the Mighty Reviews 9/24/09

[Kdawg59]

Sam Wilson's Review

Detective Comics #857
DC Comics
Written by: Greg Rucka
Drawn by: JH Williams III, backup by Cully Hamner

Honestly the last time I read Detective comics was waaaay back when Greg Rucka last wrote it, particularly during the “Bruce Wayne Murderer” storyline. It was the only Bat-title I hadn’t given up on, so I guess it’s not to big of a shock that I’m back on it now. I will admit, for the most part I am cool with most of the post-Batman RIP books so that doesn’t hurt either. Bottom line though, no one can deny Rucka doesn’t have a love for the Bat-verse that shines though on every page he writes, and for those of you who remember “Gotham Central” he has a special affinity for certain characters in that universe, one in particular being Renee Montoya aka the new Question. Being a big fan of the Denny O’neil/Denys Cowan series of course I’m going to scrutinize it a little, but damn if Rucka isn’t doing a great job on that too, paying homage to O’neil and Cowan’s work while making the character his own. Of course there is also the angle that has made a lot of press at one point, the whole lesbian thing, and of that, I just have to say this. Get over it. If you can’t handle alternative lifestyles than don’t read the book. Rucka isn’t making it a focal point, he’s just giving some human qualities to his characters and sexual preference is a human quality. So naysayers or critics, especially the bigoted ones, fu** off. Anyway, off of that soapbox…

For those of you who haven’t been keeping up, Batwoman is Kate Kane, sometime Gotham socialite and former lover of Renee Montoya whose dad is a military man who serves as her Alfred. Well, Alfred with a .45 but that’s fine. The mainstay Batman family is aware of her presence, and they approve (well, Dick Grayson approves anyway) and currently she is working on tracking down the religion of crime in Gotham city and is mixing it up with their current leader, a chick named Alice. Things aren’t going so well, and at the same time she’s trying to put her social life back together. She pines for Renee, but as you saw last issue she may have a blossoming romance with the new head of Gotham PD’s MCU, Maggie Sawyer. Romance aside, the current stoyline comes to a close in our present issue, with Batwoman squaring off with Alice (whom as you may recall, kidnapped Kate’s father last issue). Meanwhile, Renee Montoya is on the trail of a missing immigrant who may or may not have been sold into slavery. Montoya, sticking true to form, leaves a trail of a** kicking behind her as she searches for the child and it brings her to a shell corporation fronted by, of course, an evil white guy. Montoya kicks ass all the way to the bad guys front steps only to be confronted with an army of bodyguards and an even deeper consipiracy…

I’m down with this book. We still don’t know much about Kate Kane, but Rucka is developing her beautifully. We know a lot about Renee Montoya, and it is great to see her finally getting her props (Rucka is totally channeling O’Neil, fans of the ‘80’s series will pick up on it). I’m on the fence about JH Williams art (it’s a bit confusing at times) but Cully Hamner is fantastic. I have no problem giving this book a top recommendation.


Dawg’s Reviews

Wolverine: Old Man Logan Giant-Size #1
Marvel Comics
Written by: Mark Millar
Drawn by: Steve McNiven

This is it folks. This is the final chapter of the much anticipated “Old Man Logan”.
In the previous chapters, Logan had become a pacifist and had been that way for fifty years. He’s settled into being a farmer, and having a family. That all changed when the landlords of his farm (The Hulk’s clan)pushed him too far. He tried to settle up with the Hulk Gang by taking a road trip across a defiled America as protection for his old friend Clint Barton, but things went from bad to worse on that trip.

Logan came home to find unspeakable tragedy as the Hulk Gang had murdered his family in cold blood. The claws came out.

We’ve been waiting months to see what was going to happen and we finally get to here.

I would have to say that this is the most brutal Wolverine comic that I have seen in a while and I really enjoyed it for what it was. I think the wait was a little long for a comic is which we all knew what would happen, but McNiven gives us so much to look out I was not disappointed in the slightest. The way he draws Logan doing what he does best, is a nice reminder of what has made the character so popular in the first place. He does what other heroes won’t.

McNiven also draws the Hulk Gang and especially THE Hulk, like they are the vilest creatures left on earth and in truth, in this story, they may be.

I don’t think the story is breaking any new ground and while it’s been really good, the outcome was never in question. Wolverine, by his nature, MUST be Wolverine and do the things that others can’t.

It was a very solid story by Millar, I was not disappointed in any way, and the art makes it worth the price of admission alone, but it feels like they were trying to force it to be more epic than what it was. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who is mildly annoyed with the character of Wolverine, as ultimately you won’t be satisfied. If you do love this character, (I sure do) then I would absolutely say pick up this trade when it is inevitably collected.


Spider-Woman #1
Marvel Comics
Written by: Brian Bendis
Drawn by: Alex Maleev

Jessica Drew has certainly gained a lot of momentum since Brian Bendis resurrected her from the hell of back issue obscurity. She became an Avenger when the criminals busted out of the Raft prison. It was revealed that she was working as an agent of Hydra, only to be later revealed that she was secretly doing this as a spy for Nick Fury and SHIELD. What a tangled web indeed…

Not long after Brian Bendis made us all remember how awesome Spider-Woman is, it was revealed that the queen of the Skrulls replaced her in their attempt to lay claim to earth.

The heroes foiled the plot of the Skrulls and the real Jessica Drew is back and she’s more pissed off that ever. She reflects on her recent history and how screwed up it is and does not know where to go next.

Cue Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev, as they bring us the long awaited first issue of her new series.

There is one person who can offer her direction and clearance to waste aliens, that she needs right now… Abigail Brand: Director of SWORD.

Brand offers Jessica a gig as an agent of SWORD that includes all of the Skrull and other hostile alien bashing she can handle and her first mission takes her to an old haunt from her private investigator days: Madripoor.

With the dream team of Bendis and Maleev back together to collaborate on such a cool character, I have no doubt that this book will be great. The first issue is quite beautifully rendered and well-paced already. I am very excited to see where this series goes. It’s my pick of the week.

[supahman]

MY Pick of the Week.. Superman Secret Origins #1.. so many things happened.. unputdownable.. and Master Gary Franks is the MAN ..


A great end to Old Man Logan.. was incredible fun.. Clint Eastwood - Wolverine.. AWESOME !!

[JLM]

Black Widow: Sting of the Widow

Written by Stan Lee, N Korok, Gary Fredrich, Mimi Gold, Roy Thomas & Gerry Conway
Art by Don Heck, John Romita, John Buscema & Gene Colan
Published by Marvel

With Scarlett Johanson squeezing her curves into a catsuit to play the Black Widow in the upcoming Iron Man sequel, Marvel is taking this opportunity to promote its leading ex Soviet super spy. With not one, but two limited series in the offing, this hard cover takes a retrospective look at some of the key moments in the Widow’s history.

It kicks off with Tales of Suspense #52, Natasha’s (or Lady Natasha, as she seem to go by in this book) first appearance. She is recruited by those dastardly Reds to help recover a Soviet defector now working for Tony Stark. Frankly, a first appearance is all this, as the Widow is teamed up with a Russian strongman, who frankly hogs all the action going toe to toe with Iron Man. Still, a first appearance is a first appearance.

Things then leap forward to Amazing Spider-Man #86. At this point the Widow has been about in the Marvel Universe for some time. The key Widow moment in this issue is the ditching of the original costume for the more familiar simple black catsuit. A considerable character design improvement in my view, seeming more striking and deadly than the somewhat silly fishnet tights, mini cape and mask she had up until this point.

With a new costume, the Widow decides to square up to Spidey (who’s not feeling too good) to, apparently, “discover the secret of his powers”. Whatever. They fight, it’s nothing special, but there is always the fun of Stan Lee’s verbose narration, and John Romita Sr on art duties.

Amazing Adventures #1 to 8 is the real curiosity of this book. For once, it’s the Widow on her own, and not crashing someone else’s title. In the first four issues a group of kids who force local hoods out of a building, which they then illegally occupy, but to help feed disadvantaged locals. The roughs they took the building from want it back, and the legal authorities want to evict them. Nat gets involved to help the kids out, putting her between the law and the criminals. Obviously it’s an attempt at social commentary, but the kids we are meant to be sympathetic with, erm, aren’t.

In the next three issues, Natasha altruistically helps an attempted suicide, discovering the criminal life he has fallen into. She becomes again involved and begins to develop a notion that she is cursed and everyone around her will die. It seems to be another social commentary, which again falls a bit flat.

Amazing Adventures #8 has Natasha fighting a superpowered serial killer with a grudge against Russians, and that’s about all there is to say.

Daredevil #81 is the first meeting of Daredevil and the Widow, with the Widow later becoming a frequent player in the DD universe. Widow saves DD’s bacon at the start of the issue, then she teams up with DD to foil a bank raid by the Owl. Similar to the issue of ASM, it’s nothing special.

Lastly, there’s a couple of excerpts from OHOTMU. Strangely, the picture of the Black Widow is from her even later, short hair era.

All in all, it’s something of an oddity. Perhaps a good illustration that what might be a key moments in a character’s history, might not necessarily make great story telling.

[THECLOWN KNIGHT]

Thanks for the reviews & welcome back Sam.

[Sam Wilson]

thanks bro.

And Jonathan, I totally bought that book. I got the variant cover version. Love me some natasha...

[supahman]

Hey Sam, Welcome bk.. Glad to see someone's Njoying Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams on Detective Comics .. The art is sooo good. Reminds me of his work on Promethea.. ( which rocked right untill the end ) Great splash pages and fantastic Visual story telling

[wktf]

Originally Posted by supahman

MY Pick of the Week.. Superman Secret Origins #1.. so many things happened.. unputdownable.. and Master Gary Franks is the MAN ..

Outstanding book! Loved the Smallville tribute on Pete's cast. Though, most of all, love how Johns and Frank made Superman's origin their own to tell. No need to start with Krypton and great to see him break with Byrne re: when Lana learns Clark's secret and also when Clark dons the suit. So happy to see the idea of the original Superboy re-enter the DCU!

[rilynil]

Great reviews, guys!
I didn't even know the Black Widow HB was coming out! I need to check this out.

Has anyone else read the last two issues of the Fantastic Four with its new creative team? I've been VERY surprised. These have been the best two FF issues I've read in ages and ages.

[JLM]

Originally Posted by rilynil

I didn't even know the Black Widow HB was coming out! I need to check this out.

It's been out a few weeks now. It took me a while to get my copy in.

[lord odin]

Originally Posted by wktf

Outstanding book! Loved the Smallville tribute on Pete's cast. Though, most of all, love how Johns and Frank made Superman's origin their own to tell. No need to start with Krypton and great to see him break with Byrne re: when Lana learns Clark's secret and also when Clark dons the suit. So happy to see the idea of the original Superboy re-enter the DCU!

It was indeed a great issue Johns is the man with the master plan.