I still don’t have anything very clever to say for this week’s introduction, so here is another video of a kitten.
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 Fantastic Four #583, Power Girl #16, Superman/Batman #76, and Hulk #25. A different mix this week, with some new titles I love and some not so new titles I’ve been rather hard on.
Check out all the reviews after the jump.
Fantastic Four #583
I am quite seriously having a love affair with the Fantastic Four at this point.
Seriously – if you’d asked me several years ago if I’d be as big of a fan of Marvel’s First Family, I would have scoffed. I’ve often found the Fantastic Four fairly boring, but Millar and Hitch brought me in and Hickman has completely knocked it out of the park. This issue basically solidifies why Hickman is the perfect writer for the book, because it starts bringing all of his threads together for what is sure to be the most epic story yet.
This issue harkens all the way back to the first issue of Fantastic Four that Hickman did with “Solve Everything.” Valerie finds the bridge, finds Reed’s machine and information about the other Reeds, and proceeds to pull a Layla Miller on her family. The issue marks the first time that Doom really appears in the book outside of last arc’s flashbacks, and it also marks the beginning of the war between four worlds. What absolutely amazes me about this issue is how much happens in such little time. This is a 22 page comic, but it feels like it went on forever due to the amount of material we’re given in the issue. It makes for an absolutely fantastic second read at that, and it makes me want to go back and read the entire series again – and that’s the sign of a great author.
Hickman has been slowly planting his seeds, and now he’s taking advantage of them. I love that the book just opens with the Fantastic Four in a middle of a fight, because it’s very clear where the characters are and why they’re there. Maybe I’m just being an obsessive fan of the story, but sometimes when authors just throw their characters into new situations with little to no explanation it feels unnatural. Here the story fits perfectly, and making Valerie such a big important part of the book is a great move. You really get the feeling of the family dynamic behind the book, which is something I think that the book benefits greatly from.
Epting is also a star with the issue. I love that Hickman basically gives Epting the main tools of the story. To be honest, there isn’t a lot of exposition in the issue, so it’s mostly up to Epting to provide all the key story elements through art. This is done perfectly in one sequence starring Valerie when she is “explaining” to the audience what happened while the rest of the 4 were away. With no dialogue and instead a series of symbols (!, ?) in the place of dialogue, Epting perfectly brings back some of the most fantastic sequences from Eaglesham’s run in the book and creates a pulse pounding action sequence that is just to die four.
The long and short of it is: the Fantastic Four is really Marvel’s #1 Family again. This is one of the most entertaining and thought provoking books on the market, with each issue really pushing the boundaries of what you’d expect from a flagship title. Hickman is taking his chances with storytelling techniques and pulling it off perfectly. I really am reminded here of what it’s like to read another book by a particular author who often tells lots of little stories until an explosive climax that brings it all together. With this issue, we have the first moment of that climax – and you need to be a part of it.
Continued belowFinal Verdict: 9.5 – BUY!
Power Girl #16
I can start this review the same way I started the last one: I am in love with this book right now. I never got into the previous run, but ever since Winick and Basri took over and I took a chance on the title, I have been totally into it.
I think what I like best about the story i this – for the most part, every issue is a great place to start. I’m not a big Power Girl fan by any means, and I don’t know a lot about her backstory. I know about the other Earth and the whole Kryptonian thing, but I’m not familiar with her every plot twist, love interest, and classic villain from her rogue’s gallery. Winick feels like a great entry point because he is using brand new characters and brand new situations for Kara. It makes for a very easy to get into read and a very likable book that’s full of whimsy and just enough character development to win over the proper readers. Kara’s corporation is being destroyed, and she has to react to it as both a super heroine and a real person as one of her top employee’s calls her out for it this issue.
Winick has made a complete turn around in my mind. He’s wildly popular for his pre-DC work of course, such as Pedro and Me and Barry Ween, but within the DCU I have been rather weary on his stories. Under the Hood? Trials of Shazam? Meh. With this book and Generation Lost, which lightly tie into one another, I am an admitted fanboy at this point. Generation Lost proved to me that Winick could write a story, but this proved he could write a good character. For a while there, it seemed Winick was hellbent on giving everyone he wrote a dark and gritty storyline that changes their backstory (see: Trial of Shazam and the retcon put into Freddie’s history). With this, it’s still just lovable old Kara, who is both funny and sassy in the midst of getting her ass kicked. It makes it a really entertaining character title.
Of course, it’s Basri that convinced me to get the book. Every issue his work gets better. I know everybody was gaga over Conner’s humorous sexualization of Power Girl, but I honestly prefer Basri’s sleek and stylistic work. He definitely uses a different eye when tackling the character, giving it an almost sharper manga look and without drawing too much unnecessary attention to PG’s unfortunately designed costume. Basri has such a fantastic style that I could honestly see myself buying books based on his artwork in it alone.
To cut a long story short, I missed the bandwagon for the first 12 issues. Now, with everyone moaning about the first creative team leaving, I’m jumping for joy and cheering at this new creative direction. With the first official arc of Winick’s run now underway, I can’t wait to see what happens next, and continue to highly recommend hopping into Power Girl now if you haven’t already. If nothing else, it makes for a very fun and easy to jump into book in DC’s lineup.
Final Verdict: 8.6 – Buy
Superman/Batman #76
My second Winick book of the week finds me going back to a place where I often dislike Winick’s writing – Batman. The last time Winick wrote Batman right after he died, I didn’t like it at all. The time before that, when he brought Jason Todd back to life? I liked it even less. But that being said, Superman/Batman is actually a very interesting place for writers to attempt to play with the anti-buddy relationship held between the two DC icons. Loeb started the book and offered up a very interesting “mutual respect with a slight feeling of disdain” story, and writers since then have all put down their two cents into the dynamic. Now Winick gets a turn with another post-RIP/Final Crisis story as we are on the verge of Bruce’s return.
The story finds Clark devastated after the loss of his friend (who we later learned was an imperfect clone anyway, so no one needed to get all upset, did they?). He brings Dick the cowl as seen in #687 and is shocked to find Dick decides to put it on and take the role of Batman himself. It’s then that we see Clark go through some, not all, of the stages of grief for a friend as the mantle is passed at Dick Grayson becomes Batman.
The issue is an interesting one. It’s a bit late in terms of relevance really, but it works for it’s story. Clark is a bit emotional here as opposed to his more stoic reactions shown in other stories, and it seems that he’s more upset about the death of Batman – who was admittedly a dick to him a lot (“The last time you inspired anyone was when you were dead.”) – than the death of his adopted father. In fact, in many ways Clark seems rather irrational throughout the entire issue as he wavers from extremely upset to extremely angry and everywhere in between. Yes, he lost a great friend here, but it seems odd that Winick would write in Superman being angry at Dick when everyone seemed to universally celebrate the fact that someone wanted to take on the legacy. I mean, was that not the point of Battle for the Cowl?
This isn’t Winick’s strongest book this week (out of three) by far. It’s a comic that feels a bit “a little too late”, and might have worked better around the actually time of Final Crisis. Right now it just feels like a long overdue epilogue, and nothing about the story really makes me reevaluate the way I read it or read into Superman’s relationship with the new Batman, because they don’t have one. Everyone that comes into Superman/Batman always handles the book in terms of Bruce still being the Batman, so finally acknowledging that a change happened is just like … “well, ok.” The book hasn’t been actively relevant in the DCU in a while, so trying to push it’s way back in feels… unnecessary.
Of course, Marco Rudy makes the book worth the price of admission. These days, I often quite look at artists work and analyze how they tackle panel structure. It’s something I’ve been more actively doing since reading Rucka and Williams III’s Batwoman arc in Detective Comics. Rudy definitely takes a page out of that layout system with his issue, making arguably the most visually pleasing issue of Superman/Batman ever. Featuring a lot of mirror imaging and emotional spread, Rudy really takes up his page space with this issue. I like how he uses multiple Clark’s in one frame to show how he moves about and conveys emotion. It’s a very symmetrical operation that he has performed here, and it makes for quite a great read on that merit alone.
So while I’ve never been a big fan of the series, I find that I like picking up the occasional issue now and then. This issue isn’t so bad for a random issue. It’s a bit late in it’s execution and feels a tad bit unnecessary, but it provides a nice enough story with really great artwork that I don’t mind as much as I normally would. I don’t think that Winick has a good handling on Batman, so it’s good then that the focus here is basically all Superman – and while his Clark is certainly a tad erratic, he still ends the story as the more classic man of steel.
Final Verdict: 7.6 – Buy
Hulk #25
Oh Rulk… you were born under such unfortunate circumstances, and now we’re all going to have to learn to deal with you. I think that’s what most comic readers are having trouble dealing with – not that the Rulk still exists, but that the Rulk is still continuing. But never fear, my comic reading friends! As much as you may have disliked Loeb’s story, Rulk now has a new writer! And we all know that there are no such things as bad characters – just bad writers. So can Jeff Parker truly save the day? After finally making me an Atlas fan with his new book and after totally making Thunderbolts one of the hottest books on the market, is Rulk redeemable?
…yes and no.
Let’s talk about the good parts: in this story, we pick up with Rulk seeking to get out of his prison, yet still being a total ass about it. That part isn’t gone – Ross is still a jerk. But when offered a a chance to make up for his sins and become part of Steve Rogers’ team, Rulk takes the chance to go out and do some good. It’s a plausible plot for a character we’ve all grown to have such disdain for, and it’s one that doesn’t feel too awkward. If anything, it feels like the logical progression – which is good. I would have liked Rulk to get a bit more of the prison/segregation life in the same way that Banner did after World War Hulk, but somehow I don’t think a book about Rulk/Ross sitting around would be half as entertaining as Banner sitting around and spouting off how scientific he is.
Plus, this “scorched Earth” scenario – as teased as part of the epic Heroic Age timeline in Avengers – is beginning to play out, and we get teases of Thunderbolts and Atlas involvement (‘natch). I like that Parker is trying to implement something bigger than here. The main selling point of the Hulk book (at least, to my perspective) was the ongoing mystery of who was the Rulk? Now that we know, and there’s nothing Ross can do about it anymore, it’s time to move forward and push the character in a new direction. Creating a largescale storyline like scorched Earth for the Rulk to be involvement is a pretty great move.
Now the bad – unfortunately, Rulk still has an incredible stigma to him. It’s hard to read the book and be too interested because there is already so much disliek for the character built in to me. This happens all the time with comics and comic fans, as we are known for buying books even if we don’t neccesarily adore them. I’ve read all of Rulk so far, so to me continuing on is natural. Of course, I carry all that baggage with me, so it’s not as easy for me to just go in and say, “Ok, now I’m wowed.” Plus, the Iron Man aspect of the story seemed a tad.. impulsive. Tony Stark is a character who has been shown the error of his ways so many times in comics now that the scenario of missing Rogers’ call and going on to pound the Rulk just didn’t seem to plausible. It made for an entertaining scene, but before you realize that Stark can’t take the call, his behavior just seems kind of erratic and a tad-bit asshole-y. I also didn’t care for the A-Bomb storyline at all, and I’d actually go so far as to say that making Rick Jones the new Abomination was worse than making Ross the Rulk. It just doesn’t seem to fit to me at all.
Parker definitely has me intrigued with the whole thing, though. I hate to be a negative fan of comics, and since Parker has proved himself a fantastic writer in the Thunderbolts book, I think it’s safe to put the trust in him for his Rulk storyline. The art is a tad odd, though not neccesarily bad, because going into the book I was so used to the Ed McGuinness style of big and borderline cartoony, and Hardman’s art is a bit too … well, nice. In fact, I’d almost rather seem him on a book like Daredevil. Hulk seems like the place for big goofy muscles and explosions, so to answer your question – yes, I am saying Hardman is too good for the title. I’m glad to see Hardman have more work outside of Atlas right now, but I just don’t think he’s really the right fit.
So with the first issue of Parker’s Rulk story out there, I think it’s safe to say it’s a good start. Parker has his work cut out for him in terms of winning people over to the Rulk’s character, because so many people have such an intense stigma against the character. I think Parker is a good choice to try and redeem the book as a whole, and I’ll be interested to see how he changes Rulk to fit to a new audience.
Final Verdict: 7.9/8.0 – Buy
