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| Wednesday, June 2, 2010 12:03 PM |
| The Take |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor's (semi-)weekly comic book review post.
This post covers new releases from the week of 5/5. Beware spoilers!
New releases
Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #1
This is the start of a six-issue limited series by Jason Aaron, with art by Adam Kubert. It's rather an odd story in which Wolverine and Spider-Man are sent back in time, apparently by accident, to just before the extinction of the dinosaurs. The time travel happens in the middle of a bank heist - a heist, I might add, being pulled off by The Orb and his gang; it's nice that Aaron is giving work to the weird old Ghost Rider villains he recently resurrected. Anyway, after some time in the past - long enough to seriously screw things up and come face to face with various other strange mysteries - our heroes jump in time again, this time to a twisted future ruled over by war-like people riding Devil Dinosaur robots. Whoops. Obviously there are some cool ideas in here, but for whatever reason - maybe the tons of narration and the depressing apocalyptic tone - the book just didn't grab me. I don't think I'll be collecting the rest of the issues.
Thumbs Sideways
Batman and Robin #12
Good lord, I love Grant Morrison. In this issue, Dick Grayson and Slade Wilson fight both face-to-face, and across a distance with Damian as the go-between. Wayne Manor is discovered to be a bat signal sent across time. The crazy, cold-as-ice Talia Al Ghul reveals she has had a backup Damian all ready to go, just in case he should choose to betray him. And indeed he does, choosing to remain as Robin and side with Batman. She tells him he is now an enemy of the House of Al Ghul, and he responds, "I hope I can be a worthy one, mother." Awesome. Meanwhile, Dick seems close to working out the riddle of Bruce's adventure through time. And, the big shocker: Oberon Sexton turns out to be, not Bruce Wayne, but the Joker! I did not see that coming at all. I'm not sure it makes a lot of sense, either, as Sexton is a pretty serious guy, and a good fighter. But then again, the Joker has been through a lot lately, and maybe Morrison will explain further in the next issue. Regardless, fun!
Thumbs Up
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight #35
You can pretty much take my review of #34, copy it in here, and apply it to this issue, as well. One good thing about this issue: at least the decision that Buffy and Angel make at the end feels right and fits their characters, even if almost nothing else they've done recently in this story arc has been true to character. Of course they would give up any hope of peace in an eternal paradise where they're ultimately powerful in order to return to Earth and help their friends in a hopeless fight against hordes of monsters. That's what they always do. As Buffy says, "I never do what I'm meant for." But that still doesn't explain why Angel became Twilight and did all this crap in the first place. I guess we're still going with the dumb excuse that "the Universe" made him do it. Ugh.
Thumbs Down
Hellboy in Mexcio
Mike Mignola and Richard Corben team up again for another amazing Hellboy one-shot. This one has a frame story set in 1982 Mexico. While Abe and Hellboy are waiting for pickup, babysitting a mysterious monster locked in a suitcase, Hellboy tells Abe a sad and wonderful story about the last time he was in Mexico, back in 1956, when he joined a trio of Mexican wrestler brothers in fighting a bunch of local demons, and then ultimately ended up wrestling for the soul of one of the brothers. There's the suggestion that he spent a couple of months after that doing some professional wrestling himself. It's a classic Hellboy story, funny and subtle and moving and creative, fantastically illustrated by Corben.
Thumbs Up
Incorruptible #5
Looks like this title just got a new artist. His name is Horacio Domingues, and sadly I don't think his exaggerated, cartoonish style really fits the serious tone of the book. That being said, this issue is still pretty interesting. A new character is introduced, and Max's protective feelings for Jailbait become better defined even as she gets herself into greater danger.
Thumbs Sideways
Irredeemable #13
Hey, there was a new issue of each of Mark Waid's one-word-title-that-starts-with-an-I books this week! This one's useful in that it goes back and better explains some of the more recent plot twists, but mostly it just feels like filler, and a pause in the action. Which is slightly disappointing.
Thumbs Sideways
S.H.I.E.L.D. #1
Holy crap did I love this comic. It's an epic, thrilling, and creative reimagining of what S.H.I.E.L.D. is. It turns the organization into an ancient secret society that's existed since the beginning of civilization. The strongest and wisest men of each generation have been members, and have acted to protect the world from various alien invasions. The rather disturbing part is that they seem to be only postponing the destruction of Earth - preparing the planet for some other mysterious final doom. The writing is wonderful, with fantastically over-the-top dialog, and I love how famous historical figures are tied into the story, and shown using impossible inventions and weapons to fight infamous Marvel space villains. Then there's the unexpected appearance of Agent Richards and Agent Stark, not to mention Leonardo da Vinci. They're building a really interesting mythology here, and the fascinating diagram of "The Human Machine" in the back of the comic only adds to the mystique. Excellent stuff! I will definitely be collecting the rest of this series.
Thumbs Up |
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| Tagged (?): Batman (Not), Buffy (Not), Comic books (Not), Grant Morrison (Not), Hellboy (Not), Jason Aaron (Not), Mark Waid (Not), Mike Mignola (Not), S.H.I.E.L.D. (Not), Spider-Man (Not), The Take (Not), Wolverine (Not) | |
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Jim Genzano's books on Goodreads
