractical. Thor and Loki are written to a “t”. And while Ant Man and Wasp are around to round out the team, it is Rick Jones who really shines. Not to mention, the Hulk finds a place where he belongs – this book has a little something for everyone. Even if you’re hung up on the exact canon of the Avengers origin, there is no harm nor foul committed in this ret-conning of that classic tale. As time is the mortal enemy of comics, if stories have to be re-told, then this is the way to do them.
BATMAN AND ROBIN # 12 ★★★★☆ (w: Grant Morrison/a: Andy Clarke). This book is awesome, Morrison at his best. Batman versus Robin, Dick Grayson versus Deathstroke. Damian versus Talia. A classic quote from Damian to his mother, that we can only hope echoes for decades. Awesome. Okay there are two parts that might make you cringe: the “Bat Symbol” that Alfred discovers and Sexton. Apparently this is a conversation that some have been dying to read that takes place off-panel and then is dropped for the remainder of the issue. In other words, aside from some choppy storytelling and a tie-in to the Return of Captain America, I mean Bruce Wayne, Batman and Robin is a huge win.
STEALTH #1 ★★★★☆ (w: Robert Kirkman/a: Marc Silvestri) is a comic book for the times. It is Wanted meets Invincible meets the Greatest American Hero (?). Here’s the way Top Cow’s Pilot Season works: they put out a bunch of books (all #1) and then readers choose the one that gets to become a series. Sort of. The process has gone through some changes over the three years that it’s been around. At first it was mostly (all?) re-launched Top Cow characters, then it was mostly new characters by relatively new creators (more or less). The only remarkable entry from the previous “season” that I can recall is “Genius” (which I thought had won, but apparently came in second…) and then was never seen or heard from again. This “season” all the titles are written by Kirkman. Kirkman: great! Great. Great? So far (I believe this is the third issue this “season”), Pilot Season version three has been unremarkable. That was until Stealth. Stealth is a good book. If Stealth were a typical #1 issue, I’d be excited about #2. Instead we sit and wait on “pins and needles” (uhm, hoping not to forget why we liked it) to see if it “wins”. Chances are with professionals involved this time, which ever Pilot Season book wins, will get picked up. Bottom-line, Stealth is really good. Uhm, if you’re under 35 you may not like it as much. One of the central themes is dealing with an aging parent. Uhm, who happens to be a super hero.
RED ROBIN # 12 ★★★☆☆ (w: Chris Yost/ a: Marcus To). Red Robin #12 uses the best of Tim Drake and the Bat-cast and Drake’s own supporting team to bring a very satisfying conculsion to the year-long League of Assassins storyline. Sort of, it of course ends in typical Ras Al Ghul style, which is good and a little creepy. There is a page that is a fantastic homage to the classic Batman/al Ghul battle (I’m not going to look up the issue, sorry – it’s enough to know it’s there) and in this issue a legacy (or two) is passed. A lot of things are (supposedly) made sense of, although some of it seems rushed and crammed into this issue, which is unfortunate, because this story actually took about three issues too many to tell. Overall, aside from the lead-in to the Return of Bruce Wayne, Red Robin #12 is a great issue.
BRIGHTEST DAY #1 ★★★☆☆ (w: Geoff Johns & Peter Tomasi/a: Ivan Reis, Pat Gleason, Ardian Syaf, Scott Clark & Joe Prado) Brightest Day isn’t as bad as Blackest Night. Yeah unfortunately, that’s the best thing there is to say about it. The White Lantern lands in a crater in Broxton, Oklahoma and Dr. Doom comes and tries to lift it. Oh wait… sorry that was four years ago. Thor’s hammer lands in a crater in Silver City, New Mexico and Sinestro comes and tries to lift it. That’s not right either, but you get the gist. The White Lantern story follows the same blithering logic that Blackest Night balanced on the head of a pin. The best part of the story is actually the Aquaman parts. The rest of the book just drones on unless you have some investment in the Martian Manhunter, Firestorms (old and new, now just new), or the Hawks. Whatever is happening to Boston Brand (formerly Deadman, now “Aliveman” I guess) is also still a little interesting. Could be worse…
IRON MAN: PUBLIC IDENTITY #2 ★★☆☆☆ (w: Justin Theroux & Joe Casey/a: Ron Lim with Barry Kitson & Stefano Gaudiano) The “what happened” between Iron Man and Iron Man 2 story continues. There is an unfortunate amount of talking and standing around talking. There is a lot of Tony Stark backstory for a three-issue mini-series designed to support an “action-packed” motion picture. Justin Hammer’s new weapon was a cool looking helicopter when Boba Fett was driving it around in Empire Strikes Back, in the mini-series it mostly crashes and burns, much like this story.
The Reading Order
BRIGHTEST DAY #1 ★★★☆☆
IRON MAN: PUBLIC IDENTITY #2 ★★☆☆☆
AVENGERS ORIGIN #2 ★★★★☆
BATMAN AND ROBIN #12 ★★★★☆
AMAZING SPIDERMAN #630 ★★★★★
RED ROBIN #12 ★★★☆☆
ASTONISHING SPIDER-MAN/WOLVERINE #1 ★★★★★
UNCANNY X-MEN # 524 ★★★★★
STEALTH #1 ★★★★☆
Unread
INCORRUPTIBLE # 5
IRREDEEMABLE # 13
No comments:
Post a Comment