Weeks of September 27th & October 4th, 2006
Well, I got behind a week because there's just too much to read; not a bad problem to have after all the slowness lately. Here's to hoping that DC and Marvel will balance things out a bit better, unlikely as that may be. This is just going to be reviews--no time or space for news or trade reviews; they'll be back next week. As a super fun game (read: way to try to catch up quickly), I'll be trying to some up every one of these books in as few words as possible.
FUN SIZE REVIEWS:
Doctor Strange #1:
Amazing writing by Vaughan with amazing art by the underrated Breach and Batgirl: Year One team of Marcos Martin, Alvaro Lopez, and Javier Rodriguez. Looks to be one of the better miniseries out on shelves.
JLA #2:
Moving and well-done, despite its focus on Red Tornado, Vixen, and a few other characters I don't care anything about. Meltzer knows what he's doing, and Ed Benes is doing his best work. The Supes/WW/Batman dialogue is great again, but it looks like this book needs to be read in trade form.
52 #21-22:
Two interesting chapters primarily focusing on the Metropolis storylines. The art's getting better and the writing isn't getting worse; that spells good things for 52.
Detective Comics #824:
Another great DC issue from Paul Dini, about Batman and the Penguin, a villain I think he writes well. Don Kramer does a pretty okay job with the art, but I really miss J.H. Williams.
Nightwing #125:
Marv Wolfman finally returns to the character he created after Bruce Jones wrote the worst issues in Nightwing history; there are real script problems here in a few places, with what reads like very outdated dialogue, and I didn't like the twist at the end, intrigued though I may be. Still, Jurgens is a good penciler and any step was a step in the right direction for this book.
Marvel Team-Up #25:
Me and one other really cool guy are bummed this book is ending. For what it's worth, I really am bummed; please pick it up in trade if you have the chance, it was a fun title.
Fantastic Four #540:
I had problems with the 2-D character motivations in this issue, but it's moving, and the art by Mike McKone is a wonderful fusion of old-school FF and new-school John Cassaday-esque cleanness. Beautiful to look at.
Y: The Last Man #50:
I'd love anything Vaughan wrote and Pia Guerra drew, and issue 50 is no exception; one caveat, though. This was billed as the issue when we'd find out who's behind the plague. We do find out who, but not what, why, how, or when. Be prepared.
Civil War Frontline #6:
The best companion title to a company crossover is particularly good this month. The real-life parallel stories at the end are hit and miss, but I genuinely like the first two stories, and Sleeper Cell has been interesting. HUGE revelation about Tony Stark that we'll see more of in the next Civil War I'm sure.
Eternals #4:
Feels like Neil's about one tenth done with this story (it's only supposed to be six issues long), but I can't blame him for making me want more. The story is chugging along at a great pace and JR Jr's pencils continue to stun me. I already can't wait to buy this hardcover.
Amazing Spider-Man #535:
Say what you want about JMS, but he's brought back big drama to the Amazing title, from Aunt May discovering Peter's identity to the unbelievable last page of this issue, which will rock the hell out of the Civil War. A great issue.
Ultimate Spider-Man #100:
Well Bendis promised big, and we sure as hell got big in this issue, with three or four humongous stunning revelations, including some really daring swerves away from 616 continuity. This issue demonstrates everything great about the Ultimate U, and while some fans wanted to get more explanation behind the crazy revelations, I just flat out loved this issue.
Captain America #22:
We finally get a Cap tie-in, and it ends up being a rather disappointing story that features Sharon Carter, Cap's SHIELD liaison and sorta-kinda-girlfriend, and very little of old wing ears himself. I wanted way more from this issue.
Ultimates 2 #12:
Wow. There's nothing to say about this book that hasn't been said. Amazing. It's gonna be a long wait until December.
Batman #657:
Grant Morrison continues to prove (needlessly) that no matter how conceptual he can get, he can still write great mainstream monthly books. I love the shorter arcs he's doing, because I love to feel like I'm getting somewhere in the story when I'm only three issues in. There's a great "Oh no you didn't" moment at the end of this book, and only one more issue till we get Grant Morrison Joker…sweet.
Action Comics #843:
All the hype is dedicated to the Donner/Johns/Kubert arc that's soon to begin (as in next month), but I absolutely loved Kurt Busiek's work on this, and on the Superman title. He writes a damn good Superman, maybe my favorite besides Jeph Loeb's.
Stan Lee Meets: The Amazing Spider-Man:
This was really a fun little title, with a funny Stan Lee story illustrated beautifully by Olivier Coipel, and the backup story by Joss Whedon (with art by Michael Gaydos) was great, too. Throw in a classic reprint, and you can't go wrong. If you're like me and you've heard Stan tell the same story over and over about how he came up with the idea for Spider-Man, there's a wonderful inside joke waiting for you in the last panel of Stan's story.
Phew! Send stuff and junk to skio84@charter.net See you soon (after I recover)!
<TOP>Week of September 20th, 2006
Howdy ho, virtual neighborinos-- things are finally picking up a bit this week, so we'd better cut the chit-chat and get onward!
SPOTLIGHT REVIEWS:
CIVIL WAR #4:
So you're already reading this book--I know that. We're all reading it, and I even have several friends who don't read comics that are reading it. This highly successful story takes an incredibly dark turn in this issue, with death and betrayal at every turn. I'm loving this series, and you're already reading it, so there's not much else to say, except that McNiven has really elevated his game. Again. And for art this good, I'm willing to wait an extra month to get my issue; little touches like Johnny and Sue's umbrellas were all inserted by McNiven, and his rendering of the classic heroes has been splendid. If you're waiting for the trade, you're missing out on one of the most exciting monthly (or bi-monthly) books I've ever seen.
Astonishing X-Men #17
Wow. It amazes me that Whedon and Cassaday continue to elevate their game, but boy do they. From the almost all-white cover to the last shocking (if a bit confusing) panel, this is another masterly issue, with the best vision of a possible future since Days of Future Past, and some amazing character moments as the team struggles to come out from under the Hellfire Club's mind-screw. We also find out what's in that huge box, and get a few hints about the pair of Queens currently on the board. It's not worth it to miss this issue; and if you're wondering why it came out so fast, rejoice: Astonishing went monthly with issue 16.
FUN SIZE REVIEWS:
Ghost Rider #3:
Hero meets hero, confusion and a fight ensue; it's the oldest trick in the book. But there's ferocity to this Ghost Rider/Dr. Strange battle that caught me off guard, and kept this issue from being too mired in convention. Not enough really happens, but it's a solid issue worth a read.
Civil War: X-Men #3:
Anti-climax, thy name is this series. A potentially enormous battle gets interrupted, and the villain is caught by an unknown military man. Boring. I wanted much more out of this issue, though next issue may end up offing about half of the world's remaining mutants. We'll see.
52 #20:
This was a pretty good issue, with a few pages of Supernova in the Batcave, a few pages of Steel being a hero, and the main story, about the main man Lobo and a damned weird space adventure. I liked this one, and its old-time, fun adventure feel.
Superman #656:
Kurt Busiek, who's currently writing a full fourth of the good titles DC is putting out, has done a good job with this issue, particularly in creating Subjekt 17, a rare villain that is both a physical challenge to Superman and doesn't feel like a cheat. There's a great fight in this book, and a damn weird ending. If you like Superman it's a solid story though.
Blade #1:
First off: the cover is amazing, showing Blade and Spider-Man in battle as they fall. I won't give anything away, but I will say that this cover isn't just a cheat. Howard Chaykin's art is good in this issue, and Guggenheim's writing was pretty good with a few rough spots, but I get the feeling they're trying to do too much, that maybe they're too conscious of how hard it will be to not get cancelled. We'll see (or maybe we won't).
NEWS BRIEFS
Not much in the way of news this week, except a few more juicy tidbits from Marvel:
--Rumored for a while now, it's been confirmed that Olivier Coipel will be the artist on JMS' upcoming Thor title.--Marvel will be printing a Frank Miller Daredevil Omnibus at some point in the future. Holy crap.
No trades to review this week, but it's a huge week all over on the 27th, so I'm going to rest up. Thanks for reading--if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or rants, sent them to my all-purpose question/comment/suggestions/rants box at skio84@charter.net. Thanks, and see you next week, when all of our pocketbooks are going to be a good deal lighter.
<TOP>Week of September 13th, 2006
Welcome to the September 13th edition of Mike's Mainstream Mania- it's another slow week, so rather than pretend that there's a spotlight review in amongst the masses, I'm just going to fun size all the reviews, and save the webspace for all the huge releases coming out next week. Onward!
FUN SIZE REVIEWS:
Ms. Marvel #7:
I had a mini-rant about the negative effects of the Civil War delays in last week's column; this week, I noticed something else. With Civil War delayed, I turn into a CW junkie, picking up nearly every tie-in just to read something related to the story. That's why I got this second Ms. Marvel tie-in. It wasn't really that great, but if you're as desperate as I am, it'll do in a pinch; particularly interesting is the relationship between Arana, her father, and the Registration heroes.
Escapist #3:
If you're not reading this…well, I dunno. Shame on you, I guess. It's a Brian Vaughan miniseries for Dark Horse involving Michael Chabon's incredible Escapist mythology. In this series, a young writer purchases the rights to the Escapist and starts a new comic series about him. But when he has his letterer stage a stunt to promote publicity, he accidentally creates a real life superhero. If you're interested, look for the gorgeous John Cassaday cover…
52 #19:
Boo! If you haven't read it yet, I won't ruin it, but some genuinely stupid things happen involving Booster Gold and his robot Skeets in this issue. And I mean genuinely. The necessarily rushed art of this series is starting to get to me, as it always does when I'm not that happy with the writing. Next issue should be better, since the tease strip on the last page has a Batcave relic in it. Interesting…
Captain America #21:
I just got caught up in this series in trade form, so I got to experience that jarring sensation you get when you read your first monthly issue of a series and then go…"Where's the rest of it?" Aside from that, this was a good issue. If you haven't caught Brubaker's Cap yet, take it from the latest convert: get on the bandwagon now, before catching up becomes unaffordable.
Ultimate X-Men #74
The current arc comes to a disappointing end in this issue, with a dues ex machina dodge out of all the interesting things Kirkman had done with the new Magician character, and some flimsy dialogue. Hopefully the next arc, which may or may not feature some Professor X/Lilandra wheelchair sex, will end stronger.
NEWS BRIEFS
Not much news flying around at DC, but there's a ton of Marvel insanity, which I can barely scratch the surface of. Here are the highlights:
--JOSS WHEDON IS TAKING OVER RUNAWAYS!!!! HOLY CRAP!!! Prepare to watch this book crack open the top ten. I'm really surprised by and happy about this announcement; Whedon will take over immediately after Vaughan leaves, starting work with artist Michael Ryan on issue 25.--There will finally be a new Thor ongoing, written by J. Michael Straczynski. He'll likely be leaving Fantastic Four to focus on it; more information as it's available.
--Spider-Man will be returning to a classic costume in 2007, but not the one you may have thought. Marvel has announced a "Back in Black" event that looks amazing, though they're using it to continue teasing that they may kill Mary Jane.
TRADE REVIEW
Pride of Baghdad:
It's difficult for me to describe how much I loved Brian Vaughan's Pride of Baghdad, so I'm not going to go into it too much. If you haven't heard about it yet, here's the pitch: when we bombed Iraq, we inadvertently freed some animals from the Baghdad Zoo, among them four lions that wandered into the desert. Pride is a fictional, allegorical story about those four lions, and it's absolutely beautiful, from start to finish. The writing, the art, everything. This one's a masterpiece, and everyone should buy it, even if you have to mug an old lady to get the twenty bucks. This one may touch the NY Times bestseller list, so you may as well read it before all the mainstream people get their grubby little hands on it.
Thanks for reading my drivel--I'd love some feedback or anything, so send whatever you've got to skio84@charter.net. Thanks, and see you in seven, for the best Wednesday we've had in quite some time.
<TOP>Week of September 6th, 2006
First, a rant--going to the store this week, I was reminded of an unfortunate time in my comics readership, at the beginning of high school, when I stopped reading for a while. Yes, everyone's had those periods, some longer than others (mine was about six years long), caused by everything from bad comics to puberty to whatever else. What brought me back was my fiancé getting into comics, and how much was going on, how exciting everything has been for the last couple years. The point I'm driving at is that with DC releasing a tidal wave of mediocre books while crowing constantly about their great "vision," and Marvel's whole slate of titles delayed by two months, it's been a grim few Wednesdays, with a grim few ahead of us. I wasn't one of the fans on the internet crying about the Civil War delays--it happens, and I understand that. But I'm worried about the potential negative effect of this slump, longterm, on both longtime fans and those mainstream darlings that have been pulled in recently. I hope it won't be any big deal, and it probably won't, but still: something to think about. Enough ranting: let's get onward!
SPOTLIGHT ISSUES:
BEYOND! #3:
Missing your Civil War fix? Had enough of big events anyway? I can't recommend the first three issues of Beyond to you enough. It's a Secret War-like book where another group of heroes and villains is rounded up by the Beyonder and made to fight each other. In the first issues, we've seen Venom impale Spider-Man, the return of Deathlok, as well as the Brian Vaughan-created The Hood, and this issue has the first Dragon Man appearance in longer than I can remember. It's a great, fun fun fun series featuring some pretty cool B-listers as well as some A-list art by Scott Kolins; if you haven't read it yet, flip through the first issue and see if you aren't intrigued.
American Splendor #1:
Harvey Pekar has brought his monumental autobiographical series to Vertigo, and is relaunching it at number one. The ultimate autobio comic, American Splendor has been entertaining and depressing people for years; now that it's at Vertigo, the hope is that it will reach a bigger audience. As big a fan of Pekar's as I am, I thought that the first issue wasn't his best work. The first story, about his parents and their health troubles, is among his best work, and Ty Templeton's art was great. The last story in the volume was kind of pointless feeling. The middle story, which shows exactly how trivial Pekar's worries have become now that he's a semi-success, wasn't good until I read it through a second time, after which I loved it; but that's not really the kind of "good" you want in a first issue. It's worth a read, as Pekar always is, but if you're not already a fan I'd recommend picking up The Quitter instead.
FUN SIZE REVIEWS:
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #12:
This ish has not one, not two, but THREE Mysterios in it, which is either really really good or really really bad depending on how you feel about the oft-abused character. I'm enjoying this arc pretty well, but I hope Peter David follows through in showing us the effect that an in-school attack on Peter Parker will have on his public image.
52 #18:
And just like that, 52 leaves me flat. I wish I had the restraint to read this book once a month, four at a time, because I'd be guaranteed at least two good issues doing it like that; of course, I don't, which means I'm rising and falling with every issue. This one features a Shadowpact story, which I could give a crap less about, as well as a semi-uninteresting twist in the Black Adam/Question/Montoya arc. The only interesting scene to me was the funeral of Booster Gold, but even that yielded what could potentially be a horrible development. More on that next week.
Detective Comics #823:
This is my least favorite of Paul Dini's issues so far, but it's still pretty good. I wasn't a real fan of Joe Benitez's art, but that was inevitable given how much I loved J.H. Williams' stuff. Still, this is a Poison Ivy story, and it just doesn't have the iconic feel to it that the others have had; next week should be better though, since it's a Penguin ish and Dini's Penguin stories on Batman: TAS always had me clapping.
Y: The Last Man #49:
Pia Guerra's back! Y enters its last year before it's planned end at issue 60, and things are starting to get tied up. I loved the writing as usual, but Guerra's art really stole the show for me on this issue; she's got to be one of the most underrated artists in comics. Pick this up, but be SURE to pick up next month's, where we find out what killed all the men on the world…sweet.
NEWS BRIEFS
There's some pretty big news this week, the most obvious being:
–Brian Vaughan is leaving Runaways! That's right, with issue 24 Vaughan and artist Adrian Alphona are heading for (maybe) greener pastures, with no word yet on who the new creative team will be (I'm putting money on Mark Bagley as artist). Marvel will be announcing the creative team on Monday, and Vaughan says he's leaving not because he's been forced off, but because he wants his characters to be a real presence in the Marvel Universe, something he thinks won't be accomplished until other people write them.–DC's signed writing team Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti to an exclusive deal, in a surprise move that could quite easily spell the end of Heroes for Hire, a book they're writing for Marvel.
TRADE REVIEW
Kraven's Last Hunt:
1987's J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck masterpiece is available in a new, gorgeous hardcover. I'd actually never read this book before, something I felt pretty stupid about after I checked it out this week. Simply put, it's one of the best written and drawn Spider-Man stories I've ever read, and DeMatteis proves with his take on Kraven (and Vermin for that matter) that there's no such thing as a bad character. This is one of the darkest, best comic stories I've read in a while and it stands up next to any of the best Spider-Man stories. If you've already read it, I'd still recommend you pick up this beautiful edition for DeMatteis' lengthy and interesting introduction if nothing else. Look for more re-released classics in the revamped Marvel Premiere series in the future.
Thanks as always for reading, and, as always, if you have any comments, questions, rants, abuses, or love letters, send them to skio84@charter.net. See you in seven!
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