Comics for 4/20
Avengers Academy #12
Doctor Who: A Fairytale Life #1 (of 4)
Mass Effect: Evolution #4 (of 4)
Power Girl #23
Iron Man 2.0 #4
Hulk #32
Super Dinosaur #1
Fables #104
Thunderbolts #156
Black Dynamite: Slave Island
Avengers Academy #12 from Marvel
Written by Christos Gage, pencils by Tom Raney, inks by Scott Hanna, colors by Jeromy Cox, letters by Joe Caramagna.
"You drag these children into a disagreement between husband and wife?"
I think I either read the first issue of Avengers Academy or something else with the characters in it, but this is at least the first issue I've picked up in a while (partly because I've been meaning to get into the series, mostly because it had a dinosaur on the cover). As such, I was a bit lost jumping in to not only the characters but also the characters dealing with their future selves and problems raised from that, however Gage does an excellent job with the characters and I was able to slide right in, pick everything up and still enjoy it without too much fuss. This issue was mostly one big action scene, with the team taking on perennial Avengers villain Korvac (who's had a minor resurgence lately) that I may have enjoyed more overall if I had been following the arc from the beginning instead of jumping on at the end, but it was still a solid issue altogether.
Doctor Who: A Fairytale Life #1 (of 4) from IDW
Written by Matthew Sturges, pencils by Kelly Yates, inks by Steve Bird, Brian Shearer and Rick Ketcham, colors by Rachelle Rosenberg, letters by Neil Uyetake.
"It appears the holiday is long over."
Like the Doctor Who ongoing, this so far manages to capture the voice of the series pretty well, feeling like it could readily pass as the opening to an episode. Unlike the ongoing, however, I can actually stand to look at the art on this title; rather, I'd go so far as to say I really like the art here, Yates' characterizations are great and a Mark Buckingham cover to boot. This is definitely a strong start to the series, and it'll be a nice companion to run alongside the new series of the show as it kicks off this weekend.
Mass Effect: Evolution #4 (of 4) from Dark Horse
Written by Mac Walters and John Jackson Miller, art by Omar Francia with Manuel Silva, colors by Michael Atiyeh, letters by Michael Heisler.
"We can--and will--take our rightful place in the stars."
As a fan of the Mass Effect franchise, this is a fun series that provides a little backstory and a common history to two of the games' chief antagonists, and even shining something of a sympathetic light on both of them. It did exactly what it said on the tin and provided us with an origin story for the Illusive Man and Cerberus, and altogether told a single story well and provided a look at characters' motivations and the racial tensions in the ME universe, but in the end this didn't feel particularly resolved, especially with Saren's bit of the story.. I can hope this is leading into another mini showing what happened to Saren between here and the opening scenes of the first game, as I'd initially hoped this series would, but otherwise this is a nice addition to Mass Effect lore, about on par with grabbing another DLC pack for the game itself.
Power Girl #23 from DC
Written by Judd Winick, art by Sam Basri, colors by Jessica Kholinne, letters by John J. Hill.
"SEHCTAUQSAS KCATTA!!"
I hate to admit I'm one of the many who jumped ship after Palmiotti and Conner left this book without giving the new creative team a chance, since I've heard good things about it since then, but all it took was four simple words to get me picking the book again: "These dinosaurs are magical!!". This issue was more of a Zatanna issue guest starring Power Girl than the other way around, but however the balance works out it was still a fun issue, with some beautiful art from Basri. If nothing else, this book was good enough to convince me to go back and at least check out what I've missed over the last twelve issues.
Iron Man 2.0 #4 from Marvel
Written by Nick Spencer, art by Ariel Olivetti, letters by Joe Caramagna.
"This is where they take the secrets before they die."
This issue is made up almost entirely of Kaylie Harrison, an intelligence agent from the team Rhodey is assigned to, reading transcripts of people who knew Palmer Addley, the mysterious terrorist who continues his high-tech attacks despite having killed himself six months prior, as told through flashbacks to the interviews. Now this would be a fine sequence once its collected into a trade, especially bolstered by Olivetti's great art on the book (although that may be jarring just showing up in the middle of a story, as his style stands out so much), but as a single issue, especially one immediately following the last issue in which, again, very little happened, these have been pretty weak, especially against the strong first two issues of the series. The next issue starts the title's Fear Itself tie-in, which working around that may account for the odd pacing of story and exposition we're getting, but at least it looks like we'll at least have Rhodey in his own book again once that drops.
Hulk #32 from Marvel
Written by Jeff Parker, art by Gabriel Hardman, colors by Elizabeth Breitweiser, letters by Ed Dukeshire.
"If he thinks turning public opinion onto his side is going to make me break off... he's as stupid as the green one."
Another book I haven't read in a while, if only because I was only cursorily keeping up during the whole Loeb status-quo-shake-em-up and I got kind of lost, but after doing my best Wikipedia research I figured I'd jump back in after hearing how good the Parker run has been (and knowing Parker's work, I was easily ready to believe it). There's no question that this is one of the best Hulk books in a long time, both returning to the roots that made the classic Hulk books such a strong character piece in the first place while simultaneously subverting everything with the new characters; Thunderbolt Ross is such a different person from Banner yet finds himself thrust into the same position so we're seeing in part how he'd handle it differently, as well as similarities the two adversaries we never knew were there. Dealing with natural disasters and the army hunting him down isn't enough of course, and the high-concept, high-tech Zero/One seems like a excellent new supervillain, as simple-minded and powerful as the Hulk can be in her own way, especially with her abilities to adapt and seemingly turn other people into monsters.
Super Dinosaur #1 from Image
Written by Robert Kirkman, art by Robert Howard, letters by Rus Wooton.
"Good news--I BROUGHT MISSILES!"
This is that classic story of a super-smart kid, his robot and an also-super-smart T-Rex wearing a battle harness who fight other dinosaurs in the name of Science, so for me it's basically a return to the Saturday morning cartoons I grew up on (c'mon, who could forget Dinosaucers). Kirkman does a good job creating the world of Super-Dinosaur, further realized by some great art from Howard, but in short, it delivers what it promises: a dinosaur blowing shit up with missiles and a robot suit, as well as some nice character moments. With Kirkman writing it, I kept fearing/expecting parts of this were going to get dark, but while this book is all-ages, it's definitely geared towards a younger audience so I think we're safe from dino-maulings or Derek's father killing all of the world's superheroes, for now at least.
Fables #104 from Vertigo
Written by Bill Willingham, pencils by Mark Buckingham, inks by Steve Leialoha and Andrew Pepoy,colors by Lee Loughridge, letters by Todd Klein.
"You know this so-called Super Team is a suicide mission, right?"
I'll start off with the art on this one: so long as Buckingham is on this book, it's going to be one of the best-looking books on the shelves right now, with this issue opening with a pastiche of a Jack Kirby X-Men battle. Preparations for the coming battle continue, with the super-team and Mr. Dark both moving their plans ahead, and all struggling to face the fact that they are, more than likely, fighting a battle that's already lost. So far, this story arc has been fun but a slow burn, building to something but certainly a fun break after the heavy action of issue 100.
Thunderbolts #156 from Marvel
Written by Jeff Parker, pencils by Kev Walker, inks by Jason Gorder and Kev Walker, colors by Frank Martin with Fabio D'auria, letters by Albert Deschesne.
"Hopefully we'll get a better class of lowlife this time."
Another book with a lot of pages devoted to talking heads in an interview scenario, the bulk of this issue is devoted to the higher-ups on the Thunderbolts project auditioning a Beta team, much to the chagrin of the current team, however it is also balanced out by Luke Cage taking Satana out on her first mission with a few other teammates, into a mystical German castle full of ghosts, werewolves and World-War-One-era zombies firing magic cannons. For a team book with a lot of characters to start with, and introducing a lot of new ones bringing a lot of new conflicts, this balances everything well. Coupled with Walker's art, this continues to be one of the best books Marvel is currently putting out.
Black Dynamite: Slave Island from Ape Entertainment
Written by Brian Ash with Michael Jai White, Byron Minns and Scott Sanders, art by Jun Lofamia, colors by JM Ringuet
"I got to burn this motherfucker down."
I'm just going to give myself an extra sentence on this one: If you haven't seen the film Black Dynamite, do so; it's on Netflix Instant Watch, it's on sale for $5 at Best Buy, it's not that hard to come by and well worth checking out. As for the comic, I've been waiting for this for a while, especially after getting the preview for it as well as the cartoon back at NYCC. Where the movie went to great lengths to actually emulate the style of 70s Blaxploitation films, the comic takes equal effort to make itself look like a book from the 70's, complete with stylized ads both real (Black Dynamite soundtracks) and fake (a gun). The book presents itself as perhaps less of a comedy than the movie, but it's still just as over-the-top and nails the tone and the humor of the character; within ten pages Black Dynamite has already fought a shark, and that's just things kicking off.
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