Comics for 3/16:
G.I. Joe: Infestation #2 (of 2)
Doctor Who #2
Iron Man 2.0 #2
Fear Itself: Book of the Skull (one-shot)
Uncanny X-Force #5.1
Batman #708
Knight and Squire #6 (of 6)
Thunderbolts #155
Amazing Spider-Man #656
G.I. Joe: Infestation #2 (of 2) from IDWWritten by Mike Raicht, art by Giovanni Timpano, colors by J. Brown, letters by Robbie Robbins.
"Die, monkey!"
Infestation still has two more issues to go, but I'm pretty sure the best of it is now behind us. I really enjoyed the G.I. Joe branch of this event, although possibly because it was so far removed from the rest of the crossovers. Despite the promises laid down for us initially, there was not a single zombie in either issue, although it did have killer robots, cyborg animals and a biomechanical once-human monster. Just on it's own merits, this was a solid story depositing the Joes (or, rather, a Joe and a bunch of Cobra personnel) into the horror genre. It was a bit of a departure for the franchise, but not so much that it felt out of place and could organically be part of the main Joe continuity.
Doctor Who #2 from IDW
Written by Tony Lee, art by Richard Piers Rayner, Horacio Domingues and Tim Hamilton, colors by Phil Elliot, letting by Shawn Lee.
"It was a monster that did this!"
I've only briefly touched down on my casual enjoyment of Doctor Who on the blog, but for the purpose of this issue I am a pretty big fan of Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor. And before this new ongoing even kicked off, I was waiting for this storyline where we get the Doctor facing off against Jack the Ripper. Surprisingly, as far as I can tell the Ripper has only been brought up in Doctor Who lore once, in an Eighth Doctor comic from Doctor Who Magazine, in a story featuring an Etrigan-esque rhyming-demon alien. This issue sees an equally-monstrous alien Ripper, resembling a deep-sea fangly fish-man literally feeding off people's fears, or at least the chemicals produced while in such a state. Part one of three, this issue sees the Doctor with companions Amy and Rory in tow arrive not-where-they-meant-to and fall right into the middle of the murder investigation. The story is fun, although I am not particularly a fan of the art, which looks heavily like a series of photos of the principal cast rotoscoped and painted over. Otherwise, this manages to actually feel like part of an episode, and I'm excited to see where this is going.
Since I don't think I was doing this when the first issue came out, I will also mention that one, which was a fun little one-and-done story about the dangers of spam email which was worth checking out.
Iron Man 2.0 #2 from Marvel
Written by Nick Spencer, art by Barry Kitson, Kano and Carmine Di Giandomenico, colors by Matthew Wilson, letters by Joe Caramagna.
"Palmer Addly is dead."
I picked up both issues of Iron Man 2.0 today mostly just because I needed to hit a $10 minimum to use my credit card, but despite how that sounds I had actually heard some pretty good things about it (picked this over the Chew script book or Clevinger's Iceman/Angel one-shot), and Nick Spencer has been one of the better writers who's popped up on my radar recently. The first issue does a fine job setting up Rhodey's current status quo as the military's Iron Man and giving us a look at what is so far a really clever premise for a villain; a nice cross-section of super-science and horror-movie elements. This second issue focuses more or less entirely on War Machine attempting to move against the still mysterious threat and
head off any future terrorist attacks it may be responsible for. I don't want to talk specifics because it was an enjoyable read, but I am going to mention this continues to build up until what looks like a straight-up nuke goes off on top of the main character is a hell of a way to end a second issue of an ongoing. I've always had kind of a soft spot for War Machine, but I'm not normally a huge fan of Iron Man comics. This though is taking a skewed approach to an established character, throwing in a bunch of new elements and creating a lovely comic-book gumbo,
not unlike Remender's Venom (although not quite as radical a deviation from the War Machine we know as the new Venom is).
So glad I randomly grabbed this on a whim; there were a lot of good books this week, but this came down randomly as one of my favorite of the lot.
Fear Itself: Book of the Skull (one-shot) from Marvel
Written by Ed Brubaker, pencils by Scot Eaton, inks by Mark Morales, colors by Sunny Gho, letters by Joe Caramagna.
"We found it."
I hesitate to say this is Brubaker doing Hellboy, because the comparisons really only superficial at best and Mignola certainly doesn't have a monopoly on Thule Society stories, what with all the books using Nazis as villains out there, but the bulk of this issue really really felt like the summoning-of-Hellboy scene. I am, however, not saying this as a bad thing; contrawise, this is crossing together the Invaders, the Asgardians and said Hellboyishness and that is damn awesome. In short, we're seeing Red Skull's daughter Sin and Baron Zemo in the present, searching for a lost relic from the Red Skull's past as a prologue to what's going down in the Fear Itself maxi-series (which is finally piquing my interest). In the process, we're shown a flashback to a World War II-era story tying together Captain America and Red Skull with some Asgardian lore which, while undeniably is acting as a two-for-one movie promotion for Marvel's summer cinema line-up, is also a fun stand-alone story that could have worked as a great one shot even if it wasn't leading into a mega-crossover event and a couple of movies.
Uncanny X-Force #5.1 from Marvel
Written by Rick Remender, art by Rafael Albuquerque, colors by Dean White, letters by Cory Petit.
"A little how's your father sword-to-cyborg style sounds like a wonderful partytime afternoon delight."
I hadn't read this black-ops X-Force since it went Uncanny, but figured I'd take advantage of the point-one jumping on point and see what this was like. I don't have any specific complaints; the art was good, the writing was good, it had plenty action and character moments and did a fine job of explaining who everyone on the team was and all the X-lore it delved into without making the exposition too clunky. It basically did everything right, but no part of it made me want to continue reading the series for some reason. Not sure if this is same in the ongoing, which I have heard a lot of praise for, but going just on this issue I can't say it hooked me.
Batman #708 from DC
Written by David Hine, art by Guillem March, letters by Jared K. Fletcher.
"Gotham will burn."
I'm enjoying a great deal of Batman family titles right now. By law of averages, there has to be at least one I don't like. Sadly, this is that book. I gave the last arc's first issue a try as part of the Batman Inc. launch, and couldn't bring myself to care about that one but was willing to give it one more shot with the next arc. I didn't find this any more enjoyable. More than anything, it's reminding me of the low points of 90's Batman, bolstered by the appearance of this modern Azrael and especially the telling a single story through several different titles. I suppose there's nothing terribly wrong with the story but absolutely nothing in here that makes me want to keep reading. Additionally, I can't say I'm a fan of the art, especially the somewhat garnish color palette through most of the book. Usually when one artist is doing all their own art for one book (especially an already-proven competent artist like March), it meshes better than when a team go at it but here it just becomes a bit hard to look at. I think now I'll just sign off this book entirely until I start hearing it's worth picking up again.
Knight and Squire #6 (of 6) from DC
Written by Paul Cornell, art by Jimmy Broxton, colors by Guy Major, letters by Swands.
"I learned how the horrific and the whimsical are mixed up together."
The first four and a half issues of this mini were a series of fairly silly but fun one-shot stories less about Knight and Squire themselves and more about building the world they live in, loaded down with references to British and superhero pop culture that was steadily one of the best books coming out. Somehow, almost impercetably, it turns out this whole time it was building to a greater narrative that was in turns dark, touching but not wholly devoid of the humor and heart it was built on. I may be more attuned to some of the UK references than the average American reader (I'm watching Comic Relief specials as I write this), but in-jokes aside this has been a brilliant series in writing and just as strong on art. If you haven't been picking this up in floppies, I can't recommend enough getting the trade when it drops this summer. Hopefully it will contain Cornell's notes from each issue, at least the list of characters. By the end of issue 6 a staggering 130 new characters have been at least referenced.
Thunderbolts #155 from Marvel
Written by Jeff Parker, pencils by Kev Walker, inks by Jason Gorder, colors by Frank Martin, letters by Albert Deschesne.
"Strange, Cage and Man-Thing 4-Ever."
Is that really what Stephen Strange looks like right now? Huh. Okay, moving on...
This issue really shows the versatility of the Thunderbolts book. We haven't really seen much of the team proper in action since a couple of issues ago where they were fighting kaiju monsters and an evil Superman parallel. Then we got a Man-Thing story with Jennifer Hale, and that has led into "M-Thang", Luke Cage and Stephen Strange hunting down Satana to bolster their team with some arcane might. Meanwhile, back on the Raft with the other inmates, the team is coming under evaluation and the higher-ups seem to be looking at some restructuring. Stretching it out in all these directions has slowed down the pacing some, and I feel like each issue only inches the over-arcing story forward a little at a time (Gunna's story especially, which I'd love to see expanded on some, feels erratic and slowly metered out in bits and pieces). Beyond that, Parker has been absolutely killing it on this book, slow story balanced out by some absolutely great character work. Kev Walker is a perfect compliment to that, so much of the character is carried in the art, through body language and expressions beautifully done, and at the same time he can pull off some wonderfully beastly monsters (and, in the middling ground, he continues to be my favorite artist on the macabre Man-Thing). So long as the two of them are working on it, Thunderbolts is one of Marvel's consistently excellent books.
Amazing Spider-Man #656 from Marvel
Written by Dan Slott, art by Marcos Martin, colors by Muntsa Vicente, letters by Joe Caramagna.
"I always thought you were a threat. A menace. But I was wrong about you. YOU'RE A @#%* IDIOT!"
This was the issue that made me exclaim "Oh shit!" out loud as I read it, when I turned a page a saw one panel in particular (which I won't spoil). It was the perfect combination of what Slott is doing with the story and characters on this series, and Martin's art and design sense and encapsulated in one beautiful, horrible moment. I didn't expect this to be able to follow up to the last issue, especially being the "return of the Spider-Armor", which I admittedly scoffed at, but this was a really strong Spider-Man story. Not fighting the villain, Massacre, who was admittedly a bit on the weak side, but for Spider-Man himself. It was a metaphorical callback to him lifting the debris and machinery off himself back in Amazing #33. It was him facing his weaknesses, perceived or real, and overcoming them. Massacre was almost an afterthought in all this. And, admittedly, this is probably the kind of idealism that's begging to get crushed back down again by the Parker Luck once the shoe drops. But for now, it manages to get grim without getting heavy. It's still infused with the kind of fun Spider-Man needs, even in the face of tragedy.
If I had any problem with Amazing Spider-Man right now, it's the regular changing of artists, if only because they've all been excellent since Big Time kicked off and I hate to see any of them go, even to make room for the next great one. Other than that kind-of-complaint, I think Dan Slott is pretty damn close to putting out the best superhero book on the shelves right now.
Also, since I missed a pretty big gulf of mainstream Marvel for a while there, has Night Nurse been around or is this the first time she's shown up since... I think, Martin's Doctor Strange: The Oath was the last time I saw her in a book, a few years back?
No comments:
Post a Comment