8/1/12

ACTION COMICS #12—And welcome to Grant Morrison Writes Mainstream Heroes, which means that, unless it’s some self-contained pocket universe situation like ALL-STAR SUPERMAN that can spend three years putting out twelve issues, invariably, whoever’s chosen on art is going to fall behind the monthly deadline and then inevitably editorial is going to reel in some bargain basement schmoe who’s got like a week to turn in ten pages type of situation. This happens every. Single. Time. There is no way that Brad Walker should be touching this script and even Rags and CAFU’s pages look rushed. Not that I can tell who did what, there are four inkers. Ha’s two issues were great, but it’s a shame that we couldn’t close out the first year without bungling the art duties on a flagship title, here. Really wish this team could have delivered a unified thing of beauty on the level of Capullo/Glapion over on BATMAN. The heartbreaker is, this is my favorite script yet, the business is really kicking into effect, to the point that by the back half of the book, I was so engaged with the story that I could stomach the art. Which is still no excuse. But bonus points for having Morrison write the entire issue, which, all told, still makes this a hell of a ride for $3.99. Looking forward to seeing what’s in store for #0.

ANIMAL MAN #12/SWAMP THING #12—There’s really no point in writing up separate reviews for these perfectly intertwined narratives. I had been wondering how the creative teams were going to follow up the superlative opening years they respectively threw down on both of these titles and then felt like both #11s did well enough tying up the loose ends while not providing a resounding enough conclusion. That’s perfectly all right, I take it all back, because all that has gone before, while entertaining in its own right, has been logical set-up for these two Vertigo mainstays to tumble down into a crossover event that is one of, if I may, the most organic we’ve seen in years. It’s really cool to go through both issues and try to parse the impact of Snyder upon ANIMAL MAN and Lemire on SWAMP THING. Steve Pugh and Lovern Kindzierski continue to knock it out of the park while Marco Rudy also finds a way to again turn in some of his best pages yet, abetted by Val Staples and two inkers in addition to himself pitching in on the back half of the book. The difference between these guys and the basketball team over on ACTION is night and day, there are certainly subtle distinctions between the inking styles but nothing that comes close to throwing you out of the story anywhere near as badly as on ACTION. And what an insane ending. Those zero issues sure sounded like a good idea until now, but I’m suddenly not really in the mood to wait nine weeks to get this Rotworld business up and running. These two titles close out their first year stronger than ever.

BEST OF WEEK: THE BOYS #69—Oh my word. Hate not to really dig in to explain what makes this the best read of the week, but can’t stand to ruin it for anyone. I mean, after last month’s cover and content, any reader with a shred of critical acumen has more than some idea what to expect going in, but this one still completely blew me away. Leveled me. One splash page in particular. I’m not sure I’ve ever enjoyed an Ennis script more than this. These last three issues are going to be Really Serious Shit. Any other week, DAREDEVIL or HAWKEYE would both make a great case for Best Of but I just can’t bear to even consider such a thing, though, given the contents of this issue. Shocked how much Ennis made me care about these people, a master.

AVENGERS VS X-MEN #9—Man, Parker does it again. Had no problem figuring out who was responsible for the opening narrative captions, which made for a somewhat gutwrenching ride throughout. This is another really smart, well-done script from Jason Aaron. Spidey mentoring Hope continues to be one of the best ideas to come out of the old architectural brain trust behind this issue. Kubert/Dell/Martin turn in beautiful pages. This continues to be everything an event of this kind should be, an omega-level conflict that at least projects the illusion to my jaded soul of having enormous stakes that will leave a lasting impact on this gang of superheroes we’ve all loved since we were kids, whether that was fifty years ago or twenty-five or just last week.

DAREDEVIL #16—This book continues to basically do no wrong, each issue a self-contained slice of wonderful that’s perfectly satisfying in and of itself while still managing to push the larger story forward. What’s great about this one, though, is something you have no way of gleaning from the cover. This issue features micronized Hank Pym in a Giant Man costume running around Matt’s brain shooting the hell out of nanites with an EMP cannon and talking shit at Tony Stark the entire time. Need I go on? Samnee/Rodriguez are brilliant, can’t wait for Allred next month.

HAWKEYE #1—I had pretty stratospheric hopes for this because I have a metric ton of affection for Fraction/Aja’s old IRON FIST update from six years back, always wished we could have gotten more of those. I do have some concern on what the plan is to backup Aja, who is certainly not known for rocking the monthly deadline (I’m thinking he’ll make it through #3 this time), but have plenty of faith in Simperin’ Steve Wacker and, never mind all of that, this is nothing less than a kickass first issue, an excellent and engaging fractured timeline romp featuring Hawkeye breaking three ribs, shattering his pelvis, spraining his neck, cracking his fibia, left clavicle, right ulna, and rupturing his spleen before taking on Russian bad guys in track suits who aren’t as much mob as capitalists of all things (the horrah!) before picking up a new canine sidekick with a broken pelvis, leg, two ribs, and lost eye, natch. And Aja and Hollingsworth are incapable of turning in a panel that isn’t stunning and gorgeous. All told, the entire thing comes across as an eloquent and frankly spot-on channeling of Miller/Mazzucchelli’s seminal YEAR ONE, the narrative captions, the style of art, the fight choreography, it’s all there. Which is kind of an odd play for a Clint Barton solo book after all these years, but hey, if you’re going to crib, crib from the very best and don’t fall short. That this thing looks and feels so much like that arguably-greatest-Batman-story-of-all-time and isn’t a massive disappointment is cause for celebration all by itself. All for $2.99 in a book that comes out monthly? Marvel’s onto some kind of crazy business model here . . .