Welcome back, true believers! We’ve got a great round-up of comics for you this week. Take a look behind the cut for all the reviews you’ve come to know and love from your favorite crew.
I’d also like to remind you, you can check out our rating system below:
0: Uwe Boll will direct the adaptation of this comic
0.1 – 1: Burn upon touching
1- 1.9: Abysmal
2.0 – 2.9: Art. Writing. Editing. All bad.
3.0 – 3.9: You’d be a masochist to pick this up.
4.0 – 4.9: “I’ll give it another month…but that was not good.”
5.0 – 5.9: “Really? The Watcher? In the face? I guess it was fun.”
6.0 – 6.9: “Hmm. That was decent.”
7.0 – 7.9: Well made but a few problems
8.0 – 8.9: Nearly flawless
9.0 – 9.9: Outstanding
10: Perfection. Issue of the year contender
For those wondering, Pass would be anywhere from 0 to 3.9, Browse would be 4 to 6.9, and Buy would be from 7 to 10. So what are you waiting for? Hop on past the jump and enjoy!
Also, are there any books you’d like to see us review? Let us know in the comments, and one of us will get right on it! We’ll also keep those books in mind for future weeks!
New Avengers Finale 
And with this, we officially have come to the end of an era. It’s an odd thing to really think about. I can remember being in high school when the Avenger’s disassembled, going to my local store and seeing all these issues by some writer I didn’t know. 7 years later, I’m reading the highly anticipated finale to one of his biggest books – New Avengers. Granted, the book picks up with a second volume in soon, but 7 years is a long time.
With that in mind, this really just pays off loose ends of Siege, rather than be just the big era reminiscing issue I thought it’d be (which I’ll get to later). The Hood and Madame Masque are still on the loose, and it’s up to the New Avengers to take them down. This is of course all illustrated by the glorious Bryan Hitch, who holds the masters degree in widescreen action comics. This is Hitch at his home front, pure and simple, and the book is clearly written for him. With intense action all illustrated beautifully by Hitch, this book is the kind of story I’ve been waiting for someone to give him for quite some time now (no offense, Mark Millar).
Following the capture of the Hood, we segue into the finale of Siege where the Superhuman Registration Act is repealed and Steve replaces Nick Fury at the head of SHIELD. This cues the epic speech from Captain America in which we get a basic recap of the past 7 years this book has been going on. From when the team first met Echo as Ronin up through House of M, Secret Invasion, and Siege, we see images that we’ve all come to know. The only thing is… for a finale, it’s kind of underwhelming? I mean, I don’t know what I expected really. It’s an epilogue to Siege and all, but I felt like part of this final speech would result more in why the New Avengers are sticking around. Even an opportunity to see Hawkeye actively change his costume. Not only that, as much as I like Bendis, the final speech was not very good. It’s just not something I could honestly hear Cap say. It seemed rather repetitive, and very un-Captain America-esque. The whole scene should have played out as a fond reminder of what we had, but yet felt like a collection of images with corny dialogue.
So I’m split half and half on this issue. All the stuff with Bryan Hitch I thought was amazing. Two mad comic geniuses working together with a terrific end result. Everything else? That just felt rather phoned in all in all.
Continued belowIt’s certainly a better epilogue than that Sentry one-shot!
Final Verdict: 8.2 – Buy
PunisherMAX #7 
Now THIS is a title I can get behind! The last time I reviewed PunisherMAX with issue #6, I ranted and raved about how great it was. You know what? My comments still stand. I could probably copy and paste that review EXACTLY and it would almost perfectly describe how I feel about this issue.
You know what? Let’s do that.
There’s just something about Jason Aaron… I don’t know what it is quite yet, but I am absolutely convinced that he does not want us to be comfortable while reading his Punisher story. Last time we had a naked old woman in a shoot out. Now we have a naked Bullseye taking a dump. This time we have Bullseye bludgeoning people to death and sleeping nude on Frank Castle’s old mattress to steal his dreams. This whole paragraph is still effectively true!
But see – this is exactly the reason to be reading Aaron’s Punisher book. The previous MAX book lacked cajones, and the current on-going is … well, it’s doing it’s own thing. There are no books on the market that really boil down the Punisher to what makes him a popular character, and to what writers like Garth Ennis have popularized so well… except for Aaron’s book. PunisherMAX perfectly exemplifies exactly what kind of Punisher story we should be getting, and all poop scenes aside, this book is dynamite. Once again, a PERFECT explanation of the Punisher and this issue! Granted, this issue highly focuses on Bullseye and Bullseye’s hunt for Castle after Castle is “the one that got away.” But even so, everything that I could want and have expected from a Punisher story since a guy named Garth Ennis was on the title is right here for your enjoyment. In fact, if you read all of Ennis run and skipped right to this, you would be perfect.
What I really want to focus on is Bullseye. I can’t remember the last time I actually thought of Bullseye as a character worth fearing, but the combination of Aaron’s writing with Dillon’s art runs a chill up my spine. Bullseye for the past couple years has been nothing more than a joke, to be honest – whether he’s dressing up as someone else, throwing women out of planes, or attacking a group of people dressed like him. The fear is gone. I don’t regard Bullseye as one of the world’s most terrifying assassins more than I do a snarky villain who enjoys death. I missed the madman Bullseye, and Aaron brought him back in furious force. Honest to God – this is the best Bullseye I’ve seen in a while, even more so than how Warren Ellis wrote him, and coming from me, that’s saying something. This book is worth buying for this fact alone. Still all true. The issue focuses primarily on Bullseye as I said, and this time there is various exposition explaining the kind of crazy things he has done in the past when hunting his mark. Aaron’s Bullseye is more insane than regular Bullseye, and that’s quite a notion to comprehend. In a series that strives to reinvent the characters and their origins, Aaron’s writing with the combination of Dillon’s art has managed to that to the T. It’s incredible.
I could go on and on and continue posting my previous review, but that’s not what you want. What you want is the news on the latest issue, and my friends I am here to tell you that if you are a fan of the Punisher in any sense of the word and you somehow aren’t picking up PunisherMAX you’re doing yourself a great disservice. Jason Aaron has proven that he can do stories beyond Wolverine hacking and slashing people (as Who Won’t Wield The Shield might try and make you believe), and when he is given free reign to be as nuts as he wants with a company owned property like this, he can turn out gold. Maybe it’s the beard driving him to write such brutal stories, or maybe this is just the kind of comic he wants to see on the shelves – either way, it’s highly appreciated.
Continued belowSo go buy PunisherMAX. I probably can never review this title again because what else am I going to say besides it’s dynamite and you need to own it, so for this and every issue in this book’s future – buy it.
Final Verdict: 9.5 – Buy
New Mutants #13 
In case you haven’t noticed, every part of Second Coming has been reviewed by Brandon, and pretty much every part has been praised. Me as the negative ball of fun that I am saw this and knew it was time to tilt the balance, give Second Coming a bit of a smack down from a singular reviewers stand point as opposed to the collective book of the week spot. So here I am, with a copy of New Mutants, ready to dish out some hate.
Unfortunately, I can’t. I just can not do it, faithful reader, because this is too good. And as much as I don’t want to spend the whole review gushing over the book, I don’t know what else to do! The book was just SO good! I have often felt that Zeb Wells’ run on New Mutants, once we got out of the initial arc, has been superb. His tie-ins with Necrosha were better than Necrosha, and his lead-ins to Second Coming were awesome. Now that we’re in Second Coming, we get an absolutely dynamite issue that pushes the story forward excellently, with enough X-goodness to keep the reader in to the story.
Now, the book doesn’t really focus on the New Mutants so much. That is understandable to a degree considering that Illyana is gone and Sam is looking for her in limbo (in X-Men: Hellbound, by Yost, which was great) and the rest of the New Mutants are a tad scattered after their last battle. This issue really just serves the overall tale instead of focusing on any one team and taking us out of the larger event, which is great. We see Hope dealing with other inhabitants of Utopia, we get a new death (that really has little to no impact on me, to be honest), and the X-Men and friends all get stranded to Utopia, prepping for the final battle. That and the final villainous monologue makes for quite a chilling scene to go out on (discluding Hope’s moment of weakness).
Zeb Wells has really done a great job with his role in the mutant community, and this issue is a testament to that. I think Wells gets Cyclops desperation within this story fairly well, and how he’s trying so hard to be a leader of a race of people and failing. You would think that by reading this issue that Wells was the architect of the entire story, given how well he writes the inner workings of Utopia and all the different teams. And how about that art? My goodness, Ibraim Roberson is a dynamite power house of artwork this week. I can’t remember this book ever looking so good! Second Coming as a whole has been a great tribute to artwork so far, and every artist who has put in has made some absolutely crazy awesome scenery. Ibraim Roberson is absolutely no exception to this.
Suffice it to say, as much as I’d love to rag on the X-Books just for fun, I can’t. Second Coming has been great and continues to be great, and it is as good if not better than Messiah CompleX so far. It truly is the sequel that book deserves (sorry Messiah War), and I can imagine that it’s only going to get better from here.
Final Verdict: 9.1 – Buy
Avengers: The Initiative #35 
In general, I’ve been a detractor of the Avengers Initiative project and series. I hate the concept, didn’t like it after Civil War, and 35 issues later still don’t care for t. In fact, I can’t say I’ve ever really cared for the title either. The only time I’ve ever really enjoyed it was right after Secret Invasion for Hank Pym’s return issue, and then just now during Siege. Outside of that, I’ve thought the series was pretty meh.
Unfortunately, this was somewhat of a return to form for that. While the issue started off well and moved along with the finale of Siege, it quickly brought back characters that I just didn’t care about and focused on the fall of the Initiative. That makes PERFECT sense to me, yet since I never really cared about the Initiative, I just don’t care about the major going ons of this issue. There are some wrap ups, and there is a segue into what will become Avengers Academy, but other than that I just wasn’t moved.
This isn’t to say Christos Gage did a bad job writing. I can appreciate good writing when I see it, and Gage is certainly a talented individual at Marvel and a catch for them. I enjoy his writing. But man, I just could not find any investment in the story. I suppose that, at the end of the day, there really isn’t much more I can say about this title than that.
Final Verdict: 6.2 – Browse
DAVID’S REVIEWS
Birds of Prey #1 
Birds of Prey, while guided by Gail Simone, had long been one of my favorite series. The triumvriate of Oracle, Black Canary, and Huntress had long been a group I’d been attached to, and with the addition of characters like Zinda and Misfit, my appreciation just became greater.
But then the series ended.
Alas, all things are meant to come to an end, and Birds of Prey was one of those things. Thankfully, DC saw fit to eventually brings us this series back, resurrecting it like one of the heroes at the end of Blackest Night and giving its passionate group of fans their book back with the writer who made the book so special back at the helm.
Unsurprisingly, Simone is successful at making the book feel like the Birds of old while also bridging the gap successfully to tie in with the Brightest Day line of comics. While I thought that may have been difficult even for such a proven writer like Simone, she handles it like a champ and ties it in with the greatest of ease. How did I not know that she had a damn easy way of tying everything together: Birds of Prey…Hawk returned for Brightest Day…Hawk and Dove…two birds. Man, I’m dense sometimes. Simone starts drawing these two characters into the story as new members of Oracle’s team, but you can tell already that the extremely angry Hawk will be an interesting character of opposition for the rest of the cast (and possibly a love interest for the tough as nails Zinda).
The book opens with an operation featuring Black Canary and Zinda, both off to rescue a little girl who was abducted by a particularly bad man. While many people who had previously read this book would have no need of introductions again, this opener acted as a great gateway to the characters once again (and it gave Simone a chance to make about Icelandic cuisine – Anthony Bourdain style). Plus, it gave Ed Benes a nice little segue into his return to the Birds as well.
For some reason, his work on JLA never really set with me well, yet I loved every second of this book visually. I’m not sure what he did differently on this book than what he was doing on JLA, but everything about it really rang true visually. Whether it was the action scenes in the beginning or the first scene when the Birds first got together again and Huntress broke down a bit, all were handled with equal skill. Plus, he makes some absolutely gorgeous women — it’s a fact and I’d be remiss in my duties as a reviewer if I didn’t point that out.
I don’t want to go too deep into the plot of the story, but let’s just say that Oracle would not have gotten the Birds together if it was not completely necessary. By the time we’re introduced to the new baddie, we know the stakes are high. We’re even given some really nice throwbacks to the end of Simone’s run before in the process, and this issue has a lot of nice moments for those who enjoyed her work on the book before.
Continued belowI came away impressed with the way Simone launched everything again as well as how she managed to tie everything back together with DCU continuity. While that has been a concern in the past for Simone with me (her work that is deep seeded in the DC community has been the weakest in her very strong library), she managed to keep everything feeling connected and all on its own at the very same time. This could be the beginning of a beautiful pairing between Simone and Benes, and I highly recommend you jump on board sooner rather than later.
Final Verdict: 8.8 – Buy
Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis #1 
Just like the rest of Warren Ellis’ Astonishing X-Men run, I wanted to love this issue. Yet, I still find myself strangely distanced from it.
As per usual, it has more to do with the art than it does with the story itself.
This issue finds the AXM team of Cyclops, Emma Frost, Wolverine, Storm, Beast and Armor off on a mission to Africa because of strangely mutant like births taking place. Given that Storm’s husband T’Challa (aka Black Panther) and his country of Wakanda are significant contributors to Mutantes Sans Frontieres (vis a vis the X-Men) and this activity is taking place on African soil, he wants them to check it out, and check it out they do. It’s grounds for an interesting yet strangely similar storyline to the first Ellis arc on AXM.
The odd thing about Ellis’ short and very delayed run on AXM is that for all of the issues with art and the bizarre and occasionally uninteresting story arcs, we’re also given some remarkably great character work. Ellis really inhabits characters like Wolverine, seeking out their inherent wizened natured (which Cyclops misses and Storm points out) or points out the distanced relationship between T’Challa and Ororo. He has a great grasp on the characters yet has a tough time pointing them in remarkably interesting directions.
With Andrews involved, a lot of die hard X-Men fans were very discouraged (see: Brandon Burpee). I’m a Kaare Andrews fan for life thanks to Spider-Man: Reign, yet even I was a bit discouraged by his work here. When you’re watching this issue unfold, there are certain things that transpire in which you frequently wonder whether that is how the script asked for it. For example, the extremely cheesecake and breast oriented Emma Frost he gives us. In some ways, I wonder if Andrews is directly responding to her typical rendering and giving something overt in an attempt to almost subvert the way she’s typically illustrated. Yet, when I read Ellis’ script at the end, it seems like there is a tug of war between the way Ellis scripted the events and the way Andrews illustrated it, and those difficulties read loud and clear in the printed page.
Alas, I wanted to greatly enjoy this, just like I have all of Ellis’ work to date on this book. However, I just find myself finding it lacking as I have before. Hopefully going forward we get more, but on the ground level I’m a little suspicious about this arc yet.
Final Verdict: 6.2 – Browse
Sam And Twitch: The Writer #1 
Given that I’m such a gigantic fan of Brian Michael Bendis’ run on Sam and Twitch, it’s hard for me to resist a back to basics look at the duo of detectives from Image’s Spawn universe, even if it is from a collective of creators I’ve never heard of. It seems the incredibly Italian team of writer Luca Biengino and artist Luca Erbetta have decided to revive the team supreme as a crime fighting pair once again, and they do so in a mostly successful manner.
It seems there is a murderer in town who is writing on his victims (he’s been titled “The Writer”), and it’s up to Sam and Twitch to take care of him. Of course, as the issue begins in the present and stars catching us up in flashback, we know better than to think that this is going to happen in any way that closely resembles smoothly.
Continued belowBiengino has a solid grasp on the prodigal duo, making Sam every bit as boorish and Twitch every bit as meek as we’ve come to expect from them in the past. He’s put them in an intriguing situation with a nice backing group of characters (including the psychologist who was put on their team against their will because of her skill with the written word), and everything fits rather cohesively.
However, I’m not sure who to pin this on given the extreme absence of letterer credits here, but the balloon-less lettering kind of brings the issue down. Having to search for where to go next while reading because the lettering is fairly directionless and disconnected is furstrating as a reader, and it is also something that distracts you from the overall success of the story that is going on in front of our eyes.
Erbetta does a nice job providing a decidedly NOT Image like look to the book, eschewing the Paco Mediana by way of Greg Capullo style that existed early on in the previos series for a more clean, real looking style. It’s almost thin enough on the detail to remind me of The Luna Brothers work. It’s strange because it does enough well to make it a worthy look for the pair, but at the same time the detail is sparse enough that it feels kind of empty and lifeless while you read it.
It’s nice to have Sam and Twitch back. Their work as a duo often confuses me as I honestly believe their series features some of the more oft overlooked high quality look in recent memory. This is a nice continuation of their adventures, yet often parts feel askew to me. It could build more going forward, but for now everything feels a bit on the surface…I want and expect more when these two are involved.
Final Verdict: 6.8 – Browse
The Heroic Age: Prince of Power #1 
I have a confession to make.
The reason I enjoyed Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente’s Incredible Hercules wasn’t because of Herc himself (although occasionally he was pretty awesome), but rather for his young sidekick and partner-in-crime…Amadeus Cho.
So when I found out that they were canceling Herc to be replaced with a Cho solo series, unlike the rest of the comic world I was all for it. The more Cho the merrier, and this issue proved me correct from the very beginning.
There’s something effortlessly charming about the seventh smartest man in the world. Maybe it’s the clever dispatching of Griffin, or the way he handles Vali Halfling, or just his noble and eternal loyalty to his friends like Herc. I’m not sure what it is, but this issue was just a lot of fun to read. It’s very similar to Chris Yost’s Red Robin (“I know Bruce is alive! I’d bet my trust fund on it!”), except you replace depression with glee, loneliness with awesomeness, and rage with snark.
If that’s not a winning formula, I’ve never heard of one.
It seems Amadeus is now the head of The Olympus Group, and he’s dedicating all of their resources to using Bruce Banner and his enormous noggin to find his chum in the Multiverse. It seems that the mathematics will take a bit of time to crunch (just 1.5323 billion years), so instead of decreasing the length of time, Amadeus start looking into ways to enhance his lifespan. Eternally.
Of course he does.
It’s a damn fun romp, and one that is well rendered by Reilly Brown. While he can’t match the sheer irreverence and entertainment level handled by my favorite Cho/Herc illustrator (that would be Clayton Henry), Brown manages to tell a fun story with an interesting look that reminds me of a Viz Media version of John Romita Jr. If that isn’t a bizarre visual, I don’t know what it is, but it’s what struck my mind while taking a look at the visuals.
If you were a fan of Cho before (and let’s face it, you really should be), this issue is a damn fun time for you. If you’re not and you’re just jumping on board for the first time, trust me when I say it can only get better from here from Messrs. Pak and Van Lente.
Continued belowTrust me. I’m writing about the seventh smartest man in the world here.
Final Verdict: 8.5 – Buy
GIL’S REVIEWS
The Flash #2 
What a fantastic book. I’ve never been very knowledgeable about the character of the Flash or any of the people to carry the mantle of “The Flash,” but while I always liked Wally from the cartoons, I’m really warming to Barry Allen. I initially thought it lame that they were giving Wally the backseat, but if Johns has a plan, then I’ll give it a shot.
Speaking of Johns, where he might have been a little less than perfect in the exhausting Blackest Night, this book is just a blast to read. I was never a fan of CSI, but if it were more like this, I would change that. Think of it as CSI: Central City, now with less puns and sunglasses!
And my God, the art is just…I can’t even describe it. Manapul is quickly becoming making sure he’s second only to Gary Frank in my list of favorite artists, and this book is a perfect example of why. Every character has warmth to them, even Commander Cold. The partnership between the Francis and Geoff is one of the best teams out there right now. Mark my words. The collective sense of humor they put into the book with its art and the story the art tells is just flat out amazing. There’s a scene where Barry not only saves the occupants of a burning apartment but also rebuilds it. AND he finds a little girls dolly for her. One of the most adorable moments of the week , and it would have been cheesy otherwise.
So should you pick it up? Absolutely; it was about as good as Siege was disappointing. I loved every second of it. Pick this up, even if you’re not normally a DC guy or girl. It’s awesome, and totally not Superman or Batman.
Final Verdict: 9.2 – Buy
Siege: Fallen #1 
WARNING: THE ENTIRE REVIEW, AS WELL AS THE COVER TO THIS ISSUE, IS A SPOILER. If you have somehow not read Siege #4, don’t read this review or look up the cover of this issue – or it’s real title. Otherwise, enjoy this spoiler filled review by highlighting it.
I’ve hated The Sentry. That was certainly no secret. But if you’ve already read this book, it’s not for the same reason Ben Grimm hated him. I always thought he was a poor fit to the Marvel Universe, and David summed up my thoughts perfectly in his Anti-Spotlight some months back.
This book doesn’t change my mind about him. I don’t understand how a book like this is meant to make us feel sorry for a character who tried to destroy…something. I’m not even sure why he was doing what he did in Siege, but it wasn’t exactly redeemable. Unless he turns out to be some Marvel version of Parallax, I just don’t care.
There are some genuinely heart wrenching moments, though. I mean, if you somehow get past the fact that he and Rogue somehow had an affair to forget (Get it? Get it?) back sometime before he married Lindy. There are even some funny moments, brought to you by the one and only Johnny Storm.
In the grand scheme of things, this is probably the most unnecessary tie-in of all the tie-ins I’ve ever read. I don’t think you should pick it up unless you’re an Event Completist or Sentry’s biggest fan in the world (I’m looking at you Burpee)
Final Verdict: 5.0 Browse
The Sword #24 
Holy Crap. What an issue. In the finale to one of my favorite series’ published by Image Comics, I wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to approach this. It was definitely going to be bittersweet, as I wanted a conclusion, but at the same time, I didn’t want it to end. I wasn’t exactly sure how it was going to end, and if there was a POSSIBLE way that I was going to be satisfied with the conclusion to this supernatural revenge story against evil gods with an all-powerful sword.
But just like Joshua and Jonathan Luna did in every single issue before this one, they got me. This is a book that I’m not going to spoil for you, since it was THAT good, but all of the plot threads brought up in the course of the 24 issues were resolved, from the full extent of the swords powers to the final fates of all the final characters. I read with heart wrenching agony as the story wrapped up, on the verge of tears as everything came to an end. As for the art, it’s your standard Luna Brothers’ collaborative work.
The true strength in the art lies in what wasn’t drawn. Even though there were whole pages with just white backgrounds and monologue boxes, it was breathtaking. They really are a great team, and one of the best in comics.
Simply put, this book is damn near perfect, if not actually perfect. It’s a definite contender for book of the year, and one that I’m not afraid to say I liked more than our previous and until now, only perfect score, Brave and the Bold #33.
If you haven’t read the book before, go pick up the trades. If you have read the book from the beginning, it’s definitely a book you should read. It’s at the top of my recommend list for sure.
Final Verdict (and I REALLY can’t believe I’m giving it this score) – 10
War of the Supermen #2 
I’m just going to come right out and say it. War of the Superman is about a kajillion times better than Siege at the halfway point. Where Siege was touted as being an event 7 years in the making, it felt rushed and nearly unreadable, War of the Superman has been building up for over a year, and while I was impatient, I’m starting to see that it was well worth the wait.
Everything and I do mean EVERYTHING that has been brought up in the past two years in the Superman universe, from Superwoman to The Rao entity to Reactron’s capture on New Krypton, it’s ALL led to this event, and it’s so much fun to read.
From the decision to have different pencillers for each issue (Jamal Igle is out, Eduardo Pansica is in) you can really see DC went with a bam bam bam bam approach to the event, so they got it done as quickly as possible. Some real planning went into this event, and I can’t thank DC’s editorial any more enthusiastically for the strategy behind the 100 minute War. Pick this up.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – Buy
BRANDON’S REVIEWS
Justice League: Generation Lost #1 
YES! AWESOMESAUCE GALORE! This is what I’m talking about fanpeeps. This issue was as solid as a teenage boy in the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders shower room. This is how you take a team with a crazy amount of potential that’s been slightly knocked down over the last several years and return them to prominence.
I loved everything about this title except the cover. Is it just me or does Booster Gold on this cover look like Michael Keaton? I can’ be the only one. Right? Either way this is up there with the JRJR Doomwar cover in the “These Artists are to Talented to Give Us Covers Like This” category. So when I figure in the verdict for this title it’s getting a slight hit there.
Outside of the cover this issue was a great start to a title that will hopefully provide a year of good times. I personally can’t wait for the next issue. By far my favorite issue of the week.
Final Verdict: 97.6 – Fuck Yeah!
Wolverine #900 
That was my only though going into this issue. So when I finally cracked it open I must admit I was pleasantly surprised. Usually one opens a book in this price range from Marvel and finds reprint after freaking reprint. While there are some reprints here I am happy to report that there are far more new stories than old in this baby.
There are a lot of people involved here but not many of them are really giant names. I sort of expected to open this and find a who’s who but instead I found more of a who should or in some cases who just might be’s. The opening with Finch is one of my favorite parts of the book. Although the tail end by Stephen Segovia is up there as well.
Why this issue came about is beyond me. I’m not aware of any epic title number being reached or an anniversary. I will say though that I am glad it did come out. It was a lot of fun and reminded me of the Wolverine I loved years ago. The one who seems to have been lost in recent years.
Final Verdict: 8.2 – Buy it!
Broken Trinity: Pandora’s Box #2 
I have just recently started reading the Witchblade books and the books that fall within its universe. For this reason I am still not entirely sure what is going on but this book was easy enough to understand on the surface that I didn’t find myself feeling lost or as if I was missing out on a huge chunk of something. Considering, from what I understand, this book is part of a massive buildup to Top Cow’s Artifacts event this is a considerable feat for a book.
The story is your basic adventure story full of mystery and intrigue. It plays out from two ends working toward the same goal. The first end being the bearer of the Ember Stone and the other end being the bearer of the Glacier Stone. Both are searching for Pandora’s Box and as I said I don’t really know anything about the characters so I found myself really wondering what one would get from possessing the box and which one, if either, of the two looking for it could be trusted with it if they did indeed find it. I found myself vested in the outcome.
So as I’ve stated, the story as told by Rob Levin and Bryan Edward Hill is easy to access and intriguing. What I haven’t yet covered is the art. Alessandro Vitti provides some nice looking work that really flies in the face of my preconceived notion of Top Cow’s art. I know this is something we discussed on the site and with Top Cow in interviews but as they say the proof is in the pudding and this is some tasty pudding. Not to say that the art on Witchblade is bad art by any means but it wouldn’t work as well here and it’s nice to see the diversity that I’ve heard about over the course of the last year or so for my very own eyes.
All in all this was an enjoyable read but nothing mind blowing. If you are a regular reader of Top Cow books this may indeed be a much more important and gripping book. For me though I’m just now starting the catch up game. If I could get my hands on some tpb’s dealing with anything beyond the $4.99 tpb’s (f you don’t know what this is don’t worry. I’ve got an article coming involving those.)I really think I could catch up and really enjoy these books as they should be enjoyed.
Final Verdict: 6.9 – Buy it in trades
Dark Avengers #13 
Fantastic ending. The way this issue worked it almost excuses the abrupt end of Siege itself. It wraps up a whole giant plotline, which is Norman Osborn. What happens to him when Siege ends? You’ll find that here and it’s amazingly done. I gotta say I think I actually liked this much better than Siege #4.
This issue had beautiful art and engaging writing. It was one of the better parts of the whole event as far as I am concerned. The last few pages with Norman dealing with his inner goblins were both haunting and accurate. I genuinely found myself thinking, “You know Osborn did a better job than Tony. He was really close. But…”.
Continued belowThis issue made me feel that the whole epic rollercoaster we’ve been on since New Avengers launched had REALLY ended. It was done! It was time to move into the future be it what it may be. This wasn’t something I felt with Siege #4 itself. Siege #4 felt almost too soft of an end to Dark Reign. I know it appears we are entering a lighter era but a dark end like this book sells better with me at least.
Anyway:
Art…Fantastic
Writing…Fantastic
Final Verdict: 32.463 – Fantastic
WALT’S REVIEWS
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 
About a year after we got our first glimpse of Bruce Wayne being trapped in the past, we finally get to see what happens next. I’ll be honest, there’s not much to say about this first issue: it’s a fun little romp that does a good job of setting up the mini. One minor thing that I really liked in this issue was the way Morrison handled the concept of language between the cavemen and Bruce. At first I though Bruce was just dazed and confused, but once I realized that the cavemen just weren’t speaking English and the awkward phonetics were just used to show Bruce was the outsider here, I cracked a slight smile. I liked the cavemen speaking with just punctuation in Final Crisis, but an issue full of that would have gotten tiring.
Seeing Vandal Savage was neat, but it came as no surprise. Savage appeared in this same time period during Final Crisis and Morrison used him extensively in DC One Million, so it was safe to assume that that we would be seeing him again from Morrison. Plus, he’s my one of favorite characters in the DCU, so even a predictable appearance is still worth bonus points in my book!
As mentioned before, this is a solid read, but since it’s only the first issue we can’t go expecting anything too amazing just yet. Chris Sprouse was a great artist to start this mini, as he did really solid line work throughout the book. In the typical Morrison fashion, this first installment asks tons of questions without answering much, but that’s the point of a first issue!
Final Verdict: 8.1 – Buy it!
The Unwritten #13 
Man do Mike Carey and Peter Gross keep knocking this one out of the park. If I commended The Return of Bruce Wayne for being a good example of how to start a miniseries, this week’s issue of The Unwritten was exactly how one should start a story arc. We saw the return of some familiar faces, and were faced with an interesting twist, but for the most part we were given some very interesting threads of plot that are as of yet unconnected, and I can’t wait to see them meet. One of my favorite things about this series so far is that every individual character has a completely unique voice. As an aspiring writer (hah!), I can tell you that is quite difficult, and even some of the best storytellers struggle with this. Carey just makes it seem so easy though, and while I’m reviewing The Unwritten I can’t help but note that that is probably why he’s handling X-Men Legacy so smoothly.
This book simply makes me really happy to be both a comics fan and a literature fan. In one simple line of text, Carey addresses the biggest problem facing prose fiction nowadays: films. When one can passively absorb a story through film, why bother doing an active process like reading? The only way for books to compete with movies is to rely on series and brand names such as Harry Potter or Twilight, and while there are a few exceptions it is often the series that gains the fame nowadays, not the author. This has been a topic of much discussion between me and my academic advisor as of late, so it was interesting to see it be brought up in this issue (even if I talked about it far more than the book did).
Continued belowBack on topic! It was good to have another completely Peter Gross issue, as I’m constantly impressed with how well his style fits the story Carey is telling. At first look, his style appears deceivingly simple, but upon closer inspection it is much more complicated than the casual observer might think. The “behemoth” page in this particular issue was simply wonderful, and I can’t wait to see what more fantastic things Carey and Gross will come up with to be illustrated.
To wrap it all up, I will quote Multiversity collaborator Steve Ponzo, who said: “Anyone not reading Unwritten… you’re dumb.” Truer words have never been spoken.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – Buy it!
Booster Gold #32 
Dan Jurgens is finally done with his run on Booster Gold, and taking over on this issue was the great team of Kieth Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis, with Chris Batista handling the artistic duties. Thank goodness. Jurgens quickly turned the series that Geoff Johns had made DC’s best ongoing into a snooze-fest with occasional jokes that were often lame.
On to bigger and better things! If you didn’t know, Giffen and DeMatteis have a lot of experience with Booster Gold: while Jurgens created the character in the 80’s, Giffen and DeMatteis really made him into the character that we know today through their fan-favorite series JLI. The irony that they’re again swooping in after Jurgens is actually alluded to in the first few pages, which got a laugh out of me. This first issue by the new team was a great start, and I would probably say that this was better than any issue that Jurgens did (I would have to go back and reread Jurgen’s run to double-check, but I don’t want to do that any time soon).
So what was so great about it? Well, everything that was great about Johns’ stay on the title seems to be present here. The humor was mostly excellent, particularly between Booster’s dialogue with the Emerald Empress, though I will say the bathroom jokes got old pretty quickly. But even after all that fun, Giffen and DeMatteis were able to smoothly transition into a more serious tone rather than suddenly change it up without any grace. Batista’s art was definitely solid, Though not necessarily amazing, Batista’s art was definitely solid, and he certainly has what it takes to keep the book looking fine. I haven’t yet picked up Giffen and Judd Winnick’s Generation Lost, but with this series tying in combining with the good things I’ve heard about it I might be swayed yet.
However, if Giffen and DeMatteis end one issue with “…dad” and don’t mean it jokingly, I’m done with this book. And Booster Gold in general.
Final Verdict: 7.8 – Buy it!
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #10 
Ultimate Spider-Man was without a doubt what I would pick for the best example of ongoing comics done right. Once the title resumed following Ultimatum under the banner of Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man, it took a bit for it to regain its footing (after all, how do you recover from something like Ultimatum?), but Brian Michael Bendis seems to have brought the fun and the excitement that the series had pre-Ultimatum.
The issue starts off by picking up from last week’s cliffhanger: the confrontation between Kitty Pryde and the federal agents inside the high school. The intensity was almost physically palpable in this scene; rather than be lazily lounged back like I usually am while enjoying comics, I was literally on the edge of my seat. However, I found the school principal’s speech to be the true high point of the book. While some people find Bendis’ realistic dialogue out of place in comics, I find it really makes touching moments like that so much more effective. What I didn’t like was Kitty’s whole “Magneto was right!” bit, especially after the touching scene with her and Kong in the sewers (though I find it odd that they both enjoyed kissing someone who had fallen in sewage).
I have one big gripe about this book, though: the art. Whether or not a manga-influenced style works for the title, I really think that David LaFuente’s storytelling ability is lacking, especially in this issue. I’m probably just being finicky because I was a huge fan of both Bagley and Immomen, but I just really don’t like the way he draws most of the characters. Spidey’s head is huge! While I would give the book probably an 8.1 for the writing, I feel like I have to knock it down at least .5 because of the art. Try again next time, LaFuente.
Final Verdict: 7.6 – Buy it!
