Weekly Comic Reviews
Apr. 5th, 2005 09:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angelophileA heavy couple of weeks for comics, but a fairly odd fortnight too, with some of my favorite titles a little weak, while others were fairly enjoyable.
Major spoilers for some titles, so reviews will be behind the cut.
In all I got:
Secret War 4
Astonishing X-men 9
Daredevil Redemption 3
Spider-man 12
New Avengers 4
Age of Apocalypse 4/5
Phoenix Endsong 4
Academy X 11
X-men 168
Runaways 2
Daredevil 71
Countdown to Infinite Crisis
Ultimate Spiderman - Superstars Trade
Also Excalibur, but I have yet to read that.
Secret War 4 - Really an excuse for a big fight scene and it's, what, 5 months since the last issue of this comic? Yes, it certainly looks gorgeous, but the delays have killed any momentum this book had and, being Bendis, it never really had THAT much to start with. However, if you can put aside the delay and actually try to remember what happened in the last issue, it's a fairly energetic battle between the heroes and the techno-villains in the book. Unfortunately, I've entirely forgotten who the villain of the piece is and guess I'll have to go back to past issue to remind myself. Not good when that happens.
Daredevil 71 - Another "talky" issue from Bendis - quite literally as it's about a help group where people have come to discuss how Daredevil has changed their lives. It's an uneventful storyline and really does little for me - Daredevil comes in, beats some people up, leading someone to have a blinding revelation where their life went wrong and promise to change. A very pedestrian issue and an extremely pedestrian story. I think Bendis' work on this book has clearly run its course.
Spider-man 12 - Mark Millar's last issue on the book and not a bad one. Not a good one either, more an indifferent one. Of course, the supervillain behind the kidnapping of Aunt May has been revealed as Norman Osbourne - what a surprise to… ohhh… no one. We see yet another recreation of the death of Gwen Stacy with Mary Jane as Norman tosses her off a bridge= Peter's rehearsed it a thousand times apparently And, yeah, we've seen it a thousand times too. It's bland but inoffensive and the next line up for this book looks like it'll hold more interest. I think it was the Dodson's art that really put me off the book. They make everyone look like motionless sex shop mannequins.
New Avengers 4 - - The mastermind behind the prison break is revealed and probably leaves most people going "WTF? Who?" and a number of us going "WTF? Isn't he working for Weapon X? I guess we can hope that somehow why Karl Lykos has gone from being a Weapon X operative to being in Rykers will be explained, but who knows. Beside that, the setup is inoffensive and I'm actually enjoying the book for what it is. Peter's wisecracks seem more suited to Ultimate Spiderman, but the banter between him and Jessica Drew was entertaining and the Savage Land gag nicely timed. Enjoyable enough to keep me reading, even if they have made Jessica Drew look like a latex covered milking machine.
Age of Apocalypse 4/5 - It's the age of Apocalypse and the X-men are complete ****s. Paige's return from the dead started issue four on a high point and you can't help but wholly agree with her point of view - Generation Next were betrayed and left for dead. It's therefore rather sickening to see the X-men respond with nothing but callous hatred, kill her siblings in the most brutal way and then stab Paige herself in the back. The X-men in this age of Apocalypse seem to be villains rather than heroes and while one anti-hero in the shape of Weapon X would be tolerable, a whole team of them that do nothing but in-fight, murder and lie leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Issue 5 is an improvement, although Bachalo's art goes awry entirely in the case of Sinister. No doubt many are complaining about the means of the Age of Apocalypse being saved from extinction, but that doesn't bother me at all. However, Bachalo aside, this has been a rather lackluster and depressing return to the AoA with a couple of high points, particularly most of issue 3. Sadly it's downhill after that.
Phoenix Endsong 4 - Now this is an X book I can admire. I'd go so far as to say this is my favorite X book at the moment, although I'm enjoying Uncanny's silliness too. But Astonishing's going off on a completely stupid tangent, leaving this book leading the field. It's not the strongest issue but Emma and the Phoenix' s confrontation and another good moment between Emma and Scott makes this book a thoroughly enjoyable ride. Kitty again is superbly handled, Beast gets some chance to shine, leaving Wolverine, Storm and Nightcrawler pretty much sidelined for the issue. Not a bad move because Quentin, Emma, Scott and Kitty are by far the most fascinating things about this beautiful book. The sooner Greg Pak is given a core X-book the better in my opinion. Perhaps they should have let him use Astonishing while Whedon's on break.
Academy X 11 - Eighteen years into the future is the setting for this issue of Academy X as we find David as President of the USA and clearly out of his gourd. Unfortunately all the characters look exactly he same and save for the odd goatee none of the kids looks older, let alone in their thirties, while the X-men haven't aged a day either. That's the major failing of the art which is otherwise stylized, but inoffensive. Julian continues to be one of the most interesting characters in the book, even if the entire thing proves to be a bad dream and it's rather enjoyable to see Angel used for the first time since Morrison (in any book I've read anyway) as a future X-man It's another case of having to see the X-men as bad guys, though, and I'm kinda getting sick of seeing the heroes reduced to being villains. I guess villainous is the path for Wither now too, who's proving to be an unmentionable shit. I'm actually glad that they're treading that path with him, however, as the broody teen angle has been played to death. Makes a change for one to go bad rather than come good.
Runaways 2 - Speaking of brooding teens, Jono's in Runaways 2 and it's another enjoyable issue, although one of the weaker ones. It's slower paced and little really seems to get accomplished. I'm hoping Excelsior aren't being set up for a fall because it seems a bit beneath them to be used in such a way, even if this is the Runaway's book. Anyway, it's another witty issue and the sparkling dialogue keeps a rather eventless issue otherwise afloat.
X-men 168 - Another "all over the place" issue. I'm admitting it - I'm severely disappointed by Milligan's run so far. I was expecting so much for from the superlative X-Statix writer and this seems like it was ghost written by Chuck Austen. The plot leaps all over the place, relationships have leapt back at least ten years and the whole storyline is just confusing. I'm wishing this arc to end soon and Milligan to find his feet because so far there's no balance in the writing, or between writer and artist. Unmemorable, but there are actually a few decent parts to the issue which stop it slipping entirely into awfulness, but not enough to be anything other than poor.
Daredevil Redemption 3 - Actually the better of the two Daredevil titles, Hine's (District X) back story for Matt continues to be interesting, if slow paced. Apparently based on a real life case, this story of a murder in a small town continues to be reminiscent of Twin Peaks before it disappeared up its own asshole - a small southern town where if you scratch the surface the maggots come pouring out. The case doesn't really progress much, but there's a rather bizarre turn at the end that keeps things more than just interesting. One of the better of this fortnight's books.
Countdown to Infinite Crisis - - Despite myself I actually found myself enjoying this story, up to the point of the "reveal" at the end. On that, well… I should probably explain that my only exposure to most of those featured in this book has been from reading the Giffen "I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League" that was a wonderful self parody and dripped with humor and likable characters. And in this title, the characters continue to be just as likable. Blue Beetle is a thoroughly decent character who is understandably looked down on by the more successful JLAers. His relationship with Booster Gold, that I loved so much in ICBINTJL continues to be a pleasure here and it's great to see heroes who are genuinely close friends with their compatriots, rather than mere colleagues. The plot isn't half bad either, as Beetle's life unravels he searches for a reason, while his fellow heroes slowly turn their backs on him, leaving him with one sole ally. It's poignant storytelling that leads to the final conclusion. However, it's not a conclusion I welcome as out of the cast of ICBINTJL this issue adds to the death count of Sue Dibny by adding two cast members to the list of corpses, almost killing another and finally revealing another to have been an evil mastermind for the past 20 or so years. It's an exercise that has seen Giffen quit DC and I'm little surprised. However, on its own the story is told well and the central death not sensationalized. I just wish they'd left a few of the most likable DC superhero team alive to tell the tale.
Ultimate Spiderman - Superstars Trade - - After the depressing, wasteful and ultimately crap "Carnage arc" suddenly in Superstars Bendis turns things on their head. It's basically another stab at Ultimate Team Up, this time in the Ultimate Spidey comic, but the three stories here are a leap up from the previous Spiderman story arcs. Why can't Bendis write like this all the time? Three stories here as Peter once again tangles with the Ultimate versions of Wolverine, Human Torch and Dr. Strange. Out of the three the Wolverine story is the best, immensely witty and enjoyably silly. It would give too much away to reveal how the story plays out, but there's a lot of humor in the situation, particularly at the expense of Wolverine, whose tastes in rather young women are mocked mercilessly. The story with Johnny Storm jars a little if you've read any of the Ultimate Teamup books, in which Peter had already met considerably older versions of the Ultimate Fantastic Four, but if you can ignore the fact that even after fifty or so issues, Ultimate continuity is already utterly screwed up, you could enjoy what's here s Johnny enrolls at Peter's college and we get another play on the superhero buddies angle. The Strange story is the weakest but still enjoyable as the Ultimate version of Nightmare rears his ugly head. Excellent stuff all round. If Bendis continued in this vein I might even forgive him Carnage.
Astonishing X-men 9 -
This can be summed up in one image -
Major spoilers for some titles, so reviews will be behind the cut.
In all I got:
Secret War 4
Astonishing X-men 9
Daredevil Redemption 3
Spider-man 12
New Avengers 4
Age of Apocalypse 4/5
Phoenix Endsong 4
Academy X 11
X-men 168
Runaways 2
Daredevil 71
Countdown to Infinite Crisis
Ultimate Spiderman - Superstars Trade
Also Excalibur, but I have yet to read that.
Secret War 4 - Really an excuse for a big fight scene and it's, what, 5 months since the last issue of this comic? Yes, it certainly looks gorgeous, but the delays have killed any momentum this book had and, being Bendis, it never really had THAT much to start with. However, if you can put aside the delay and actually try to remember what happened in the last issue, it's a fairly energetic battle between the heroes and the techno-villains in the book. Unfortunately, I've entirely forgotten who the villain of the piece is and guess I'll have to go back to past issue to remind myself. Not good when that happens.
Daredevil 71 - Another "talky" issue from Bendis - quite literally as it's about a help group where people have come to discuss how Daredevil has changed their lives. It's an uneventful storyline and really does little for me - Daredevil comes in, beats some people up, leading someone to have a blinding revelation where their life went wrong and promise to change. A very pedestrian issue and an extremely pedestrian story. I think Bendis' work on this book has clearly run its course.
Spider-man 12 - Mark Millar's last issue on the book and not a bad one. Not a good one either, more an indifferent one. Of course, the supervillain behind the kidnapping of Aunt May has been revealed as Norman Osbourne - what a surprise to… ohhh… no one. We see yet another recreation of the death of Gwen Stacy with Mary Jane as Norman tosses her off a bridge= Peter's rehearsed it a thousand times apparently And, yeah, we've seen it a thousand times too. It's bland but inoffensive and the next line up for this book looks like it'll hold more interest. I think it was the Dodson's art that really put me off the book. They make everyone look like motionless sex shop mannequins.
New Avengers 4 - - The mastermind behind the prison break is revealed and probably leaves most people going "WTF? Who?" and a number of us going "WTF? Isn't he working for Weapon X? I guess we can hope that somehow why Karl Lykos has gone from being a Weapon X operative to being in Rykers will be explained, but who knows. Beside that, the setup is inoffensive and I'm actually enjoying the book for what it is. Peter's wisecracks seem more suited to Ultimate Spiderman, but the banter between him and Jessica Drew was entertaining and the Savage Land gag nicely timed. Enjoyable enough to keep me reading, even if they have made Jessica Drew look like a latex covered milking machine.
Age of Apocalypse 4/5 - It's the age of Apocalypse and the X-men are complete ****s. Paige's return from the dead started issue four on a high point and you can't help but wholly agree with her point of view - Generation Next were betrayed and left for dead. It's therefore rather sickening to see the X-men respond with nothing but callous hatred, kill her siblings in the most brutal way and then stab Paige herself in the back. The X-men in this age of Apocalypse seem to be villains rather than heroes and while one anti-hero in the shape of Weapon X would be tolerable, a whole team of them that do nothing but in-fight, murder and lie leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Issue 5 is an improvement, although Bachalo's art goes awry entirely in the case of Sinister. No doubt many are complaining about the means of the Age of Apocalypse being saved from extinction, but that doesn't bother me at all. However, Bachalo aside, this has been a rather lackluster and depressing return to the AoA with a couple of high points, particularly most of issue 3. Sadly it's downhill after that.
Phoenix Endsong 4 - Now this is an X book I can admire. I'd go so far as to say this is my favorite X book at the moment, although I'm enjoying Uncanny's silliness too. But Astonishing's going off on a completely stupid tangent, leaving this book leading the field. It's not the strongest issue but Emma and the Phoenix' s confrontation and another good moment between Emma and Scott makes this book a thoroughly enjoyable ride. Kitty again is superbly handled, Beast gets some chance to shine, leaving Wolverine, Storm and Nightcrawler pretty much sidelined for the issue. Not a bad move because Quentin, Emma, Scott and Kitty are by far the most fascinating things about this beautiful book. The sooner Greg Pak is given a core X-book the better in my opinion. Perhaps they should have let him use Astonishing while Whedon's on break.
Academy X 11 - Eighteen years into the future is the setting for this issue of Academy X as we find David as President of the USA and clearly out of his gourd. Unfortunately all the characters look exactly he same and save for the odd goatee none of the kids looks older, let alone in their thirties, while the X-men haven't aged a day either. That's the major failing of the art which is otherwise stylized, but inoffensive. Julian continues to be one of the most interesting characters in the book, even if the entire thing proves to be a bad dream and it's rather enjoyable to see Angel used for the first time since Morrison (in any book I've read anyway) as a future X-man It's another case of having to see the X-men as bad guys, though, and I'm kinda getting sick of seeing the heroes reduced to being villains. I guess villainous is the path for Wither now too, who's proving to be an unmentionable shit. I'm actually glad that they're treading that path with him, however, as the broody teen angle has been played to death. Makes a change for one to go bad rather than come good.
Runaways 2 - Speaking of brooding teens, Jono's in Runaways 2 and it's another enjoyable issue, although one of the weaker ones. It's slower paced and little really seems to get accomplished. I'm hoping Excelsior aren't being set up for a fall because it seems a bit beneath them to be used in such a way, even if this is the Runaway's book. Anyway, it's another witty issue and the sparkling dialogue keeps a rather eventless issue otherwise afloat.
X-men 168 - Another "all over the place" issue. I'm admitting it - I'm severely disappointed by Milligan's run so far. I was expecting so much for from the superlative X-Statix writer and this seems like it was ghost written by Chuck Austen. The plot leaps all over the place, relationships have leapt back at least ten years and the whole storyline is just confusing. I'm wishing this arc to end soon and Milligan to find his feet because so far there's no balance in the writing, or between writer and artist. Unmemorable, but there are actually a few decent parts to the issue which stop it slipping entirely into awfulness, but not enough to be anything other than poor.
Daredevil Redemption 3 - Actually the better of the two Daredevil titles, Hine's (District X) back story for Matt continues to be interesting, if slow paced. Apparently based on a real life case, this story of a murder in a small town continues to be reminiscent of Twin Peaks before it disappeared up its own asshole - a small southern town where if you scratch the surface the maggots come pouring out. The case doesn't really progress much, but there's a rather bizarre turn at the end that keeps things more than just interesting. One of the better of this fortnight's books.
Countdown to Infinite Crisis - - Despite myself I actually found myself enjoying this story, up to the point of the "reveal" at the end. On that, well… I should probably explain that my only exposure to most of those featured in this book has been from reading the Giffen "I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League" that was a wonderful self parody and dripped with humor and likable characters. And in this title, the characters continue to be just as likable. Blue Beetle is a thoroughly decent character who is understandably looked down on by the more successful JLAers. His relationship with Booster Gold, that I loved so much in ICBINTJL continues to be a pleasure here and it's great to see heroes who are genuinely close friends with their compatriots, rather than mere colleagues. The plot isn't half bad either, as Beetle's life unravels he searches for a reason, while his fellow heroes slowly turn their backs on him, leaving him with one sole ally. It's poignant storytelling that leads to the final conclusion. However, it's not a conclusion I welcome as out of the cast of ICBINTJL this issue adds to the death count of Sue Dibny by adding two cast members to the list of corpses, almost killing another and finally revealing another to have been an evil mastermind for the past 20 or so years. It's an exercise that has seen Giffen quit DC and I'm little surprised. However, on its own the story is told well and the central death not sensationalized. I just wish they'd left a few of the most likable DC superhero team alive to tell the tale.
Ultimate Spiderman - Superstars Trade - - After the depressing, wasteful and ultimately crap "Carnage arc" suddenly in Superstars Bendis turns things on their head. It's basically another stab at Ultimate Team Up, this time in the Ultimate Spidey comic, but the three stories here are a leap up from the previous Spiderman story arcs. Why can't Bendis write like this all the time? Three stories here as Peter once again tangles with the Ultimate versions of Wolverine, Human Torch and Dr. Strange. Out of the three the Wolverine story is the best, immensely witty and enjoyably silly. It would give too much away to reveal how the story plays out, but there's a lot of humor in the situation, particularly at the expense of Wolverine, whose tastes in rather young women are mocked mercilessly. The story with Johnny Storm jars a little if you've read any of the Ultimate Teamup books, in which Peter had already met considerably older versions of the Ultimate Fantastic Four, but if you can ignore the fact that even after fifty or so issues, Ultimate continuity is already utterly screwed up, you could enjoy what's here s Johnny enrolls at Peter's college and we get another play on the superhero buddies angle. The Strange story is the weakest but still enjoyable as the Ultimate version of Nightmare rears his ugly head. Excellent stuff all round. If Bendis continued in this vein I might even forgive him Carnage.
Astonishing X-men 9 -
This can be summed up in one image -
