Comic book reviews for the week of March 9th in six sentences (or less)

Best of the Week

Ultimate Spider-man #155
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciller: Chris Samnee

Peter Parker needs a job and J. Jonah Jameson wants to give him one. The only problem is Jameson knows that Peter is actually Spider-man. So begins one of the best Ultimate comics I have ever read.

This, this issue is what the ultimate universe is/was supposed to be all about. Rebooting familiar characters, freeing them from the shackles of continuity and adding depth to characters who are too often dismissed as two dimensional stereotypes.

Long dismissed as a running gag in the Marvel 616 Jameson was reduced to being an over animated punchline, who’s only real value was to provide comic relief whenever Spider-man acted out. But in this issue Bendis has completed the rehabilitation of the character in a poignant way without ever betraying his core beliefs. Although Jameson feels compelled to help because of the heroism he witnessed during Ultimatum and being saved by Peter from the Chameleon twins, he still has lingering doubts from his time as the leader of the anti Spider-man lobby.

What follows is a traditional Bendisesque heavy dialogue piece that instantly managed to portray an unsympathetic character in a completely different light. Suddenly Jameson wasn’t a joke, he was a fully realized character whose motivations and behaviour made a lot of sense. He wasn’t a foil to be laughed at, he was a fully realized person.

I know the great Ultimate experiment seems to slowly coming to an end. Long past its heyday Ultimate Spider-man is the only title to exhibit any real staying power. And its issues like this that demonstrate just why that is. After 155 issues Ultimate Spider-man is far from stale, its a comic book clinic that shows off how the tights and fights genre can transcend its more self destructive aspects and still be entertaining and engaging.

Batman and Robin #21
Writer: Peter J. Tomasi
Penciller: Patrick Gleason

Someone is killing the relatives of Arkham Asylum inmates. Dubbed the White Knight this misguided soul is drugging his victims and dressing them up as angels in the misguided hope that in death he can absolve them of their dark familial connections.

Tomasi has absolutely nailed the affectionate, biting humour of this Batman and Robin. Although very much a second tier Bat-book, freed, for now, from the overarching meta-continuity imposed by DC uber-writer Grant Morrison this is Batman (and Robin) done right. The book strips the B&R mythology down to its roots, solving crimes, kicking ass, hanging out with Alfred and friendly verbal sparring. It’s everything you want in a Batman, minus the constant whinging emo-angst of losing ones parents.

Walking Dead #82
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Penciller: Charlie Adlard

Rick’s band of merry men is in danger of being overrun by a herd of zombies who are pouring through a gap in the compound wall. Fighting a running battle, the group retreats into the deserted houses, powerless to stop the horde.

As much as I love this series, the formulaic nature of its ups and downs is starting to become increasingly unsatisfying. It’s like having the same great meal every day, eventually endless repetition will turn the juiciest steak into sawdust.

The problem is that the central narrative of THE WALKING DEAD has never achieved a stable status quo. Which is good, because a comic book that’s only fighting to maintain the status quo is one that’s apeing the worst qualities of the mainstream superhero set. On the other hand, this series has fallen into a predictable story arc whose tropes are becoming increasingly well worn.

Find shelter. Introduce new characters. Conflict. Zombies. Group splits up. And repeat.

In a world where the writer is trying to create a realistic vision of the zombie apocalypse, WD is increasingly bumping up against the restrictions of its medium. Every time the protagonists achieve some measure of safety Kirkman knocks over the table and starts the whole cycle over again. It’s a problem with any series that’s been around for as long as this one has. It becomes harder to keep things fresh as continuity starts to pile up on you.

Wonder Woman #608
Writer: Phil Hester
Penciller: Geraldo Borges

The Amazonian remnants continue to fight off the bloodthirsty minions of The Morrigan. Diana’s cohorts are slowly being picked off and the Amazon Princess is forced to fight for her life against dark incarnations of her former sisters.

The more I read this the more I like where this is going. This reboot-Diana embodies the best of the Wonder Woman mythology with the added bonus of getting to redefine the essentials of what the character is about. My only complaint is how this storyline comes complete with a magical get out of jail card. Hester is telegraphing a return to ‘normal’ so much that I’m hoping this whole thing is giant red herring and DC will show the cojones to see this reboot go a little longer. After all, if they can play around Batman, the company’s number one money maker, then surely they can take a flyer on Wondie. Are there really a horde of fans clamouring for the old Wonder Woman? Do they just fear change that much or can they only enjoy their superheroines when they’re scantily clad?

(As a completely selfish aside, I wish Hester was drawing this title instead of just writing it. After all, if Finch can write and draw his own Batman title then surely there’s room to let a fantastic artist like Hester have complete control of the book.)

New Comic Day - Buy List for December 22, 2010

Here’s a list of what I’m picking up at my LCS tomorrow. A big pull, looks like an early Christmas present to myself.

Batman Incorporated #2
DC Universe: Legacies #8
Green Lantern Corps #55
Green Lantern: Larfleeze Christmas Special #1
Hellblazer #274
Invincible #76
Justice League of America #52
Superior #3
Ultimate Comics Doom #1
Ultimate Comics Spiderman #151
Wonder Woman #605

Comic book reviews for the week of November 24th in six sentences (or less)

Best of the Week

Walking Dead #79
Maybe this is the Best of the Week because I’m still riding the high I get from watching this series come to life on my television. Whatever the reason, it was the first thing I popped open when I got back from Ye Olde LCS and I don’t regret it for a second. In this issue the community is still putting trying to put their lives back together after a pathetically failed invasion attempt by another group of survivors. The gunplay from the run-in has attracted a herd of zombies who, unbeknownst to the group, are slowly converging on the neighbourhood. Robert Kirkman mixes up the normally mono-track story telling with a little split screen parallel plotting. It’s a nice change of pace and not normally something we see in this book. Charlie Adlard continues to kill when it comes to pencils. And that’s all she wrote.

Action Comics #895
The first of two entries for writer Paul Cornell this week. Vandal Savage has built an entire city overtop of two Black Lantern energy remnants from THE BLACKEST NIGHT in order to protect them from Lex Luthor. Of course, being Vandal Savage, he has the opportunity to do this hundreds of years before Lex is born and before he knows who he even is. This title continues to be an interesting character examination of one of DC’s premiere super-villains. The character is Lex hardly two dimensional, but after decades of stories on the man I thought there were very few takes on him that hadn’t been previously explored. I’m really enjoying Cornell’s exploration of Lex. He’s muted some of Lex’s cartoony, traditional Super-foil aspects and instead given depth and nuance to a character who is usually immune to both.

Batman and Robin #17
Say what you will about Scott McDaniel, but the guy manages to draw a dynamic, energetic story on a deadline and he makes it look good. I’m convinced that McDaniel doesn’t get the respect he deserves and too often he seems to be the go-to fill artist whenever DC needs to turn something around quickly. Paul Cornell takes the opportunity to do a little world building in the lives of Dick-bats and Robin, putting them on their first proper case unrelated to the events of RIP, FINAL CRISIS and THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE. In this story Dick and Damien are tasked with solving the murder of a casual ex-girlfriend of Bruce. While tracking the killer, why seems to suffer from a very Batman villain like compulsion to leave revealing clues, they stumble across a wedding gone horribly awry. It’s a fun, light read and a good counterpoint to the perpetual Bats-event comic we’ve all been reading for the past 5 years.

Batman: Odyssey #5
Another inscrutable Neal Adams Batman story. At the behest of Deadman Batman begins to investigate sinister goings on at Arkham Asylum. And that’s the best that I can do at crafting a one sentence summary for this title.

I’m still not convinced that there weren’t pages missing from this comic. Seriously, a reader shouldn’t have to work this hard to follow the basic narrative of this story. I had to reread several section of this issue and I’m not 100% sure I know what going on. The storytelling is sloppy and unfocused. And the art, while pretty, sometimes fails to illustrate crucial aspects of what’s happening in a scene. There was one section involving a conversation between Batman and a Deadman-possessed Joker that still has me scratching my head. When your artist and your writer are the same person there’s no excuse for crafting a tale this impenetrable.

Green Arrow #6
There’s something happening in this title that I can’t recall ever happening in a modern Green Arrow story, world building. I’m not just talking about creating new characters and fleshing out someone’s stable of villains. I’m talking about simple things, like creating easily defined visual geographic landmarks, like the unoriginally named Sherwood Forest or the iconic Queen Industries office tower (which is treated by the inhabitants of Star City like its been around YEARS, but I’ve sure as shit never seen it before). Even something simple like giving a GA a typical superhero symbol, a stylized ‘G’ belt buckle in the shape of an arrowhead. It’s all superhero world building 101 and some of DC’s most prominent characters have used it to great effect, sporting landscapes that are nearly as recognizable as they are. More importantly, GA has never, if ever, had these tools in his arsenal. Green is not a trademark, it’s a colour scheme and while it may help to inform his identity visually it lacks the simplistic touchstones we as audience need when identifying the good guys.

They only problem is that seminal characters like Superman and Batman have had years to build up these trademarks. Green Arrow titles seem to get re-booted on a semi-annual basis and each new direction is perpendicular to the one that preceded it.

Ultimate Spider-man #150
With this issue Spider-man goes back to his new/old title and numbering. It’s a fairly standard anniversary style issue, complete with the requisite new direction for the character that is often touted during these kinds of milestones. Various characters ruminate on their first meeting with Spider-man and reflect on his nature and character. Peter reflects on the true nature of what it means to be a hero. It’s all pretty standard stuff, but it’s well done so I’m not going to complain. It was nice to see a couple pages from Mark Bagley in this issue, especially considering I thought he was still exclusive to DC. For the longest time Bags take on Ultimate Spidey was so synonymous with the character it was hard to imagine anyone else drawing him and I thought it was really classy of DC to let him do these pages. (If in fact he’s still exclusive)

I’m also not going to get into the changes the Ultimate Universe has been through lately. I’ve seen that analysed in greater depth and with more intelligence then I can offer. Bottom line, in recent years the bloom has definitely come off the rose. The Ultimate line used to be synonymous with fresh takes on classic Marvel characters, unencumbered by the stifling shackles of continuity. Only after ten years it’s inevitable that the Ultimate Universe’s own continuity and publishing mis-steps have robbed the imprint of a lot of its vitality. Only Spider-man seems to have bucked this trend. Given the drop off in numbers for the Ultimate titles I have to wonder how long Marvel will choose to keep this imprint going. I think, if anything, the Ultimate Universe was a victim of its own success, with its greatest ideas and triumphs co-opted by the regular Marvel 616. Either way, whatever its fate, it was an interesting undertaking and one that I think helped revitalize the Marvel U.

Comic book reviews for the week of October 27th in six sentences (or less)

Best of the week

Hellblazer: City of Demons #2

If you’ve read one Hellblazer comic, you’ve read them all. The ‘blazer genre tropes are pretty well worn by this time; so writer Si Spencer just embraces what’s great about the character and rolls with it. As I mentioned when I reviewed the first issue I don’t get why this is being spun out into a mini but artist Sean Murphy’s work is so great that I couldn’t care less. Anyway, Constantine seems to have been possessed by a demon (or demons) and he can pass along this possession like an infection to anyone he meets. Of course normal people don’t deal with being infected by a demon very well and they tend to do lots of horrific and bloody things. I’m enjoying the hell out of the series so far, no pun intended, and I can’t wait to see where it takes me.

Actions Comics #894

In this issue Lex Luthor continues on his quest to seek the truth behind the black power rings from the Blackest Night event. Only Lex’s journey has been put briefly on hold while he comes to grips with the fact that he is, y’know, dead. Death, making a rare cameo outside of Neil Gaiman’s ever popular Sandman series, shows up to wheel, deal and help Lex accept his sudden change in status. This is a fantastic issue. In Paul Cornell’s hands Lex Luthor is still the same ruthless, irredeemable villain he’s always been, only now for some reason he’s a lot more interesting. Cornell manages to explore some of the seldom seen aspects of Luthor’s personality without invalidating who the character is at this core. And it’s always great to see that Gaiman’s Sandman characters continue to play a role in the DCU. If I thought there was any hope in hell Neil would come back to the characters I’d love to see this issue as a trial balloon to gauge reader interest in the franchise.

Avengers #6

Avengers vs. Ultron vs. Future Avengers vs. Kang. There can be only one. Bendis’s first story arc on the reincorporated AVENGERS comes to a close. And with all things time travel related it was a great opportunity for the writer to drop some hints about future story arcs. I don’t have too much to quibble with here. The art was pretty and the story and dialogue were engaging. That being said, I’m dropping the title. I’ve always been a DC guy at heart and on top of that my budget can’t really float another 3.99 ongoing. But it was fun while it lasted and I have no issue pointing prospective readers towards the book if they’re looking for a good read.

Gravel #21

Wait, is this series over? Because this issue reads suspiciously like a series finale. Being an Avatar release there are always about a hundred pictures in the back of the book, detailing the many variant covers of the company’s upcoming releases. And unfortunately I can’t see a solicitation for issue #22 anywhere. Given that series creator Warren Ellis is supposedly penning a live screen adaption of GRAVEL I find the timing of the title’s cancellation extremely unfortunate. Or perhaps it was always meant to wrap up in this way. Anyway, in this ish Gravel throws down with Bible Jack for control of London’s magic. There’s some magic, some gore, a little of the old ultra-violence and a bit of swearing. Happy Halloween!

Green Arrow #5

Green Arrow fights off an uprising of Blackest Night style super zombies while trying to save the life of an innocent bystander who was injured by the assassin Nix. Typing sentences like that reminds me why I can’t interest my wife in comics. Especially if I were to mention that GA beats the zombies by shooting them with slivers of wood from the God Tree. I enjoy how titles with the Brightest Day banner on them are still touching on Blackest Night plot points six issues later. Too often Big Two events are really just an excuse to mix up the status quo. Once the new status has been achieved the big events are quickly forgotten. I suppose that in the pursuit of new readers this reset button is a necessary evil. But I prefer to think of continuity as a boon and not a hindrance.

Superman #704

If there were a section for most irrelevant comic of the week, you’d be looking at it. DC apparently needed to plug some material into their Superman publishing schedule in order to cover for writer JMS’s ongoing illness. What the reader gets is an unnecessary fill-in issue with Lois reminiscing about the road untaken. Or at least, that was probably the intention. Instead it feels more like 22 pages of Lois whining and complaining about being stuck in Superman’s shadow, which is at completely at odds with her character. The art is flat, feels strangely unfinished and every so often the artist, Leandro Oliveira, throws in a canted angle that sticks out from the page like a chorus line of nuns doing the can-can. If you read just one Superman title this week, well, I hope it isn’t this one.

Ultimate Avengers 3 #3

Mark Millar. Blade. Ultimate Universe. Vampires. Mix liberally and apply to the infected area twice daily. Add a healthy dollop of Steve Dillon and enjoy.

Ultimate Comics Mystery #4

I forgot to pick up this issue. What can I say, it was a heavy week and it slipped through the cracks.

Ultimate Comics Spider-man #15

Only one more issue to go before this title goes back to it’s new, old number. Wait, did I say that right? Anyway, in this issue Peter Parker is attempting to regroup and pick up the pieces of his life after almost dying at the hands of the Chameleon Twins. His relationships with MJ and Gwen are falling apart. And even though he’s be lauded as a hero by the Daily Planet, somehow fighting crime seems to have lost its appeal. This is the first real pause for reflection this title has taken since it was rebooted fifteen issues ago. This is Bendis at his best, portraying complicated, nuanced character relationships with depth and feeling. Unlike so many other heroes in the spandex set, what makes Spider-man one of the greats is how he deals with his life when the mask comes off. Bendis has done a great job here reminding us of the timeless nature of the character.

As an aside, Marvel needs to pack in those absolutely terrible Spider-man\Mazda ads on the back over. I'm all for companies making a buck with cross promotions. I just don't think the serious car buyer is going to be won over by an ad on the back of his or her funny book.

Wonder Woman #604

This is how we do it! Unlike his work on SUPERMAN I’m enjoying JMS’s turn on WONDER WOMAN much more. I suspect a lot of that has to do with the fact that essentially Straczynski has been given a clean slate to play with the character. What you’re looking at when you pick up this book is the Ultimitized version of the character and, in my opinion, its really starting to come together. There are just enough familiar elements here to be comfortable to returning readers, but the take is fresh and new enough that new readers don’t feel hemmed in by decades of stifling continuity. In this issue, Wondie throws down with Ultimate Steve Trevor who, without Diana’s influence, has become a horrifically scarred mercenary for hire responsible for the deaths of all the Amazons.

Comic book reviews for the week of September 22nd, in six sentences (or less)

Best of the week

Walking Dead #77

Unless it’s a particularly strong haul The Walking Dead is almost always going to walk away with the best of the week. A story about the ongoing saga of the zombie apocalypse? It’s like they’re writing comics just for me now. Events in this series always seem to either be building to a chaotic confrontation or spiralling wildly out of control. This week has liberal smears of the latter as the survivors must determine the final fate of a spousal abuser in their midst.

Avengers #5

I’m not by nature a Marvel fan. I used to read AMAZING SPIDER-MAN for a few years but gave it up because…well…after awhile it just seemed to reek of sameness, month in and month out. And this whole Civil War\Secret Invasion\Dark Reign\Siege thing? Pass. Too many minis, too many books, too much money. But JRJR on THE AVENGERS, I’ll give that a shot.

The Flash #5

Geoff Johns continues to build on the world of Barry Allen, by drawing from the creative well he knows best – The Rogues. It’s a good read and while Manapul’s art doesn’t seem like it would necessarily be suited to the Flash visual aesthetic, it always surpasses my expectations. But I’m continually hampered by the fact whenever I read this book I always have to ask myself, ‘why can’t this be Wally West?’ And that just feels like a privileged fan boy complaint (well, this isn’t MY Flash). It just seems a shame that they’ve dropped an old legacy character into the exact same boots as his replacement, without bothering to really examine what makes the two men different.

Green Lantern Corps #52

I didn’t think this title would continue to make my pull list with the departure of Gleason and Tomasi, arguably one of my favourite creative teams in recent history. The argument could be made that the writing and artwork has slipped a bit under the tenure of new creative team Tony Bedard and Ardian Syaf. But perhaps that’s just because, freed from the go-go-go pace of Blackest Night ,the title now has to find its niche in the larger DCU. Anyway, I’m willing to keep going with GLC on an arc by arc basis. Especially as the next arc deals with the criminally underutilized Qwardian weaponers.

Justice League of America #49

Oh hey, I didn’t realize when I picked this up at the store that Mark Bagley was no longer doing the art for this book. Is that a permanent thing or just temporary? Cause I just realized that a large reason why I was still reading this was Bags’ pencilling.

Ultimate Comics Mystery #3

This title spins directly out of the events of Ultimate Comics Enemy . You know, rather than asking readers to go leaping from mini-series to mini-series, the Ultimate universe would be well served by a single ongoing title, (a straight up ULTIMATE COMICS UNIVERSE maybe). I have a deep seated unease of mini series because they’re often a dumping ground for ideas and plot threads that are then abandoned and ignored in the ongoing titles. Although admittedly the Ultimate Comics world does a much better job of ensuring that developments in Title A are carried over into Title B.

Ultimate Comics Spider-man #14

It’s comfort food, light, fluffy and with just enough substance to keep me satisfied. Spider-man, freed from the shackles of decades of continuity and allowed to just live his life, without having to reference the MANY tragic milestones he’s faced. Here the Clone Saga and the Death of Gwen Stacey are just plot points, not millstones tied to the character’s neck.