9/14/11

FEAR ITSELF #6—Oh, it is all going very badly for the heroes of the Marvel Universe, but they have never looked better while it all falls apart. Sorry to say that this one feels a bit padded for a penultimate issue. The two-pager with Spidey and Aunt May was completely superfluous. I do love Tony’s response to Odin “I rather came having had” because it is absolute drunkspeak that makes no sense whatsoever, no matter how you parse it, and I guess that’s about where old Tone “Planned Relapse” Stark should be at the moment. They sure are ramping it up like Thor’s going to die, but that really feels like a mistake, hope that’s not the case, it’s just happened so many times to so many people, we need to figure out a way to tell compelling and engaging stories that don’t hinge on character death. Jean Grey and Elektra have come back and forth a few times now, diminishing returns. Still hoping for great things from the finale. We will see.

NEW AVENGERS #16—Bendis is still in with both barrels blazing, dropping Matt Murdock into the mix because, why not, I guess it’s been a while. I love the bit, the device where the talking heads are disparaging the next guy or girl on-panel on page 2 and then you get the other side of it on that last page, really such a great trick there, and a fantastic way to pull ol’ Hornhead into the fold. Though I must confess I was really looking for Squirrel Girl to just start beating the hell out of giant Nazi robots with each other, take over two city blocks or something and set up a fortress to defend the Power baby. Hey, she beat Thanos off-panel once!

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #627—Oh, did my nose wrinkle when I saw that the art team was fill-in. Not a propitious way to begin this excellent tangent done-in-one starring Mephisto, who takes credit for the entire Fear Itself event on the very first page. Lots of funny asides in this, Gillen could certainly script the hell out of a Mephisto mini. Painted by John Bolton, let’s say. What could have been this book’s initial misfire only reinforces how rock-solid it is. Quality work.

CRIMINAL: THE LAST OF THE INNOCENT #4—Gah! Brubaker & Phillips keep Dave Stewart on board to deliver the final part of this arc, which might just be my favorite one yet. I don’t know, I keep meaning to go back and read this from the start. Don’t really want to get into the specifics of this issue, but I will say that I enjoyed the way in which Riley addresses each new unraveling of his plot while never breaking character, and the way that Phillips makes that final transitional shift into the style of that last panel is masterful. I always want the CRIMINAL protagonists to pop back into a subsequent arc when we get to the end of their story, SIN CITY-style, and never more so than Riley Richards. Top shelf comic-booking, all around.

THE UNWRITTEN #29—??!? Too freaked out about the last three pages for anything else. That came out of nowhere! What will it mean for the overall narrative?

AMERICAN VAMPIRE: SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST #4—Oh, Nazi vampires, why can’t you always be drawn by Sean Murphy and Dave Stewart? This art team continues to make this spinoff mini unmissable in singles format.

FRANKENSTEIN, AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E #1—Was expecting great things from Lemire and not disappointed. Great fun to have Ray Palmer involved and that Ant Farm HQ is brilliant. The art by Alberto Ponticelli was a little bit looser and scratchier than I would have preferred, but it suits the tone of the book. What really makes the pages are Jose Villarrubia’s choice of colors, some relatively subdued blues and greens that go a long way to establishing an immersive atmosphere for the book. This one didn’t flatten me like ANIMAL MAN did, but it’s good fun and I look forward to these guys tearing it up on this book.

DEMON KNIGHTS #1—This was quite a bit better than I expected. Had no idea what it was about going in, other than that it starred Etrigan, but if he’s going to be on a team with Madame Xanadu and Vandal Savage in the Dark Ages, that’s a great set-up for stories told in a corner of the DCU that has not been that well explored. If you were on the fence at all while reading through this one, I hope the last page sold you. Cornell strikes again.

GREEN LANTERN #1—This one has got to be by far the most seamless transition between old and new DCU. I mean, there could have been a #68 on the cover and there would have been nary a hiccup, same creative team and everything. What’s changed is that, with the shakeup to the status quo Johns made at the end of last issue, this book is suddenly much more interesting than it’s been in years. I’ve been saying how badly we need an issue of just Hal taking Cowgirl to get drunk at a bar instead of just neverending rainbow cosmic escalation from the end of the SINESTRO CORPS WAR waaaaaaay back in #25, and this proves me right. Without his ring, just blustering and blundering through the wreckage of his life, Hal Jordan is a much more interesting character. And the fact that Sinestro is the one who has ring is no less wonderful. Really, these two plots could carry two series and it is a wonderful thing to have them here in one book. While this first one read a bit fast, seemed just a bit slight, it’s much better than the book has been and, again, I’m interested to see where the crew is taking these jokers. I hope Hal doesn’t get back his ring at the end of this arc, though I don’t suppose that’s too likely. How great would it be to have Johns writing Sinestro as the token pink-skinned alien with Lee in JL?

BATWOMAN #1—Is there anybody better at page composition than J.H. Williams III? Now or ever? I mean, I guess Steranko is the acknowledged Lord & Master? With Williams co-writing and providing the pencils and inks under Dave Stewart’s colors* and Todd Klein’s letters, this one is A-list all the way, and does a fine job of dropping us into Kate Kane’s life, even if you haven’t pored over and over and over the seven issues of DETECTIVE that Williams and Rucka tried to kill us with a couple of years ago. The only place where this issue falls the least bit short is that we get a lot of setup and no payoff. Just a page or two of dialogue with Batman would have gone a long way toward alleviating that. Of course, you can probably say that about most problems.

****

BEST OF WEEK**: BATMAN AND ROBIN #1—This one blew me away. I was never really a fan of these guys’ GREEN LANTERN CORPS but found their short arc on the previous volume of this series very strong. Still, this one had the unenviable task of delivering us the first appearance of Damian Wayne in action with his father, as opposed to Dick Grayson, with whom he’s built 2+ years of chemistry that appealed to pretty much everyone I’ve talked to and went a long way toward rehabilitating Damian’s character in the eyes of many, if not all. And we’ve still got no explanation for Dick being out of the suit, which, if we’re going to hang around and let Morrison tell the tale, keep his BATMAN (INC/LEVIATHAN) run as a holdover of the old DCU through next year, well, fine with me. All that this issue has to do is set up the new dynamic between this duo and it succeeds on every level. SO many great little bits in here, Bruce’s decision to celebrate his parents’ anniversary instead of marking their murder, the way that he approaches Damian to begin the adventure (really, the gutter-jump in action between the panel of Damian sleeping and the next one of him blocking his father’s strike, “I’m up,” is one of my favorite in recent memory), the Batpoles, Alfred taking exception, the DUNE callout in Damian’s “Sometimes I think your secrets have secrets,” Bruce sailing the darkness away in his boat and the preceding exchange between father and son, Bruce setting up a batarang handhold for Damian, Damian STILL not following orders, this was pretty much a perfect pilot to the new status quo and my favorite DC #1 of the first two weeks, hands down, no problem. Really really really good.


*Today’s Dave Stewart hat trick is much appreciated, cheers, Editors

**Okay, except I just found out that Adrian Tomine released OPTIC NERVE #12 after all these years, so there’s some chance that even this monster will fall. Pending!