wktf
12-24-2008, 06:03 PM
Sam Wilson’s Reviews
Unknown Soldier #3
DC/Vertigo
Written by: Joshua Dysart
Drawn by: Alberto Ponticelli
For the most part the character of the Unknown Soldier has been a mystery to me. Never read the Joe Kubert drawn series back in the day, I never really read anything about the character until the mid-1990’s when I picked up the Garth Ennis limited series Vertigo put out during Ennis’s “Preacher” heyday. I loved that series, absolutely brutal and Ennis’s style lent itself very well to the immoral soldier. When I heard about the new series, again being put out by Vertigo, I was interested. Would it be like the Ennis series? What would the take be? Brutal? Political? Comic book standard (fat chance with that, but you never know)? One thing I will say, this new take on the character is not for everyone. Most fanboys like their action, big titties and mindless entertainment that must remain in-continuity and not force you to think of any other adjective other than “awesome” or “sweet”. If you think “Civil House of Secret Invasion” or “Infinite Final Crisis on Several Earth’s” is where it’s at and you’ve never read a Vertigo Book before the new “Unknown Soldier” isn’t for you. If you were a big fan of books like “Preacher”, “Y the Last Man” and “The Losers” then “Unknown Soldier” won’t disappoint. Anyway, on to the specifics…
In the first issue we are introduced to our protagonist, Dr. Lwanga Moses. The Dr. Moses was born in Uganda to parents who relocated to the United States when he was seven years old. This happened in 1978; Idi Amin was just ousted from power and the country plunged into civil war and Uganda soon became one of the poorest nations in the world. Meanwhile, Lwanga Moses goes to Harvard medical school and returns to Uganda as an adult. It’s now Uganda 2002, with his wife Sera in tow Dr. Moses opens up a clinic in a refugee zone (Uganda has one of the highest populations of displaced people in the world) and soon finds himself in the !%&!%&!%&!%&. Rampant disease, children with war injuries, Dr. Moses is in a living nightmare. A pacifist, Moses believes the only way Uganda will ever solve its problems is if Ugandans work to solve them, not the UN, not celebrities, not the US, Ugandans. The good Doctor is taking the first step by jumping neck deep in the !%&!%&!%&!%& and trying to do him some good, but the stress may be getting to him. He finds himself having nightmares, about killing his wife in a most heinous manner. Soon enough he finds himself staring such violence in the face. A kid shows up at his clinic with a head wound saying armed rebels attacked him and took his sister. Without thinking Dr. Moses rushes out to the jungle and finds the child, but finds himself surrounded by armed children. Almost-teens who can’t read but know how to work an AK-47. A voice commands the Dr. to take out the children, killing all of them. It’s almost more than the Dr. can take, and the voice keeps talking to him, telling him he now has the combat skills to punish those who profit from human misery, the untouchables who make the world a horrible place. Dr. Moses snaps and cuts up his own face with a jagged rock he finds on the ground and collapses in a heap with the bodies of the children he just killed. Not the man he thought he was when he woke up in the morning, the good Dr’s transformation continues in the second issue.
Dr. Moses wakes up to find himself naked and in a missionary house. Some young refugees came upon his person and rolled him for all of his money and possessions and left him for dead. The scary voice telling him how to kill people has gone away, but Moses finds himself lying about who he is and in a state of shock. Meanwhile, the CIA have taken an interest in finding the missing Dr. and have enlisted a senior agent by the name of Jack Lee Howl. More Gary Busey than Jack Ryan, Howl finds himself reluctantly on board not so much because he is ordered to but because he is blackmailed into compliance. Meanwhile Dr. Moses and his newfound saviors soon find themselves under attack by more teenaged rebels. Moses looks for answers from god but all he gets is the voice, talking him through combat instilling him with a killing lust he has never had before in his life, which brings us to issue three. In the wake of the attack, Dr. Moses finds himself captured by the teenaged rebels and forced to meet their leader, who thinks Dr. Moses is a priest (the nuns dressed him like one) and seeks his approval to bless his war. More harsh Ugandan realities come to light that are flat out horrible, disgusting and highly disturbing but unfortunately reality in some places in the world and Dr. Moses is forced to deal with these realities most unlike a Dr, substituting a stethoscope for some land mines, and the brutality continues…
Needless to say I’m a big fan of this book. Only three issues in there are still a lot of questions to be asked, but I want to ask them and I want to know how this is going to play out. A lot of people will be turned off by the politics; this book is not a straight actioneer by any means and that’s a good thing. If you aren’t ready for that then pick up the latest issue of Batman RIP. If “DMZ” and “Scalped” are more your thing than this book is a welcome addition to your pull list. My pick of the week, hands down.
Ultimatum #2 (of 5)
Marvel Comics
Written by: Jeph Loeb
Drawn by: Dave Finch
10 or so years ago when “Ultimate Spider-Man” first burst on the scene people raised an eyebrow. They did more than that actually, many feared a reinvention and didn’t want to see or hear anything about a possible new Marvel Universe. Tears were shed, LCS buys were !%&!%&!%&!%&!%&ed at and the powers that be at Marvel were cursed upon, heavily. Until of course the unexpected happened, the “Ultimate Spider-Man” was the best thing that had happened to Peter Parker in years. The books that followed were equally strong, “Ultimate X-men”, “Ultimate Fantastic Four”, “The Ultimates”, all were indeed fairly awesome and had the creative juice to back them up. Warren Ellis, Bendis, Mark Millar, Bryan Hitch, Adam Kubert, each of those books had strong creative teams and for awhile provided a fresh and unhindered look at our favorite characters, free of years of baggage that was honestly weighing them down. Yeah, Nick Fury was black and Dr. Doom had hooves, but whatever. Things were good and got better. Dave Finch and Greg Land did stints on Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate FF, Bendis and Bagley stayed on Spider-Man for over 100 issues, even the Ultimate Annuals were pretty good. Of course nothing good lasts forever. Shorty after Land left FF the book took a severe turn for the lame. Loeb and Madureira on the Ultimates wasn’t nearly it was cracked up to be. “Ultimate Power” started strong, but I would have rather seen “Ultimate Power” finish in its own continuity than the attempted crossover, which resulted in the loss of one of the coolest characters in the Ultimate U. There was the fairly awesome Ultimate Extinction trilogy, and Ultimate Origins was pretty good but those were the only two positive surrounded by a few years of meh. As far as “Ultimatum”, we are promised a whole new “thing” (whatever that may be) for the Ultimate U, and with Dave Finch and Jeph Loeb on the case things are defiantly looking up (yes, Finch is one of my favorites, no secret there). So how is it?
Honestly, its pretty damn good. First off, it’s beautiful. I know personally that Dave Finch put a lot of time into this book and it looks fantastic. Yes, art alone doesn’t make a comic book but with Ultimatum it comes damn close. Most of the major players are featured in this issue and they never looked better (his Ben Grimm is awesome and his Valkyrie is just hot). As far as the story goes its most just set up, but it was pretty damn cool. The red dot thing shows up from “Ultimate Origins” and then several simultaneous catastrophic world events happen, Reed Richards flips out big time and a major Ultimate U baddie seems to be behind it all (if you’ve seen any of the preview covers you know who) and just so happens to be in possession of Thor’s hammer. In issue two things get way, way worse. Two members of the Ultimate U meet what seems like awful, disturbing deaths (well, one for sure) and Thor goes to hell to save his girl (seriously) and finds Captain America there? For real…
This is the kind of book you want to rebuy in oversized hardcover format. Finch is sharper than he’s ever been and I’ll forgive Loeb for Red Hulk if he keeps things at this pace. Buying this book without being down with the Ultimate U would be a source of confusion for most, events in this book pick up where a lot of recent events in the Ultimate U left off, but whatever. “Ultimatum” lives up to the event hype around it. Word.
Wonder Woman #27
DC Comics
Written by: Gail Simone
Drawn by: Aaron Lopresti
Ever since our girl Diana Prince Snapped Max Lord’s neck on national TV Wonder Woman has been at the forefront of the DCU, and righteously so. Let’s ignore “Amazon’s Attack” for a minute and remember how kick ass our girl is. George Perez took her to the next level in the ‘80’s and then she disappeared, living through a horrible “bad girl” reinvention in the ‘90’s that I’d like to forget as much as the recent aforementioned “Amazon’s Attack” garbage. Before “AA” Greg Rucka came on board briefly as the main writer on her regular series and Wonder Woman was back to where she should be, the top chick in the DCU if not all of comicdom. Then there were some missteps with the chronically late Dodson/Heinberg restart and a few issues with author Jodi Picoult, beloved by soccer and PTA moms everywhere but clearly had no idea how to reach comic readers. Then someone had the brilliant idea to put Gail Simone in charge, her work on “Birds of Prey” winning her legions of fans and was the most definitive work done on those characters in DCU’s history (I’d argue anyway). So how is it going thus far? Pretty damn good I would say…
Last issue was the start of a new storyline, “Rise of the Olympian”. Things started with Zues and the rest of the gods returning to Olympus to find it destroyed by Darkseid. Meanwhile, there is a metahuman incident at a shopping mall and Diana Prince, agent of the DMA (Department of Metahuman Affairs) is called to deal with it. She and her team (which includes Etta Candy and Tom Tresser aka Nemisis) rush off to see what is going on. Tresser is detained by Sarge Steel for some unknown reason, which we soon find out is sinister. Anyway, more a massacre than an “incident” Diana and her team soon are confronted by a metahuman who decided to start killing people seemingly at random and hole herself up in a mall. Diana makes the switch to Wonder Woman, engages and promptly gets her ass whupped. In issue 27, the aforementioned subtly named metahuman “Genocide” continues her rampage and takes it to the DMA where she disposes of Sarge Steel (who goes completely psycho) and the rest of his agents. Before that Genocide pays a little side visit to the new crime Dr. to make use of something she took from Diana after whupping her ass (what?) and Donna Troy and Wonder Girl face up to something they don’t want to. All this and the Justice League show up (to also get their asses whupped), yeesh…
I love Gail Simone, and I love her on this book. Its great to actually see a writer write a character, and she writes Wonder Woman very well. Aaron Lopresti is back on the art and he’s never looked better. Clearly the best Wonder Woman we’ve had since Greg Rucka ended his run, this book is highly recommended.
Wktf’s Reviews
First of all, I’m writing these while in the office so they’re going to be shorter than usual. Maybe that’s a good thing. Secondly, this smattering of comics happens to be all-Marvel. I’d apologize to those who look for more of the cross-company reviews I try to do but…whatever.
Thor #12
Marvel Comics
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Drawn by: Olivier Coipel
Cover by: Olivier Coipel
My goodness, this is possibly the single most impressive comic book any company has produced this year. The art is just absolutely stunning and the story has been a slow, smoldering burn coupled with some intense action and, as just mentioned, majestic visuals. “Thor” is squarely at the top of my monthly reading pile and this issue is just one more reason why. And the Thunder God, himself, doesn’t even make it past the cover into the issue!
Loki’s plot, more or less and possibly without some of the details we’ll learn about later, finally gets drawn from below to above the surface, and this issue is all about the machinations and workings of the God of Evil. Thus far, though we readers have known better, Loki has claimed to have had only the best of intentions at heart, and we’ve all been hard pressed to find outright falsehood in anything she’s said. But let there be no doubt now that Loki is out for blood. Thor’s blood. And for power. In this issue Loki teams up with Hela who, by the way, has rarely looked more insidiously evil than she does here, to not only regain his true form but to bend the rules of time and space to move pieces into place and insure his (yes, it's confusing but for this moment it's "his") victory. The evil simply is dripping off of every page in this comic.
Telling more would be to spoil this read. This issue is a bit of a lull before the inevitable storm of the next issue, Thor #600. But it’s an absolutely integral piece of the story that’s intensely gripping. JMS and Coipel have found their home with Thor and the reader is the big winner of their efforts. My pick of the week.
New Avengers #48
Marvel Comics
Written by: Brian Michael Bendis
Drawn by: Billy Tan
Cover by: Billy Tan
Forty-seven issues ago, Captain America formed The New Avengers to do a job that needed to be done. It turns out, the prison break that spawned the team was integral to The Skrull’s Secret Invasion. Now, the Invasion is over but the work must go on. In the wreckage of the Secret Invasion battle field, as Iron Man is reaching toward an angry Thor who’s turned his back on the Golden Avenger, the new Cap has words with Hawkeye (okay, Ronin, really) who, in turn, passes the word along and soon a gathering of heroes has assembled in Bucky Barnes’ home. Indeed, the underground Avengers are back in, I think, their third incarnation. And Billy Tan’s full page spread of the new team makes for a pretty impressive and dramatic roster. However, before they can locate a target deserving their attention, an emergency comes directly to them.
Luke, Jessica Jones and Ms. Marvel join our group, desperate for help to find Luke & Jessica’s baby. And they are in take-no-prisoners mode. Enlisting the aid of the Fantastic Four (Hey, you want to see Sue take command of the FF? Pick up this book!) the combined teams of heroes start knocking down doors and busting heads in search of the Skrull operative who posed as Jarvis and is in possession of the Cage’s child. The desperation is palpable in this story, especially from Luke Cage. And the degrees to which Luke is willing to go to get his baby back, revealed on the last page, simply cannot lead to anything good for anyone.
It’s great to have the underground New Avengers back and moving on the cases that normally would be under the radar of The Mighty Avengers. I have to say, I’ve never been a fan of Tan’s art. His line work is too thin for me and there’s not enough variation in his work. But this issue’s a great start and I’ll definitely be back for the next issue. Luke and Jessica’s plight alone is enough to keep me coming back, at the moment anyway.
Daredevil #114
Marvel Comics
Written by: Ed Brubaker
Drawn by: Michael Lark
Cover by: Marko Djurdjevic
This issue marks Part 4 of the Lady Bullseye arc and things simply could not get any worse for Matt Murdock. Since the 1970s and 80s Frank Miller work, DD has seemed to be Marvel’s poster child for personal, self fulfilling problems. As bad as things have been, and they don’t get much worse than Miller’s “Born Again” story, they seriously have been turned up a notch now. Lady Bullseye and The Hand are systematically destroying Matt’s life. And with Matt, married to a woman whose sanity was compromised by Daredevil’s life, having slept with Dakota North, the detective in his employ, he seems to be doing everything he can to help them destroy his own life.
As Matt’s wife is forcefully removed from his watch, legal actions are being pressed against him both by Milla’s parents and Lady Bullseye who's working angles even Matt can see, despite his enhanced senses. Matt’s emotions and temper are frayed beyond belief. Add to that, Dakota’s being dragged into this in ways neither she nor Matt could have predicted plus mad crazy Hand ninja’s swarming all over New York and attacking Matt’s allies, and you have an action packed package of desperation and fear, ultimately climaxing in a closing page that seriously puts Matt in the path of a confrontation he almost can’t even attempt to win. Buy this book. Seriously, it’s just that good.
Captain America Theatre of War: America First
Marvel Comics
Written by: Howard Chaykin
Drawn by: Howard Chaykin
Cover by: Howard Chaykin
This is second installment of a series exploring Captain America’s history, seemingly through the decades. The first was a 1940s story during World War II that didn’t really appeal to me. A weak story and dark, murky art made the whole thing kind of forgettable. Now, however, we’ve got Howard Chaykin and the writing and art chores explores Captain America of the 1950s battling The Soviet Union! “What?” you may say. Cap dropped of the face of the Earth during the war, to be revived in the 1960s. Right you are, but readers even of Ed Brubaker’s recent work know that another was so hell bent to emulate Steve Rogers that he had his identity surgically altered to look like Rogers and even infused with the Secret Soldier Serum to give him Cap’s abilities. This story is about this Cap of the 1950s.
There’s a Soviet plot in place to disrupt America and spread the Communist vision to the West, and this Cap will have none of this. A new CIA Agent, a gent named Nick Fury (minus the eye patch) knows the real Cap is dead (or so he thinks) doesn’t trust this star spangled imposter at all. That said, they both find that they have to work together against a common threat that’s worked its way into the very fabric of our government.
Chaykin loves telling stories of intrigue and action, and he’s doing no less here. Unlike the first installment in this series, this particular issue is a lot of fun, solidly written and illustrated (not crazy about the way he draws the big “A” on Cap’s mask, but that’s a minor point) with a story that takes us a little off balance with a different Captain America but, none the less, delivers the goods for a single issue adventure comic. We know that both villainy and tragedy are coming for this Captain America but, for this moment during his time, we can feel good for him as he battles against the forces of freedom as he believes Steve Rogers would have done, and even wins some of the respect the original Cap had. Even from Fury.
Unknown Soldier #3
DC/Vertigo
Written by: Joshua Dysart
Drawn by: Alberto Ponticelli
For the most part the character of the Unknown Soldier has been a mystery to me. Never read the Joe Kubert drawn series back in the day, I never really read anything about the character until the mid-1990’s when I picked up the Garth Ennis limited series Vertigo put out during Ennis’s “Preacher” heyday. I loved that series, absolutely brutal and Ennis’s style lent itself very well to the immoral soldier. When I heard about the new series, again being put out by Vertigo, I was interested. Would it be like the Ennis series? What would the take be? Brutal? Political? Comic book standard (fat chance with that, but you never know)? One thing I will say, this new take on the character is not for everyone. Most fanboys like their action, big titties and mindless entertainment that must remain in-continuity and not force you to think of any other adjective other than “awesome” or “sweet”. If you think “Civil House of Secret Invasion” or “Infinite Final Crisis on Several Earth’s” is where it’s at and you’ve never read a Vertigo Book before the new “Unknown Soldier” isn’t for you. If you were a big fan of books like “Preacher”, “Y the Last Man” and “The Losers” then “Unknown Soldier” won’t disappoint. Anyway, on to the specifics…
In the first issue we are introduced to our protagonist, Dr. Lwanga Moses. The Dr. Moses was born in Uganda to parents who relocated to the United States when he was seven years old. This happened in 1978; Idi Amin was just ousted from power and the country plunged into civil war and Uganda soon became one of the poorest nations in the world. Meanwhile, Lwanga Moses goes to Harvard medical school and returns to Uganda as an adult. It’s now Uganda 2002, with his wife Sera in tow Dr. Moses opens up a clinic in a refugee zone (Uganda has one of the highest populations of displaced people in the world) and soon finds himself in the !%&!%&!%&!%&. Rampant disease, children with war injuries, Dr. Moses is in a living nightmare. A pacifist, Moses believes the only way Uganda will ever solve its problems is if Ugandans work to solve them, not the UN, not celebrities, not the US, Ugandans. The good Doctor is taking the first step by jumping neck deep in the !%&!%&!%&!%& and trying to do him some good, but the stress may be getting to him. He finds himself having nightmares, about killing his wife in a most heinous manner. Soon enough he finds himself staring such violence in the face. A kid shows up at his clinic with a head wound saying armed rebels attacked him and took his sister. Without thinking Dr. Moses rushes out to the jungle and finds the child, but finds himself surrounded by armed children. Almost-teens who can’t read but know how to work an AK-47. A voice commands the Dr. to take out the children, killing all of them. It’s almost more than the Dr. can take, and the voice keeps talking to him, telling him he now has the combat skills to punish those who profit from human misery, the untouchables who make the world a horrible place. Dr. Moses snaps and cuts up his own face with a jagged rock he finds on the ground and collapses in a heap with the bodies of the children he just killed. Not the man he thought he was when he woke up in the morning, the good Dr’s transformation continues in the second issue.
Dr. Moses wakes up to find himself naked and in a missionary house. Some young refugees came upon his person and rolled him for all of his money and possessions and left him for dead. The scary voice telling him how to kill people has gone away, but Moses finds himself lying about who he is and in a state of shock. Meanwhile, the CIA have taken an interest in finding the missing Dr. and have enlisted a senior agent by the name of Jack Lee Howl. More Gary Busey than Jack Ryan, Howl finds himself reluctantly on board not so much because he is ordered to but because he is blackmailed into compliance. Meanwhile Dr. Moses and his newfound saviors soon find themselves under attack by more teenaged rebels. Moses looks for answers from god but all he gets is the voice, talking him through combat instilling him with a killing lust he has never had before in his life, which brings us to issue three. In the wake of the attack, Dr. Moses finds himself captured by the teenaged rebels and forced to meet their leader, who thinks Dr. Moses is a priest (the nuns dressed him like one) and seeks his approval to bless his war. More harsh Ugandan realities come to light that are flat out horrible, disgusting and highly disturbing but unfortunately reality in some places in the world and Dr. Moses is forced to deal with these realities most unlike a Dr, substituting a stethoscope for some land mines, and the brutality continues…
Needless to say I’m a big fan of this book. Only three issues in there are still a lot of questions to be asked, but I want to ask them and I want to know how this is going to play out. A lot of people will be turned off by the politics; this book is not a straight actioneer by any means and that’s a good thing. If you aren’t ready for that then pick up the latest issue of Batman RIP. If “DMZ” and “Scalped” are more your thing than this book is a welcome addition to your pull list. My pick of the week, hands down.
Ultimatum #2 (of 5)
Marvel Comics
Written by: Jeph Loeb
Drawn by: Dave Finch
10 or so years ago when “Ultimate Spider-Man” first burst on the scene people raised an eyebrow. They did more than that actually, many feared a reinvention and didn’t want to see or hear anything about a possible new Marvel Universe. Tears were shed, LCS buys were !%&!%&!%&!%&!%&ed at and the powers that be at Marvel were cursed upon, heavily. Until of course the unexpected happened, the “Ultimate Spider-Man” was the best thing that had happened to Peter Parker in years. The books that followed were equally strong, “Ultimate X-men”, “Ultimate Fantastic Four”, “The Ultimates”, all were indeed fairly awesome and had the creative juice to back them up. Warren Ellis, Bendis, Mark Millar, Bryan Hitch, Adam Kubert, each of those books had strong creative teams and for awhile provided a fresh and unhindered look at our favorite characters, free of years of baggage that was honestly weighing them down. Yeah, Nick Fury was black and Dr. Doom had hooves, but whatever. Things were good and got better. Dave Finch and Greg Land did stints on Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate FF, Bendis and Bagley stayed on Spider-Man for over 100 issues, even the Ultimate Annuals were pretty good. Of course nothing good lasts forever. Shorty after Land left FF the book took a severe turn for the lame. Loeb and Madureira on the Ultimates wasn’t nearly it was cracked up to be. “Ultimate Power” started strong, but I would have rather seen “Ultimate Power” finish in its own continuity than the attempted crossover, which resulted in the loss of one of the coolest characters in the Ultimate U. There was the fairly awesome Ultimate Extinction trilogy, and Ultimate Origins was pretty good but those were the only two positive surrounded by a few years of meh. As far as “Ultimatum”, we are promised a whole new “thing” (whatever that may be) for the Ultimate U, and with Dave Finch and Jeph Loeb on the case things are defiantly looking up (yes, Finch is one of my favorites, no secret there). So how is it?
Honestly, its pretty damn good. First off, it’s beautiful. I know personally that Dave Finch put a lot of time into this book and it looks fantastic. Yes, art alone doesn’t make a comic book but with Ultimatum it comes damn close. Most of the major players are featured in this issue and they never looked better (his Ben Grimm is awesome and his Valkyrie is just hot). As far as the story goes its most just set up, but it was pretty damn cool. The red dot thing shows up from “Ultimate Origins” and then several simultaneous catastrophic world events happen, Reed Richards flips out big time and a major Ultimate U baddie seems to be behind it all (if you’ve seen any of the preview covers you know who) and just so happens to be in possession of Thor’s hammer. In issue two things get way, way worse. Two members of the Ultimate U meet what seems like awful, disturbing deaths (well, one for sure) and Thor goes to hell to save his girl (seriously) and finds Captain America there? For real…
This is the kind of book you want to rebuy in oversized hardcover format. Finch is sharper than he’s ever been and I’ll forgive Loeb for Red Hulk if he keeps things at this pace. Buying this book without being down with the Ultimate U would be a source of confusion for most, events in this book pick up where a lot of recent events in the Ultimate U left off, but whatever. “Ultimatum” lives up to the event hype around it. Word.
Wonder Woman #27
DC Comics
Written by: Gail Simone
Drawn by: Aaron Lopresti
Ever since our girl Diana Prince Snapped Max Lord’s neck on national TV Wonder Woman has been at the forefront of the DCU, and righteously so. Let’s ignore “Amazon’s Attack” for a minute and remember how kick ass our girl is. George Perez took her to the next level in the ‘80’s and then she disappeared, living through a horrible “bad girl” reinvention in the ‘90’s that I’d like to forget as much as the recent aforementioned “Amazon’s Attack” garbage. Before “AA” Greg Rucka came on board briefly as the main writer on her regular series and Wonder Woman was back to where she should be, the top chick in the DCU if not all of comicdom. Then there were some missteps with the chronically late Dodson/Heinberg restart and a few issues with author Jodi Picoult, beloved by soccer and PTA moms everywhere but clearly had no idea how to reach comic readers. Then someone had the brilliant idea to put Gail Simone in charge, her work on “Birds of Prey” winning her legions of fans and was the most definitive work done on those characters in DCU’s history (I’d argue anyway). So how is it going thus far? Pretty damn good I would say…
Last issue was the start of a new storyline, “Rise of the Olympian”. Things started with Zues and the rest of the gods returning to Olympus to find it destroyed by Darkseid. Meanwhile, there is a metahuman incident at a shopping mall and Diana Prince, agent of the DMA (Department of Metahuman Affairs) is called to deal with it. She and her team (which includes Etta Candy and Tom Tresser aka Nemisis) rush off to see what is going on. Tresser is detained by Sarge Steel for some unknown reason, which we soon find out is sinister. Anyway, more a massacre than an “incident” Diana and her team soon are confronted by a metahuman who decided to start killing people seemingly at random and hole herself up in a mall. Diana makes the switch to Wonder Woman, engages and promptly gets her ass whupped. In issue 27, the aforementioned subtly named metahuman “Genocide” continues her rampage and takes it to the DMA where she disposes of Sarge Steel (who goes completely psycho) and the rest of his agents. Before that Genocide pays a little side visit to the new crime Dr. to make use of something she took from Diana after whupping her ass (what?) and Donna Troy and Wonder Girl face up to something they don’t want to. All this and the Justice League show up (to also get their asses whupped), yeesh…
I love Gail Simone, and I love her on this book. Its great to actually see a writer write a character, and she writes Wonder Woman very well. Aaron Lopresti is back on the art and he’s never looked better. Clearly the best Wonder Woman we’ve had since Greg Rucka ended his run, this book is highly recommended.
Wktf’s Reviews
First of all, I’m writing these while in the office so they’re going to be shorter than usual. Maybe that’s a good thing. Secondly, this smattering of comics happens to be all-Marvel. I’d apologize to those who look for more of the cross-company reviews I try to do but…whatever.
Thor #12
Marvel Comics
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Drawn by: Olivier Coipel
Cover by: Olivier Coipel
My goodness, this is possibly the single most impressive comic book any company has produced this year. The art is just absolutely stunning and the story has been a slow, smoldering burn coupled with some intense action and, as just mentioned, majestic visuals. “Thor” is squarely at the top of my monthly reading pile and this issue is just one more reason why. And the Thunder God, himself, doesn’t even make it past the cover into the issue!
Loki’s plot, more or less and possibly without some of the details we’ll learn about later, finally gets drawn from below to above the surface, and this issue is all about the machinations and workings of the God of Evil. Thus far, though we readers have known better, Loki has claimed to have had only the best of intentions at heart, and we’ve all been hard pressed to find outright falsehood in anything she’s said. But let there be no doubt now that Loki is out for blood. Thor’s blood. And for power. In this issue Loki teams up with Hela who, by the way, has rarely looked more insidiously evil than she does here, to not only regain his true form but to bend the rules of time and space to move pieces into place and insure his (yes, it's confusing but for this moment it's "his") victory. The evil simply is dripping off of every page in this comic.
Telling more would be to spoil this read. This issue is a bit of a lull before the inevitable storm of the next issue, Thor #600. But it’s an absolutely integral piece of the story that’s intensely gripping. JMS and Coipel have found their home with Thor and the reader is the big winner of their efforts. My pick of the week.
New Avengers #48
Marvel Comics
Written by: Brian Michael Bendis
Drawn by: Billy Tan
Cover by: Billy Tan
Forty-seven issues ago, Captain America formed The New Avengers to do a job that needed to be done. It turns out, the prison break that spawned the team was integral to The Skrull’s Secret Invasion. Now, the Invasion is over but the work must go on. In the wreckage of the Secret Invasion battle field, as Iron Man is reaching toward an angry Thor who’s turned his back on the Golden Avenger, the new Cap has words with Hawkeye (okay, Ronin, really) who, in turn, passes the word along and soon a gathering of heroes has assembled in Bucky Barnes’ home. Indeed, the underground Avengers are back in, I think, their third incarnation. And Billy Tan’s full page spread of the new team makes for a pretty impressive and dramatic roster. However, before they can locate a target deserving their attention, an emergency comes directly to them.
Luke, Jessica Jones and Ms. Marvel join our group, desperate for help to find Luke & Jessica’s baby. And they are in take-no-prisoners mode. Enlisting the aid of the Fantastic Four (Hey, you want to see Sue take command of the FF? Pick up this book!) the combined teams of heroes start knocking down doors and busting heads in search of the Skrull operative who posed as Jarvis and is in possession of the Cage’s child. The desperation is palpable in this story, especially from Luke Cage. And the degrees to which Luke is willing to go to get his baby back, revealed on the last page, simply cannot lead to anything good for anyone.
It’s great to have the underground New Avengers back and moving on the cases that normally would be under the radar of The Mighty Avengers. I have to say, I’ve never been a fan of Tan’s art. His line work is too thin for me and there’s not enough variation in his work. But this issue’s a great start and I’ll definitely be back for the next issue. Luke and Jessica’s plight alone is enough to keep me coming back, at the moment anyway.
Daredevil #114
Marvel Comics
Written by: Ed Brubaker
Drawn by: Michael Lark
Cover by: Marko Djurdjevic
This issue marks Part 4 of the Lady Bullseye arc and things simply could not get any worse for Matt Murdock. Since the 1970s and 80s Frank Miller work, DD has seemed to be Marvel’s poster child for personal, self fulfilling problems. As bad as things have been, and they don’t get much worse than Miller’s “Born Again” story, they seriously have been turned up a notch now. Lady Bullseye and The Hand are systematically destroying Matt’s life. And with Matt, married to a woman whose sanity was compromised by Daredevil’s life, having slept with Dakota North, the detective in his employ, he seems to be doing everything he can to help them destroy his own life.
As Matt’s wife is forcefully removed from his watch, legal actions are being pressed against him both by Milla’s parents and Lady Bullseye who's working angles even Matt can see, despite his enhanced senses. Matt’s emotions and temper are frayed beyond belief. Add to that, Dakota’s being dragged into this in ways neither she nor Matt could have predicted plus mad crazy Hand ninja’s swarming all over New York and attacking Matt’s allies, and you have an action packed package of desperation and fear, ultimately climaxing in a closing page that seriously puts Matt in the path of a confrontation he almost can’t even attempt to win. Buy this book. Seriously, it’s just that good.
Captain America Theatre of War: America First
Marvel Comics
Written by: Howard Chaykin
Drawn by: Howard Chaykin
Cover by: Howard Chaykin
This is second installment of a series exploring Captain America’s history, seemingly through the decades. The first was a 1940s story during World War II that didn’t really appeal to me. A weak story and dark, murky art made the whole thing kind of forgettable. Now, however, we’ve got Howard Chaykin and the writing and art chores explores Captain America of the 1950s battling The Soviet Union! “What?” you may say. Cap dropped of the face of the Earth during the war, to be revived in the 1960s. Right you are, but readers even of Ed Brubaker’s recent work know that another was so hell bent to emulate Steve Rogers that he had his identity surgically altered to look like Rogers and even infused with the Secret Soldier Serum to give him Cap’s abilities. This story is about this Cap of the 1950s.
There’s a Soviet plot in place to disrupt America and spread the Communist vision to the West, and this Cap will have none of this. A new CIA Agent, a gent named Nick Fury (minus the eye patch) knows the real Cap is dead (or so he thinks) doesn’t trust this star spangled imposter at all. That said, they both find that they have to work together against a common threat that’s worked its way into the very fabric of our government.
Chaykin loves telling stories of intrigue and action, and he’s doing no less here. Unlike the first installment in this series, this particular issue is a lot of fun, solidly written and illustrated (not crazy about the way he draws the big “A” on Cap’s mask, but that’s a minor point) with a story that takes us a little off balance with a different Captain America but, none the less, delivers the goods for a single issue adventure comic. We know that both villainy and tragedy are coming for this Captain America but, for this moment during his time, we can feel good for him as he battles against the forces of freedom as he believes Steve Rogers would have done, and even wins some of the respect the original Cap had. Even from Fury.