The Hood #1

Boy in the Hood

Dark Reign; The Hood #1

Jeff Parker
Kyle Hotz

Another in the group of Dark Reign minis that answers the question “What is up with THAT guy?”. I think the Hood is a cool character, so I appreciate the opportunity to read about him.

Wolverine #72

you want some a THIS?

Wolverine #72

Mark Millar
Steve McNiven

Some kind of delay, or publishing schedule over-lap or something like that, has caused this to be the last chapter of this story which will appear in the regular Wolverine title. I think they are shuffling it off to a double sized special edition in order to get this book back in line with main continuity. This issue sees Old Man Logan coming to the end of his long, messed up journey. And, of course, things are still getting worse and worse.

Secret Warriors #4

Secret Warriors 4

Secret Warriors #4

Jonathan Hickman
Brian Bendis
Stefano Caselli

Ever since Nick Fury vanished at the end of Secret War a few years back, the question would occasionally pop up “where is Fury in all of this?”. Something big would happen with SHIELD or Hydra or whatever and you would wonder what Nick was doing. With the Secret Invasion come and gone, Nick (like everyone else) is adapting to the new status quo. In this New World Order, Fury trusts even fewer people than he did before. That short list now includes his hand selected, unattached, agents and, as we see in this issue, the remnants of SHIELD which would not be absorbed into HAMMER.

New Avengers: The Reunion #3

New Avengers: The Reunion #3

Jim McCann
David Lopez

The newly returned Mockingbird continues her reintroduction to the Marvel Universe and her estranged husband Clint (Hawkeye/Ronin) Barton by leading us all on an international spy-chase to uproot the latest AIM game.

Skaar #10

Daddy issues

Skaar #10

Greg Pak

Ron Lim

Skaar symbolically drops the “son of The Hulk” tag from the logo in the same issue that he finally steps out from his dad’s shadow and becomes his own man.Whether or not the title can stand out on its own will remain to be seen.

Avengers Free Comic Book Day

Some assembly required

The Avengers Free Comic Book Day

Brian Bendis
Jim Cheung

This past Saturday , coinciding with the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, was Free Comic Book Day 2009. One of Marvel’s offerings was Avengers. This year it is a completely original comic, without any of the usual re-printed or re-purposed materials we have seen in previous years. The comic is simply titled “The Avengers” without specifying which adjective-designated team will actually star in the story.

Daredevil #118

BEATDOWN!

Daredevil #118

Ed Brubaker
Michael Lark

“There goes the whiniest super hero I ever met.”
-Master Izo, DD 118

The thing about people who whine a lot, is the whining is usually part of a denial mechanism. They spin their wheels over how miserable their situation is because they are unwilling or unable to step back and see the big picture, or who is behind all of this supposed suffering. Daredevil has always been unable to see, but he has never been so unwilling as he is in Ed Brubaker’s epic run on the series. As many times as it is shoved in his face, he simply refuses to see that he is the cause of his own tragedy.

What worked:
For starters, the cover. That’s the good guy in this book? It is compelling enough as a stand alone image, but when you bring with it some knowledge of the kind of trouble that DD usually finds himself in, and the way that he tends to lash out when pushed and deal with consequences later. You know without reading a word that something really bad is going to happen.
Inside the issue, we find all of the voices of reason in Matt’s life telling him to put the breaks on. None of them have the full picture of the disaster that he is brewing, but they all know their friend well enough to know when he is messing up. And, of course, Matt would prefer to wallow in denial, self-pity, and mis-guided rage.
This little down-ward spiral of his plays out wonderfully. We are inside his head enough so that we can see why he thinks these things will be good ideas, but we are outside enough to see why everyone is so frustrated with him.
The unfolding “Return of the King” story is fantastic. The Kingpin has been toppled and returned several times. This could be the best of them. You can see the cunning brutality that made him the man he was, and may yet be again.

What did not work:
This issue sees the return of another classic DD villain, he just seems a bit out of place in this brutal new world. When The Kingpin is an evil wrecking-ball of a pawn being used as a weapon against both sides…it just raises the stakes quite a bit. I trust Brubaker, so I will wait and see. But as of the end of this issue I am thinking “If these people are playing around with the likes of DD and The Kingpin…what the heck is THAT GUY gonna do?” I just don’t know what he could possibly bring to the table.
On, the other hand, look at the position that that has put me in as a reader. Here I am underestimating a wild-card antagonist. Could be that is exactly the position I, and the other characters, SHOULD be in.
There are a few pages, most notably the confrontation between Matt and Foggy, where the art style does not work as well as it usually does. I do not know exactly the working relationship between Michael Lark and the new artists which are listed with him, nor do I know who did what on which pages. But, bringing in a bigger art team usually means a struggle to meet a deadline or maintain a schedule. The transitions are fairly seamless, but this particularly emotional scene is stricken a bit flat when seen side-by-side with the work of Lark, who has been with these characters for this entire run.

The New Avengers #52

Eye spy.

The New Avengers #52

Brian Bendis
Billy Tan
Chris Bachalo

Marvel’s Dark Reign flows into this “Sorcerer Quest”* story line. The characters are all still clearly under the influence of Dark Reign’s new status quo, but the world is moving on. Regardless of what conditions restrain them, there will always be work for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. In this case, it is an unbalance in Marvel’s often overlooked magical sub-verse. The dimension needs a new Sorcerer Supreme and all the major magic players are out to get their hooks into whomever that will be.

What worked:
This book really feels like part of a larger universe. Doctor Strange is not an Avenger, but he is the Avengers circle. He was a member recently, and he knows these people. So, he is more than a guest star, but less than a cast member. He really feels like a friend who came by because he was in a moment of need. It makes sense with the logic of this book’s universe. These people know eachother and can count on eachother.
The “call to action” in this story comes about unlike you will find in any other super-hero comic. There is no alarm bell, or shouting of orders. Rather, a bunch of friends sit around a (rather large) table and talk about the problem. It less about the immediate peril, and more about pride, humility, and loyalty.
If you just count the number of pages and panels where nothing seems to be happening, you would say this was a fairly boring comic book. But, when you read what is actually going on in those scenes, the story is never slow or dull. Those scenes have meaning because you care about the characters. But they are also, strangely, exactly what makes you care about them in the first place.
Luke Cage and Peter Parker explaining simple morality and team ethics to the high-and-mighty Dr. Strange makes for a really nice scene.
Billy Tan is really stepping up for the art on these issues. And though i love Chris Bachalo’s work, his action can just get confusing. Which brings us to…

What did not work:
All of the action in this issue was in the demonic/mystical sections, which were done by the amazingly talented Mr. Bachalo. And though I really do love his work for its energy and beauty…he forces it. He will push a shot in too close, or exploe an effect too far and a panel or two will simply be lost.
Though I do trust this arc to pick up the pace in the next issue or two, it is off to a rather slow start.

*My name for it.

The Immortal Iron Fist #25

Ruling with an Iron Fist

The Immortal Iron Fist #25

Duane Swierczynski
Travel Foreman

Swierczynski’s run on this title really starts to pick up steam with this arc.

What worked:
This story arc has managed to find some feet that the previous arcs in this book have not quite had. What makes it work is the simple, high-concept, nature of the story. Watch me encapsulate it: The Immortal Weapons travel to their version of Hell to right some injustices done long ago. When they arrive, they are surprised to find themselves in Hell. None of the previous arcs in this series have had a simple, instant, mouthful of story like this.
It’s got mysticism, kung-fu, intrigue, and it still feels like a Marvel action comic book.
Being set in Hell, this story arc has essentially been an escape plot, and the climax of any escape plot must be the escape….and what goes wrong during its execution. In this case, the major fly in the ointment comes out as a trickle-reveal of a very significant mistaken identity.

What did not work:
The sub-plot that is brewing with Davos is being revealed to coyly. Cunning hints and teases of things to come are great, but it has been a month since we got our last hint, and it will be another month before we get another little hint-morsel. I do not remember what Davos is doing there. I just hope that when his secret whatever is revealed that we get a quick recap of what he has been doing.

Ghost Rider #34

Hell on wheels

Ghost Rider #34

Jason Aaron
Tony Moore

Jason Aaron’s run on Ghost Rider seems to have been building toward an epic conflict between good and evil. It happened two issues ago, off panel, and good lost. The characters in-the-know know that the end is coming now, the trickle-down effects of a lost war in Heaven. So, as they wait, they set out to put their affairs in order.

What worked: Lots of other characters in other genres might put their affairs in order by searching sould and making amends. But this is Ghost Rider. This is rock-a-billy-horror on the open road. Those are the rules these people live by. If you want to find answers, you find them out on the road. And that is exactly where disgraced Ghost Rider Dan Ketch finds himself. Himself and the newly bad-assed, dusted-off, Marvel villain “The Highwayman”.
Maybe The Highwayman was a regular villain at some point, but in this book he is reincarnated as a long-haul boogey-man who haunts the by-ways and back roads being just plain evil. He is really the best/worst kind of spectral bad guy, the kind where you don’t have to do a damn thing wrong to catch his wrath. All you have to do is be unlucky enough to cross his path. And, being an unlucky highway dweller at the unluckiest moment in his unlucky life (can’t talk about this tuff without startingto sound like a country song) Dan Ketch does exactly that, he crosses the path of The Highwayman.
I know this is supposed to be the “what worked” section and it is turning in to a recap. But everything worked.
This story is balls-out, kick-ass, hill-billy-horror, awesomeness. It is like if the Crypt Keeper listened to Motorhead.
It isn’t a tale of redemption (except in a meta sort of way, in that a previously cast off character is redeemed as a brand new villain), it isn’t a story shining light on the dark underbelly of society, or the hidden corners of our collective psychology. Nope. it is just a cool horror story. And, in what he believes to be the last days of the world on men, that is all Dan Ketch gets, a cool horror story. Awesome, full-blown, scary, cool, but ultimately a bit pointless…and you get the sense that Dan knows that.
As part of a larger story, this makes a great spacer. Don’t think of it as a filler story, think of it as a tension builder. The characters know that they have already lost, and that the world is cooming to an end. But we know that this is not what is going to happen. we know that something cool is going to happen and that Ghost Rider (or Ghost Riders) is going to somehow save everything. But until that happens, we are just bristling for it. Something is going to happen. Something big. And these “filler” issues just make us want it more.
Oh, and Tony Moore’s art tells the story perfectly. It is brutal and comedic at the same time. The Highwayman and his story are funny, but never played for ironic laughs. This is not hipsters in trucker hats laughing at “Smokey and the Bandit”. This is the understanding that humor and horror never really get too far apart.

What did not work: The story was essentially a chase and a fight. It could have been longer, deeper, and darker. It could have been more of a struggle. But, it wasn’t