Wktf’s Reviews
Slow comics week for me. The three you see here in my review plus
Villains United #2. I also picked up issue #3 of the old
Adventures of Captain America prestige format mini series (got the other 3 issues off of eBay) on my partner Sam’s recommendation. My LCS guy thought I was ill or something and lamented he might have to shut down since I usually drop some major coin in his shop. He’s a funny guy! Onward…
Marvel Team-Up #9
Marvel Comics
Written by: Robert Kirkman
Drawn by: Scott Kolins
There are two seemingly independent story lines running in this arc. The first is that some extraterrestrial menace named Titannus has landed on earth with a comatose female, whom he professes to love, and had been observing the superhero community. The Japanese hero Sunfire engaged him in battle and was utterly defeated. At the end of last issue Sunfire brought the Japanese army with him for round 2 and, in the opening of this issue, we find them all defeated by Titannus (I’m sorry, that’s just a goofy sounding Silver Age villain name, isn’t it?). The second story line, and more closely tied to the “Master of the Ring” title of this arc, is that two issues ago the Ringmaster acquired a ring made from the Cosmic Cube and, with it, is bending reality to his will. In the first part Spider-Man and Moon Knight teamed up to take him on and Ringmaster caused Spider-Man to explode. Well, that explosion interrupted a mob/vampire arms-for-money exchange that brought Blade and the Punisher together in Part 2.
With this issue’s Part 3, Daredevil and Luke Cage team up to take down a refurbished Stilt Man only, again, to be interrupted by said explosion after Stilt Man’s already under wraps. There’s some pretty humorous dialogue between the two heroes. As Daredevil swings off to investigate Luke promises to follow after he delivers some burgers to his pregnant super girlfriend, Jessica Jones. In a bit of, frankly, lame comic relief he expresses greater concern over Jessica’s anger at the burgers’ being late compared to a block-wide explosion. And in Part 4, also in this issue, we find Sleepwalker, a short-lived 1990s character tussling with the Black Cat only, again, to be interrupted by….yes, you’ve got it now…said explosion. Kirkman’s said he wants to create continuity in his team-ups, which makes sense considering how the MU’s NYC is just teeming with super heroes. And, it is both kind of interesting and reasonable that some big event, like a large explosion, could draw the attention of a bunch of different heroes (and villains, in the case of Blade’s vampires) at the same time. But, at this point it’s all beginning to feel a bit random and is begging for resolution. Let’s hope that comes next issue. My guess is the Titannus story line is going to kick off in earnest with the next arc.
Superman/Batman #20
DC Comics
Written by: Jeph Loeb
Drawn by: Ed McGuinness
The team that started this phenomenal book returns for what’s reported to be Jeff Loeb’s final story arc. And, together, they give us a nearly totally inaccessible story. Then again, I was absolutely baffled by the last time- and reality-spanning story arc at first, only to be delighted by it by the time it closed out (it invoked “What Ever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” after all), that I’m willing to keep reading this one in hopes it’ll make sense. I was brutally disappointed by the Azzarello/Lee Superman run that never once made sense, but Loeb’s not let us down yet on this title even though his Batman run with Jim Lee was a pretty lame story. So, I’ll keep reading. I wish McGuinness would stop drawing Superman with such a short, Wayne Boring style, cape though!
There’s a new super team in town, the Maximums. Thing is, I can’t tell who they are or what town they’re in. This group of heretofore mysterious heroes begins the story with a slug fest of a battle with an equally mysterious team of villains. Then out of a Boom Tube come Superman and Batman with a serious mad-on against the heroes. I mean serious. Things get weirder as the Maximums state they don’t recognize them. Then Superman uses his heat vision to burn a hole through the skull of Skyscraper, a giant, killing him outright. Superman’s reason? “You Killed Lois!” he shouts as Skyscraper falls dead into the city park. Huh? Well, no doubt that’s the reaction Loeb and McGuinness are hoping we’ll have.
The rest of this issue brings the remarkable return of Captain Atom whom we all thought died preventing a kryptonite meteor from hitting earth in the “Public Enemies” arc. But, as well, the Maximums have sworn to go after Superman and Batman and kill them to avenge the death of their fallen partner. I must say that if I hadn’t been reading this book since issue #1 I wouldn’t bother picking up issue #21. This story is just too convoluted. But, in my case, I feel vested in the series and have faith that the creators will hook me in. I hope they don’t abuse that faith as Azzarello and Lee did.
House of M #1 (of 8)
Marvel Comics
Written by: Brian Michael Bendis
Drawn by: Olivier Coipel
My LCS owner gave this issue a thumb’s down but, for me, it’s
my pick of the week. This book brings the New Avengers and the Astonishing X-Men together in this
Avengers Disassembled Part II tale for a momentous decision. The combined powers and techniques of Profession Xavier and Doctor Strange have failed to heal the Scarlet Witch’s fractured mind. In fact there’s an opening scene on the island of Genosha, where both Magneto and Xavier now live, in which Professor X demands that Wanda “Put the world back now!” as she re-imagines the birth of her children. It appears Wanda’s come out of the coma Strange put her into at the end of Avengers Disassembled and is altering reality again. The only way Xavier and Magneto can stop her is by drugging her and psychically putting her to sleep, a method Xavier admits is inhumane, hardly foolproof and is barely working. Charles is desperate, Magneto is guilt-ridden over his daughter’s condition and Pietro, the Avenger Quicksilver and Wanda’s brother, fears for her life. And with good reason.
As inconceivable as it sounds, with no seeming way to cure Wanda, Strange and Xavier have gathered the New Avengers, the Astonishing X-Men (Wolverine’s on both teams) as well as a host of Avengers who quit the team in Avengers Finale (Falcon, Ms. Marvel [yes, Warbird’s taking back her old code name], Wonder Man, She-Hulk, Yellow Jacket and the Wasp) to “decide the fate of Wanda Maximoff,” as Xavier puts it. This is code for ending her life. Some, like Emma Frost and Wolverine, are in favor of putting her down like a dog. Others, like Wonder Man and Captain America adamantly refuse this option. The dialogue between Cap and Wolverine is pretty cool, actually, with Wolverine showing some surprising intimidation at Cap’s presence on this topic. Because the X-Men are the experts on mutants and feel they have the most to lose if a super mutant goes rogue, they believe the decision should be theirs. But because Wanda’s an Avenger the Avengers feel it’s their call. In the meantime, Pietro pleads his sister’s fate to Magneto in Genosha. The two teams agree to go to the blasted out city of Genosha to visit her and, of course, that’s where all hell starts to breaks loose. The ending is a real reality bender, which leads us to believe Wanda’s up and about, and is enough of a serious tease to cause me to pick up issue #2. I don’t plan to buy all the extension books to this series, but I do plan to follow this series to the end.
I’m always a little leery of these type of “event” series, especially with Marvel. Whether its Secret Wars, Age of Apocalypse, Onslaught or whatever else that promises to rock the MU and make significant changes for the future, I always feel afterwards like I was the victim of some kind of marketing event rather than the benefactor of a good story. So far, though, this one’s off to a solid start and the fact that it picks up where
Avengers Disassembled left off makes me hopeful. I also really like Coipel’s art which looks like a perfect blend of Finch and Cassady’s styles for the two primary teams in this series.
Sam Wilson’s Reviews
Well, not a huge week for me. Picked up the
Who is Donna Troy? Tpb. If you’re not familiar with the Perez/Wolfman era of Teen Titans you were either raised by wolves or are Amish. Anyway, took a chance on an IDW book this week,
Smoke. You’ll get to the review shortly. My pick of the week this week is
Y: the Last Man, which I’ll open my reviews with.
Y: The Last Man #34
DC/Vertigo Comics
Written By: Brian K. Vaughn
Drawn By: Goran Sudzuka
Brian K. Vaughn is somewhat of a comic writing hotshot right now. With Marvel’s new hit
The Runaways and his work on
Mystique and the critical and popular success of
Ex-Machina Vaughn has probably earned himself steady work for a long time. I never read any of those books. The only Vaughn book I have ever read is
Y:The Last Man. Dammed if I don’t know why I don’t check out his other stuff, Y is the most innovative creator owned book to come out since
Preacher, at least in my humble opinion.
Y centers on Yorick, a young college student (why do all Vertigo writers write about young college students?) who is the only survivor of a plague (well him and his monkey Ampersand) that has killed off the entire male population of Earth. His mom is a member of congress, and is now the de facto President of the United States. His girlfriend, Beth, is in Australia. His sister, Hero, cut off one of her breasts and fell in with a group of self proclaimed “Amazon’s” who are just another cult capitalizing on tragedy. Oh yeah, things are messed. Shortly after the plague hits Yorick makes his way to his mother, who of course thought he died with the rest of the men. She realizes Yorick could be humanities last hope, so she sends him on a quest to find a geneticist, Dr. Leslie Mann, in hopes to clone him and thus seed the Earth. Agent 355, of some super secret government organization entitled “the culper ring” is assigned to be his bodyguard. So our story begins.
The world of Y is different, to say the least. Essentially the US is a lawless nation, with pockets of civility here and there. You have the Amazons, who see the death of all men as a good thing and are some kind of feminist movement gone crazy. Then there are the wives of the white supremacists. Yup, still crazy jag-offs. There is a community kept civil by the former residents of a women’s prison, and the occasional sexy stranger willing to provide a helping hand. Oh yeah, and then there is the Israeli military, some Japanese Ninjas, and Russian Cosmonaughts who weren’t on Earth when the plague hit.
Issue 34 has our hero’s Yorick, Agent 355 and semi-willing participant Dr. Leslie Mann in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a cruise ship. They are on their way to Japan for S track. Well, it’s not really a cruise ship, we find out they’re smuggling America’s newest cash crop, opium, into Australia, where four out of five Aussie’s are addicts. Oh yeah, and Yorick caught Dr. Mann and Agent 355 “doing it”, and he himself is gettin’ some with the ship’s pirate captain (arrr….). Then there is the Australian submarine hell bent on blowing them out of the water before they can deliver their deadly, booty. Yeah, I said it. Booty. He$# yeah. Okay then,
Check this book out. It’s different, it’s not everyday you read an arguably feminist book written by a man, and find out it’s pretty good. Many issues end on cliffhangers, and I will say, I always want to find out what happens next. The first few arcs are collected in tpb form, or just jump on right here, it’s definitely worth your while.
Smoke #1 (of three)
IDW Publishing
Written By: Alex de Campi
Drawn By: Igor Kordey
Every once in awhile, I gotta give into impulse buying. Weather it’s a cool cover, a recommendation long forgotten and just now remembered, or sheer boredom everyone gives into impulse buying. This week I did just that with Smoke. Yes, it was the nifty cover of the riot-gear laden soldier with the yellow smiley face against the black and white image. I figure this book might be interesting. At least it better be for the $7.49 cover price.
Anyway, I have no idea who Alex de Campi is. I’m familiar with Igor Kordey, and I’ll admit, I’m not a fan. After thumbing through Smoke’s first issue though, I thought wow. This isn’t so bad. Igor tightened up his technique a little. So, Smoke is a ghetto area in London, but this isn’t our London. This is a London that is financially bankrupt and rife with political corruption. Our protagonist’s name is Rupert Cain, he is an albino who served in the British military (I have no idea why de Campi felt the need to make him an albino). He looks very much the ‘80’s goth; ponytail, turtleneck, tight pants, all black. Yeah, he sounds like kind of a sissy, but he’s not. The story starts with one of Cain’s old army buddies getting himself whacked; turns out he was still a player in the intelligence community even though he was “retired”. Cain goes to visit his daughter, someone he hasn’t seen in years. Apparently there was an incident where Cain was believed dead, but in reality he committed a crime against the government so heinous the only way to make things right was to go to work for this same government, as an assassin. Oh yeah, and there is a weird bald tattooed chick and a bunch of overweight terrorists who storm Buckingham Palace and demand plastic surgery and liposuction. All this and an impeding oil crisis, ambitious journalists and shadowy government figures make for quite an interesting story indeed.
So take a chance on something different. The cover is cool, and the insides are pretty good. Yeah, $7.49 is a bit steep for a chance, and with two more issues to go it’s just gonna get steeper, but I was pleasantly surprised, and you might be as well.
The Incredible Hulk #82
Marvel Comics
Written By: Peter David
Drawn By: Jae Lee
Alright, last time I reviewed The Incredible Hulk I was a little harsh, especially considering I am a huge Peter David fan. His first storyline on his return to the Hulk is now over (don’t ask me what it was about, I still don’t get it), and we get a stand-alone issue. Thank you Peter David, thank you for coming back and showing us how great the Hulk was when you were the regular writer.
Our story opens with the Hulk in London; he makes casual acquaintance with Tricia, who just happens to be a sorceress. Not on the Dr. Strange level, but a sorceress nonetheless. Anyway, like most Hulk stories tragedy strikes, and both the Hulk and Bruce Banner work against the clock to right wrongs and help out the British hottie sorceress. Not much to say here, it’s a stand-alone issue, but I will say this, Peter David is back, and Jae Lee’s art is fantastic. Oh yes, pick up this book, I’m sure good things are ahead.
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