Sam Wilson
07-21-2005, 10:31 AM
Wktf’s Reviews
I’m still catching up on two weeks worth of comics from when my family was vacationing in San Antonio. Wouldn’t you know Wednesday rolls around and I’ve haven’t yet read Hercules #4 or Marvel Team-Up #10 from last week. This week’s haul was a pretty good one: the three reviewed below plus JSA Classified (with that AH! cover who could resist buying it?), Day of Vengeance #4, Ultimates 2 #7, House of M #4, Defenders #1, Astonishing X-Men #11, and the Captain America “Winter Soldier” HC. Also, I read in Comic Shop News #944 that Darwyn Cooke won the 2005 Harvey Award Best Artist for DC’s New Frontier, and that New Frontier won the Harvey for Best Continuing or Limited Series. Love to see this outstanding creator and series get this attention!
The Adventures of Superman #642
DC Comics
Written by: Greg Rucka
Drawn by: Karl Kerschl
I’ve been pretty vocal about swearing off the Superman titles after the “For Tomorrow” fiasco. Even more so than “Hush” I felt with that story arc I fell victim to a marketing scheme. All Jim Lee flash (and plenty of flash, the art was pretty sweet) with no Brain Azzarello substance. But I’m reading The OMAC Project series now and digging it, and will admit to groaning out loud when I read that I had to pick up the “Sacrifice” storyline in July’s three Superman books plus Wonder Woman before getting my next OMAC installment. I read Superman #219 and Action #829 and thought the story was pretty interesting if a bit convoluted. But this comic, courtesy of Rucka’s usual outstanding storytelling, really steps things up a notch. Dare I say it? This book is my pick of the week, even over Wolverine which has been my standard pick the weeks it’s come out.
In the last issue of OMAC we learn that Maxwell Lord is using his newly revealed mind control powers on Superman, to the point where Superman believes his dead Kryptonian father is communicating with him. Superman’s being mind controlled is nothing new (in fact it feels pretty standard after all these years of it) and the prospect of another case of this left me pretty ambivalent. In the first two chapters of “Sacrifice” our hero clearly seems to be going off the deep end. He believes Braniac has turned Lois against him and that, as a result of his busting up Braniac’s undersea lair, he’s doomed his loved ones trapped there to a watery death. In his rage over Lois, Perry and Jimmy’s supposed death, Superman goes berserk on Braniac, busting him up and choking him before his illusion fades, he discovers human blood on his hands and the Justice League appear to take him to the Watchtower. Then Superman imagines he’s in battle with Darkseid to save Lois while J’onn has appeared in a worried Lois’ apartment to protect her from her irrational husband. As the second part closes, Superman discovers the blood on his hands is Batman’s, and finds Batman beaten nearly to death in a hospital bed in JLA HQ. It looks like the beating he thought he gave Braniac really was dealt on The Batman.
What’s going on, and what’s Max’s connection to this? Well, we know in OMAC that Batman’s learning too much too quickly for Max’s comfort and Max wants him dead. With this third installment of “Sacrifice” we learn for sure that Max has planted what J’onn calls an “implanted psychotic episode” in Superman’s mind and is causing him to act out his delusions. The computer simulated depiction of Superman’s attack on Batman before an incredulous JLA is terrible and brutal. Just as Superman agrees to an exile of sorts, Max turns up the juice (causing his nose to spout blood), Superman attacks the League and takes off with Wonder Woman in fast pursuit. At the end, Wonder Woman, with kryptonite in hand, confronts a smug Max but is forced to the ground by Superman. With Rucka handling the scripting for Wonder Woman’s own book, the final installment should be a helluva ride. Kudos to this creative team for keeping the conflict and suspense fresh and turning this mediocre arc, to this point, into a nail biter.
Daredevil #75
Marvel Comics
Written by: Brian Michael Bendis
Drawn by: Alex Maleev
The big question: what the hell happened to this great creative team?
This issue ends the five-part “Decalogue” story arc, and not a moment too soon. The kindest thing I can call this story is irrelevant. I’d read that Bendis wanted to use some story telling technique used by one of his favorite movie directors but, just as moving comic book panels didn’t work in the film version of “Hulk,” this was a wasted effort. And why call a five-part story “Decalogue” anyway? Why not pentalogue? I know this ties to the 10 Commandments but only five of them were used. I don’t get it.
OK, so Daredevil has been outted, has taken out Wilson Fisk and has taken over as Kingpin of Hell’s Kitchen. In this arc, a support group that has gathered to deal with what’s happened with their lives due to Daredevil’s actions has been meeting in the basement of a church. Each member of this group has been telling stories about his or her encounters with Daredevil but, as each tells his/her story, the image of some gross little creature keeps appearing and seems to be the common thread to each story. It turns out that one man in the group knows what this is about and has revealed to the group that Matt Murdock is actually sitting with them.
Well, it turns out that DD previously got his head handed to him recently by The Jester, one of Stan Lee’s lamest creations and a C-level villain at best. DD senses that something’s not right with The Jester who then begins the disgusting process of puking out this little monster who tries then to get inside a woman The Jester was holding hostage. DD stops it and then follows it to the support group where its reunited with this loser Lawrence who, apparently, was fired from the Hand but not before being able to use black magic to conjure up evil spirits which he sells off for cash. Well, okay, who really cares? When this creative team started they pumped new life into hornhead that really hadn’t been seen since the Frank Miller days. This book was always on the top of my comic pile when Bendis and Maleev started. Now I just don’t care any more which hurts as DD has been one of my favorite characters since the Gene Colan days. But, like the current Batman, he’s just become too burdensome to read. This issue, unfortunately, was no exception to this rule.
Wolverine #30
Marvel Comics
Written by: Mark Millar
Drawn by: John Romita, Jr. & Klaus Janson
Well, this was the weakest issue in the last two story arcs by this creative team. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still great. But we’ve got a pretty high standard against which to compare it.
Elektra is back with the good guys (how this is possible given her murderous history is beyond me, but kind of a neat twist for Fury to have drafted her over to SHIELD). Turns out she allowed herself to be killed and resurrected only to infiltrate the Gorgon’s new organization which combines Hydra, the Hand and The Dawn of the White Light. Pretty radical tactic, if you ask me, and one that inspires Wolverine’s admiration (“I think I’m in love”). The Gorgon’s ambition is to weaponize Reed Richards’ stolen inventions and cause the end of all things as a strike against God. With Elektra’s knowledge of Gorgon’s bases, SHIELD strikes hard against their forces and Wolverine and Elektra take the battle directly to the Gorgon. They attack him and skewer him with several killing blows. The problem is, he doesn’t die. In short order the Gorgon takes down Elektra and puts a sword through Wolverine’s throat and into a wall, thus leaving him stuck there as he infiltrates the semi-unconscious Elecktra’s mind to learn Nick Fury’s whereabouts.
This is just a rock ‘em sock ‘em kind of issue to further the plot along to next issue’s conclusion (which also marks the end of Millar and Romita, Jr’s run on the series). It feels like filler, but it’s really fun filler. Miller’s story and dialogue is fast paced and fun, and John Romita Jr’s art is just always outstanding. Interesting to see the Rhino in this issue as he’s also appearing in the Romita-drawn Black Panther series. Every issue of this creative team’s run has been so enjoyable I really wish they’d stay on. Lately, creative teams don’t stick with a book for long anymore. I miss that (as long as it’s still working…see my Daredevil review, above). Anyway, next issue should be a great one.
Sam Wilson’s Reviews
So we are now into week four of the “House of M”, more variant covers, more crossovers, well I say thee NAY!! No Spider-Man crossover issue, no variant covers for me. I spend enough money as it is, and in a couple of months the heat will be long gone from this crossover and we will all be stuck with a bunch of worthless variants we overpaid for, kinda like prism and die-cut covers from the ‘90’s. Ugh. It is still a good week though, love that Adam Hughes cover for JSA Secret Files (hey, I paid retail, and I only bought one copy, so piss off), the premiere of Ultimate Moon Knight in Ultimate Spider-Man, a new Defenders series, and my pick of the week, Ultimates #7. Well, you know what comes next, dare I say it? “On to the reviews!”
Defenders #1 (of 5)
Marvel Comics
Written By: Keith Geffen, J.M. DeMatteis
Drawn By: Kevin McGuire
“The Defenders”, Marvels first “non-team” got its start in the pages of Marvel Feature way back in 1971. This title was created to showcase Dr. Strange, the Sub-Mariner and the Hulk. All these heroes have crossed paths before in their perspective solo titles, and Sub-Mariner and the Hulk have even fought side-by-side with sometime “Defender” the Silver Surfer way back in Sub-Mariner issue #34, “Confrontation”. This is the first time these character united to fight a common foe, but the thing is they spent as much time bickering with each other as they did vanquishing their common enemy; either way it worked and books were sold and the powers that be at Marvel decided they wanted to give this “non-team” a shot at a regular book. The only problem though, Stan Lee had his own plans for the Silver Surfer, so instead of using him (at least initially), the go ahead was given to use a recently retired and little used character, Dr. Strange, and thus the Defenders was born.
Throughout the years “the Defenders” went through a lot of changes, they got themselves a pseudo-Batman financier (Nighthawk), a really hot Asgardian (Valkryrie), a housewife (Hellcat), the Son of Satan (seriously, I’m not kidding, Damien Hellstorm, look him up), the Thing (for like a minute) and even a few X-men (the Angel and the Beast). Oh yeah, and a bald, hot, sorta ******* (Moondragon, as for that sorta-******* thing, see the last issues of Peter David’s Captain Marvel series for clarification). Let me ask you this, for such a colorful cast of characters, for a fairly long running series (over 100 issues) can anyone remember anything earth shattering or significant that came from “the Defenders”? Does anyone care that a bunch of odd heroes at one point banded together, bickered, and overcame common foes? Well, yeah, that’s why we got a brand new series featuring the creative team behind Justice League International, Geffen, DeMatteis and McGuire, and I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Marvel Universe could use the levity.
Defenders opens up with Wong being possessed by Nightmare, and then warning Dr. Strange about an upcoming world destroying evil: apparently the Dread Dormammu and his sister Umar have banded together and plan on wrecking havoc. So the good Dr. has to unite his old buds in the Defenders to save the world and hopefully not strangle each other in the process. Of course, none of this is as straightforward as I’m making it sound, and along the way expect some introspection, humor, infighting and soul-searching (yes, I said soul-searching). This main strength in this series thus far is the dialogue. Geffen ad DeMatteis know their characters, and know how to pick at them and play with them to make something witty, humorous and engaging, all the while moving forward with the main plot. McGuire’s art hasn’t lost a step since the ‘80’s, and if you liked it then, you’re still gonna like it now. Yeah, this isn’t a laugh-a-minute slapstick kind of book, the humor is subtler, but if you know the characters you’ll definitely get a chuckle. I’m probably gonna stick this book out, and it wouldn’t hurt for someone looking for something different to give it a try.
Teen Titan’s issue #26
DC Comics
Written by: Geoff Johns
Drawn by: Tony Daniel
To get everyone up to speed on this incarnation of the Titans, Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy, all founding members of the 2nd group of “Teen Titans”, decided to form a new team of Titans, but this time they were going to be their “guides” rather than just have a bunch of kids go at it alone. The new Titan’s Tower is in San Francisco, and the new team consists of Bart Allen (formerly Impulse, now Kid Flash), Superboy (aka Conner Kent aka Kon-el, a clone of Lex Luthor and Superman’s DNA), Wonder Girl (aka Cassie Sandsmark), Robin (aka Tim Drake) and Raven (newly made young again?). Yeah, they are a super team and they deal with threats, and they are probably going to fill the shoes of the Justice League someday, but they are also friends and their weekends at the Tower gives them time to talk and “decompress” with peers and people they trust and who have lead similar lives. In the tradition of the Wolfman/Perez “Teen Titans” of the ‘80s, these new Titans are a family as well, and that is why the book works.
Presently, Teen Titans has just completed a four-part crossover with The Outsiders (a group which is coincidentally made up of several original “Teen Titans”). The whole thing kicked off a couple of issues ago in the “Titans”, Connor, at the urging of Robin, was going to tell the rest of the team that half of his DNA belonged to Lex Luthor. Before that could happen he lost it and starting wreaking all sorts of havoc on the Titans. Oh yeah, and that killer-android-turned-good from the future, Indigo, currently a member of “The Outsiders”? Well, she’s still bad, as a matter of fact, she’s really Braniac and wants to kill everyone. Yipes. Well, things don’t go so well for our heroes. Indigo/Braniac is kicking all types of a$#, Conner has crushed one of Robin’s bones, tore apart Cyborg, burned Beast Boy and even attacked his girl, Cassie (Wonder Girl). Just when things seemed their bleakest, Wonder Girl broke through to Conner and he rebelled against his evil “half” and string-puller Lex Luthor, Shift (that Metamorpho type guy from the Outsiders) dispatched Indigo/Brainiac most nastily, and things came back to normal, well, not really.
Teen Titans #26 opens 30 days after the events in The Outsiders #25. Conner has gone back to Ma and Pa Kent to sort things out. He feels beyond uncomfortable, truly a lost soul after recent events, shrinking more and more into his “just a clone” mindset. Then Raven pops up to give young Conner some perspective (and we have a really cool scene between Conner, Batman and Superman). Johns as always tells a solid story, and guest artist Tony Daniel does fine, even without any gratuitous booty shots to do. So if you have the inclination, and miss the Titans of old, check this book out. It’s definitely worth a look.
The Astonishing X-men #11
Marvel Comics
Written by: Joss Whedon
Drawn by: John Cassaday
Growing up the X-men was my favorite book. Claremont ran a tight ship, yeah, he was (and still is) the king of needless exposition, but back then it wasn’t so irritating. You also had great artists like John Byrne, Paul Smith, John Romita Jr., Arthur Adams, Jim Lee and Mark Silvesteri kicking out monthly issues of excitement and wonder. I (like a lot of other people) dug the X-men cause they were like me, different. Their roster wasn’t full of blonde hair and blue-eyed all American Ubermencher, they had diversity, emotions and made mistakes. They didn’t all get along and the world really didn’t like them, or even see them as heroes most of the time. Uncanny X-men became one of the hottest selling properties for Marvel Comics in the 1980’s, and ‘90’s, so Marvel decided to spin-off some titles to milk it. Only a couple at first, New Mutants, X-factor both of those were okay. Then you got Excalibur again, not bad. Then things went a little nutty. Wolverine got a solo series, huge crossover events became a bi-annual event, Jim Lee got his own X-men title, and so on and so on until you have the mess that is their today. Wolverine averages about 29 comic appearances a month. A$# clown and generally over hyped writer Grant Morrison gave us more mutants than we knew what to do with, gave Xavier a twin, brought back Magneto, killed him, brought him back, killed Jean Grey (again), GHAH… I don’t know, I just don’t know, I can’t keep up, and I don’t want to keep up. The X-men needs a “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, and needs it now.
Enter Joss Whedon and his Astonishing X-men. We get a small, manageable team of X-men (Kitty Pryde, Wolverine, Cyclops, Emma Frost, and Hank McCoy, aka the Beast). Colossus is brought back to life (well, he never really died, just read the first story arc already…), biting dialogue between Emma and Kitty (ohhh, catfight!), crazed aliens and rogue SHIELD agents. So far, so good. Then in issue 10 the Danger Room goes crazy, comes to life, and tries to whack all the X-men. Yeah, I’ll say it again. The Danger Room (you know, made with Shi ar technology, kinda like Star Trek’s holodecks, it’s where the X-men train to be better X-men) comes to life, assumes a human form and tries to whack everyone, and almost succeeds. Then it (or she, whatever) takes over a blackbird and hauls a$# to Genosha where it wants to kill “father”, or Professor Xavier. From there things get really weird.
This series was doing just fine until issue 10, and then WHAT THE FU$#. Seriously, the Danger Room comes to life? The motherfu$#in DANGER ROOM comes to life? That was the best thing Whedon could pull out of his a$#? Maybe I shoulda watched that “Buffy” garbage, and I coulda seen this coming, but seriously, the frikkin DANGER ROOM comes to life. Do I really need to go on? If this sh$# doesn’t turn, I’m dumping this garbage. Not even John Cassaday’s beautiful art can save this crap. Rassim-frassim Danger Room, shoulda stuck with TV, rassim-frassim overrated fanboy douche bag…
I’m still catching up on two weeks worth of comics from when my family was vacationing in San Antonio. Wouldn’t you know Wednesday rolls around and I’ve haven’t yet read Hercules #4 or Marvel Team-Up #10 from last week. This week’s haul was a pretty good one: the three reviewed below plus JSA Classified (with that AH! cover who could resist buying it?), Day of Vengeance #4, Ultimates 2 #7, House of M #4, Defenders #1, Astonishing X-Men #11, and the Captain America “Winter Soldier” HC. Also, I read in Comic Shop News #944 that Darwyn Cooke won the 2005 Harvey Award Best Artist for DC’s New Frontier, and that New Frontier won the Harvey for Best Continuing or Limited Series. Love to see this outstanding creator and series get this attention!
The Adventures of Superman #642
DC Comics
Written by: Greg Rucka
Drawn by: Karl Kerschl
I’ve been pretty vocal about swearing off the Superman titles after the “For Tomorrow” fiasco. Even more so than “Hush” I felt with that story arc I fell victim to a marketing scheme. All Jim Lee flash (and plenty of flash, the art was pretty sweet) with no Brain Azzarello substance. But I’m reading The OMAC Project series now and digging it, and will admit to groaning out loud when I read that I had to pick up the “Sacrifice” storyline in July’s three Superman books plus Wonder Woman before getting my next OMAC installment. I read Superman #219 and Action #829 and thought the story was pretty interesting if a bit convoluted. But this comic, courtesy of Rucka’s usual outstanding storytelling, really steps things up a notch. Dare I say it? This book is my pick of the week, even over Wolverine which has been my standard pick the weeks it’s come out.
In the last issue of OMAC we learn that Maxwell Lord is using his newly revealed mind control powers on Superman, to the point where Superman believes his dead Kryptonian father is communicating with him. Superman’s being mind controlled is nothing new (in fact it feels pretty standard after all these years of it) and the prospect of another case of this left me pretty ambivalent. In the first two chapters of “Sacrifice” our hero clearly seems to be going off the deep end. He believes Braniac has turned Lois against him and that, as a result of his busting up Braniac’s undersea lair, he’s doomed his loved ones trapped there to a watery death. In his rage over Lois, Perry and Jimmy’s supposed death, Superman goes berserk on Braniac, busting him up and choking him before his illusion fades, he discovers human blood on his hands and the Justice League appear to take him to the Watchtower. Then Superman imagines he’s in battle with Darkseid to save Lois while J’onn has appeared in a worried Lois’ apartment to protect her from her irrational husband. As the second part closes, Superman discovers the blood on his hands is Batman’s, and finds Batman beaten nearly to death in a hospital bed in JLA HQ. It looks like the beating he thought he gave Braniac really was dealt on The Batman.
What’s going on, and what’s Max’s connection to this? Well, we know in OMAC that Batman’s learning too much too quickly for Max’s comfort and Max wants him dead. With this third installment of “Sacrifice” we learn for sure that Max has planted what J’onn calls an “implanted psychotic episode” in Superman’s mind and is causing him to act out his delusions. The computer simulated depiction of Superman’s attack on Batman before an incredulous JLA is terrible and brutal. Just as Superman agrees to an exile of sorts, Max turns up the juice (causing his nose to spout blood), Superman attacks the League and takes off with Wonder Woman in fast pursuit. At the end, Wonder Woman, with kryptonite in hand, confronts a smug Max but is forced to the ground by Superman. With Rucka handling the scripting for Wonder Woman’s own book, the final installment should be a helluva ride. Kudos to this creative team for keeping the conflict and suspense fresh and turning this mediocre arc, to this point, into a nail biter.
Daredevil #75
Marvel Comics
Written by: Brian Michael Bendis
Drawn by: Alex Maleev
The big question: what the hell happened to this great creative team?
This issue ends the five-part “Decalogue” story arc, and not a moment too soon. The kindest thing I can call this story is irrelevant. I’d read that Bendis wanted to use some story telling technique used by one of his favorite movie directors but, just as moving comic book panels didn’t work in the film version of “Hulk,” this was a wasted effort. And why call a five-part story “Decalogue” anyway? Why not pentalogue? I know this ties to the 10 Commandments but only five of them were used. I don’t get it.
OK, so Daredevil has been outted, has taken out Wilson Fisk and has taken over as Kingpin of Hell’s Kitchen. In this arc, a support group that has gathered to deal with what’s happened with their lives due to Daredevil’s actions has been meeting in the basement of a church. Each member of this group has been telling stories about his or her encounters with Daredevil but, as each tells his/her story, the image of some gross little creature keeps appearing and seems to be the common thread to each story. It turns out that one man in the group knows what this is about and has revealed to the group that Matt Murdock is actually sitting with them.
Well, it turns out that DD previously got his head handed to him recently by The Jester, one of Stan Lee’s lamest creations and a C-level villain at best. DD senses that something’s not right with The Jester who then begins the disgusting process of puking out this little monster who tries then to get inside a woman The Jester was holding hostage. DD stops it and then follows it to the support group where its reunited with this loser Lawrence who, apparently, was fired from the Hand but not before being able to use black magic to conjure up evil spirits which he sells off for cash. Well, okay, who really cares? When this creative team started they pumped new life into hornhead that really hadn’t been seen since the Frank Miller days. This book was always on the top of my comic pile when Bendis and Maleev started. Now I just don’t care any more which hurts as DD has been one of my favorite characters since the Gene Colan days. But, like the current Batman, he’s just become too burdensome to read. This issue, unfortunately, was no exception to this rule.
Wolverine #30
Marvel Comics
Written by: Mark Millar
Drawn by: John Romita, Jr. & Klaus Janson
Well, this was the weakest issue in the last two story arcs by this creative team. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still great. But we’ve got a pretty high standard against which to compare it.
Elektra is back with the good guys (how this is possible given her murderous history is beyond me, but kind of a neat twist for Fury to have drafted her over to SHIELD). Turns out she allowed herself to be killed and resurrected only to infiltrate the Gorgon’s new organization which combines Hydra, the Hand and The Dawn of the White Light. Pretty radical tactic, if you ask me, and one that inspires Wolverine’s admiration (“I think I’m in love”). The Gorgon’s ambition is to weaponize Reed Richards’ stolen inventions and cause the end of all things as a strike against God. With Elektra’s knowledge of Gorgon’s bases, SHIELD strikes hard against their forces and Wolverine and Elektra take the battle directly to the Gorgon. They attack him and skewer him with several killing blows. The problem is, he doesn’t die. In short order the Gorgon takes down Elektra and puts a sword through Wolverine’s throat and into a wall, thus leaving him stuck there as he infiltrates the semi-unconscious Elecktra’s mind to learn Nick Fury’s whereabouts.
This is just a rock ‘em sock ‘em kind of issue to further the plot along to next issue’s conclusion (which also marks the end of Millar and Romita, Jr’s run on the series). It feels like filler, but it’s really fun filler. Miller’s story and dialogue is fast paced and fun, and John Romita Jr’s art is just always outstanding. Interesting to see the Rhino in this issue as he’s also appearing in the Romita-drawn Black Panther series. Every issue of this creative team’s run has been so enjoyable I really wish they’d stay on. Lately, creative teams don’t stick with a book for long anymore. I miss that (as long as it’s still working…see my Daredevil review, above). Anyway, next issue should be a great one.
Sam Wilson’s Reviews
So we are now into week four of the “House of M”, more variant covers, more crossovers, well I say thee NAY!! No Spider-Man crossover issue, no variant covers for me. I spend enough money as it is, and in a couple of months the heat will be long gone from this crossover and we will all be stuck with a bunch of worthless variants we overpaid for, kinda like prism and die-cut covers from the ‘90’s. Ugh. It is still a good week though, love that Adam Hughes cover for JSA Secret Files (hey, I paid retail, and I only bought one copy, so piss off), the premiere of Ultimate Moon Knight in Ultimate Spider-Man, a new Defenders series, and my pick of the week, Ultimates #7. Well, you know what comes next, dare I say it? “On to the reviews!”
Defenders #1 (of 5)
Marvel Comics
Written By: Keith Geffen, J.M. DeMatteis
Drawn By: Kevin McGuire
“The Defenders”, Marvels first “non-team” got its start in the pages of Marvel Feature way back in 1971. This title was created to showcase Dr. Strange, the Sub-Mariner and the Hulk. All these heroes have crossed paths before in their perspective solo titles, and Sub-Mariner and the Hulk have even fought side-by-side with sometime “Defender” the Silver Surfer way back in Sub-Mariner issue #34, “Confrontation”. This is the first time these character united to fight a common foe, but the thing is they spent as much time bickering with each other as they did vanquishing their common enemy; either way it worked and books were sold and the powers that be at Marvel decided they wanted to give this “non-team” a shot at a regular book. The only problem though, Stan Lee had his own plans for the Silver Surfer, so instead of using him (at least initially), the go ahead was given to use a recently retired and little used character, Dr. Strange, and thus the Defenders was born.
Throughout the years “the Defenders” went through a lot of changes, they got themselves a pseudo-Batman financier (Nighthawk), a really hot Asgardian (Valkryrie), a housewife (Hellcat), the Son of Satan (seriously, I’m not kidding, Damien Hellstorm, look him up), the Thing (for like a minute) and even a few X-men (the Angel and the Beast). Oh yeah, and a bald, hot, sorta ******* (Moondragon, as for that sorta-******* thing, see the last issues of Peter David’s Captain Marvel series for clarification). Let me ask you this, for such a colorful cast of characters, for a fairly long running series (over 100 issues) can anyone remember anything earth shattering or significant that came from “the Defenders”? Does anyone care that a bunch of odd heroes at one point banded together, bickered, and overcame common foes? Well, yeah, that’s why we got a brand new series featuring the creative team behind Justice League International, Geffen, DeMatteis and McGuire, and I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Marvel Universe could use the levity.
Defenders opens up with Wong being possessed by Nightmare, and then warning Dr. Strange about an upcoming world destroying evil: apparently the Dread Dormammu and his sister Umar have banded together and plan on wrecking havoc. So the good Dr. has to unite his old buds in the Defenders to save the world and hopefully not strangle each other in the process. Of course, none of this is as straightforward as I’m making it sound, and along the way expect some introspection, humor, infighting and soul-searching (yes, I said soul-searching). This main strength in this series thus far is the dialogue. Geffen ad DeMatteis know their characters, and know how to pick at them and play with them to make something witty, humorous and engaging, all the while moving forward with the main plot. McGuire’s art hasn’t lost a step since the ‘80’s, and if you liked it then, you’re still gonna like it now. Yeah, this isn’t a laugh-a-minute slapstick kind of book, the humor is subtler, but if you know the characters you’ll definitely get a chuckle. I’m probably gonna stick this book out, and it wouldn’t hurt for someone looking for something different to give it a try.
Teen Titan’s issue #26
DC Comics
Written by: Geoff Johns
Drawn by: Tony Daniel
To get everyone up to speed on this incarnation of the Titans, Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy, all founding members of the 2nd group of “Teen Titans”, decided to form a new team of Titans, but this time they were going to be their “guides” rather than just have a bunch of kids go at it alone. The new Titan’s Tower is in San Francisco, and the new team consists of Bart Allen (formerly Impulse, now Kid Flash), Superboy (aka Conner Kent aka Kon-el, a clone of Lex Luthor and Superman’s DNA), Wonder Girl (aka Cassie Sandsmark), Robin (aka Tim Drake) and Raven (newly made young again?). Yeah, they are a super team and they deal with threats, and they are probably going to fill the shoes of the Justice League someday, but they are also friends and their weekends at the Tower gives them time to talk and “decompress” with peers and people they trust and who have lead similar lives. In the tradition of the Wolfman/Perez “Teen Titans” of the ‘80s, these new Titans are a family as well, and that is why the book works.
Presently, Teen Titans has just completed a four-part crossover with The Outsiders (a group which is coincidentally made up of several original “Teen Titans”). The whole thing kicked off a couple of issues ago in the “Titans”, Connor, at the urging of Robin, was going to tell the rest of the team that half of his DNA belonged to Lex Luthor. Before that could happen he lost it and starting wreaking all sorts of havoc on the Titans. Oh yeah, and that killer-android-turned-good from the future, Indigo, currently a member of “The Outsiders”? Well, she’s still bad, as a matter of fact, she’s really Braniac and wants to kill everyone. Yipes. Well, things don’t go so well for our heroes. Indigo/Braniac is kicking all types of a$#, Conner has crushed one of Robin’s bones, tore apart Cyborg, burned Beast Boy and even attacked his girl, Cassie (Wonder Girl). Just when things seemed their bleakest, Wonder Girl broke through to Conner and he rebelled against his evil “half” and string-puller Lex Luthor, Shift (that Metamorpho type guy from the Outsiders) dispatched Indigo/Brainiac most nastily, and things came back to normal, well, not really.
Teen Titans #26 opens 30 days after the events in The Outsiders #25. Conner has gone back to Ma and Pa Kent to sort things out. He feels beyond uncomfortable, truly a lost soul after recent events, shrinking more and more into his “just a clone” mindset. Then Raven pops up to give young Conner some perspective (and we have a really cool scene between Conner, Batman and Superman). Johns as always tells a solid story, and guest artist Tony Daniel does fine, even without any gratuitous booty shots to do. So if you have the inclination, and miss the Titans of old, check this book out. It’s definitely worth a look.
The Astonishing X-men #11
Marvel Comics
Written by: Joss Whedon
Drawn by: John Cassaday
Growing up the X-men was my favorite book. Claremont ran a tight ship, yeah, he was (and still is) the king of needless exposition, but back then it wasn’t so irritating. You also had great artists like John Byrne, Paul Smith, John Romita Jr., Arthur Adams, Jim Lee and Mark Silvesteri kicking out monthly issues of excitement and wonder. I (like a lot of other people) dug the X-men cause they were like me, different. Their roster wasn’t full of blonde hair and blue-eyed all American Ubermencher, they had diversity, emotions and made mistakes. They didn’t all get along and the world really didn’t like them, or even see them as heroes most of the time. Uncanny X-men became one of the hottest selling properties for Marvel Comics in the 1980’s, and ‘90’s, so Marvel decided to spin-off some titles to milk it. Only a couple at first, New Mutants, X-factor both of those were okay. Then you got Excalibur again, not bad. Then things went a little nutty. Wolverine got a solo series, huge crossover events became a bi-annual event, Jim Lee got his own X-men title, and so on and so on until you have the mess that is their today. Wolverine averages about 29 comic appearances a month. A$# clown and generally over hyped writer Grant Morrison gave us more mutants than we knew what to do with, gave Xavier a twin, brought back Magneto, killed him, brought him back, killed Jean Grey (again), GHAH… I don’t know, I just don’t know, I can’t keep up, and I don’t want to keep up. The X-men needs a “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, and needs it now.
Enter Joss Whedon and his Astonishing X-men. We get a small, manageable team of X-men (Kitty Pryde, Wolverine, Cyclops, Emma Frost, and Hank McCoy, aka the Beast). Colossus is brought back to life (well, he never really died, just read the first story arc already…), biting dialogue between Emma and Kitty (ohhh, catfight!), crazed aliens and rogue SHIELD agents. So far, so good. Then in issue 10 the Danger Room goes crazy, comes to life, and tries to whack all the X-men. Yeah, I’ll say it again. The Danger Room (you know, made with Shi ar technology, kinda like Star Trek’s holodecks, it’s where the X-men train to be better X-men) comes to life, assumes a human form and tries to whack everyone, and almost succeeds. Then it (or she, whatever) takes over a blackbird and hauls a$# to Genosha where it wants to kill “father”, or Professor Xavier. From there things get really weird.
This series was doing just fine until issue 10, and then WHAT THE FU$#. Seriously, the Danger Room comes to life? The motherfu$#in DANGER ROOM comes to life? That was the best thing Whedon could pull out of his a$#? Maybe I shoulda watched that “Buffy” garbage, and I coulda seen this coming, but seriously, the frikkin DANGER ROOM comes to life. Do I really need to go on? If this sh$# doesn’t turn, I’m dumping this garbage. Not even John Cassaday’s beautiful art can save this crap. Rassim-frassim Danger Room, shoulda stuck with TV, rassim-frassim overrated fanboy douche bag…