angelophile | This week's comic reviews

Wow, a pretty heavy week for comics in the end. Got my arm twisted to try All Star Batman and Robin, which I probably wouldn't normally pick up.

Anyway, this week I picked up:

ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN THE BOY WONDER #1
NEW AVENGERS #7
NEW WARRIORS #2
NYX #6
WEAPON X DAYS OF FUTURE NOW #1
HOUSE OF M #3

Still to read:

DESOLATION JONES #2
MUTOPIA X #1
UNCANNY X-MEN #462
HERCULES #4
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #21

ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN THE BOY WONDER #1

Frank Miller and Jim Lee team up for the all star Batman comic! Wow! Actually, Jim Lee's work was bearable on Hush and Frank Miller, when he's on top of his game, is one of the best creators out there.
Shame that they put their names to this trash. Yet another take on how Batman ends up recruiting Robin, and this Year One story has Robin's parents randomly shot by a sniper, rather than dying on the high wire. The story's slight, the dialogue is awful, but worst of all is Lee's art, which slips back into what I hated about his nineties work. I read comics for stories and characters. If I wanted pornography, I would go and buy pornography. I really don't need six pages of Vicky Vale wandering around in a sheer bra and panties and close-ups on her ass. I don't need the rest of the book being her spilling out from a dress that barely covers her dignity, or Alfred suddenly saying "luv", just cos he was suddenly Cockney in Batman Begins.
There's probably a market out there for this nineties porn trash, but it's not with me.

RATING - *

HOUSE OF M #3

The miniseries FINALLY starts to gather momentum with this issue and starts to become something I could actually enjoy. Of course, Wolverine would be the one to realise that the House of M universe isn't right, but that's not such a bad thing, as he flees from the SHEILD helicarrier and sets off to find out a little about this strange new world, pursued by his former comrades. A nice touch is the newspaper splash filling the reader in on the status quo of the House of M and there's a great motorcycle chase scene. A few more obscure characters get a chance to shine, such as Cloak and there is, of course, the ending that was supposed to break the internet in half, but comes across as more of a mild, "eh?" After seeing that Gwen Stacy and Synch have been returned to life in the House of M, I'm not sure why we're supposed to be so shocked by Hawkeye doing the same. This series has been MASSIVELY over hyped, but judging by this issue, there's still some enjoyment to be had. The art is also solid, although I thought Jessica Drew was actually Dani Moonstar for most of the issue.

RATING - ***

NEW AVENGERS #7

Now, this is more like it. After a first arc that started okay and rapidly deteriorated into bunk, with the only highlight being Sauron's involvement, this is a really solid issue. There's action, dialogue, character build up. It's what I want from a Bendis comic and frequently get short changed on.
Tony Stark confirms the formation of the New Avengers to a meeting of Professor X, Dr Strange, Namor, Reed Richards and Black Bolt. Apparently they have this whole secret society thing going now. Meanwhile, the other New Avengers take on Wrecker from the Wrecking Crew, one of those villains to escape the jailbreak in the first issue. The action if excellently handled and, rather than being used for comic relief like in Runaways, Wrecker proves himself to be a credible threat, taking out Avenger after Avenger, tossing them around like rag dolls. Finally, we see Cap and Iron Man go to confront the mysterious Sentry. Fans of the original series will know the Sentry has to remain the Marvel Universe's "forgotten hero", lest his evil alterego return to destroy the world. How do they handle this? Well, who knows yet, but the final page drops a REAL bombshell and breaks the fourth wall with such an explosive crash you just have to boggle. This could either work spectacularly well, or be a car crash. Following issues will tell, but as it is, this was a great issue with excellent art from Steve McNiven.

RATING - ****

NEW WARRIORS #2

Marvel seems to have rather swamped the market with comedy books suddenly - this, GLA and Hercules all have comedic twists on established characters. GLA is undoubtedly the best of the bunch, but New Warriors provides some good laughs too. The animation influenced art style is not to everyone's taste, but I love it and really enjoy the fun and lively style. The off the wall humour style suits certain characters more than others. Namorita's character has a nice world weariness about her and Microbe is suitable goofy. Speedball seems most suited to this title, however, cracking out some fun and goofy lines. However, Nova and Nighthrasher get marginalised in this issue, like the last, and they seem a little more crowbarred in. Funnily, it's the guest characters that really steal the show, including an uptight animal rights activist, who provides most of the punchlines and creates many of the funny situations, and a trio of super-intelligent apes who have taken over a zoo and are holding its owner hostage. Yep, it's silly and much of the issue is a case of "look at the funny monkey!!!" but that's no bad thing. All it's done is fed my desire for more silly monkey stories.

RATING - ***

NYX #6

Dunno how many months it is since the last issue, but when I picked up this title I once again realised how much I LIKE it. The artist isn't quite Middleton, but his style is close enough for me to barely notice the change over this issue. And the story is great. If only this title had managed a regular schedule it could easily have been my fave of Marvel's output. This issue we meet a mutant who can slip into people's heads and "ride" them, much like Xian I guess. There seem to be repercussions to his powers and his home life makes it clear he's not the villain of the piece, although his actions are hardly in humanity's best interests. I'm not entirely sure what the opening was about, as a combination of art and script didn't make it entirely clear, but the interplay between the characters and the final, disturbing, twist is a delight.
Roll on the final issue. I wish there had been more.

RATING - ****

WEAPON X DAYS OF FUTURE NOW #1

Frankly, a case of too much being crammed into one issue. Or too many concepts spoiling the broth. Effectively, this is a continuation of the Weapon X ongoing, which means it has to spend about half an issue summarising the previous events. Since WX was such a convoluted and political book, this is a thankless task. Add to that an attempt to tie into the Days of Future Past universe and you're already laboured down with confusing continuity. It means the book is so heavy with exposition, it's really one for fans only. A shame, because once the book moves past all this catching up, it gets pretty good. Fantomex is moving to assassinate John Sublime. Unfortunately, before he can act, Wolverine and Agent Zero AKA Maverick, show up to stop him. There follows a little more exposition before we again get going as Chamber appears and assassinates Sublime himself. With Wolverine in pursuit we discover that Jono recalls nothing of his undercover mission for the X-men, or indeed, ever being one. The Wolverine and Jono scrap is a highlight of the issue, although a little confused. The art really doesn't help the already laboured story telling. Bart Seers is apparently horribly overrated, because this issue is ugly, inconsistent and horrible. Meanwhile, the deposed director of the Weapon X project has plans of his own and with his army of sentinels, moves against his enemies.
There is some things to enjoy here, but it's certainly not a strong opening issue and I suspect any new readers picking this book up will be immediately disappointed. If they hoped to attract a new audience with this book, I suspect they'll have lost them all by issue two.
I wish I liked this book more. But there's still plenty of potential now the exposition is out the way.

RATING - **