This was a good week! 15 titles (13 Marvel and 1 DC/Wildstorm and 1 indies) came home and the majority of them were pretty good. X-Men: Second Coming is back and Avengers’ are represented by the Invincible Iron Man, Captain America and the new Avengers Academy. The Rawhide Kid was nice surprise and the Punisher: Max has an introspective look as only a Max title can!
The Score Card
RAWHIDE KID #1 ★★★★★
PUNISHERMAX #8 ★★★★☆
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #27 ★★★☆☆
ULTIMATE COMICS: AVENGERS 2 #3 ★★★★☆
CAPTAIN AMERICA #606 ★★★★☆
NEMESIS #2 ★★★★☆
AVENGERS ACADEMY #1 ★★★★☆
UNCANNY X-MEN #525 ★★★☆☆
ASTONISHING X-MEN : EXOGENESIS #2 ★★★☆☆
DREAM LOGIC # 1 ★★★★☆
YOUNG ALLIES #1 ★★★☆☆
IRON MAN NOIR #3 ★★★☆☆
SHIELD #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)
RAWHIDE KID #1 ★★★★★ (w: Ron Zimmerman/a: Howard Chaykin) If you hadn’t been reading The Lone Ranger (or Desperados), it may have been a while since you’ve read a good western comic. If you’re jonesing for a good cowboy fix, the Rawhide Kid is it. Zimmerman returns to the character that he helped stir the height of controversy a few years ago. Whether the sexual innuendo that is woven into the dialogue of the series (and now the character) are your cup or tea or not, this is still a really good western that draws upon classic western themes. The Kid is a great archetype, with a fantastic twist to the old genre. The sequence with the villain, Cristos Pike and his henchman, is old-school Justice League hilarious. And Chaykin’s art is a real treat, as good as his work with American Flagg! This series may not be everyone’s cup of tea (which is their loss) as it has started off fantastically. Especially the very-unexpected cameo at the end of the first issue, talk about flamin’ surprises!
The Good
PUNISHER: MAX #8 ★★★★☆ (w: Jason Aaron/a: Steve Dillon) As “Shadowlands” gets ready to kick off in the Marvel Universe proper, with some of the same players, the Punisher: Max series continues its ultra-violent, simple-straight forward, and brutal plot. Don’t ask why, but I have this sinking suspicion that about three chapters (or less) into “Shadowland” you’ll be longing for the Kingpin and Bullseye to be more like these re-imagined versions than their 616 counterparts. The Punisher has always danced a strange jig around waging his war against crime without waging war against the law (or at least most of those who enforce it). While Bullseye continues to try to “get to know” what it’s like to “be” Frank Castle, the Punisher has to re-define the very concept of what does it take to “be” the Punisher. Even the Kingpin has his own look in the mirror, in this “mirror darkly chick-flick” version of the Punisher: Max.
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #27 ★★★☆☆ (w: Matt Fraction/a: Salvador Larocca) One of the downsides of being the best of anything is that everyone always expects you to be that best. So if you happen to do something that is good, but not quite great, it gets noticed in a not-so good way. Invincible Iron Man #27 is one of those books, it is a good book in the middle of a strong story arc, but it reads like a middle chapter, not really “filler”, but not really the meat & potatoes of the story either. While there is some good action, it’s starting to seem like the new suit has been around for a while and we’ve hardly gotten to see what the old boy can do. On the other hand we have a lot of movement going on in Stark: Resilient (the company): an old friend returns to help out (surprise!) and Pepper gets her way (not surprise!). Larocca’s artwork is good, but Stark is looking painfully more and more like Josh Holloway from Lost with each issue. There is a pretty cool Rhodey moment towards the end, which is even more poignant after his whole cyborg-not-cyborg adventures of late, but overall this issues is more “part of...” than anything else.
ULTIMATE COMICS: AVENGERS 2 #3 ★★★★☆ (w: Mark Millar/ a: Leinil Francis Yu) The first two issues of UC: Avengers 2 were surprisingly better than expected. But if you’d read the previews you knew that Ghost Rider was on tap. Despite the very commercial comic-turn that the Ultimate line took with Ultimatum, it is still hard to imagine the Ghost Rider in the Ultimate U and even harder to think that it could be done well. UC: Avengers 2 continues to surprise. While the Ghost Rider may very well be a throwback to the wild-ride of the 70s, a little bit demon, a little bit biker and really hard to imagine it being serious (Millar-Ultimate serious) – but Millar and Yu pull it off and UC: Avengers 2 #3 continues to deliver across the board.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #606 ★★★★☆ (w: Ed Brubaker/ a: Butch Guice) Captain America #606 is a tidal wave of Marvel legacy with elements that run from the Silver age, through the 90’s into the Heroic Age. A long time ago Captain America was blown up and cast into the ocean where he was frozen in suspended animation until the Avengers revived him decades later. The same explosion was believed (for decades) to have killed Cap’s kid-sidekick, Bucky. Fast-forward and Bucky is back and has been living as a Soviet super-spy, he teams back up with Cap, who promptly finds himself dead. Bucky becomes Cap. Now while Buck was fighting Capitalism in the cold Soviet, the man responsible for the explosion that ended their WWII career, Baron Zemo had also re-emerged, only to have his plans foiled by, none-other than his old rival Captain America. Zemo dies, but as these things seem to go, his son takes up the hood and a new Baron Zemo emerges. Interestingly enough, one of junior’s more memorable capers involved creating the Thunderbolts, who turned out to be a bunch of super villains pretending to be heroes. And you open Captain America #606, Bucky is now Captain America. The original Captain America, Steve Rogers, is now the head super-cop of the United States and Baron Zemo (Junior) is back and this time he is up to no good. The Zemo story arc is off to a good start as the villains plot begins even as Cap-Bucky is still reeling from the events of the Two Captains arc. Brubaker & Guice make the very most of this very complicated relationship of characters and they don’t shirk away from any of the “history” of the key players.
NEMESIS #2 ★★★★☆ (w: Mark Millar/a: Steve McNiven) For production value alone Nemesis is a good read. The story concept is cool and the art is fantastic, but it is hard to shake the feeling that this series was written with one eye towards the silver screen. Not that Nemesis would make a bad movie. Nemesis #2 gives us more background and even provides an identity for the masked anti-hero star of the show. More of his capers are revealed and there’s even a (somewhat familiar) car chase.
AVENGERS ACADEMY #1 ★★★★☆ (w: Christos Gage/a: Mike McKone) At first Avengers Academy reads like a re-issue of early Initiatives issues upgraded to reflect a post-Dark Reign era instead of post-Civil War, but then you start to think: Hank Pym, Speedball, Quicksilver, and Tigra... are the instructors. Hank Pym the guy who invented (keeps inventing?) Ultron? But before you can realize the implications of this strange bunch, Gage brings the mix to the forefront. All the while, you are treated to an introduction to the Academy cadets and all of their teen-social angst and drama. Oh yeah, and super-powers. As it turns out, there is a very interesting twist to the organization of this particular academy. While on the surface the twist may help make sense of the chosen instructors, after a little bit more reflection it’s kind of like hiring a kleptomaniac as a night watchman. Regardless the plot is strong (except for the whole wolf in charge of the chickens concept) and the new characters and their backgrounds are interesting enough. Add the plot twist and this is a fun first issue.
ASTONISHING X-MEN : EXOGENESIS #2 ★★★☆☆ (w: Warren Ellis/a: Kaare Andrews). This Astonishing mini-series has a really interesting plot and Ellis makes great use of most of the X-men. The same can be said about Andrews’ artwork. There are two glaring exceptions that set this title back: whatever Ellis is doing with Emma Frost is just weird and a lot creepy and there is a fairly important plot reference back to Ellis’ last run on Astonishing X-men. Now, if you know what that means you’re going to be okay. If you didn’t read Ghost Boxes, you might be a little lost or at best just feel like you’re missing some interesting (important?) plot information. If you can get past the strangely diminutive Frost, the rest of the Exogenesis is a very interesting character-driven story that finds the X-men in Africa on the verge of what looks like the re-birth of the mutant-race. Or is it? The Beast steals the show, while Cyclops plays the mutant-leader to a “t” and Storm’s role as conscience and native guide is a very effective use of the character. Overall, really if it weren’t for Frost this series would be no less than ★★★★☆s.
UNCANNY X-MEN #525 ★★★☆☆ (w: Matt Fraction/a: Terry Dodson) Cyclops has sent Cable and X-Force on a suicide mission to the future, we’re all pretty sure we’ll never see that Wolverine fellow again. Hope almost demonstrates a very familiar looking mutant power and the Avengers and Fantastic Four are still outside of the dome trying to bust through. Ten chapters into Second Coming and we have the first, “huh? Too bad I wasn’t reading any X-Titles before Second Coming when Professor X shows up, inside the dome. I guess I had just assumed he was dead again. Or off planet, or dead and off planet. There is even a nice little shout-out to the San Francisco Bay Area, one of the news cameras is from “…RON-4”, the inimitable KRON, beacon of news for the Bay no doubt. Uncanny #525 is a good chapter of Second Coming, but lacks the legs to stand on its own as a single issue, which is to be expected this late in the game. Regardless, expectations continue to rise for this series and it continues to meet the challenge.
DREAM LOGIC # 1 ★★★★☆ (David Mack) Dream Logic is more of a sketchbook than anything else. As such things go, this is a very nice introspective into the creator of Kabuki and popular comic artist. While these types of books come out too infrequently (or are very expensive) if they are done well they can be nice showcases for the creators. The rating on this book applies more to the production value than the content in Dream Logic. $5.99 is a great price for a book like this, as opposed to the $14.99 or $49.99 price tags that accompany some of the bigger, over-produced (think hardcover, glossy pages, etc.). The coffee-book type books may have a certain appeal, but books like Dream Logic or the pamphlets you can purchase at Cons (or creator-run websites) are much more “in touch” with the medium.
YOUNG ALLIES #1 ★★★☆☆ (w: Sean McKeever/a: David Baldeon) If you haven’t been following along, at first Young Allies may seem like an alternate (say, MC2) Universe, but the Heroic Age banner tells us otherwise. The Young Allies features four familiar characters (Firestar, Nomad, Gravity and not-Spider-Girl) and one new one (introduced in this issue). The familiar characters have been kicking around for awhile, heck Firestar has been around since the early 80’s (Spider-man and his Amazing Friends animated series!), hung out with some New Warriors and on the fringes of the X-community. Arana, who is going by “not-Spider-Girl”, has lost her powers but is pal’ing around with Rikki Barnes (Nomad), the former Bucky from an alternate universe. Think of Nomad as a “What if the Robin from Dark Knight” wound up in the DCU - where no one she knew was around (or knew her), that’s pretty much Rikki in a nutshell. The fourth familiar character is Gravity, who like Firestar, has bounced around a bit (and even died once already!) since his semi-successful first appearance (the McKeever-penned 2005 mini-series). These “kids” are right in McKeever’s wheel-house, the story is light and simple but still juggles multiple sub-plots. Overall Young Allies is a “good little” comic that lacks the “bite” of an actual Avengers or mainstream Marvel U title.
IRON MAN: NOIR #3 ★★★☆☆ (w: Scott Snyder/a: Manuel Garcia) The pulp-noir Iron Man story hits its stride as Tony finally gets into armor! This series has been one twist and surprise after the next and Iron Man: Noir #3 is no different. Garcia’s artwork, which was strong enough to carry the first two issues, seems a bit stretched. Still, the "cliffhanger"-Saturday Matinee feel to the series continues as it rushes towards the end of the mini.
The Not-Really that Good (But hard to say “bad”)
SHIELD #2 ★★☆☆☆ (written & illustrated by: Jonathan Hickman & Dustin Weaver) Hickman may very well be a very talented writer, but so far as SHIELD and the Fantastic Four go, they are definitely an acquired taste. Both are complex and have intricate plots, but somehow miss the mark. SHIELD is chock full of historical elements, interesting characters and gigantic sweeping plots. Unfortunately it is also very difficult to become invested in. This maybe a good title, if you can buy into it the big picture.
The Reading Order
SHIELD #2 ★★☆☆☆
DREAM LOGIC # 1 ★★★★☆
ULTIMATE COMICS: AVENGERS 2 #3 ★★★★☆
NEMESIS #2 ★★★★☆
YOUNG ALLIES #1 ★★★☆☆
ASTONISHING X-MEN : EXOGENESIS #2 ★★★☆☆
CAPTAIN AMERICA #606 ★★★★☆
PUNISHERMAX #8 ★★★★☆
RAWHIDE KID #1 ★★★★★
AVENGERS ACADEMY #1 ★★★★☆
UNCANNY X-MEN #525 ★★★☆☆
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #27 ★★★☆☆
IRON MAN NOIR #3 ★★★☆☆
Unread
BATMAN #700
SERENITY FLOAT OUT ONE SHOT # 1
CHEW #11
