This was a light week, and another one without any DC. As I said last week, I'll be the first to admit that between the big two I have a bit of a Marvel bias, but it's still weird to go two weeks without any DC titles whatsoever. I'm not sure if the ones I do read just have been getting pushed back or what, I feel like when I'm setting up my pull the week before (I use Comixology's PullList app, which while handy is a bit erratic with dates) I have DC titles on there but then come Wednesday they've been shuffled away somewhere further down the timestream. Additionally, my shop didn't have one book I wanted this week so until I'm free enough to skirt over to another store I'll just toss a title from last week I picked up.
Comics for 2/23:
Star Trek: Infestation #2 (of 2)
Atomic Robo: The Deadly Art Of Science #4 (of 5)
Power-Man and Iron Fist #2 (of 5)
X-Men #8
Amazing Spider-Man #655
Star Trek: Infestation #2 (of 2) From IDW. Written by Scott Tipton and David Tipton, pencils/inks by Gary Erksine, layouts by Casey Maloney, colors by Luis Antonio Delgado.
"Is this a cure or some sort of torture device?"
I'm actually tempted to say this was the best issue of Infestation so far. While the first issue felt like a horror movie the Trek characters has dumped into, this, especially in the conclusion, felt like an actual Star Trek story with zombies, which is basically, finally, what Infestation promised us all along. The Transformers issues kind of happened around the zombies. There were certainly zombies in the art, and one or two zombified bots which basically extended as far as a superficial physical change. Trek, on the other hand, was Kirk, Spock, Bones and an adorable, boxy robot fighting off waves of zombies while developing a "cure", which I'll concede didn't really hold up to scrutiny but at least made a certain amount of sense which cause it, again, to feel very true to the universe they were working in. Additionally, it was a complete story that could be enjoyed contained fully in these two issues. Where Transformers fell in the middle of Infestation and Heart of Darkness, if it was your wont, you could pick up these two Trek issues and enjoy it without any of the rest of the crossover. I think the only real complaint I have is with the art. Not about the quality, which I thought was strong throughout, but the consistency. There is a fairly stark difference between the stock characters, and Britt, who all have a smoother, more stylized look, versus the main three characters who are, obviously, based off real people. On their own, they all look pretty great but when they're all in the same panel it stands out. I didn't notice it enough in the first issue to make a mention of it, but here it seems more prominent.
And I know the cover is more of a gag than anything, but I would have been giggling my ass off if zombified tribbles actually made it into the comic. Damn shame.
Atomic Robo: The Deadly Art Of Science #4 (of 5) From Red 5. Written by Brian Clevinger, art by Scott Wegener, colors by Ronda Pattison.
"Genius is often little more than the ability to see connections no one else can."
We're finally getting a good look at who the villain of this arc is and, I don't want to spoil anything outright but I will say one of the heroes of this is Nikola Tesla. But what's really setting this story apart from the rest of the Atomic Robo series is the focus on relationships. Before, we've gotten to know the characters on their own but rarely has the focus been on Robo's interpersonal connection with people, other than the feuds with Dr. Dinosaur and Carl Sagan. This series has been showcasing his father/son relationship with Tesla, his devotion to his unwilling mentor Jack Tarot and even a budding romance between Robo and Tarot's decidedly human daughter Helen. Set in 1930 or thereabouts, we're seeing a young, still-naive Robo and, while the book is still lighthearted with Clevinger's clever writing and Wegener's beautifully stylized art, knowing where Robo will end up in the present, I have a feeling things aren't going to end so well for the rest of the cast. For now, though, the humor is still intact. This issue is pretty light on the action, focusing more on setting up whatever's coming in the last issue.
Power Man and Iron Fist #2 (of 5) From Marvel. Written by Fred Van Lente, art by Wellington Alves, Nelson Pereira, and Pere Perez, colors by Bruno Hang.
"Now you're on the trolley."
I hadn't noticed this was a limited series when this, my focus instead shifted towards the large, yellow "1ST ISSUE!" and had assumed this was an ongoing. Bit disappointed these two weren't getting an ongoing because I'd like to see more time devoted to the master/student relationship here that is somewhat getting a backseat to the murder mystery, but it does at least hint that come issue five there'll be some resolution to the story, rather than opening the mystery up wider to the support the rest of the run. While the first issue was heavier on the action, here we see Iron Fist doing his detective work, flexing more muscle as businessman Daniel Rand than as a superhero. Meanwhile, Power Man dealing with his life outside of heroics, both with his family and his school. Between them, they find a few clues leading them possibly towards the grand mastermind behind Crime-Buster's murder, whose last page reveal is simply amazing; easily the greatest, most terrible pun-based name since... well, probably last issue's Don of the Dead (originally from Van Lente's Taskmaster mini-series). Also coming together are Penance Corps, the privatized prison company Crime-Buster worked for, the still-mysterious Noir haunting Power Man and the theatre-themed assassin group Commedia Dell'Morte, seeking revenge for the loss of one of their own members. The whole issue on its own is a bit busy, with all these groups coming together but unless it completely loses momentum in issue three we should see these threads start coming together.
X-Men #8 From Marvel. Written by Victor Gischler, pencils and colors by Chris Bachalo, inks by Tim Townsend, Wayne Faucher, Jaime Mendoza and Al Vey.
"I love how folksy he is."
I've followed X-Men off and on over the years, and this is my first jumping back in since the last time they went into space, I think. The thing about X-Men that's different from a lot of comics is, they tend to lack a status quo to fall back to. Cap, Batman, Spidey, et al are basically, give or take some details, are roughly the same as they always have been. While the basics stay the same, every few years the X-Men's landscape is substantially different from where it had been, especially if you're only touching down with it erratically, or from the many, varied X-titles out there to chose from. That said, I guess what would be the X-Men core title here is pretty easy to jump into. My entire motivation for picking this up, however, was the co-starring credit Spider-Man and, more important to me, the Lizard. Shed in Amazing Spider-Man was one of its best storylines in years, but I didn't really love how it ended. Aside from a brief cameo in Origin of the Species this is the first time we're really seeing what's become of Lizard. And, one other reason I loved Shed returning here is Bachalo's art, who is just one of my favorites to see on a book, even if sometimes some of the faces look a bit same-y. After #7, I was expecting more of a straightforward Lizard story, which would have been weird to bother putting in an X-Men book, but the mysterious, still-unrevealed villain and the cyber-stalker aspect have changed the direction away from that. Aside from the main storyline, and this wasn't really touched down in this issue so much as #7 which I was a little late to the party on, the subplot of Scott working with a PR firm to create a proactive, publically friendlier X-team is fairly intriguing, after Marvel has been so bogged down with black-ops, covert teams working towards basically the opposite, including Scott's own X-Force. I'm interested to see where this is going, and will probably keep reading even after this is no longer an extended member of the Spider-family of books.
Amazing Spider-Man #655 From Marvel. Written by Dan Slott, art by Marcos Martin, colors by Muntsa Vicente.
"What will you do now?"
Just a head's up, if you haven't read #654 I'll have to start this with a bit of a spoiler because there's no way around it to talk about #655. Starting with the next line.
#654 ended brutally, powerfully and rather abruptly with the death of Marla Jameson, J. Jonah's wife. #655 picks up with her funeral; a sequence of ten, dialog-free pages showing the weight and pain in the faces of all attending, especially Jameson and Peter. The second half of the issue is a feverish dream of Peter's revisting all the blame and loss he feels he either caused or failed to stop in his career as Spider-Man. Equal parts poignant and wry, we're seeing everything that has made Spider-Man who he is to this point, and how that is shaping the direction he is going to take himself, immediately put to the test with the last two pages setting up the next issue. This is a powerful issue, primarily geared towards showing us the cost of the lifestyle Spider-Man has chosen to live, and how strong he must be to rise above it. And, to Slott's credit he gives us a brooding, dark look at the corners of Spider-Man's psyche but doesn't make the entire comic a downer. A counter-point to the funeral, scenes such as Dream-Marla's assessment of super-villains, an always-appreciated Spider-Mobile cameo and the entire Bar With No Name page brought some dark and dry humor to the proceedings and kept it from wallowing in depression.
I'm already missing Caselli's art on the book, but I will concede it probably wouldn't have worked as well for what this issue needed. Martin delivers some beautiful work, reminscent of Ditko without being derivitive, aided by Vicente's colors, going from the somber funeral scenes and the mourners' haunted expressions to the brighter quality of the dreamscape to finally the absolutely gorgeous penultimate shot of Peter looking out across New York City at sunrise.
As a complete aside, the white of the cover combined with the white of the Apolo Ohno Got Milk ad that seems to be on half the books I've picked up for the past month makes for one fairly surreal wrap-around cover.
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| "Got milk?" "... No..." |
Jennifer Blood #1 From Dynamite. Written by Garth Ennis, art by Adriano Batista, colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr.
"I have the coolest wife in the world."
I had overlooked this when it came out last week, but enough people had started talking about it, and I was on a bit of Garth Ennis run lately anyways, that I decided to grab it. As the interview with Ennis in the back says, this is just meant to be fun and getting away from the heavier work on his established books for now and while the first issue certainly is, I don't know how long the gimmick of a "soccer-mom Punisher" could sustain itself (I've gathered this is a mini-series but haven't seen how many issues). Although, this issue we're just kind of slowly fed the premise, as far as motivation driving the character it seems we'll have to wait at least until issue two, and maybe that could turn things around. For now, what we have is an assuming homemaker going out at night and blasting away criminals with the arsenal she keeps hidden in her basement, without any clear reason for why other than she seems to be an otherwise upstanding citizen, aside from the massacre bits. I look forward to see where this goes in the end, but it may be more palatable to hold off until the trade drops and get the full story instead of increments like this.
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