One week until Baltimore Comic Con

Please do yourself a favor and check it out. Only a two day Con and there is a good chance you have off the Monday after because it is Columbus Day.

You won't find a better Con experience on the East Coast.

Time for some ramblings.

Marvel: I thought these List specials were supposed to start the end of Dark Reign. So far, they haven't done that at all. Oh yeah, also they haven't been all that great. Speaking of the end of Dark Reign, the sooner the better. Only good thing to come out of it has been Fraction's Iron Man arc.

From great to extremely mediocre, Fraction's Uncanny X-Men. After a disappointing and forced cross-over with Dark Avengers the X-Men relocate AGAIN. All that hub-bub about them moving to San Francisco and now already they are gone. And while Magneto is great and all I am very weary of his inclusion in last issue. I am hoping Fraction has something really original planned.

Another great transition into something that IS really original and entertaining, Hickman's Fantastic Four. After only 2 issues I am hooked, forgot your preconceived notions about the FF and start reading this book.

DC: Blackest Night is still great. Green Lantern Corps is still better than Green Lantern.

Apparently Robinson's JLA Mini series is lackluster, still excited for his real run to start but doubts are creeping in.

Quietly can't come back to Batman and Robin soon enough. I would rather have him as the regular artist and the book be bi-monthly, it is TOTALLY worth the wait.

That's it for now. Maybe I'll post a review or two this week. Go to Baltimore. Buy comics.

Reviews from today and other ramblings

Walking Dead #64 - After what seemed like months of teasers and build up we are somehow already half way through the Fear the Hunters arc. The first issue of the arc didn't feel like anything special, but each subsequent issue has gotten better meaning issue #64 is the best so far.

In the previous two issues a couple of major things have occurred, the capturing of Dale by the hunters and the arrival of the rest of the crew at Gabriel's church. A big twist occurs related to one of those two things at the beginning of the issue, but it is the character moments, which Kirkman has become famous, that make the issue something special.

At times it has felt like some characters in the story were being completely ignored but lately and in particular in this issue everyone has something compelling going on; imagine Kirkman spinning plates, go ahead it is a funny image. Even characters like Abraham and Michonne who some could easily write off as one trick ponies continue to have more layers and depth added to them. Having said all that, this is still Rick's book and his leadership skills are once again given the chance to shine here. If I were those hunters I'd be a little bit worried right about now.

Action Comics # 880

The Codename: Patriot cross-over got off to a solid start last week in Superman WONK, but I was nervous about the second installment in Action Comics. I was a big fan of the first couple issues but Barrows leaving the book and a general lag in storyline have made me lean towards dropping the book after this issue.

A lot of important characters pop up in this issue, and the writers did a good job of balancing all the different story arcs contained within the cross-over. The most enjoyable scenes were those involving General Lane who will hopefully get spotlighted more as the overall story in the Superman line moves forward. Scenes dealing with Superman's return to Earth were dealt with nicely albeit exactly as one would have expected. Unsurprisingly the parts of the issue I find myself feeling most "blah" towards were the ones involving Nightwing and Flamebird; whatever appeal these characters had seems to have worn off.

While this was a solid installment in the cross-over and new artist Julian Lopez is an improvment don't expect to see any more reviews of Action Comics for the time being.

Uncanny X-Men #514

The special which kicked off the Utopia cross-over was promising but since than my interest in this mini-event has seriously waned. Uncanny X-Men #514 was the final nail in the coffin.

Art aside this comic was just not good, AT ALL.

Barely advancing the overall narrative? CHECK

Needlessly reminding us about the two Dark teams not getting along? CHECK

Cyclops standing around watching other people fight? CHECK

Drawn out and boring battle against some robots? CHECK

Fraction is better than this so hopefully with the rest of this cross-over he can remind me what he is capable of. And hey, if he doesn't there is always Invincible Iron Man.

Marvel stuff

Daredevil - What the hell happened to this book. Seems like it never comes out anymore. It is a shame Brubaker killed the momentum right before the big 500th issue.

Iron Fist - Hearing rumors that after the one-shots are done Fraction is returning to the book ... count me in.

Captain America Reborn - Second issue was a big improvement hopefully this stays on schedule and continues to get better.

Excited about Marvel's lack of a big event policy since they haven't had a half decent one in years hopefully they stick to their guns about that. Overall though haven't been too pumped about anything coming out of the House of Ideas lately.

DC stuff

Jesus, Blackest Night is fucking amazing. Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps tie -in issues have been great too. Really don't know what else to say, fuck.

Batman and Robin is already one of the best books being published, Morrison haters can suck a dick.

Flash Rebirth is MIA, WEAK. Nothing will kill a book I was only so-so on like some big delays. Good job guys.

Superman line is hit or miss lately. That last issue of Superman ... yikes. Real fucking bad. WONK and Supergirl have been consistent though.

James Robinson on the JLA ... should be good but didn't like what I heard from him on the ifanboy.com interview where he said the book will have a large cast with different characters appearing depending on what is going on in the book. I would like to see a smaller and more consistent team on a regular basis to have the characters develop deeper relationships with one another over a hopefully long run.

2 Reviews

Green Lantern #43

As I stated in my review of GLC from last week, that series has been consisently better than the main Green Lantern title for about the past six months give or take. While normally that wouldn't be important, since we are inching closer to Blackest Night the big summer epic penned by Johns some were beginning to worry that Green Lantern's slippage was a soon of things to come. Thankfully, Green Lantern #43 has put these collective fears to rest by bringing the book back to a level of excellence which was once its norm.

They first thing that you'll notice is the art which starts strong and stays strong throughout the entirety of the issue. Art in the previous arc was not my favorite thing in the world to look at although I didn't dislike it as much as some because I felt it fit the tone of the story. Regardless, Mahnke's pencils and the crisp and clean coloring are a welcome improvement over the dark and muddy work in Agent Orange.

What is most impressive from Johns here is that he crafts a story that grabs your attention and maintains it even though most of us reading knew exactly where the story was ultimately going to end up. In this issue alone, like he did with Larfleeze in the Agent Orange arc, Johns has made William Hand a character you are going to want to see more of come Blackest Night. One concern I have is that Johns is going to be too busy with other bigger characters in the DCU that he won't have time to shine the spotlight on some of these wonderful villians he has taken the time to build up in Green Lantern.

Blackest Night #1 is finally hitting stores this Wednesday and thanks to Green Lantern #43 I am as excited as ever.

Superman: World of New Krypton # 5 of 12

For a little while I considered WoNK to be the best of the Superman line while that is no longer the case, Robinson's work on Superman has since surpassed it, the book is still very enjoyable. Although, in a way the five issues are starting to share too many similarities.

One thing this issue has that previous ones did not is room for Pete Wood's art to breath. Finally we get an issue with nice wide panels and pages that are far from cramped. Due in large part to this, Wood's work on the issue is the best it has been so far in the series.

In regards to the story, if somone had told me what the story was about I probably would have left it on the shelf. However, actually reading it was a good time because Robinson and Rucka managed to make the courtroom drama and behind the scenes chess-playing of General Zod an intriquing read which is no easy task. For those who might claim that nothing happened in this issue I say, shame on you. This issue does an excellent job of adding to the already wonderfully written relationship between Zod and Superman, reveals important information about a minor but key character, and shows once again what makes Superman different than the rest of these other 100,000 Kryptonians.

To go back to a point I made earlier about each issue having too many similarities, in this issue we get another shocking cliffhanger. Except at this point it isn't all that shocking. Of course these things are going to be part of a sequential storytelling medium, but over five issues WoNK has followed a similar track too many times already; cleaning everything up neatly like a half-hour sitcom only to slam you with a crazy cliffhanger right at the last minute. Again, this is in many ways a necessary part of the medium but to me that doesn't completely absolve the creative team here.

New Reviews, Finally

Captain America Reborn #1 of 5:

Obviously the most anticipated comic of the week, and in part because of that it is hard to say that this comic didn't disappoint.

There is nothing particularly bad about Brubaker's writing in this issue, far from his best but nothing glaringly bad to criticize. The same can be said for Hitch who does a fine job, but none of the panels or splash pages really blew me away like I was expecting them to. Again, back to the point of the expectations and hype surrounding this issue.

The hype factor played another role in my enjoyment of this issue. Naturally with the Monday release and news coverage of this mini-series Marvel wants to sell a lot of these issues to people who have not been reading Captain America. I mean, when you think about it why couldn't this just have been Captain America #601? Well because what sells better #601 or #1. What all this lead to was this story containing a lot of panels where people sit around and get caught up on what has been happened. As someone who has been reading Captain America since about issue #22 this was kind of a chore to get through even though it didn't feel forced in there.

Aside from sitting and talking we do get some action from Bucky and Black Widow which will always be okay with me. Importantly, it added much needed suspense to the issue. Some people might complain about some Dark Reign-centric villains showing up, but again I felt this was a natural inclusion based on what was happening in the story.

Aside from not meeting the hype my other main knock against the story is something I won't spoil for you. Needless to say I was less than pleased with the plot device Brubaker uses to introduce the idea of Steve Rogers returning. Having said that, I still have confidence that this will end up being a great story, but it could have gotten off to a better start.

Green Lantern Corps #38:

Man do I wish I had jumped on board with this title sooner. Well Green Lantern seems to be stuck in the mud in the run up to Blackest Night, Green Lantern Corps has been on cruise control.

One of my favorite things about the book is how well Tomasi balances a number of different plot threads, always seeming to know exactly when to switch gears. So, while I still enjoyed the hell out of this issue that knack for balancing the stories was somewhat lacking here. For my tastes Tomasi spends too much time on Oa in this issue; Soranik receives two relatively text heavy pages but what really bothered me was the Daxam situation showing up for only a two page splash. Not that the scenes on Oa were bad, but I think some fat could have been trimmed from them which makes the reduced coverage of the other situations that much more annoying.

No complaints at all when it comes to art though. Gleason as well as the inkers and colorists have a greated a look which fits this story perfectly. In a word, fun.

The Invincible Iron Man #15:

A lot of people like to complain about how Dark Reign forces changes to be made in their favorite books which hurt the overall stories being told. In fact sometimes I am one of those people, but one book that has vastly improved since and partly because of Dark Reign is Invincible Iron Man. Norman Osborn taking control of the Marvel Universe has given Matt Fraction the chance to craft an excitingly original Iron Man story with a villain on par with the brilliant Mr. Tony Stark.

Before getting into anything else however I need to take a second to mention how the art in this book has improved. In earlier issues I would sometimes cringe looking at the faces of characters who looked like a shiny photo-referenced train wreck. Thankfully things have improved greatly, just take a look at the first page of the issue and then compare it to an issue from six or eight months ago. Now I no longer need to hope that Tony is in costume the entire issue to have any hope of enjoying the art.

Storywise Fraction starts exactly where he left us off last issue with Tony and Pepper staring each other down. From their later interactions we get the best glimpse yet into what kind of impact Tony's mind erasing mission is having on him, and these scenes are wonderful. We also catch up with Maria who has finally found Black Widow, and who could complain about watching these two chase each other around. After only seeing Maria for about one page last issue it is nice to have her plot thread once again take up a good chunk of the issue.

Lastly, and this is something this book has done better than any other in recent months, Fraction leaves you begging to be able to read the next issue immediately. It says a lot that I almost enjoyed this more than a Morrison/Quitely comic that also was released this week.

Batman and Robin #2:

Morrison and Quitely. Do I really need to say anything else? If you aren't reading this comic then what the fuck are you doing.

After only two issues this is already the best book on the stands by far.

Quitely's art is fantasic and his panel layout during one of the fight scenes made me just shake my head due to its sheer awesomeness. The only bad thing is that after one more issue someone else is taking over art duties. I'd deal with this book being bi-monthly if it meant having him on every issue, but for obvious reasons DC needs this book out every month.

Morrison holds up his end of the deal here too. I think the fact that so many people hate Damian is simply a testament to how well Grant is writing him. What is even better than his handling of Damian is his writing of the interactions between him and Dick. Aside from the art it is this that really helps give the book a feeling of freshness.

Uncanny X-Men #513 Chapter Two of X-Men/Dark Avengers Crossover:

Quick hit here. Real solid issue that moves all the important pieces on the board in a nice manner. Hopefully next issue is more than just a slug-fest.

Books from yesterday

Wolverine: Weapon X #1

With Wolverine: Origins out pretty much everywhere expect the movie theaters it is hard not to compare this book to Matt Fraction's Invincible Iron Man which launched right around the time of the release of the surprisingly popular Iron Man movie. Being a cynic, I was weary of Invincible Iron Man even though I was a fan of Fraction's work on Immortal Iron Fist. I figured Marvel was just trying to cash in some more off of the movie's release, but the book has come to be one of my favorite monthly Marvel titles. With this book I was less of a cynic because of how that title turned out and also because of my love for the work of Jason Aaron, in particular Scalped which is the BEST comic book on the stands month in and month out. 

Unlike most, I have yet to read this creative team's Wolverine mini Get Mystique so I have no exposure to their take on Wolverine. However, knowing that Aaron has a knack for stories like Scalped it came as no surprise that he absolutely nailed Wolverine. Dialogue with Wolverine can be trick because it always dances that line between really corny and really fucking bad-ass, thankfully Aaron stays on the side of really fucking bad-ass. None of the lines ever seem forced as they so often do when reading a Wolverine story. 

In terms of story not too much happens in this first issue. We get to meet or at least hear about the major players Wolverine will be going after for the next four issues. The rest of the issue is Wolverine doing some snooping around which allows Aaron to begin to flesh out his take on the character nicely. Aaron's plot line here doesn't seem to be anything ground breaking based on this issue, but that is perfectly fine as long as he continues to have such a perfect voice for the main character. 

Garney's art in this issue matches the high quality of Aaron's writing. The art is violent without being over the top and silly, and is rough and gritty without being overly sketchy. 

The only bad thing about this issue is the price. Another $3.99 on-going title, thanks Marvel. You know what though I didn't mind too much when I saw the book was going to have 8 pages of extras which I assumed would be a cool article by Aaron or some sketches. Instead I got some stupid bio pages on Maverick and the Weapon X program, and a 6 page preview for Ghost Rider. If you are going to charge me $3.99 when you are completely dominating market-share and making money hand over fist with your movies at least give me some fucking legit extra material.

Superman World of New Krypton #2 

They really need to stop letting Gary Frank do the covers for this series. Granted the cover is great, but after looking at it the interiors just seem like total shit. That sounds harsh when in reality Pete Woods' work on this book is totally fine, but with two top talents like Rucka and Robinson on the one book actually starring Superman DC should have assigned an artist a step up from just fine. On some pages Woods steps his game up, and I think it may be due to the fact that these pages aren't as crammed as some of the others. In particular the page in the very middle of the issue with Superman and his troops flying away from past visions to round up the herd. Throughout the book a lot of the other pages seem really crowded with lots of smaller panels which probably makes Woods work look less appealing than it should be. I don't know much about organizing a comic, but maybe the writers and artist can work together to make this a more visually stunning book.

The story continues to move in a direction that I am enjoying with Superman seemingly about to placed smack-dab in the middle of a bubbling class conflict on New Krypton that we saw the start of in Issue #1 when he flew around with a member of the Labor Guild. Since Superman is now working under Zod this situation is infinitely more interesting than it would have been on Earth. After all this is partly the point of this whole New Krypton thing, to tell great stories that wouldn't have worked using Superman's familiar set-up. Another plus is the handling of the relationship between Zod and Super...Commander El. It is great fun to watch two people who don't like or trust each other work alongside one another. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Aunt Alura. I'm beginning to agree with Supergirl when she had the thought "Why couldn't he have killed her." Man, this character makes me want to get a marker and scribble her out of any scene she pops up in. We get it your husband was killed and you're upset, LET'S MOVE ON NOW PLEASE. 

In all another solid issue, I think this book will continue to get better and better as the creative team finds their stride. They'll also have more issues to do it in since this book is now labeled as 2 of 15. Initially I think it was only supposed to be 12, but I could be wrong on that. 

Green Lantern #39

I am sure that being the artist on Green Lantern is no easy task, but thankfully Philip Tan is more than up to it. You really have to commend a guy who can make a book look so good while being responsible for penciling a wide variety of characters and locales. Unfortunately, the writing here does not keep pace.

The book starts off great by introducing us to Agent Orange or Larfleeze via some excellently done internal dialogue. From the start I am intrigued by and enjoying this Orange Lantern. Sadly the issue takes a plunge when we meet back up with Hal Jordan and the Blue Lanterns. Now, I love me some Blue Lanterns but their conversations with Hal here are a bit over the top. "--All will be well, Brother Jordan." "Only if someone does something to make it that way." The 1970's are over, this isn't Green Lantern/Green Arrow maybe something a bit more on the subtle side would have been nice. Things pick back up when Hal returns to Oa, and by the end of the issue I'm excited for #40. Hopefully we get some more info about the Guardians relationship with Larfleeze and the Vega System instead of just a big huge battle. 

Not a bad issue by any means, but still frustrating because I know Johns is capable of much better. I'm worried that this book is losing steam at exactly the wrong time.

<3

Last Weeks Book

Flash Rebirth #1

This is the first issue of a Flash comic I have ever bought or read. Considering I loved Green Lantern: Rebirth I was really excited for this book, and wanted to get in at the start assuming of course that Johns or some other top tier talent will be working on a Flash on-going once this finishes up.

Probably my biggest surprise upon first finishing the book was how little of Barry Allen there was in it. After starting up with a murder we see how other members of the Flash family are reacting to Barry's unexpected return. I knew about Jay and Wally a bit from reading other books, but I was not familiar with Bart at all. In just one page Johns does a pretty solid job of helping me get accustomed to the character. 

Luckily for me the main scenes featuring Barry also feature Green Lantern Hal Jordan who as mentioned had a Rebirth of his own. Their interaction here is awesome and has definitely made me want to seek out old stories involving the two of them. Unlike everyone else Barry isn't celebrating his return, but expresses to Hal his concern about why he has come back and how long his return will last. I don't know too much about Barry Allen, but to me this type of characterization made perfect sense. The only thing I am still kind of confused about is the Speed Force itself, so hopefully Johns delves into that a little bit more in the next issue.

The real mystery of this whole story arc doesn't kick in until the end of the issue, but I won't ruin that for you. 

Not much to say about Van Sciver's art, it is fucking amazing.

Scalped 27

Last month we got Diesel, this time around Aaron focuses in on Agent Nitz who is a pretty important character who for the most part rarely gets seen. Like in all these other one and done tales Aaron tells a bleak and haunting tale that nicely fills in the past of a character in 22 short pages. Scalped usually follows the same format of an arc of one-off stories followed by a more structured 6 part arc that moves the story along. I can tell we are getting close to the end of this round of one-shot stories because even though this was another strong issue I am ready for the story to get moving again especially after how the first issue of this arc ended.

In regards to the art, another fill-in artist whose work here is solid. Only complaint is that in a lot of panels it looks like everyones eyes are closed. 

Iron Man 12

After the way last issue ended and upon seeing the cover for this issue [Namor and Tony wrestling under water] who would have thought Tony's part of the story would end up not being my favorite part.

"Pepper Potts gets to work"

I am absolutely loving what Fraction has done with Potts' character, and her scenes in this issue are the best ones yet. Plus, these scenes give Fraction a chance to portray Osborn as the crazy mother fucker he really is. 

That is not to say the Iron Man part of the issue was bad in any way, it was really solid. However, I'm not as infatuated with Namor as plenty of others on the internet so while those scenes were really good they were not my favorite. 

Maria Hill's part in this issue was rather short, but still well done and pretty damn frightening. I know nothing about the history of the Controller nonetheless I am excited to see where this goes especially considering what happens here in Issue #12. 

As you can tell I am digging how Fraction has split the book up and I hope it continues after the whole Dark Reign thing fades away into oblivion and gets replaced by something else.

Since its inception this has been a nice book to look at when guys and girls are flying around in suits and shit is blowing up. In other areas though the art has often fallen flat. While not consistently I noticed in spots that it seems as if the art and coloring are starting to improve in some of these areas where they have been weak for the past year. Hopefully the trend continues.

SIDE NOTE - Probably finally going to record the March Podcast today or tomorrow.

<3

Reviews and News

Reviews:

The Immortal Iron Fist #24

When I first saw this in my stack I thought to myself "Wow, the past month must have went by really fast" because I could have sworn I just read Iron Fist. Turns out I was right and wrong, I did just read Iron Fist but the month hadn't gone by fast. Normally when an issue takes a look at a past Iron Fist there is some type of indication on the title by way of a sub-heading to the title, but #24 lacked that which probably helped throw me for a loop.

I've been enjoying Swierczynski's current arc more than his first one, but the one thing that continues to keep it from being an elite book for me is the art. Granted I think Foreman's pencils have improved since the run started, but they pale in comparison to Kano's outstanding performance here. This book was an absolute beauty, and I would love to see Kano take on Iron Fist full time. 

The writing is almost as good as the art which is totally not a knock against Swierczynski's work here. In fact, I think his writing is here is better than it has been on some of his previous issues of Iron Fist. From the start he is able to make me care about a character I've never encountered before and that early success makes the rest of the issue where we see Li grow into his own work perfectly. Who would have thought a story about an Iron Fist who doesn't want to get his hands dirty could be so much fun to read. Li Park is a different kind of Iron Fist and hopefully one we get to see more of in the future. 

Since Fraction and Brubaker first relaunched Immortal Iron Fist these types of issues have been hit or miss, but issue #24 is definitely a hit perhaps even the very best of these types of back stories.

Superman #686

I'm really confident that this book WILL be great. But seriously. SERIOUSLY. Come on.

Especially since Rucka's run on Action Comics hit the ground running with lots of action and set up for the long haul or at least the next year, this was not the kind of book I wanted to read from Robinson and Guedes. As usual though, I can't say [er type] with a straight face that this was a bad comic. It wasn't at all, honest. However, as we all know Mon-El and the Guardian are going to be taking care of Metropolis so reading another issue of putting the pieces into place was somewhat frustrating. 

Some people like to say that when people complain about nothing happening in a comic they are simply skimming over important dialogue and looking for things blowing up. I'm not one of those readers, and I enjoyed the well written and necessary character and relationship development between Mon-El and Jim Harper. I think their relationship will make for some great stories, so please let's get to these stories. Granted you can't tell these stories without having set up their relationship, but that relationship could have easily been developed in previous issues that were infinitely more disappointing than this one because we had to see Superman mull over a decision when we already knew exactly what he was going to do. 

So, perhaps my complaint isn't so much with THIS issue on its own but rather with the pacing of this book over the past few months. However, based on the last page reveal it seems things will finally kick into high gear. 

Quick note on the art, I love the work of Guedes and Magalhaes. These two work wonderfully together, and I hope they stick on the book as Robinson takes it to the next level because like I said earlier I know he will. 

Daredevil #117

Another issue of Daredevil, solid as usual especially with a little Mister Izo thrown in for good measure.

Majority of the issue is spent dealing with fallout from the previous story arc such as Matt's complicated situation with Dakota North and his battle with Milla's parents. As usual, the life of Matt Murdock goes from bad to worse although he has no one to blame but himself. Of the scenes in the first two thirds of the book, the ones involving Dakota are the strongest; I'm ready for Milla to simply be gone from the picture. 

On top of being ready for that I'm also ready for Matt to start to turn things around. What is going to make this story arc so interesting is that to do so Matt will need his arch nemesis the Kingpin. So naturally the issue is at its best during the final few pages where we get to see the first exchange between Daredevil and Kingpin in quite sometime. 

Art is perfect as usual.

Looks like Brubaker and Lark are going out with a bang.

Quickies:

Captain America #48: Good wrap up to another three part arc. Although I'm looking forward to both Ross' return and the development of a more over-arching storyline that this run of Captain America became famous for.

New Avengers #51: Wasn't really excited for this issue since I don't care about Doctor Strange, but I was pleasantly surprised. The scenes with Strange searching for a replacement were more entertaining than I had expected plus Bendis also provided us with some great team building dialogue scenes and his usual comedy. Jessica's conversation with Spider-Man and Luke was particularly hilarious. Assuming the rest of the arc will be more Strange-centric, but that isn't as scary a proposition as it seemed before reading this issue.

News about the blog:

I hate myself.

Not really, but I am pissed that I haven't kept up with this blog like I planned. Teaching, especially being a first year teacher, can put a serious strain on time and energy. However, I think I have decided on a format that I can stay consistent with. Hopefully you can expect written weekly reviews each and every week PLUS a once a month recorded podcast with more detailed and spoiler-ific discussion of my pick of the month, selected other books, and my thoughts on a few of the major comic book happenings of that month.

PS:

The guys from my local comic shop, Atomic City Comics, have started a podcast. Check it out.

http://thewerd.podomatic.com/