There were a lot of books that made it home this week that were set aside for one reason or another. Mostly to take a longer look at. Overall, there were 14 titles that came home (7 Marvel, 3 DC, 4 Indies). Of the books set aside, the Sixth Gun – which had been a Free Comic Book Day preview, had been getting strong pre-release reviews. Also, Doctor Solar marks the legendary comic scribe Jim Shooter’s re-launch of the (last seen as) Valliant titles.
Overall, like the last few weeks, the haul was better than expected. Though it should be pointed out that the herd has been culled slightly, with some consistently weaker offering no longer making the cut and a particular is still Caped Crusader sitting on the "read me" pile. Still, for the second week in a row there were no real duds.
X-MEN SECOND COMING #2 ★★★★☆
AMAZING SPIDERMAN #537 ★★★★★
SUPERMAN #701 ★★★★☆
HEROIC AGE: UNCANNY X-MEN #1 ★★★★☆
BRAVE AND THE BOLD #35 ★★★★★
AVENGERS ACADEMY #2 ★★★★☆
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #28 ★★★★☆
ASTONISHING SPIDERMAN AND WOLVERINE #2 ★★★★☆
IRON MAN NOIR #4 ★★★★☆
Unread
BATMAN #701
CHEW #12
DOCTOR SOLAR MAN OF ATOM #1
SIXTH GUN #1
SIXTH GUN #2
HELLBOY: SWORD OF STORMS #1
★★★★★ = Really, really good.
★★★★☆ = Better than average.
★★★☆☆ = Average.
★★☆☆☆ = Below average.
★☆☆☆☆ = Not good.
☢ = Unreadable.
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #28 ★★★★☆
w: Matt Fraction
a: Salvador LaRocca
Story: ★★★★☆
Art: ★★★★☆
Cover: ★★★★★
Overall Rating: ★★★★☆
Without apology, I am an unabashed Invincible Iron Man fan. “Stark Disassembled”, Invincible Iron Man’s brilliance was strained; bent-but did not break. With “Star Resilient”, Fraction & LaRocca rebound with two parallel, or perhaps convergent, story arcs: the re-imagination into reality of Stark’s next business concern (Stark Resilient) and the Hammer/Detroit Steel plot.
Fraction writes Stark’s genius, obsession and human frailties as anyone ever has. This long (29 issues now) collaboration has yielded Bendis (see Iron Man’s moronic short-circuiting in Civil War) & the Marvel braintrust a better Iron Man than they often know what to do with. And a better Tony Stark. As Brubaker has re-defined Captain America and JMS almost re-defined Thor (Fraction gets his chance soon), so Fraction has given Marvel an Iron Man/Tony Stark (and company) for 2010. With the current story arc, Fraction returns Iron Man to his rightful place in the Marvel Universe, Heroic Age style. He is no longer the Commander of SHIELD, but is once again “just another Avenger”, with a few (multi-million, world-threatening) problems of his own.
Mind you, Fraction tells his Invincible Iron Man stories in arcs, so if you haven’t been reading Invincible IM, you have to at least go back to the beginning of “Stark Resilient” (Invincible IM #25?, this is part four). While Fraction & company do an exceptional job of telling a serialized story, that may be one of the few drawbacks to this series. It is harder to just start anywhere, any time.
X-MEN SECOND COMING #2
w: Zeb Wells, Mike Carey, Craig Kyle, Chris Yost & Matt Fraction
a: Ibraim Roberson, Esad Ribic, Greg Land, Terry Dodson
Story: ★★★★☆
Art: ★★★★☆
Cover: ★★★★☆
Overall Rating: ★★★★☆
Second Coming #2 is more epilogue than conclusion to the mighty crossover event, but does not disappoint. Many threads are tied tight and some are left to be unraveled further at a later date. Overall, this is a very satisfying wrap-up.
Chapter 1 (Wells/Roberson) sets the stage for the rest of the issue, picking-up where X-Force #28 left off. This chapter is mostly clean-up from the finale, more so than the others at any rate. Roberson’s art is decent, but the weakest of the four offerings. One sad statement that characterizes my cynicism (or tells how long I’ve been reading funny books) leaked out as we panned through the mutant infirmary and wound after wound the first thought that came to mind was, “that’ll be fixed in no time…” or “next time we see him, that’ll be all better…” Sorry mutants, been there done that.
Chapter 2 (Carey/Ribic) is very nicely done “eulogy” of sorts, with a great framing sequence and a very believable service for a fallen teammate/friend/family member. For what it’s worth, in a book of four good segments, this one stands out to me as the best of the lot.
Chapter 3 (Kyle & Yost/Land). It is nice that X-Factor, or the existence of Cyclops little hit-squad wasn’t completely shrugged off. The discovery of X-Factor’s existence made for a very nice little sub-plot and extra tension throughout Second Coming. Like, the mutants needed extra tension. The Storm & Wolvie dialogue is well done, as is Wolverine’s solution. Land has some nice (sometimes controversial) talent, that has some real high points in this chapter, but also tends to wander a little sloppy (or inconsistent) in some panels.
Chapter 4 (Fraction/Dodson) Okay, I still don’t get (like) Namor being a “mutant”, that being said this is a pretty good way to wrap up and move on to life after Second Coming. An old friend departs, Emma gets a little (much anticipated!) surprise and in the end Cyclops finds…
AMAZING SPIDERMAN #537
w: Joe Kelly
a: Michael Lark, Marco Checchetto, Stefano Gaudiano & Matt Southworth, with art assist by Brian Thies
Story: ★★★★☆
Art: ★★★★☆
Cover: ★★★★★
Overall Rating: ★★★★★
It was all worth it. From the Gauntlet through the Grim Hunt, it was all worth it. Kudos to the Amazing Spider-Man team for delivering a very long story arc that ended well, even accelerated to the finish.
One of the best parts of the Grim Hunt was how heavily the plot drew on stories from Spidey-lore gone by (in other words Spidey-canon). The connections to Kraven’s Last Hunt and JMS’ spider-icon storyline are obvious, but from Madam Web to Kaine to the two (three) Spider-girls, and of course at the center of it is the tried and true concept of what we do is who we are. Or, perhaps, the more familiar refrain of “with great power, comes…”
The Grim Hunt has all the makings of one of those true Spidey Classics. A story that will be referred back to, that will have ramifications for years to come. In a good way, not like uhm… Brand New Day.
The story ends well enough, but the two “epilogues” are priceless. Really, really classic Spidey.
SUPERMAN #701
w: J. Michael Straczynski
a: Eddy Barrows
Story: ★★★★☆
Art: ★★★★★
Cover: ★★★★☆
Overall Rating: ★★★★★
There could easily be a lot to dislike about Superman #701, if it weren’t so well done. JMS is a true master of storytelling in the comic-medium and Eddy Barrows art is very good with some absolutely fantastic pages mixed in. If you’ve been waiting for a long time for a good Superman story (All-Star not withstanding), this is a good start.
Alright, there are some fatal flaws to “Grounded” (I suppose they couldn’t call it the “Messiah Complex” since someone had one of those recently), as Superman begins his “Forrest Gump” trek to the heart of America. This is definitely a story arc with a message, or a point to it. And that point is probably not bashing some gigantic super-monster. Good Superman stories tend to start with the “man” part and use the “Super” part to tell the story and that is exactly what JMS and company have on tap. That being said, if he starts collecting apostles…
Perhaps the biggest drawback is Supes’ dialogue, which sometimes tends to swing from Dr. Phil, Father (insert name), and Captain Picard when he was feeling “lecturery”. Overall, the one thing is missing in these strange spontaneous monologues is the “human” (think small town kid) aspect that has defined Clark Kent. Maybe he did spent too much time on New Krypton.
Overall, there was a lot of expectation going in and Superman #701 rose to the occasion.
HEROIC AGE: UNCANNY X-MEN #1
w: Matt Fraction
a: Whilce Portacio, Steve Sanders, & Jamie McKelvie
Story: ★★★☆☆
Art: ★★★★☆
Cover: ★★☆☆☆
Overall Rating: ★★★★☆
The X-men enter the Heroic Age, escorted by Franklin Fantastic, Steve Rogers and Molly from the Runaways. There are three stories that kind of intertwine, bringing the X-Men back into the main-stream Marvel U.
The Beast/Molly vignette is very wordy, but nicely done. There are a lot of interesting topics bandied about by one of the smartest men in the world and a little girl. Everything from extinction to faith to living in the moment, is on the table when the two intellectual giants tangle. Sanders’ artwork is clean and almost cartoon-like, capturing the raw essence or innocence of the story.
Hope finds herself in the clutches of Mr. Fantastic, but the real story is her encounter with young Franklin Richards. Believe it or not, these two “kids” have a lot in common and Franklin provides a very cogent voice of experience. McKelive’s art also suits this story to a tee-in with an almost Kevin Maguire feel to it.
Portacio’s artwork may be the best thing about the Cyclops offering in this collection. The result of Cyclops’ soul-searching is pretty good, but how it got there hurts my brain. [spoiler]Take for example the definition of irony of Cyclops running around the Savage Land [b]hunting[/b] dinosaurs, while elsewhere Hank McCoy is lecturing young Molly about the meaning of extinction. Clearly, these two didn’t split up nearly fast enough. Then there’s the Savage Land… just how easy is it to get to the Savage Land that bad guys from another book escaped there this week and Cyke and Steve Rogers can just go out there for a jaunt? And in case you’re counting, Rogers is 1) wherever the Avengers are fighting for Kang, 2) on Mars, 3) in Madripoor, and has made a trip to the Savage Land and back in the last two weeks. I’m thinking more Skrulls.
As one-shots go, this Heroic Age: Uncanny X-Men is pretty good, if you’re not expecting a lot of action. Or a bad guy.
BRAVE AND THE BOLD #35
w: J. Michael Stcynski
a: Jesus Saiz
Story: ★★★★★
Art: ★★★★★
Cover: ★★★★☆
Overall Rating: ★★★★★
In the vein of Keith Giffen & J.M. DeMatteis’ Legion of Substitute Heroes and Justice League work, Brave and the Bold #35 is absolutely hilarious. It is funny on a comic level, on a practical level, it pokes fun at everything it can poke a finger at. Would you expect any less from a Legion of Substitute Heroes/Inferior Five team-up?
If you don’t know who the Subs are or (less so) the Inferior Five, then this book may not be quite as funny. Then again, it is pretty darn funny period.
It is really great that this book came out the same week that JMS’ Superman #701 hit the racks. What a dichotomy of excellence. There isn’t a serious note in Brave and the Bold, while belly-laughs are few and far between in Supes.
Brave and the Bold has been an excellent title since JMS and Saiz took the reins. Saiz artwork is quickly becoming some of my favorite DC work. While it isn’t complicated, it is good, clean and consistent.
AVENGERS ACADEMY #2
w: J. Michael Stcynski
a: Jesus Saiz
Story: ★★★★☆
Art: ★★★★☆
Cover: ★★★☆☆
Overall Rating: ★★★★☆
Last month Avengers Academy started out just kind of okay and finished strong. This month, the story focuses on Finesse. And while she may be very adept at many, many things, the things she cannot do well take center stage.
Gage has a knack (see Avengers Initiative) of telling good “Melrose Place” type stories that capture the personality of the characters to a “t”. Framing the first issue from one character’s point-of-view, and this second from another’s is a great way to introduce readers to the various vagaries of the cast, while telling a cohesive story.
So far, Avengers Academy reads more like a serialized adventure (soap opera) than a one-shot or short story-arc adventure. That style really seems to fit Gage and he has made the most of to develop some of the most unlikely characters (Diamondback, Constrictor, and Taskmaster come to mind). In AA he has a new motley crew of former-Avengers, including two of the most notorious: Quicksilver and Henry Pym and a colorful handful of tabula rasa to play with.
Overall, Avengers Academy is a good read, well written and nicely drawn. After AA#1, it could have gone either way. AA#2 is a win.
ASTONISHING SPIDER-MAN AND WOLVERINE #2
w: Jason Aaron
a: Adam Kubert
Story: ★★★★☆
Art: ★★★★★
Cover: ★★★☆☆
Overall Rating: ★★★★☆
Do you remember Marvel Fanfare? It took me two days to put my finger on it, but that is what Jason Aarron & Adam Kubert’s Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine reminds me of. It isn’t an “elseworld” or “What if” story, and it probably fits somewhere in to that devilish “C” word (“continuity”) somewhere, but it doesn’t really feel like it has to.
Astonishing SM&W is a Saturday afternoon action-Matinee, with a plot that threatens complexity and has a very cool modern sci-fi feel. These are quickly becoming Jason Aarron’s hallmarks. If you aren’t reading Aaron’s other Marvel titles (PunisherMax and Wolverine Origins), you’re missing out. Aaron, if he hasn’t arrived already, is quickly becoming one of the next superstars of the Marvel bullpen.
Aaron is a master at taking the familiar, embellishing it and then putting it somewhere it doesn’t belong. There is a complex story, a lot of (inner) dialogue (hello, it’s Spider-man…) and a couple of interesting twists and turns. Throughout the issue, Aaron also demonstrates a cogent knowledge of the history of the Marvel U, enough to make an old fan go “aww…” anway. Still, surprisingly, the best component of the series has been Kubert’s artwork. While I am about to take a Spider-Man hiatus, I sincerely hope that Adam K. gets another shot at the ol’ Webhead some day soon.
IRON MAN NOIR #4
w: Scott Snyder
a: Manuel Garcia
Story: ★★★★☆
Art: ★★★★☆
Cover: ★★★★☆
Overall Rating: ★★★★☆
I can’t imagine (and I haven’t read, sorry) that the other Marvel:Noir titles are really this good. Iron Man Noir has been a wild, nostalgic ride from the first issue and the fun continues in the finale of the series.
True to form, there are surprising twists and turns and Snyder makes good use of some groundwork that he laid earlier in the series and has a really cool spin on a classic Marvel villain.
The characters are familiar enough to draw in Iron Man fans and classic Marvel U fans, but the story is very Indiana Jones-ish (in a good way).
