Dex's Comic Awareness

Dex's Comic Awareness has MOVED!

2005-10-03T10:51:00.000-05:00

I am now the chief comic book reviewer for www.DoubleViking.com. Everyone should come check me out over there where I will continue my weekly comic reviews.

Read my new short story, Adolph, appearing in Dark Recesses Press's debut issue. They are a quarterly PDF horror/dark fiction magazine. This issue is avalible for FREE right NOW.
Click here to visit Dark Recesses and see the issue.

Ultimate X-Men (Marvel)

2005-09-18T16:44:00.000-05:00

Ultimate X-Men #63
written by Brian K. Vaughan
pencils & cover by Stuart Immonen

So here comes the big battle between brothers. And it proves to be a whimper instead. Cyclop's team takes out two of the four would be rescuers but lose to Havok and Northstar. Now on the surface, with Jean, Colossus, and Iceman PLUS the Ultimates to stop Havok and Northstar, it really doesn't seem like a contest at all. But we all know that something is going to go down that is unexpected. Forge and Mystique sit in the wings watching it all, neither of which are big fighters. Warren and Alison are also watching and wishing to intervene to get on the Professor's good side. So we can only assume that somehow everything is going to fall to pieces for Jean and that Magneto is going to get out.

Speaking of him, we have his charm working slowly on Lorna to break down her defenses till she's crying in his arms as he tells her that the people she killed didn't matter. Longshot gets put in prison with Deathstrike and Essex, as in Mr. Sinister. But we saw him die right? Well guess not exactly. It's obvious that Vaughan is bringing all of his characters to bear so as to make sure that he doesn't leave any glaring open plot threads. This is nice of him to do. I honestly wish more writers would do this when they go in and alter a comic so much.

I like the scene with Havok and Cyclops. Havok had me convinced that Scott let him win. Why else would he fire his beams at his brother after he just explained that it didn't do anything? And can anyone explain to me what is in those little pouches they both carry on their belt have in them? Eye drops for Cykes? Who knows?

Rating - Good

Wildcats: Nemesis (Wildstorm)*

2005-09-18T16:32:00.000-05:00

Wildcats: Nemesis #1(of 6)
written by Robbie Morrison
penicls & cover by Talent Caldwell
additional pencils by Horacio Domingues

Here begins Morrison's chance at redemption. I hated Robbie Morrion's run on the Authority. It stank. This doesn't stink so far. That's a good thing for sure but it is hard to understand where exactly it all fits into continuity. I mean Joe Casey was doing an incredible job with it before they yanked it away from him. This is sad because for whatever reason they did it for, he was making a good book.

They do a good job here of using two artists, one for the present and one for the past and I think it sets the back-story far enough apart to make it feel like a proper flashback. The only problem seems to be that because this character is brand new but is supposed to have been around for a while means that we will be spending a lot of time in the past explaining why she's killing people in the present.

I'll admit that Nemesis is very cool looking but she seems to have that aura about her that makes it hard to believe she's a ruthless killer. I also happen to like her better than I do Zealot. I want Nemesis to win out, even though we all know that both of them have to survive the past meeting between the two.

So far Morrison is winning me over but one has to ask what the point of this series is? Other than to make money? Because it definitely doesn't pick up the pieces of the last Wildcats that was abandoned midway through.

Rating - Good

X-Men (Marvel)

2005-09-18T16:17:00.000-05:00

X-Men #175
written by Peter Milligan
pencils & cover by Salvador Larroca

So begins the Wild Kingdom crossover as we find our X-Men heading to Africa. Quite honestly, this wasn't a very good issue. Everyone acts like children more and more in Milligan's team. Storm is a royal bitch, Bobby is an annoying asshole, Gambit's an insecure and pussy whipped, Rogue is an uptight girlfriend that is mad for no real reason, Lorna is incredibly cold and heartless, and Havok is the stereotype jealous lover. I know this is different than what I had been saying about this series before but somehow Milligan made his characters all become whiney and mean in only one issue. I wouldn't want to hangout with any of these people. That's not the kind of cool impression the X-Men are supposed to emote.

And I really can't understand the whole, power struggle thing between Storm and Havok and Emma Frost. What is that all about? Why are they suddenly all feminist and shit and telling Havok that he can't take orders from a woman? I understand tension is dramatic but it definitely just feels like watching teenagers here.

Complaint number two: What the hell is up with Milligan's take on powers? Rogue has some kind of fire shooting ability now? Lorna's ability to control magnetism somehow allows her to shoot energy beams at creatures? And Storm is invulnerable to a giant mutant crocodile biting her nearly in half? Milligan really needs to clarify this shit. If you just make shit up for their powers then what’s the point of fight scenes? You could make up any old thing.

Complaint number three: The villain is dumb and paper thin but would Storm really leave him to die? It was so out of character that it just felt like that scene in Daradevil the movie where he lets the guy get killed by the subway train.

What the hell is Milligan doing here? He started off so well but now he's turned all the characters into whining brats. Spare me.

Rating - Poor

Wha...Huh? (Marvel)

2005-09-18T11:45:00.000-05:00

Wha...Huh? (one shot)
written by (a lot of people)
pencils by Jim Mahfood

This is what "What if..." comics should be, funny. I was never a big fan of the “What if” comics but I did buy my fair share as a youngster. This properly decides to take the chance to poke fun at Marvel itself and a lot of its characters.

I hope you all had a chance to get a copy of this because as you can tell by the tardiness of this review, it was hard for me to get one. This well worth it for any long standing Marvel fan as a lot of the jokes will only be funny to those who have seen these characters for years.

Now some are lame, sadly Stan Lee's little page was. But most are really good and gave me plenty of chuckles and even a real laugh once or twice. The whole thing is written by a group of writers that seem to be pretty good friends and it makes for some inside jokes and references to the writers themselves that will only be gotten by comic insiders. But that's fine because with the advent of Newsarama, almost every comic book fan is an insider in their own way. Besides this comic wasn't for the average reader, it's for guys like me.

Rating - Great

All Star: Batman & Robin: The Boy Wonder (DC)

2005-09-18T11:24:00.000-05:00

All Star: Batman & Robin: The Boy Wonder #2
written by Frank Miller
pencils & cover by Jim Lee
alternate cover by Frank Miller

A lot of people have been going on about how horrible this series is. I can't say I blame them. This is not Batman in the normal DCU. Hell it's not even Batman from Dark Knight Returns. This is a new and twisted Batman that we suddenly get. We get a pretty rare in-depth look at him too that makes some readers squeamish.

I think it is good writing, as in dialogue, but it is not the best of plots. It rushes the emotional story and condenses the literal action. An odd thing to do actually, but the white rabbit on the front page immediately brings to mind the idea that Miller and Lee are falling down the rabbit hole.

This Batman is insane. I know they reference to that a lot in other stories but here, he really is. He's also part fake and it's interesting to see Robin realize that. And lastly, this Batman is even less caring of human life than any previous rendition. He especially goes out of his way to try and kill cops. No matter how corrupt, the normal Batman wouldn't kill them with reckless glee like he does here. But like I said, this is not the normal Batman.

This whole line of “All Star” comics is DC's way of competing with the Ultimate line of comics at Marvel. They are making stories out of continuity so that they can be whatever they want. The problem? They are all self-contained to the point that none of the stories have any impact on any other comics. Not even later Batman comics by Miller because this series is limited. So why should we care about a Batman series that is inconsequential? This is nothing more than another DKR.

Why I don't think that this is the worst thing on the shelf. It definitely doesn't feel like something from "all stars." The action alone was pretty lame and hard to follow.

Rating - Mediocre

Mutopia X (Marvel)

2005-09-18T11:01:00.000-05:00

Mutopia X #3(of 5)
written by David Hine
pencils by Lan Medina
cover by Andy Park

This comic does get better, but it still can't quite get all of the pieces to fit together. Some things Hine does well and some things are just dumb.

The opening scene is a good example of the good and bad of the issue. The crazy human terrorist has a real gun and fires off a round at Ortega. She gets wasted and they are good enough to not chicken out but to show her full of holes. The fact that Bishop catches the bullet in his hand, to save Ortega, seems pretty lame to me. Not cause Bishop's powers don't relate to normal guns issue, but because he CAUGHT A BULLET WITH HIS HAND! Is he Superman now? And then to make it more confusing the main human terrorist has a laser gun? Whatever.

The whole plot is extremely convenient and doesn't seem natural at all. Kaufman catches the main human terrorist before the cops can and then takes her back to his lair to convince her to kill Ortega, or maybe Hine will surprise me by not being so obvious and have her go after someone else like Ortega's daughter. But let's not hold our breath waiting for Hine to be original. You see the terrorist wants to kill Ortega already and her words about not killing humans ring untrue.

The best scenes in the comic are the ones with Ortega and his wife. The dialogue for them is good and natural. Hine does get adultery down well at least.

The whole issue is so different than the first two. This one has gore and realistically graphic scenes that the first issue missed in its fight scenes. Why are they suddenly here now? And I really can't find myself to care about any of this because none of it's real because this is all House of M reality. This comic is just for those who were reading District X and wanted some kind of closure with the characters.

Rating - Mediocre

Ultimate Spider-Man (Marvel)

2005-09-15T21:46:00.000-05:00

Ultimate Spider-Man #82
written by Brian Michael Bendis
pencils & cover by Mark Bagley

Buh DAMN! Felicia, Black Cat, was on Peter like *fill in the blank* on *fill in the blank*. Still waiting for this comic to catch up to the annual so we know he isn't going to get with Felicia because he's will be dating Kitty. Which is disappointing because I really would like to see both done. His relationship with Felicia would be him dating the "bad girl." And the bad girl is always fun.

Most of the comic is more set up. We see Kingpin decide that it's time to really step it up and not take any chances. We see Captain Wolfe really take charge and openly defend Spider-Man. We learn of how Felicia is even still alive and what she wants, namely Kingpin's head and to make out with Peter. We learn that the Moon Knight is a little weird and that he may have realized that Peter is one of the good guys. But who knows what he took from seeing the battle of last issue. We learn that his girlfriend is a little upset over the dual roles Marc Spector plays with his multiple identities.

The whole thing is set up to have the many players fighting on odd sides. Black Cat is willing to help Hammerhead kill Kingpin. Iron Fist and Shang Chi are gonna try and wipe out Hammerhead for his gang's involvement in Chinatown. We know where Elektra stands as Kingpin's assassin and then there is Moon Knight. Who the hell knows what he plans on doing. And in the middle of it all is Spidey, to decide between two bad guys. Bendis is back in form people.

Rating - Great

House of M (Marvel)

2005-09-15T21:35:00.000-05:00

House of M #6(of 8)
written by Brian Michael Bendis
pencils by Olivier Coipel
cover by Esad Ribic

So we finally get to the thick of things. Well in true Bendis fashion, no not really. We get a few chaotic scenes of battle and more conversation that really only sets up the next battle. Six issues in and we are just now getting down to actually doing something. You would think that they would try and mind wipe the other characters there, Pietro, Ororo, Namor, and so on but they didn't because they had her out trying to find Prof. X. And his tombstone is not where his body is.

Always more questions than answers out of this kind of thing but hey, at least the dialogue is fairly good. So is the art as usual. I just don't like how he makes Cyclop's head look like a large block of wood.

Speaking of ol one eye, his little speech about holding nothing back does seem appropriate but what about all the countless times before when the world was going to end? Was it ok to hold back then because there was a chance someone else might be able to fix it? I liked it and was totally psyched to see Nightcrawler port someone to N zone and leave them there or see Luke Cage strangle someone. Not gonna happen, at least not yet. BOO! I say. You talk about no restraint, I want to see no restraint, and I want to see some out and out killing. Logan at least was good for it. But that's nothing new.

Rating - Good

Ghost Rider (Marvel)*

2005-09-15T21:25:00.000-05:00

Ghost Rider #1(of 6)
written by Garth Ennis
art & cover by Clayton Crain

Ennis is two for two this month with his slight tweaking of the Ghost Rider world. Here we have GR riding for his soul every day in Hell and every day he fails. But an angel that's fucked up is gonna help bust him out of hell so that he can take care of a demon for him. It'll be a race against time as both Hell's and Heaven's agents are out after this guy.

And Ennis loves to make the good guys look evil. Here he has one angel cause a miscarriage and another one has a kid stick a colored pencil into his eye. You want to talk about issues for these people. It really blurs the line between Heaven and Hell and that's the point but then why is there a heaven and hell even? Eh, this is fun stuff and although my mother wouldn't like the host looking so bad, I think its great stuff. Not that I have anything against them that is, heh.

Crain's work is simply amazing. Just downright beautiful and horrible and all the adjectives you can think of all wrapped into one. His art is simply amazing and this is a definite step up from Carnage vs Venom, as good as that looked. Here he really has more depth to his work. And hey, it takes place in Houston, a real hell hole if I ever saw one.

Rating - Great

Y: The Last Man (Vertigo)

2005-09-15T20:42:00.000-05:00

Y: The Last Man #37
written by Brian K. Vaughan
pencils by Pia Guerra
cover by Massimo Carnevale

Now that we know that Beth is alive, we really have some good reasons to see Yorick go after her. But he's only given a day to do it in before they must set off to find Ampersand. Not much time at all to explore an entire continent.

The real problem doesn't come from not finding Beth though, at least not yet. A reporter keeps hearing rumors of the last man. And a crazed citizen calls the lady in to look into Yorick. She tasers the crap out of 355 and threatens to kill her if Yorick doesn't strip and get his picture taken. We can only assume what’s going to happen next. But obviously the world will be in an uproar if everyone knew about what was going on.

Vaughan continues to be smart about the story, for instance, no one would really still be afraid of women catching the plague after three years so the idea of Yorick running around with the gas mask is a bit of a stretch for people to believe. So they put a burka on him. Seems to work and they explain it away saying that a lot of Afghan women are fleeing to Australia. But they can't use that, say in Japan. I wonder when they are just gonna break down and give him a wig or fake breasts.

Y: The Last Man is easily one of the best comics each month. It's sad that its sales aren't higher than they are.

Rating - Good

The Punisher (MAX)

2005-09-15T01:12:00.000-05:00

The Punisher #25
written by Garth Ennis
pencils by Leandro Fernandez
cover by Tim Bradstreet

This is poetry given comic form people. I really can't stress that enough. I mean Ennis' writing is always good but this particular issue is just poetry. Pure genius.

For example:

"It began a year ago in the rain, on a pitch black Brooklyn night. By the time it had all finished, I knew the rain would fall forever."

Oh how wonderful his writing here is. I would pick up THIS issue even if you plan to never pick up another Punisher in your life. This issue above all the ones I've read from him so far is the best. It's flow. It's art. It's dialogue and it's plot. Even as a set up piece it's masterful enough to not be boring or complacent with its role as a opening comic.

Another example of greatness:

"I'd know the Lord's Prayer in any language. Gave him a moment. To just before the line about forgiveness."

Then he shoots the guy. HOW AWESOME IS THAT! But nothing beats the ending:

"Later on, she told me the whole story. About the day she left her village. About the old man. About Cristu and Vera. About the thing her father said. About her baby. When she was done, I knew a lot of men would have to die."

That people is the Punisher as he SHOULD be. As an intelligent and well spoken monster of revenge and righteous punishment. He is the avenging angel and only Garth has been good enough to give him the grace as well as the menace. His knowledge of weapons and tactics is also keen to the story. Just genius people. You won't ever find a better Punisher comic before this one or ever after.

Rating - Great

The Manhattan Guardian (DC)*

2005-09-15T00:20:00.000-05:00

The Manhattan Guardian #4(of 4)
written by Grant Morrison
pencils & cover by Cameron Stewart

We get a lot more answers out of this comic than we even did out of the Shining Knight comic. We learn from Baby Brain that the Sheeda knew that a team of seven was going to beat them so they have been searching for all teams of seven and killing them off. The Newsboy Army was such a team of seven so they are after Baby Brain.

So we learn about the exploits and fall of the original Newsboy Army. And while it is part of the story it is a little boring. Most of the Guardian's story has featured very little of the actual Guardian. And so this comic is no exception.

We also get the same ending out of this issue that we got out of Shining Knight. That is to say that it left hanging now that the Guardian has actually met up with the Sheeda. Now I like the experiment and think it WOULD have worked if it wasn't so spread out. I mean the ending to this conclusion isn't till April. I am not going to give a rat's ass by then. Especially if all that happens in the finale is that they win out. They better keep it going as a monthly comic because what the hell is the point otherwise? 28 issues of nothing but set up for ONE issue of climax making for a 30 issue run? Seems a little lopsided on the introduction part of the whole thing doesn't it?

Rating - Mediocre

Uncanny X-Men (Marvel)

2005-09-15T00:14:00.000-05:00

Uncanny X-Men #464
written by Chris Claremont
pencils & cover by Chris Bachalo

Wow. What a difference an artist can make. I love this comic now. Yes I'm biased. I am a HUGE fan of Chris Bachalo and am more than thrilled to see him join on as the regular artist.

Now I don't know if this is a result of Bachalo's jumping on or not but it really seemed like Claremont shied away from using too many captions and explanations in his writing this issue. Which is the way I want it but it is ironic that he does it when he gets an artist known for having confusing panels from time to time.

Pretty much the fact that TJ, Nocturne, even exists is a scandal for the House of M because she is the daughter of Wanda and Kurt. An illegitimate daughter in this world. But what I don't know is how they found out about her in the first place? Oh I know Prof X knew but how did this Magneto, who seems to not know that he's to blame for all this know? And when did Psylocke begin to fly? Isn't that a new trick for her people? What gives?

But out of ALL the side stories this one is easily the best simply because what the heroes are doing actually matters. They are trying to keep the whole dimension they live in from being destroyed by Roma. Now that's a goal that needs to be worked towards people. Hulk fighting AIM is not.

Rating - Good

Supreme Power: Nighthawk (MAX)*

2005-09-15T00:07:00.000-05:00

Supreme Power: Nighthawk #1(of 6)
written by Daniel Way
pencils & cover by Steve Dillon

I'm quite sad that we won't get anymore great R comics after these but hey, at least these are pretty good right? Nighthawk is mostly set up for what I assume is going to be the main bad guy. This serial killer that was a pharmacists gone wrong. Then some bad stuff happened in prison to make him even more messed up. Of course now he's out and about well, bad stuff with clowns is bound to happen.

To continue the DC as it should be theme, Nighthawk speaks with a cop on a rooftop. God knows why though because Nighthawk didn't get any help from the cop and he wouldn't help the cop out with the cops problems. So why do they meet? Other than to make it like Batman? Eh. As long as we get more Nighthawk then I'm fine with this set up.

I'm not gonna lie, clowns are creepy already. I mean the gay clown was freaking me out and he was just a normal guy. When the bad guy goes clown I think it'll be terrifically evil and creepy.

Rating - Good

Villains United (DC)

2005-09-14T23:57:00.000-05:00

Villains United #5(of 6)
written by Gail Simone
pencils & cover by Dale Eaglesham

This story continues to impress and woe me. Only if all DC comics were this good. Our motley band of misfits has seemed to finally broken. Its breaking point was the revelation that Deadshot was the one who killed Catman's pride of lions. Of course we still don't know exactly why HE was the one who did it but I think we can all guess fairly easily, he was trying to get Catman to come to his side. Their tussle was interrupted when Cheshire revealed that she is a traitor. And then the house of cards comes tumbling down and sets up the big finale next issue.

Cheshire keeps hinting to Catman that she's pregnant but he doesn't seem to believe till the end when he's forced to choose between killing her for the traitor she is letting her go with his unborn child. Let's hope he kills the bitch. Also they hint that a lot of Gotham hasn't signed on yet.

Mockingbird is evidently more powerful than they thought as he sees through their lame attempts at subterfuge. Ragdoll and the rest of the cast continue to be incredibly interesting characters. I really wish I could see them fight more. We also learn that Scandal is Vandal Savage's daughter and that's why she is part indestructible. If I knew who that was than maybe I could care more or be shocked or something but I'm not. No matter, this is a good issue and I'm ready to see who Mockingbird really is.

Rating - Good

Fantastic Four: House of M (Marvel)

2005-09-13T02:55:00.000-05:00

Fantastic Four: House of M #3(of 3)
written by John Layman
pencils & cover by Scot Eaton

Out of all the side stories, this one had been the most fun. Doom was classic Doom and I really liked his scheming. I knew he was gonna lose to Magneto and die. I didn't know they were going to do it in the most dumbass way possible.

First, Doom wins but does the clichéd move of leaving Magneto alive. Then we see It free Magneto. Anyone who didn't see that one coming from a mile away is dumb, I said it, dumb. That's what the whole plot was, dumb. It was so convenient and predictable just like Iron Man was. They made Magneto look like a pussy yet again. Then, Magneto leaves Doom alive at the end. WHAT! Didn't he like, get the clue that doing that is a bad thing?

The art was good though. I really like Eaton. I don't like It. I didn't want to see him win out. I wanted to watch him die at Doom's hand. Doom is one of those bad guys you want to see win. This is just utter stupidity given comic form.

Rating - Poor

Iron Man: House of M (Marvel)

2005-09-13T02:46:00.000-05:00

Iron Man: House of M #3(of 3)
written by Greg Pak
pencils & cover by Pat Lee

Sigh, yet another bad ending to another disappointing side story. Lee's pencils aren't nearly up to par with his usual fare and the story that Pak had constructed really ended with a whimper. It could have been at least mediocre but the ending of the issue really just ruined it.

Turns out Tony's dad was behind all the bombs and Pym and planned it all so that Tony would be in the position to kill Magneto. Right. Why is it that the master of magnetism is shown again and again as a giant pussy? He could have done any number of things to keep Tony from setting off the bomb in his hand. I can think of at least three off the top of my head. But don't worry, he doesn't kill Magneto just like we all knew he wouldn't. All these stories that revolve around attempts on Magneto's life kind of make for shitty stories when we know he HAS to live to keep the main plot moving.

Sigh. House of M has really sucked it up so far. This had promise but alas, they refused to do anything with it. I blame Marvel editors mostly for only giving Pak three issues. Yeah he could have really gone somewhere with them but he didn't.

Rating - Poor

The Incredible Hulk (Marvel)

2005-09-13T02:37:00.000-05:00

The Incredible Hulk #86
written by Peter David
pencils by Jorge Lucas
cover by Andy Brase

Another bad issue out of this team. Sometimes you can't tell what exactly is going on during the fighting and other times it's just poor art period. The cover is really great though. sigh

One pretty glaring error is when the secret off word that Viper planted in Bruce's mind is said as Dormez by Viper then Dormay by Scorpion. Then back to Dormez again. Whatever. Small errors like this are now to be expected by this crappy story arc. I will admit that the giant cyborg looked cool but can anyone explain to me how they got someone to be that big in the first place? He was all stitched up like they used a lot of people to make him. Whatever.

That's the word for this story arc, whatever. At least it's now over. The whole sub-plot with that one guy that went missing was wrapped up in a panel. Then Magneto comes and some dumb dialogue about how if Magneto stays away from Australia then Hulk won't smash him. That pretty much making this side story completely pointless because the Hulk has no role to play in the main story now. Whatever.

Color me whatever.

Rating - Poor

Rex Mundi (Image)*

2005-09-11T23:29:00.000-05:00

Rex Mundi #14
written by Arvid Nelson
pencils & cover by Jim Di Bartolo

Arvid's Rex Mundi has been an incredibly original comic. Full of mystery and relying on rich history, it has been a good read. That hasn't exactly changed but to say that something hasn’t been lost would be a lie. Somewhere along the road it seemed like the plot changed courses. Like it was meant to be a mini series and is now a maxi series. The whole mystery of who hired the man in white is stilled unsolved. Yet our main character, who was the target of the man in white, is still alive and no more assassins have come forth. See my point? If someone wanted Julien dead than why would they stop trying?

A lot of the change must be attributed to the new artist. It's a good fit for the Victorian era the comic is set in. What it isn't is a close fit to the last artist who's style of story telling was vastly different. I would argue that while Bartolo is more "mature," better angles and panel selections, he doesn't bring a dark enough quality to the book. The book feels more adventurous and less dark and mysterious. I have faith though that the book will begin to become more stable as it picks up speed for the finish. To truly grasp great books like this, you have to be willing to read the extra stuff crammed into each issue. Namely the fake newspaper stories in the back really help draw the reader in.

They swear that the scheduling delays are behind us, it's been six months since the last book came out. They also say that this is the last artist change. I hope so because the book has already lost all the momentum it had and is now having to pick up the pace mid way through. Not an easy task. I hope they are up to it though.

Rating - Mediocre

Kreetor (Repercussion Comics)

2005-09-03T17:21:00.000-05:00

Kreetor #1
written by Jason DeGroot
pencils & cover by Dann Phillips

Kreetor is the creation of Jason DeGroot that he has been working on since his childhood. Such projects tend to be very rich environments because the author has had years to think of interesting things to fill the world up with. This is no exception. Kreetor is a fantasy comic that has the reader dive right into the world of Guls and Fulkons and many other races. It is a great story so far and the world it's set in is lovingly crafted by DeGroot.

The main character is Gore, the captain of the armies of a nation in turmoil. We find him literally in the midst of a rebellion. But it's one he's started. The action is done well with both chaotic panels for melee and clear ones for those key moments in battle. At the end of the battle we get a small surprise that I won't give away here. But I will say that DeGroot plays off our expectations perfectly so that it's really a shock.

Dan Phillips does an almost flawless job with this first issue. There is one panel in the beginning where some young Guls are supposed to be looking out to sea and are looking up for some reason instead. Then they get killed from below? It was the only confusing moment in the entire comic. The only other art problem was Gore's scale mail under his armor. During close-ups it would look like it should look, but any other distance and it looked like a mass of squiggles. Normally I wouldn't mind such things but it really fooled me into thinking it was CHEST HAIR at first. Yeah, that's gross. But lucky for the character it was just a lazy artist moment and NOT massive amounts of shoulder hair. The artist does a better job with the assorted races and characters by issues end. You can feel Phillips become more comfortable with the characters as the issue goes on. I really look forward to seeing his work in upcoming issues.

The parts of the issue that aren't full of Gore's fight and aftermath are taken up by the march of sea creatures. A nice set of mini-stories ensues as each person tries to flee and warn others only to be killed by those he's trying to warn. Wash and repeat a couple of times till the end. It was a nice karmic way of showing the invading army's advance. They allude to past battles and wars and mention other races we haven’t seen yet and the whole effect of this is to make the story feel like just one pebble in the pond that is Kreetor.

Go pick this up people. You can buy it at www.comiXpress.com. Go do so and enjoy this amazing fantasy comic for only 2.95. This one is a clear winner.

Rating - Good

Astonishing X-Men (Marvel)

2005-09-03T17:10:00.000-05:00

Astonishing X-Men #12
written by Joss Whedon
pencils & cover by John Cassaday

The conclusion to Danger ends in a similar fashion to the first story arc as it raises way more questions than it answers. The actual fight scene is fairly well done as we've come to expect good things from Whedon. What we didn't expect was the cliffhanger ending of how Emma Frost isn't really a good guy. She's still working for...not gonna tell ya...

The surprise that wasn't really all that shocking was that Professor X knew Danger was sentient and did nothing. He still locked her up and used her. His feeble excuse that he needed Danger for his X-Men smacks of uncharacteristic immorality. Logan nails it on the head that it sounds more like Magneto than the Prof. X they are used to. Hopefully his odd behavior can be explained as things really begin to mount up for the X-Men. The X-Men have a traitor in their midst, disillusionment with their teacher, a reluctant Pete, a still lurking Danger, and the presence of the Breakworld problem that still hasn't been fully resolved.

Obvious questions about how did Emma's secret employers not get killed during the blast or why Prof. X didn't sense their presence all raise little flags about the validity of the plot. Such things can and do tend to be overlooked with Whedon's work though. That's because his fights are so much fun and his characters are so real. Here's for wishing that the plot smoothes out a bit in the next couple of issues.

Rating - Great

Powers (Icon)*

2005-09-03T15:52:00.000-05:00

Powers #12 (Icon)
written by Brian Michael Bendis
pencils by Mike Avon Oeming
cover by Brian Michael Bendis

It says 64 pages but half of it is the letters and ads pages. The actual story is almost completely self-contained. The gem of the Blackguard is lost and recovered in the issue and a lot of bad guys die as the cop who stole it goes on a killing spree. We get some great characterization about Deena though as we learn about her first days on the force.

The art in Powers is as great as it always is. Oeming's style is similar to Mignolas but its different enough to definitely stand as something different. The color choices however are incredible. The vast arrays of gray really make the few colors allowed to show really pop on the page. It's beautiful to see.

This issue really seemed kind of unimportant for an Anniversary Special. It just didn't really advance the story or reveal any big news about the characters. That doesn't mean it wasn't a great read. It just doesn't live up to its title.

Bendis does more experimental panel layouts here as the interrogation of the Evidence Room Officer is done in a manner to make you feel like she's cornered and surrounded. It comes off very well. Powers should be picked up by everyone for the art alone though. Go pick this up. Even the many pages of ads and letters are pretty funny. And lastly, Bendis LOVES to slip in creators names whenever he can. Others do it too, Brubaker dropping Kirkman, as in Robert Kirkman. But Bendis does it the most and here he drops, McNiven, Lark, and Kirkman. All friends of his and all doing a comic I review somewhere else on this site.

Rating - Good

The New Avengers (Marvel)

2005-09-03T15:36:00.000-05:00

The New Avengers #9
written by Brian Michael Bendis
pencils by Steve McNiven
cover by David Finch, Danny Miki, & Frank D'Armata

The best team book continues. Too bad we don't actually get the team in this issue but that's ok. We finally get some movement on the Sentry story. And by movement I mean we go ahead by about ten minutes in the story. Sheesh this is the fastest moving slow book ever.

We learn the Sentry is really the Void. Who he made up to keep himself from ever using his powers. We also learn that Mastermind was the one who made this all possible by using Sentry's mind to wipe everyone else's memories about it. But before we can find out who hired him in the first place, we are cut off as Sentry can't handle it all and freaks out.

The scenes of the actual battle being waged outside the tripled shielded bubble around Sentry and Emma is quite funny actually. Between Spider-Man's quips and the funny scenes, I chuckled a couple of times. You might miss it but watch out for the panel where the Void has Captain America literally under foot and Spider-Man is hilariously trying to rope the Void off of Cap. Good stuff.

Every time I think about this team of Avengers and who is in the line up and it just makes me think of how perfect it is. Bendis really picked the best set of characters. Because of their ties to other organizations, the Avengers are finally a microcosm of the Marvel Universe as a whole. This comic is great but can't we get a shot of speed or something to get it moving faster Bendis? I mean we haven't even gotten around to the loose baddies in a while.

Rating - Good

Supreme Power (MAX)*

2005-09-03T14:43:00.000-05:00

Supreme Power #18
written by J. Michael Straczynski
pencils & cover by Gary Frank

I thought the team would come together here. But alas it hasn't. What happens instead is the after math of Mark's ousting as an alien. People freak out for some reason. The President makes a decree that all super people should report to the government or be considered a unknown threat to the government. For the first time that I've ever seen a comic book intentionally make the President look like George Bush, I wasn't turned off by it. It just was and they didn't try to preach about any current events or make him to be an idiot which is the most common idea. Hell, they put Bill and Hilary Clinton in it and that was fine too.

Mark pretty much makes a statement that the government should leave him alone and clear his name. Then he makes some odd threats about helping other countries destroy the US or something. And lastly, he sets off a huge nuclear explosion in the North Pole just by flying at the ground really fast. Pretty scary possibilities honestly. That has always been the greatness of this comic. The DC universe as it would have been in the real world.

Montages of other future heroes to be looked at are all mentioned. I don't know enough about the DC universe to pick them out solely on the few clues given but I can pick out Atom man! lol Maybe they are going to have Mark make his fortress of solitude. It definitely seems that way.

Now for the news that Supreme Power will be moving to the Marvel Knights imprint and stop being an R comic after this issue. Yes I understand it didn't HAVE to be an R comic but that slight edge is what made it so different. I know they want more money but it doesn't make sense to me to take every comic under the MAX label that's doing good and make it a PG-13 comic. That isn't supporting the MAX label and it is dooming it to fail in the end. How can the label survive if every hit they have gets booted to MK. This just doesn't make any sense to me when they should try to build their label up. But Joe Q. in recent talks has been sounding like he could really care less about trying to build up Icon or MAX. Why have them at all then? What a dumb thing to say. With no Powers then there wouldn't be an Icon. With no Punisher, now with SP leaving, there won't be a MAX line. You shouldn't have an entire line just for one comic. So why have them then? I just see this as bad long term business. Promote Supreme Power more if you have too. Stop thinking with your checkbook and put your money where your mouth is Joe. You SAID it's about making better books. This book is BETTER as an R comic and JMS even said it after he toed the company line first. Whatever. Marvel is two steps forward, one step back. We'll get there one day.

Rating - Good

Runaways (Marvel)

2005-09-03T14:25:00.000-05:00

Runaways #7
written by Brian Vaughan
pencils by Takeshi Miyazawa
cover by Chris Bachalo & Tim Townsend

It appears we'll get a new artist for every story arc. This kind of book works well with that kind of set up as the changes in artists let the book change just slightly in tone from story arc to arc. Takeshi is the new penciler and I must say that I love it. I actually like this rendition of Gert and Molly. I really think I was partly just annoyed with the way they looked or something. The tradeoff is my favorite, Nico, doesn't quite look as cool as she did under Alphona.

The opening scene is has Swarm, a Nazi scientist who turned himself into thousands of bees. Takeshi does a fantastic job of drawing each individual bee. I can only fathom at the patience it must have taken to do it but the pay off is immense as Swarm looks great. Victor gets to help out on this one and easily dispatches of the guy.

Then our little heroes do something you don't normally get to see heroes do, go shopping. No the X-girls buying expensive dresses don’t count. Our heroes are buying real supplies because they need more food, new underwear and the dreaded feminine products. Vaughan does what he does best in these little scenes as the group pairs off. We get some much needed characterization. The soft tones of Takeshi’s art make them all more lovable to begin with. Add in the playful teasing and I might be, gasp, liking these kids.

Karolina makes a move on Nico but Vaughan isn't the type to have two girls kiss just for ratings. Nico is properly confused and a little upset. But before we can really get any farther, a skrull lands in front of them and states rather calmly that he's Karolina's fiancé. Quite the shock. One can only guess where this is going but I have a feeling we might be seeing some space time.

Rating - Great

The Amazing Spider-Man (Marvel)

2005-09-03T13:41:00.000-05:00

The Amazing Spider-Man #523
written by J. Michael Straczynski
pencils by Mike Deodato
cover by Terry Dodson

The showdown between Hydra's Avenger clones and Spidey. Things generally go well as Peter is able to use close quarters and his opponent's inexperience to mostly hold them of till the real Avengers show up. Then its beat down city. I can't believe I said that.

But alas, Hydra sends off the missile full of plague before Spider-Man can stop it. Why Peter would know how to override the launch sequence better than Tony Stark is anybody's guess but what the hell, this is Peter's comic after all. But the missile gets launched before Peter can stop it and so he hitches a ride on it. A great flashback for Captain America ensues as the scene is very similar to the one where Cap lost Bucky.

The actual scenes where Peter is disarming the bomb in mid flight are particularly dramatic and full of good emotion. It's classic Straczynski as we've come to know him on this book. It's reminiscent of Peter's struggle in the falling building to help himself and everyone around him. It's a self less act just as this one is.

The art team has REALLY stepped up their game. The reflections in Iron Man's armor were really good looking. The missile scenes were also very well done so that you felt the wind pushing against Spider-Man.

Rating - Great

Captain America (Marvel)

2005-09-03T13:34:00.000-05:00

Captain America #9
written by Ed Brubaker
pencils by Michael Lark
cover by Steve Epting & Frank D’Armata

Now that we finally have a focus for the comic things move rather quickly. Or so we are lead to believe. The whole issue is the preparation for and execution of a covert strike against Lukin’s small empire. But it was really all a waste of time as they arrive to find UN and US officials all sitting around doing an oil deal with him. So the mission is a big bust as they can’t torture Lukin in front of their bosses. They are forced to leave in a rather anti climatic fashion. All the flashbacks about Steve not wanting Agent 13 to go on the mission now seem stupid because the mission wasn’t worth that much time. Yeah it was some good fighting but it leaves us at square one.

The one thing that did actually remind me of classic Brubaker was the return of Death Head. He breaks out Red Skull’s daughter to help add a third party to the whole affair. Red Skull's troops are obviously not going to be happy about his murder and it makes sense for them to try and get back at Lukin. But Lukin is a dangerous foe now that he has a fully charged Cosmic Cube that I learned can alter reality. Good old reality altering devices always putting into question whether or not the weird things that happen really did or not. Makes sense, no?

This issue could have been better if it wasn't a buildup to nothing. And Lark seems to draw Captain America's head too big. Makes it look like a big watermelon or something. I bet next issue will see them go after Jack Monroe now that their hands are a little tied concerning Lukin himself.

Rating - Mediocre

Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight (DC)

2005-09-03T13:07:00.000-05:00

Shining Knight #4(of 4)
written by Grant Morrison
pencils & cover by Simone Bianchi

This is the end of the story for Justin before the big finale in April. That's quite a ways from now and it really seems like they should have done the stories differently. I think it would have been better to have the story move along the whole time rather than having each mini-series lead into the finale. Oh well. It's fantastic work and that's all that matters.

Turns out Spyder isn't dead. We don't know if he was turned to the Sheeda before or after the first Seven Soldier's deaths or not. And we learn a huge secret about Justin in this issue. Particularly that our Shining Knight is really a woman! We learn of his love for Galahad and then we watch her kill him in the present. It's all great story telling but I really can't believe I have to wait six months to read what happens to Justin. *bitch and moan*

The rest of the issue is a flashback to the Don's last stand against the Sheeda. He dies well but we already knew the outcome of this fight because we saw Zatanna find his dying corpse in her own comic. And that's all that really happens here. Things don't really move much past where we found them at the beginning of this issue. But a few bombs were dropped, and great fun was had by all, right?

I think so. The art here is incredible. Bianchi is easily my favorite of the 7 soldiers artist so far. He's able to make such a subtle change in Justin's appearance to make her look feminine only after we learn the truth. Now we wait for the other three of the seven to start their stories and we finish off the other three soldiers who've already started theirs.

Rating - Great

X-Men: The End: Heroes & Martyrs (Marvel)

2005-09-03T11:01:00.000-05:00

X-Men: The End: Heroes & Martyrs #6(of 6)
written by Chris Claremont
pencils by Sean Chen
cover by Greg Land

I realized why this book isn't that good. The book just doesn't FEEL important. Yeah characters are dying but the battles they are dying in just don't feel worthy of "the End." They are battling Sinister and some aliens. Maybe if CC had played up the Brood angle a lot more then it MIGHT feel that way but I doubt it. The whole plot just seems so boring.

And how can any of us care about ANY of these deaths. For one, this is the end as it MIGHT happen. Two, we've seen these characters all die before! They just always come back. So when I watch Rogue die from a knife stab, of all things. I really could care less. CC always makes Rogue's powers feel like plot devices. Same with Rachel. So the only surprise was the easy in which she dies. I mean she got run throw with a fucking sword people in X-treme X-Men. Now se dies from a knife wound? Whatever.

Somehow this issue is better than the last two. For one, it actually advances the plot somewhat. Sinister dies and Gambit decides to take over to dupe the alien slave traders. The children are saved and Wolverine is freed. But the issue is still full of problems. Wolverine is just kind of forgotten for once. While Rachel proves yet again that she can do anything by reprogramming Technarix to save Cable and herself.

I'm just so tired of the dumb plots. Is my memory bad? Or has CC's plots always been this lame? Maybe it was just that I was twelve then or something.

Rating - Mediocre

Green Piece: Galactic Detective (Orbital)

2005-08-31T23:31:00.000-05:00

Green Piece: Galactic Detective
written by Bob Elinskas
art by Rome Maynard & Adam Owen

This is a little twenty page comic that's made from folding an 8x11 piece of paper in half. It's got a colored cover and seems more well made than the normal thing like this that comes out of Kinkos. I always try to be fair when reviewing amateur works like this but I promise to always be honest. If you can't tell from my warning, I didn't really like it.

The plot was pretty clichéd and paper thin but this comic was more about having fun and comedy than any attempts at a serious crime story. Sadly it wasn't funny or much fun either. The two main characters are Green Piece himself, the main detective, and his poindexter partner, Shankley. Neither character is fleshed out in the little time we have with these characters. That lack of space is why they are such obvious stereotypes; at least I hope so, because they didn't have room for anything else. So the writer asks you to rely on the jokes since the plot is such a throw away. I've already given my opinion of both of those things.

And there is the art. At times, it's fairly decent for its cartoony style. Unfortunately this is few and far between. Most of the time the artist does the inexperienced thing of having most of the characters standing either in profile or directly facing the reader. Both feel static and as if the characters are posing. The scene where the two are in the closet feels so lacking in energy or even movement. They are supposed to be shoving and struggling so hard that they break the door down, but it doesn't appear that they are moving at all! The artist also had moments where he'd do a good job of showing the anatomy with the clothes, and then there were times when it looked like clothes were an afterthought. They looked like flat paper clothes you cut out of a magazine.

The back pin-up is easily the best art of the entire thing and it is drawn by a third artist, Adam Hall. That picture is moody like a stereotypical detective comic should look. I will say that the space ship did look good. The artist, with experience, could really improve over time. The writing on the other hand has a lot farther to go.

Rating - Poor

Ultimate X-Men Annual (Marvel)

2005-08-28T17:15:00.000-05:00

Ultimate X-Men Annual #1
written by Brian K. Vaughan
pencils by Tom Raney
cover by Stuart Immonen

Wow. I just got done reading the Annual and...Wow. I'm not sure what to say exactly. I honestly feel like crying. They killed...killed...NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! I won't say and I can't help but accept it. To whine about it would go against everything I talk about with killing off characters.

I will say that the annual, as long and big as it was, was too short for this story. I have almost no clue of what actually happened in the end. Yes, that's part of the point. But damn...

Jugg's shows up and professes his love for Rogue. Him and Gambit fight and in the process the Cyttorak Gem is broken over Juggernaut. But in the UUniverse he's already a mutant so the Gem just makes him stronger. Then a building falls on him and Gambit and some magic happens and Rogue gets some permanent powers after the battle where she absorbed both of Jugg's and Gambits. It's one hell of a tease this issue.

Raney does a good job but he does too many poses. Would Marvel Girl really be hugging Scott right in the middle of a Danger Room Session? And Warren is still sidelined for some reason. Not sure exactly why Vaughan keeps pulling Warren back. Bobby is obviously still in love with Rogue and Kitty's relationship with Peter is mentioned. And when is Dazzler gonna get a uniform of some kind? I mean even if she didn't then why would she wear the same clothes all the time? Storm has her new punk outfit so why not Dazzler?

This just makes me mad that they did this. Not because of the content itself but because Vaughan is leaving and I'd really like his vision to be completed. I mean he can't just let it be with this while forcing someone else to pick up the pieces. That's just silly.

Rating - Good

Wolverine (Marvel)

2005-08-28T17:00:00.000-05:00

Wolverine #31
written by Mark Millar
pencils and cover by John Romita Jr.

And Millar's huge run on Wolverine closes with a loud pop. It wasn’t quite a bang but it didn't suck either. We discover that Elektra is also working for the Vatican and that she might be pulling the Hand in under control now that this is all done. Fury lives of course and they keep Northstar a secret from everyone.

The real shock comes from Logan's realization that everything he's done up till now hasn't really touched the Gorgon. He killed ninjas who wish to die, he murdered his mistress who he was going to kill anyway, and he destroyed bases the Gorgon didn't even know about two months ago. It's a nice little mental switch to show that Wolverine really isn't the mastermind here, the Gorgon is. But it begs the question of what the Gorgon was after? Power? That seems so clichéd. So why should we hate the Gorgon? Answer is: we don't. He's just a bad guy because he'd kill Wolverine if we don't kill him.

The Gorgon is also extremely strong and fast and has mental powers and can shrug off pain and death. So what the fuck is he? Questions we'll never know the answers to because he's killed off. But the fight scene between them is nice and long at least. It's just disappointing because for all his skill and uniqueness as a villain, the Gorgon has no depth. The whole story was fun but it definitely doesn't feel important. Even with the ending.

The book ends with Wolverine's son dead and buried as Logan killed thousands to find him. The whole sub plot served as the book ends to the story and that makes them feel tacked on because they really weren't explored at all in the middle. How can we care about something that's given a total of ten pages in a twelve issue arc. Millar does a good job but it's mostly a two trick pony. Hydra is still around, so is the hand, Logan's new found son is dead and just as forgotten as he was unknown before, and the new bad guy is gone. The only real changes were the death of the Von Strukers and the mind wipe of Northstar. The rest is classic sitcom fair of changing everything only to put it all back together at the end. It was hella fun though.

Rating - Good

Daredevil (Marvel)

2005-08-28T16:21:00.000-05:00

Daredevil #76
written by Brian Michael Bendis
pencils and cover by Alex Maleev

Bendis said he would close his run with a huge bang only if he could find someone to handle the aftermath correctly. He found that person in Ed Brubaker and so we get our bang. It's quite the surprise so far as Kingpin makes deal to oust Daredevil in exchange for his freedom. He'll also admit to all his crimes and will be deported. He tells all to Ben Urich as insurance that he gets set free.

This is a huge betrayal from Ben if he did in fact release the story himself like the issue implies. Milla is also back as Bendis is going to probably tie up her loose end. The whole issue is a slow build like all of the Daredevil stories under Bendis. But its fantastic crime noir and I love it.

We get a small fight scene of DD beating up some bank robbers. It's nice to get some action but the real point of the scene to show that the people are beginning to like DD. They clap for him after he's done and he wins a poll of the most popular hero in NY. That’s quite a feat with the Fantastic Four in town.

The painting behind Milla when she enters the office of Murdock is beautiful and really shows off Maleev's skill in being able to draw a beautiful painting inside an office building. Maybe I'm just getting used to Maleev but it really seems like he is getting better at making his action scenes feel less static. I did have some problems with the printing of the actual issue as some panels had their colors messed up. A color overlay would cover half the panel.

This is the beginning of the end of the Bendis era as we know it. Oh he'll still be around but he's moving on to other projects, except Ultimate Spider-Man of course. So enjoy this while it lasts.

Rating - Great

Black Panther (Marvel)

2005-08-28T15:53:00.000-05:00

Black Panther #7
written by Reginald Hudlin
pencils by Trevor Hairsine
cover by Kaare Andrews

So begins the X-Men/Black Panther House of M crossover. It is way better than I could have thought. Hudlin seems to be really good at the big event stuff. T'Challa and a few other kings of the world secretly band together to plot against Magneto. The only one of the group to drop out after the cat is let out of the bag is Doom. But his fight with Magneto is coming shortly when his last comic comes out. The other kings and queen is Namor, Sunfire, Storm, and Black bolt.

The whole thing is started when Magneto sends an assassin to take out T'Challa. The assassin is Sabertooth and he fails miserably. Evidently Vibranium swords can cut through adamentium as Panther cuts Sabertooth's head off. It's never been explored what that would exactly do but it seems plausible enough to me. I like Hudlin's willingness to kill off characters; this not real anyway.

Magneto turns to Apocalypse, who rules Northern Africa, to take T'Challa down. And so begins the World War as all the monarchs named above help fight off Apocalypse. Apocalypse's horsemen are the X-Men evidently. This explains the crossover. What that means is that Iceman is fighting for Apocalypse when Sunfire kills him. Black bolt goes on to destroy Apocalypse, which makes sense. But Apocalypse's apparent weakness before that moment and his lack of modified horsemen all begs the question of why he was so powerful before? He's made to be a loser here. He’s unprepared, without any really strong horsemen. Color me disappointed. I'm sorry but as a person who grew up on the AoA, I really think of him as a great mastermind. Not a bumbling idiot. And it's not clear why Apocalypse would bow to Magneto in the first place. That's my only real complaint.

I'd like to see what other bad guys rise to Magneto’s side as things go down. I wonder if AIM and the Hulk will enter the fray and I’d like to see South America get a shout out.

This is the best art in the whole event besides Coipel's. Hairsine just makes the book feel more important. My reasoning is that the clearer and crisper the art, the more cinematic it feels. And the more cinematic feel lends itself to big stories and important events. So go get this tie-in. You have to get X-Men too but the whole thing is only four issues. That’s not so bad.

Rating - Great

New X-Men (Marvel)

2005-08-28T12:20:00.000-05:00

New X-Men #17
written by Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir
pencils and cover by Aaron Lopresti

Weir and DeFilippis have really honed their writing skills and it really saddens me that they'll be leaving right when they really seem to be getting a hang of the book. This issue continues the growing secret around the importance of Noriko and Project Genesis. We learn that Sunfire took Noriko away from her real father to raise her as his own. We also learn that Sunfire is plotting against Magneto in the Black Panther book. So I think Project Genesis is a tool to fight Magneto, which would explain why SHIELD doesn't know about it and sent a team to find out about it.

The SHIELD team itself is setting itself up to be the bad guys. And plenty of characters are showing themselves to be shades of gray. Josh and Kevin are torture interrogators for SHIELD, Laurie is an evil bitch working for her father, and Sophie of the Cuckoo Sisters is a good guy. The rest of the characters have broken off into two opposing teams just like in the original Marvel U. It's still David versus Hellion. I hope we get to see them really duke it out.

The fighting is pretty good and clear. I especially liked Magik's use of her powers. I really am impressed with Weir’s lack of fear in having people die. They are actually letting the characters kill people! So much more realistic than say, Mutopia X where it is supposed to be the gritty one. And the plot is full of enough twists as we learn that Moonstar wanted Noriko to try and find her father.

The bad things were small and easily overlooked. Things like Kevin wearing a space suit? Why? And Sooraya and Jubilee dressing like twinkies rings untrue. Two fashion minded girls wouldn't dress like that unless it was a costume. All minor details to be sure.

This tie-in looks like it might actually matter. I'm so forlorn over Weir and DeFilippis leaving because this book is really unique for Marvel. It's fun and intelligent and I fear we are just going to get more of the same with the new team.

Rating - Good

The OMAC Project (DC)

2005-08-28T11:33:00.000-05:00

The OMAC Project #5(of 6)
written by Greg Rucka
pencils by Jesus Saiz
additional pencils by Cliff Richards & Bob Wiacek
cover by Ladrönn

Well it turns out that neither Red Rocket nor Sasha is quite dead, yet. A group of B-list JLAers show up and help save Martian Manhunter and Red Rocket. The group is Green Lantern Guy, Booster Gold, Fire, Mary Marvel, and Metamorpho. A nice set of scenes ensue where OMAC realizes that one OMAC agent isn't enough and transforms two more to fight them off. And three seems to work as they begin to kick the crap out of our heroes. THESE heroes I like. They aren't the gods that the Trinity is. And you see that as they fail. Red Rocket sacrifices himself to kill the three OMACs when he detonates his armor. The sad irony that we now know is that he is really killing three innocents who were just "infected" by OMAC to become agents.

The whole issue is a countdown to OMAC's release of all its sleeper agents. Those people mentioned above that have no idea what OMAC is. It succeeds of course, which sets up a huge battle for the last issue before we have our little Crisis. The rest of the issue was Sasha's transformation into a cyborg. Evidently she was infected too but by something different than the normal mindless drones. She isn't controlled by OMAC but she has their eye symbol for her right eye. It's creepy looking to say the least. It's also really convenient that she is all metal because now we can cross another woman off Batman's long list of love interests.

The art changes aren’t that noticeable. I didn’t even recognize that there were two artists till I began to write the review. The gritty style that the artists use is good for the feel of the book; it is a spy book after all. Red Rocket’s death was emotional and didn’t seem trite. I’m sure there are tons of fan boys out there that are demanding and wishing that Red Rocket and Blue Beetle not be dead. You people are misguided in your feelings. The whole point of their death would be lost. The impact and emotion it emitted would be tarnished and from then on, you would never be scared that your favorite character could die. That feeling of fear builds excitement as you eagerly read each page. If you can’t see that that excitement is the same feeling you got when you first read comics then I can’t help you. Let them be dead. Let your imagination grow as you find new favorites.

I am starting to like the B-list characters a little more now that they are really doing something. OMAC is going to be just one facet of the upcoming Crisis. Obviously the Society will be another. I'm tired of this million pieces buildup. I'll be much relieved when the big picture comes together. But this mini-series has made me begin to care about Sasha and Booster Gold. Let's hope they get face time in the Crisis.

Rating - Good

The Incredible Hulk: Destruction (Marvel)

2005-08-27T20:41:00.000-05:00

The Incredible Hulk: Destruction #2(of 4)
written by Peter David
pencils and cover by Jim Muniz
additional pencils by James Raiz

And the story crystallizes while the plot doesn’t move an inch. Most of the inconsistencies are cleared up here as they explain that all the other stories about Emil being a spy is nothing but a government cover up for the accident that caused him to become the Abomination.

Peter uses his usual tricks to make the comic flow from beginning to end. He uses the same repetition that he used in the first issue. Here he makes it much more prominent and obvious as he opens with a laughing Emil. But as the comic progresses we find that the laugh is really on Emil and the issue ends with Ross laughing. Emil may not be a Russian spy, which was a dumb story, but he still does seem to be a little idiotic. I mean would the head of the CIA run out into the battle field? He wouldn't even be there. But here we have Emil, the head of a secret division running out to grab some biological gamma radioactive container himself. Of course this causes him to become the Abomination. He just doesn't show it right away. Slowly he grows into the creature while still being able to go back to normal. Eventually however we know that he can't transform to human anymore.

The scenes between Ross and Emil are sometimes good, sometimes bad. The good part has Ross threatening to shoot Emil through the eye and Emil eggs him on by promising not to blink. The bad usually includes some kind of childish form of, “you only want power.” And the responding, “YOU only want power.”

Muniz still does the present day scenes but the flashbacks are handled by Raiz for this issue. The styles are close enough to keep it from being a real distraction. I like Muniz's Abomination but his Simon looks singularly odd. I really don't like the way he draws his face. It's like he decided to draw Jay Leno on steroids with the huge ass chin he gave Simon. Raiz does a better job of showing the action clearly for the flashbacks but he really doesn't have the same energy that Muniz was able to get into his panels.

This book feels like what it is. A clean up. It doesn't really have any soul or energy as all the fighting is just flashbacks and the plot isn't going anywhere. After two issues, the present hasn't progressed at all while the past has been cleared up considerably. That's great for continuity but doesn't necessarily make for an interesting comic. I hope the next two issues aren't more talking heads and flashbacks but I guarantee that at least the next issue will have some as we haven't resolved whether Emil will work for the government or not.

*Special Note* I've decided that I need a fifth rating that a comic could achieve. This is mostly to do with my wish to save Ugly for those comics that truly deserve it. The new rating is Mediocre. It's right in the middle. The ratings go: Great, Good, Mediocre, Poor, Ugly. I'll update the rating system soon.

Rating - Mediocre

Ultimate X-Men (Marvel)

2005-08-21T19:49:00.000-05:00

Ultimate X-Men #62
written by Brian K. Vaughan
pencils & cover by Stuart Immonen

Ultimate X-Men is cool again. No seriously. That same indescribable feeling of excitement came over me after reading through this issue. I'm a nerd, what can I say but that, "I love it."

Immonen's style is perfect for the book. Crisp and full of tiny lines; it feels cinematic in its scope. And that has been the artistic tone of the book from the beginning. That’s minus a couple of noticeable exceptions, cough-Kaare Andrews-cough, of course.

The plot is beginning to move fairly quickly too. Havok and his classmates plan a fool's rescue of Lorna. They've got her locked up in the Triskelion with Magneto and they plan to bust her out. We get our first Paige sibling when Havok bullies Sam into going along. The little group of Sunspot, Cannonball, Havok, and Northstar should be one hell of an interesting team.

We also find out that Lorna was set up. As we all expected her to be. Forge and Mystique used some weapon Forge made to make Lorna's powers go haywire. Finally, Mystique is here and she's not the freaking cat. The whole affair is Magneto's plan, but Mystique MIGHT have been referring to another major villain with her comments about the “master.” Apocalypse maybe, since we only got a glimpse of him before Sinister was killed off. I'm not sure if Longshot's capture by Wanda was a way to tie up his loose end or if he might play a role in the coming show down. It was at least, a way to reintroduce the Scarlet Witch.

Vaughan is so funny. His philosophical voice is so clearly shining through with Magneto. That the main villain sees the world in absolutes is a given. But his critique of the public school system had me laughing. Why? Because I say similar things, though I’m no absolutist. Vaughan is smart enough to write Magneto as a smart person. His offer to teach Lorna chess was delightfully full of subversion. I could feel Erik’s tentacles as he attempted to coerce Lorna with every statement he made to her. Her corruption has begun.

The X-Men are cool again and I can't wait to see Cyclops take his brother's lame ass down. It’s plain to see that Magneto is going to get out and the truth that Charles didn’t kill him will be revealed. Fun times will be had by all.

Rating - Great

Ultimate Spider-Man Annual (Marvel)

2005-08-21T19:18:00.000-05:00

Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #1
written by Brian Michael Bendis
pencils by Mark Brooks
cover by Mark Bagley & Richard Isanove

And the new girlfriend is...Kitty Pride? Oh, they were sneaky with their preview image of showing her whole body in the silhouette so you didn't know she was phasing into the chimney. I like her ultimate character and it makes perfect sense for her to be infatuated with Peter. His dating her also makes sense for him because she's got super powers that keep her safe, his reason for breaking up with MJ. And unlike Felicia, the Black Cat, she isn't remotely a criminal. Again, those sneaky bastards lead us on with Felicia’s comments at the end of the last regular issue. I know Quesada loves that sneaky shit.

Bendis's method of showing the mirror thoughts of Kitty and Peter was NOT done to perfection. For some reason it felt weird when it switched and it just seemed a little campy, which it was. But this is fun romantic campy and Bendis does it well so I didn’t mind in the end. I don't know how he grasps Kitty's infatuation so well but he does. I have this theory that Bendis is really an eighteen year old girl who just shaves her head for conventions. Her…I mean his, dialogue is so believable because it isn't smooth. It starts and stops like a real conversation between two nervous teenagers.

We get our first glimpse of Rhino as he is ultimatized. His suit is way cooler looking, but now he doesn't say anything at all. Evidently he's all messed up in the head from the suit, which is a military prototype we're told. The action is good but this comic is mainly the growing love story. I really like Kitty Pride with Peter now. I wouldn't mind seeing them together for a while at least.

I'm really interested to see how this is going to affect the main comic. Will MJ get jealous? Will she even know? I'd really like to see Peter meet Xavier. I wonder what he'd think of Parker. And I'd really like to see Johnny Storm, Peter and Kitty do a little team together. What an awesome crossover book that would be. Kind of a reverse Spider-Man, Iceman, and Firestar type of thing. It'd be a great sitcom at least.

Brook's pencils fit the book perfectly. If someone was ever to replace Bagley, Brooks should be it. His splashes are full of energy and he's able to do those huge rows of talking heads just like Bagley. Let us never mention this again though as I don’t wish to jinx anything.

This looks like it's going to be the best Annual. Yeah, the X-Men one hasn't come out yet but since it's focused on Gambit and Rogue it won't affect the main book as much as this one did. Besides, this one had Kurt and Colossus playing Lord of the Rings in the Danger Room. How can you not love that?

Rating - Great

Spawn (Image)*

2005-08-21T01:14:00.000-05:00

Spawn #148
written by Brian Holguin
pencils by Angel Medina
cover by Greg Capullo

The story of comics: Medina finally is beginning to draw a story that is understandable and clear, and he's leaving in two issues.

Yes, the current creative team is out after issue number 150. Medina had been drawing a million panels a page where you could barely make out a single thing that happened, and Spawn always looked emaciated for some reason. A Chris Bachalo fight was easier to understand than anything in the Spawn comics under Medina. But slowly, ever so slowly, he had been doing better and better. His spawn now looks great and beefy. His panels are large and his layouts are clear. You really get a sense for the action in this issue. And in two issues, he's leaving.

The sporadic release of Spawn has only been contained some what in the past year. We are getting a new Spawn book every month, which is an improvement over the bi-monthly release that they SWORE was not bi-monthly. But we rarely know when in the month it will come out. McFarlane does see the writing on the wall though with the book's sales. Hence the creative team change and new direction for the book with more action and adventure.

This issue begins that transformation to that new style as we actually see Spawn and Al working together towards a common goal. They are searching for the thing that is leaving them clues all over Chicago. Al follows the clues to their source to find the Heap and the Greenworld waiting for him. After issues of aimless wandering and pointless quests we come to what appears to be a big pointless battle. But hey, I'll take some Heap vs. Spawn action any day.

Enough praise in the world couldn't give you an accurate picture of how much I like Greg Capullo's covers. Just brilliant work. As stated above, Medina’s work here is much improved. But he still has the tendency to draw Spawn with no head. His Spawn will contort himself so much in mid-action so as to leave him completely headless. I’m exaggerating a little but it’s still true that Medina’s choice of panels leads one to have to search for where Spawn’s head SHOULD be.

To everyone out there who dropped Spawn ages ago I say, "Check it out in two issues." The book is supposed to get back to its roots and maybe now we'll actually get more stories with Spawn in them. I'd like to see Spawn go kick the crap out of Clown, Mammon and Cog for their collective dumping on him.

Rating - Good

Seven Soldiers: Klarion (DC)*

2005-08-20T23:26:00.000-05:00

Seven Soldiers: Klarion #3(of 4)
written by Grant Morrison
pencils & cover by Frazer Irving

Klarion has been the one member of the Seven so far that is the least like a superhero. He's a witch boy: a member of a forgotten race of Puritans who delved deep into the earth. Armed only with an innate sense of magic and his trusty familiar, Teekl, Klarion has come to the surface. There he is found by one Mr. Melmoth and his band of hooligans.

Klarion is an odd character. His naivety is only matched by his mischievousness. Evil and pain come so easily to Klarion yet so does what appears to be trust. But Klarion doesn't take anything at face value and he quickly realizes that Mr. Melmoth only wants to make slaves of his kids and to destroy his hometown of Limbo.

Most of the issue introduces us to the Deviants, Melmoth's gang of future slaves. The kids are too young and stupid to realize the danger they're in and happily plod on to Melmoth's tune. Klarion quickly shows them the truth. But then he leaves them to their fate. His abandonment of them leads directly to his attempted abandonment of Limbo to the evil Melmoth has planned for it. But Teekl keeps him a little honest and demands that he go warn them. The preview of the next cover has him burning at the stake so it's safe to assume that he will get a warm welcome upon his return. Get it? Warm welcome. sigh Klarion's role in the big picture is yet to be seen but he is definitely tied to the Sheeda.

The art is well suited to the book. It's perfectly moody and captures the bizarre elements of the tale quite well. The problems I have with the story telling don’t seem to be the artist's fault but Grant's. A series of panels during the heist of the digging machine don't really make sense. Somewhere in the middle of the museum an old man is kicked in the groin? Then they rant and rave about being touched inappropriately by ghosts? It's all bizarre yes. But normally Grant's bizarre makes some kind of sense and this is just all nonsense. Some of the panel transitions don't seem to flow correctly either. I had to stop and check to make sure I hadn't skipped a page several times because the scenes didn't seem to match up.

Despite Grant's confusing script layout, this was a solid issue. They announced that one of the Seven is going to die halfway. Klarion may or may not make it past issue four but I'm pretty sure he will. He has yet to play any role in the bigger story yet. My bet's on Justin, the Shining Knight, to be the one to die.

Rating - Good

New X-Men: Hellions (Marvel)

2005-08-20T21:14:00.000-05:00

New X-Men: Hellions #4(of 4)
written by Christina Weir and Nunzio DeFilippis
pencils & cover by Clayton Henry

If only we could get Henry drawing the monthly title. I'm really impressed with his work here. It's clean and extremely consistent. Sadly, my issue had printing problems with the first and last pages: a sort of bleeding of the inks where it looked all fuzzy. Not really Marvel's fault but I still hate it when it happens to me.

We were last left with a surprise ending where Julian had given in and was handing over the bomb to the Kingmaker even though the Kingmaker had lied to them. Turns out, Julian was just trading it in so that their contracts could be destroyed. Then it was bruha-ha time as the Hellions decided to play the part of heroes to take the bomb away from the Kingmaker now that they were free from his contract. A decent battle takes place that spans most of the comic. After the usual shtick of having the bad guy win at first only to succumb in the end, we get a nice scene where Kevin has his hand up to the Kingmaker's head: gun style.

Weir and DeFlippis do great action and it's a pity they weren't able to bring more of it to the main comic. I think a lot of the problems with the main comic stemmed from the huge cast of characters. Although I enjoyed the many sub plots, it was obviously hard for Weir to add great fight scenes like this one here.

Turns out Paladin and Diamondback were working for SHIELD after all. Even their banter was entertaining as Paladin continued to call Fury "Nicky" despite threats to his life. The kids showed they have even more gumption by destroying the bomb before giving it to Fury. Nice touch of the idealists in the kids.

Of course everything goes right back to normal after the Kingmaker's deals all fall away right? Well not exactly. Turns out, Kevin's power is harder to fight than we all thought because he gets "hungry" to kill. Sooraya's loss is the most poignant as she loses all contact with her family. And Julian makes the astute comment to his parents that they might need HIS protection now that the Kingmaker is pissed with the Hellions. Julian’s growing confidence in himself and his maturity to tell off his shallow parents is endearing. Too bad he won't be around after House of M.

This brings us to the sad fact that Weir and DeFlippis will be gone after their mostly pointless run with the House of M tie-in. And right after they started to really get a hang of the kids. I hope I see them again somewhere. Because series like this one are fun reads.

Rating - Great

Spider-Man: House of M (Marvel)

2005-08-20T20:40:00.000-05:00

Spider-Man: House of M #3(of 5)
written by Mark Waid and Tom Peyer
pencils & cover by Salvador Larroca

Thank god I didn't have to sit through another issue of J. Jonah Jameson: House of M. A lot happens as Spider-Man is ousted as a human. His stocks plummet, his movie gets cancelled, a kid gets beaten for wearing a Spider-Man t-shirt, and the Rhino is wanted for questioning in the assault of Hogan. But most importantly, we actually get some face time with Peter Parker. You know that guy who's Spider-Man and has his name on the cover. I've had more than enough of Triple J.

Rhino comes off as a deep character for once. They bait and switch you to think he's reverted to type, but then BAM. He's a nice guy on the inside after all. The last battle with Rhino and his group of B-list Spidey villains versus the Green Goblin is hella fun to see. Yeah I said hella. Larroca’s art really shines here as his talent can go beyond the simple talking heads that dominates this issue.

I like the marginalization of Norman. His story has been done before. And so has the story of the media hating Spider-Man, but at least Waid and Peyer do a decent job with it. The only art complaint comes from the riot scene where Peter gets bombarded with trash on the street. For some reason, Liquid! decides to not color any of them in. They left all the people as a uniform beige color. I understand this if you have a huge throng of people, but we are only talking about twenty or so. It's an easily fixed eye sore in an otherwise beautiful book.

Waid’s characterizations here are better done than the past issues. Where before he would show Ben, May, and George Stacy with no more depth than an iPod mini; we now get a whole slew of good comments out of them. They seem so much more real now after the argument Ben and George get in. Dare I say that I’m beginning to like this new Spidey world?

I wish I could say I knew who the Green Goblin was before I opened the comic. But I can't. I didn't see it coming, but in hindsight, it was the only thing that made any sense, kind of. I'm not going to spoil it for you but I can definitely say that it raises a lot of issues with the Peter Parker running around the main House of M book. The only real question is why did the Green Goblin do what he did? What possible reason does he have for it? Questions we'll have to wait to answer.

This is a much better showing by this talented team than the setup. And I must say that Larroca's Green Goblin looks the best here that I've seen him in a long, LONG time.

Rating - Great

Mutopia X (Marvel)

2005-08-20T01:24:00.000-05:00

Mutopia X #2(of 5)
written by David Hine
pencils by Lan Medina
cover by Andy Park

Now we get the fallout of last issue: Kaufman rants about his image being tarnished, Lara and Ismael's secret relationship, and the growing relationship between Ismael and Bishop. Kaufman egotistically demands that the head terrorist die because she made him look bad and NOT because she tried to killed him. His ranting definitely makes him look gross and demented but evil doesn't come to mind, just petty.

Lara and Ismael's affair is odd in that Ismael seems to have all that he wants. At least we get a glimpse of some marriage problems here as Ismael and his wife argue about their kids and Ismael seems sexually frustrated. But it's hardly portrayed as a bad marriage. Ismael just comes off as a childish brat. But rarely are affairs not selfish in nature. Lara's attraction to Ismael seems thin and isn't really ever explored. Kaufman finds out and has Ismael beaten up but he just destroys Lara's stuff rather than hurt her.

Ismael's kids are looked at in depth here as we find out that only his son is a mutant while his daughter may not be one. He take's his daughter to Mr. Mercator to be turned into a mutant. A cult like religion has grown up around him and Gregor. Other characters from District X are here as members. Ismael throws a fit when Mr. Mercator talks about his daughter becoming a mutant. His fight with his wife about it only adds to his childish nature. His hyper-sensitivity to the issue comes off well but I'm not sure if they meant for me to dislike the main character. The obvious allusions to modern racial issues permeate the whole thing. The two issues of racial/species friction and the affair are handled well after you accept the thin reasons for them in the first place.

Bishop on the other hand is relegated to even more of a side character as we only get a small glimpse of him blowing up some walls. Hine doesn't do action well. His bad guys are all pathetic and utterly campy. I could nitpick the panel of an rpg busting through glass and not blowing up, but let me focus on the fact that these terrorists give up after Bishop blows a single hole in the wall. First they were suicide bombers, then they ineptly attacked Kaufman and failed, and now they give up at the first sign of resistance. Wouldn't the terrorists who are fighting a mutant government expect some heavy firepower? God the terrorists plot thread should just be dropped but then the whole pretense of an action comic would be gone. That's all it is: a small acknowledgement that "yes, they are cops."

This is an improvement over issue one but it still can't seem to pull everything together convincingly. Medina's art is sloppy at times and the inking is distracting in it's habit of making some panels feel like night when it's supposed to be day outside. The fact that none of these characters, minus Bishop, is probably going to be seen after this mini-series begs the question of why it exists at all.

Rating - Poor

The Colony (Deadly World Productions)*

2005-08-19T13:39:00.000-05:00

The Colony #1(of 4)
written by Jason De Groot
pencils & cover by Marc Haines

I'm going to begin to review and take a look at a spattering of independent comic books offered from Comixpress.com. You can check out all the great comics they offer here. The issue isn't up just yet but will be shortly. If you don't want to wait then just email me and I can get you a copy for a buck. This is the first issue of the first volume of what may become a set of mini-series by this creative team. The whole comic is a bulging 32 pages of black and white goodness. Priced at 2.50, it is quite the bargain, and a damn fun read too.

The prologue is two one-page introductions. The first is a mysterious set of panels from the first person view as someone is drowned and then brought back to life. The other one pager is our main character, Jason Thorne, finishing up an assassination. In disgust of his actions he claims he's going to quit and nonchalantly walks out. The first page with the odd set of panels is a nice hook to instantly draw the reader in. But the second introduction seems flat and emtionless but that's mostly to do with its length. It does work for its purpose though. We get a glimpse of the kind of thing Jason does, which isn't glamorous. Nor does it seem very hard, at least in this introduction. I mean all he had to do was walk up and shoot the guy. No grand spy sneaking or commando raid here. This contrasts noticeably with the story's later insistence that Jason is the best of the best.

Skip to the real story: him standing before an old man, Strahm. Strahm is the director of the Project Nomad, which is a special dirty ops program for the US. Jason is trying to quit and Strahm is doing the clichéd thing of telling Jason to do just one more job before he does. You instantly distrust Strahm and we come to see that he's our typical agency boss with his hands in many secret pies. Strahm shows Jason one of these pies, a zombie. He then explains to him that his next mission involves these creatures and that he will cut him loose upon Jason's successful completion of the mission. The dialogue here is well done if not a little over the top, but hey, that's half the fun.

The double page splash of Jason's dream is a nice transition to the scene of him in bed with his wife. It's obviously the Cain and Abel story, but it is changed at the end to be his wife's dead visage, not Abel's. The tone and theme is a little distracting but the whole effect of Jason's nightmare is good characterization. The scene with his wife is weak. The whole thing seems so rushed. Just like Jason's introduction, this feeling comes from its small length. It tries to overcome this with witty banter about Milton and penis size but it comes off as bathetic, yes that's a word.

The agency scenes on the other hand are well laid out and feel more natural. Getting back to them we meet the third character, Jeremy Ganz, who's a techie. We discover that the zombie is part of a society of creatures living deep within the US wilds. And by wilds I mean northern NY. A bit preposterous sure, but an incredibly original and fun setting. So Jason's job is to go in and kill the new regent so that the US can take the place over. All the zombie panels are well done and provide meat to the comic where the rest is setup. This zombie is the creature from the very first page. But that creature's thoughts were civilized and full of sorrow where now we see only rage and murder. I wonder if the whole thing will be dropped or if he has more to do with the story. I hope he does because if he doesn't then he will be a loose plot thread dangling around.

The banter between Ganz and Jason elicited a laugh out of me and Ganz's character is crafted well enough to not fall into cliché. They search out and find Liber Carneus, the home of this society of misfits. A beautiful two page splash shows their city of ancient ruins and pyramids. The following pages shows the characters' run from what appears to be werewolves. The panel layout is done in an experimental style. It's very artistic but I'm not sure how effective it was as a whole. It was just too much experimentation on top of each other. The last effect of the character's fading away was particularly nice but its uniqueness was lost after the artistic montages that came before it.

You get a good hook at the end too. One that really drew me in and made me want issue two already. These hooks often get ignored by writers and it's nice to see them here. Haines' art is well suited for the talking heads and creatures of the night of this comic. Most of my complaints stem from the writer. De Groot shows he can do natural dialogue but some of his scenes are obvious nods to the idea of characterization that come off heavy handed. They are just too short and maybe extending the arc to four issues would have been best. The issue is one large set up but it's done with enough craft to make it more than enjoyable. I highly recommend you all go pick this up. It's a fine tale that only looks to get better.

Rating - Good

The Ultimates Annual (Marvel)

2005-08-11T16:56:00.000-05:00

The Ultiamtes 2 Annual #1
written by Mark Millar
pencils by Steve Dillon
cover by Bryan Hitch

Wow. Talk about the difference an artist makes. Without Hitch, this book just seems average. Dillon's work may be right for the tone of government manipulations but his drawing doesn't lend itself to larger than life heroes and adventures like Hitch does. I hope this isn't a sign that he's being tapped to replace Hitch when he and Millar leave after this series.

This whole issue was nothing more than the set up of SHIELD's Ultimate Reserves: the second wave of super heroes who are simply cookie cutter imitations of the main team. The Ultimate Reserves are the three Rocketmen, The five Goliaths (with a promise for seven or eight more), The Four Seasons, and a promise for more mundane heroes in the works. But the real kicker is the guy they have picked to replace Captain America. He's the only test subject who has taken to the super soldier serum like Steve Rogers did. It all comes off as a little rushed, but it definitely makes a lot of sense. Nick Fury always had more than one team and the idea of the secret ops team of Black Widow and Hawkeye going public would mean he would need another. But the Reserves were always meant to be public and it begs the question of whether or not he has another secret ops team.

Running throughout the story is the sub plot of an assassination attempt on Fury's life. I hope to god that the buildup of a traitor on the team didn't just culminate with Fury ordering his own assassination to flush out a mystery assassin named Mister Nix. Pretty lame indeed but I wouldn't put it past Millar. The Defenders show up and we find out who the traitor on THAT team is, Son of Satan is a SHIELD agent. I must say that Millar really screwed those characters for any real chance of success. Oh don't get me wrong, I really like their non-PC comments and media hungry antics, but those characters just don't stand a chance of being cool for a long time in the ultimate universe.

Millar's politics, unlike Peter David’s, aren't as transparent as I had expected them to be. The comments about the Defenders purposefully speaking out against the Iraq war just to get publicity rings true as a critique against some anti-war groups. But then you can't peg him the on the right cause he obviously holds reservations about what's going on in Iraq. In other words, I think he has really made a good effort at not putting off one side or the other while still exploring the issue in a super hero setting.

All this time given to the nothing characters with copy cat powers really diminishes the main group of heroes. It is nice to see the icons portrayed as human with major flaws but the disillusioning has turned into full fledged trash talking now. It really feels like Millar is building to a team meltdown soon. I just wonder if he's going to ruin the team and then ask the next writer to pick up the pieces.

Rating - Good

Ultimate Fantastic Four (Marvel)

2005-08-11T15:50:00.000-05:00

Ultimate Fantastic Four #22
written by Mark Millar
pencils and cover by Greg Land

Millar promised that he wouldn't ever do a story where the Ultimate Universe meets the 616 universe. So it was with a wink and a nudge that he named this story arc “Crossover.” But he was really just trying to throw everyone with all the blatant foreshadowing. Even though it was mostly dispelled last issue, he thought he might resurrect the ruse with a cover of Magneto holding a limp Reed. It was an obvious reference to House of M but it was also a trick. Because the universe Reed does find himself in isn't the 616 universe, or the House of M version, but one where the only known super person left is Magneto. Every other superhero is infected by a virus of some kind that makes them zombies that eat up normal people.

Well they get so hungry that it only took three days for them to eat everyone on Earth and infect all the superheroes. All the superheroes retain their identities and powers but they still can't help but feed on people. Never mind the fact that a virus that only affected super people would have to be a weird virus indeed to affect mutants, radiation victims and any number of random things that caused them to be super people. The idea of a universe of zombies is interesting enough but ultimately its execution here is pretty weak, no pun intended.

The zombies still have emotions and thought enough to not harm each other. Sue refused to use her force fields to trap Ultimate Reed in fear of hurting her zombie Reed. And it was funny to see Hulk smash his way to be the first to eat Reed. But the whole concept is just typical Millar, 1/4 shock and awe plot with 2/3 character development. The difference here is that usually Millar waits till after he’s hooked the reader before he resorts to these tactics. Maybe he just figured Ellis did that already for him.

The rest of the ultimate four set off to find the missing Reed but only find the teleporter that took Reed to the zombie-verse instead. I really, really don't like the way Land draws Johnny's hair. He looks like a Justin Timberlake wanna be. But other than that small detail, I really find Land's work to be average. He has the style of John Cassidy but not the skill in story telling. His panel layouts just don't seem to flow that well. Land can't seem to do a happy facial expression without the biggest grin imaginable on the character.

It is a fun issue for sure but it really isn't that engaging of one. There is only so much tongue in cheek I can take before I vomit from all the cute little inside jokes. Where the time travel bad guys were fresh again, this parallel universe thing is just getting a bit stale. Unless they can really pull off a good zombie issue here soon, which I think they just tried and failed to do, then I'll be slogging my way through this arc to get to the Inhumans.

Rating - Good

House of M (Marvel)

2005-08-11T15:12:00.000-05:00

House of M #5(of 8)
written by Brian Michael Bendis
pencils by Olivier Coipel
cover by Esad Ribic

This issue is the predictable but necessary issue of the heroes running around NY trying to make all the disparate heroes "remember" using that mutant’s powers. Emma's attempt to discover why and how the little girl does what she does produces no results. She even contradicts herself and says she doesn't know what she's doing to everybody to make them remember. At least the characters recognize her as an obvious plot device too.

Everyone's reactions to the remembering are fairly well done. I'm not sure why Emma is upset that she is married to Scott. It hurts Scott because his dream would be Jean but instead he's with Emma. Its obvious why Magneto would leave Jean out of this, her power would keep her from being mind wiped. Pretty much all the heroes, with a few noticeable exceptions and additions, of the first issue get together. We lose Captain America to old age (he never got frozen) but we gained Cloak, Rogue, Mystique and Daredevil. We also gained Hawkeye but then he disappears, as we know he does in the Pulse. But here's the kicker, he didn't get his mind cleared in this issue. He even yells at Emma and calls her a “damn mutant.” So he just knows that he's supposed to be dead but he doesn't know how or why. Read that issue of Pulse that came out prematurely to find out the rest of his story.

The team is set and the slow crawl towards resolution continues. I will say that the scene with Peter was nice. He had some of the biggest changes happen to him, he has a son, Gwen’s not dead, and his Uncle Ben is alive. Out of all the people present, Logan was the right one to go calm Peter. If Matt Murdock had been turned then I would have said it should have been him. But I think they wanted Logan no matter what, he is the "star" of this show anyway. They all pretty much want to kill Magneto now. None of them seem up to giving him mercy.

The last scene isn't too much of a shocker really. We find out that Xavier is dead. Of course he would be because his presence is too easily damaging to the world. This is building to a major confrontation and anything less than the death of some major characters is going to be a letdown in the extreme. Marvel has a lot of hype to live up to.

Rating - Good

X-Men (Marvel)

2005-08-11T14:47:00.000-05:00

X-Men #174
written by Peter Milligan
pencils and cover by Salvador Larroca

We finally get the sputtering conclusion to the Mystique/Foxx story arc. For four issues, nothing has happened except the characters have gotten more annoyed with each other, one student flipped out, and now the possibility of Mystique joining the X-Men is in the air. God this arc was too long. It really could have been done in two issues and been much better.

The X-Men vote to let Mystique join the X-Men. But Kurt convinces Mystique to leave before the vote even finishes so that he can "wrap his mind" around the idea of her joining the team. It's a touching moment between the two I'll admit. But his reason for having his mother not around is pretty lame. Quite frankly, I was ready for her to join. I'm assuming she's off to limbo since she isn't in any other books. I have a distinct feeling that she is going to be forgotten and that really makes this little arc more meaningless. If Milligan doesn't use her for something else then we can chalk these four issues up to another big fat waste of time.

Remy's line of wanting whatever Rogue wants rang true. And it was nice to see all the members from all the books having a dialogue but it really wasn't handled that well. I'm pretty sure the X-Men don't normally vote on who gets in like some children's club, but even with them doing that, the chance to see who really wanted Mystique in and didn't wasn't explored. And I was very surprised that it took Milligan this long to mention that Rogue, White Queen, Juggernaut, and others had all been on the wrong side before. Part of the problem with the lack of mentioning it is that the White Queen has been in the involved with every pair of broken lovers and lying spies.

The scene with the crazed Onyx and his obsession with Foxx was weird. And Mystique's beating of the kid was also poorly done. Not sure how a woman, even with her training, was able to just kick a person made out of rock and gets him to drop her. Whatever. We get more undefined fire powers from Rogue, and a really crappy drawing from Larroca of those powers. Since when did Rogue have fire shoot out of her when she flew?

This has turned into a big letdown. If this is all used later in some unforeseen master plan then I'll be singing a different tune. Even if, this issue just falls flat. This is an example of how the X-Men can be TOO much like a soap opera. All character and no plot.

Rating - Poor

The Punisher (Marvel)

2005-08-11T11:07:00.000-05:00

The Punisher #24
written by Garth Ennis
pencils by Leandro Fernandez
cover by Tim Bradstreet

This is the conclusion to the Nicky Cavella story. We get an appropriately gruesome fight between Teresa and Castle and O'Brien to start off the issue. Then Ennis continues down the logical path with Cavella and what has happened in New York to the mob. Rather than have the mafia re-supply itself endlessly, we have a mutiny from Cavella's thugs who are fed up with being cannon fodder. There is no other families to do anything about it, just Nicky. It's about time someone came to the realization that the soldiers would stop walking into a meat grinder. I mean they are stupid but no one is that stupid. And it's nice to see that the Punisher's massive killings have actually made a dent in the bad guy population as there is only so many thugs for Nicky to use.

A chance meeting on the street finds the Punisher and O'Brien up against Nicky. He pussies out after the Punisher calls his bluff. He was holding a hostage and Castle guessed that Nicky was gonna put the gun down because he might live that way. Cavella is taken by the Punisher out into the woods to be shot, just like Cavella took out his dad and shot him. Castle doesn't know why Cavella doesn't want to die in the woods like that but he doesn't care. The whole story arc has been a good look into Castle's psyche. We find that no matter how far into hell he goes, he always comes back to the logical killing he's used to. His remark that all Cavella got for making it personal was a more painful death was great. Cavella is a nothing villain. He is a two bit punk who rides his hype. It's nice to see Castle put him in his place. Ennis really seems to have a grasp on the Punisher. He has given more depth to this character than I thought possible.

The Rawlin's sub plot isn't over, and I doubt O'Brien's is either. Both disappear at the end of the issue, but O'Brien can't wipe her record clean because she never got her blackmail information before Rawlins escaped. Castle uses the information he got from Rawlins to clear himself in the Russia affair that happened last story arc. It was handled well but it was real obvious that Roth was going to be killed by Rawlins. I mean come on, they leave him with Rawlins alone, and of course he's going to kill Roth.

This issue really cleans up a lot of loose ends from the past couple of series but we still have Rawlins running around. I wonder what the next set of mob baddies for Castle to kill is next. Yakuzas anyone?

Rating - Great

Captain America (Marvel)*

2005-08-11T10:37:00.000-05:00

Captain America #8
written by Ed Brubaker
pencils and cover by Steve Epting

You just got to love Brubaker's dark crime tales. His stories are always best served with a heavy lined artist and an inker who likes a lot of shadows it seems. But maybe I'm just used to Sleeper's Sean Phillips drawing Ed's scripts. Whatever the case may be, Epting does a great job with the moody talking heads and dark themes in the book. His hand to hand panels could use a little sprucing up. I've definitely seen better panel selections, John Cassidy.

The big twisty plot is starting to become clear as Lukin, an ex-KGB general, has obtained a fully charged Cosmic Cube (I remember these from my old days of comic reading but I can't really remember what exactly they do other than allow the user some form of mental powers). The plot has been moving fairly quickly as Lukin's plans and the dead Red Skull's plans have all come to fruition. Despite the Red Skulls true death at the hands of an assassin, his plans went on. Lukin used the Red Skulls plans as a screen for his own actions so that he could use a WMD to recharge his Cosmic Cube. So we find Philly in ruins after said WMD went off there.

We find that the man who killed Red Skull and Jack Monroe are one in the same, Bucky. It is the original Bucky that supposedly died in WW2. Spliced into the issue is the flashback story of how the Russians found him. Add that to the explanation of the myth of the Winter Soldier and we see the picture fairly clearly now. The winter soldier was thus named because he would be put on ice between missions to keep him from aging. Pretty cool idea if you ask me. The flashback explains why he's got a metal arm: he lost it in the blast that put him and Cap in the icy waters of the sea.

The plot is actually moving a little too fast for the characters to handle. There isn't time for them to weep over the loss of loved ones, Jack Monroe, Neal Tapper (Agent 13's ex), and the destruction of an entire city. But they struggle on as the soldiers they are. We also have a more defined goal for our heroes: find Lukin and Bucky and get the cosmic cube. Each little side quest up to this point has all been a goose chase. Hopefully the ramifications of the WMD in Philly will be explored later because something of that magnitude shouldn't just be ignored entirely, although it's understandable why they did here.

This is finally shaping up into classic Brubaker. I will admit that I was afraid that the early arc of the series was a prelude to a lesser overall story. I shouldn't have lost faith, everything has been done for a reason and it really makes all the stories better upon hindsight. But like I said, some kind of reflection is going to be needed for the overwhelming amount of events that have transpired. A lot is changing for Cap and it's happening really quickly.

Rating - Great

Villains United (DC)*

2005-08-10T23:27:00.000-05:00

Villains United #4(of 6)
written by Gail Simone
pencils by Dale Eaglesham
cover by J.G. Jones

This has been a great book. I don't know how I pick them so well but I really lucked out in picking this mini-series to read over the countless others. I like this concept and these characters so much that I would buy a maxi-series of this. Bad guys fighting bad guys. Of course Simone's good story telling and Eaglesham's art would be necessary for me to keep buying it but hey, I can wish.

Our team of true anti heroes are on the offensive after breaking out of prison. We see the consequences for the Society as their recruitment goes down and a large number of their existing members decide to quit. The team is going after a hive where the society is planning some kind of evil plan. We don't really know what it is but we find out it involved locking up Firestorm as a power source. The team frees Firestorm just as Black Adam and the new Royal Flush Gang shows up. This new Royal Flush Gang is a hip-hop version it seems and they have some of the stupidest lines. Let's hope Simone was trying to be funny with, "Yeah you know me, R.F.G." Firestorm fights off his old captors as our gang of misfits flees.

Scandal actually dons some battle armor and heads into the fray. It’s nice to see her actually contribute other than as a supervisor. The rest of the crew do their usual thing but we find out why Parademon loves Ragdoll so much. Evidently he thinks Ragdoll is funny and he loves humor because there is none on Apoklips. Whatever, it was funny to see him start tearing Deadshot a new one because he thought Ragdoll was dead. We also learn that Catman may be a spy. It all fits but he pointedly did not confirm Cheshire's allegation that he is a spy. Her next revelation is quite interesting and I really can't wait to see what the hell she wants with it, I'm pointedly not telling you what it is she said.

I really like the idea of the society but I really can't help but notice the absence of the Joker. I mean he's really not the team type but still. I can't imagine them not offering him membership. Supposedly his absence is going to be addressed soon. The only founding member I can't stand is Dr. Psycho who doesn't come off as menacing so much as stupidly predictable.

The team gets all black costumes for their raid and I like them much better that way. It makes them not look so much like B-villains, which they all are. Eaglesham, aside from having an unfortunate last name, is doing an incredible job here. His poses are all fun and his close-ups are all clear. This is the best lead up there is, I'd pick this up if you aren't already.

Rating - Great

The Incredible Hulk (Marvel)

2005-08-10T23:18:00.000-05:00

The Incredible Hulk #85
written by Peter David
pencils by Jorge Lucas
cover by Andy Braz

We're given a jump in time. Banner has gotten a little time to settle in. And that includes with Viper who he is now sharing a bed with. Even before the ending, it's pretty obvious that she's using him. On the outside, Australia is a free country not ruled by mutants. But natural problems are starting to arise. The immigration is getting unbearable because they don't have enough resources for everyone. Even the smart move of putting them to work to build homes for themselves, i.e. New Deal style, doesn't seem to be able to work out smoothly because they need materials from neighboring countries that aren't willing to sell them to a free human run country.

Underlying the issue is the buildup of a secret plot by AIM that has immigrants disappearing. Scorpion and Banner go check it out to find Dr. Isaacs building a cyborg army using the spare parts of people. A decent enough idea but the whole lead up with scenes of the program's victims is fairly weak. All the character's lines are horrible. How can David write great lines like, "Hulk SMASH Paperwork!" and not be able to keep a crying girl from sounding clichéd and trite. David's two bit joke of Hulk smashing things is used twice here. It's fine for now but anymore and it might be stretching the joke thin. And this comic had sexual innuendos in a couple of places. One of the more deniable ones is also the most graphic. Maybe I just have my mind in the gutter.

The cover is great! The interior art was not. Lucas is only getting worse it seems. At one point, I couldn't tell if a character was Adam, the android, or not. It's all pretty average, but it is an improvement over last issue's problems. Now the problem may lie with the inker and his heavy hand. I'd like to see the original pencils. Crappy lines, average art, GREAT COVER!, and an average plot sum up this series. What good there was in this issue coudln't keep this comic from being bad.

Rating - Poor

Seven Soldiers: Zatanna (DC)*

2005-08-10T18:42:00.000-05:00

Seven Soldiers: Zatanna #3
written by Grant Morrison
pencils and cover by Ryan Sook

The Seven Soldiers series has finally started to come together. This is the first issue where a major character from one of the other books shows up. It's Justin's pegasus from Shining Knight. The main story is also starting to come together. I must say that I just love this whole group of Seven Soldier's books. So does everyone else apparently because its comics are all selling quite well. The only one that's a little down is Klarion but that's to be expected, the book has the most unusual art of the group and the character is the most removed from the events so far.

We find Zatanna continuing her magic lessons with Misty. We get an amusing battle, if it can be called that, with the Tempter who has been reduced to petty cruelties. He makes quite the ironic line that he prefers the days of the Bible and strict moral rules because now there is nothing that isn't already being offered on TV. He's just another test for Misty as Z goes about teaching her the ways of magic. Then they run into Ali Ka-zoom who just wants the furniture they have that used to belong to him. He says a lot of things that really didn't make too much sense to me. I think that was part of the point.

When they go to meet a minor wizard and drug lord friend of Ali's they encounter the Sheeda, who are the real villains of the whole series. They are torturing Justin's pegasus and Misty stops them with but a non-magical command to stop. They obey her, and more than that, they bow. They meet the Celestial Huntsman who tells Misty's origin story. She's actually the daughter of the queen of the Sheeda and was only spared by the Huntsman's betrayal. This explains the Sheeda warrior’s actions and her innate ability with magic. The Huntsman has the cauldron the Sheeda Queen is after, which will make her immortal if she gets it. But they don't have the power to fight off the Huntsman and so they flee on the pegasus. Quite suddenly we find ourselves with both a direction and a real goal to stop the villain.

Zatanna has a new look and it's basically the same as her old look but now she's showing more cleavage because her shirt is cut open down the middle. An obvious marketing ploy if ever there was one. It's vaguely reminiscent of the White Queen's costume under Morrison. Sook is probably the most mainstream artist in the roster so far with his clean lines and pretty faces. His panel work is ok but not brilliant and his sad faces all tend to look like pouting. Things are starting to come together for our disparate heroes. Let's hope the Guardian and Klarion fit in soon too.

The preview for the next issue says that one of the Seven is going to die. There is no way I could imagine DC letting Grant kill off Zatanna. I think the obvious one is Justin, the Shining Knight. Next issue of his comic has him going toe to toe with the Queen. The plot’s thickened and the story is just getting really good. Keep it coming Grant.

Rating - Good

New Warriors (Marvel)

2005-08-10T18:03:00.000-05:00

New Warriors #3
written by Zeb Wells
pencils and cover by Skottie Young

This book continues to be a monthly treat. Its light art and cheeky storylines may not be for everyone but most people should enjoy this book; even if they, like me, didn't know these characters that well.

This issue finally sets up the basic origins of the team's re-emergence under Night Thrasher. The whole thing is done very well despite the lack of any real plot movement. The team's RV has a flat and the two cameramen are more than happy to sit around and get paid for nothing while the heroes are itching to get a move on. This is inter-spliced with scenes of Ashley, the team's agent, selling the show to executives. His scenes are supplemented by footage from Thrasher's time convincing the different members to join as well as giving a little synopsis on each one. The transitions from scene to scene are done smoothly; only Namorita's lead in is a little thin (it just having her say a line and then cut) but even this isn't noticed that much because her character had the least amount of origin time.

I really liked seeing the big wigs make predictable, yet funny, statements about the marketability of each character. And all goes well till they come to Microbe and it is here where we finally learn the unlikely truth. Microbe is Night Thrasher's adopted son. He was orphaned when his dad killed himself working for Thrasher's company and Dwayne took him in as his own son. The executives wanted to dump him but Ashley stands firm that that would be a deal breaker. So now we know why Microbe has been lying around with a team that otherwise has its act together. His character is becoming the most fleshed out, within the series itself, with Speedball in a close second.

I'm surprised they risked putting this issue in the third comic in the series. The first needed to be an action one to draw in the impulse reader but the second issue is normally where a story like this would go. I think it works better here in the third however. Wells has done such a good job of making you love these characters that you really didn't need a spoon fed reason to care. That makes the back-story all the more meaningful now that we already like them. That said, there is no real controversy among the group. They run like a fairly well oiled machine, prostitution arrests aside (read the comic, its funny). So I think it will be a perfect change of pace for the middle of the series to include a wrench in the works character as they so bluntly say is coming. You can bet it's going to be a girl, because the truth about the executive's marketing logic is that it also applies to the real life comic too.

This is the best cover yet and it's an artistic beauty. It’s made to look like grainy film over an old treasure map like some 70's Western movie poster. Young's interior only made me do a double take once: during Namorita's recruitment scene. It goes from a full page splash of her versus a giant eel to the next panel of the eel already being all locked up and appearing dead. It looks like Wells had a real fight in there and it just got cut from a lack of space. Oh well. Namorita's my fave character by the way, she has sass.

Rating - Good

Ultimate Iron Man (Marvel)*

2005-08-05T23:50:00.000-05:00

Ultimate Iron Man #3
written by Orson Scott Card
pencils & cover by Andy Kubert

This has been another comic book written by an author who normally writes prose. Card is best known for his "Ender's Game." It's a great sci-fi read and I suggest it and the rest of the series to anyone interested in sci-fi.

This book has been coming out as frequently as Secret War, which is to say that it's coming out every three to four months. It's been so long that I had to actually read the little review section at the beginning. But I guess that's what they are there for. I must say that I really don't give a shit about Secret War after all this time. The same is not true of this. It's really starting to get good.

Now some people are going to have a problem with Tony having regenerative powers on the same level as Wolverine, which he evidently does. And they explain his great intellect as a result of his whole body being one large brain. It definitely changes the character's archetype of a normal human in a suit of armor. But this is the ultimate universe and I really don't see a problem with it here. Card is doing a great job with it now that we've actually gotten to the point in the story where we are seeing Tony do more than cry as a baby.

Stane goes to prison after Tony is rescued and Loni leaves him to rot in there. She takes her kid and half his money and companies. She meets up with Tony's dad and offers to give him all of his old company back in exchange for getting her kid into the special school that the Fantastic Four are at.

Tony meets up with Rhodes who is being bullied by racists. Tony tries to help out and makes things worse. But Tony's so ingratiatingly nice and honest that Rhodes takes a liking to him. Pretty much Tony gets Rhodes to test out his new armor which has an electrical shock to it. The racists come off as a little cliché simply because I can't imagine three kids being so stupid and mean. But then again, I didn't go to an all boys’ private school so I don't really know. From my experience though, private school kids are usually fucked up, assholes, or anti social so I guess it fits.

This series is supposed to only be Tony’s origin story in a similar vein to the ones they did for Elektra and Daredevil. It's a nice sci-fi story and you come to really like Tony and Rhodes together. I'd recommend fans of Ellis' sci-fi comics and those into the Ultimates pick this book up.

Rating - Good

Ultimate Spider-Man (Marvel)

2005-08-05T23:25:00.000-05:00

Ultimate Spider-Man #81
written by Brian Michael Bendis
pencils & cover by Mark Bagley

I hate to gush. Especially when an issue isn't necessarily the best over all categories, art being the one lacking in this issue. But it really got me excited. Excited to read more about the story and I can't wait for the next one. This was the shot in the arm this book needed. Last issue was a nice lead up but this one is Bendis in full gear.

The cast grows considerably as we meet Shang Chi who is a friend of Danny Rand's. They talk and catch up. But they are interrupted by Hammerhead who shoots Shang. But Shang lives and a battle royale starts up. Spider-Man enters the fray at the end only to find out that Hammerhead doesn't get his name from a shark. Hammerhead grabs him and holds a gun to his head. Black Cat appears and demands Hammerhead release her boyfriend, what she said.

The comic actually starts with another Bendis story telling device of showing a montage of images with the dialogue coming from the background noise of all the other kids in the school. They are all pretty interesting but one blurb in particular made me laugh out loud: "I have to do a report on President Kennedy." responded to with "Ted Kennedy was President?" Well I thought it was funny. A scene almost right after that is in the police department where we get a little tongue-in-cheek moment of self awareness. A woman dressed up in the old Scarlet Witch costume is handcuffed and is saying to herself, "I'm not crazy!!"

The usual massive panel work by Bagley is on display here both with the kung fu and the facial close-ups during Peter's and Detective De Wolfe's conversation. She plays the role of mentor that Nick Fury had been playing before the whole Sinister Six thing. She's a good character and I hope they use her more. She advises Peter to go ahead and use the Kingpin's information since the cops can't do anything with it. Peter's plan of going to them in the first place was smart of him though.

The big mystery is who is going to be his girlfriend come the annual. All signs point to Felicia but that may be a ruse. They said she's definitely been in the book before so the only two I can think of are either Felicia or Liz. Liz is a long shot but the silhouette doesn't look like Felicia.

The cover is not Bagley's best work and is an example of when his anatomy gets all stretched out. It should be noted that the cover I show and what is solicited in Previews is not the same cover as the book I bought. The change is with Danny Rand. In my store bought issue, he's fully facing the reader and has on a more martial arts looking costume.

The fight scene was good enough to be enjoyable. But it definitely wasn't always the most clear to follow. Kung fu in comics is hard to do well and Bagley just doesn't seem to have it yet. The fight is understandable enough and that's all that matters.

Rating - Great

Y: The Last Man (Vertigo)*

2005-08-05T21:48:00.000-05:00

Y: The Last Man #36
written by Brian K. Vaughan
pencils by Pia Guerra
cover by Massimo Carnevale

We finally get a glimpse at Beth, Yorick's girlfriend. This is supposedly all we're gonna get for a while from the sales caption that said this book was a one-shot. After this book, that's bad news because I really like Beth. Before this issue she was an elusive figure in the reader's mind. She was almost not real because she was so talked about yet so obscure. Now we know both more about her, and Yorick through her memories. It's a great way to tell things about Yorick. Vaughan's storytelling is really beginning to get good in this comic as we get a montage of dream sequences that are induced from an Aborigine’s "magic." It's another part of the world Vaughan likes to tease us with, magic. He leaves just enough doubt to make the reader think, "Maybe it is magic." But then he'll pull away and leave you wondering.

This whole tale alludes to Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." It has both a visual image of an albatross and the literal mention of it with Hero's warning to Beth to not let Yorick become the said albatross around her neck. It's a great allusion and really bodes ill for her future; at least it makes you THINK that. The scene with Hero also shows that Hero was beginning to be sexist before the plague. Her warning is not meant in the same context that it's boding in the rest of the comic. It can't, precisely because so much of the world has changed since she made the comment. We also see a younger Yorick blabbering on like an idiot to Beth. It's cute in a way that makes you see why she liked him.

The comic is full of interesting tidbits that are smoothly put together to give you a more rounded out Beth. Yes, it's a little heavy handed at times, but it's done well enough to not come off as Vaughan just leading you by the hand. Some of those interesting moments include Beth's post-mortem goodbye to her father when she is a little girl, her becoming a super-hero in her dream to save Yorick, and a nice nod to the DCU with her dressing as Zantana for Halloween. It all ends with her dream telling her that Yorick is alive. She wakes up and says his name as if she's going to go find him. I hope so because I really want THEM to make it now.

It wasn't until this point when we meet Beth that I really cared about Yorick sleeping around. Yeah it made sense, and still does, but now I like them together so much that I want them to be reunited in love. I'm a hopeless romantic, what can I say?

The art is beautiful as always. Both the cover and the interior art is amazing. Pia draws faces distinctly enough to almost rival Bryan Hitch. And Carnevale just has a cool name. No seriously, his cover work is both inventive and beautiful. I'd like some of his covers on my walls. I've been lucky enough to have been reading this since issue one. One of those rare instances where I guess that's it going to be fantastic and I am actually right. You need to go back and read the Graphic Novels. You need to read this book.

Rating - Great

The New Avengers (Marvel)

2005-08-05T21:06:00.000-05:00

The New Avengers #8
written by Brian Michael Bendis
pencils by Steve McNiven
cover by David Finch

Just want to start with the same complaint I gave in reading Ultimates 2 last week. What the hell is wrong with Marvel? They put an Entertainment Magazine Cardboard Ad sticking out of a two page layout. The panels were cut in half by this thing. There plenty of other pages where I would have forgiven them this but it is starting to get stupid. One of the editors needs to get their heads out of their asses and stop putting cardboard in-between splash pages. As a professional comic book company, this is pretty lame.

We start the issue with a read through one of the "fake" Sentry comic books by Paul Jenkins. It's drawn by Sal Buscema and I can only guess was really written by Paul Jenkins seeing as they put him in the comic book itself. They did a good job to tease him a little, by having him faint, to make it not look like he's just clamoring for attention. It's a good way of introducing the Void, who is the Sentry's arch-nemesis. The whole effect is a nice way to give the reader some background incase they don't know the Sentry's story. His wife pleads with him and then the Sentry pretty much runs away.

We go back to the fight with the Wrecker. He's subdued with the help of Jessica's "alluring" power. I was afraid at first that they were going to do one of those, "it's not your fault you’re a bad guy, it's ours for not listening." But lucky they didn't. I don't know enough about the Wrecker, but is his crowbar magic in some way? They get a call to come quick to help with the Sentry. We find him with a hair cut and looking normal. All the good guys are there from the Fantastic Four to the Inhumans. Then he bemoans that this is what the Void wanted. We get a nice teaser of black tendrils behind the collected gang to announce the Void's arrival, and cut.

Bendis is moving along at a nice and steady pace, but this issue is mostly setup. He just tricked us into thinking there wasn't going to be one because he delayed its arrival by having the first issue be a fight with the Wrecker. Not saying it's bad to have setups, I just thought Bendis had changed his stripes for this book, guess not.

McNiven's art continues to be brilliant. I just love the way he draws people. Oh, man. I like the way he does hair. I've said this before and I'll say it again: if you draw the hair well then it makes the whole panel look dynamic because it adds wind and movement similar to a cape. But none of these people wear capes so it's necessary to show the movement through another dynamic object. It's a style of using such things, clothing, hair, "movement" lines, etc, that really adds a sense of energy to a person's drawings. Speaking of capes, notice that the Sentry is the only one on the team that has one. This is a new Avengers in the more modern sense that these are Marvel's "modern" heroes who don't wear capes. That's why the Sentry looks so odd on the team. He is an anachronism, but one that is needed to help tie this team back to its roots as a classic superhero group. Sentry is the perfect touch to this team, filling the Thor power vacuum and adding a touch of old-school feel.

Wolverine on the other hand is really just there to give ratings a boost. I'd imagine that Spider-Man was destined to be on the team too for similar reasons. But Bendis is a good enough writer to make the characters part of the whole in a way that makes them seem like they were desperately needed when a character with similar attributes could have done. Peter is the comic relief and the voice of the skeptic. He's the author's way of reconciling the goofy things they do, posing, and living in a skyscraper, with the real emotions that they feel as characters. Wolverine's excuse is also a good one: he can do what they, specifically Cap, won't or can't. He'll kill and do the dirty work. He's the voice of practicality in the group. This is where Bendis is leading these characters. I'm wondering if he can truly keep them in those roles or will he suffer as the book wears on? Also makes me wonder about the Ronin character.

This is a great read through and through. Bendis always writes in those cool cinematic effects, blurring Wolverine during a strike, etc. that really make the book feel like a movie in the grand sense. I pity the fool that ain't reading this.

Rating - Great

Fantastic Four: House of M (Marvel)*

2005-08-04T23:43:00.000-05:00

Fantastic Four: House of M #2(of 3)
written by John Layman
pencils & cover by Scot Eaton

This is another decent tie-in. For one, they actually have something different happen to the normal FF, they all die. Except Johnny Storm who wasn't in the pod with the rest. He's in Iron Man: House of M. The Thing is now called the It and he's also alive. He's been experimented on by Doom so much that he's become a walking pet for Doom.

Doom is a great character to have looked at in this world. This concept of his subjugation to Magneto is well fleshed out. Doom plans his rise and treachery. The new team of Doom's is the Fearsome Four which is made up by Doom (Liquid Metal), The It, Invincible Woman (Air Powers), and the Inhuman Torch (Fire and Flight). Being liquid metal, you can see why Doom has been subservient. But the real force behind him is his mother who eggs him on when he has doubts about his betrayal. It's all done really well and the only corny parts are the names and the obligatory times when they have to say them as introductions.

It seems that Layman is continuing the main book's hint that people get what they want. Doom even talks about it and how he really has everything he wants. But his mother won't have any of it; she's a huge racist who can't stand being under the rule of a mutant. Evidently this holds true for everyone except for the three dead astronauts, i.e. Reed and Sue. This issue is all setup for the big battle to go down next issue with Doom vs. Magneto. Doom has planned it to take place in a dimension where his magic is stronger than Magneto's power, or so he hopes. Obviously Magneto is going to win, how else could he be in the main story?

The art and coloring are well thought out as we even get grain lines on the monitors. There was one panel where it was pretty obvious the point was to highlight Polaris' breasts. And now that I think about it, Polaris and Quicksilver had the same old costumes. I wonder if they forced the writers of the tie-ins to do that. Seems pretty lame to me to not let the characters in the tie-ins get new looks just because they are scared people won't recognize them. Oh well.

This is a good tie-in that's willing to take some chances with the characters in this alternate reality. I suggest picking this one up.

Rating - Good

Iron Man: House of M (Marvel)*

2005-08-04T23:16:00.000-05:00

Iron Man: House of M #2(of 3)
written by Greg Pak
pencils & cover by Pat Lee

Greg Pak has been doing a fairly decent job. This is his second book with Marvel and it's already one of my favorite tie-ins. Pat Lee's artwork is perfect for this book. He's known for drawing robots really well and a book about Iron Man vs. Sentinels seems like his bag. Of course, there is all that controversy about him and Dreamwave's demise. Here are Newsarama's two interviews with both Pat Lee and some upset writers:

Writer's Want Money They Earned

Pat Lee Speaks Out

I'll let you decide for yourselves how you feel about the issue but I will say that the two writers got hosed no matter who you side with. And they have been pretty good about not just flinging mud at individuals. So I have a lot of respect for them. Pat Lee seems fishy but not overtly so. I'm not gonna be making any "stands" by not buying his books or anything. But as he admits, he has a large responsibility in the bankruptcy.

Back to the comic: in a world of mutants, Tony Stark defends a sapien race that loves him and a bunch of mutants fear him. Pretty much the back story here. Tony and Johnny Storm, who wasn't in the space pod with his sister and Reed as FF:House of M tells us, are both arena fighters who use big suits of armor to fight each other and Sentinels. The issue starts with Tony pinned under a Sentinels foot that is controlled by his father. His father helps him to destroy the evidence but when Tony is leaving, he thinks he sees his dad beginning to kill civilians. He fights him off and then fights some more robots. He and Johnny team up with their armor to fight the oppression and that's when they find Henry Pym going into a concentration camp. They save him but he has a surprise of his own. He had developed a virus that only killed mutants.

The dialogue between Tony and his father are intelligent and well done. Pak doesn't let you get a firm grasp of what Tony's dad is playing at. Tony's drinking is showed but it doesn't become an issue. Pak also does a good job with the filler characters. Magneto's crony sent to watch Tony is fairly inventive. While the two head thing has been done before; it's new enough to Marvel that it's not trite.

The whole plot line with Pym's terrorism is a good progression of the character and is well within his personality to do something like that. It's a twist that keeps the book fresh. I wish this team would do the normal Iron Man all the time. They mention the Vision Project but I wonder if we'll see him at all with only one more issue to go. Probably not.

This is a good issue that definitely builds off the first one to surpass it. It’s a fine read and a good tie-in to pick up because of it.

Rating - Good

Uncanny X-Men (Marvel)*

2005-08-04T21:36:00.000-05:00

Uncanny X-Men #463
written by Chris Claremont
pencils & cover by Alan Davis

Another adventure with Chris Claremont, another crappy issue. It's not that he doesn't do a good job of what he aims to do. It's just that I don't like what he's aiming for. He always tends to write a campy, cheesy story with redundant dialogue that borders on treating the reader like a retard. His characters are all full of tongue in cheek comments and little asides and it all feels like a bad sitcom. I'm telling you this up front so that you can take my review of his work, and subsequent reviews as long as he stays on Uncanny X-Men, with a grain of salt. Like I said, he does a great job of writing the type of X-book that he sets out to write and I must admit that I like the fact that the X-books are not just carbon copies of each other. On to the issue.

Last issue we had Captain Britain and company trying to stop the destruction of reality as they knew it. It was a nice concept to have the protagonists actually trying to stop the whole incident but it was full of meaningless characters from alternate realities we'll never see again. And CC has a habit of throwing in characters that you'd have to have been reading X-Men for a long time to know. It's so odd that he doesn't explain these people more but every issue we seem to get treated with the same breakdowns of the main character's powers instead. I think Rachel made the analogy that Psylocke can move mountains while she is better for the small stuff about four times in this issue. Alright CC, I freaking get the clue.

Well, the plot swirls around the idea of the characters only having 48 hours to fix everything or the whole plane of existence our world is in will be destroyed. At least this tie-in has a purpose; just too bad our characters don't know it. They are mind wiped like everyone else, even Rachel. Only Captain Britain's dream begins them on the path to fixing it. They hear about some disturbance in England and they go to check it out. They show up to a battle between Juggernaut and a group headed by Calisto. That Elephant guy is in the group, Tusk I think it is, and I actually like his character. That is for a one-dimensional bad guy, he isn't so bad.

And this fight scene is also pretty good. The act of dropping Blob onto Juggs to knock him out was pretty nice. The campy lines afterwards almost ruined it but...it was still good. Definitely one of his better layouts for sure. We have the obligatory comment from Banshee where he explains exactly what his power is and what it's doing to Juggs. Whatever.

I don't know about anyone else but the idea of Calisto having the same exact tentacle arms seems pretty stupid to me. I always thought it was a bad move to begin with, but to have every character in the exact same outfit as they are always in is boring. Now to CC's credit, Psylocke gets a nice outfit that's pretty cool.

Psylocke and Rachel head off to find Nocturne who Rachel can sense. But for some reason you can't sense the guy that's twenty yards behind her while she can sense a person that's mile away and that's she doesn't know she's ever met? They find Nocturne, end of comic.

A couple of funny panel work in this issue. Nothing bad per se but stuff that, if taken out of context, would seem to mean something else entirely. The seen where Captain Britain asks Ross to lift her skirt to show her tattoo is followed up by the panel of her crying in what looks like humiliation. I laughed because it looked like she was being sexually harassed. Oh come on, stop looking at me like that. I laughed because I KNOW Captain Britain would never do that. You'd laugh too. Davis' art fits the style of the book well, which is to say I don't really like it either. But it is clear to follow and every now and then he'll make a dazzling panel.

I'm going to give it a good but only because I recognize what CC is trying to do. This issue has a decent fight scene and a fairly easy to follow plot that doesn't get bogged down in tangents, like he normally does. If you like this kind of thing than by all means, buy this issue.

Rating - Good

New X-Men (Marvel)*

2005-07-30T13:28:00.000-05:00

New X-Men #16
written by Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir
pencils and cover by Aaron Lopresti

*Update* Yeah, shows how good I'm doing when I just find out that they are dropping Weir and DeFilippis after House of M. Evidently the entire storyline before this might have to be wrapped up by someone else. A bummer really because for all their mistakes, I really liked where Weir and DeFilippis was taking the book. Oh well. It's not canceled, just new creative team.

This begins the New X-Men's tie-in to the House of M. Instead of one school, we have two. One is headed by Shan and is a leadership, scholarly school while the other is a Junior SHIELD program headed by Dani Moonstar. This is good take on the characters and gives us a enough changes to make it more than interesting. Dani is a bitch and her and Shan are at odds. Each person's change is within reason and some, like Sofia's, make sense. Jubilee and Sooraya's apathetic personalities that seem to care more about the mall than they do school may ring true in a sense, but it's a little unbelievable that a girl from Afghanistan, Sooraya, in the normal reality is in New York in this one.

The opening scene of Sapien terrorism is better executed than Mutopia X's but it's nothing spectacular or anything. The idea of the terrorists being suicide bombers is a lot more realistic than Mutopia X's men and women with lasers. Weir and DeFilippis did a nice job by having some of the bombers kill themselves, but the fact that no kids were hurt was a little goofy. The attack didn't really have an impact because the rescue was so squeaky clean.

The best part of this comic, as it always has been, was the character interactions between the many kids. David and Noriko are secret lovers and Laurie and Sofia hate each other. In a world of mutant superiority, her mutant father would be welcomed and her mother would be looked down upon. With her father being an asshole, Laurie would become a daddy's girl, little bitch. That is the exact opposite of the impoverished nature of Sofia's family where her parents could care less about her so she becomes bitter here.

It's nice to see some dead characters return, Magik and the rest of the Cuckoos, as well as seeing some limbo characters like Synch and Quentin Mire. The whole thing comes off well and is one of the better tie-ins yet. Lopresti's art is as good as always, I just love the way he does hair. Yeah...I said it.

Despite some campy suicide bombers, this is a good tie-in. Despite it being a good comic though, it doesn't really impact the main story. It's not necessary to buy this one at all for the normal House of M to make any sense. But I do like matching uniforms on my superheroes, Mmmmm...coordinated goodness.

Rating - Good

X-Men (Marvel)*

2005-07-30T12:59:00.000-05:00

X-Men #173
written by Peter Milligan
pencils and cover by Salvador Larroca

Peter Milligan's run so far has been better than Chuck Austin's but that's not saying much. His characterization is fine but so far his plot hasn't really been that engaging, till now. Mystique has come to the school and this issue we find out that her purposes may have been to join the X-Men. It's plausible that she's not lying. She has been working for Xavier as a solo agent for some time now so we know she's at least reformed a little bit. And her book by Sean McKeever is being canceled so it makes sense that her character would go into limbo and need a home. Nice of Milligan to give her one. It's really a shame that Mystique is being canceled. It was a fairly good series and a lot of people have been talking about how great it is. I can't say the same for the Gambit or Rogue series that came out, bleh.

The whole idea of the character Foxx, who is actually Mystique, was completely retarded. So I'm glad to see that it was in fact Mystique, who has a real reason to try and seduce Gambit, albeit a fucked up one. Gambit and Rogue's relationship had been getting rocky but now it's starting to wither on the vine as Rogue is fed up with it. Her anger comes off more as general frustration and Gambit's confusion seems genuine. Which is to say that Milligan is a good writer and these character interactions is what he does best. His missions always seem a little lame but who cares when the characters actually act and seem like the characters we all loved and remember. I like that Lorna and Alex's characters are actually GOING somewhere now. They had been stuck in Chuck Austin hell for a while now. Let’s just get Iceman back to flesh and we'll have fixed almost all the stupid ass problems Austin started.

Rogue's fire powers were a little dumb and came off as a blatant plot device. Someone really needs to define what she can and can not do and then everyone needs to stick to it in some kind of reasonable manner. Her powers seem to be anything the writer damn well pleases them to be.

I really like the idea of Mystique becoming an X-Man formally. It makes sense that the intelligent villains of old would reform a bit in their old age and come over to the X-Men's side after having been beaten over and over again. The only villains would should always stay villains are those that only care about money or ultimate power. The White Queen and Mystique were never two of those villains. Juggernaut was but his rehabilitation was handled very well and came off as natural.

It feels like Milligan is just gearing up. I hope so because this book has a lot of potential. Austin shat on this book for a long time. Milligan has his work cut out for him in trying to fix the problems while pushing the characters and the story forward. This is a good step towards that goal.

Rating - Great

Black Panther (Marvel)*

2005-07-30T01:50:00.000-05:00

Black Panther #7
written by Reginald Hudlin
pencils by Trevor Hairsine
cover by Kaare Andrews
So begins the X-Men/Black Panther House of M crossover. It is way better than I could have thought. Hudlin seems to be really good at the big event stuff. T'Challa and a few other kings of the world secretly band together to plot against Magneto. The only one of the group to drop out after the cat is let out of the bag is Doom. But his fight with Magneto is coming shortly when his last comic comes out. The other kings and queen is Namor, Sunfire, Storm, and Black bolt.

The whole thing is started when Magneto sends an assassin to take out T'Challa. The assassin is Sabertooth and he fails miserably. Evidently Vibranium swords can cut through adamentium as Panther cuts Sabertooth's head off. It's never been explored what that would exactly do but it seems plausible enough to me. I like Hudlin's willingness to kill off characters; this not real anyway.

Magneto turns to Apocalypse, who rules Northern Africa, to take T'Challa down. And so begins the World War as all the monarchs named above help fight off Apocalypse. Apocalypse's horsemen are the X-Men evidently. This explains the crossover. What that means is that Iceman is fighting for Apocalypse when Sunfire kills him. Black bolt goes on to destroy Apocalypse, which makes sense. But Apocalypse's apparent weakness before that moment and his lack of modified horsemen all begs the question of why he was so powerful before? He's made to be a loser here. He’s unprepared, without any really strong horsemen. Color me disappointed. I'm sorry but as a person who grew up on the AoA, I really think of him as a great mastermind. Not a bumbling idiot. And it's not clear why Apocalypse would bow to Magneto in the first place. That's my only real complaint.

I'd like to see what other bad guys rise to Magneto’s side as things go down. I wonder if AIM and the Hulk will enter the fray and I’d like to see South America get a shout out.

This is the best art in the whole event besides Coipel's. Hairsine just makes the book feel more important. My reasoning is that the clearer and crisper the art, the more cinematic it feels. And the more cinematic feel lends itself to big stories and important events. So go get this tie-in. You have to get X-Men too but the whole thing is only four issues. That’s not so bad.

Rating - Great

Black Panther #6
written by Reginald Hudlin
pencils by John Romita Jr.
cover by Kaare Andrews

The conclusion to the opening arc of this new Black Panther book ends with a relative sputter. It had been going along at a fine clip but its ending really could have been better with maybe another issue to really let the pressure simmer up.

The weird mix of heroes and villains that had signed on to take down Wakanda under the Klaw's direction had been whittled down in the past issues. Rhino and the Black Knight are now gone and so is the leader of the neighboring country that was harboring them. Now we find Klaw and Batroc in Wakanda with the Queen Mother hostage while T'Challa is out avenging the wrong committed by his neighbor. Radioactive Man is in the mines and is ready to take down the whole country if Klaw fails. The American's are involved with a regiment of cyborg Deathlok type creatures coming up out of the water.

That's the set up. Now the following fight wasn't THAT bad but it definitely felt anti climatic. We have T'Challa's bodyguards, the twin female warriors, and another Black Panther, T'Challa's nephew, fighting to save the Queen Mother till the REAL Black Panther can get there. They take out Batroc and occupy Klaw enough to save the Queen Mother but the nephew loses a leg. Radioactive man is killed by his sister with a sword of all things. Why she isn't dead from radiation is anyone's guess. So that leaves Klaw versus Panther. Panther wins after Klaw does the completely retarded thing of cutting off his own "claw" with a laser beam from his eye. Uh huh. Klaw seemed smart enough before this issue. Why he turned into a freaking retard now doesn't make any sense. The Black Panther should defeat him. He shouldn't win because the Klaw is so stupid to actually cut off his own hand. And the last anticlimactic thing is? The American cyborgs back off once they see that Wakanda isn't going to be conquered. They claim they were there to help and are told to leave, they do.

It's an OK ending but like I said, it really seemed anti climatic and made Klaw out to be an idiot. Romita's art is as good as ever. No reason to gush over it or anything. The cover isn't my favorite but it's not bad. It's another Kaare Andrews, also did a cover for Amazing Spider-Man this week. This book shows a lot of promise but Romita is leaving, of course. Next issue is the House of M tie-in with Trevor Hairsine at pencils. Should be interesting but I'd like to see what happens next in the real world more.

Rating - Good

Hellboy (Darkhorse)*

2005-07-30T00:59:00.000-05:00

Hellboy:The Island #2(of 2)
written & pencils by Mike Mignola

Mike Mignola's Hellboy comic book is one of the greatest comics ever made. I'm not kidding. The movie may have been sub par but the comic is damn near god like, to take a counter-strike phrase. Mignola's minimalist art with his vast knowledge of mythology and various cultures all imbue this comic with such rich content. And to contrast all this serious, dark, and weird stories is the every guy's guy, Hellboy. I suggest to EVERYONE to go out and buy the incredibly good TPB's that came out when the movie did. They put together all the different stories about Hellboy into a very nice and chronological set. I also recommend the BPRD series which is a team of paranormal people like Hellboy who have been introduced over time in the Hellboy comics.

Right now in the big story, Hellboy is no longer working for the BPRD. He's out on his own and this story picked up where the last three issue series left off. Hellboy is floating in the sea and comes upon an island. It's here that we finally hear the origin of his indestructible hand! Finally! I won't say anymore in fear of giving it away. Just go read this!

The work was great as always but there were a couple of panel layouts where I had to really study them to find out what was going on. I eventually figured it out in all of them and the only help I can give is to say to look at the big spiky wooden mast sticking out of the water. Try to find it on the next panel and you'll understand what happened.

It's been a while since the last Hellboy series came out so it was really nice to see him in action again. This series leads directly into BPRD's Black Flame story arc that's coming up. Go get it.

Rating - Great

The Amazing Spider-Man (Marvel)*

2005-07-30T00:19:00.000-05:00

The Amazing Spider-Man #522
written by J. Michael Straczynski
pencils by Mike Deodato
cover by Kaare Andrews
Spider-Man has been a lucky character for the past four years or so. He has been in the very talented hands of Straczynski and Bendis for all that time. And Straczynski has even kept up with continuity by having Peter, MJ, and May all move into the new Avenger's tower.

Peter is waking up to the news that a tabloid has written a story about MJ having an affair with Tony Stark. With MJ now in the limelight from her success on Broadway, she's a target for these things. Of course, the story isn't true. MJ was confronted by the reporter upon her entering of the Stark building the night before. She had to keep everyone's secrets and especially Peter's identity a mystery, so she lied.

Peter took the news like the understanding husband he should be. But he also was ready to throw the reporter out a window. His temper was on a short leash, and a great scene of Logan harping on him about it elicited quite the response out of Peter to the delight of those present. Tony Stark was really nice about it all, telling Peter that he'd handle it. He advised that Peter should go take his mind off it by investigating Hydra. Tony comes off very sagely and media savvy, which he should be. Straczynski has a good grip on all the characters of the new avengers that have appeared so far. If Bendis ever puts the book down, I'd be more than thrilled to see J Michael doing it. I'm gonna call him J Michael for now on cause typing out Straczynski...you understand.

Anyway, Peter investigates and discovers Hydra's plan. They set up next issue's big fight with the clones that we saw earlier in the story arc. These clones are just copies of Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, and Hawkeye but they are, of course, evil Hydra clones. Decked out in lime green and piss yellow clothes, they definitely wouldn't win any fashion awards. But they should provide quite the battle for Spidey.

J Michael does an excellent job with Peter's inner monologue. It's more like a dialogue and as a person who does talk/think to himself, it made me chuckle. I think that the inker, Jose Pimentel, has been doing a better job of keeping the book from getting too dark like he had been inking it earlier in his run. The book seems to have much more "light" in it. This isn't Deodato's best issue however. Some of the panels are just lazily done with little detail to them. But he continues to shine with his close-ups, which are sprinkled throughout the book. This is not in the photo above this article but the copy sold on shelves has "kaareandrews.com" written on top of one of the buildings as if it was a company name. It's clever and not bold enough to draw attention away from Spidey.

I'd go pick up the next issue even if you've never read a Spider-Man comic before. I know it's in the last stages of a story arc, but the fight with the Hydra clones alone should be worth the confusion.

Rating - Good

New X-Men: Hellions (Marvel)*

2005-07-29T23:43:00.000-05:00

New X-Men: Hellions #3(of 4)
written by Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir
pencils and cover by Clayton Henry

This mini-series has been a quiet success that has probably flown under the radar just like the maxi-series it's attached to. The writing team of DeFilippis and Weir write a compelling book month after month with a large range of characters that are original and unique. Oh they have their campy moments but for the most part, it's pure gold. It may not be seen as that because it doesn't have an edge or a dark tone or because it's not remaking the industry or the Marvel world. What it IS doing is filling the Marvel world with NEW characters that are interesting and fun to read about. A consistently good story that spans more than the twelve issues or so is hard to find these days.

This mini-series has been focused on just one group of many kids at Xavier's school. The kids have all broken off into different teams and this is the summer vacation of one of those teams, the Hellions. A nice cast of individuals that have gone from the stereotypes they seem on the surface to the deep and emotionally rich characters they are now. The group is staying at the team leader's parent's house. Julian is the spoiled rich boy who is neglected by his parents and seeks their attention and approval even though he won't admit it. It is a common archetype but when it is done well, as it is here, then it can make for a good story.

The kids discover that Julian's parents are rich through some kind of wish making magic. They do it for fun thinking that it's no more than the equivalent of a ouija board. A man shows up calling himself the Kingmaker and that he will grant their wishes. And he does this for a short time as a "test run." He delivers on his promise and the wishes begin to come true, Kevin's power of killing every carbon based matter (that includes people) is cured while Cessily's parents now except her and so on. But there is a catch as I'm sure you could guess. They must do favor's for the Kingmaker in exchange for their wishes. The Kingmaker supposedly works by granting wishes among his clients who he can then call on to grant other clients' wishes by calling on them for favors. The kids desperately want more after their trial is up. They agree to do the first favor, "protect" a secret miracle cure by keeping others from getting it. Then they are to hand it over to the Kingmaker.

They do this and a nice battle with Paladin and Diamondback ensues. DeFilippis and Weir do fairly creative fights. After the kids beat the two, Diamondback reveals that they are working for SHIELD and that the "cure" is really a weapon. The kids are unsure and debate over whether to give it to the Kingmaker. When asked, the Kingmaker admits that it is indeed a weapon. Some of the team is ready to give it back, the others aren't. I'm looking forward to the dissension among the group in the next issue.

It's good to see the characters grow closer and farther apart as crushes wax and wane and friendships blossom and are broken. DeFilippis and Weir are quietly making a good comic book month after month. I hope everyone catches on because they may not be earth shatteringly great by they rarely aren't good.

Rating - Good

Runaways (Marvel)*

2005-07-29T20:02:00.000-05:00

Runaways #6
written by Brian K. Vaughan
pencils by Adrian Alphona
cover by Jo Chen

This is the conclusion to the Ultron/Victor series. Last issue we discovered that Victor was NOT Doctor Doom's son as we had been mislead to believe but was in fact the son of Ultron. We learn this issue that he is a cyborg and that his powers are ultimately mechanical by nature. He was to be a sleeper cell for Ultron who would unleash Victor when it was least suspected. The first half of the comic is Ultron explaining this and the rest of Victor's origin to him.

At the end of it, Ultron asks Victor to kill the Runaways but Victor fights it and wins out. They attempt to hold Ultron but it doesn't really work. Luckily, the Excelsiors show up. Basically Dark Hawk stops sitting on the bench and destroys this Ultron. The Runaways get away from the Excelsiors whose job it was to find them. We also discover the Excelsiors’ secret backer. It's none other than Rick Jones. Vaughan shows that he's up to date on what Rick has been doing in other books, particularly Peter David's Captain Marvel from a while back, when they mention that he has been singing and selling a lot of records.

So now this book seems to contain two teenage superhero groups. This is fine by me because there is definitely room. The Runaways can be annoying at times, pretty much anytime Molly speaks or Gert preaches. And I really like Darkhawk and Chamber. Too bad the surprise ending ruins the chances of one of those characters still showing up. Who we thought was Chamber was actually a spy using a charm of some kind. He’s a member of another group of kids calling themselves the Pride, and who are gunning for the Runaways. I haven't read anything before the 2nd season of Runaways so I don't know if these kids had been around before, I'm guessing not.

I'm fairly certain that the Ultron/Victor plot is still not yet finished for good. It ended rather easily and Ultron is supposed to be a super smart robot. Ultron even talks about how he gained patience recently. So the idea that Victor still isn't a sleeper cell isn't a forgone conclusion. We don't know what control Ultron really has over him.

A minor nitpick I have is when Ricochet throws three discs and completely misses, by wide margins, Ultron who is just standing there. He's so good that he can intentionally bounce one off a raptor's nose to knock Gert out but he can't hit a 6'5 robot standing still? A little weak Vaughan, a little weak.

Chen's covers and Alphona's pencils continue to be amazing. I'd pick up the next issue if anyone is planning on jumping on this series. It's a fairly good series with enough characters in it to please everyone. The latest fad of turning all the lost and crappy B-characters into fleshed out characters is done quite well here. Vaughan's new characters have yet to offer me anything other than a glimmer of hope that I might come to like them. So we'll have to see where this takes us.

Rating - Good

The Incredible Hulk: Destruction (Marvel)*

2005-07-29T19:06:00.000-05:00

The Incredible Hulk: Destruction #2(of 4)
written by Peter David
pencils and cover by Jim Muniz
additional pencils by James Raiz

And the story crystallizes while the plot doesn’t move an inch. Most of the inconsistencies are cleared up here as they explain that all the other stories about Emil being a spy is nothing but a government cover up for the accident that caused him to become the Abomination.

Peter uses his usual tricks to make the comic flow from beginning to end. He uses the same repetition that he used in the first issue. Here he makes it much more prominent and obvious as he opens with a laughing Emil. But as the comic progresses we find that the laugh is really on Emil and the issue ends with Ross laughing. Emil may not be a Russian spy, which was a dumb story, but he still does seem to be a little idiotic. I mean would the head of the CIA run out into the battle field? He wouldn't even be there. But here we have Emil, the head of a secret division running out to grab some biological gamma radioactive container himself. Of course this causes him to become the Abomination. He just doesn't show it right away. Slowly he grows into the creature while still being able to go back to normal. Eventually however we know that he can't transform to human anymore.

The scenes between Ross and Emil are sometimes good, sometimes bad. The good part has Ross threatening to shoot Emil through the eye and Emil eggs him on by promising not to blink. The bad usually includes some kind of childish form of, “you only want power.” And the responding, “YOU only want power.”

Muniz still does the present day scenes but the flashbacks are handled by Raiz for this issue. The styles are close enough to keep it from being a real distraction. I like Muniz's Abomination but his Simon looks singularly odd. I really don't like the way he draws his face. It's like he decided to draw Jay Leno on steroids with the huge ass chin he gave Simon. Raiz does a better job of showing the action clearly for the flashbacks but he really doesn't have the same energy that Muniz was able to get into his panels.

This book feels like what it is. A clean up. It doesn't really have any soul or energy as all the fighting is just flashbacks and the plot isn't going anywhere. After two issues, the present hasn't progressed at all while the past has been cleared up considerably. That's great for continuity but doesn't necessarily make for an interesting comic. I hope the next two issues aren't more talking heads and flashbacks but I guarantee that at least the next issue will have some as we haven't resolved whether Emil will work for the government or not.

*Special Note* I've decided that I need a fifth rating that a comic could achieve. This is mostly to do with my wish to save Ugly for those comics that truly deserve it. The new rating is Mediocre. It's right in the middle. The ratings go: Great, Good, Mediocre, Poor, Ugly. I'll update the rating system soon.

Rating - Mediocre

The Incredible Hulk: Destruction #1
written by Peter David
pencils & cover by Jim Muniz

Peter David has been doing an ok job recently with the Hulk. So I was surprised when this issue had a couple of rough spots. Nothing major mind you, just the occasional set of goofy dialogue and panel mistakes.

The story is basically that the US government wishes to use the bad guy, Abomination, to do military work to help keep us from having to expend US soldiers. This isn't anything particularly new but the story is full of enough sub plots surrounding the various characters that, so far, it hasn't delved into straight cliché. What David does do well is build General Ross into a likable character. His gruffness comes off as having been softened over the years and his willingness to stand up to stupidity in the government makes him a morally grounding character.

A lot of the comic is full of flashbacks to Emil Blonsky (Abomination) and his days as director of the Pentagon's division on gamma irradiation. Simon battles the Hulk in his attempts to help Bruce control the Hulk. As we know now, he was partly successful. Simon's assessment of Emil's character when they first meet is more than a little on the mark and may have been David's attempt to emphasis Simon's PHD in Psychology, something they repeat in the book several times. One literary device that David uses well is the repetition of phrases to give the book a "flow" and helps the reader to frame the story nicely. The repetition I'm referring to is the use of Emil and Simon's greeting reversed from when they first met and when they meet again.

I'm not sure how I feel about the art. At times, during Simon and Hulk's battle, it seemed great and well laid out. Other times, when Simon is just standing there or Emil before his change, are not drawn well and the proportions are all wrong on their bodies. This lack of skill in drawing anatomy is not noticed during the fight scenes because Muniz's panels are so full of motion and life that you really don't notice. Besides, Hulk and Abomination are supposed to be anatomically incorrect with nothing but HUGE muscles. So it works, but the rest of the characters are awkward to look at. Except General Ross for some reason, he drew him well.

This is a decent enough issue but it really isn't anything all that incredible, pun intended. If you're reading the normal Hulk than I'd pick this up because Abomination has been a fairly decent villain for Hulk and with David writing both, this series might impact the source comic. I wouldn't recommend this for anyone else though.

Rating - Poor

The OMAC Project (DC)*

2005-07-29T17:56:00.000-05:00

The OMAC Project #4
written by Greg Rucka
pencils and cover by Jesus Saiz, Cliff Richards & Bob Wiacek

Greg Rucka made a promise that this series would not require the reader to buy any other comics to enjoy and understand this story. He lied. He admitted it in a move that garners respect from me and a little toleration for this. I don't want to buy four other comics to understand what's going on in this series but evidently I have to. I still haven't by the way and am not going to.

Greg had this to say in an interview on Newsrama:

I want to say, before anything else that we tried very hard to build OMAC so that you weren’t obligated to buy anything else, and we failed, we really did. I’ll cop to it – I won’t lie about it. And we did it by playing dirty pool too – if you were buying The OMAC Project, you really need the Superman and Wonder Woman books to know what’s happening in issue #4 of the miniseries. If you don’t read them, it’s possible to understand them, but you don’t get the emotional resonance. That was a little bit of dirty pool, but we didn’t plan it out that way – we weren’t looking to spring this on people, but that’s the way it happened, and again, we’re sorry.

You especially need to read Wonder Woman #219 to know what happens in the VERY noticeable gap between issues 3 and 4 of OMAC. OMAC 4 begins with a short montage of clips from Wonder Woman 219 to help give the reader the knowledge that Superman and Wonder Woman fought and WW won. She then killed Max Lord. All that takes place in one page of catch up for the reader and then we begin with the main villain of this series up to this point dead on the floor. Emotional Resonance Greg? It's the FUCKING DEATH OF THE MAIN ANTAGANIST!

Other than that "minor" detail, nothing has changed for our protagonist inside Checkmate, The Black Knight Sasha. She's still locked up in a cell with her enemy/friend Jessica, the Black Knight of the murdered Black Queen. The chaos of Supes and WW's battle took out the power and the back up power so their cell door and chains come undone. They decide to leave the past behind them and work together towards the common goal of survival. They find Max dead and find that it's a trap.

OMAC is really a computer built by Batman to watch over everyone and everything so Batman can keep tabs on things. It was hijacked by Max Lord and turned into his tool for power grabbing. It got away from him as it became sentient and learned to be an offensive tool rather than just a program for reconnaissance. It contacts Bruce Wayne and informs him that it no longer needs Max or Bruce and that it is going to kill all super human's and aliens to protect humanity. It shows Bruce both Sasha and Jessica's battle with one of the robots and the Martian Manhunter and Rocket Red's battle with another. The comic ends with, presumed, deaths for Sasha and Rocket Red.

In the middle of all this we find Guy, from Green Lantern Corps, and Booster Gold seeking out Fire. This subplot isn't really going anywhere and Guy is an asshole while Fire's a bitch. Neither are likeable characters and neither seemed to work well with others. Unless something changes there, I think I'd rather get more of OMAC and less of these whiney and annoying characters.

Despite Greg's apology, which I accept, I really can't give this comic a Good rating. It just doesn't deserve one. All the emotion of Max's death that should have been contained in these pages wasn't. It's sad because this issue pushed the plot forward nicely and gave us enough mysteries to chew on till the next issue to keep me more than entertained. I'd suggest readers of the series buy this but I'd advise you guys to NOT buy the other four comics. Send a message that this crap isn't ok when they promised to keep it a six issue miniseries.

Rating - Poor

The Pulse (Marvel)

2005-07-29T17:27:00.000-05:00

The Pulse #10
written by Brian Michael Bendis
breakdowns by Michael Lark
finishes by Stefano Guadiano
cover by Mike Mayhew & Andy Troy

I don't normally get the Pulse but it's a House of M tie-in. While I won't be getting all the tie-ins, this one was supposed to be a good one. It was. As they have yet to release the rest of the series, I can not tell you whether this comic is necessary to understand the main comic, House of M. It definitely seems like it should be however.

We start off how all of these tie-ins start really, with that bright white light that is the signal that reality has been altered. Kat Farrel is on her way to work when she comes upon the aftermath of Wolverine's escape from his SHIELD teammates. It's a nice way to tie this comic into the main comic and really sets a tone for being from a reporter's point of view. As is typical, there is a cover up and Kat senses this. Pushing for information, she encounters resistance and duly backs off after a small amount of rebellion against authority.

She tries to get the paper to make a story out of it but we find out that they are nothing but a PR tool for Magneto and dance to his bidding. Urich is there and has a great conversation with Kat about how the best way to fight back is to pick your battles and slowly get the message out. Kat disagrees and is ready to rebel quite quickly. It really makes Ben seem old and sagely but its great dialogue well worth the comic alone.

From there she meets Hawkeye who confronts her and then spills his guts to her about what's going on and how he's having trouble with the fact that he's supposed to be dead. The more I gather about the whole warping of reality plot, the more I realize that Wanda didn't really change the past so much as cover it up. It's the only explanation that I can come up with for why they can all remember the other universe. Hawkeye even sees a newspaper clipping as a different article entirely after his "cleansing" from the mutant girl.

Hawkeye's admissions of vulnerability to Kat seem forced at times and is only weakly explained through his explanation that he needed to get it off his chest and let the world know. Hawkeye reveals that he's going to try and kill Magneto with a wooden arrow. He blows up a memorial for no reason than he's mad and then he leaves with Kat standing next to the blown up memorial to be implicated and questioned by the cops. Not a smart move I'd say if he wants her to be quiet about the assassination.

This comic started off well and was rolling along great till Hawkeye shows up. While I enjoyed some of insights into his feelings, it all felt a little trite. A simple setup for what's to come next time with no consideration of flow or natural cause and effect. Clint just shows up, explains everything to this random reporter and then leaves. At least the art was pretty solid.

I'd pick this tie-in up because I think it's going to be fairly important what Hawkeye does next. It also has some great early scenes and panels and is full of the usual Bendis dialogue, which is to say that it's good dialogue.

Rating - Good

The Pulse Special Edition (House of M)

2005-07-27T18:32:00.000-05:00

The Pulse Special Edition (House of M)

When I first saw this, I was thrilled. Why? Because they took the idea of a comic book about a newspaper and decided to take it literally for this special edition. They made a newspaper, on real newspaper paper and the thing only costs fifty cents. It's a cool concept with a price that fits the product. Here was Marvel taking another creative step forward by thinking outside of the box. Here was a way to make the reader feel as though he were a part of the world he was reading about.

Until I opened the damn thing that is. There are two stories in this paper, those that are directly connected to a correlating comic book and those that are pieces about the world of M that are just for fun and fleshing out the story. The problem? All of those articles not directly tied to a comic are just copies of the exact same ones we read in the main House of M comic. Even the pictures are the same. Oh I get the idea they must of had: we get to read exactly what Wolverine read! Oh wait, we already did. Well at least it had all those other articles related to various comics? Wrong. All those pieces are just preludes to the first issue of the tie-in. So if you've been keeping up and reading the stories, then you really aren't reading anything new here.

I understand that having updates about what is going on in the comic is hard to do. But that's Marvel's fault for not being able to stay on schedule. And the pieces were full of boring stuff anyway. Take the article linking to Uncanny X-Men, we hear about Brian Braddock's sister getting killed by Vargas in Spain and then coming back to life. How lame to just have the exact same characters do the exact same things in this reality.

The concept and effort to push the envelop was there. They just got lazy and decided to fill the good concept with boring and rehashed writing. Another chance at something really different is squandered.

Rating - Poor

Daredevil (Marvel)*

2005-07-21T23:37:00.000-05:00

Daredevil #75
written by Brian Michael Bendis
pencils and cover by Alex Maleev

This is the final chapter in the Decalogue story arc. If you couldn't guess by the minimalist covers, Decalogue means the Ten Commandments. This arc has been a veritable brick wall in the pacing of this comic. But it was a needed slow down as the story had almost become frantic in it's depiction of the chaos that was Matt Murdock's life. This story arc has been made up of various tales by normal citizens of Hell's Kitchen. They are all sitting in a church serving as a self help group for those who were affected by Daredevil.

The stories begin to have similarities and some even tie fairly directly to one another. This evil creature is found to be at the heart of the matter but no more than that was revealed before this issue. If this issue seems a little thicker than normal in your hands, that is because it is. It is 36 pages of story rather than the normal 22 and it finishes up this story arc rather nicely.

We discover the evil creature was brought/created/summoned by a dark sorcerer who is actually so incompetent or evil that the Hand kicked him out. He sold this creature to the Jester for cash, but the creature, which lives inside the person it is infecting, left the Jester and sought out its creator. We discover that that creator is in fact one of the people in the room. The sorcerer points out that Matt Murdock has been in the room the whole time. For once, Matt doesn't try to lie to the people there. He doesn't come out and say he's Daredevil; the lawyer in him would never let him. Instead he says why he puts on the mask and fights crime. It turns out that the dark sorcerer happened upon this self help group and Matt just followed him there.

Matt doesn't really do battle with the man or the dark creature but he does chase him back to an office where the man grabs a gun. But rather than shoot Matt, the man shoots himself while the creature is exiting him. He kills himself and the evil creature.

Matt is honest with the people who have been affected by him in some way and they respond with, if not forgiveness, at least acceptance. This little group has seemed to serve as an unintended self help for Matt. He has explained his actions truthfully to the people he is fighting for. He has found closure on some subjects and been invigorated to continue his fight with the rest. This will hopefully spell a turn for the sunny side for a little bit as the past twenty issues or so have been nothing but a roll coaster ride to hell for Matt.

Rating - Great

Astonishing X-Men (Marvel)*

2005-07-21T20:56:00.000-05:00

Astonishing X-Men #11
written by Joss Whedon
pencils and cover by John Cassaday

Another well produced comic by the great team of Whedon and Cassaday. This is the best X-Men comic to come out in a long time. Even Grant Morrison's run wasn't this perfect. I've even completely forgiven Whedon for bringing back Colossus, because he's made him into an incredible character within his pages.

This issue is just a continuation of the fighting from last issue. They are battling the sentient Danger Room. Her ability to "create life" in other digital machines is a nice touch of creativity to her arsenal.

We start the issue with her ready to battle Xavier after having defeated the X-Men. Now any battles with Xavier must always be very creative because his mind is his only asset and he wins by a mixture of grit and mind games. This is no exception. Her biggest weakness is her conscious thought because once she thinks, she's his. The action is nothing short of Michael Bay meets Warren Ellis. Yeah, chew on that one, heh. Xavier uses his surroundings to prepare the battlefield for her arrival. This includes a decoy and a giant semi. Of course, I kept thinking to myself, "How is Xavier pushing on the gas pedal?" Or the brake for that matter but oh well, I think I saw some stick like devices in the cabin with him.

They explain that Magneto disabled all digital machines for the whole area to keep her from using them. Fair enough but some how he misses a city sized sentinel buried just off shore. It's the same one that destroyed Genosha and Danger's comment that no one seemed to think to look for it rings true. Morrison did just kind of drop it and no one thought a thing about it. But even if that is true in their world, why didn't Magneto feel it, the thing is fucking HUGE. It’s really only a minor detail in the big scheme of things and easily forgotten in the pages of bliss that is this smart X-Men comic.

The team interactions continue to be the best in a long time as well as we are treated to the intimate conversation between Kitty and Peter. The best part about this team is that Wolverine is only a part of the whole. He isn't a plot device that comes in to save the day or act like a human punching bag because the writer can't think of something creative enough to do with the rest of the team. The witty dialogue always helps too. Go buy this book and go get the TPB if you haven't read the earlier ones. This is one comic you shouldn't miss; thank god they signed on for another year.

Rating - MUST BUY

Ultimate Spider-Man (Marvel)*

2005-07-21T19:59:00.000-05:00

Ultimate Spider-Man #82
written by Brian Michael Bendis
pencils & cover by Mark Bagley

Buh DAMN! Felicia, Black Cat, was on Peter like *fill in the blank* on *fill in the blank*. Still waiting for this comic to catch up to the annual we know he isn't going to get with her. Which is disappointing because I really would like to see both done. His relationship with her would be him dating the "bad girl." And the bad girl is always fun.

Most of the comic is more set up. We see Kingpin decide that it's time to really step it up and not take any chances. We see Captain Wolfe really take charge and openly defend Spider-Man. We learn of how Felicia is even alive and what she wants, namely Kingpin's head and to make out with Peter. We learn that the Moon Knight is a little weird and that he may have realized that Peter is one of the good guys. But who knows what he took from seeing the battle of last issue. We learn that his girlfriend is a little upset over the dual roles Marc Spector plays with his multiple identities.

The whole thing is set up to have the many players fighting on odd sides. Black Cat is willing to help Hammerhead kill Kingpin. Iron Fist and Shang Chi are gonna try and wipe out Hammerhead for his gang's involvement in Chinatown. We know where Elektra stands as Kingpin's assassin and then there is Moon Knight. Who the hell knows what he plans on doing. And in the middle of it all is Spidey, to decide between two bad guys. Bendis is back in form people.

Rating - Great

Ultimate Spider-Man #80
written by Brian Michael Bendis
pencils and cover by Mark Bagley

This comic had been getting...stale isn't the right word because I enjoyed it...it's more like it had just been time for a change of pace. So it was that we are treated to not one, or even just two, new characters but three: the reinvention of Hammerhead, Moon Knight, and soon to be realized, Iron Fist.

It's also nice to see Peter being more of Spider-Man and doing adventurous things like fight Moon Knight and have pizza with Fisk. You think I'm kidding too. It's a good read and Bendis has once again proven to be able to put Peter into a moral conundrum. Fisk offers to help Peter get Hammerhead. But of course, such a move will also help Fisk. So Peter is torn on whether to accept the help. It's a good pickle for a young man like himself to be in as it's something he wouldn't have worked out in his life yet.

As for Moon Knight? Well so far he looks cool and has proven himself to be able to go toe to toe with Spidey but he's obviously a little hot headed. He just blatantly starts swinging at Spidey. Elektra also makes an appearance as Fisk's henchman. Seems her work for him has turned her into more of a morally neutral (if not casually bad) character. I like that she's young like Peter, it adds something to their time together. Bendis even elicited a laugh out of me during Peter's and Elektra's exchange in the elevator.

The story with Iron Fist is not really explained but we do know that he's just gotten out of prison for using his chi too forcefully and hurting someone really badly. That puts a spin on his character that I look forward to.

No Mary Jane, no high school drama, but only lots of adventure. Seems like the pendulum has swung again and Bendis is picking up speed. Bout time.

Rating - Good

Ultimates 2 (Marvel)*

2005-07-21T19:19:00.000-05:00

Ultimates 2 #7
written by Mark Millar
pencils and cover by Bryan Hitch

I'd been dreading this comic in a way. I knew it was going to get very political in a very open and explicit manner. And it did, but it really wasn't bad and it didn't come off as preachy at all. I mean Thor certainly laid it all out, and it's an obvious reference to the real world invasion/liberation of Iraq. You can't get anymore "on the nose" than opening the comic with Nick Fury standing in front of a map of the Middle East.

We find the team breaking into a covert military nuclear silo. They dismantle the firing controls, take the nukes, and then Scarlet Witch dismantles them. This is the first real show of power coming out of Scarlet Witch in this series and it was nice to see both her restraining self doubt and her awesome potential. Black Widow is also still using the armor Tony got her, which I can't imagine will stay permanent. They get the people out of there and they did a good job right? Well, that's up for debate. And this book raises the same questions The Authority did, at what point is it ok for superheroes to get involved with sovereign nations and when should they stay out of it? Of course, the story arc that had The Authority look at these ideas was also written by Mark Millar, so no one should be that surprised.

The whole story arc has been building the suspense of Loki's first real appearance. But it does a good job of keeping the reader guessing. This being a comic book with Marvel characters, I think we are all leaning on the side that there is a Loki and that Thor is the son of Odin. Thor fails to warn Tony of a "Wolf in the fold" and from the fact that Tony visited at all, I think we can strike him off the list. That list of who is the traitor, is narrowing even more in this issue as the surprise ending is quite shocking. Till I realized that with Loki involved, everything is suspect. My gut feeling is that it's Black Widow. But she's an easy target for such suspicion, so I suspect someone else is the traitor. It's one of those, "Are they being obvious on purpose? Or do they not know I know?"

One scene caught my eye. Captain America is ordering refugees to go towards where they have water and a camp set up. A boy is just staring at him, and Cap yells at him to get going. It really made me think, "Is Mark trying to say that the Ultimates just made more terrorists?" Or am I just watching too much Fox News and it was really supposed to be Loki. Whatever it is, it seemed odd because it really made Cap look like an asshole. Combine that with the trash talk we get from Janet Pym about him and I'm just waiting for the mutiny in the ranks.

The large numbers of European Super Men that seem to be nothing more than Captain Brittan’s with different flags are boring in a way. It's their lack of character and the lack of diversity that seems to be the problem. Not that it is A problem for the story, they really only serve as backup for the team but it's a thought.

Last thing, they put one of those white cardboard dividers to help maintain the integrity of the book in this issue. That's fine and all but they put it in the middle of a HUGE two page splash. And having to look at that white box covering up Hitch's beautiful art must not be what they had intended. It's an oversight that a professional company as big as Marvel should have fixed.

Rating - Great

Wolverine (Marvel)*

2005-07-21T11:09:00.000-05:00

Wolverine #31
written by Mark Millar
pencils and cover by John Romita Jr.

And Millar's huge run on Wolverine closes with a loud pop. It wasn’t quite a bang but it didn't suck either. We discover that Elektra is also working for the Vatican and that she might be pulling the Hand in under control now that this is all done. Fury lives of course and they keep Northstar a secret from everyone.

The real shock comes from Logan's realization that everything he's done up till now hasn't really touched the Gorgon. He killed ninjas who wish to die, he murdered his mistress who he was going to kill anyway, and he destroyed bases the Gorgon didn't even know about two months ago. It's a nice little mental switch to show that Wolverine really isn't the mastermind here, the Gorgon is. But it begs the question of what the Gorgon was after? Power? That seems so clichéd. So why should we hate the Gorgon? Answer is: we don't. He's just a bad guy because he'd kill Wolverine if we don't kill him.

The Gorgon is also extremely strong and fast and has mental powers and can shrug off pain and death. So what the fuck is he? Questions we'll never know the answers to because he's killed off. But the fight scene between them is nice and long at least. It's just disappointing because for all his skill and uniqueness as a villain, the Gorgon has no depth. The whole story was fun but it definitely doesn't feel important. Even with the ending.

The book ends with Wolverine's son dead and buried as Logan killed thousands to find him. The whole sub plot was the book ends to the story and that makes them feel tacked on because they really weren't explored at all in the middle. Millar does a good job but it's mostly a two trick pony. Hydra is still around, so is the hand, Logan's new found son is dead and just as forgotten as he was unknown before, and the new bad guy is gone. The only real changes were the death of the Von Strukers and the mind wipe of Northstar. The rest is classic sitcom fair of changing everything only to put it all back together at the end. It was hella fun though.

Rating - Good

Wolverine #30
written by Mark Millar
pencils and cover by John Romita Jr.

We're nearing the end of the second half of the epic run by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. Their tale of Wolverine's death, rebirth and rampage as a tool for Hydra has been a great read with both predictable and unpredictable ups and downs. The only real hero to fall has been Northstar who was also re-animated to do the Hand's bidding. Now he's in rehabilitation and the time spent on both Wolverine's distress and the X-Men's who witnessed his death, is done without coming off as trite.

Wolverine and SHIELD are now going up against the last remnants of the coalition of Hydra, The Hand, AIM, and Dawn of the White Light. Each has been decimated in turn by Wolverine as he exacts revenge for his enslavement. The Hand and Dawn of the White Light are now gone, sure to rise later as nothing in comics truly dies, and Wolverine is now focused on taking out Hydra and what little bit of AIM is left.

All goes according to plan till Wolverine and Elektra get to fight the Gorgon. We don't really know why he's so powerful, or even what all his powers are. But as he demonstrates here, he must be awfully powerful because he takes down Elektra and Wolverine and turns the tables yet again. That has been the hallmark of this series; the loser finds the silver lining and wins out.

They mention a meeting of all the evil societies and groups to discuss the Gorgon's plans. I doubt such a meeting is going to ever take place which is a disappointment. As campy as it might have been, I really wished to see such a thing. Oh well, I'll take this any day.

Rating - Great

House of M (Marvel)*

2005-07-21T10:43:00.000-05:00

House of M #4
written by Brian Michael Bendis
pencils by Olivier Coipel
cover by Esad Ribic

This is the best issue yet of this limited series. The opening scene itself is beautifully done and sets a wonderful tone for the issue. This issue is a true step forward in the plot as we meet the Human Resistance headed by Cage but full of the low level heroes, and some villains, that Marvel is known for. This issue also read the most like a movie and all the techniques it used to that effect actually worked.

The only truly confusing set of panels was during the brief battle with the new Sentinels where I'm still not exactly sure in what order to read the panels. They seem to work more like a set of disparate images rather than the usual slideshow, sequential idea. Looking at them backwards and forwards doesn't really seem to change their effect or impact. This may be a deliberate attempt to recreate the chaos that characters are going through. This is a distinctly cinematic effect and would be consistent with the rest of the comic's style.

This comic out of all the House of M comics is going to hold the most interest for most people. It's the story of what happens every time someone messes up reality and time, they try to put it back the way it was. So this comic actually matters while those like Mutopia X have a feeling about them that it really doesn't matter what happens. Plus this is a fairly competent script with amazing pencils. Coipel is just downright amazing here. He has that cool factor that I talk about from time to time.

The one character I didn't know was the little girl. I'm assuming I'm not supposed to know who she is. But she is a key part because her mutant power has something to do with unlocking memories or some kind of telepathic ability. I'm not really drawn to her as a character and she makes some weird comments at weird times, like when she freaks out when they break into Emma Frost's place but not after half her friends die from Sentinels?

It ends with Frost "awakening" to what's going on with the help of the mutant girl. It also gives the idea that maybe reality can't be fixed because to do it, they supposedly have to get Wanda to change it willingly. And I'm not entirely sure why Wolverine would remember that this isn't the "real" reality just because his wish to remember his past was granted by Wanda. I mean honestly, if she can change reality this much, why couldn't she just make him forget the old reality? But evidently everyone has the 616 memories in them and only need them released. I understand there wouldn't be a story if they didn't do this but it's still a little weak.

I just had a thought, what if they bring back all the dead Avengers cause if Wanda is gonna fix reality...Yeah, THAT would be stupid to the nth degree. Now that we acted like we were SO different for killing main icons, we're gonna bring them all back a year later. Let's hope this doesn't happen. Despite its problems, this was a great issue with amazing art and a good pace.

Rating - Great

Secrets of the House of M (Marvel)

2005-07-20T20:59:00.000-05:00

Secrets of the House of M (One Shot)
written by Mike Raicht
cover by Esad Ribic

This isn't really a comic in the sense that it tells a story. It is one of those handbooks or encyclopedia-esque comic books that serves to give profiles of the various characters plus flesh out the world with history and interesting tidbits. The problem for most people is going to be, "Why should I buy a 3.99 list of characters I already know?" And the answer is, you shouldn't. I got it and although it was enjoyable to read, it wasn't really necessary. It did help me remember some of the more minor characters that I didn't know because I don't read all the books tied into the House of M special. That said, I wouldn't buy it again. I think most readers will be fine by skipping out on this one.

The Incredible Hulk (Marvel)*

2005-07-20T20:32:00.000-05:00

The Incredible Hulk #84
written by Peter David
pencils by Jorge Lucas
cover by Andy Brase

Hulk has just made friends with A.I.M., who is led by Viper and her daughter. Banner was in Australia with the aborigines and has become an official tribe member. After helping to repel an attack on some human refugees, Hulk decides to join Viper and her gang on their quest of human liberation against Magneto's governor, Exodus.

Well, David has some good moments with his dialogue and some bad ones. It seems like all the bad ones revolve around the inclusion of the "Machine Teen," or Adam, and his creator. They have sided with AIM after they were attacked and AIM came to their rescue. Adam is captured and being held by Exodus and the like. All that 'bad' dialogue with the Machine Teen cast seems tacked on. And the idea of including him in the story seems a little weird. The 'father' is looking at a photo of Adam that shows him as a teenager; it's an obvious plug moment as it looks like the cover to the first issue. I've never read it and, quite frankly, never will, but doesn't it seem odd to have a photo of a robot boy and now he's a grown-up?

It is good dialogue however with the bad guys. Exodus' banter with his two men, Pyro and Vanisher is fairly interesting. But the best part comes from Viper, of all places. She is commenting on why Banner has the Hulk and makes an astute comment, "I think he's [Hulk] the part of you that lives to prove you're superior to everyone else." A fine comment and one that made me stop and consider that if anyone other than David had written that, I might have just thought it goofy.

A small battle ensues between Exodus and Hulk and you can guess the obvious winner. I sure hope Exodus is dead because one of the last panels is a very clear picture of him landing at least four stories on his NECK. I don't care about his powers, he should be dead. Anyway, the book ends with the people of Australia shouting for Hulk! Mutant and human alike are shown to be in support of him. David had his usual 'prove Hulk can do anything moment' when he has him steer a Blue Whale under the ocean to help hide the AIM submarine from sonar detection.

The interior art is ok. Lucas does a good enough job at times but some glaring mistakes with panel layout exist. Some of it is just laziness, like when Scorpion has her mask on one panel, loses it the next, and then it's back again in the third panel. But some of it is just bad layout, nothing more or less. Andy Brase is one of my favorite artist, when I heard he was attached to this comic, I was estatic. Then I found out the truth that he'd be stuck with just the covers. Oh well, at least I get an amazing cover.

I'd pick this tie-in up if you don't already get it, It's good enough.

Rating - Good

Spider-Man: House of M (Marvel)*

2005-07-20T19:30:00.000-05:00

Spider-Man: House of M #2
written by Mark Waid and Tom Peyer
pencils and cover by Salvador Larroca

Last issue introduced the House of M verision of Spider-Man to be a celebrity. The reason? Because they all think he's a mutant and in a world of mutant domination, he's a star. Jonah Jameson works for him as his publicist, his uncle Ben is alive, he's married to Gwen Stacy (they have a child) and he's doing a movie with Mary Jane. Seems great huh? Well it is except for the big secert that Peter has to carry around all the time that he is in fact a human who got his powers from a radioactive spider.

The idea is a good one, the flipping of situations is nice to see, but that's all there is to it. It's not fleshed out because this story quickly changes it. JJ is now Parker's whipping boy and Parker humilates him in what at frist seems really out of character. But when I realized that Parker was bullied and most bullies are ones who were bullied, it makes sense. Without Ben's death to instill a real sense of responsibility and honor in Peter then he might turn out to be just a bully. He doesn't treat anyone else harshly, just JJ and it stems partly from JJ being an easy target. JJ once went after Spider-Man with a vengence. Now it's Parker's turn.

We find JJ in the gutter after his meeting with the Green Goblin in the last pages of the last issue. GG gave Jonah Peter's Journal and told Jonah to expose Peter. Obviously Peter's big secert is in that journal. A lot of the first half of the comic is spent with Jonah as he stumbles around like a crazy bum. He plays to type and doesn't act any differently than JJ always does. So why spend so much time on him being an asshole? It's not interesting and served no real purpose in the story.

The parts of the plot not taken up by the trials and tribulations of J.Jonah Jameson is filled with actually interesting stuff, Rhino roughing up Hogan (who wears the Green Goblin suit as a wrestler), Mary Jane flirting with Peter (to Gwen's discomfort), and a glimpse of Venom (which is actually a shot from the movie within the comic). The series has a fast moving plot and it seems Waid and Peyer would rather focus on the semi-fast moving mystery rather than the character analysis of Peter's (new to us) situation. I'm assuming they just decided they didn't want to, or more likely couldn't in the span of only five comics, properly look at this alternate reality. As long as it works.

So the question is, who is the Green Goblin? The most obvious answer is Norman Osborn but we find out in this issue that he sold all his patents to Peter via Gwen. And Gwen spent all last issue going through Norman's patents. This mystery is a good one, it definitly misleads the reader thoroughly. I immediatly thought, oh it must be Gwen as the Green Goblin, who else could get his journal? But then Norman starts talking about how to fly it and I realize that maybe he's upset over Peter's buyout? Those two seem to be the biggest suspects. The left field category includes the unlikely company of: Mary Jane, Gwen Stacy's Father, Flash (who gets a mention), or Harry (who isn't mentioned).

The last scene has JJ outing Peter as a human. Let's hope they are mature about it and have the media at least slightly doubt the man, he's ranting like a crazy person into the mic and has reasons to hurt Peter. Let's also hope we get less face time with JJ and more of Peter.

Rating - Poor

All Star: Batman & Robin: The Boy Wonder (DC)*

2005-07-19T16:49:00.000-05:00

Batman & Robin: The Boy Wonder #1
written by Frank Miller
pencils and cover by Jim Lee

Jim Lee is the man who got me into comics. So when I heard he was doing another Batman comic, I had to get it. Frank Miller writing was just bonus, or so I thought. This is a reinvention of the classic characters done by some of the best in the business, sound familiar? It seems like this could be DC's long awaited response to the success of the Ultimate line by Marvel. Whatever it is, it's a bit lacking.

We get Vicki Vale being the sexy vixen she was supposed to be and on top she seems to be a bit of a hoe. In a funny twist, she hates Batman for not being sexy enough but can't catch her breath from swooning over Bruce Wayne.

He takes her on a date to where? The circus of course. To witness the murder of Dick Grayson's parents. It isn't done with any real emotion in it. It's almost as if Miller just assumes you've been through that. So he has things proceed rather quickly. Batman catches the perpetrator and, on the last page, confronts Dick.

The whole book reads like extremely quickly and there is nothing new here for any of the characters except Vicki. Instead we get to the climax fairly quickly, a little premature in my opinion.

The only road back to somekind of semblance of a real story is to have the killer get off because of the crooked cops they mention. Which if they don't do would actually be a surprise, I mean, it was a bit on the nose. This would have been a good #0 issue, like with Zombie King. They spend quite a bit of time giving characterization to Vicki and actually only give a couple pages to Dick pre-murder. It's just the first issue so let's hope this is gonna get better. I like Lee but after the greatness of Hush, we expect more.

Rating - Poor

X-Men: The End (Marvel)*

2005-07-19T16:30:00.000-05:00

X-Men: The End: Heroes and Martyrs #5
written by Chris Claremont
pencils by Sean Chen
cover by Greg Land

Reading a Chris Claremont comic is akin to reading a large book but it's harder to follow what's going on and the book would probably be more interesting. Claremont has the very bad habit of overusing the writing of captions for the pictures. Sometimes it can be down right ridiculous the things he writes in them. Luckily, this comic is one of his better outings.

He uses the captions only when necessary and that's only when he's telling the large flashback to how Mr. Sinister became who he is and why it matters to Gambit. We find out Gambit is a clone of Sinister but only partly. The rest is part Summers. Sinister wishes him to join him as his son as he lives on. Somehow Sinister can see the end is near for the X-Men. But Gambit refuses and is able to round up his kids and escape even though he had all this time to do that already and the supposed only reason he didn't was in fear for his kid's life? Uh huh.

This proves to be an interesting read. But by that I mean I enjoyed looking at the pictures. I really dislike the whole Gambit is part brother to Summers and part clone of Sinister thing. Its pretty lame and even Sinister's secert of cloning and transfering his mind is banal. It's all a giant What if... and I never was able to get into those. Its fun for its novelty but it could be so much more if Claremont would just stop writing the X-Men and let someone else do it. Yes he's better than Chuck Austin, but that doesn't make him good at it anymore. It's his characters I can't stand, X-23 (like we needed another one), his overabundant use of Wolverine, his non-edgy Rachel, his un-charming Gambit, his extremely powerful Rogue, and his weak villains that make me dislike his writing. That and the constant reminder about how being an X-Man means being “a team and losing loved ones and we're all here for you!" GAG ME.

I wouldn't pick this up if I was you unless you had money to burn, its novelty factor doesn't outweigh its suckatude.

Rating - Poor

Ultimate X-Men (Marvel)*

2005-07-19T16:19:00.000-05:00

Ultimate X-Men #61
written by Brian Vaughan
pencils and cover by Stuart Immonen

Ultimate X-Men has been getting better and better after its slump with first Millar and then Bendis. But Vaughan has managed to make it "cool" again. Vaughan biggest draw though, is his ability to give each of the team members some face time while still staying focused on the story arc plotline. It's a juggling act that he has managed to maintain so far.

Immonen has also been getting better. His early stuff on this book was ok but not quite up to par with the talent that had been gracing its pages. Now it seems that he's gotten into his stride as his work is looking crisp and clean. He's also gaining that certain flair of style that is needed by all great comic book artists.

The story itself is pure setup as we look again upon Emma Frost's separate school and Havok and Polaris who go there. One of my favorite characters is Sunspot so it was nice to see him get some more attention and a promise of more to come. They also set up the obvious rivalry between the Summer's brothers and the problems Polaris has with controlling her powers. They leave it hinted that she might be spending some time with Magneto. A good beginning to what's hopefully another great story arc.

Rating - Good

Ultimate Fantastic Four (Marvel)*

2005-07-19T16:00:00.000-05:00

Ultimate Fantastic Four #21
written by Mark Millar
pencils and cover by Greg Land

Warren Ellis really set a good tone for this book with his science fiction minded adventures. Millar has, so far, done a good job of keeping a little of bit of that tone. Some of it was lost of course but Millar is a good writer when he isn't bored. When he gets bored, I believe he falls into a trap of using shock value plot devices to replace the harder task of building momentum and mystery. Let’s hope he doesn't get bored.

The team is found out fighting some time traveling kidnappers, of a sort. This kind of science fiction is great fun and if it can keep this up then I'll thoroughly enjoy it. But we are reminded of just how young they are when they return. Most superheroes aren't reprimanded by their fathers for time traveling. But it is a nice reality to see the characters to confront. We also get treated to the evolution of the romance between Reed and Sue as Reed gets more and more lost in his work.

Greg Land's pencils are equivalent to Cassidy's in their beauty and feel. They somehow keep their panels from seeming static, not an easy thing to do for two artists used to doing nothing but cover poses. The end promises for much worse (better for us) times ahead for the FF.

Rating - Good

The Punisher (Marvel)*

2005-07-19T15:37:00.000-05:00

Punisher #23
written by Garth Ennis
pencils by Leo Fernandez
cover by Tim Bradstreet

It's been said MANY times before by greater reviewers than myself but it's SO true that it's worth repeating: Garth Ennis could have the job of writing the Punisher for as long as he's drawing breath. His Punisher is the one we all wanted him to be back in the "day," and the Punisher he should be today. The new Mature label sure helps out too as Garth is able to write the story and not be constrained to some box of correctness.

We find Castle after he's been on a rampage across the town. His emotions finally get the best of him as he knowingly walks into a trap and doesn't care. He wants to kill Cavella that bad. This story arc ties up some of the loose ends that have been blowing in the wind for a while, namely what happened to the spooks who tried to capture Castle back in the first story arc.

As always, Ennis writes Castle on the edge of death constantly. That's how it should be, his training, balls, and even his reputation keeping him from falling over the ledge. But this comic brings him the closest to the edge that he's been in a long while. It's a thrill of a read, with Castle finally getting laid, and ends with almost as big a cliffhanger as the last one did.

This issue contains the slight calm before the storm that Garth uses well to avoid plateau’ing. I love Fernandaz, I always have since his work on Queen & Country. I'll say his work is good every issue but what I really mean is that it's F*CKING Amazing. He just uses such creative perspectives that every panel is a joy to look at, no matter what's going on. This is a must read for anyone who likes action comics.

Rating - Great

New Warriors (Marvel)*

2005-07-19T15:25:00.000-05:00

New Warriors #2
written by Zeb Wells
pencils and cover by Skott Young

I never read more about the original New Warriors than what was required by me to read such massive crossovers as the Infinite War and Infinite Crusade. But I do have Night Thrasher #1 and New Warriors #1, the original NW and I remember thinking both were ok but not great. I mostly picked up this book because it seemed to promise something different and new. And that it has in spades. It's fun and funny and the characters are endearing. This is the best combination for a light hearted adventure that I can think of.

Even the new character of Microbe, who has the unenviable power of being able to communicate to germs, is a well developed and a good character. The rest are done as well as I remember them being but maybe one of you out there might have a different opinion about it, having read the old one.

Even the villains, even less recognizable to me, are fresh and exciting. But the biggest joy of the book is the creative solutions to the problems that face the team. Saddled with the need to be followed by a reality TV show, they need the funds; they have to work around the restrictions of being literally in the spotlight and still fight crime.

Young's pencils are great fun and I can't imagine them on any book that isn't more fun than dark but luckily this is pure fun. When I have nothing but good things to say, I tend to write much less. So it is here, if you have a little extra to spend then I suggest spending it here. You won't be disappointed.

Rating - Great

The New Avengers (Marvel)*

2005-07-19T15:03:00.000-05:00

The New Avengers #8
written by Brian Michael Bendis
pencils by Steve McNiven
cover by David Finch

We start the issue with a read through one of the "fake" Sentry comic books by Paul Jenkins. It's drawn by Sal Buscema and I can only guess was really written by Paul Jenkins seeing as they put him in the comic book itself. They did a good job to tease him a little, by having him faint, to make it not look like he's just clamoring for attention. It's a good way of introducing the Void, who is the Sentry's arch-nemesis. The whole effect is a nice way to give the reader some background incase they don't know the Sentry's story. His wife pleads with him and then the Sentry pretty much runs away.

We go back to the fight with the Wrecker. He's subdued with the help of Jessica's "alluring" power. I was afraid at first that they were going to do one of those, "it's not your fault you’re a bad guy, it's ours for not listening." But lucky they didn't. I don't know enough about the Wrecker, but is his crowbar magic in some way? They get a call to come quick to help with the Sentry. We find him with a hair cut and looking normal. All the good guys are there from the Fantastic Four to the Inhumans. Then he bemoans that this is what the Void wanted. We get a nice teaser of black tendrils behind the collected gang to announce the Void's arrival, and cut.

Bendis is moving along at a nice and steady pace, but this issue is mostly setup. He just tricked us into thinking there wasn't going to be one because he delayed its arrival by having the first issue be a fight with the Wrecker. Not saying it's bad to have setups, I just thought Bendis had changed his stripes for this book, guess not.

McNiven's art continues to be brilliant. I just love the way he draws people. Oh, man. I like the way he does hair. I've said this before and I'll say it again: if you draw the hair well then it makes the whole panel look dynamic because it adds wind and movement similar to a cape. But none of these people wear capes so it's necessary to show the movement through another dynamic object. It's a style of using such things, clothing, hair, "movement" lines, etc, that really adds a sense of energy to a person's drawings. Speaking of capes, notice that the Sentry is the only one on the team that has one. This is a new Avengers in the more modern sense that these are Marvel's "modern" heroes who don't wear capes. That's why the Sentry looks so odd on the team. He is an anachronism, but one that is needed to help tie this team back to its roots as a classic superhero group. Sentry is the perfect touch to this team, filling the Thor power vacuum and adding a touch of old-school feel.

Wolverine on the other hand is really just there to give ratings a boost. I'd imagine that Spider-Man was destined to be on the team too for similar reasons. But Bendis is a good enough writer to make the characters part of the whole in a way that makes them seem like they were desperately needed when a character with similar attributes could have done. Peter is the comic relief and the voice of the skeptic. He's the author's way of reconciling the goofy things they do, posing, and living in a skyscraper, with the real emotions that they feel as characters. Wolverine's excuse is also a good one: he can do what they, specifically Cap, won't or can't. He'll kill and do the dirty work. He's the voice of practicality in the group. This is where Bendis is leading these characters. I'm wondering if he can truly keep them in those roles or will he suffer as the book wears on? Also makes me wonder about the Ronin character.

This is a great read through and through. Bendis always writes in those cool cinematic effects, blurring Wolverine during a strike, etc. that really make the book feel like a movie in the grand sense. I pity the fool that ain't reading this.

Rating - Great

New Avengers #7
written by Brian Michael Bendis
pencils by Steve McNiven
cover by David Finch

David Finch takes a break and what that really means is that he is probably working on the next story arc, he's known for drawing a little slow. Steve McNiven is just as amazing though and they really couldn't have found someone that much closer to Finch's style, that's working in the House of Ideas already that is. So it really isn't noticeable with McNiven's crisp lines and just as beautiful women.

Even when Bendis picks up the pace, it seems drawn out. He's done a fine job up to this point but I must admit that at the rate of one bad guy rounded up per every 6 issues, out of 53, then this whole plotline is going to take a long time indeed. I imagine however that we'll find that many of the bad guys still out will be rounded up by other groups and we'll just hear about it.

The team finds themselves sifting through the aftermath of their run in with the new shield and the recapture of Sauron. I had been so shocked when Sauron had been killed I was joyful, they had finally shown that a simple bullet can take down the strongest mutant in no time. But NO, they had to bring him back. But it was at least an understandable explanation and one that once I thought about it, made perfect sense. The really cool parts of this book so far have all been the down times, the interactions between the characters that aren't normally together. This will wear off so I suggest everyone enjoy it while it lasts. The "secret" meeting of the really powerful super-hero leaders was very cool to see as well. I especially liked Bendis' nod to the notion that the Avengers go to Chicago or somewhere else to "spread the wealth" as Reed Richards put it; kind of weird that all the super-heroes and villains are in NY when you think about it. You'd think the really smart villains would go to Europe or something.

Did I mention Bendis picks it up a bit? His fight scene in the end of the book is very good. Much better than the super drawn out "it takes six panels for a missile to hit a building" fighting from the Blockbuster story arc of Ultimate X-Men. The lesser members of the team face off against the Wrecker and Bendis' witty dialogue allows room for the Wrecker's rehashed lines of "killing them all," etc. without seeming stale. None of the real big boys is on site to help take the Wrecker down as the first test for the newest members goes pretty badly. But that's what makes it so great, getting to see Wolverine get beat. I'm tired of watching him save the day, the dynamics of him on a team where he is not even in the top three strongest makes for a great read.

If you'll notice, all the members but three are close quarters fighters. Spider-Woman, Iron Man, and the Sentry are the only ones on the team that don't move in to pummel, punch or slash. This makes for some very visceral battle scenes as long as they don't get lazy with the panel work. The Sentry is the obvious filler for the hole left by the death of Thor. They needed someone on that level of power to really be able to fight some of the top villains. READ THIS COMIC.

Rating - Great

Mutopia X (Marvel)*

2005-07-19T14:32:00.000-05:00

Mutopia X #1(of 5)
written by David Hine
pencils by Lan Medina
cover by Andy Park

This is the House of M version of District X, a book I don't normally read. So it was with a little reservation that I decided to pick the first of five in this limited series tie-in. It was better than I expected but worse than I hoped for.

The story is like the rest of the House of M tie-ins: what would it be like if mutants were dominant? This aspect of the story was the enjoyable part for me. Seeing the police department putting Ismael Ortega on the normally all mutant squad for PR reasons was believable and done without being trite. And seeing the mutant cops use their powers for non lethal things like protecting the singer in the beginning was also nice to see.

The clichéd villains, Daniel Kaufman and a stereotypical "Mutant hating terrorist," were nothing great but maybe they can make it interesting by doing something new with them, like maybe tying Kaufman directly to Magneto as a pawn? Not likely but we'll see. The Marilyn Monroe look a like on the cover is his Kaufman's wife. Her power to look like any celebrity isn't particularly new but they make it fresh enough to not get boring. No, the boring part came in when the "terrorists" trying to kill Kaufman at a movie premiere. They used laser guns when bullets could have killed all their targets and they somehow they got at least ten individuals right up to the red carpet, all armed. That’s pretty weak and uncreative writing. I wonder if Hine is forced to make them carry lasers just so Bishop can use his absorbing powers. Either these terrorists are idiots or none of them watch a television as the head of the mutant task force being able to absorb lasers would seem like pretty standard information to gather BEFORE the strike. Whatever, that's typical of the "terrorists" they use in the X books.

The rapper who was obviously modeled somewhat after Eminem was ok. I really groaned upon seeing it as it's a natural law of physics that comic book writers can't portray rappers without seeming REALLY white, but it actually wasn't that bad. It wasn't great by any measure but it was forgettable and therefore forgivable.

I'd only pick this up if you REALLY wanted all the House of M tie-ins. Otherwise, leave this one for the District X fans.

Rating - Poor

Zombie King (Image)*

2005-07-18T18:14:00.000-05:00

Zombie King #0
written and pencils by Frank Cho

First review, might as well start with a comic that is new to everyone, Zombie King: written and drawn by Frank Cho. Frank Cho is better known for his busomy heroines and his comedy, ie. Liberty Meadows. But we see here something completely different. It still has that comedy that Cho is known for but with it we get the gruesome and mysterious.

The first scene is the perfect embodiment of both, a father and son find a zombie on their farm. They think it just a delusional person when they find it having sex with one of their cows. I was so shocked upon seeing the panel that I just sat there. Finally, the spell was broken and then I couldn't stop laughing. This comic is nothing short of teaser though. It sets up the origin behind the zombies, getting the banal cause out of the way and explaining their obvious threat as mindless killers and humpers. But it definitely sets the stage very nicely for the coming series.

Cho's art is put on display here as we see the humping zombie shot by buck shot mutliple times to dazilling effects, guts spew, flesh flies, and innards fall in great detail and crispness that Cho has come to be known for. If you aren't sure about this series or Cho's work then I highly suggest you pick just this issue up. It's purpose is mainly to attarct new readers anyway, setting the stage for the first issue. Give it a try, this one's worth checking out.

Rating - Good

What is this?

2005-07-16T11:34:00.000-05:00

This is a review site of the weekly comic books that I read. If you haven't been to my movie review site at www.doubleviking.com then I suggest you check it out. It's a fine movie review website with tons of other cool features on the site that I'm not attached with.

Right now, I am the only one here in this little corner. But that can change, I'm looking for reviewers of comic books I don't already read. I'm mainly looking for readers of DC, Image, and indie comics. If you are interested, please send a review of a comic I have already reviewed to me via email. Send Review Resume Please don't forget some basics like age, gender, NAME, and the general city you live in.

I'll give a simple rating of Great, Good, Mediocre, Poor, and Ugly. They go in that order by the way. Any Great's is obviously a recommended buy. All Good's are ok to buy if you have money to burn and you bought all the greats. Mediocres are those comics that could be good but have a flaw or two that simply can't be ignored. If you are a completelist, and sadly I am, then you might buy some Poor's but I'd generally stay away from them. Ugly means it's downright not worth your trouble no matter what. So bad even a completelist wouldn't want it. I judge each issue, so a comic could have a rating of Great for issue 61 and a rating of Poor for issue 62. It's a simple system but I think it works well.

Why review comic books? Because they need reviews. There are good and bad writers, artists, and comics coming out all the time. Reviewing a medium helps mature that medium as a formal judgment is placed on artist's individual pieces. This judgment, by definition, separates those that are good, bad, and everything in between. And this in turn helps spurn the industry and the artists to make better work. It also helps casual readers, much like with the movie industry, who read the reviews to find the best comics so that they aren't wading through the sludge at the store to find the gems there. Besides, I love them. More so than movies, I have a passion for comic books. I want to write them, I own stock in them, and I buy them every Wednesday. This site was personally a necessary step that hopefully will be a success.

Are you going to disagree with me? Hell yes. But that's okay, I will allow for comments on my reviews to be posted. Disagree? Say so. But I'm warning you now that anything crude, crass, mean spirited, or generally derogatory is going to be deleted. You've been warned. But that doesn't mean you can't say you think I missed the whole point of the comic and must be blind, just keep it civilized.

So stick around and please enjoy yourself. All true comic fans should support sites like this, all I ask for is your attention.