This week brought a wide variety of books, especially in terms of quality. That’s part of the fun of reviewing books – sometimes they’re great, sometimes…they’re not so great. Before we get into what was what, check out below for our scoring system.
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 my reviews include Uncanny X-Men #528, Fables #98, Secret Avengers #5, and Nemesis #3. Fraction, Willingham, Brubaker AND Millar? What a fun group of writers. But which books were good and which were bad? Good question.
Find out after the jump.
Uncanny X-Men #528
Written by: Matt Fraction
Illustrated by: Whilce Portacio
Uncanny X-Men is without a doubt the flagship X-Men book. It’s the longest running book, it is the center of the X-Men universe, and it has the architect of the X-Universe running it: Matt Fraction. For all intents and purposes, it should be great.
Yet down to its very core, I find it to be a really, really ugly book. For a book that is about the world of the X-Men as a whole, about Utopia, I just find it to be a remarkably uninteresting book and a horribly unattractive one from a visual standpoint. If this is a flagship, well…this armada is going down.
This issue finds Fraction telling a couple main stories – Storm and Hope off powering up another new mutant and Emma trying to find a way to get Shaw out of the picture forever – while also mixing in small bits involving Namor wrestling for control of Atlantis (why isn’t this just in Namor’s solo book?) and Dazzler alongside Northstar fighting random villains who decided they wanted to stand up against art (was this necessary to prove that humans are liking mutants a lot more now?). As much as a I praised Fraction’s plotting in my Thor review, I find his handling of the cast and the story here to be abysmal. I just can’t stand the storytelling of it, as the characters very rarely ring true and everything just feels overly convenient to me. The puzzles pieces fit together like edges from opposite sides – they connect, but the picture they make isn’t right.
Speaking of images that don’t look right – Whilce Portacio’s art is killing this book. For me, this is the worst art on an X-Book since Larry Stroman. For me (shocker alert), I’d prefer Greg Land back on the book. At least it was oddly beautiful in its repetitive awfulness. Portacio’s style these days is sketchy and loose to the point that both my eyes and the storytelling suffer.
I’m increasingly frustrated by this book. While there have been some high points (Kitty’s return issue – #522 I believe – was surprisingly fantastic) of Fraction’s run, I am getting dangerously close to dropping it. So much for a flagship.
Final Verdict: 2.5 – Pass
Secret Avengers #5
Written by: Ed Brubaker
Illustrated by: David Aja, Michael Lark
Let me start with my final word about this book: this was my favorite issue of Secret Avengers to date. Why is that? It felt by far the most secretive. For a book called Secret Avengers, it has mostly been big explosions and Mars fights. While it’s been entertaining, it just hasn’t felt right.
Yet this issue that is told mostly in flashback and asides with Nick Fury, Sharon Carter and Steve Rogers meeting up on a rooftop as the core of the story. What we’re given by Brubaker is a story of covert missions, next generation Fury LMD’s that develop free will and have all of his memories (I love when Bru shows what a fully realized Fury-bot would do if given the opportunity), and a lot more as we’re given a lot of answers to questions that were asked in the preceding four issues. It was a blast to read.
Continued belowEverything connects to the first arc, but it feels like it has started to become the book I thought it would be from the beginning.
A lot of that comes from the work from previous Brubaker collaborators Michael Lark and David Aja (with help from Stefano Gaudiano), both of whom are a better fit to a spy book than Mike Deodato’s widescreen and often intense visuals. Lark and Aja fit the book to a T, and I hope to see them around in these pages more often as this book goes to a whole new level with them around.
This book has been a bit of a disappointment so far from my expectations, but a few more issues like this and I will definitely start to come around. I like where Bru is taking us, and I have faith I’m going to like it when it’s all said and done. If someone could, please just make sure we have some more Aja and/or Lark around to tell Bru’s stories.
Final Verdict: 8.2 – Buy
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Fables #98
Written by: Bill Willingham
Illustrated by: Mark Buckingham
“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”
~ Mark Twain
While some have been lamenting the downturn of Bill Willingham’s magnum opus Vertigo title Fables, I’ve been sitting here enjoying the heck out of it. Sure, it hasn’t been perfection like most of the run has been, but only in comparison to the bulk of this exquisite comic series.
This issue continues the mini-resurgence though, as Willingham recalls his previous Vertigo mini Proposition Player a bit at least in tone and scene design as Rose Red wrestles control back from the rest of the Fables through a mix of democracy and ruling with an iron fist.
I love the way Willingham and Buckingham tell this story, with small quarter/quarter panels highlighting each character that comes up to make their requests/demands/comments to Rose Red, the once and future leader of The Farm. Even better? Buckingham’s illustrations of Rose Red’s reactions, which range from complete shock (Bigby’s support) to complete boredom and distaste. It’s a wonderful effort from the duo.
Conflict with The Dark One also looms, as Totenkinder returns with her new compatriot and in her new form. It’s a delicious moment right in the midst of Red’s second major speech, and something that will throw our beloved characters into direct conflict with their most powerful enemy in issue #100.
I thought this was the best issue from Willingham and Buckingham in quite some time, and it fed perfectly from the previous few issues in the arc. With Snow and Red reuniting at the end, it feels like Willingham’s master plan is going to pay off and then some. For those that were concerned about this book’s demise, I’m here to say this: fear not.
Final Verdict: 9.2 – Buy
Nemesis #3
Written by: Mark Millar
Illustrated by: Steve McNiven
Sometimes a book isn’t bad. It just doesn’t match the vision readers had for it. A lot of readers went into Nemesis having high expectations (Millar! McNiven! Icon! Evil Batman!) and quickly became disappointed because of a first issue that had very shallow characters and completely ridiculous action sequences.
To you, I say boo freaking hoo, because if you’re not reading this book, you’re missing out on the most deliciously evil and fun action movie of the year. But you know…in comic form.
This issue finds Nemesis unfolding his plan in the most wonderful way possible. With the good guys thinking they’ve got him and that they are well on their way to recovering the President, Nemesis turns the table with just a few words and a whole lot of ass kicking. Sure, it’s impossible for a regular person (no matter the training) to be able to look at a group of people and immediately know there are 97 of them and then proceed to kill all of them in increasingly grotesque fashions. But damn, it sure is fun to watch.
That’s the thing about Nemesis: he’s the PERFECT villain. The way he causes mayhem in this issue is an art form crafted by the sick mind of Millar, as he completely destroys his enemy and his enemy’s family with a bus stop and a couple phone calls. Everything about his plan is ridiculously entertaining if you’re a little evil inside. And come on, we live in the internet era – who isn’t? Millar is clearly having a blast, and I find it hard not to with him.
Continued belowSteve McNiven gets a lot more to work with in this issue than he has in previous ones, and this issue featured one of the most hellacious couple pages of violence I’ve ever seen. McNiven killed it in that sequence, as we expect him to. His smaller moments have improved dramatically too, as I loved subtle bits like the discussion in the beginning between two prison guards who were clearly fearful of the arrival of Nemesis (sweating, much?). While it’s still a bit cleaner and a bit less detailed than we come to expect from him, it’s still damn good storytelling.
Nemesis has somehow went from overrated to underrated faster than any book in comic history. That’s the fun thing about comic fans: we’re about as finicky as any group out there. While it’s not Watchmen or something monumental, it is a damn fun read that I’m glad to be picking up.
Final Verdict: 8.5 – Buy
