Comic Day! (Reviews and Raves)

Greetings web donkeys!

Today I have a nice and full docket, so forgive me if my attention to certain books is lacking. I'll stick to the more important titles as well as the most thought provoking for the bulk of this, day of comic book reviews.

The Breakdown is as follows:

DC Comics
Blackest Night #1} 9/10
Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1-3} 8/10
Green Lantern #44} 7/10
Justice League: Cry For Justice #2} 7/10

Marvel Comics
Captain America #601} 6/10
Iron Man #16} 8/10
Dark Reign: Hawkeye #4} 8/10
Dark Reign: The Hood #3} 9/10
X-Factor #46} 7/10
War of Kings #6} 8/10
War of Kings: Ascension #4} 9/10
The Mighty Avengers #27} 7/10
The Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead #3} 9/10

Indie/Minor Imprints
Asterios Polyp} 8/10
Parker: The Hunter} ?/10

Now all these ratings may seem high, but bear in mind that regardless of what my review says, I still like all these comics (otherwise I wouldn't buy them!) getting them all an instant 5/10. I'm a little more critical when I talk about them closely because I hold all these writers and artists to a pretty high standard. Whew! Now that's out of the way, I can get a bit more detailed.

Justice League: Cry For Justice Not a lot of major developments in this issue, still working out the kinks of this new Justice League. Supergirl is the newest addition to Green Arrow and Green Lantern's (my personal favorite DC team-up) superhero hit squad. The characterization is exactly how I like to see it, but the plot is a little slow for my taste. Congorilla is interesting as a wildcard character. The painterly art of Mauro Cascioli makes any storytelling flaws easy to overlook. This is a really pretty book. I recommend at least picking it up at looking at it. The theme seems to be justice... but at what cost is justice?


Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps Great little peeks into the live of some of the major players of the War of Light. I love the "Animatrix" approach that's being applied to so many things now (I know they weren't the first to use different writers and art directors to tell different parts of the same story, but they are the most notable contemporary example). In this case, the art styles do a fairly good job of reflecting the personality traits of the characters being described.

I love Saint Walker's story(Blue). Larfleeze is just amazing(Orange). Mongul and Carol Ferris were less exciting, but great characterization(Yellow, Violet). The stories of Bleeze, Kilowog, and Indigo were neat(Red, Green, Indigo duh). I'm liking the little taste of what the Indigo Tribe can do. Arisia was the least interesting to me, but it's nice to see the line of Lanterns she came from(Green). I don't consider the books worth $12 especially considering that the stories have no real impact on one's enjoyment of Blackest Night, but the there's no denying great content when it's there.

Captain America This issue was really disappointing to me. In place of Luke Ross's expressive pencils we have an overly artsy flashback to Bucky's days with Steve Rogers during WWII hunting vampires. Personally, I can't stand the sight of Nick Fury, so the book turned me off immediately there. I know the "kid trying to fill Cap's shoes" story can't go on forever, but I want something more than war stories and throw away stuff in anticipation of Rogers' inevitable return. I hope next month's issue will come back to the present and show Bucky's war scars haunting him now rather than penis length comparisons with the former greatest spy of all time. (perhaps this issue should have come out sooner and been tied-in with the awesome final arc of Captain Britain and MI-13, that would have been AMAZING)

War of Kings: Ascension Now concluded, this was a great little look at the mythos of the Darkhawk armor that gave the young hero of that namesake so much trouble. Lots of action and a thrilling moment of conflict as Darkhawk regains control of his armor just as Lilandra of the Shiar is killed, by his gun! This issue details Darkhawk's struggle to face both the X-Men and Kallark, more commonly known as Gladiator. It was a good mini, my only complaint being that it seems to set up for an arc of Darkhawk that I don't really care about. On his own I don't think the character holds water, but maybe as a member of a superhero team? I don't know. But an ongoing series based on Darkhawk's new mission seems uninteresting.

Dark Reign: Hawkeye and The Hood Both minis have kept the action coming and the stories fresh. Personally I prefer The Hood, because as a villianous character he is one of the best written and most compelling and his Dark Reign storyline is dramatic and touching while being full of violent killings and revenge driven heroes. The book puts conventional hero/villain relations on their heads as The Hood tries to exorcise Dormammu from himself while White Fang, the wife of a cop that he unintentionally killed seeks to kille him with the help of The Controller, a two-bit Iron Man villain. Hawkeye is just as, if not more action-packed. Obviously a character like Bullseye has less emotional paydirt than Parker Robbins, but the twist of this story is that Bullseye's father is out to swap bodies with him, trading a withered wounded body for Bullseye's young adamantium laced one. Good stuff. These are two of the better minis that Marvel has put out. Each deals with issues of morality and what it means to be good or evil, as well as the cost of leading double-lives. Diggle and Parker are talented writers.

X-Factor This has been on my recommended reading list for being consistently good. Peter David has created a magical world of noir where Layla Miller and Jamie Madrox's turbulent relationship is put through the wringer time and again. This issue is no different. Jamie, still trapped in a future dystopia with an aged Cyclops and Layla has to solve a mystery involving a mutant's disappearance. If I explained any more about what happened in this issue I'd have to explain like 50 issues of buildup and important plot points, so that's all I'll say. The issue itself is sort of a lull in an otherwise great story. Typically David seems to lose the attention of a drama fanatic like me in between plot twists and epic moments. The case is a little unclear at the moment, but each issue peels back one more layer of the mystery. The tagline of this book is always apt, "expect the un-X-pected."

Mighty Avengers Dan Slott has been on again off again for me. This week was a little more off again. I enjoyed his first arc of Mighty Avengers and the team is well constructed. It's nice to have someone write Hank Pym as the inventor he is and not the wife whacking pill popper he was. What irritates me is his sudden expertise in the field of magic. Is he Dr. Doom now? Since when? Pocket dimensions are cool, like the stuff Reed Richards does, but saying that it's magic? That's a cop out. I also like that Quicksilver is an Avenger again, but after such great characterization Peter David gave him, Slott is running a potentially great character into the ground. It's great how US Agent wants to assemble all the Avengers. The idea of an Inhuman king before Black Bolt that wasn't his father is neat, but a little lame so close to the War of Kings event. The art is still decent. I still hate Amadeus Cho (despite my feelings on him being a great candidate for the new Ant Man). I think this is a good story, with poor characterization, and being written at the wrong time. Maybe I'm just not ready for the magic that is Dan Slott's Avengers.

Blackest Night The War of Light is on! What a great opening number. There's death, mayhem, destruction, emotions flying everywhere (literally and figuratively), and plots for universal domination. This is a well planned and well executed event taking place in the DC universe that's at least six years in the making. The first issue of this exciting cross-over does a pretty good job of setting the stage for the action to take place. Unfortunately, if you don't know what's been happening in Green Lantern, Superman, Infinite Crisis, 52, Final Crisis, Booster Gold, and almost all of the DCU's hero books, you may not grasp the intensity of some of these great moments. No worries though. Blackest Night #0 did a fine job of summing up all you needed to know to enjoy the book, without maybe understanding it 100% or feeling the gravity of the situation. With an awesome artist in Ivan Reis at his side, Geoff Johns brings us to the logical conclusion of the Green Lantern mythos, an all out war between the spectrum of light and the prophesied rise of the Black Lanterns of death. Themes at play here are both meta, as in what becomes of superheroes upon death and in-universe, such as what is the true power of emotions and is the pain and fear worth the hope and love that intertwine into the fabric of what we call life. Perhaps the resulting chaos may give rise to the White Lanterns of life? Maybe old favorites like Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter don't have to stay dead or be zombies.


Green Lantern Okay, I love Geoff Johns as much as the next guy. Probably moreso even. But I don't know about this one. The issue does a good job of staying in line with the Blackest night without spoiling anything or being redundant (no easy task in events like these). Unfortunately, I still have a problem with Johns making Hal Jordan and Barry Allen seems like best friends. Apart from both being JLA veterans, I see no reason that they should be such "best fwiends." Allen has more in common with Bruce Wayne, just like Jordan has more in common with Ollie Queen or even Michael Carter. While the Yin of Allen's seriousness and attention to detail are a perfect counter in terms of great storytelling to the Yang of Jordan's arrogance and recklessness, that doesn't mean they'd be best buds, but rather bickering and overcoming differences like any good partnership in fiction. Call me crazy, but perhaps Johns just likes the idea of his two favorite characters being bosom buddies. He's earned that right I suppose, but it's skating dangerously close to writing like Jeph Loeb.

Iron Man Matt Fraction continues to hit home runs with the Golden Avenger. Stark is still on the run from Norman Osborn and Fraction is keeping the fate of Iron Man pretty well unpredictable. I don't know how a character can survive having their brain erased, but I have faith that the series is going in a great direction. Fraction poses a good question in the line of Iron Man; "what happens when the world's smartest man is smart no longer?" It may no be wholly original, but his take on it is compelling. My only complaint with this issue was the fact that is seems to me like every woman in the Marvel Universe has the hots for Stark. I don't deny that it's probably true, but Madame Masque, Pepper Potts, Maria Hill and (I suspect) Black Widow (due to her involvement in the film franchise) are all over Iron Man. Sad, because soon it seems he won't have the brain capacity to talk them into a 5-way love fest.

War of Kings A great Marvel cosmic event comes to an explosive end that left me a little wanting. The action was great. The writing was great. The final battle between Black Bolt and Vulcan couldn't have been more awesome. My complaint is that the ending, rather than resolve anything, resulted in the Guardian's of the Galaxy failing to stop the Shiar-Kree War from tearing a hole in space-time, setting up Darkhawk's evident ongoing. The rise of Gladiator as Majestor of the Shiar is cool as hell, and likely to be followed up in X-Men. The power vaccuum in the Inhuman Royal Family will surely cause tension when Ronan of the Kree competes with Maximus for the throne (that is my prediction anyway). I was disappointed with the lack of Nova and the new Nova Corps in this issue, but I'm sure questions will get answered. Abnett and Lanning are the best thing is cosmic comics right now, but I still wish they'd given me a little more in this final issue than "see what happens next" and "Darkhawk is gonna be important!"

Dark Tower I didn't think Isanove could hold up without Jae Lee's incredible pencils, but I'm a believer now. Peter David's heartbreak-a-minute prequel saga to Stephen King's novel continues to rock my world. Roland's new squeeze, Aileen, has just just lost her father, and now gone all Mulan, cut her hair and become a gunslinger. Cuthbert's attraction to Aileen became more apparent when he learn to empathize with her lose upon hearing his own father had been killed as well. Gilead is indeed on the way down and Roland's friends must hurry before he is sent to the gallows for killing his mother. Total. Drama. David's writing is amazing as always; he keeps you hoping for the best even though you know Roland is destined to be alone.

Asterios Polyp What a trip this book was. Before I say anything else, I have to explain how awesome the art is. I think each page could be a Threadless t-shirt they're so good. PLus the art is incredibly expressive as a storytelling device. This was a great comic. It juxtaposes lots of popular philosophies, focusing on the difference in perspective and perception, and how it affects the way humans communicate. The main character's obsession with duality is angering at times because it's so convincing. I do feel as if more conservative philosophies and religions are painted as very two-dimensional, but that's to be expected in a first-person narrative such as this. It's not all that biased. No one person's way of thinking is presented as wholly right or wrong. That's part of the reason I love it so much. It's like Chaucer in it's observation style of writing. The writer has the clear perspective of self-reflecting and aged. Despite the narrator's inclinations, I immediately respect his wisdom and experience. I do have an issue with the ending. I can appreciate the irony of it, but I still think of it as a bit of a cop out. A good read if you're prepared to think a bit. Maybe consider calling up anyone you may have fallen out with and apologize. That sort of thing. A pretty good message in that.


Parker: The Hunter What does ?/10 mean? Simple. I haven't read it yet! There was simply too much on my plate today to finish EVERYTHING. So I overlooked it. Expect a review of this novel into comic later this week.

Well that's everything. I apologize for the brevity I gave these reviews. There was a lot to read! Truth be told though, I prefer discussing comics to reviewing them so feel free to share yours thoughts! Comment with all of your questions, complaints, declarations of vehement disagreement. I will reply to 100% of comments because I have no life and I love talking about comics.

Enjoy your week!