Necrosha-X One Shot- Why did I pay money for this, you ask, despite my noted disdain for DC's similar crossover event? I didn't! A friend purchased it for me at the LCS's Halloween Party, because he wanted someone to talk about it with, and I have never passed up a free comic before. Of course, I had to agree to read some of the story that spun out of it too. I figured if worse came to worse, I'd just give him his $4.

Well, it didn't quite necessitate a refund, but only because I really liked the New Mutants portion of things, with the idea that Doug Ramsey living up to his full potential is the most dangerous mutant ever. Been wanting to see that for a while, and if nothing else, hopefully Zeb Wells gets to keep him for his cast when this thing's over.

The rest was pretty okay. I mean, I'm just committing to following New Mutants as part of my little bargain, but I don't hate where this is going. Like a lot of recent X-stuff, it seems like it could be a solid trade eventually, if nothing else. X-Force seems like the comic where the action will take place, and it seems okay on that level so far (if nothing else, the X-Force portion had more Dr. Nemesis; I'll always mark for that. X-Men: Legacy appears to be focusing on Destiny and her plot device precognition, which involves mentoring one of the New New Mutants I've never heard of. So, if I skip one part, that's the one, right there.

Caveat time; I've wanted an excuse to read New Mutants for a while, and I'm such a huge lapsed X-Men fan (and am totally indifferent to Blackest Night and its principle characters, from Hal and Barry to most of the zombie JLA), so keep those biases in mind. I wouldn't rush out and buy this issue, but if you can get a dude to buy it for you, its not bad!

Uncanny X-Men: First Class #4- After last month's incomprehensible Banshee thing, things return to form with a Storm spotlight issue, guest starring two of my new favorite characters, the Daughters of the Dragon and Power Man and Iron Fist's best villain, Deadly Nightshade, a female blacksploitation mad scientists who wears hot pants. So, it's pretty great.

This is a fun done in one story that really gets why Storm's can be a cool character while still throwing in a cliffhanger that gives you a reason to come back next issue. It also continues Scott Gray's pretty bad ass characterization of Jean Grey. Sure, she's out of character, but in character Jean is so lame she can only get attention by dying. I find the one that rolls her eyes at Cyclops and learns kung fu a marked improvement. If nothing else, the cat fight between this Jean and Emma Frost would be epic.

As long as Banshee is kept to a minimum, I'd love to see this become an ongoing, but it seems like the X-Franchise is so played out that that's unlikely, especially when they could just do a Wolverine and the X-Men tie-in comic instead if they really wanted an all ages X-book.

10 Comments

• At November 9, 2009, Craig wrote:

  X Necrosha was so underwhelming to me, not only because of the close thematic ties to Blackest Night, but also ...

• At November 9, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  "This is a fun done in one story that really gets why Storm's can be a cool character "

  And why ...

• At November 9, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  BANSHEE IS THE BEST CHARACTER ON THE SHOW. HE IS BETTER THAN THE BALONEY AND THE SALAMI COMBINED.

• At November 9, 2009, Andy wrote:

  I also read Necrosha and Astonishing separately, and I wondered briefly why Ellis was participating in crossover, since he's pretty ...

• At November 9, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I've only been reading Uncanny and New Mutants, and I haven't got the newest issues yet, so I have no ...

• At November 9, 2009, The Mutt wrote:

  I haven't read an X-book since around the time Psychlocke turned Japanese, so I'm confused. Isn't Doug Ramsey that guy ...

• At November 9, 2009, FuryOfFirestorm wrote:

  Cypher's powers were finally utilized in a way to make him useful in combat. He uses his power to understand ...

• At November 9, 2009, Scavenger wrote:

  FofF: Claremont hinted at Cypher's powers heading that way in his final NM storyline (Doug's playing poker at the Hellfire ...

• At November 9, 2009, Mike Blake wrote:

  I agree Cypher has always had untapped potential, but isn't this new power the same one Taskmaster has had all ...

• At November 9, 2009, FuryOfFirestorm wrote:

  @Mike Blake: Taskmaster had "eidetic memory"' ( aka photographic reflexes). He can't read body language, but can copy moves after ...

Assault on New Olympus (Prologue) by Greg Pak (writer), Fred van Lente (writer), Rodney Buchemi (artist), Guillem Mari (colorist), and Simon Bowland (letterer). "Godmarked Part One: The Oldest One" by Jeff Parker (writer), Gabriel Hardman (artist), Elizabeth Breitweiser (colorist), and Tom Orzechowski (letterer). $3.99, 38 pgs, FC, Marvel.

I got the idea for this week's theme mainly from being obsessed with the bikini Aphrodite is wearing. I guess it's her goddessy powers that are actually keeping those things covered!

This is a fine "prologue" to the story that is coming up in the regular Incredible Hercules book, as it gets all the players into place, advances the story a little, but doesn't have anything too, too crucial that can't be covered quickly if you happen to skip this but read the regular title (but really, why would you do that?). If you haven't been reading the regular title (and really, what's up with that?) and just grabbed this because of that wallcrawler on the cover, Pak and van Lente do a fine job getting you up to speed. There's a nice fight between Hercules and Spider-Man (with more good sound effects), a funny reference to that Amazing Spider-Man issue where our hero was trapped under all that wreckage and the water was pouring in (you know the one!), another funny reference to when Spidey fought the Juggernaut, and some nice character moments, from Herc's reconciliation with Hebe to his reunion with Amadeus. Plus, we get an Agents of Atlas back-up (which is called "Godmarked," which is also what the second story in the X-Men/Agents of Atlas book is called), in which the Atlas gang fights a giant octopus god. You goddamn read that right - a motherfucking giant octopus god!!!!!

Damn, I love comics. I didn't even mention how frickin' terrifying Amatsu-Mikaboshi is.

Boobs? Of course!

There's also Jocasta, who's metallic but, well, naked (as young Zeus points out), a naked but demurely covered Gaea, Athena wearing battle armor that inexplicably doesn't cover her shoulders or upper torso, and Spider-Woman wearing her thing.

Atomika #11 (of 12) ("Relentless") by Andrew Dabb (writer), Sal Abbinanti (artist), Buzz (inker), Simone Peruzzi (colorist), and Dave Sharpe (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Mercury Comics.

Speaking of reasons to love comics, Atomika is still out there, speeding toward its conclusion, and I'm still loving it. There have been certain issues where Dabb takes a bit of a back seat, and this is one of them, but it's still stunning. Basically, Arohnir tells all his minions that Atomika is coming to kill them all and they need to fight, and then we get, I kid you not, eight (8) double-page spreads showing the forces arrayed against our "hero." Abbinanti draws the hell out of the armies, from the huge spiked one-wheeled dreadnaughts to the flying Harpies of the KGB, from the ornate bombers to the horrific demi-gods. Abbinanti even gives us a single double-page spread showing the war between Atomika and all his enemies, as if it's so horrible it can only be represented symbolically. Of course, it leads to his final confrontation with Arohnir (and a special guest!), but that's for next issue.

I've written this whenever an issue has come out, but gazing on Abbinanti's stunning art is really fun. With Dabb simply along for the ride on this issue (Dabb is a fairly good writer, but this issue simply isn't focused on the writing too much), Abbinanti can go more nuts than he usually does, and the sense of oppression and terrible magnificence that he's brought to the comic all along threatens almost to overwhelm the pages themselves. Atomika continues to be unlike almost every other comic, not because of the story (it's a good story, but it's basically a superhero battle), but because of the way Dabb has made it feel like a Soviet comic (if that makes sense) and the way Abbinanti has truly created a weird and unique world. I have a feeling a lot of people have missed this, but I greatly encourage you to get the trade of the first six issues and, of course, get the trade of the second six when it shows up. It's a dynamite comic.

Boobs? Of course!

For some reason, the female demi-god, who has that big fur on because she lives in Russia and understands how cold it is, feels the need to wear a low-cut outfit and expose her midriff. How's that going to help her fight Atomika?

Batman: Unseen #3 (of 5) ("Ghost-Killer") by Doug Moench (writer), Kelley Jones (artist), Michelle Madsen (colorist), and Pat Brosseau (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC.

All right, so I skipped reviewing issue #2, because it came out two weeks ago, when I was really, really sick, so I missed that it came out and didn't get it until a few days ago. But I'm back with issue #3, and it's not like you don't know what you're getting from a Moench/Jones Batman comic, right? I mean, on the first page we see Batman working on some wacky, pseudo-scientific-but-also-slightly-Gothic machine in the cave, trying to figure out what's going on with the invisibility serum. Throughout the book, we see more and more weird contraptions, because that's the way Kelley Jones likes it, damn it!

Of course, Batman goes out and does stuff, beating up an invisible man (because he's the Goddamned Batman, man, so he doesn't need to actually see the bad guys like mere mortals!), making an appearance as Bruce Wayne (I always liked how Jones's Bruce Wayne was almost as scary as his Batman), and doing his Batman thing. Meanwhile, the invisible man kills again, Moench's favorite character Roman Sionis recounts his origin yet again, and it's another Moench/Jones instant classic. Don't listen to T.! Moench and Jones on Batman is always a blast of pure awesomeness! Come on - for one of the chapter breaks, Jones turns Batman's head into a candle! Who else would come up with something so wacky????

Boobs? Of course!

The invisible man tries to kill that dude, and of course his wife is sleeping in lingerie instead of sensible pajamas!

Black Widow: Deadly Origin #1 by Paul Cornell (writer), Tom Raney (penciler), John Paul Leon (artist/colorist), Scott Hanna (inker), Matt Milla (colorist), and Cory Petit (letterer). $3.99, 21 pgs, FC, Marvel.

I don't get this book at all. It's 4 dollars for 21 pages of story, which is a bad return. I know I said I wasn't going to fall for this from Marvel again, but it's Paul Cornell, and I really want to support his work, so there's that. But that's not what I don't get. The end of the book gives us a "Next," but which issue is "next"? Marvel's December solicits include Black Widow and the Marvel Girls #1 (God, what an awful title), which is a mini-series by a completely different creative team than this one (Paul Tobin and Salvador Espin, in case you're interested). Marvel then has issue #3 of this series up on their site for January, but I can't find where issue #2 is. Hmmm ... Then, issue #3 is still $3.99, presumably for the same amount of pages (21 or 22), so I think I will skip the rest of the series, even though I want to support Cornell. I'm sorry, Marvel, I'll pay 4 dollars for an indy book, but when you can slap a 4-dollar price tag on a 38-page book (see above) and on a 30-page comic (see below) but aren't able to sell a book featuring, let's face it, a middle-tier character in your stable for 3 dollars, why should I pay it? It will just come out in trade in a few months anyway.

It's kind of shame, because this is a decent comic. It's not quite as good as Rucka's work with the character at the beginning of the decade, but it's pretty good. Cornell does a good job jiving it with long-established "continuity" with regard to Logan and Natasha in World War II (Natasha seems a bit old during this section, based on what we discovered back in that great Uncanny X-Men issue, but I'll forgive it), and Leon, who is apparently the go-to artist when you need someone to draw something in Russia, does his usual fantastic job depicting the action. Raney's art is always good, even though I assume Milla "Marvelized" it by smoothing out the rough edges. There's plenty of action, a mystery to be solved, and Bucky Barnes! I didn't love this part too much, because Cornell falls back on simply listing who he is and what he means to Natasha instead of working it better into the story, but that's okay. It always seemed less intrusive when narrative boxes were more common. When they just show up occasionally and read "James Barnes, now a free man. And upgraded. Enough of a boyfriend to use her nickname," it's kind of jarring. Oh well.

I'd really like to get this mini-series, but I'm not gonna. I'd rather spend my four dollars on something like GrimJack. Come on, Marvel, you're flush with Mouse Cash - keep the prices on your regular-sized books at $2.99!!!!!

Boobs? Shockingly (in a book starring a character who often wears black latex), not really. On the credits page we get Natasha in her black latex, but it's surprisingly chaste. I guess that's a win for Cornell, Raney, and Leon!

Elephantmen #22 ("Dangerous Liaisons Part Seven of Eight: 7 Days of Smog Part One: Truth") by Richard Starkings (writer), Andre Szymanowicz (artist), and Gregory Wright (colorist). $3.50, 23 pgs, FC, Image.

As always, I have to thank Richard Starkings for sending this to me, and I hope it's not too late for you to still find it on the shelves if you're interested (it came out two weeks ago). Should you buy it? Of course you should! It's, what's the word ... oh yeah, excellent. I know I sound like a broken record and I really do tell Starkings that I would buy his comic if he didn't always send it to me for free, because it's so damned good! After last issue, when Ebony went a bit nutty thanks to the thing in his head (which allows humans to control the elephantmen), Hip and Miki show up at his place to find out what's going on, and of course he doesn't remember anything. His red eyes freak Hip out a bit, but he doesn't get a chance to explore that. Meanwhile, Vanity meets a man named Simm, who showed up a few issues ago and is a bit mysterious, and he tells her that Obadiah Horn is selling Elephantmen paraphenalia, which piques her curiosity. Of course, she shouldn't trust him, but he's so darned cute! What's a poor girl to do? (Remember the Golden Rule of Comics, kids: Never trust anyone who's attractive!)

Szymanowicz is another good choice for the art chores - his women are slightly different than we usually see, but Miki and Vanity are still, you know, smokin'. Szymanowicz has a nice indy style that seems to fit with the "Blade Runner" kind of world that Starkings has created - he throws in all sorts of nice touches in the street scenes that make Los Angeles two hundred years in the future feel like a foreign place even as Hip visits a normal neighborhood in Santa Monica. It's a really nice-looking comic, and the final page is gorgeous. It's nice to see Szymanowicz getting some higher profile work. Next for him: Selling out to Marvel!!!!

Elephantmen just keeps trucking along, with good issue after good issue. If Starkings didn't get new artists every few issues, I'd never have anything new to talk about with regard to it! I'd just write, "Ho hum, another brilliant issue. What else is new?" Thanks, Richard, for helping your poor reviewer out!

Boobs? Well, I guess, as Vanity and Miki are in the book, but they're wearing fairly normal clothing, so there's nothing too obnoxious about it.

The God Machine (preview book) by Chandra Free (writer/artist). $3.95, 36 pgs, FC, Archaia.

This is the first of three (3) Archaia books on the agenda this week, only one of which I bought on my own (this isn't it). It's always nice to get stuff in the mail, and I'd like to thank the fine folk at Archaia for sending these on to me. I'm also glad they're getting their books out a bit more regularly, and are doing new stuff (like this) as well as cleaning up their back catalog.

Of course, the problem with getting stuff in the mail is that sometimes you just don't like it. I can't really recommend The God Machine, not because it's a preview and doesn't tell a complete story, but because it's not really my thing. The art is very Johnny the Homicidal Maniac kind of stuff, which I'm not too keen on, although I appreciate the work Free put into it - this is very much a labor of love, and there's a lot of energy on the page, even though I don't really like the style. The story isn't my thing, either - seventeen-year-old Guy Salvatore is pining away for his (presumably) dead girlfriend, bitching about how his school sucks, and seeing things. He ends up in a cemetary, where two gods - the Good God and the Evil God - show up digging out a grave. Guy seems to know the Good God (she's a hot redhead, whereas the Evil God is a dude, natch), but before they can speak to each other, they disappear and Satan shows up. He tells Guy that his girlfriend is still alive in another dimension and only he can save her. And, of course, she's trapped because of the gods' messing around with reality. Guy, naturally, doesn't believe him. And thus the preview ends.

It's not a terribly bad plot, but Free sprinkles too much weird shit into it that drags it down, even though it's supposed to make things more manic. For instance, the book begins with Guy watching television late at night, and a show comes on starring "Everybody's favorite suicidal sock puppet, Mr. Insane Sock Puppet," who naturally tells kids to commit suicide. It's supposed to be funny (I guess), but I don't find it funny, and it sets the tone for the book, with Guy being kind of jerk to everyone (yes, I know his girlfriend just died, but it seems like he'd be a jerk even if she was alive) and everyone yelling a lot. Guy has a very keen creepy dream at one point, but that's about the only thing I really liked in the book. Maybe I'm just too old to enjoy something like this. I am pretty old, you know. It just never feels like Free does much to create interesting characters - she spins the clichés of Goth kids fairly well, but just because you twist those a bit doesn't mean you're creating an interesting character. I assume Guy's quest to find his girlfriend (whose nickname is "Sith") will be the crux of the book, and will intersect with the gods and what they're up to, but based on this preview, I don't really care if Guy succeeds or not.

I hate not liking this. Free writes in the beginning of the book that it's taken her ten years to get the book to publication, and you can certainly tell that she's put a lot of herself into it. You can check out her web site, her DeviantArt page, or The God Machine page to see more of her artwork, in case it's up your alley. It's just not up mine.

Boobs? Hmmm, the one book drawn by a woman features several attractive women, but none flashing a lot of cleavage. I'm stunned!

Greek Street #5 ("Book One: Blood Calls For Blood Part Five: The Anger of the Gods") by Peter Milligan (writer), Davide Gianfelice (artist), Patricia Mulvihill (colorist), and Clem Robins (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

I'm 90% certain I'm done with Greek Street, because this is the end of the first story arc, and it's just not doing it for me. The reason it's still only 90% is because in this issue, Milligan hints that the characters are actually the mythic characters themselves, not just people who happen to be living out lives that resemble characters from Greek myths. I'm not sure if he's hinted this before, but it's kind of interesting. Other than that, though, this is still a bit of a mess, and it's not really doing much for me. Milligan doesn't seem to have a clear idea about what he wants to do, even though I'm sure he has a long-term plan. The book just seems so all over the map, and it makes it very hard to get into it. Milligan has tightened the focus a bit as he's gone along, but not enough for me. I just find myself not caring very much about what happens next, which doesn't bode well.

I do like that Milligan seems to have a balls-to-the-wall kind of attitude about this book with regard to who lives and who dies, as it seems like nobody is safe in this book. That's always fun, because I get annoyed when a writer has a favorite character and obviously has no interest in harming that character. Suck it up, writers! Milligan doesn't seem to have that problem, and it makes reading this a bit jarring, which is actually kind of neat. But I don't think it's enough! We shall see, but I doubt if I will pick up the next issue. So sad!

Boobs? Of course!

This is the first panel in the book, and it's a boob. Greek Street features plenty of nudity, significantly none of it male frontal.

GrimJack: The Manx Cat #4 (of 6) by John Ostrander (writer), Timothy Truman (artist), Lovern Kindzierski (colorist), and John Workman (letterer). $3.99, 25 pgs, FC, IDW.

Speaking of why comics are great, Ostrander sends Gaunt back in time to discover the secret of the Manx Cat, and Gaunt inhabits the body of a vigilante monk who fights demons, is in love with a fellow monk (who doesn't know about it), visits the ruler of Cynosure's churches and has to get by three belligerent heads, and then fights ... battle cherubs. The fact that I can write that sentence and not have fellow blog readers think I'm snorting angel dust is why comics are goddamned awesome. It's not even that weird an issue! It is, however, brilliant as usual. Oh, and Gaunt/St. John of Knives ends up in a different dimension facing a mummified (but still sexy) cat goddess. Of fucking course.

Damn, I love comics. Yes, I already wrote that, but I don't care! It's still true!

Boobs? Of course!

You can't have a sexy mummified cat goddess without some boobs!

The Secret History #6 (of 7) ("The Eagle and the Sphinx") by Jean-Pierre Pécau (writer), Igor Kordey (artist), Carole Beau (colorist), Marshall Dillon (letterer), and Edward Gauvin (translator). $5.95, 46 pgs, FC, Archaia.

It's been quite some time since The Secret History saw the light of day, and while it might not be for everyone, I'm still loving it, mainly because (as I've written before) I'm a total sucker for history and alternate history, which we get in large doses in this book. Each issue moves the grand plot along (a plot, I'm sorry to say, that I'm extremely fuzzy on, mainly because it's been so long since I've read the previous issues, but it involves immortals manipulating humanity, to be as basic as possible), but each issue, because they're separated by hundreds of years, also tells a compelling story in its own right, which is a keen trick. In this issue, Napoleon goes to Egypt, but not for the reasons you might think. This gives Pécau the opportunity to give us some nice battle scenes, some nice creepy scenes in which sand creatures attack the French, and gives Kordey the opportunity to draw the mysterious Orient, and as usual, he draws the heck out of it. Whenever I read anything drawn by Kordey, I need to remind people who only know him from X-Men that he's very good and that his work on X-Men was compromised by the fact that he was churning out an issue a day (which may be exaggerated, but not by much). He does a wonderful job with a large cast of characters, a sprawling canvas of locations, from Toulon to Egypt to Syria, and some horrific violence. The book feels a bit crowded, with a lot of panels and a lot of narration and dialogue, but it flows very nicely due to Kordey's art.

I do hope the final issue isn't too late. I'm looking forward to the grand finale!

Boobs! Of course! It's European! Which means that the only boobs are naked ones, pretty much in the service of the story. There's nothing terribly gratuitous about it, which is nice. It's just there.

Secret Six #15 ("Control") by John Ostrander (writer), Jim Calafiore (artist), Jason Wright (colorist), and Travis Lanham (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC.

One of the things that's nice about the minor characters in the DC (and Marvel, of course) canon is that it's fairly easy to keep track of what's going on with them if you're so inclined. As they pop up not too often, they don't have years and years of backstory to incorporate. Of course, that's not always the case - I'm not sure what the hell is going on with Looker - but it does apply quite often, and if you happen to have read about the character a lot, you won't be too lost when someone like Ostrander writes about someone like Deadshot. Despite being in Suicide Squad for its entire run and being a fairly popular villain for 30 years, it's not too difficult for Ostrander to recount the major points in Floyd's life, and he even manages to update his origin for the hell of it. It's your typical excellent Ostrander tale, with Floyd feeling out of control (as he seems to be in Secret Six recently) and seeking the advice of John Ostrander himself, in the form of Reverend Richard Craemer, Ostrander's stand-in the DCU (and who, frankly, I'm surprised is still alive - why hasn't Geoff Johns slaughtered him yet?). He walks around with Craemer, explaining how he came to be and getting sound advice from the good reverend. Although there's not a lot of action and we are positive Floyd isn't going to kill Craemer like he claims he will, it's a gripping tale, because Ostrander gets Floyd better than anyone who's ever written him (including Steve Englehart, who brought him out of mothballs back in the Seventies), and Ostrander is also quite good at writing Richard Craemer. Calafiore, Bill Reed's favoritest artist EVAH, does his typical yeomanlike work on the book - if you hate Calafiore, you won't change your mind seeing this, but if you don't mind him (I kind of like him), this is more of the same.

As much as I dig this book, I really hate when Ostrander shows up in the DCU and starts writing stuff like this. It makes me miss Suicide Squad and The Spectre even more. Goddamn.

Boobs! Of course!

Bruce Wayne in his "Bruce Wayne" role? You know he'll have scantily-clad women near him!

Strange Tales #3 (of 3). "Cool Hand Uatu" by Nick Bertozzi (writer/artist) and Chris Sinderson (colorist); "Oni" by Stan Sakai (writer/artist) and Tom Luth (colorist); "The Fortune Full X-Man" by Corey Lewis (writer/artist) and Dylan McCrae (colorist); "Fantastic Fool's Day" by Jeffrey Brown (writer/artist) and Bill Crabtree (colorist); "La Querelle des Monstres" by Jay Stephens (writer/artist); "Cup Cake!" by Chris Chua (writer/artist); "The Abominable Peter Pepper!" by Max Cannon (writer/artist); "The Punisher" by Jonathan Jay Lee (writer/artist); "The Incorrigible Hulk" by Peter Bagge (writer/artist); "Let's Fight" by Michael Kupperman (writer/artist); "Nightcrawler Meets Molecule Man" by Paul Hornschemeier (writer/artist); "Look Out, Sub-Mariner! ... Here Comes the King Crab" by Becky Cloonan (writer/artist). $4.99, 48 pgs, FC, Marvel.

Ah, yes, Strange Tales. Has anyone - Joey Q, some other bigwig at Marvel - ever explained exactly why Peter Bagge's Hulk story was shelved? I kept waiting for Hulk to eat a kitten and rape General Ross - or, you know, the other way around - so that I could say, "Oh, so THAT'S why," but it never happened. It was a silly Hulk tale, but nothing terribly objectionable. Does anyone know what the backstory is?

Other than that, this remains a mixed bag. I still think the first issue was the best, and the second issue the worst, with this falling somewhere in between. I didn't get the feeling of mockery of Marvel's characters that I did from the stories in the second issue, but I also didn't get the feeling of revelry in the glorious goofiness of Marvel's characters that I did from the stories in the first issue. Sakai's Hulk story is fine, nicely drawn (not surprisingly), but kind of dull. Corey Lewis's Longshot story is dazzling to look at, but like The God Machine, it makes me feel old. Jeffrey Brown's Fantastic Four story cracked me the fuck up, I'll tell you that much. The Beast versus Morbius story was fun solely because of the odd juxtaposition of the two characters beating on each other while engaging in a philosophical debate. I don't know what the fuck is going on in Chris Chua's story, and I don't think I'm alone in that. Max Cannon's contribution was better than the one in the second issue, but still not too funny. Jonathan Jay Lee's Punisher story might actually get me to read a Punisher issue, if only for how different it looks. Michael Kupperman's Avengers story is funny until we get the worn-out Hostess Fruit Pies ending. Paul Hornschemeier's weird story also features philosophical musings, sans the punching. And while Becky Cloonan's story is ... strange, to say the least (fitting for the anthology, I guess), I can't not love her art, and Marvel should give her a Sub-Mariner mini-series, stat!

I'm probably always going to support this kind of thing from Marvel and DC, unless the quality is really, really bad. Unlike Brad Curran, I actually occasionally support these creators' independent stuff, and it's very neat to see them unleashed on iconic comic book characters. I mean, Uatu's comment about Kraven on the first page is almost worth the price of admission!

Boobs? There aren't a lot of women in this book, but the ones that are there are dressed normally and aren't showing anything.

Stumptown #1 ("The Case of the Girl Who Took Her Shampoo but Left her Mini Part One") by Greg Rucka (writer), Matthew Southworth (artist), and Lee Loughridge (colorist). $3.99, 35 pgs, FC, Oni Press.

There were two main reasons I purchased this comic:

1. Greg Rucka is writing it. I pick on Rucka when he's writing Detective because I just don't think the writing is that strong, but for the past decade, he's been one of the good writers in comics when he's able to do this kind of crime book, from Whiteout to Queen & Country to Gotham Central to Checkmate. So when I saw he was writing a private eye book, I was jazzed.

2. I fucking love Portland, where this book is set ("Stumptown" is a nickname for Portland). That may seem like a lame reason to buy a comic, and of course if the book sucks it won't matter where it's set, but I really would like to get across how much I fucking love Portland and wish I still lived there. There's absolutely nothing I don't fucking love about Portland, and that includes the crappy winter weather. Whenever goddamned Jeff Parker posts on his blog that he'll be signing his latest goddamned excellent comic at Clackamas Town Center or somewhere else in the greater Portland area, I leave a comment on his blog damning him for living in Portland. Damn you, Jeff Parker!!!!! So, needless to say, I was jazzed about Rucka writing a crime comic set in Portland. If someone told me I could move back to Portland and have a nice house in Alameda or by Mt. Tabor or down in Westmoreland or Oak Grove or up by the University or out in the Northwest or even a little further out in Lake Oswego or West Linn or even Tigard and all I had to do was kill Apodaca, I'm afraid he wouldn't be long for this world (sorry, Dan). Yes, I'd risk life imprisonment to live in Portland! (Although, let's be honest, who'd miss him? Oh, I kid, Dan, I kid!!!!!!)

Of course, now I have another reason to purchase Stumptown, and that's because Southworth's art, which I've never seen before, is very good, even when he's not drawing Portland landmarks. And, of course, Rucka's story is nice and twisty, as we're introduced to the unfortunately-named Dexedrine Callisto Parios (we learn that on the final page, and also that everyone - thankfully - calls her "Dex"), a private investigator with a big gambling problem. To get out of debt, she agrees to find the granddaughter of the casino owner (manager?). The girl disappeared, and it seems several people are looking for her. Of course, Dex is approached by someone else who's looking for, someone who scares the girl, apparently, because she calls Dex and says "he" wants to kill her. Dex arranges a meeting, it all goes pear-shaped, and she ends up in police custody. Just another day in the life of a seedy private eye!

Rucka keeps things moving along nicely, and he gives Dex a brother who has special needs (I'll guess Down syndrome, but it's not clear), which humanizes her a bit. There's also an implication about her relationship with Sue-Lynne, the casino owner (or manager), but we'll see where that goes. It's a solid first issue, with a dynamite beginning and a nifty little mystery.

And it makes me miss Portland even more. Damn you, Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth. And I wouldn't kill you, Dan. You're too neat a guy. Maybe I'd just have to maim you. We cool with that?

Boobs? There's one panel where a woman wearing a bikini steps from a pool, but it's not obnoxious at all.

Sweet Tooth #3 ("Out of the Deep Woods Part Three") by Jeff Lemire (writer/artist), José Villarrubia (colorist), and Pat Brosseau (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

Sweet Tooth remains an odd comic, one like Greek Street, in that I'm not sure if I'm really loving it or not (in pretty much every other way, it's unlike Greek Street). I dig Lemire's art, and he brings a true feel of the rural world to the book that you don't see too much in comics. It's a bleak world he's created, and when terrifying things happen, like Gus's dream, it's even more terrifying because of the setting, and when Gus and Mr. Jepperd show up in a town, we feel the tremendous emptiness, due mainly to Lemire's art. However, I'm not terribly sure if the story is all that compelling. I mean, there's nothing terribly original about a plague wiping out most of humanity, and Lemire hasn't done a lot yet with the fact that Gus is a human-animal hybrid (although the end of this issue might change that next time). I stuck with Wasteland, another post-apocalyptic story, as I waited to figure out what Antony Johnston was doing with it, and I was rewarded for my patience. From what I've read of Lemire so far, I think he knows what he's doing and will make this worthwhile, so I'm going to be patient for this too. But right now, I'm just not loving it. It hasn't grabbed me yet. I hope it will.

Boobs? There's only one panel with a female in this book, and she's wearing a simple dress. Does the Cinderella preview count?

Titanium Rain #1 and 2 by Josh Finney (writer/artist) and Kat Rocha (artist). $4.99, 48 pgs, FC, Archaia.

This is the third Archaia book I received in the mail, and like the first one, I'm not going to recommend it. I read about Titanium Rain when it was first solicited, but it didn't sound like something I'd like. In 2032, a civil war in China has brought in an international peacekeeping force. As there is a lack of good fighter pilot candidates, some of the wannabes have been injected with various nanomachines to make them better. So the story is about whether these people are still human. In the first two issues (which are combined here), it's a lot of fighting and not a lot of philosophical discussion, but Finney still brings it up nicely, all the while making sure the situation in China is fairly realistic. It's not a great story, but it's not a bad one, either.

However, I can't stand the art. It's done in that digital "realistic" style where the artists (both Finney and Rocha are credited) actually use models and somehow scan their faces into the computer. It's really, really creepy, because we get what looks like movie stills but in sequence, which makes this look like a movie that's not moving. Comics are a static medium, and trying to do this kind of thing never works. Using models is perfectly fine, but making the book look like it's a series of photographs robs it of any dynamism, and everything looks extremely plastic in this book. It takes me right out of the story, as I find myself staring at each face, wondering if the doctor in the book is the Bettie Page chick from NCIS, looking at the weirdly dead eyes of the characters, and it just doesn't work. With good art, this might be an interesting comic. With this, it's really unpleasant.

Of course, at the web site, you can check out some of the art and read some of the praise of the book. Don't let me stop you from buying it!

Boobs? It's a war comic! Everyone's in uniform! Although NCIS chick does have a tiny bit of cleavage going on, but not enough to be remotely egregious.

The Unknown: The Devil Made Flesh #2 (of 4) by Mark Waid (writer), Minck Oosterveer (artist), Andres Lozano (colorist), Javier Suppa (colorist), and Marshall Dillon (letterer). $3.99, 22 pgs, FC, Boom! Studios.

Waid's weird detective saga continues, as Catherine and Adriana head to Alabama to investigate some murders that an amateur detective told her about. It turns out the "amateur detective" is a kid who suddenly got really smart, which is strange enough. But someone really doesn't want Catherine to be in Alabama, and things get violent at the end, as one bad guy is revealed and the other ... well, he has an axe. The mystery continues, and as usual, I have to wonder what's important and what's not. Are the gloves important? ARE THEY????? Oh, the drama!!!!! Plus, Waid delves a bit deeper into Catherine's brain problem and why she doesn't get it operated on. It's a nice character moment in the middle of a weird story.

Oosterveer, of course, continues to dazzle, especially now that he has two hot women to draw instead of one. But he also does a really good job with the creepiness of Mountain Oak, Alabama, and he gives the climax a nice tense feel to it. He's the kind of artist whose earlier work I want to track down, because he's so talented.

I honestly have no idea where Waid is going with this, but it's a very cool read. What about James, Mr. Waid? Is there more to his story?!?!?!?!???!?

Boobs? Of course! Check out that cover!

Two well-endowed women solving crimes? Where's the FOX television show????

X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #2 (of 2) ("The X-Heist Part Two" and "Godmarked") by Jeff Parker (writer), Carlo Pagulayan (penciler), Gabriel Hardman (artist), Chris Samnee (artist), Carlos Rodriguez (penciler), Jason Paz (inker), Terry Pallot (inker), Wilfredo Quintana (colorist), Veronica Gandini (colorist), and Joe Caramagna (letterer). $3.99, 30 pgs, FC, Marvel.

Parker wraps up his nifty little crossover with more fighting, eventual reconciliation, and Namor not acting like a dick for once. Way to go, Namor! What's keen is that Parker does a nice job explaining just what the hell was going on with the Chris Samnee-drawn section of issue #1, which was, you know, kind of confusing. And although I'm not sure why Aphrodite gives Venus a tramp stamp, the endgame, drawn by Hardman, is pretty cool. Aphrodite even gets a joke in as the Agents of Atlas battle her!

This would have worked a lot better as part of the Agents of Atlas ongoing, because it's so obvious that the X-Men are here just to goose sales, but it won't help the ongoing now, will it? Unlike most crossovers, this is basically an Agents of Atlas story with the X-Men being there just because they're famous. I mean, it's commendable that Parker tries to make them important, but they're not, really. This is all part of the Agents getting involved in the Hercules world, and Parker does his usual fine job putting all the pieces in place and entertaining the hell out of us, but it doesn't feel like an important crossover, you know? I mean, like one where it's a story about both teams? Even though Parker tries to do this, it still feels like an Agents of Atlas story. That's not a complaint, by the way, because Parker's Agents of Atlas was better than pretty much every X-book, but it's a shame that Parker needed to bring in the X-Men to tell this story.

But it gets us to where we need to go, which is Assault on New Olympus, which directly follows this issue. See? This is the Möbius strip of comics reviewing! How's about that!

Boobs? Of course!

But not too much. I mean, Venus doesn't wear a lot in general, so of course there's going to be some. But there's nothing terribly gratuitous.

I don't really have a point with all the cleavage, but it's worthwhile pointing this stuff out occasionally. The last time I did this, it seemed a lot more gratuitous. That was a few years ago. Maybe we're making progress!

And hey, it's time for totally random lyrics!

"Once you take a hit of this
You won't ever wanna quit
You'll be so addicted
Said I'll have you spinning round and round
Crazy, making freaky sounds
You won't want to come down
And I'll have you seeing things and hallucinating
Even walking funny 'cause your legs are shaking
All night we'll be blazin'
I'll take you for a walk to the other side
We can get high and enjoy the ride
Hold tight we'll be all right"

We're still friends, Dan, right? Right?

21 Comments

• At November 5, 2009, stealthwise wrote:

  Question about the "Bruce Wayne" persona: has it always been around, or is it a more recent invention of the ...

• At November 5, 2009, Rebis wrote:

  This is a bit off-topic — sorry Greg — but you did review a Boom! Comics title, which reminds me ...

• At November 5, 2009, Aperture wrote:

  Irredeemable is a great book in my opinion so you should pick it up right away, Rebis. Then again, ...

• At November 5, 2009, Alan Coil wrote:

  Man, I didn't read any of those books.

• At November 5, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  The Bruce Wayne persona is pretty much there in Detective Comics #27, where he yawns through the Commissioner's story about ...

• At November 6, 2009, JackKing wrote:

  You know, if we pooled our money together, we could buy that house for Greg...

• At November 6, 2009, Johnny P wrote:

  The Faith No More line was much more interesting than John Legend lyrics.

• At November 6, 2009, Manglr wrote:

  The gratuitous guest stars is one of the things killing Agents of Atlas for me. I thought the ongoing ...

• At November 6, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Rebis: Irredeemable is one of those things that I may pick up eventually, but I feel no need to rush ...

• At November 6, 2009, Craig wrote:

  Regarding "Irredeemable": I started reading it, and was blindsided by how uncompromisingly violent and brutal it was. The first issue ...

• At November 6, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  I dropped The Secret History when I noticed that Igor Kordey wasn't drawing ALL of the series.

  I'm just of the ...

• At November 6, 2009, s1rude wrote:

  I think there is an Irredeemable trade out - 10 buck for four issues, which is a $6 savings over ...

• At November 6, 2009, Manglr wrote:

  @Greg

  You're right of course about trying to goose sales of Agents of Atlas, but at what point does oversaturation of ...

• At November 6, 2009, Chip Mosher wrote:

  Wow! What a bunch of IRREDEEMABLE haters. :P

  FWIW, this is our top selling book, with the latest issues outselling the ...

• At November 6, 2009, CW wrote:

  Writting this from the south waterfront downtown portland as we speak! Be thankful you're not up here this weekend, huge ...

• At November 6, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I haven't read any of these.

  Did the Black Widow really fight in World War II? I never heard of ...

• At November 6, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  1990's Uncanny X-Men #268 established Black Widow being around during World War II.

• At November 6, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  Thanks. I stopped reading X-Men in 1989, so I guess I just missed it. How did they explain ...

• At November 6, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Mary: I'm not sure if they've explained it before, but Cornell explains it in this very issue! Bucky gives ...

• At November 7, 2009, MikeCr wrote:

  Irredeemable isn't bad but it could be better. Even at its best I feel like it'd only be considered ...

• At November 7, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Widow probably takes the same stuff Nick Fury does, but she gets more beauty sleep.

Batman and Robin #5 ("Revenge of the Red Hood Part Two: Scarlet") by Grant "What other mild-mannered animal can I turn into a scary character name?" Morrison (writer), Philip Tan (penciller), Jonathan Glapion (inker), Alex Sinclair (colorist), and Patrick Brosseau (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC.

Well, all the slack I gave Philip Tan last issue dissipates a bit in this issue, as we get a panel that is supposed to show the Penguin bouncing off the roof of a car but is almost incomprehensible, a two-panel shot of the Red Hood grabbing Robin and smashing his face down that makes me pine for a Quitely rendition of the exact same scene, as I still can't figure out the choreography in the scene, and some other really odd perspectives. On the whole, however, it's still not as painful to look at as something like Haunt, so I guess that's something.

I'm still not willing to let the God of All Comics off the hook, however. G-Mozz, I assume, wrote that Penguin gets chucked out the window. How, pray tell, is Oswald supposed to get to the ground? Did Morrison figure that out? Did he write, "Chuck Cobblepot out of the window and make sure he doesn't die" or was he more specific? The Penguin falls a tremendous distance and has no visible problems with broken bones or head injuries, after all. Do we blame Tan for that? Similarly, I understand that this is part of the greater Bat-universe and that the Mozzer doesn't necessarily have to clue us in on what's happening, but I do wish he would make it more clear that someone is impersonating Bruce Wayne (right? isn't that Hush guy pretending to be Bruce right now? gee, that's dumb). And even though Morrison rejects the grand retcon that is "Crisis on Infinite Earths," as far as I know, the Jason Todd who dyed his hair never existed. Right? Or did I miss something? Finally, as cool as the Flamingo is, I still can't get over the fact that this plot - "heroes" killing villains because the real heroes won't - is tired. It's interesting reading Morrison's dialogue, because he thinks of neat things (like Jason getting zits because of the helmet), but this is a boring comic redeemed by two things: Morrison's skill with making the characters interesting, and the fact that we know it ties into a bigger plot, which we pray will be better than this minor one. The way this book ends, it appears the final issue of Tan's arc might be something pretty cool, but let's not dump on Tan completely if you don't like this issue. Some of the blame must go to the Messiah, you know. As I usually do, I will trust Morrison to make sense of it all, but that doesn't change the fact that these two issues haven't been his greatest.

Batman: Unseen #1 (of 5) (Part One: Meat-Man") by Doug Moench (writer), Kelley Jones (artist), Michelle Madsen (colorist), and Pat Brosseau (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC.

Now, I'm sure people will call me crazy (go ahead, I can handle it), but Batman: Unseen, even with Moench returning once again to his favorite villain, Black Mask, is a superior comic than Batman and Robin #5. Moench tells a story of a disgraced scientist who ends up working (without knowing it) for Black Mask, and his formula gradually turns him invisible and, well, insane. Batman gets involved because at one point, the semi-invisible man heads out for grub and things turn lethal. So while the first issue is mostly set-up, it still hums with energy, and Moench and Jones have such a wonderful synergy which makes this just zip along. It's totally ridiculous and pulpy, and Moench makes the scientist say such things as "I am the almighty face of biological shock and awe!", but what's great about a Moench/Jones Batman book is that a statement like that doesn't sound stupid, just bombastic. Moench's Batman villains talk like that because Moench understands that they're not supposed to be realistic, they're supposed to be larger-than-life bad guys, and they are. In the same way, Jones is close to the perfect Batman artist (I would say Breyfogle is, but others are in the running, of course), in that he understands that a man dressed up as a bat is a bit silly, so he makes him almost inhuman (this is why his and Moench's VampBats books are so neat) and puts him in a wildly Gothic city, the kind of place that looks kind of neat to live in when you're not scared out of your wits. Jones's Batman is a terrifying creature, well suited for dealing with the freaks who live in his city.

I do have an inordinate fondness for the Moench/Jones Batman of the mid-1990s, so I'm always glad when they hook up to give us another story, but that doesn't change the fact that this is a gloriously pulpy comic in the best sense of the word. If you're not a fan of Moench and his pseudo-scientific rambling or Jones and his ever-growing Bat ears, this comic won't change your mind a bit. But if you are a fan, this will just make you smile. Now, if only DC would let Moench and Jones tell us what was up with that puppeteer dude!

(Kelley Jones drew that cover in 2007, as you can see by his signature. That's strange. Has this been on the shelf a long time, or did it take them a while to get their schedules together? Inquiring minds want to know!)

Criminal: The Sinners #1 by Ed Brubaker (writer), Sean Phillips (artist), and Val Staples (colorist). $3.50, 29 pgs, FC, Marvel/Icon.

Criminal returns, and because this world makes no sense, a better comic than Incognito by the exact same creative team will automatically lose readers. Up next: goats with two heads will be born! Planetary will conclude! Glenn Beck will be a conservative voice of reason! It's topsy-turvy!

Not surprisingly, it's a very good issue. Tracy Lawless, who has become the nominal star of Criminal, returns, this time fulfilling his "contract" with Sebastian Hyde. He's knocking people off, but he's a lousy enforcer, as he always makes sure the guy really deserves it, which makes Hyde grumpy. Hyde, however, has a new job for Tracy - someone is killing "connected" people in his town, and Hyde wants Tracy to find out who it is. Off he goes!

We find out soon who the killers are (yes, plural), but not why they're doing what they're doing (although we can make some educated guesses). Tracy, meanwhile, is not exactly screwing Hyde's wife, just spending time with her, which will still probably get him killed if Hyde finds out about it. And, because Tracy's life isn't crappy enough, some dude rolls into town looking for a "deserter" - yes, Tracy. Oh dear.

As always, Brubaker doesn't re-invent the wheel in this book, but he and Phillips have done such a wonderful job creating this world that whenever they return to it, we just slip into it easily and go along for the ride. Tracy just moves through the plot, learning information, doing the best that he can, trying to get through another day. It's not surprising that Brubillips keeps coming back to him - he's a good character, and the situations he gets into challenge him to remain a decent guy. It's always fun to watch Tracy try to navigate this morally murky world in which he lives.

I don't know if you're one of those people who bought Incognito but won't buy Criminal, but don't be that person. That person probably thinks that Modern Family is much, much better than Arrested Development. You don't want to be that person, do you?

Days Missing #2 (of 5) ("September 12th, 1815") by David Hine (writer), Chris Burnham (artist), Imaginary Friends Studio (colorist), and Troy Peteri (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Archaia/Roddenberry Productions.

This unusual series, in which different creative teams are featured in every issue but the theme is the same - a weird dude erases days from human history that would have completely changed humanity for the worse - continues with the weird dude intervening to stop a scientist from re-animating the dead. He does so, but his experiment remains in the dreams of Mary Godwin (who witnesses the resurrection) and she comes up with her famous monster story. It's a decent issue, and David Hine is the kind of writer who can craft a good horror story. Burnham, who is usually quite good, suffers a bit from the poor coloring, which softens his pencils a bit too much. When John Galton resurrects a dead guy, we can see that Burnham is a good artist, because those scenes are full of power and terror. But the coloring job washes the sharpness out of his lines and makes it less distinctive than it might be otherwise.

I am a bit puzzled by the idea of the series, a problem I hope will be cleared up as we move along. The weird dude (who is known only as the Steward) can fold days away so that they never existed. Is this a last resort? Because it seems like that would be easy to do, but he tries to stop the resurrection by more conventional methods before he "folds" the day and erases it. I don't think it was addressed in issue #1 (although I could be wrong), and it's not addressed here. I know that he doesn't erase the days at the beginning of the issue because, well, then, the issue would be over, but is this a case of what Chad was ranting about a few days ago, where it's simply to heighten the drama? Beats me.

If we can get past that little annoyance, this is a pretty good comic. It's not great, but it's interesting. And the creative teams are pretty keen (next month: Ian Edginton and Lee Moder!). We'll see how they continue to explore the Steward's intervention in human affairs.

Fallen Angel: Reborn #4 (of 4) by Peter David (writer), J. K. Woodward (artist/colorist), and Neil Uyetake (letterer). $3.99, 22 pgs, FC, IDW.

I thought this was a five-issue mini-series, but I guess it's not. IDW never lists how long a series lasts or even, at the end of this issue, gives us a "the end" or a "to be continued," but nothing past this issue has been solicited, so I guess it's over. I write this because it ends ambiguously. The main story appears to wrap up, but then, in true Peter David fashion, there's one of those endings that sets up a sequel. I wasn't clear why David ended the regular series, but I guess he's going for a "series of mini-series" kind of thing that all the kids dig these days. That's fine. Unless he's doing something different. Who knows what lurks in the mind of Peter David????

Anyway, it's a typically keen issue of Fallen Angel, as Illyria is confronted with what she's become, Lee effects her typical obnoxious attitude, and there's a tough ethical dilemma to be solved. I don't mean to belittle it, because, much like Brubaker and Phillips on Criminal, David knows exactly what he's doing, and it's always a pleasure to see him write a nifty 22-page comic. And Illyria's real form? Icky.

I don't know what's next for Fallen Angel, but I'll be there!

Greek Street #4 (Book One: Blood Calls For Blood Part Four: The Monster and the Labyrinth") by Peter Milligan (writer), Davide Gianfelice (artist), Patricia Mulvihill (colorist), and Clem Robins (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

More of the same with this series, which I just can't get a handle on. Milligan gives us some creepy scenes (scary naked lady leaping out of the bushes? gold!) and moves things forward, but it's still very scattershot, and it's becoming increasingly clear that, even if I want to read the series, it would be better in trade format. Milligan seems to be ignoring the 22-page format, which is fine, because I do appreciate the grand scale of this comic, but it makes each discrete chapter a bit of a mess. It's the dilemma faced by every comic writer who wants to work with a large, unknown cast: Do you do what Milligan is doing, juggling several characters and their arcs and hope that people can keep up, or do you focus on one character for a few issues, then go back and focus on another character, and then another, until you return to the first character and hope people remember what the hell happened? I think the way Milligan is going is a better one, but it's not perfect, and it's nice that he seems to be bringing the plot threads together a bit more and also that we've gotten a little bit of a handle on the characters so we can keep up with them. Of course, I might just be an idiot, and had to go four issues before I started figuring out who was who.

The first arc comes to a close next issue, and one nice thing about this series is that I have absolutely no idea where Milligan is going with it. I mean, Eddie is back in a similar situation that he was in the first issue, and I wouldn't be surprised if Milligan twists it back to his feelings about what happened with his mother, but I have no idea. It's vexing, because I also have no idea if I'm going to keep buying this. We'll see.

GrimJack: The Manx Cat #3 (of 6) by John Ostrander (writer), Timothy Truman (artist), Lovern Kindzierski (colorist), and John Workman (letterer). $3.99, 28 pgs, FC, IDW.

Here's another series about which I just don't have a lot to say, because it's so enjoyable. It's Ostrander and Truman doing GrimJack, after all. They give us action, bloodshed, some answers about the Manx Cat, a horribly creepy strip club, and a promise that we will find out the whole truth about the cat. It's exciting, adventurous, and looks great. If you're waiting for the trade, I can't blame you, but it's so much darned fun reading the installments that I'm not switching. And Mike Gold plugs Comix4Sight, the web site at which you can bid for things to raise money for Ostrander, who's dealing with glaucoma. If you're interested.

Kill Audio #1 (of 6) by Claudio Sanchez (writer), Chondra Echert (writer), and Mr. Sheldon (artist/letterer - link probably NSFW). $3.99, 34 pgs, FC, Boom! Studios.

Chip Mosher, grand poobah of marketing at Boom!, sends us .pdf files of pretty much everything the company releases. Occasionally Other Greg reviews them, occasionally Brad reviews them, and occasionally I review them. I usually don't because everything I'm really interested in that Boom! publishes I just get in the real world. But it's swell of Mr. Mosher to fire these off to us, because Boom! is doing a good job, I think, of getting their name out there and trying to make a dent in the market. I was going to skip this because it didn't seem like something I'd be interested in, but Chip is really pushing it, so I figured I'd give it a look.

It's not the greatest comic in the world, but it does have a lot going for it. First of all, the art is phenomenal. Sheldon has a wonderfully surreal take on the world, with a lot of very bizarre characters and "camera angles," for lack of a better term. He challenges you to really look at each panel - that's not to say that it's difficult to figure out what's going on in them, but because his point of view is so twisted, you often have to re-orient yourself when you're looking at the art. Some people might find this annoying, but for me, at least, it really wasn't. Once you're looking at each panel differently, everything becomes clear (unlike, say, Tan's art in the latest issue of Batman and Robin, where you can look and look and still not figure out exactly what's going on ... and I don't mean to pick on Tan, but they both came out this week, so his art was on the brain). His characters are detailed and insane, from the drugged-out rooster to the clockwork wizard. Visually, this issue is a treat.

Story-wise, the comic doesn't work quite as well, although there's a lot of potential. Kill Audio, a rather short immortal being, is pursued by a weird creature who attempts to kill him. After one such attempt, the creature tells him he might need to find his purpose in life. So he heads off to see the wizard, literally, collecting three other characters along the way. If this sounds vaguely familiar, it should, as Sanchez and Echert even make a reference to a "yellow brick road." It's also reminiscent of innumerable heroes' journeys into the underworld, from Orpheus to Dante. That's perfectly fine, especially because the series, as a whole, is about what happens after Kill Audio finds the wizard and learns his purpose, but it's odd that they would make it so obvious. Once Kill Audio finds the wizard, he learns his purpose - something about saving music. Again, this is fine, but because Sanchez and Echert have been dropping musical references into the text, it makes me think that this is going to be something about how cool some people are because they listen to obscure music and how lame others are because they listen to Celine Dion (to be fair, the characters enjoy some old-school Whitney Houston at one point, so there's that). I'm certainly willing to be proven wrong in that regard, but it's nagging me, especially because the characters all talk like they're in a movie and everyone's acting too cool for school. Overall, the story only gets going a little bit in this issue, and the characters remain ciphers, but the issue itself is packed with energy (both in the writing and the art), which goes a long way.

I'm kind of on the fence about Kill Audio. It's wonderful to look at and has a somewhat intriguing premise, but I worry that the writers will be unable to pull it off without being snarky, based on the way they write the characters in this issue. It's a delicate balance, and as I have no idea how good (or bad) Sanchez and Echert are as writers, I can't say with confidence they'll be able to. But it's certainly an unusual book, and in a comics world of sameness, that goes a long way.

Planetary #27 (of 27) by Warren Ellis (writer), John Cassaday (artist), Laura Martin (colorist), and Comicraft (letterer). $3.99, 28 pgs, FC, DC/Wildstorm.

Hmmm. Is this some kind of book I should be interested in or something? I just don't get it.

Okay, I'm kidding. Planetary was my favorite comic of the week whenever it happened to come out, so of course I'm totally jazzed that Ellis and Cassaday finally bring it to a close. From the preview, I wasn't expecting the dazzling stories of the first few issues or the conspiracy of the later issues, mainly because Ellis wrapped all that up. What we get, instead, is a nifty rescue mission to get Ambrose Chase, who Elijah thinks is still alive. Of course, Ellis uses this to indulge in some of his wacky pseudo-science that he enjoys (this time it's time travel), bringing up a point that, interestingly enough, I read in the Penn State alumni magazine this summer. It seems that there's a professor at my alma mater who is trying to build a time machine. He wants to go back in time and save his father, who died of, I believe, heart failure 40 years ago. Of course, it's been pointed out to him that you can't travel back further in time than when the time machine was first built, which kind of bummed him out. But he's undaunted! Anyway, Ellis uses this to great effect, as The Drummer points out that if they build a time machine, all their future selves will show up at that moment in time, because why the hell not? Because I am dull, I don't know why this is such a big deal, but whatever. The point is that Cassaday draws the hell out of this, and Ellis makes it clear that even though the series is ending and the Four have been defeated, it's still a weird world, and the Planetary bunch will continue to explore it. And strangely enough for fictional characters who don't actually exist, that's comforting. Ellis and Cassaday have done such a great job with this series that I like to imagine Elijah, Jakita, and The Drummer out there doing their thing, discovering all the weirdness in the world that losers like me, sitting on my couch watching the Phillies blow home-field advantage and eating potato chips, will never even conceive of.

Dang, I love Planetary. I can't wait to re-read it.

Sherlock Holmes #5 (of 5) ("The Trial of Sherlock Holmes Part Five: Endgame") by Leah Moore and John Reppion (writers), Aaron Campbell (artist), Tony Aviña (colorist), and Simon Bowland (letterer). $3.50, 22 pgs, FC, Dynamite Entertainment.

You know what's annoying about Sherlock Holmes? It's almost exactly like an Arthur Conan Doyle story. Why is that annoying? Well, Conan Doyle often wrote stories in which the real mystery was not what we thought, and it kind of comes out of nowhere. That's what happens in this issue, although Moore and Reppion have been leading us down that path too, so it doesn't come completely out of nowhere. The resolution to the murder of Sir Samuel Henry is clever enough, but it leads to new revelations that, because I don't want to spoil anything, I can't discuss. Suffice it to say that this is a nifty enough puzzle of a comic, but the ending kind of subverts everything by showing what's really going on. And what's really going on in kind of annoying, even if it's certainly in the spirit of Conan Doyle's stories.

Man, I hate not being more specific. If you're thinking about getting this trade, I'll just warn you: It's well written, nicely illustrated, somewhat nifty in the way Moore and Reppion build this mystery up and the way they explain it, and kind of frustrating at the end. How's that?

Starstruck #2 (of 13) by Elaine Lee (writer), Michael Wm. Kaluta (artist), Charles Vess (inker), Lee Moyer (painter), Todd Klein (letterer), and John Workman (letterer). $3.99, 25 pgs, FC, IDW.

Yet another book that's kind of difficult to review, because it's an old comic that's getting a new look, so if you really want to know what's going on, you can probably Google it and find out. It's another one of these things where it's so obvious a large-scale story that it's hard to really get a sense of whether the story is any good or not. I don't want to just do a plot summary, either. I will say that Lee does a better job this issue than the first with giving us an idea of who these characters are - the first issue did a little bit, but in this issue, we not only get more about the weird relationship between Phillipe Cesare Kalif Alexander Bajar (who I guess is called "Kalif," but it seems to be used as a title, even though it's part of his name) and his sister Indira Lucrezia Ronnie Lee Ellis Bajar, as well as the relationship between Mary Medea and her mother. It helps, when you're dealing with rather odd interstellar politics, to have something the audience can relate to, and Lee does this well. I'm still buying it for Kaluta's art, because it's absolutely gorgeous. It's a magnificent blend of the fantastic and the mundane, and his delicate line work is wonderfully highlighted by Moyer's colors. I don't know what this looked like it its original incarnation, but Moyer, who is recoloring it, is doing a great job.

Man, Kaluta is good. And we get more next issue!

Strange Tales #2 (of 3). "To Catch a Watcher!!" by Nick Bertozzi (writer/artist) and Chris Sinderson (colorist); "The Invincible Iron Man" by Tony Millionaire (writer/artist) and Jim Campbell (colorist); "Anything but Retail!" by R. Kikuo Johnson; "Brother Voodoo in Death Rides a Five-Dollar Bag!" by Jim Rugg (co-writer/artist) and Brian Maruca (co-writer); "M.O.D.O.K. 'n' Me" by Jhonen Vasquez; "The Unfortunate Three!" by Max Cannon; "Lookin' Good, Mr. Grimm!" by Jacob Chabot; "The Incorrigible Hulk" by Peter Bagge; "Untitled Galactus and his heralds 'story' " by Jonathan Hickman; and "The Black Widow" by Matt Kindt. $4.99, 45 pgs, FC, Marvel.

In terms of quality, this is a big step down from issue #1, which had only one story that was not terribly good. This time, the poorer stories outweigh the good ones by a bit. The genius of turning Matt Kindt loose on the Black Widow, which should lead to Matt Kindt doing a Black Widow ongoing (which would sell about seven copies, but how frickin' awesome would it be?) or giving Ben Grimm a Chia-pet moustache can't overcome the lousiness of some of the stories. Tony Millionaire's story of Iron Man battling Baloney Head, Liverwurst Face (mmmmm ... liverwurst), and the deranged head of Dwight Eisenhower is nice to look at and marginally clever. Jacob Chabot's story of Ben Grimm's moustache is a clever little FF story. Jonathan Hickman's few pages, which feature pin-ups of Galactus and his heralds offering us a job, selling products, and explaining why human flesh is good to eat, are funny, and Kindt's story is, unsurprisingly, excellent. R. Kikuo Johnson's tale about Alicia Masters makes way too many unfunny blind jokes (I'd be a bit put out by it even if they were funny, but they're not even that), Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca's story looks great as it's made to resemble a 1970s comic but is kind of dull, Jhonen Vasquez goes the same route as Johnson and tries to wring laughs out of the decapitation of a child and fails (again, being funny mitigates the offensiveness a little, but it's not even funny), Max Cannon's obvious parody of the Fantastic Four's origin is, well, obvious, and even Bagge's Hulk story drags a bit. There's still nothing in it that I can see that would keep it from being published, but maybe I'm missing something.

The difference between this issue and the first one, I think, is that the stories in this volume that don't work seem a bit more mean-spirited than the ones in issue #1. Even Bertozzi's M.O.D.O.K. story (in issue #1), in which M.O.D.O.K. does horrible things much like the horrible things he does in Vasquez's M.O.D.O.K. story, had a different tone than Vasquez's. Again, this could be just me, but the creators in issue #1 seemed to revel in the ridiculousness of Marvel's characters, while some of the creators in this issue seem to reject it and point out how stupid they really are. Wait, a giant floating head with tiny appendages is stupid? Really? Thanks for that information. In this issue, some of the creators seem to want to pick on superheroes. If you want to do that, go write The Boys. There's a place for that, certainly, but it seems like when you're working with goofy Marvel characters, it's a hell of a lot more fun to wallow in the goofiness. It's certainly a hell of a lot more fun to read. But I could be in the minority in that regard.

Sweet Tooth #2 ("Out of the Deep Woods Part Two") by Jeff Lemire (writer/artist), José Villarrubia (colorist), and Pat Brosseau (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

Lemire continues to flesh out the plot and the characters, as the new guy - Jepperd - finds Gus in his cabin (after Gus wisely absconded from the scene of the bloody murders that bridge the first and this issue) and tells him about the Preserve, which is where hybrid children can live without fear of getting killed. He also clues us into a few things: Gus claims to be nine, but Jepperd says the plague only appeared seven years ago, and the hybrids began showing up then, which means Gus is somehow special (not surprisingly); and the reason the two dudes wanted to kill Gus was because all the "normal" people believe the hybrids hold the key to a cure because they don't get sick. Fairly important information there. Then more people attack, Jepperd gets wounded, and that's where we leave things.

Lemire is still feeling things out, but he does a good job doling out the information, giving us some action, and establishing that Jepperd is a tough SOB who, for some reason, doesn't want to kill or otherwise experiment on Gus. Why, we don't know. There's still not much to distinguish this (well, except for Lemire's art, which is good as usual), but it's also only two issues in. As usual, I'll give it a little bit to see what happens. Right now, it's not bad, but it's not a must-buy, either.

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #2 ("Shock and Awe: Chapter Two") by Gregg Hurwitz (writer), Jerome Opeña (artist), Paul Mounts (colorist), and Joe Caramagna (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Marvel.

I usually like Leinil Francis Yu, but that's an ugly cover. It looks like the Sentry is not only wearing a diaper, but that he's about to have a bowel movement. Which would make the diaper appropriate, I know, but it's probably not what you want for a cover.

Anyway, after the giddy and oddly gleeful first issue, in which Hurwitz let Opeña go a bit nuts, we calm down a bit to re-establish Moonie's bonafides in New York. I'm still not sure why this needed to be a new ongoing series, as Hurwitz continues to build on what Huston and Benson did in the previous series, even bringing back the Profile from that series (who really ought to get a, you know, real name). But that's neither here nor there. I'm also still not buying that the return of a low-level superhero would be so newsworthy in jaded New York - I know that Moon Knight made a splash (both a positive and negative one, really) in the last series, and I appreciate that Hurwitz is pointing out that these heroes don't operate in a vacuum and that others besides Spider-Man can make the papers, but it's still a bit weird.

However, I'm still intrigued by what Hurwitz is doing. MK and the Sentry have an interesting conversation about insanity and the reality on the ground in the Marvel U., and then "Jake" visits Marlene and Frenchie before taking out the Slug. That allows Opeña to flex his muscles a bit (although he's good at the quiet moments, too, like when Marlene looks up after the helicopter's ladder hits her car), and then we get the Profile telling Osborn and the Hood how to get into Moonie's head. Why, by bringing back Bushman, of course! While that's kind of annoying, I'll reserve judgment on how they're going to do this (and why Bushman's grave is apparently in or near New York in some kind of Gothic cemetary and not in Africa) until next issue.

Right now, I'm glad to see Moon Knight back and in (seemingly) capable hands. I'm a bit tired of Osborn and the Hood and wish they would just go away, but I guess I can deal with it. It's more interesting than most superhero comics, and it continues to look fantastic.

X-Babies #1 (of 4) by Gregg Schigiel (writer), Jacob Chabot (artist), Emily Warren (colorist), and Rob Steen (letterer). $3.99, 22 pgs (plus 14-pg reprint), FC, Marvel.

I tried to resist buying this, but I just couldn't. The X-Babies were kind of a minor joke back in Claremont's heyday, and when I last saw them (I want to say it was when Dazzler, no longer pregnant, accompanied them to Mojoworld back in the early Nineties, but I seem to recall them popping up again more recently), they had become a bit annoying. Claremont's initial foray with them (with Art Adams art!) is reprinted here, and I can see why Marvel and the X-writers milked them to the point of oversaturation, because it's a charming little story. I'm glad they've been sidelined for a while, but it's kind of cool to see them back.

Chabot is perfect for this kind of light-hearted romp, as he does a nice job with the wee characters but also draws a nifty fight scene. Schigiel gives us a story in which the X-Babies have been replaced in Mojo's programming by boring educational fare, a gentle knock on current kids' programming. It seems Mojo has been overthrown and replaced by his major-domo (who gets a name in this book, even though I don't think he ever had one before), who yanks "violent" shows like the X-Babies off the air and replaces them with "The Adorable X-Babies," in which Storm shows them how to grow plants (I love Farmer Cyclops) and even Wolverine decides vegetables are groovy. When the X-Babies try to interfere, Spiral is tasked to send them to a station where rebellious characters go, where they meet the characters from Marvel's 1980s Star Comics (I'm just assuming this, as it's in the solicits; I don't recognize the characters as I never read Star Comics). Presumably they will lead a rebellion to return good, wholesome entertainment to the airwaves!

For the most part, this is just a way for Schigiel and Chabot to riff on familiar X-tropes, like Wolverine hating Cyclops (the only thing the new show got right, according to Wolverine, is that Cyclops is a "dink"). Storm references fighting "Apocalisp" and Cyclops speaks of the "Cradle Will Fall of the Mutants," which would probably be a better character and a better story than the ones to which they refer, and it's always nice to see a "classic" X-team, even in little kid form. There's nothing tremendously new about this issue, but it's a lot of fun. And don't we need a little fun every now and then?

X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #1 (of 2) ("The X-Heist" and "Atomic Age Heroes") by Jeff Parker (writer), Carlo Pagulayan (artist, "The X-Heist"), Jason Paz (inker, "The X-Heist"), Wil Quintana (colorist, "The X-Heist"), Chris Samnee (artist, "Atomic Age Heroes"), Veronica Gandini (colorist, "Atomic Age Heroes"), and Joe Caramagna (letterer). $3.99, 30 pgs, FC, Marvel.

I was trying to ignore the inanity of the X-Men setting up shop on the downed remains of Asteroid M, which is as dumb an idea as putting a costumed psychopath in charge of the nation's security without, you know, vetting him in front of Congress, but I couldn't, because Parker is writing an Agents of Atlas crossover, and I must be there! I figured Parker wouldn't dwell too much on "Utopia," and he doesn't, which is nice. This is basically a nifty little first part of a story in which Atlas wants to steal Cerebra to look for Venus (who has been kidnapped by members of the Greek pantheon, which leads into the next Atlas story, which will cross over with The Incredible Hercules - phew!) and the X-Men don't want them to. The fact that everyone thinks Atlas is an eeeevvvvilllll organization helps the inevitable "two groups of heroes fighting" go down a bit more easily, although I always wonder why these groups punch first and ask questions later. I mean, Cyclops could have just yelled at them and given them a chance to explain, but instead he starts blasting away. That's okay, though - it's just a fun bash-up, so I can forgive it. The second story features an earlier fight between Jimmy Woo's bunch and the original X-Men, which is fine except that the original X-Men, based on Marvel's sliding time scale, didn't get together in the 1960s anymore, and it's clear that Chris Samnee (whose art is quite good) is going for that vibe. Plus, this story can't end with the groups coming to an accord or Cyclops would have remembered that Jimmy was an okay bloke. I work myself up too much about this stuff, don't I? I can be Kontinuity Kop as much as the next guy, man!

Pagulayan's art continues to puzzle me. It's good in this issue, but it changes in style once, and it's odd. If you're following along at home, look at the two pages with Venus and the centaur. Doesn't it look rougher, with darker lines and more definition in, say, Venus's hair? According to the credits, it's the same penciler, inker, and colorist throughout the book, yet those two pages look markedly different. I know things like this shouldn't bother me, but it's kind of strange. Did the three artists change deliberately or was someone else working on those two pages? These things keep me up at night.

I hope slapping an "X-Men" on the cover of an Agents of Atlas book will goose sales a little. This isn't as good as the regular title, mainly because Parker needs to somehow get two teams of heroes fighting each other, but it's still a good read.

Zodiac #3 (of 3) ("Death's Finest Addiction") by Joe Casey (writer), Nathan Fox (artist), José Villarrubia (colorist), and Albert Deschesne (letterer). $3.99, 22 pgs, FC, Marvel.

Casey and Fox complete their journey through the dark heart of Marvel villainy, and come out with one of the better mini-series of the year, and definitely one of the best from the Big Two. There's so little you can do with Marvel and DC's characters that feels consequential, so although Casey isn't allowed to mess with too many big guns (like the Torch, who's fully recovered in this issue), he still does a fantastic job making Zodiac a completely evil guy and setting up more stories in the future that I hope he and Fox will be able to tell. I would love to read a mini-series a year about these characters, doing horrible things and basically being unpleasant. Fox draws the battle with Red Ronin unusually, in that he rarely focuses on the entire robot, making it much more intimidating than we might think, because we keep seeing parts of the big guy instead all of him, which is a bit freaky. Meanwhile, Zodiac reveals his big plan to the one person we might care about in the book, which is never a good thing (for that person, that is). Ultimately, this story is just to reveal the end, which some might see as cheating, but because it's only three issues and because Casey is so good at characterization - Reed's cameo is quite good, and Osborn is sufficiently arrogant and short-sighted even as he figures almost everything out - and Fox is so good at plunging us into this world that the ending feels earned. Yes, it's just a set-up, but it's been a wild ride to get there. I very much doubt if this sold anywhere near what it would need to justify more stories about Zodiac (at least from this creative team), but it would be nice if it did. Then we can see what Zodiac is up to next! Either way, you should definitely check out the trade when it arrives. It will probably have a reprint from the 1970s - maybe the one where Zodiac drinks a lot of Schlitz!

And so we reach the end of another week of comics. See? I can review books instead of giving you pointless minutiae! You're just lucky I didn't review these ... in sonnet form! Man, that would have been hard. Have you ever tried to write a sonnet? It's no fun.

Let's fire up some totally random lyrics!

"I wanna smash the faces
Of those beautiful boys
Those Christian boys
So you can make me cum
That doesn't make you Jesus"

Those last lines might be the greatest lyrics ever written. But who wrote them?????

35 Comments

• At October 9, 2009, Olly McPherson wrote:

  Sounds like it could be Patti Smith?

• At October 9, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  Coming soon from Ellis, PLANETARY: book 2 (another 27 issues that comes out once a year) ;-)

  Sorry, couldn't resist.

  But ...

• At October 9, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Olly: Sorry, not her. Not a bad guess, though.

  Tom: I'd only be in my early sixties when that series ...

• At October 9, 2009, Michael Rawdon wrote:

  For what it's worth, Incognito turned me on to both Criminal and Sleeper. I think Sleeper is the best ...

• At October 9, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  What separates the new Red Hood from other murderous-antihero-villains ( quite the mouthful ), including the new Red Hood when ...

• At October 9, 2009, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  The trap in writing a Sherlock Holmes story is that if you get TOO far away from Conan Doyle, it ...

• At October 9, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Yay! Greg buys more comics that I won't see for another week & a half from HeavyInk because I'm a ...

• At October 9, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  "...a reprint from the 1970s - maybe the one where Zodiac drinks a lot of Schlitz!"

  Aaaah Greg, you crack me ...

• At October 9, 2009, s1rude wrote:

  Ms Amos, from back when being an angry female wasn't a marketing tactic. Precious Things off of Little Earthquakes, ...

• At October 9, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  Reposted from that Brian vs. Greg comments thread below:

  There's a fairly weird subtext to this issue, at least from my ...

• At October 9, 2009, agent_torpor wrote:

  LOL @ "Batman Unseen" being better than "BR#5"

  Dude, best laugh i've had all day.

• At October 9, 2009, Dan Lokhorst wrote:

  Nifty, I've been waiting for a team-up between Sentry and Moon Night. World's Craziest! The only crime fighting duo that ...

• At October 9, 2009, Punchy wrote:

  I'm pretty sure those pages with Venus and the Centaur in X-Men Vs. Agents Of Atlas were actually by Gabriel ...

• At October 9, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Nitz: That's probably the only thing that redeems this plot, in that Jason is being so self-conscious about it. ...

• At October 9, 2009, Oz the Malefic wrote:

  Finally some lyrics I know.

  It would be Tori Amos of course.

• At October 9, 2009, s1rude wrote:

  I had missed that "that Brian vs. Greg comments thread", so I didn't see Dread Lord's explanation of Jason's violence ...

• At October 9, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  " Nitz: That's probably the only thing that redeems this plot, in that Jason is being so self-conscious about it. ...

• At October 9, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  Greg,

  Quite so; that's really the kicker: the historic legacy. I ask hypothetically "was there a reason to wait for Cassaday," ...

• At October 9, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  I don't know that they're being downplayed, exactly, but I do think they have the least interesting roles so far. ...

• At October 9, 2009, fit2print wrote:

  Money well spent this week. Top job, Burgas. P.S. Tori Amos

• At October 9, 2009, Michael Mayket wrote:

  I find it slightly funny that your fear with regards to Kill Audio is that it's going to be about ...

• At October 9, 2009, Julian wrote:

  I dunno Greg, I think your issues towards Strange Tales speak more to your own insecurities with the wackiness than ...

• At October 9, 2009, T. wrote:

  As problematic as Philip Tan's art can be, it's 1000 times better to look at than Kelly Jones' steroid disfigurement ...

• At October 9, 2009, Stefan Wenger wrote:

  A lot of disappointments this week honestly. Doctor Voodoo #1 was probably book of the week.

• At October 10, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Michael: Well, I don't know how obscure the books I read are, and I think I read a pretty good ...

• At October 10, 2009, JKWoodward wrote:

  Hey Greg, I'm glad you liked this miniseries. There will be another one coming in about 6 months or so.

  I ...

• At October 10, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Thanks for the info, J. K., and for clearing up what was going on with the art. It's always ...

• At October 11, 2009, The Cosh wrote:

  Penguin was trying to escape on a helicopter umbrella. Robin broke the shaft with a batarang. I assumed it was ...

• At October 11, 2009, Michael Mayket wrote:

  Greg: I was out of town for the weekend so I just read your response... I know you're being tongue ...

• At October 11, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Sonnets are really hard, man. I hate sonnets.

• At October 11, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  As problematic as Philip Tan's art can be, it's 1000 times better to look at than Kelly Jones' steroid disfigurement ...

• At October 12, 2009, Ted wrote:

  Have you ever tried to write a sonnet? It's no fun.

  What great nonsense spouted by Greg, our friend,

  to disparage that ...

• At October 12, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Michael: No worries, sir. I kind of hoped you were being tongue in cheek, and I'm glad you were. ...

• At October 15, 2009, What I bought – 7 October 2009 | Nationwide Drug Interventions wrote:

  [...] More info…“I’m not a hero! I’m not a savior! Forget what you know!” All right, no shenangians this week. ...

• At October 19, 2009, Hatter Entertainment News » X-BABIES #1 Reviews: “This is not a serious comic…” wrote:

  [...] review, despite reading into things incorrectly, in the end is [...]

Amazing Spider-Man #605- This is probably my favorite issue of Brand New Day so far. Not just my favorite not written by Dan Slott or Mark Waid or drawn by Marcos Martin or John Romita Jr.. My favorite period. It was that good. Where else are you going to get all of the cool things that happened in this issue that I don't want to spoil? Like when that one person laid out Peter? Or his online dating adventures? Or MJ: Action Hero? Those were all awesome things I'm trying to subtly allude to, and I had a blast reading them. If I were Zoidberg, I'd take eight! That's my highest recommendation possible. Go get it!

Batman and Robin #4, not 3- I didn't miss Quitely all that much in this one. I'm as surprised as you are, fellow members of the Morrison Hive Mind. I mean, I'd prefer it if he, Cameron Stewart, or JH Williams III drew it (which isn't saying much, because I'd prefer every Morrison comic if it were drawn by one of those three. Hell, every comic by most writers, really), but if ifs and buts were candies and nuts, fruit cakes would still suck, so I really lost my point a couple minutes back. Good issue, looking forward to the next one, move along, nothing else to see here.

Love And Rockets: New Stories #2- I kind of forgot I had this one, actually. I'd better go and read it so I can enjoy Jaime's stories and respect Gilbert's* even if they don't do a lot for me.

Uncanny X-Men: First Class #3- I'm boycotting this until Banshee's dialogue becomes less annoying! Or, I'll just not buy another issue that's a solo Banshee story. Boycotting just sounds better than "I will make better purchase decisions based on my personal taste", don't you think?

Wolverine Omnibus- I started reading this ridiculously huge Wolverine book I bought on Free Comic Day. I think lifting it so many times may be the most exercise I've had in like 10 years. My favorite part has been the Wolverine And Kitty Pryde mini-series (holy crap, Al Milgrom was kind of awesome there!) and the Claremont/Buscema Wolvie serial that kicked off Marvel Comics Presents and led in to his first solo comic. Holy shit, remember when Wolverine having a solo comic was a novelty and not a blight on the industry and the world at large?

*My favorite Gilbert story is probably Sloth. So yeah, I haven't read much Palomar. And I dropped Citizen Rex. May get the trade.

14 Comments

• At September 17, 2009, CF wrote:

  You mean Batman and Robin #4 (not 3).

  Oh, and the Grant Morrison Hive Mind says hi.

• At September 17, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  Don't speak for me. You don't know what I mean! And when I edit it, you'll look dumb! Oh, and ...

• At September 17, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  I didn't put enough into Sloth to get anything out of it. Same deal with Chance in Hell. ...

• At September 17, 2009, Julian wrote:

  Sloth? Really? No love for Citizen Rex? Did you ever read Mister X?

• At September 17, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  You've got Spider-Man #605 already? I have a subscription (yes, they still exist!) and I still haven't received #604 ...

• At September 17, 2009, Rebis wrote:

  I'm looking forward to Cam Stewart on B&R too, but is anybody else disappointed that Frazer Irving apparently is not ...

• At September 17, 2009, JackKing wrote:

  Frazer is doing 10-12. Looks like Quitely ain't coming back, unless the series continues after 12.

• At September 18, 2009, Rusty Priske wrote:

  Am I the only person who doesn't really like Quitely art?

  If so, I can live with that.

  It isn't that I ...

• At September 18, 2009, Rebis wrote:

  Ahhh, thanks JackKing. I'm relieved. I dunno if this is heresy around here, but I'll actually take Irving over ...

• At September 19, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "Am I the only person who doesn't really like Quitely art?"

  Yes!

  "If so, I can live with that."

  If you call that ...

• At September 19, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "Sloth? Really?"

  Yes.

  "No love for Citizen Rex?"

  Dropped it.

  "Did you ever read Mister X?"

  It's in my comics Q. Somewhere.

• At September 19, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "You know, a subscription used to mean getting your issues before they arrived in the stores. I don't know what's ...

• At September 19, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  And that wasn't meant as sarcasm, Mary, I swear to Odin's beard.

• At September 19, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  You can find subscriptions on their website. At least they were there last year. I just renewed my ...

Atomic Robo: Shadow from Beyond Time #2 by Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener, Ronda Pattison, and Jeff Powell (Red 5)

This, my friends, was my favorite comic from June 2009. Mark it in your ledger!

Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener have perfected their shared wavelength and created the most entertaining comic on the stands. Clevinger's plotting is perfectly pared down to the essentials-- after all that fun banter and exposition in part one, this episode's all action, but not without its fair share of hilarious dialogue, be it Charles Fort's mixture of eagerness and incredulity ("Edison would never allow the likes of you or I near his necrophone"), or Robo's carphone conversation with Nikola Tesla, in which he tries to act like nothing's wrong and he's not chasing down a giant Lovecraftian (literally!) beastie with a carful of lightning guns. Meanwhile, Wegener's artwork is crispier than fried chicken, his facial cartooning brilliant-- it's marvelous how he can eke so much emotion out of a character who, by all rights, doesn't have a face.

It's in the last handful of pages, however, where Clev and Weg (as they shall now be known) really hit me, as Robo literally turns things up to 11 and the reader is handed the most badass, exciting comic book moment I've read in ages. It's flawlessly paced, the epitome of action storytelling. "There's one underlying scientific principle common to all existence. ... Everything explodes." That's the best way to describe Atomic Robo-- explosively awesome. And not in the "Taco Bell put the fear of God in me" way.

Batman & Robin #1 by Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Alex Sinclair, and Pat Brosseau (DC)

I suppose the title is technically "Batman and Robin," but I enjoy typing ampersands. What can I say about this comic that hasn't already been said? Nothing, probably. Heck, reviews of the second ish are already out and I've just sat down with the first! Egads, Bill, get with the times! Batman & Robin #1 is so last month!

G-Mo and F-Qui have this thing down to a literal science by now. They have become such a well-oiled machine that one expects nothing less than perfection from their collaborations, and we pretty much get that here. I loved the hell out of this thing, from the vibrant yellow background on the cover to the flying Batmobile to Quitely putting the sound effects into the art to the decrepit remnants of the giant mechanical dinosaur to the cutaway of the Bat-Bunker (which I did hope would be a bigger drawing, I admit), to Damian calling Alfred "Pennyworth" to the paracapes to the brilliantly disturbing new baddie Pyg. And now I'm out of breath. But yes, absolutely gorgeous and electric, giving me the same chills I got with Morrison and Quitely's first issue of New X-Men. You might as well call this New Batman, because that's what it is. I didn't think I'd care about Dick Grayson in the Batsuit, but I'd read it forever if these two Scottish blokes were in charge. Really, there is no need for another Batman comic besides this one.

So there, I've just repeated what everybody else said. But man! What a cool comic! Why couldn't Morrison's whole run to date have been like this?

Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter #1 by Kieron Gillen, Kano, Alvaro Lopez, Javier Rodriguez, and Nate Piekos (Marvel)

Kieron Gillen writing pop comics about hip music and the cool cats who dance to it? I can't wrap my brain around that. Kieron Gillen writing an action comic about a space horse with the power of a Norse god who decides to kill an unstoppable force that devours planets? Hell yeah, sign me up.

I get the feeling that Gillen's going to be a big name in a couple years, one of those go-to guys at Marvel who follow the same path as Matt Fraction or Jason Aaron-- they'll wow you with their early creator-owned work and then start spinning cool superhero yarns, but they gotta start by paying their dues. And so Kieron Gillen gets to write a mini-series about one of my favorite characters, the noble alien warrior with a face like a dead horse who shares my name and flies a talking spaceship named Skuttlebutt. I'm surprised to see Beta Ray Bill getting the spotlight as regularly as he has been, what with the mini-series and one-shots and team books he's appeared in over the last few years. What once was maybe a novelty pet character of Walt Simonson's is apparently a favorite of some editor out there, and so we're blessed with books like Godhunter, which is about the titular Bill deciding Galactus needs to die, and going about the mission. It brings him into contact with SWORD, which puts him in the path of of a being who disintegrates folks with his cosmic organ music-- yes, that happens-- and then into a smackdown with one of Big G's heralds. And yeah, the story is pretty groovy, and it could be going places, so I'll be looking forward to the second issue.

Kano should probably be a star by now, but it seems he keeps getting overlooked for the big assignments, and that's a shame, as he really bridges the gap between a looser, cartoonier line, and more of what's the Marvel house style, but it gives the art a real verve.

This puppy's a whole lotta pages for four bucks and has no ads! What it does have, though, is a reprint of Thor #337, the first appearance of Beta Ray Bill, written and drawn by Walt Simonson. I've got this issue in my collection already, but what really struck me in perusing the reprint were the colors, especially when compared to the new story. George Roussos provided the original coloring to this old story; on newsprint, it looked cool, rife with Benday dots, but on these slick magazine pages, the bold flat colors throttle one's retinas-- in a good way, of course.

Take a look at the two panels above. Which ones excites you more? Yes, coloring is far more of an art in comics these days, and I do enjoy the various digital brush strokes you can see in Thor's face on the opening pages, but these bombastic colors in the back half of the mag really command my attention. A lot of coloring these days feels really over-rendered, which gives the pages a muddled feel, and certain contributes to the "sameyness" of Marvel art. Loads of careful attention is paid to the comics page these days, but I can't help be more enchanted by the almost violent, done-by-hand work of Simonson, Workman, and Roussos in some old issue of Thor.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Vampires by Becky Cloonan, Vasilis Lolos, Dave Stewart, and Comicraft's Jimmy (Dark Horse)

I made sure to buy the one that had the Moon-n-Ba cover, because those two gents are awesome.

What Cloonan and Lolos give us here is something only tangentially related to the Buffyverse, but I'm glad that Buffy logo is on there, because that means a lot more people are gonna buy this comic, which is superbly crafted. Cloonan works away at the periphery of the Buffy mythos-- folks know vampires exist now, sure, and slayers are out there, but Nashua, New Hampshire is far from the Hellmouth (well, closer to the one in Cleveland), and dull teenage life is still dull teenage life. Jacob yearns for more, and he gets it-- at a price, of course. It's about choices, and bad ones, specifically.

Cloonan's known for her art, but she really sells the script here, especially with the mother character. Lolos' art is excellent as always, deftly cartooned, letting the primary characters be almost swallowed by the empty backgrounds, until the vampires bring everything into close-up.

Dave Stewart's colors are magnificent. There's a reason he's the best in the biz, and it helps that he falls more in line with what I talked about above. Many of the colors here are subdued-- lots of mauve, surprisingly-- but that works to the art's advantage. I dig Stewart's play with light, whether in the panel above with the parking lot lamps, or with the shadow that so often appears on the protagonist's face for the first half of the book.

So yeah, it's a good book, probably more akin to Demo than any issue of Buffy, and I hope the usual Buffy audience picks it up and responds well to it.

Lightning Round!

Astonishing X-Men #30 by Warren Ellis, Simone Bianchi, Andrea Silvestri, Simone Peruzzi, Morry Hollowell, and Chris Eliopoulos (Marvel)

A lot of folks rag on Simone Bianchi's art, and I'll say this: I really dig it. It's not the most dynamic, and the storytelling isn't necessarily brilliant, but my word, look at those ink washes! Every page of this looks like it wasn't sullied by mere human birth but instead brought down from Olympus by the god of storks himself and raised on pure, massaged Kobe beef. Other than that, the story finally decides to go places in its last chapter and the X-Men become dark, mean, genocidal maniacs. Maybe this is the beginnings of a dark, longform plot from Mr. Ellis, but it takes a lot to make me enjoy an X-Men comic, and I don't feel I'll be back for the next arc. Sorry, chaps.

Captain Britain & MI13 Annual #1/#14 by Paul Cornell, Mike Collins, Adrian Alphona, Leonard Kirk, Ardian Syaf, Livesay, Jay Leisten, Craig Yeun, Jay David Ramos, Christina Strain, Brian Reber, and Joe Caramanga (Marvel)

You know, I read the Annual, and still I feel that I don't know anything about Meggan or the game of cricket. There's not much in here to excite me or make me really care about the characters. Sorry, Paul! But I did very much enjoy #14. Yes, the opening negates the previous issue's balls-to-the-wall cliffhanger, but it does so using pieces earned from previous stories. Things are heating up for the big finale, and I'm looking forward to it, though I'm saddened that the end is near.

Seaguy: Slaves of Mickey Eye #3 by Grant Morrison, Cameron Stewart, Dave Stewart (no relation), and Todd Klein (DC/Vertigo)

I was going to write about this here, but I'm now considering saving my thoughts for a larger standalone post. But it may just have redeemed this mini-series for me; I'll have to reread the series and get back to you later. Promise!

Two-in-One Review!

Doctor Who: Autopia by John Ostrander, Kelly Yates, Kris Carter, and Kubikiri (IDW)

Thor: The Trial of Thor by Peter Milligan, Cary Nord, Christina Strain, and Joe Caramanga (Marvel)

I try not to buy comics whose titles don't start with A, B, or C, but sometimes I make exceptions.

I've lumped these two comics together because they both provoke the same feeling in me, which is that they feel like comics you'd find in a three-for-a-dollar bin in the back of a comic shop, wedged between unloved issues of Dan Jurgens' Justice League run. By which I mean they both exude the less-than-sexy aroma of the dreaded "filler." This Thor book is not unlike a random Thor annual you'd find in the early 80s, only with better coloring, and the Doctor Who comic lacks any of the more interesting or exciting ideas and developments you'd find in the show; it's just what one fears when they open a licensed comic.

I know Ostrander and Milligan are good writers-- I've read their good writing! I feel they're more capable than this. Both comics just kinda go through the motions, shuffling towards the inevitable when they happen to run out of pages and the plot decides to stop. The artists do their best with the material-- Kelly Yates' cartooning is quite polished, and he storytells the hell out of a plot that mostly consists of guys and robots standing around; Cary Nord draws a mean fantasy barbarian comic, and this issue is no exception.

Neither book, however, thrilled, intrigued, or otherwise truly entertained me. There's nothing inherently wrong with these comics-- everybody does a professional job, nothing stands out as an eyesore-- but they're just kinda there. A mediocre comic from good creators is the most depressing comic of them all.

5 Comments

• At July 2, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  Trial of Thor is almost worth it just for the whole CSI: Asgard element. I would totally buy a comic ...

• At July 2, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Wegener’s artwork is crispier than fried chicken

  If Red 5 doesn't use that as a pull-quote and slap it on the ...

• At July 3, 2009, Cass wrote:

  SPOILERS: I hated that it was the dwarves at the end of Milligan's Thor. I'd read Ages of Thunder and ...

• At July 3, 2009, Scott! wrote:

  I agree with Ian =D

  Gonna email this one to the bosses right now.

• At July 3, 2009, Philip Ayres wrote:

  > You know, I read the Annual, and still I feel that I don’t know anything about Meggan or the ...

Really, I just wanted to read more X-Men comics than usual and decided that blogging about it under the auspicies of "the state of the X-Men" kind of think Dirk did would help me maintain the facade of a detatched blogger with good taste and not a lapsed X-Men fanboy who really wants to read a bunch of Marvel mutant comics again. That shit ain't gonna hold up long, mind you, since I liked all of these pretty well, but hey, I tried to try. Give me some credit.

Giant Size Uncanny X-Men First Class One Shot- I liked the all ages X-Men: First Class okay, but I'm glad that they've moved on to the cast that wasn't an abject failure. Like the rest of comicdom, I like the "new" X-Men better than the original group. That holds up here.

Other than tapping out on Banshee's Irish brogue infused story, I enjoyed this book immensely. It's an anthology of stories about each member of the team. The framing story (which is about how much Cyclops hates all these new jerks) is pretty funny, but nothing tops Wolverine recapping his own origin. That's really the only origin he will ever need. The Colossus, Storm, and Nightcrawler solo stories all hit the vital points of their origin stories; I'm always up for Nightcrawler in the circus stories. But really, this book is worth the $4 just for the Wolverine story. Trust me. I can be right sometimes!

I have a tendency to not follow the Marvel Adventures style all ages comics well. Even Wolverine: First Class, which seemed to be pandering exclusively to me by being a Kitty Pryde/Wolverine team up book written by Fred Van Lente, lost me eventually. When he made Kitty a furry, I guess. But I'll at least check in from time to time. The Claremont/Cockrum era X-Men could use this approach, given how morose they were. But I'll get to the old man later.

Uncanny X-Men #511- The one X-Men comic I've been following regulary since Grant Morrison left, although I suppose Jason Aaron's Wolverine and Jeff Parker's Exiles count now. Anyway, this is the end of the Red Queen storyline. I liked it. Even Land's art seemed okay to me. I liked the resolution of Maddie's plot, and the fact that Beast knows that Scott and Emma are doing some shady crap. Nice that he got to be the one to confront them for once, instead of Wolverine (of course, Logan's on Scott's secret hit squad, so he'd be a bit of a hypocrite if he did).

Fraction's X-Men run is such an odd duck for me. I really like what he's doing, even the stylistic flourishes that annoy others (love those character info boxes he plucked from either Scott Pilgrim or the Intimates), and especially what he's doing plot wise. That said, I'm still always on the verge of dropping it. It's just good enough, which isn't good enough, especially considering what Fraction's capable of. What may finally do me in is the upcoming, multi part crossover with the Dark Avengers. Marvel can go to a prostate buffet if they think I'm shelling out for that, especially since it appears to be nothing but set up for an X-Men team that features Daken and Cloak and Dagger. That's a jumping off point.

Wolverine #73 and 74- I liked Aaron's explanation for why Wolverine's on a million teams more than Chad did, especially since it hinges on his getting his memories back in House of M. Good to see someone use that thing well. Also, he was on a fairly sensible number of teams in the '90s for a cash cow, wasn't he? It was pretty much whatever X-Men team needed him and ocasionally the Secret Defenders and New Fantastic Four, if I remember correctly. I did stop reading comics regulalry between '95 and 2001, though, so maybe I missed more than I thought.

Anyway, good fill in story here. I loved that Spider-Man was the guy who confroted him about it, too. For a character that doesn't suit Aaron's style at all, he writes him well. Nice art from whichever Kubert brother it was, too. I honestly can't remember nor be bothered to google it or even look up in the issue which is right there which Kubert brother it was. I'm just going to pretend it was the rarely seen third Kubert brother, Sancho, and move on.

The other story (this was two single issues fill ins chopped in half and serialized together to fill the gap between Old Man Logan and Dark Wolverine, in case you didn't know) is also solid. Logan bumps in to his 1,000,000,000th old friend we've never heard of (who resembles John Goodman) and helps him sort some things out. I think Marvel has a Mad Lib for pitching this story at this point.

It's written by Daniel Way, and overcomes my low opinion of his work (which is unfair, as I've largely ignored it) by being pretty good. It even has some emotional resonance! That's nice, even if it does comes from the stupid existence of Wolverine's stupid son (who is stupid). That said, it could have been about anything, I wouldn't care; the real draw of it was Tommy Lee Edwards' art. Hell, I'm eventually going to buy that Marvel 1984 thing Millar's did for it, too. He's that good.

X-Factor #44- This is the first Peter David comic I've read in years. It's also the first X-Factor comic I've read since I tracked down that issue where Doc Samson gives the team therapy that David wrote. The first time he was writing the team. When I was in grade school.

So, yeah, things done changed since then. Madrox is really the only link between the two incarnations besides Captain Punderful writing it (and I guess Val Cooper counts, too). For one thing, I have no real idea who Darwin is, because I've never read Brubaker's X-Men. He seems like an okay guy, though, and I like the rest of the cast (Longshot FTW!) so everything turned out well there. I have to admit the cast is always a big part of why I like an X-Men comic, more than frivolous concepts like "plot" or "sense making". I even came around on Joss Whedon's X-Men eventually because I liked his team.

Anyway; I don't want to get dragged in to any drama with David and the Scans Daily crowd (just thinking of that little spat makes me root for the meteor). So, I won't spoil anything plot-wise, or even allude to it. I'll just say I thought this was a solid comic. Maybe even pretty good. Not going to start buying it regulalry, but it was pretty okay and I wouldn't rule out catching up on the trades at some point possibly, on a slow week, if I have purchased every other comic book I would ever want to read. Is that qualified enough?

X-Men Forever #0Alpha and #1- Yeah, so, I was going to ignore this, like every Claremont X-Men comic since he left the first time. But it does have a lot of my favorite X-Men characters in it (watching Pryde of the X-Men as a kid really hardwired me to always want Kitty and Nightcrawler on the team. I was able to except that Wolverine wasn't Australian and that Dazzler sucked* eventually, though). And I never did read Claremont's last issue of his first run, so I had to get the reprint of his last story arc with Jim Lee they tacked a teaser for the new series on to. How funny is it in retrospect that was meant to be a "passing of the torch" moment, given how long Lee stuck around to run the X-Men?

Also, I like Tom Grummett a lot. I know Joe Rice will finally disown me once he reads this but, well, it was gonna happen eventually. I just read some of his Superboy run with Karl Kessel recently; those were some fun comics. I want that guy back, damn it!

Anyway, the last Claremont/Lee X collaboration showed why Marvel wasn't big enough for both of them, because holy hell! They're basically on two different planets! Claremont's characters are so verbose they make Don McGreggor's look... well, he was probably still wordier. But dear lord, all the soliloquies in that thing got ridiculous, especially given how much they exposed Jim Lee's lack of range. It really cuts the dramatic tension off at the knees when Magneto's giving his death speech and all I can think is "shut up and die already, old man, so I can stop reading this and take some Tylenol!" And yes, I realize I also am longwinded. I learned it from Claremont! That's what reading his comics growing up did to me. That, and I say things like "no quarter asked, none given" way more than I should. Like, that one time I said it. That was too many times.

He's actually much less verbose in X-Men Forever #1, which picks up where X-Men '91 #3 left off. Except half the team has disappeared off panel, Kitty and Kurt have rejoined, Gambit and Rogue have real names (wait, Remy Picard? For real?), Nick Fury's become more of a douche than he was in '91, and a lot of the characterization is rewired to fit where Claremont wants to go instead of whatever they were setting up for after his departure. Otherwise, it's just like it's 1991 all over again!

That out of the way, I liked this issue a lot. I mean, they had me with that sequence where each member of the team shares their innermost thoughts before the mission. That will always work on me. And it did read like a classic issue of Claremont's X-Men, with a bunch of subplots established and a big cliffhanger (which he really never could have done in 1991). Not sure I want to read this in bi-weekly installments, but I'm actually looking forward to the eventual trade.

X-Men Legacy #224- And we end with the actual X-Men series that's continued since Claremont left in 1991. Despite liking Mike Carey as a writer, I've never tried his X-Men before. His initial run was drawn by my two least favorite artists in mainstream comics (yes, more than Greg Land), Chris Bachallo and Humberto Ramos. Since the comic took on the subtitle, I've been leary of trying it because it appeared to be continuity porn. Well done continuity porn, but still; I really don't want to encourage that much navel gazing if I can help it.

That said, this was pretty good, too. I mean, Mike Carey made an actual character out of Danger and made Professor X chaining it up in the basement make him seem like an awful person. That deserves an award higher than the Eisner, folks. Like a statue the size of King Kong Bundy made of deep fried gold.

This is also a pivotal issue for Rogue, as someone finally got the go ahead to resolve the problem that's been the crux of her character forever. Throw in some attractive Scott Eaton art and you have a pretty good comic in my book. Entitled "I Have Low Standards, But At Least I'm Not This Guy, Awesome As He Is." I'm still looking for a publisher on that, by the way.

I'd love to declare the X-Men line healthy, but despite this sampling, I'm not reading everything in it. Between Warren Ellis's glacially paced serialization of Astonishing X-Men (I'll get the trade maybe), the New Mutants relaunch (which I would have bought but forgot. Twice), the Wolverine/Punisher and Mojo serials in Astonishing Tales (kind of want the Mojo thing because Hickman's doing it), Cable, X-Force, Cable vs. X-Force, Cable Loves X-Force, all the X-Men one shots, all the Wolverine one shots, Cable and X-Force Are Just Friends With Benefits Now, and the confusion over whether Deadpool and Captain Britain are considered part of the X-Men family or not; crap, writing all that made me tired. You know, there's only so much of this stuff I can afford/read before blood shoots out of my ears. What I did read was pretty good, though, so that's nice to see. I like when my imaginary friends are doing well.

*Burgas, I already obtained a restraining order against you, so you better turn your car around and not head down here to strangle me. Besides, I think Dazzler's okay in small doses. I'm just messing with you.

29 Comments

• At June 19, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  You're dead to me!!!!!

• At June 19, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  I stopped reading at "I like Tom Grummett a lot." That dude's stuff is just totally bland and generic. It ...

• At June 19, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Like the rest of comicdom, I like the “new” X-Men better than the original group.

  Except me. I prefer the ...

• At June 19, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "I stopped reading at “I like Tom Grummett a lot.” That dude’s stuff is just totally bland and generic. It ...

• At June 19, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  So, yeah, things done changed since then. Madrox is really the only link between the two incarnations besides Captain Punderful ...

• At June 19, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  I loooooved Grummett back when I was a younger lad, and still hold much fondness for him now, but the ...

• At June 19, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  And oh yeah, I prefer the original X-Men to the all-new, all-different X-Men, but I also prefer scabies to most ...

• At June 19, 2009, Agelesshero wrote:

  I'll be your friend if Bill won't.

  Everyone at CBR is so in love with Bachalo's scrawls. Seeing his name ...

• At June 19, 2009, Dan wrote:

  Thank God for Mike Carey on X-Men. I like a writer who respects and works with the material which came ...

• At June 19, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  I hate Humberto Ramos's art.

  I dropped Runaways because of him and he's also ruining Avenger The Initiative for me.

  He ...

• At June 19, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  "Yeah, I’m willing to take shit from Joe on that, but not his half baked protege. Thanks for sharing anyway."

  That ...

• At June 19, 2009, Michael P. wrote:

  What the hell does Humberto Ramos have to do with anything?

• At June 19, 2009, comixkid2099 wrote:

  "What the hell does Humberto Ramos have to do with anything?"

  He was part of a rotating team of artists consisting ...

• At June 19, 2009, hector j wrote:

  If you don't care what Douchebag Jr. thinks, why should you give a shit what Douchebag Sr. thinks?

• At June 19, 2009, Bright-Raven wrote:

  Apodaca:

  "(Grummett)'s stuff is just totally bland and generic."

  " I just sincerely don’t understand how someone can have a preference for ...

• At June 19, 2009, Royea wrote:

  I really enjoy the work of bachalo and ramos on that solid run right around issue 200..as for land and ...

• At June 19, 2009, Brad Surveys The X-Men: Hope He Survives The Experience! | Cash Cow USA wrote:

  [...] Source [...]

• At June 19, 2009, Lawrence wrote:

  I'm not sure comicdom liked the "new" X-men more than the originals. To me, it seems the "new" team only ...

• At June 20, 2009, The Truth-Speaker wrote:

  All X-Men comics are total shit and anyone who reads them is a complete loser.

• At June 20, 2009, I Love Gerbils wrote:

  Amen, brother! TESTIFY!

• At June 20, 2009, Novaya Havoc wrote:

  Uncanny X-Men is so, so, sooooo godawful.

• At June 20, 2009, knivesinwest11 wrote:

  "Astonishing however, just makes me want to throw up when I look at bianchi’s arrogant ugly pages filled with disgusting ...

• At June 20, 2009, jjc wrote:

  re: Astonishing. When did Forge turn into a nutjob?

• At June 20, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  "A preference for Tom Grummett over whom?" Why are you asking me? I'm not the one who said I liked ...

• At June 20, 2009, Stefan wrote:

  The way I see it the core X-Men books are really healthy; Uncanny, Legacy, Astonishing. Aaron's Wolverine is solid ...

• At June 21, 2009, david wrote:

  "Can you tell me what it is about it that you find distinct and good?"

  You have read the Superboy issues ...

• At June 21, 2009, Bright-Raven wrote:

  "Why are you asking me? "

  Because you apparently didn't phrase the question properly.

  You specifically stated: "I can't understand how anyone ...

• At June 21, 2009, Jeremy wrote:

  @ knivesinwest11: Don't leave the book now! Jiminez is coming on for a five-part arc! Maybe now the book can ...

• At June 27, 2009, Big_Bux wrote:

  Are you people who are hating on Ramos insane? He is brilliant. In Runaways third volume it was Christina Strain ...

If only because the team that's been correctly identified the least number of times (3.1%!) amuses me, even if I have a similar missplaced nostalgic affection for them as this guy. One more thing; is it just me, or should Maria Hill not be mentioned as one of the three most prominent characters in anything, at all, ever?

34 Comments

• At March 29, 2009, Tim_H wrote:

  Thanks for the link, I'd not seen that before. I only managed to get 21/30, but once I saw ...

• At March 29, 2009, Da Fug wrote:

  Fun quiz though one has to quickly ignore the results page you linked to and the other link. I ...

• At March 29, 2009, Thok wrote:

  I took that quiz before you mentioned it and got a 28/30. I missed Hydra (understandable) and for some ...

• At March 29, 2009, Dave wrote:

  I got 29/30, missed the Luthor, Grodd, Grundy team because I've always been more of a Marvel fan than a ...

• At March 29, 2009, Dave wrote:

  And by "college years" I mean "chugging a 6 pack of Genessee cream ale and watching adult swim while my ...

• At March 29, 2009, Grico wrote:

  Had no clue the name of Hellboy's team but got the rest pretty quick. JSA was the hardest I got, ...

• At March 29, 2009, Justin wrote:

  I also had trouble with Hellboy's team, so I cheated and googled it. So, in all actuality, I got ...

• At March 30, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  30/30, in less than three minutes, to boot.

  I dunno if that's something to be ashamed of or proud of...

• At March 30, 2009, Tyler wrote:

  I got everyone except the incredibles. Never seen the movie, and all I could think of was that elasti-gril ...

• At March 30, 2009, Anonymous wrote:

  27/30, missed Lex Luthor, Spartan and the aforementioned Gen13.

• At March 30, 2009, Jake wrote:

  Got all of them except the mystery men. Can't believe that slipped my mind.

• At March 30, 2009, Anonymous wrote:

  20/30

  I'm kicking myself for missing The Hellfire Club, The Incredibles and Mystery Men, but most of all, Justice Society of ...

• At March 30, 2009, Matthew E wrote:

  I missed HYDRA and, like Justin, didn't know the name of Hellboy's team.

• At March 30, 2009, Chris Simpson wrote:

  I got less than half right. Guess I've been a Marvel zombie for too long! :-)

  I didn't even get ...

• At March 30, 2009, Daniel wrote:

  I went completely blank on "Legion of Doom", but oddly "Injustice Society" also counts as a correct answer for that.

  Otherwise, ...

• At March 30, 2009, Matt Ampersand wrote:

  28/30 I missed the Mystery Men and COBRA (total brain fart!)

• At March 30, 2009, Mark Cook wrote:

  30/30, also embarassingly quick; although I tried both Secret Society of Super-Villains and Injustice League before Legion of Doom.

• At March 30, 2009, Nate L. wrote:

  28/30. Missed Wildcats and Hellboy's group. I also misread "Spartan" as "Zartan" and kept trying to spell his ...

• At March 30, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  And here I thought it was too easy.

  For shame, fellow comics nerds!

• At March 30, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  30/30 with only a couple requiring me to stop and think before answering. I had the same problems with the ...

• At March 30, 2009, jazzbo wrote:

  29/30. Like Tyler I missed the Incredibles one, and could only think of DP as the answer. And for some ...

• At March 30, 2009, DanLarkin wrote:

  30/30. God, I've wasted my life...

• At March 30, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Got 'em all with 4:21 to spare.

  Spaced on Autobots and Mystery Men for a while there.

• At March 30, 2009, Birmy wrote:

  30/30 as well with about four minutes left, though I misidentified the team from Watchmen as their predecessors and it ...

• At March 30, 2009, Inside Joke wrote:

  I discovered Sporcle last night (before I read this post). This quiz was the first one I did, got ...

• At March 30, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  That was easy-squeezy.

• At March 30, 2009, Grico wrote:

  I actually was expected more obscure teams for some reason. I was primped for like the Forgotten Heroes. when I ...

• At March 30, 2009, Dalarsco wrote:

  I got all of them with 3:29 left to go. Gen 13 took me the longest.

• At March 30, 2009, Ken Raining wrote:

  30/30, and it probably took me longer to figure out how to enter my answers then to take the damn ...

• At March 30, 2009, Dan wrote:

  I tried Injustice Gang, then Society. Didn't even think of Legion of Doom! Even after having seen your ...

• At March 30, 2009, Stephen wrote:

  Didn't get ATHF because, well, I've never watched ATHF.

  Rest were all pretty simple, aside from flubbing on Hydra a couple ...

• At March 30, 2009, Beacon wrote:

  29/30

  I spaced on Mystery Men.

  If forced to be completely honest, well, I’m not sure I would have gotten Legion ...

• At March 30, 2009, Cass wrote:

  Looking at the poll results, I’m shocked that less then 50% got the JLA from Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. ...

• At March 31, 2009, Chuck D wrote:

  As for less than 50% getting JLA, best I can tell from the comments its b/c everyone kept entering Justice ...

Speaking of Burgas, I'll kick things off with the only trade I got this week, one where he was quoted on the back cover:

Atomic Robo Volume 2: Dogs of War- And here's what our second best Greg promised on that back cover:

Seriously, people: Buy Atomic Robo! You have nothing to lose except your cynicism!

While I'm still holding on to my cynicism, thank you very much, this was as fun as advertised by folks around here (and others). There's a real Hellboy/weird pulp adventure vibe to the whole thing which is an easy way to win my heart. I mean, beyond the Nazi judo from Lara Croft's spiritual forerunner there,

I'd actually read and enjoyed the Free Comic Book Day issue of this last May. I just have a tendency to forget these things exist when it comes time to actually by them (which reminds me, I should probably look in to purchasing Apocalypstix). So it was a pleasant surprise to find it a copy of this at the local comic shop (even if it totally screwed up my attempt to cut back on my comics budget this week). I think I'll go back and order the first trade rather than wait for it to appear on the trade shelves over there by accident.

Special Forces #4- If finding a copy of Robo on the shelves at my LCS was a surprise, then finding a copy of this waiting for me in my pull box was a pleasant mindblower, not unlike finding this in the freezer case in the grocery store.*

So, yeah, I forgot this existed, too. This didn't entirely work for me like it did Sims, but I liked it better than Diana at Savage Critic. I never read in to it the way Diana did; I think the fact that Zone and Felony killed everyone was less a commentary on the war and more the elements of Baker aping/parodying Frank Miller that were so prevalent throughout the series, for instance.

That said, I didn't see it as the triumph Sims does, although the fact that it had been months since I read the preceding three parts. That said, I'm iffy on whether this is actually works on two levels like he does. That said, it does bear a re-reading to determine that, so that alone is worth praising (at least if you're an adherent to the lowered expectations school of criticism that I often employ). And even if it doesn't wind up striking me as brilliant political satire, I do have to admit the use of lines like "Because we hate your freedom!" did crack me up.

And now, some corporate comics!

Captain Britain and MI-13 #11- I have to admit; beyond the admittedly awesome bits with Dr. Doom and Drac's moon pissing contest and the vampire missiles that made me pick up the book, I wasn't exactly crazy about the last issue. I decided to give the series another shot because the non-awesome parts were Claremontian "downtime between missions" stuff, featuring a bunch of characters I have no investment in. I wanted to see if the next issue would work better for me.

It did. Pete Wisdom demonstrates that famous British stiff upper lip and prepares for war with Dracula, looking like a total bad ass in the process. Blade's appearance is more Tomb of Dracula than Wesley Snipes movies. While there's not a lot of action or plot movement in this issue, it does build tension fairly well, and makes me look forward to the next issue. That's a rare thing in serialized comics these days. I may be a late adopter on this one, but I'm willing to see where it goes from here.

Daredevil #116- Despite being as big a fan of Ed Brubaker as the next person who reads mainstream comics and is at least a functional illiterate, I've never been that in to his Daredevil run, from the sporadic issues I've sampled of it. To be fair, I was pretty well underwhelmed by Bendis and Maleev's run before him. I may just not have much use for old horn head when Frank Miller's not writing him (although I do have a soft spot for the Silver Age issues collected in Essential DD vol. 1.

That said, Tucker Stone's excellent review at the Savage Critic and some extra cash made me give this a shot. And it's a damn good comic, as you'd expect a Brubaker/Aja collaboration to be. I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to keep up with this in single issues, but I'm keener on actually picking up the trades than I was before.

Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #1- This was all very nice boilerplate Fantastic Four stuff until Ben opened the elevator door. Then it looked like my platonic ideal of the best FF story not done by Lee, Kirby, and Sinnott ever. So, Hickman continues to bat a .1000 as far as I'm concerned.

X-Men and Spider-Man #4- This is actually the only issue of the mini I've picked up, solely because it featured Spider-Man teaming up with my favorite X-Men line up ever (it was basically the same one that was featured in X-Men Classic when I started reading that series as a youngster, minus Storm). Given that it’s a series of interconnected stand alone stories set in different points in continuity, it was perfectly easy to jump in on. It's a premise that worked well in Dan Slott and Ty Templeton's excellent Spider-Man/Human Torch, and I'd really like to see adopted more often, even if it's

Christos Gage turns in a good script, even if it's basically an issue of Marvel Team Up. I'd like to see him join the Spidey Brain Trust. That said, the art from Mario Alberti is the real draw. Well, beyond the first appearance of Xraven the Mutant Hunter. As you might have heard, it's very pretty (and was even better in the previous issues, apparently). I'm also going to go ahead assume that's why it's $3.99; a pretty Italian art import tax.

Finally, the best saved for last:

Marvel Apes: Speedball One Shot- Seriously, forget all of the rest of this crap; it's more Marvel Apes! Not only that, it's more Marvel Apes Speedball vs. the Red Ghost! And it's a lead in to more one shots! And Tom Peyer's back doing the back ups, featuring jokes at the Ancient One's expense and Charles Darwin punching out Apelicia Masters! And the inevitable Apes vs. Zombies crossover is foreshadowed! Kyle Baker's satire doesn't have shit on this!** DC can shove that cowel people are fighting for up their ass! This is the only single issue worth your $3.99 that came out last Wednesday!***

* I mean, seriously, a pretzel stuffed with eggs? That totally freaked me out. I mean, its existence almost made me start blubbering incoherently in the middle of the grocery store like the Comedian! If I had an arch villain, I totally would have found him and done that in his room in the middle of the night! Also, I fully expect one of the makers of that thing to toss me through my window any day now. Which will be embarrassing for them, since it's Plexiglas. And it would be a really short fall, because I live on the ground floor. But otherwise, this is totally like Watchmen!

**Okay, no, not really, but it certainly was my favorite comic of the week by a wide margin. I could totally read a Speedball/Ape-X ongoing. They could be this century's Heroes for Hire, but, you know, they're apes! The damn thing writes itself!

*** This, I'm pretty serious about, even if what I saw of BFC did exceed my low expectations. Damien joy riding with the Batmobile alone tempted me to pick it up, but it's no Marvel Apes.

3 Comments

• At March 15, 2009, torpor wrote:

  Marvel Apes? Seriously?

  Um, no. Sorry. I'm not wasting my hard-earned $$$ on that nonsense.

• At March 15, 2009, Aaron Glazer wrote:

  Get everything Hickman writes until further notice.

• At March 15, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Yeah, I'm not buying that Apes nonsense. I'm way more intrigued by all this Dark Reign nonsense!

Astonishing X-Men Vol. 2 Hardcover- I really liked the parts where they weren't on the stupid alien planet. Between Kitty playing Wolverine's role in the original Hellfire Club story, to Wolverine as the prissy kid from Origin (and Cassady's hilarious facial expressions for him), to Cyclops casually shooting the villains, the opening arc had some great moments. I'll never be able to see Sebastian Shaw in a panel without wanting to see Colossus punch him in the face again, although I think I always wanted to see that anyway, and Whedon was just really pandering to me.

Speaking of pandering; that's a lot of what this comic's built on. Not just Whedon's scripts (peppered with Star Wars references where there probably shouldn't be so many Star Wars references), but the whole idea of letting him do a love letter to the X-Men in the first place. We read the same X-Men comics growing up (X-Men Classic was a hell of a drug when you were 12 years old in the '90s), so I'm not objecting, but I do feel like I should be honest about why I was there.

The Agent Brand/Maria Hill ovary measuring contest was also pretty awesome, if only because they are functionally the same character, although Brand's later Beast-ialty distinguishes her a bit. To be fair, I've barely read any of Hill's appearances; maybe she's less of a total stereotype outside of that small sample size. She did have one of the few genuinely cool scenes in Secret Invasion, so there's that in her favor, too.

Once we get to Breakworld, things become less fun, especially since I knew what was coming in the climax. To be fair, while I don't like how he did it, I do have to give Whedon credit for not making Kitty's death by giant space bullet seem tacked on, which is one up on the deaths at the end of Morrison's run. The stuff with the rest of the Marvel Universe in the finale did, but it leads to some great scenes. I'll take Whedon written Spider-Man and Cassady drawn everyone where I can get it.

That was pretty much how I feel about the run as a whole. The plot was shaky, and the pacing pretty much killed it for me in serialization, but Whedon absolutely nailed the character work, which redeems the wonkier parts of the book for me. It's not the absolute classic I was hoping for when I first learned my favorite genre TV visionary was following my favorite comics writer on my favorite superhero team franchise, the good outweighed the bad in the final accounting. Well, for me. If nothing else, I can see why they promoted Hisako to the team; she's one of the better new mutants in years.

So, I'm glad I caught up on this run, especially since I was able to skip that dumb ass Danger arc and still enjoy the rest of it. Sure, Danger shows up again, but it's a background character that serves as mass transport. More characters that annoy me should suffer that fate. So, yeah, I want Maria Hill to give Tony Stark and Pepper piggy back rides in Invincible Iron Man. Get on that, Fraction!

Chronicles of Some Made- I've been struggling with what to say about Felix Tannenbaum's GN since I read it last month. Site policy is to review all review copies we get, and I felt like it deserved some attention. I just haven't been happy with the ideas I had in response to it.

It's not that it was a hard read. Far to the contrary, actually. That's the problem, though; I feel like I'm shortchanging the book when the only adjectives I can think to describe it are "sweet" and "pleasant". It's the story of two robots fighting their programming. A story with that kind of premise could go a lot of predictable ways, but it's neither a sci-fi epic or an existential meditation. It's a little of the latter, but not enough to make it tedious.

It actually has a fairly ambiguous ending on the existential front, which Tannenbaum laments in the afterword. That ending also features a squirrel run hot dog cart, so I think things even out.

The best compliment I can pay this book is that it reminds me a fair bit of Craig Thompson's first graphic novel, Goodbye Chunky Rice. Tannenbaum's not as accomplished a cartoonist as Thompson was at this stage of his career, and the subject matter in both books is fairly different, but I found that they elicited similar reactions.

Tannenbaum's art is solid and readable black and white work. He tells his story with absolute clarity, even when using a 16 panel grid. Given that he's using robots as main characters (and that squirrels are the supporting cast), he doesn't have a lot of chances to show a range of expressions or use body language, although his robots aren't emotionless. The designs of the robots is utilitarian; they don't look like a bad ass mecha or pulp sci-fi characters, but they aren't totally generic.

The book also features the strip "Why Doesn't My Robot Love Me: A Cautionary Tale" a story created for an Institute of Cartoon Studies scholarship contest. The author himself makes a cameo; he resembles Henry Rollins. It's a nice back up feature, basically.

If it sounds like something you'd be interested, Some Made is listed on Amazon. You can read a preview here. It's not my usual fare, and I'm not sure I'd have paid for it, but it is a solid read from the indies that isn't going to cover you in cynicism or angst, and if nothing else, you may want to grab it via your LCS now before Diamond laughs this sort of thing out of their circulation.

If nothing else, dude got some Ninja Turtle money in the form of a Xeric grant, so that's worth some respect.

6 Comments

• At February 18, 2009, Evan McB wrote:

  I'm rereading my X-Men Classics right now, and they ARE drugtastic, but something to note is just how many Star ...

• At February 18, 2009, Duff McWhalen wrote:

  "Dumb ass Danger arc"? Tell me you did not love Xavier trying to kick its ass.

• At February 18, 2009, Craig wrote:

  "To be fair, I’ve barely read any of Hill’s appearances; maybe she’s less of a total stereotype outside of that ...

• At February 18, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  I just reread the Whedon run recently and I agree that if you try to describe the plots they sound ...

• At February 18, 2009, Bry wrote:

  Agreed on Astonishing X-Men. I'm firmly entrenched as one of those massive Whedon fans, but his work there was pretty ...

• At February 18, 2009, Dave wrote:

  Well, in Invincible Iron Man #10 Maria Hill does give Tony a ride, but its not exactly piggy back...