Since you asked for it: Comic Reviews

[angelophile]

Just three to start with, which is all I've managed to read since picking up my pull list yesterday.

Reviews under the cut for:

Captain Britain and MI13 #14
All Hail Megatron #12
Young Avengers: Dark Reign #2

Captain Britain and MI13 #14

Oh Paul Cornell, how I love thee. After last month's epic cliffhanger, I was left wondering where he'd go from there. Of course, the events of last issue were likely to be undone, but Cornell effortlessly twists things within the first few pages and then spends the rest of the issue establishing MI13 as being a match for Dracula, even when he's playing at the top of his game plan.

And that's the strength of this arc – Dracula's been portrayed as a military leader with hundreds of years of experience over a slightly campy villain in an opera cloak who thinks about nothing but his next lunch. The vampire invasion of Britain seems destined to succeed even when Wisdom and the gang are throwing everything they have at it.

Of course, Cornell's also succeeded in developing Wisdom within the 14 issues of this series. He's continually growing from the Ellis roots where he was an effective spook with a strong moral code, if churlish manners, to mature into sharp leader. In some ways he's going a little too far that way – the more clean cut he grows, the less charming he becomes and this issue he displays few of the character quirks that make him attractive. However, there's room for plenty of other characters to shine and I was particularly pleased to see Julius Mullarkey AKA Killpower hasn't been forgotten and Cornell does great things with the character that I've always had a fondness for.

With the action picking up this issue and building towards the final climax next issue, the fate of many characters, and Britain itself, does genuinely seem to be in the balance. In that, Cornell's succeeding in building an epic conclusion that works both on plot and character levels. Writers of so called epics like Ultimatum should sit up and take note.

RATING 9/10

All Hail Megatron #12

In the sort of final issue of this Transformers sort of miniseries, shit, as they say, kicks off. After the Decepticons' conquest of America, Starscream's long forseen treachery and a showdown with the Autobots, it's down to more person battles. Omega Supreme vs Devastator is far too brief, but Prime and Megatron face off in a battle that echoes some of their classic encounters, while the Autobots are aided by not one, but two unlikely allies.

This miniseries has sharply divided fans between people who were disappointed hat Furman's previous IDW continuity was all but set aside and a return, instead, to G1 character designs and character dynamics. Then other people have loved it for, well, exactly the same reasons. I'm one of the latter camp and the series has, for me, hit all the right nostalgic notes, refreshed the classic character dynamics (I've LOVED the Starscream and Megatron interplay) and been unashamedly cheesy and simplistic in plot. It's truck the right balance between the cartoon's energy and the comic's character work and the final issue doesn't disappoint as Starscream once again gets some memorable motivation and dialogue and there's a few scenes that fans have been crying out for.

There's disappointment too – some of the fight sequences are a little limp, some plot ends tied up too hurriedly, pesky humans *puttup!* stealing the focus with a plotline that seems to have been tagged on merely to give them something to do, but for all that there's the Prime and Megatron fight, Kup playing Nick Fury and other highlights.

In conclusion, I've loved this twelve issues more than I have any Transformers comic since 1993.

RATING – 7/10

Young Avengers: Dark Reign #2

Second issue of this miniseries, second for this reading session for Paul Cornell too and sadly, compared to Captain Britain and MI13, second rate.

Oh, it's not bad, it's just not great either. Even an average Paul Cornell book is usually above the norm, but I'm struggling to justify buying this title to myself. For a start there's the monster cover price – it's one of Marvel's four buck titles. Then there's the fact that it's a tie-in to Dark Reign, which I'm not reading and don't care about. Then there's the fact that, sadly, the comic itself is ultimately forgettable.

The second issue does a bit to flesh out one of the "new" Young Avengers, but that's it. There's a brief fight, a bit of chat and… well, nothing really much happens except for a revelation at the end of the issue which is more damp squib than explosive. All of this is handled with a deft touch, some polished dialogue and a brief scene which fleshes out one of the new team, but with only five issues of this series and two gone, already it's feeling disposable and suffers from the same issues that dogged the recent New Warriors relaunch – by the time the background of the characters is revealed, much momentum has been lost and there's not enough time for the story to go anywhere.

I'll probably collect the final three issues because I'm both a completist and a sucker for Cornell, but at the moment I'm feeling a little ripped off in terms of bang for my buck.

RATING – 6/10
More to follow tomorrow, most likely.

Comments

[distractedone.livejournal.com]

Has Emma appeared in Cornell's title? And hey! Cornell is handling the Emma/Namor issue of Dark Reign. Even though we aren't big fans of Dark Reign, I'm still looking forward to Cornell writing some Emma!dialogue.

[angelophile.livejournal.com]

No Emma in Captain Britain. She's mentioned in Cornell's Wisdom series, on the other end of the phone, but Captain Britain's been Anglocentric, specifically in the last arc, with good reason.