There is a lot to cover on Wednesdays. We should know, as collectively, we read an insane amount of comics. Even with a large review staff, it’s hard to get to everything. With that in mind, we’re back with Wrapping Wednesday, where we look at some of the books we missed in what was another great week of comics.
Let’s get this party started.
All-New X-Factor #2
Written by Peter David
Illustrated by Carmine Di Giandomenico
Reviewed by James Johnston
Between my review for the premiere issue and “All-New X-Factor” #2 I actually found the time and money (and library and borrowing from friends) to read the “Investigations” era of X-Factor and I have to say it’s simultaneously made me more excited for “All-New X-Factor” and a little disappointed in it. The charm that made the series so compelling isn’t really that present here as I’m still unsure of what exactly the mission statement beyond “What if Google owned a super team?” is. That said, the introduction of more characters (specifically ones from Quicksilver’s “Mutant Messiah” era) certainly brings some intrigue to the issue as well. The plot with Dr. Hoffman seems to flare and die, but if “Investigations” is any indication then it may only be the first piece of a puzzle that David’s crafting with Di Giandomenico whose line work I find a bit too rough, especially when it comes to faces which seem oddly drawn at times. That said, I can’t deny how kinetic his art is and how it makes for some great action scenes.
Final Verdict: 6.8 – Maybe wait for the trade. There’s the roots of something good here but I’m still a bit uncertain.
Avengers #25
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Illustrated by Salvador Larroca
Review by Brian Salvatore
This issue doesn’t connect too much to “Avengers” proper and, in some ways, that’s a relief. The book has been really enjoyable, but is sometimes a daunting read. This was just the opposite of that, but wasn’t exactly fluff either. Another Avengers show up – are they from the past? Are they from an alternate dimension? Are they who they say they are? By the end of the issue we’ve eliminated certain options, but it is still a mystery. Big kudos to Larroca, who was able to draw the alt-Avengers just different enough to differentiate. Sure, the retro costumes helped, but even the faces are off enough just to make something appear amiss. The issue starts off with a great mystery, and while it isn’t resolved at the end of the issue, it makes a lot more sense. A nice start to a new arc from all involved.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – Buy
Avengers World #2
Written by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Spencer
Illustrated by Stefano Caselli
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore
This issue is, more or less, a retcon of “Avengers” #5 by Hickman and Adam Kubert. In that issue, Izzy “Smasher” Dare was more or less shown to be the granddaughter of Dan Dare, the classic British sci-fi character. This issue, perhaps for legal reasons, changes that, and shows a new origin (less than a year after her first one was published), where her grandfather was “Captain Terror,” another Golden Age hero. I understand Marvel backpedaling off of using a non-Marvel character as her grandfather, but due to the proximity of these issues, it seems oddly superfluous. As far as I know, fan reaction to Smasher has ranged from indifference to positive indifference. This isn’t a case of Marvel having to act quickly – there is nothing to act on. Because of that, this issue feels very slight – half poor re-tread of Smasher’s origin, and half poor re-tread of the Builders arc. Caselli does some nice work but, ultimately, this is further proof that “Avengers World” is a book that is very, very much in need of a point, and fast.
Final Verdict: 4.0 – Skip
Hacktivist #1
Written by Alyssa Milano, Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly
Illustrated by Marcus To
Reviewed by James Johnston
The first few pages of “Hacktivist” #1 started off as something very exciting and new. A look at the Middle Eastern riots and the impact they’ve made on social media and vice versa? That’s a superb idea for a comic. Then a couple pages in, the rebels anonymously receive help from some start-up one-percenters who go on to take credit for the riots. From there we’re given an insight into the brave lives of these two one preventers as they sit by their computers in their extravagant Silicon Valley homes, complain about losing on Ebay, and have lavish press conferences about how amazing they are thrown from them. Even if Alyssa Milano hadn’t proudly explained in interviews how this book was inspired by her friend, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, whose contributions to the situations in the Middle East sometime ago don’t go far beyond “stumbling on the social platform that was used to promote it by the freedom fighters themselves.” Dorsey’s not the hero “Hacktivist” makes him and his friends seems to be, and the characters themselves are actually pretty obnoxious douchecanoes who wave their hands to solve the world’s problems. Marcus To’s talent is wasted on an unapologetic wank to a one-percenter whose friend is giving him credit for the blood being spilled by true rebels and freedom fighters in the form of story that could be so much more than it is.
Final Verdict: 3.3 – Pass. Even though To’s art is great, it’s a pretty toxic story.
Moth City: The Reservoir
Written and Illustrated by Tim Gibson
Review by Vince Ostrowski
Tim Gibson crafts a challenging and dark dust bowl narrative over 150+ digital panels/pages. It’s a disturbing story in a setting that we’re used to seeing romanticized. The prose is quite strong, consisting entirely of an indirect narration that alternates with silent images that thematically and subtly reflect the words that preceeded them. It’s a comic that requires you to actively engage with it as you read it to get the desired effect. The images are gritty and violent when they need to be, packing a real gut punch for anyone who puts the time in. This was a different time and a difficult time, and the events of this particular story are shocking as they come while feeling pretty authentic.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – Buy
Umbral #3
Written by Antony Johnston
Illustrated by Christopher Mitten
Review by David Harper
Fantasy is a genre that you don’t see that often in comics, nor is it something that you see done overly well, so it’s a tricky line to walk. Thankfully, in “Umbral” you have two creators in Johnston and Mitten who approach the genre with such reverence and vitality that it’s a little hard not to get absorbed into its world. Johnston, for one, has crafted characters in Rascal and Dalone that are incredibly engaging and human feeling, grounding us in their world so we never get lost in the mix of magic and mystery. Meanwhile, the Umbral themselves (one Umbral, two Umbral, many Umbral) are truly creatures of nightmare that draw us in with their amorphous, universal fear-inducing forms and delivery. Mitten’s depiction of them as dark, fantastical Miyazaki like blobs of destruction draw on our fears by making them out to not just be monsters, but creatures that could be anything at any time – as Rascal’s allies find out the hard way. This is fantasy done the right way, with true world building and character development informing the things that go bump in the night.
Sad note: my shop only ordered two copies of this title for the second straight month, both for pull list customers. Talk to your retailer, as this is a world just waiting to get discovered, and it can’t if there aren’t surplus orders being made.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – gothic fantasy for everyone
The Unwritten Vol. 2: Apocalypse #1
Written by Mike Carey
Continued below
Illustrated by Peter Gross
Review by Vince Ostrowski
Let me stick this right up front: Did you feel like dropping out during the crossover with “Fables”? If so, never fear, you can skip that whole arc and start right back up here if you want. The gap in the story is bridged and it immediately becomes the compelling fantasy narrative that it always had been. I suggest you do start up again, because this is one of the best, most consistent and constantly underrated titles on the rack. And if you thought “Unwritten” played with the comic book format before the relaunch, wait until you read this issue. Nearly every page of Tom Taylor’s journey back is some sort of homage or play on a fictional narrative form – with gorgeous, shifting art sensibilities to match. By the end of it all, it feels like “The Unwritten” again and a reminder of what threads this wonderful book can make to your sense of childhood nostalgia.
Peter Gross poured a lot into this one. He’s the best kept secret in comics, as far as how amazingly versatile his abilities are.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – Buy, if only to see Peter Gross execute over a half-dozen different art styles.
Wolverine and the X-Men #40
Written by Jason Aaron
Illustrated by Pepe Larraz
Review by David Harper
It’s really early, but this issue might end up making my top ten list of the year for issues. Why? Because it is so much fun, existing as almost a crystallization of everything this book has been about since day one. It is a representation of everything that is right about the Jean Grey School by showing all the weird and all of the strange that makes it so damn magical. S.H.I.E.L.D. is trying to take the school down, but in the process, Joseph – one of the two agents who are there to do just that – falls in love with the school, and acts as a window into the school once again for all of us, giving us that loving feeling once again. Brilliant character work throughout drive that, and the B story – if you can call it that – of the aftermath of Wolverine and Cyclops’ epic Sentinel fight, complete with beer, was one of my favorite X-Men moments in recent memory, as you find two old allies who became enemies burying the hatchet and remembering who they once were. When Wolverine tells Cyclops that Wolvie is meant to be the man Jean feared, while Cyclops was meant to be the one she fell in love with, both men – I hope – are given insight into how they’ve lost their path, and I hope this is the beginning of bringing the two sides back together.
Exceptional work by Jason Aaron that was heightened by the highly expressive and explosively energetic art of Pepe Larraz. He was someone I had only experienced once before this arc, but this has made me know for a fact that he’s destined for greater things.
This issue was comics at its best, marrying stellar storytelling that worked from the characters out with pitch perfect art. I am afraid I am in love with this book, even though we are meant to be apart.
Final Verdict: 9.7 – buy with all of the power in the world. Pretend it is homework if you have to
