Due to Mother Nature’s Icelandic Indigestion, the weekly comic shipments went right up the spout. Obviously a week without comics was the most significant and traumatic impact of the ash-cloud-induced flight ban.
This week’s trip to the store resulted in a rather bumper haul but I’m not going to review all of them, don’t worry. :)
Siege: Secret Warriors
This one-shot, tying in to Marvel’s current blockbuster event book Siege, focuses on Alex/Phobos and his reaction to the death of his father Ares in Siege. Written by Jonathan Hickman, the writer of the ongoing Secret Warriors book and Fantastic Four.
Yes, that’s Ares as in the God Of War. One of the better additions to Bendis’ Avengers team, Ares was killed by the Sentry during the battle for Asgard. His adolescent son Alex has recently accepted his powers as Phobos, God of Fear and joined a group of underground heroes fighting a black-ops style war against various organisations trying to control the world. With me so far?
Alex sees his father’s death via a news report and decides he needs to have a quiet word with POTUS over his handling of things. The rest of the issue is split between Alex making the entire Secret Service look like the keystone cops, and Nick Fury and Captain America catching up water-cooler style while they fight the villains attacking Asgard.
The issue would have been better served, in my opinion, by focusing wholly on Alex. This issue was unlikely to be bought by those not already reading Secret Warriors and they’re familiar with Alex’s relationship with his father, his acceptance of his godhood and the struggle he has with being a human boy AND a god. the banter between Fury and Cap feels out of place. Too jokey and relaxed given the circumstances of their reunion and current situation.
Alesandro Vitti’s art has echoes of Jim Calafiore, but avoids the very square, “blocky” feel that Calafiore’s art sometimes has. While his style is very different to the art in the ongoing Secret Warriors book, he suits the tone of the story well and conveys a great sense of motion and energy in the action sequences.
All in all, not an essential tie-in to Siege, and not as involved as I’d have liked, but maybe Hickman’s going to follow up on Alex’s grief and anger in the regular title.
Victorian Undead 6
As the title subtly states above, this is Wildstorm’s “Sherlock Holmes Vs Zombies!” book, and also the last part of the mini-series.
Fairly sound premise really: Take Holmes and Watson, mix in Zombies and a touch of Happy Shopper League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and you get Victorian Undead. A book that never matched its’ potential despite the core idea being intriguing.
Ian Edington has recently been working with Dan Abnett on Wildstorm’s main superhero line, but here he flew solo. Maybe I’m being too harsh; the book is fun, although the plotting in the last couple of issues has been pretty loose and a bit questionable at times, with some revelations and explanations seeming to come out of left-field.
David Fabbri’s art is a tad cartoony at times, but if you remember the early issues of The Walking Dead with Tony Moore on art, you know that zombie comics can work perfectly well without the art being gritty and realistic. Carrie Strachan’s colours are great here and a key component in setting the tone and atmosphere of the scenes. While Fabbri inks his own work, he is sparing with the blakc and this, coupled with Strachan’s colours, gives the book a very soft look which works well.
As a denouement to the series, it’s an unsatisfying conclusion stealing parts from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and leaving a very clear “To be continued” cliffhanger that doesn’t make sense. A nice idea for a series but one where the premise’s potential was never quite matched by it’s execution.
Transformers: The Last Stand of The Wreckers 4
Ok, you probably know that Transformers involves the Autobots, aka the good guys, versus the Decepticons, aka the bad guys. The Wreckers are the Autobots’ black-ops/special forces unit. All the hardest and most badass characters wash up here. Except Grimlock, but that’s because he’s actually too awesome, enough for the Wreckers. Anyone who thinks otherwise is clearly wrong. Clear? Good…
Anyway, this mini-series has one more issue to go and the pacing has been spot on so far. The Wreckers have been dispatched to a formerly Autobot-controlled penal colony to quell a riot led by one of the Decepticons’ primary chaos-bringing, hell-raising, ass-kickers; Overlord. Overlord has turned the planet into one massive sadistic gladiatorial combat. offering escape form the globe to anyone who kills their way to the top of the pile. The Wreckers go to this planet to retrieve any surviving Autobots (None found so far) and something called “Aequitas”.
Things, predictably, went pear-shaped early on in the series; they were forced to crash-land and split into three groups running for their lives, trying to complete the mission before they are hunted down and killed. This issue finds the team leaders being tortured while one group tries to find and rescue them and the other group locates Aequitas. We’re given the “revelation” of what Aequitas actually is but it’s a bit vague and not quite the game-changer it had been hinted at. There’s the suggestion that there are more secrets to be revealed in the next, final, issue.
As is usual for any Wreckers story, there are casualties. Normally you expect the no-mark redshirts to die, but there are one or two deaths here that came as quite a shock given how long the characters have been around.
Nick Roche’s art is supported by the gigolo-named Guido Guidi (Honestly, how is he not working his way through Miami, leeching off rich older women and working in porn? With a name like that it must be a legal requirement!") and they both put in a fantastic job of giving the angular, metallic protagonists a large amount of character, expression and emotion. Don Figuerora, artists on the regular Transformers ongoing series, could learn a LOT from these guys.
Green Lantern 53/Green Lantern Corps 47
Normally I’d avoid combining reviews but these two issues serve as coda to the Blackest Night crossover within the context of the respective series. Dust settles, wounds bandaged, life returns to normal and new storylines are set-up.
The Green Lantern issue focuses almost entirely on Hal Jordan and his relationship with his ex-long term beau Carol Ferris. While Hal’s powers derive from willpower and expressions thereof; Carol’s come form her love for Hal and allows her similar abilities to him as a member of the Star Sapphires. They have a heart to heart during a jet fighter race and are interrupted by Sinestro, currently observing a truce by the letter of the agreement, if not quite the spirit. As Hal, Carol and Sinny (as I like to call him) head off to look at a White Lantern, Atrocitus, leader of the rage-fuelled Red Lanterns meets with two Green Lanterns. The GL’s in question are Guy Gardner, another human GL and Ganthet, previously one of the ancient Guardians of The Universe but now a GL. They want Atrocitus to go with them on a mission of some import that Guy feels will destroy his friendship with Hal.
The Green Lantern Corps issue features a wider cast and reads as an issue, rather than an extended conversation like Green Lantern did. Tomasi is great at managing his large cast, giving everyone some page time and adding some nice character flourishes. Following Blackest Night, several of the senior GL’s have decided that the Guardians need to be held to account for their behaviour in recent months. Their inaction, secrecy and arrogance has cost untold lives. As Kyle, Guy and Arisia confront the Guardians; Kilowog the GL Drill Instructor, makes a decsion on his future and a GL makes a big sacrifice for his partner.
A much better issue than Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps covered a lot of ground, aligning the various cast members with the next step for them and the Corps. Tomasi’s leaving this book shortly to write the spin-off Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors starring Guy and Kilowog. It’ll be a shame to see him go, as he’s got a great handle on the group dynamic, the characters’ voices and a knack for pacing. Thankfully, although Tomasi is leaving, Pat Gleason is staying on as penciller. Gleason’s been consistently one of the best artists in DC’s creative but has never achieved the superstar status of his less prolific and tardy colleagues.
Blackest Night Director’s Cut 1
Blackest Night Director’s Cut is a bit like a DVD bonus disc for the recently finished crossover. With pages and panels of the series highlighted here by writer Geoff Johns and penciller Ivan Reis, it’s reminiscent (intentionally I would imagine_) of Wizard magazine’s Kingdom Come commentary of about, ooh, ten years back.
It’s pretty good reading, showing little details you might have missed, or elaborating on points that never got the page time they would have liked. There’s some script pages for an unused sequence or two.
The back half of the book is a collection of the character concept sketches for all the resurrected Black Lantern versions of heroes and villains seen throughout the main Blackest Night series and the ancillary tie-ins. Some nice pictures but a bit “meh” once you’ve seen them.
The content here is likely to be included in the series hardcover so unless you’re desperate for it, I’d skip this for the time being, especially seeing as it’s a $5.99 book! I really must check the prices on things before I get to the till…
Also in the bag this week were two hardcovers: Flash Rebirth and Invincible Ultimate Collection Vol 5. Will comment on them later.
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