Hello everybody, and welcome to the third installment of wktf and Sam Wilson’s comic reviews. wktf is out on business, and may not be able to get his reviews in until the weekend, so I’m going to post mine, and a link to his will be available once they are done.
So, without further ado…
Sam Wilson’s Reviews
District X issue 11
Written By: David Hine
Drawn By: Lan Medina
Let me start this review by saying this, I really like the character of Bishop. In my opinion he is one of the best new characters to come out of the house of ideas in the last 20 years. That is the only reason I read District X is out of loyalty to Bishop. You all understand what I’m talking about, every one of you reads or has read a book regularly out of loyalty, whether it’s to a creator, character, or artist.
I keep reading District X because I hope someday the writer will finally “get” what Bishop is all about. Remember when Bishop had his first mini series way back when? It was him vs. his arch nemesis from the future Trevor Fitzroy. Bishop told Professor X only one of them was going to walk away from this, to which Xavier responded, “X-men don’t act that way,” to which Bishop replied, “Then consider this my resignation”. THAT is who Bishop is to me. He’s an ass kicker. He was so much an ass kicker in his early days you would forget he even had a mutant power (he rarely used it, he preferred to light someone up with his plasma shotgun). Hine really tries to play up the whole “cop” angle with Bishop. What he can’t seem to remember is Bishop isn’t a detective or an officer on foot patrol. He is a hunter killer. When he was with the XSE (the police agency he belonged to in the future) he hunted down and killed rogue mutants. Wasn’t much police work involved in that. I don’t know why the x-office decided to pursue this whole “cop” angle, but to me that destroyed everything the character is.
In this newest issue of District X we see Bishop (now “Lucas” Bishop) once again ploding around with his partner Izzy on the case of a killer giant mutant worm and at the same time trying to work out some kind of peace with a Morlock type group of mutant sub dwellers. All this seems to take the back burner to Izzy and his martial/family problems. I personally don’t give a crap about Izzy’s family problems. Yeah, Hine is trying to make this more like a police drama. Fine, but why is he emphasizing all the boring parts of the drama? Character development? Fine, then why waste time on a character who will be gone from the face of Marveldom once this series runs its course?
Ghah. I buy this book because some day I hope they will either get a new writer, or realize Bishop is one BMF, and they will stop writing him like a castrated Andy Sipowitz.
Sam’s Pick of the Week:
Ultimate Fantastic Four #16
Written By: Warren Ellis
Drawn By: Adam Kubert
In the Ultimate Fantastic Four Warren Ellis takes the scientific aspect of the FF to a whole new level. Reed Richards is still a mega super genius, but he is a teenager. Sue Storm is also a super genius (but not a mega super genius), and a teenager as well. Her father works out of the Baxter Building, a gov’t think tank located in Midtown Manhattan. Reed gets recruited to the think tank, his friend Ben Grimm comes for a visit (still a grumpy ex-jock) and Sue’s brother just happens to be in the wrong place in the wrong time, and Walla, the Ultimate Fantastic Four is born (not all that dissimilar to the FF we know and love). What makes it different is this is a much younger FF, everyone is a teenager and they are still learning about themselves as well as the things around them. Ellis goes into painstaking detail to describe the FF’s world; he goes through great lengths to describe scientifically how their powers work. (like how Reed Richards insides react to the stretching). Is his science accurate? I couldn’t tell you, I was an English major in college. But it sounds really cool and draws you into the story more.
Fast forward from the coming together of the team to issue #16, the FF have already fought the Ultimate Doom (who I thought was lame, but that’s another story) and the Ultimate Mole Man (who was fairly creepy). Now Reed has retrofitted a Space Shuttle (renamed the “Awesome”) for travel in the Negative Zone. He brings Sue and company along for a crazy ride through a crazy place, and runs into some new, and much scarier, versions of some classic Marvel villains. Kubert’s art is detailed and crisp, as always. Ellis keeps things clear and flowing along nicely, the dialogue is fresh and witty. This book easily makes my pick of the week.
Classic Trade Paperback of the Week:
The New Teen Titans, The Judas Contract
Written by: Marv Wolfman
Drawn by: George Perez
This review goes along with WKTF’s review of “Nightwing”, since it features the first appearance of Nightwing. In the 1980’s Marvel and DC were neck in neck in competition with the Uncanny X-Men and New Teen Titans. X-men had just delivered their coup d’ grace, John Byrne’s swan song on the title: “The Dark Phoenix” saga. We were all thinking, could anything trump that? What could possibly be tougher than Jean Grey going ape and killing an ENTIRE PLANET, and then killing herself? Oh the drama, the emotion, the wearing of S and M gear (c’mon, you all were over analyzing those “Black Queen” panels just as much as I was). Anyway, where “The Dark Phoenix” saga was like watching your best friend get hit by a bus, “The Judas Contract” was like taking one to the stomach with a baseball bat, and then seeing your best friend get hit by a bus. It was much more personal, therefore making the blow that much harder to take.
In the Judas contract we see the Titans taken out by one of their own, working with their greatest enemy Deathstroke the Terminator. Oh yeah, this was high drama before “Identity Crisis”, and in my humble opinion it hit much harder. The betrayal was more personal. These Titans are not just knock off’s of their adult namesakes, **** Grayson isn’t Robin anymore, and he comes into his own identity as Nightwing. Donna Troy, Kid Flash, they are all their own persons. They have their own feelings and traits that are nothing like their mentors. Add Cyborg, Starfire and Raven to the mix and you have a team with a completely different dynamic than the JLA. Marv Wolfman made you care about the Titan’s as people, not just hero’s. You felt the tragedy of Cyborg, and the hope of Donna Troy. And let me tell you, to this day I think there is no one who can draw a group book better than George Perez. His attention to detail is second to none. There isn’t much more I can say about this book without giving away major plot points, so pick it up. I’ve checked with my LCS and it is still in print. Have them order it for you. You won’t regret it. If you were a fan of Byrne and Claremont’s X-men run, you owe it to yourself to give this book a chance.
Link to wktf's review:
http://www.statueforum.com/showthread.php?t=7272
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