Sorry this is late, but I wanted to have a chance to read the big comic from this week before I did my reviews. I may go back and add some more of the stuff I read last week, there was a bumper crop of comics. And there was also a bumper crop of huge, major SPOILERS so beware!
Captain America #25: It’s actually well written, and I buy how Cap could be killed. Only… it seems obvious to me that he WASN’T killed. Another issue this month has the dialogue between two characters say that his death was faked, and there are a number of holes in the issue that seem designed to leave a lot of “outs” for him to have survived. I wonder if it’s possible that they never meant to really kill him off, until it became a major news story? HIT
Dark Tower #2: Roland’s father looks AWESOMELY BADASS. Plus, some of the more mystical areas of Dark Tower are covered, and a very interesting fluff text piece in the back fills in some holes about the world that I didn’t know even after reading all 7 books. HIT
Outsiders #46: Woohoo Lesbians! Actually the relationships in this book do seem to humanize it, which is why it was good for a while, and then when they dropped that aspect in favor of crossovers and whatnot, it lost it. Still nothing great, and VERY annoying that the storyline is continued in an Annual instead of the next issue. HIT
Bomb Queen III #1: A completely unapologetic supervillian series as always (featuring such scenes as the main character’s clothes being blown off during a chase.) This issue was a little slow since it was setup for three perspective characters to come together. Though it did have an awesomely villianous scene, where Bomb Queen says “C’mere kid” and then uses the kid as a human shield in the next panel without stopping. MEH
Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #8: Wow, some big random Crisis of Infinite Earths reference that relates to 52 stuck in there. Oh, and note to future DC Comics continuity: the Washington Monument has been broken in half. Please adjust all depictions accordings. MEH
All New Atom #9: Oddly, despite featuring zombie bullies, it feels much less weird than all the other issues (and only had one science quote.) Kind of a let down, really. MEH
Helmet of Fate: Zauriel: A prime example of what happens when you think too deeply about a comic book universe, but not deeply enough to make sense. Zauriel, an angel, answers questions from sunday school children (which is kind of fun- I mean, I’d ask if Superman goes to heaven because he’s an alien too.) Then, for silly reasons, Zauriel is dispatched by God to a fungus planet to stop a demon-vampire spore with the Helmet of Fate. He then wins. Some fun dialogue, but really ludicrous concept. Oh, and if you wanted this mini-series to answer who ends up with the Helmet and becomes the new Doctor Fate… it doesn’t happen. It’ll wait until the Dr. Fate ongoing… which leads me to wonder why this mini-series existed. MEH
Manhunter #29: How do you call Superman to the stand? Well, that question isn’t really answered, but he was unable to be used in grand jury testimony. And the return of Everyman from 52, who was posing as Blue Beetle. As expected, Ted Kord remains dead. Plus the other plots get a little more advancing but not finished. Still, good read! HIT
The Mighty Avengers #1: Bendis finds a way to cram even more dialogue onto a page: the return of thought balloons! Unfortunatly, while not a bad idea, the balloons tend to be completely unnecessary to conveying information or character detail in most circumstance, and so just serve to be annoying. The forming of the Avengers is amusing, with some interesting choices, and the return of a classic baddie “Frank Cho-ized” is a good one. Which, by the way, Frank Cho’s work here is great. Close call, but overall, this one ends up being a HIT.
Dynamo 5 #1: Good concept- the Superman analogue dies, but then his wife discovers that he’s been having all sorts of affairs, and has five kids by different mothers. She tracks them down, and activates their powers, where each one has a different one of his superpowers, and uses them to fight crime. Or does she? A twist at the end to make you say “This ain’t Lois Lane after all.” HIT
Fantastic Four The End #6: OK, not an end at all, actually. Marvel needs some kind of Elseworlds branding to say “this happens in the future” especially if you’re not going to live up to the promise of actually having the FF end. MISS
Nightwing #130: Take that, Staten Island Ferry! MEH
Authority #2: Much more interesting than the last issue. A pretty good explanation too of… our universe. Gene Ha does some awesome two page spreads, but seems wasted on single panels. And the dialogue is surprisingly un-Grant Morrison. HIT
Amazing Spiderman #538: Did somebody equip every sniper in the Marvel Universe with magic bullets? That’s the only reason I can see why Spiderman, spider sense going, is not able to also save Aunt May. I guess THAT is the real reason for “Back in Black.” MISS
Midnighter #5: Having a time machine really solves a lot of problems, doesn’t it? When being blackmailed, just pull bad guy from past and threaten to kill. And some interesting light on the bad guy’s origins. This run is probably worth reading in the trade. HIT
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