The Mighty Reviews 2/12/09

[Kdawg59]

Dawg’s Reviews
Joe is out of pocket today as he is working his balls off to kick ass in his day job. I applaud that and though we miss him around here today, he will be well represented in my reviews this week.

Not only that but I am leaving some space up for our resident British fellow and friend’s thoughts on the magnificent Thor issue that dominated the shelves of the LCS yesterday.

Thor #12/600
Marvel Comics
Written by: J Michael Straczynski , Stan Lee, Chris Giarrusso
Drawn by: Olivier Coipel, David Aja, Chris Giarrusso

There is no sense beating around the bush. This book is my pick of the week. To say that the last 11 issues since this title’s relaunch have been building up to this moment is a bit of an understatement. We all knew that Thor’s evil half-brother has been up to no good. Thor and Balder have had their suspicions as well, but unable to prove anything. It all comes to a head by the end of this comic and how.

It turns out the trickster Loki has the means and the power to resurrect Odin’s father Bor from his long centuries spent in exile, magically trapped within the snow.

Loki sees fit to not only resurrect Bor, but to further confuse him with wicked enchantments that make everything Bor sees as a twisted and evil version of itself.

Completely bewildered by his surroundings, Bor goes on a rampage seeking signs of his son Odin. The only problem with this, is what do you do when the architect of all Asgard is pissed off, confused, and enchanted and destroying everything in the biggest city in the United States?

You call Donald Blake, somehow hoping that he’ll be able to find Thor.

Thor of course hastily makes his way to New York City with hopes that this Asgardian wrecking havoc on everything could be one of the ones he was unable to resurrect , further hoping that if there was one he could not find, then perhaps there were more, including his lady love Sif.

Needless to say that Thor and Bor find each other and throw down in a battle that Coipel draws so well, you could forget you are even reading the narrative, and the word balloons. In fact the whole issue is drawn that way.

I don’t want to give too much away for the ending and how this issue all plays out, but let’s just say that it doesn’t end well for Bor or Thor. Balder is heartbroken, and Loki gets everything he has been scheming toward for 12 issues. Not to Mention we get to see cameo’s of the Dark Avengers as well. If you were not sure how much of a bastard Loki truly is, look no further than this issue as his patience and manipulations of Balder certainly come to a head by the end of this book. People have mildly griped at the slow pacing of this book, but I will say that this pay off is worth its weight in gold and is really too good to miss.

The writing and the art are truly amazing and this is the kind of book that can make you forget that you paid $5 dollars for it even if they didn’t throw in a few back up stories, and reprints after the main story.

This book is 100% epic… but don’t take my word for it… Our British Dude will be posting his thoughts on it as soon as he can right here.



Captain Britain and MI:13 #10
Marvel Comics
Written by: Paul Cornell
Drawn by: Leonard Kirk

I have made no bones about this book being one of my month favorites. I have always liked the Captain Britain character even as flawed as he has been throughout the years. He’s finally landed himself in a sustainable setting for Marvel with this new book MI:13. In fact this book is a great playground for all of Britain’s heroes and characters. There is a rich cast with Cap, Wisdom, Spitfire, Black Knight, Blade, Faiza and more. It feels like Marvel’s best breath of fresh air right now. They have burnt out the X-Men and now are damn near burning us all out for the Avengers as well and this team of great characters, can be seen only once a month in their self contained title… very nice…

It’s not all wine and roses for the characters however. In order to save Britain from the skrull invasion, Pete Wisdom had to sacrifice a lot and release just about every banished demon, magic creature, and monster there is. He did this all to release Merlin, who then resurrected Britain’s greatest symbol and hero… Captain Britain.

Now the team is left to clean up the mess and somehow chorale the terrors that were unleashed upon Britain and beyond.

I say beyond because our initial scene takes us well beyond Britain as we are given a look at this arc’s heavy… Dracula… Yep one of Joe’s favorite bad guys of all time is back in the Marvel Universe and he’s up to no good… He’s making deals with Doctor Doom, he’s creating new legions of vampires, and he’s a nasty racist blood sucking cat with a mission.

The teams enjoys a few quiet moments and character developing scenes in this issue. Wisdom deals with his great amount of guilt and pain over losing comrades, traitorous friends, and the evils that he unleashed on Britain. Brian laments over his lost wife Meggan ( I do hope she comes back again soon ), and Blade and Spitfire get far more cozy than we could imagine… even with talk of “percolating” each other… I’m not kidding.

The Black knight returns to Wakanda with his Steward and bearer of Excalibur… Faiza to retrieve the true Ebony Blade. The one he’s had has secretly been one that belongs to Dracula…

Right around the time that the Black Knight and Faiza are returning home from Wakanda… all hell breaks loose and Drac unleashes the first salvo… It’s gonna be F*%&ing awesome I tell you… It is about time that this villain again takes his place in the Marvel Universe as a heavy weight villain…

I’ll say it again, as I do every time I review this book… which is often… It is the very best book you guys are probably not reading.

[Kdawg59]

Sam Wilson's Reviews

Green Arrow/Black Canary #17
DC Comics
Written by: Andrew Kreisberg
Drawn by: Mark Norton and Joe Rubinstein
Cover by: Ladronn

The past year or so in the “Arrowverse” has been harrowing for Ollie to say the lease. First we thought he married DCU uber-hottie Dinah Lance aka Black Canary, only he didn’t and he was kidnapped by some Amazon’s while his clone married Dinah. Ollie finally married Dinah only to have his son, Connor taken out by an assassin. The thing is Connor did die but he was resurrected and combined with Plastic Man’s DNA in some sort of clone/supersoldier venture (seriously) and is alive now but not really quite who he was. Of course that’s resolved, and he’s still with Dinah (damn, fishnets are awesome) and Judd Winick has left and a new writer is on board. So what’s going on now?

Our story opens with Ollie and Dinah hot on the trail of Merlyn, evil archer and member of the League of Assassins. He’s killing people in Ollie’s city, and well, Ollie has to stop him. On the way Ollie and Dinah touch base with the local PD and possibly make a friend, Dinah reconnects with Oracle and is kind of salty towards her (?), and even though the art is fairly mediocre and the story mostly set up, things could be going okay. I should also mentioned the psychotic Green Arrow stalker who popped up at the end of the issue, and that stalker ramps things up in issue 17. Merlyn has been captured but crazy Green Arrow stalker chick breaks him out to do who knows what. Our story is cut short though for a backup story, “Origins and Omens” featuring Scar (who)?

When Winick and Chiang were on the book things were okay, this new team doesn’t seem better but doesn’t seem any worse either (isn’t Ollie and Dinah high profile enough for Gary Frank, Greg Ruck or anybody A list?). Issue 17 was more of the same but the backup story, well, I didn’t even read it. I could care less. I might give this one more issue, only out of respect for Dinah. Thumbs down though, way down from last month.

Scalped #25
DC/Vertigo
Written by: Jason Aaron
Drawn by: R.M. Guera
Cover by: Jock

How does one classify this book? Personally, I would say its balls out the most bad-assed comic on the streets right now. Think of everything awesome about shows like “the Shield” and “the Sopranos” and add nunchucks to the mix and there lies “Scalped”. “Scalped” is about Dashiell Bad Horse, the prodigal son of the Oglala Tribe, a southwestern US tribe that has fallen to all the stereotypical woes most native Americans have fallen victim to over the years: drugs, alcoholism, third world conditions, third world education and self hate so thick you could run a nail through it. Dashiell Bad Horse was exorcised from this hell hole at the ripe age of 13 and spent as much time after that staying as far away from it as he could, learning martial arts, joining the military and then being deployed in Kosovo. One day Dashiell finds himself back amongst the Oglala with a shaved head and a pair of nunchucks looking to beat the crap out of whoever has the misfortune of crossing his path that day. His ass kicking binge is so bad assed that Chief Lincoln Red Crow, head of the tribe and local bigwig in general, offers him a job as a tribal cop, busting (more like beating the **** out of and taking names later) meth labs to clean up “the rez” for the Chief’s new multi-million dollar foray into the whiteman’s pocket: gambling. Yup, a casino is about to open on the rez and the Chief is going to be a rich man, and so it goes…

Of course all is not as it seems. In the opening story arc we find out Dashiell really, really hates his mom, and she ends up being killed (scalped even) at the end of said arc. Also turns out the Chief and Dashiell’s mom go back, way back to Wounded Knee and two murdered FBI agents. Also turns out those FBI agents had a friend whose mission in life is to bury Chief Red Crow and send him up for murder if possible. And the Chief? Well, turns out he’s not a great guy, in fact, mob boss may be the best words to describe him. Aside from the Wounded Knee business he controls all illegal activities on the rez, getting rich off of his casino and using the tribal police as his own private thugs. Yeah, it’s a mess, and the thing I’m not saying that is Dashiell Red Horse is an FBI agent sent in by the afore mentioned agent to bring down Red Crow, for murder, and stay alive long enough to do it. Yup, Dashiell lives in a world of ****, and other than being in a place he hates surrounded by his childhood nightmare, he has a crazy boss, an evil Chief and ANOTHER undercover FBI agent on the rez who clearly doesn’t have Dash’s best interest at heart. Word. So where is the story now? Issue 25 begins a new arc, “High Lonesome” which introduces us to a con-man, a black guy, who finds his way to the Rez to count cards at Red Crow’s casino. A career criminal, we never get a name but we know he’s a pro and might be more addicted to living the lit than the actual con. At the end of his downward spiral of an introduction we find out a connection he has to one of our main characters, and the last two pages are pretty goddamn hard core. The encore is going to be a mothfu#$er, and this is a multi-issue arc. Word.

Hands down this is my favorite book coming out right now. Not since Preacher have I been this excited about a monthly. Jason Aaron is brutal, raw and unflinching in his story about life on the Rez. After reading scalped sometimes you will think to yourself, “man, how bad ass is this”, and sometimes you will feel like you just got punched in the balls. Aaron is that good at what he does that he evokes that kind of emotion in everything he rights. Seriously, check this book out. Word.


DMZ #39
DC/Vertigo Comics
Written by: Brian Wood
Drawn by: Riccardo Burchelli
Cover by: John Paul Leon

To catch up those who haven’t checked out this book yet: our story opens five years into the second American Civil War. The conflict is between the United States of America and the “Free States”. According to the White House, these “Free States” Soldiers are “thugs and murderers”, and they are indiscriminate and uncivilized when it comes to warfare in civilian areas. As far as New York City goes, the “Free States” control New Jersey and the inland, and they are amassing at the banks of the Hudson River. The United States of America has Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island and is well dug in on the coastline, with Manhattan Island caught in-between in the “DMZ”. The thing is, there are still people living on Manhattan Island, and even though there has been a formal ceasefire in effect the reality of life there consists of looters, gangs, local militias, insurgents and contract killers. All a day in the life in the DMZ.

Enter rich white-kid Matthew Rose, he entered the DMZ an intern to a world famous journalist and ended up the voice of the people. Since Matthew has set foot in the DMZ he has been used by both sides, made some friends (Zee, the former Med Student among them) and has established himself as a “name” person in the DMZ. He reports the truth, no matter how ugly, so most of the time he gets free reign, and has even become a celebrity of sorts. Latest up for Matty, he finds himself working for Parco Delgado, the newly elected President of the DMZ (and he has an uncanny resemblance to Sen Dawg from Cypress Hill). Also in the mix is Matty’s high powered mom, who helped Parco get elected and now is a close personal advisor to him. In part two of “War Power” the first few pages give us a quick recap of DMZ events of late. Parco is in power, yet his reign is tenuous to say this least with Trustwell (thing Blackwater) working on behest of the US Gov’t to jump at the first sign of weakness on Parco’s part. Parco is pretty much fu$#ed because he needs to start rebuilding Manhattan, and to do that he is going to need a crapload of money. As you remember last issue, he sent Matty to do some fund raising in Chinatown looking for some lost gold, kind of a DMZ urban legend. Matty finds some gold, and also finds out Parco made a deal with the devil both he and Matty new to get it out of Chinatown, and that devil is Matty’s redneck nemesis, the Free States Commander. In the past he’s fu$#ed Matty over but now he’s on Parco’s dime and under orders to escort Matty and company the fu$# out of Chinatown (with the gold, of course). He doesn’t hesitate to poke at Matty either, chiding him for his journalistic integrity (or lack of it anyway). He does get Parco his gold though, but not all of it was meant for government statup cash. Matty finds himself on a side errand which seriously fu$ks up his world.

If you looking for something different and politically relevant, this book is for you. This issue would be a bad jumping on point, but check out a few of the trades already out and I’m sure you wouldn’t be disappointed.

[moon_knight1971]

Will pick up Thor based on the review.

[JDH]

Alas, the best laid plans of mice and mighty reviewers have been thwarted by the weather. Snow and ice in the UK mean my LCS didn't get a delivery, and might not get one until next week. But then, it's one of Marvel's greatest heroes in one of Marvel's finest books, with a big ol' 600 in the corner. If you're not on board for that already, nothing I can say will change your mind.

Keith, I might give Cap'n Britain another try, when it finally comes in...

[JLM]

Shame you didn't make it to your LCS Jess, as I know there was one title you were keen to buy.

[JDH]

As luck would have it, I was able to acquire one title in London. But I can't really review that...

[wktf]

Wow! Thor was just fantastic, easily my pick of the week, too, Keith! Thanks for covering off on this and Captain Britain. Dracula could have looked better only if Gene Colan had drawn him. Loved this issue, too!

[lord odin]

I thought Thor was dumb it had it's moments when he yelled but that moment was ruined yet again by the status quo and the ending that guy might as well be Walt Disney with all the people going there.
IMO Thor and Asgard need to get off earth that fight reminded me of maximum carnage Spiderman alone by himself in the city of heroes with no help.

[Fannymac]

I kind of agree on the thoughts about Green Arrow & Black Canary....why ISN'T this book getting the attention ~ and creative staff! ~ of a Green Lantern or Flash?
Supposedly, 2009's Green Arrow's year, and over the last decade or so Black Canary's become DC's #2 female star (though you can't tell from this book....everything that Dixon and Simone did to advance the character has been lost.....it's like she's back to being nothing more than the (powerless) sidekick of the Grell days!).

PLEASE......someone save this book!!!!!

[lord odin]

Captain Britain was great I loved the meeting between Doom and Dracula.