Alaska sucks! It turns out while everyone else in America was waiting for comics to come in, Alaskans were “blessed” with comics a day early (probably due to some weird thing involving Sarah Palin, or perhaps a polar bear). That means David beat us all to the punch on reviews this week, but we’ll get him back somehow. Before we get too into anything though, I present to you our weekly resfresher course:
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 Shadowland #1, Amazing Spider-Man #636, Brightest Day: The Atom #1, and Young Allies #3. Quite an odd list, eh? Don’t worry. We’ll make it through together.
Check out all the reviews after the jump.
Shadowland #1
We’ve been waiting quite a while for this to come. Back when it was first announced, most of us Daredevil fans were pretty excited, but the closer we got the higher the excitement got. Now with the first issue out, I’m still kind of irked that the other guys of this site wouldn’t let Shadowland be book of the week, because it was just phenomenal.
Shadowland opens with an ominous scene between the Hand’s true secret leaders followed by the return of Bullseye. I had been wondering how Diggle would bring Bullseye into play, and the scene flows with immense ease. Bullseye breaks out in a clever little scheme and immediately goes to find Daredevil for a rematch per the Dark Reign: The List one-shot events. However, what he finds is a changed man. Daredevil, now sporting a black costume, engages Bullseye in an incredibly intense battle and kicks off Shadowland with a bang.
Diggle has proven to me time and time again that he is a writer to be trusted. With him and Johnston, they’ve crafted a tale that pushes Daredevil farther than he’s ever gone before. Daredevil’s character has always been about testing limits, but this time he goes pretty far. What started as a way to manipulate the Hand has turned into something so much more, and the ride is incredibly intense. Of course, what really makes this a great read is that I feel anyone can get into it. Sure, it’s amazing for fans of Daredevil, but Diggle does such a good job of formatting the story so that even those who haven’t been keeping up can get right in. There’s an opening sequence with the Avengers that helps set up the background, and even some brief panels that help identify who else will remain players in the rest of the mini. It’s very well laid out, and on top of that the final few pages of the book are absolutely astounding.
Then you have Billy Tan on art. Tan is a great person to bring in for this and he proves it well, with lush scenery and expertly drawn sequences. Again, Bullseye vs. Daredevil and the Hand is just great. The whole issue has so much little detail in the background that it really brings the story to life. A lot of the artwork has a very triumphant feel to it as well, so that when you’re looking at these really intense sequences you get the feeling of power and intensity that they represent.
My only real complaint about the book is – why did Marvel have to go and ruin the ending? Marvel had released a series of teasers before this came out to help hype it up a bit, and the last teaser literally featured the last page of this comic. It was through that that I saw the ending coming the whole time, and while I enjoyed the ride, it’s not the same. It was a pretty big moment and a pretty big spoiler, and I don’t really see the point of showing it to us before the event has even started.
Continued belowOther than that, I would definitely go out and grab a copy of issue #1 if I were you. Shadowland shows a lot of promise, and if you are interested in Marvel’s street level characters even slightly than this is the book for you. Be prepared for some epic battles, as Daredevil slowly becomes one of the Marvel Universe’s greatest villains.
Final Verdict: 9.2 – Buy
Amazing Spider-Man #636
For the past couple of months, Spider-Man has been nothing short of an amazing title. As Spidey ran through a gauntlet of villains, all of it was building up to the eventual return of Kraven the Hunter, or the Big Boss/Bad. With last issue, we saw Spider-Man murdered as Kraven rose from the grave in a chilling moment that, while we still knew it was coming, proved to be quite moving all the same.
Of course, with our most recent issue, we see the fallout of this. Kraven is indeed alive, but somewhat unused to his circumstances and untrusting of the family that brought him back. On top of that, animals now run wild in the city while a lone spider sits atop a grave in obvious juxtaposition to the events going on in Spider-Man’s life. And if that weren’t bad enough, Mary Jane makes a brief cameo in prelude to One Moment In Time.
I think that what Joe Kelly has done, especially in regards to playing with some elements from JMS’ run, is nothing short of outstanding. The Gauntlet was a grueling process for Peter, but now we see an immense shift in tonality to represent the importance of events happening. Kraven is back, and with regards to what JMS did with the character this is really bad news. The last page alone is quite a shocking moment in the story, and sets the next issue up to be perhaps the best issue of Spider-Man in a while – and that’s after a run of consistently great issues. The dialogue was also incredibly sharp, especially from Kaine, who had an incredibly moving line (that I don’t want to spoil for anyone, but it is rather great for his character).
On top of the writing, the tonality of the artwork greatly shifts to match the mood in the same top notch way Aja’s art would compliment Brubaker and Fraction’s writing in Immortal Iron Fist. This is a dark and gritty tale, and it’s exemplified by it’s dark shift in artwork, with not a lot of lighting and an abundance of rain. The issue actually features multiple artists, with Michael Lark and Stefano Gaudiano picking up the last couple pages from Marco Checchetto, but the way the scenes change and the tone remains the same – you might not even notice.
All in all, Spider-Man is definitely one of Marvel’s better titles at the moment. If you’re not following along with the storyline, then I feel fairly bad for you. The build up for this moment has been pretty incredible, and now watching it play out is incredibly rewarding. I haven’t felt this good about being a Webhead myself in quite a while, but this whole arc completely justifies why Spider-Man is a great character and why The Amazing Spider-Man is a great book.
Final Verdict: 8.9 – Buy
Brightest Day: The Atom #1
Jeff Lemire is very quickly becoming a recognizable name. With Sweet Tooth gaining in popularity, people are checking out the man’s work and finding that it’s nothing short of amazing. Everyone is noticing this, and it’s through this that he now has a nice exclusive deal at DC! Perfectly timed with that is his first work in DC proper – the Atom special!
The Atom special basically acts as a primer of who the Atom is more than anything else. Going back and reexploring his past, the issue seeks to help and push him past the recent stigma the character has had since Identity Crisis. We see his earliest days and are introduced to his family, as well as given a nice sequence that familiarizes us with why the Atom is more than just a guy that can grow real tiny.
Continued belowDespite the talent on the book, I think that the issue was decidedly average. Outside of a “reintroduction” to the Atom, there is nothing really special here, and the entire thing is (admittedly by the title itself) a prologue to the back-up that will be featured in Action Comics. It doesn’t really show off any of Lemire’s strengths too much, as the issue largely goes by with nothing really happening but exposition and reminiscing. It’s not as endearing as I thought it would be, and at the end it reveals a twist that you can feel coming through the whole thing.
The twist is something that bugged me, too. While this is the big spoiler/twist, I’d advise not reading ahead, but when it’s revealed that the Atom’s uncle is connected to whatever evil organization will be spearheading his adventure, if you go back earlier in the issue you’ll see that the ring that is made so apparent at the end of the issue isn’t there in the scene referenced. This is something that really bugged me, because it would seem to me that any artist given the task of a visual cue like that would know to have it appear at all times. The neat part about a twist like that is that when you go back and re-read the issue, you notice that it’s there the second time around when at first it’s just a piece of the background. The fact that it was absent made me felt a bit cheated with the misdirection.
I’d say that if you’re planning to get Action Comics, buying the Atom wouldn’t hurt. If you’re a fan of the Atom and want to see the retooling of his origin to be more family oriented, it also wouldn’t hurt. But all in all, if neither of those things are relevant to your interests, the Atom is a pass. It carries the Brightest Day tag but doesn’t really have much to do with Brightest Day at all, and despite my loving Jeff Lemire’s writing, there’s not much here that would prove to a new reader why he’s so worth following in the first place. I can only hope the back-ups are more entertaining.
Final Verdict: 6.7 – Browse
Young Allies #2
I was incredibly skeptical of Young Allies at first. I didn’t enjoy the Nomad mini and I don’t enjoy the Nomad back-ups in Captain America. Somehow, though, against all odds I found the first issue of Young Allies quite enjoyable. To me, the way things were being put together reminded me of Runaways, and while I certainly didn’t think Young Allies would be as entertaining as Runaways, it did somewhat have that opportunity.
With the second issue, I’m less convinced, and here’s why – in the first issue, the villain Warhead detonated himself in a crowded area in New York, a la Civil War. While the issue heavily implied where it happened, it was never flat out stated. I didn’t think this was too bad upon realization of where it was specifically BECAUSE it wasn’t stated, but in the second issue, it drills it straight into your brain – he re-blew up the World Trade Center. Now, the buildings haven’t been rebuilt in the Marvel U, but the construction site was heavily reflected, and when you see inside the containment field that is holding in the radiation, you can see the letters for the building scattered in a splash page wreckage. On seeing this, I was absolutely shocked, and I thought that perhaps this was something that slipped under the radar the same way the Tea Party thing happened in Captain America. I was assuredly wrong though, because after this, it is repeated in dialogue about twenty times that Warhead detonated in the WTC and that it “meant” something – that he blew up to prove just how evil he was, and the mysterious villain who was leading them all had maybe given him that idea (although that’s later retracted on).
I’m sorry, but that’s incredibly tacky, and on top of that it’s inappropriate. A lot of people have been witch hunting comic books lately for all sorts of things, such as unintentional racism or homophobia. It astounds me then that no one else really picked up on this yet, because I really think this is quite horrifying. Villains blow things up all the time, sure, but to so purposefully go to a place of true homegrown horror seems like such a bad move. It shows that McKeever really doesn’t have a good idea of how to write his villains, if only because he things blowing up the WTC a second time is appropriate. It also sort of boggles my mind that a company that went out of it’s way to put out material and honor those who lost their lives in the tragedy for months after it happened would allow something like this to be published.
Continued belowAs I said, when it was implied but not stated it wasn’t that bad – inappropriate, yes.. but not overtly tacky. In fact, at first I read it as yet another villain blowing up in a public area, and I merely felt that this was sort of a trite and cliche move. But upon re-reading it and seeing it’s intentions, I’m really shocked that people can spend the past couple of weeks complaining about a costume change, and no one says anything about a villain detonating a nuclear warhead (i.e. himself) in the remains of the WTC.
Oddly enough, I’m not entirely turned off to the title. I think that the plot is pretty terrible and that McKeever clearly has no idea what to do with these characters, but the characters he’s writing aren’t in and of themselves terrible. In fact, Arana and Gravity getting a chance to shine is something I fully support, and I really enjoy his take on Gravity especially. The Bastards of Evil also show some promise for a villain arc, and they make an interesting juxtaposition with the Young Allies.
When it comes down to it, though, I can’t really get passed the insensitivity that was shown in this issue. I think that trying to make light of a national tragedy that isn’t even a decade old yet is a surefire way to upset a lot of people, and if that was the intent than great work. However, and I’m assuming here, I think the point was to show how evil these kids are supposed to be, and considering the Bastards spent the entire issue debating if they supported Warhead’s actions or not – and especially with Electro showing up and talking about how dumb it was – it in turn becomes an incredibly inappropriate move on McKeever’s part and does not bode well for the future of the book.
Final Verdict: 4.5 – Pass
