This week was a great one for comics (for the most part, at least), so let’s hop right to it and get on with the reviews! As usual, here’s our rating scale for those who are new:
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
This week I am reviewing the Invincible Iron Man Annual #1, The Flash #3, Justice League of America #46 and Death of Dracula #1. Quite a pick, no? Follow the jump to see what I had to say about these four issues.
After I was left somewhat disappointed with the most recent issue of Invincible Iron Man a few weeks ago, this one shot easily restored any wavering faith that I had in Matt Fraction. The few problems I had with the issue had nothing to do the actual content, and are very minor. First, there is no actual appearance from Iron Man, so the “Invincible Iron Man Annual” title is a slightly odd choice when the title could have just been “The Mandarin One Shot” or something similar. Obviously, the Iron Man name sells better, but still. Other than that, there’s the whole matter of the digital comic costing more than physical copy, but everyone has complained enough about that, so I feel like I would be beating a dead horse.
On to the good things! Fraction has said in interviews and tweets how excited he has been to write The Mandarin, and when he has such a facile grasp of the character it is easy to see why. Like many villains, pride has always been The Mandarin’s greatest fault, and in this short story we see Fraction capitalize on that flaw in a most interesting way. The annual drastically revises The Mandarin’s origin, but it does so in an almost poetic way that only makes the character more interesting.
The main story concerning the director Jun Shan is both heart-wrenching and inspiring. Creative mediums of all kinds have been dominated by iron-fisted leaders many times in the past, but often these mediums are the best way to reveal such oppression. The situation Jun Shan finds himself in echoes of the horrors of Stalinist Russia, and his drive to reveal the truth makes him a most admirable character indeed. The ending is bittersweet (though much more bitter than sweet), but leaves me very interested to see where Fraction takes the character in the pages of Invincible Iron Man. With 80 pages for $4.99, you really can’t beat the price. Plus, it has an awesome Iron Fist reference in the beginning!
Final Verdict: 8.1 – Buy it!
The Flash #3
I really haven’t been able to get into Brightest Day itself, but it seems that nearly everything marked as a tie-in has been great so far. Geoff Johns’ The Flash is no exception. While I had my doubts at first about the return of Barry Allen as The Flash, this series is already shaping up to be just as good as Johns’ earlier run on the title (which was amazing, if you haven’t already read it).
This issue focuses primarily on Barry’s mix-up with the death of the Mirror Monarch, another altercation between Barry and the Renegades, police officers from the future who base their look off of the Rogues of the present, and the escape of the original Captain Boomerang. Not only is Digger back, but he also has some new tricks up his sleeve, but I’ll leave it to you to pick up the book to find out exactly what that entails. There was definitely a lot packed into this issue, but at the same time it seemed to progress very quickly. Then again, it is about the fastest man alive. The two Flash Fact pages in the back seemed a bit unnecessary, but at least they didn’t modify the price at all.
Continued belowI know it has been said before, but Francis Manapul is incredible. His highly dynamic style is absolutely perfect for this title, to the point where I might even say that it works better than Scott Kolin’s work. I particularly enjoy how he enjoys Barry; Van Sciver’s portrayal of the character in Rebirth was far too scowl-y, especially considering that Barry is supposed to be on of the more lighthearted characters in DC’s pantheon of heroes. As he showed us with Adventure Comics, Manapul’s art complements Johns’ writing so well, and the combination of the two makes this one of the most fun superhero comics on the market.
Final Verdict: 7.8 – Buy it!
Justice League of American #46
I’ve been steering clear of James Robinson’s JLA since he started the book. Mind you, I’m a huge fan of Robinson (just see my review of War of the Supermen #4 from a few weeks back), but since his first few issues on the title reeked of editorial meddling, I decided to wait until the book seemed completely under his direction. After a bit of a prologue in last month’s issue, this seemed to be the point where, despite the ties to Brightest Day, Robinson could shrug off the shackles and soar to the great heights he brought the Superman title to!
Unfortunately, this issue falls just as short as the others. The dialogue in particular is absolutely atrocious, sometimes to the point of making the comic unreadable. I hate to echo what Matt said last month, but it seems like Robinson has a cool idea for a story, but can’t seem to properly convey it. I want to keep reading the JLA/JSA crossover, because I am actually interested in the story that Robinson is telling, but the shoddy narrative, dialogue and storytelling have made me seriously reconsider spending my money on it.
This doesn’t even bring Mark Bagley into consideration. Bagley is usually one of the most consistently good artists in the industry, but even he is making it seem like he is phoning in on artistic duties. There are some great panels in here (Dick pulling out that toxin-gun, for one), but so many other ones are far more unpolished than one would expect from Bagley.
All things considered, this should be one of DC’s best books. Robinson has proven his worth many times in the past, and Bagley has done the same. The book even has an interesting team line-up and story, but it’s instead easily one of DC’s worst. Even worse, I can’t defend Robinson anymore by saying “But his Superman is great!” Until he picks up the slack on this one, he has no defense against all the bandwagon haters he gained with Cry For Justice.
Final Verdict: 3.3 – Pass
The Death of Dracula #1
I’ll be honest, I had really low expectations of this book. Victor Gischler’s recent work on Merc With a Mouth and Deadpool Corps has been horrendous beyond all belief, so when I heard he would be at the helm of Marvel’s upcoming Vampires and X-Men crossover I was not interested in the slightest. This issue, which serves as a prologue to the event, only confirmed my beliefs.
As I read the first few pages, I was slightly taken aback. At first, it looked like this issue wasn’t going to be that bad. It certainly wasn’t looking great, but I wasn’t seeing any of the cringe-worthy dialogue and piss-poor storytelling I was used to from Deadpool Corps. Then the actual death happened, and any semblance of quality went out the window.
First of all, for something about the Death of Dracula, Dracula isn’t important in this at all. He dies. That’s all he does. If his name wasn’t Dracula, nobody would care. The reader would just think “Oh, so he killed the vampire king. Cool, I guess.” If someone isn’t too familiar with Marvel’s vampire scene (which includes me and probably 90% of Marvel’s audience), we are given absolutely no reason to care about this death besides that name we all know, which is just lazy storytelling. And man, I understand that these guys are vampires and are probably jaded by immortality, but everyone’s response to (spoilers)Xarus staking his father was about as severe as if you made an off-color remark in the presence of fine company.
Continued belowFrom there on, the dialogue and story just get worse, with an eventual double-cross that I felt completely uninterested in. Giuseppe Camuncoli’s art has some good moments, but for the most part it’s rather unimpressive. The coloring in particular seems awkward, with really poorly blended highlights and shading. Also, the inks seem a bit too thick at some points, even for the dark tone it’s supposed to evoke. It just looks sloppy.
If this was supposed to change my mind about the new X-Men title coming up, it didn’t work. I try to give writers and artists with a not-so-great past a second chance, but Gischler really hasn’t been proving himself worth of another shot. Pass this, and I’m going to go ahead and call a preemptive pass on X-Men #1.
Final Verdict: 3.5 – Pass
