Week of December 19th, 2007
(Editor's Note: Due to various holiday delays, here's Mike's latest column, albeit delayed just a bit.)
SPOTLIGHT REVIEW:
Marvel Holiday Special,
as these specials usually do, made me feel young again. Or, since I'm still only 23, younger I guess. This year's isn't that great or innovative, but why reinvent the wheel? The ending of Mike Carey's Christmas Carol ends up being pretty funny, too, with a nice holiday take on Marvel's Skrull problem. Anyway, at Christmas I find myself still wanting what I wanted when I was 8: a story about Spidey and Wolverine fighting some big stupid bad guy to read before I go to bed on Christmas Eve.
FUN SIZE REVIEWS:
Detective Comics #839 (Ra's' Resurrection Finale)
is massively frustrating on every level. Resurrection has been what comics (especially DC) needs right now: solid. Not amazing, not paradigm-shattering, just a solid get-your-money's-worth weekly crossover. But a book that's just "solid" needs a great ending-and this ain't it, not by a long shot. The climax is cut off halfway through, by a lame and unearned twist that makes me wonder if maybe the writers of this arc had an editor told them they weren't allowed to touch Damien. Avoid at all costs.
Incredible HERC #112
is the opposite of Detective: really good. Greg Pak starts a number of balls rolling in this relaunch (or is it a refocus?), getting Amadeus and Hercules in enough new trouble to keep their SHIELD conflict fresh. He does a good job of re-capping for new readers without getting too repetitive for longtime readers. Definitely one to watch.
Arena #3
continues along as what it started out as, popcorn reading for better and worse, with all the "Nuh-uh! Vampire Batman would totally beat Victorian Batman" value you can shake a stick at. It's not likely to win an Eisner (and I've always detested Scott McDaniel's art) but if you want lots of fighting and very little plot or subtlety, you can't miss here.
JLA #16
does feel just like what its cover says it is: a tangent. It was pretty, and nicely told, but I just found myself asking, "So what?" at the end of it. The momentum has been building in this title, and I'm worried its fizzled out here a little. Come back next month and see if it's on track.
Countdown #19
is beneath your notice.
I hope it was an enjoyable holiday for everybody; I know it was for me. I'm working hard on my year end column, so there's something to look forward to! Don't forget that for the next few weeks, Friday is the new Wednesday, so don't show up early. And give me an email at skio84@mac.com or get at me through my blog, astoriedyear.blogspot.com if you have anything to say. Otherwise, I'll be back and weeklier than ever next week.
<TOP>Week of December 12th, 2007
SPOTLIGHT REVIEW:
Green Lantern #25 (Sinestro Corps Finale)
manages to be an entertaining and exciting big-scale event that delivers the goods without killing everyone (Hear that Final Crisis?). They even seemed to be playing with this convention in the form of Guy's virus. It also gives us drama through the process of building mythology (Coast City just became the most intrusting DC city outside of Gotham), a lost art in modern comics. And, as is becoming Geoff Johns' new trademark, there are a few pages of drool-inducing teases at the end of this issue.
Ultimate Iron Man #2
is all kinds of wrong, and if this and Ultimates 3 are any indication, the Ultimate Universe (aside from Spidey) needs to have a mercy bullet put into the back of its head. I hate this "brain spread through his entire body, inhuman Tony Stark." Isn't the point of the character that he's a playboy in a billion dollar weapon? I thought the point of the Ultimate Universe was to break a character down to their core concept, the thing that makes them interesting and unique, and apply that concept to a modern, realistic environment. This book, with its over-blown dialogue and very un-realistic, un-Ultimate U art, chooses instead to miss all of the points completely.
FUN SIZE REVIEWS:
Booster Gold #5's
chosen stop back in time is to Killing Joke, where Booster attempts to stop the Joker from crippling Batgirl. This was maybe my least favorite issue so far (the first where the action back in time felt like a copout), but there are still plenty of good jokes, and the end of it sets up for a cool story next week, as Booster tries to save Ted Kord's life.
Nightwing #139 (Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul Part 6)
has a "fight" between Robin and Nightwing that's little more than a conversational spar. It also has Robin coming to the decision we all knew he would, which isn't a bad thing. The set up for the final issue is intriguing enough, but this issue was pretty middle of the road; it wasn't a good enough conversation to be the only thing that happened in this far-flung crossover.
Green Arrow and Black Canary #3
is kind of the last straw. I've tried to defend Judd Winick, but he (like Frank Miller) has become an utter parody of himself. Just when you think maybe he's going to tell a good straight ahead story that builds the mythology of the DCU (see Green Lantern), he decides to pull another stupid ending that only further unravels the already-threadbare continuity he's playing with. Genuinely disappointing end to this issue, in a series I actually thought had promise.
Countdown #20
is laughably bad. I mean I seriously laughed at it. File it under comedy and only read it if you really care about Jimmy Olsen's full body turtle shell or Eclipso (gasp!) letting down Mary Marvel. Boo forever, Countdown.
TRADE REVIEWS:
Ultimates 2 HC
is finally out. I've been waiting for this book since Ultimates 2 started, as the perfect opposite bookend to my Ultimates 1 hardcover, which is one of my favorite collections I own. Of course, this isn't as good as the first one, but read together (as opposed to one issue ever three or four months) it's pretty unbelievably good. You can really appreciate the pacing of that multi-issue fight in the second half, and spotting the way Loki methodically unravels everything (and makes cameos in the background as early as the first issue) is a real delight. Plus they pack as many extras into this one as they did the first, with a huge commentary section with Millar and Hitch that's practically worth the money in itself. They're funny mothers, and they've made an amazing comic book; both hardcovers taken together form one of the best limited series to come out in recent memory.
Love the column? Only like it? Or (gasp) hate it? Either way, give me an email at skio84@mac.com or get at me through my blog, astoriedyear.blogspot.com. I'll be back and weeklier than ever next week.
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