KDawg’s Reviews
It is a great thing to sit down with a cup of coffee this week and write my reviews. I enjoyed every single page of the books I anxiously read last night. In fact I couldn’t get to all of the books I wanted to beyond the ones I am reviewing. I did read a couple that are not being reviewed and I have to tell you…
It figures that Spider-Man would be what in my opinion is the best of the Brand New Day run and it’s the first time I think I am not reviewing it since. BAH! VERY fun and excellent job by Dan Slott and Marcos Martin on that book this week…
Also Titans #2 was on the stands and I was quite a bit shocked that the creative team was already different! The issue was pretty good too and it doesn’t matter who draws Donna Troy and Starfire… they are among DC’s foxiest.
X-Men Legacy was it’s usual solid flavor under the helm of Mike Carey and lastly X-Men: Origins with Colossus was a fun trip backward in time that I am not quite sure I have ever even read anything else about…
These next three books however are where the Mightiness comes through this week. I figured these other books however at least deserve an honorable mention.
Captain Britain and MI: 13 #1
Marvel Comics
Written by: Paul Cornell
Drawn by: Leonard Kirk
I have been a gigantic Captain Britain fan since I was first introduced to him back in the 80’s when he appeared in the Uncanny X-Men Annual #11. Alan Davis was the artist and I had just been introduced to him not long before this as well.
It wasn’t long after that we were given Excalibur in its first of many incarnations. There was something that was truly magical about Excalibur in those early days and I couldn’t get enough. All good things come to an end and Alan Davis and then Claremont left the title and it became pretty bad. Alan Davis returned and so did the magic for a while. Eventually this book was cancelled and rebooted twice under Claremont with different premises, the last of which was Captain Britain and a gaggle of Claremont’s other favorite X-related characters the only one that belonged really was Pete Wisdom. It wasn’t all that bad either, but it wasn’t great by any stretch.
The book was cancelled for a 3rd time…
There had been rumors of yet another re-launch for Excalibur under Paul Cornell. It has been getting a good amount of buzz on message boards throughout comicdom based on Cornell and Kirk’s previous bodies of work. The rumors continued and finally it was revealed that the title would be under the new moniker of Captain Britain and MI: 13. This was largely due to the fact that having the masthead of “Excalibur” brought a lot of baggage with it as well as having the fear that its past failures would put it on the fast track to being cancelled yet again.
So here we are finally and the book has hit the shelves. How does it do?
I am absolutely floored! I loved this book more than I thought I would. I have been anticipating picking it up due to the good buzz it was getting on the internet, but I would have never expected it to be as good as it was. These are the characters that should be defending the realm… Captain Britain, Spitfire, Union Jack (eventually) The Black Knight (though American, he’s still great friends with Cap)… Not Juggernaut and Dazzler.
In fact after this issue I have a new favorite character in Spitfire… She is a skrull stomping mamma and she gets the Holy Sh*t of the week with her panels…
Captain Britain is written more intelligent than he has been in 15 years and he is written as the man who wants to become again the symbol of Britain much like Captain America was here and he even tells Pete Wisdom so on a helicopter ride to head of a cadre of the invading skrulls that are headed for the Siege Perilous.
This title has so much potential that I am hopeful that this is the time where it will succeed where the disastrous Excalibur books failed. The skrull invasion is really a secondary element to the start of this book. If nothing else it is a convenient way of bringing the characters together without putting a lot of though and pages into explaining it. The Avengers came together in a dark time, from different walks of life, united under a common enemy. This is no different for the heroes of the realm, who are now all operatives under the MI: 13 banner…
This book is
my pick of the week and should be yours as well. Pick it up and give it a whirl. Let’s just say it’s been a long time since I have seen Captain Britain punch a bad guy’s head actually off of its shoulders… and Spitfire…Well you can see what she does for yourself. WOW!
Wolverine #65
Marvel Comics
Written by: Jason Aaron
Drawn by: Ron Garney
The old hairy canucklehead is hot on the tail of Mystique. In the wake of Messiah complex and her betrayal of the X-Men (for the 27 time) Cyclops has more or less tasked Wolvie to “Get Mystique”.
Logan and Mystique go way back and the seemingly endless untold tales that are the makeup of Logan’s history takes a front and center role in this story. Some wounds take terribly long to heal and between these two there is one as yet unrevealed event or maybe more that has them from being partners to the point where Wolverine is out to kill her because of some betrayal that happened in the past that we readers find out about in this last issue of “get Mystique”.
Jason Aaron seems to really have the “voice” of Wolverine but this issue is owed to Garney’s visuals. It’s the last issue and these two characters with more history than any of us knew about fight more ferociously than Wolvie and Sabertooth ever did. How awesome is Ron Garney? Especially scenes from the 1920’s where we finally get to see the reason that Logan and Raven aren’t pleased with each other. At first it’s actually a surprise to see that Wolvie was the one who initiated the feud, but it was quickly explained away that he was on to Raven and just beat her to the punch.
IT is almost a dance between these two and a character study in motivations. The X-men have given Raven many chances to become part of them, for the very same reasons they gave Wolverine a chance. They feel anyone can be redeemed because Logan has taught them that, and yet Mystique continues to make the X-Men look dumb by double-crossing them every time.
This is the real heart of this arc… Logan has made many mistakes, and from the sounds of it, quite a few were with Raven in the picture, but he has left it all behind and clings tightly to the hero he has become. Much like a reformed smoker, he speaks the loudest against the wrongs of his past and has dared even hope that Raven would someday rise above. To her it’s all a game and almost a way to keep from being bored, so she dances with Wolverine and enjoys watching his deep seeded hope come crashing down every time.
The fight in this issue is among one of the very best I have seen in a Wolverine story ever and despite an ending that was a typical cop out, the issue was fantastic. This creative team will be missed! The last splash page of the battle and Wolvie’s musings while he “repairs” himself is a nice tip of the hat to the characterization of Logan that Aaron seems to get so well.
Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1
Marvel Comics
Written by: Roberto Aquire-Sacasa
Drawn by: Barry Kitson
The heroes with the longest and deepest history with the invading skrulls are the FF. They have seen the first and best Super Skrull (coming soon from Bowen Designs, sculpted by yours truly
) and Johnny Storm was even married to a skrull for awhile having some crazy, green alien, rabbit romps.
It sucks that we have to have a mini series to delve into this astronomically huge skrull invasion when it comes to the FF, but Millar and Hitch are presently dragging the flagship book through its own mud and the rest of the Marvel U can’t touch them right now.
Enter this mini series. The Baxter building has been whisked away into the Negative Zone, because of the skrull posing as Sue Storm. The real one was taken captive right before the imposter makes her way from Vancouver to NY to take out the Baxter Building. So we can cross off another 70’s hero coming out of the ship in the savage land being authentic. The real Sue was not on the ship and as I had suspected was recently taken elsewhere.
Meanwhile this skrull goes over its mission to eliminate the remaining 2 members of the FF. The imposter Sue is tasked with neutralizing Ben and Johnny.
Once in the negative zone we are brought up to speed and see that Johnny is the first to make contact with the skrull and she tries to impersonate Sue awhile longer to gain John’s trust. Ben’s single mind-set is to protect the children (Val and Franklin) and stomp anything that gets in his way in doing this. (Sammy would be proud of Ben for being a true SAMurai)
Johnny proves himself to be far more resourceful than anyone gives him credit for and sees through the Sue-skrull façade, but decides that there is something unusual and off about her…
Long time FF fans can pretty much see the writing on the wall here and I won’t delve in any further, but I am anxious to see where this mini takes us.
I am disappointed that it can’t happen in the main book, but I do at least appreciate that the FF are having a role in this event. They have far too much history with these little green bastards not to. I am hoping that we get to see Reed at some point here too, but somehow I know deep down that it is Sue that will save the day…
Sam Wilson’s Reviews
DMZ #31
DC/Vertigo Comics
Written by: Brian Wood
Drawn by: Riccardo Burchelli
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 from the last three days (when the story opens) 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. So much so that in the current story arc, “Blood in the Game”, Matthew finds himself in the middle of an election. The current arc opens with a ceasefire declared in the DMZ so a new leader can be elected, of course both candidates are nothing more than stooges for their political parties (nothing new there). Enter Parco Delgado, a New York gangbanger (who kinda looks like Sen Dog from Cypress Hill) who declares his candidacy in a most unusual manner. In the last few issues Matthew finds himself at odds with the news agency he works for, Delgado, and his parents. Each side wants to use him for their end, all the while ignoring Matthews journalistic integrity. It doesn’t matter though because from the onset Matthew’s integrity was already in question and he choose a side. Parco Delgado’s side. In issue 31 Matthew’s mother shows up, a former socialite/political consultant who left the country when the civil war started and is now back on behest of Parco, as for what, I have no idea, but I’m thinking it’s going to be interesting. If that doesn’t get you maybe all the people strewn about the city with guns waiting to shoot someone may draw you in…
DMZ’s current storyline is cliché ridden but that’s okay, its done in a way where there is still tension and the reader actually cares about what is going on and what is going to happen next (at least I did). This modern cautionary tale relates very well to current world (or at least national) events and if that sort of thing interests you, than I would say you need to give DMZ a shot.
The Huntress Year One #1(of 6)
DC Comics
Written by: Ivory Madison
Drawn by: Cliff Richards and Art Thibert
Cover by: Matthew Clark
I’m going to start this review by talking about Joey Cavalieri and Joe Staton, the original creative team on the Huntress series from 1989, then part of DC’s brand new “mature readers” line. Believe it or not, Helena Bertinelli, aka The Huntress, when she was reintroduced post-“Crisis on Infinite Earth’s” she had nothing to do with the Bat-universe. She was the daughter of a New York City mobster who saw her entire family killed, and she was whisked away to Italy by one of her father’s trusted soldiers and taught how to fight and use weapons, and she came back to the US to seek her vengeance as the costumed hero “The Huntress”. She prowled NYC kicking mobster ass and didn’t even meet the Batman until the end of her short lived series (it was pretty good, but her costume and hair were way, way to ‘80’s CBGB for my tastes). Since then she has been reinvented as the female “anti-Batman”. Still the same beginnings, but this time Gotham for New York, and she spends her days as a schoolteacher and her nights pissing off Batman going to far “over the edge”. Yeah, I always thought that portrayal was pretty lame too, but recently since the “Hush” storyline and Ed Benes/Gail Simone’s “Birds of Prey” Helena has been given her do. She’s not just the anti-Batman, she’s just a different type of female hero; someone who will kick someone’s ass if need by and like it a little bit. DC must have figured now would be a great time to retcon her origin, so they bring new to comics writer Ivory Madison (ex-lawyer/writing consultant, founder of the Red Room Writers Society) to lay it down for us. So? What do I think? Does anyone care?
I’m liking it. The number one good thing about it so far: no Batman (yet). Helena needs to be developed as her own person, separate from the Bat and Ivory gives us just that in the first issue. She also fleshes out Helena more; she paints a better picture of life as a little girl in a mob family (her dad was kind of a dick) and introduces the family of assassins who raised her and taught her how to fight. When our story opens we see Helena as a young lady in Italy, her assassin surrogate family has been taken away from her (arrested) and it seems her past has come back to haunt her. Her “uncle” from Gotham comes to town and wants her to come back and reclaim the Bertenelli family name. Helana just wants to find Salvatore Asaro, her “big brother” in the assassin family. She goes to visit him in an Italian prison and things go the way you would expect them to go (maybe), and thus our story begins…
I’m liking it. Ivory Madison brings a fresh voice to comics, not clichéd, not confusing, just new and different. She definitely brings a feminist sensibility to the character not seen since Gail Simone took her under the “Birds” banner, which is a good thing. Let me tell you, that anti-Batman malarkey got real old real quick. I say check it out, fans of Helena will not be disappointed.
Bat_Collector’s Reviews
Small week for me, as I only picked up four comics. Too bad that Batman vs Joker statue more than made up for it!
The Walking Dead #49
Image Comics
Written by: Robert Kirkman
Drawn by: Charlie Adlard
In the gut-punching conclusion of the previous story arc entitled "No One is Safe," eight characters are killed from the group and the prison, where we have been for over 20 issues, has been abandoned to the zombies. The main antagonist, the Governor is dead, finally, but so are Rick's wife and newborn daughter. The whole Walking Dead world has been turned upside down, and once again Rick and his son Carl are back on the run with no car, very little supplies, no friends, and a whole lot of grief.
Issue 49 has perhaps one of the most ominous covers from the series (and this right after all those from the No One is Safe arc). Its Carl leading Rick by the hand, but Rick's face is covered in the shadows. We have no idea how he is doing in that picture, but he looks to be at death's door.
With that cover to start, the tone is set! First up we see Michonne, at the outside of the jail searching though the wreckage from the last gun fight. Thankfully we do not find any new bodies, especially Andrea's. She goes off to the woods, with us not knowing her purpose of what she plans on doing next.
The rest of the issue is spent with Rick and Carl, and things are worse off than we had imagined. Carl is understandably in grief, but their safety is even more worrying. With only one hand, Rick is not as good as fighting zombies as he used to be, and over-reliance on the gun could call more zombies. Even worse off, the wound to the torso he has already suffered is worse than we thought. The cliff-hanger ending, along with the teaser Cover image for #50
, just makes you wonder what direction Kirkman could lead this series into, and if he has the guts to do it.
And that is why The Walking Dead is the best series on the market. The unknown is behind every flipped page, and literally anything can happen. The mystery, suspense, and nervousness I have for these characters are as strong as they were since issue one, when Rick woke up from a coma to find himself in a zombie-infested world. I have no idea where Rick and Carl will go, who they will meet up with, and what dangers there are lurking around the corner. Pretty good to still have that feeling after almost 50 issues! That is why Walking Dead #49 is
my pick of the week!