A bit of house keeping; I usually will post a shorter review article at the Examiner page in my signature before posting it here. The simple reason is that I am actually paid to post there (albeit not much), and they are shorter and quicker to do. I usually review 3 books, my top 3 of a week (or 3 I want to highlight). I still plan to post reviews here pro bono, though. I got my comics on time but was away for two days. At any rate, August finishes with six books and they're all solid, just some more than others.
As always, full spoilers ahead.
Dread's BOUGHT/THOUGHT for 8/26/09:
DYNAMO 5 #24: It seems there is some push to get this book back on a roughly monthly schedule after often letting a month pass between issues (akin to THOR) many times. Jay Faerber has claimed that big things are due for issue #25 and this one gears up towards that. One of the biggest developments as co-creator and regular artist Mahmud Asrar leaving ongoing art chores for the book. He has drawn part or all of most of the last 24 issues (including issue #0 and the cover for the annual) but he has been getting sporadic work from Marvel's space division and may be seeking to branch his career out. While he will be missed on this title by D5 #26, the fill in work that Faerber has gotten before has gelled with the book (it's not as clashing as, say, going from Caselli to Ramos) has been fine and I'd certainly like Asrar to do some higher profile work. And despite a two issue run on INVINCIBLE due, he's drawn more of this co-created franchise than Cory Walker has yet to draw for INVINCIBLE. So there is little right to complain.
This issue is a build-up issue to the 25th, but quite a bit still does happen. Springing from last issue's cliffhanger, we get a flashback from Father Gideon, the newest mastermind challenging the D5. It seems that Capt. Dynamo was hardly the only one who had past lovers littered all over; Maddie Warner had been engaged to another man before settling on the superhero, and even had a son with him. That son would become Gideon, obviously bitter at Maddie having ditched his father virtually at the alter for a superhero. There is one mildly creepy bit when it becomes obvious that he has been sleeping with Synergy. Besides the fact that priests are supposed to stay celibate (and avoid trying to kill people for revenge, oh well), technically Synergy would be his step-sister or some sort of relative. Synergy is the daughter of the man that Gideon's biological mother married. They're not blood related but they are step-siblings, unofficially. Someone call Jerry Springer quick!
In-between hillbilly style love sessions, the pair go off on their revenge plan, using the gun that Synergy stole from FLAG, which removes super-powers. They kidnap Maddie and basically start to abduct the Dynamo 5 one by one. Scrap, seen in her gothic bikinni, is the only one who manages to put up some kind of fight but is herself overwhelmed. They then awaken bound in chains and powerless, awaiting next issue's revelations. Before that, Gage and Spencer chat over weight-lifting and their interaction continues to be interesting. They're not the adversaries they were ten issues ago or so, but they're hardly the best of friends yet. Gage feels it is a bit "unjust" that Spencer was able to keep some of the strength he gained from using those illegal steroids due to being an alien, and is confused about his sexual orientation since Spencer posed as a woman for months as Vigil. Spencer notes that while he's spent most of his life as a black man, he's still an alien and gender for him is flexible. It read very much like ground Vaughan covered with Xavin the Skrull in RUNAWAYS years ago, but not enough that I was rolling my eyes at the rip...yet. It doesn't help, though, that Spencer has just come off the "token black guy cheats/uses drugs on the team and learns a lesson" stereotype storyline and now is risking rubbing against RUNAWAYS material. It seems out of all of the team, Faerber struggles to write Spencer in a way that avoids cliche completely. Part of me wonders if most of Spencer's existence serves to test some of Gage's ignorance or inhibitions about both minorities and homosexuals, since he is the "all American white jock with a stable home". They're still interesting together, but as much of this book has managed to avoid being pigeon-holed, it seems Myraid is one area where Faerber could improve. It's hardly the first time where a team book has settled on the only African American man on a team being an alien. The rest are fine; Scatterbrain is deeper than many "big guys" and him being telepathic is also a nice twist. Scrap is a goth screenwriter who is settling into being the muscle of a team, a role Gage would have been better at. Slingshot has her father and manages to fill a mothering role on the team, flexing between loyalty to Maddie and her step-siblings. And Hector is one of few Asian characters whose abilities have nothing to do with martial arts; he's a nerd, but he's hardly a super-genius like Amadeus Cho or countless others.
There's a subplot with the government assembling another team of heroes, and while it's interesting, it has nothing to do with the main D5 story yet and I am waiting for it to go somewhere.
It's a solid issue, not the best, but clearly building to better things.
AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #27: If NOVA didn't come out this week, it would have been my favorite of the week. In this book, Christos Gage dusts off a forgotten Z-List character who has only shown up twice within the last 27 years, elaborates on his origin without retconning anything, and in 13 pages makes you care about his life and death despite him hardly being a hero. It's a feat I haven't seen Bendis pull off in 50 issues of ANYTHING in a good long while. None of the characters on the cover appear within, and the "Battle of 42" subplot that is an extension of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY is wrapped up rather quickly, but the strength of the issue is clearly in those first 13 pages.
That character is Johnny Guitar, partner to Doctor Sax, musical themed villains. They first showed up in DAZZLER #20, circa 1982, the year I was born. They had one appearance/mention in 1992 and that was it until now; they were about 7 years overdue for their "once a decade" appearance I guess. That's right, they're D-List DAZZLER villains. You can't get any lower than that, beyond being one of Speedball's enemies or something. Even Eye-Scream got to fight the X-Men. Gage summarizes Guitar's life as one of ambition but little achievement at being musicians and then super-villains. The problem is both Johnny and Sax stank at both; they could barely get hired for gigs beyond weddings as musicians, and even Oddball and the Death-Throws wouldn't let them join up as super-villains. They were rejected by JUGGLING VILLIANS. Yet the pair have families to support and saw Dark Reign as their last shot at a decent gig and something in their careers. Unfortunately, Johnny overhears Taskmaster blabbing about how the Shadow Initiative has been reformatted into canon fodder for missions. He knows this mission to 42 will likely be the last for him and Sax. So he writes a final letter to the son he's never met, injures Sax to get him dismissed on disability so he can return to his family, and dies on his feet to some nameless Negative Zone monsters. Here was a character I never bothered to research until now, and in 13 pages I won't forget him for a good, long while. THAT is quality superhero writing, and it is something Gage makes seem effortless. He puts more precision, memory for continuity and care into his collaborations with Slott or work on odd B and C list comics than many writers not named Johns, Abnett, Lanning, or Brubaker spend on a 100k selling event mini.
The rest of the issue isn't bad either. Butterball returns and quickly makes a stand without being able to fight well. Without Slott co-writing, Gage has settled on Hardball being the perennial self-interested back-stabber, who turns on virtually everyone he meets as soon as he thinks the grass is greener, whether it is HYDRA or in this case Gorilla-Man and the hordes of Blastaar. It's easier to appreciate him on that level, even if it does make him seem like a dick. Taskmaster seems to relate a little to that, which is understandable. The issue ends with the bad guys learning what Tigra did to one of the Brothers Grimm last issue, warning them that all bets are off. Rafa Sandoval's art is solid as ever and appropriate on the title.
A can't miss issue. Him joining MIGHTY AVENGERS alongside Slott may be just as vital an addition as Slott taking over for Bendis.
FANTASTIC FOUR #570: The start of the Jon Hickman/Dale Eagleshame run on FF, with a cover by Alan Davis and a return to a more traditional, less, "Ooo, lookit me try to be hip and cool" title design. In truth, DARK REIGN: FANTASTIC FOUR was a preview of this run and this issue picks up directly after that. There's a mention of Nu Earth from Millar's run but by and large, Hickman is working with his own stuff, especially Reed's invention, The Bridge, that allows him to access other realities. Much as with Waid's run, and nearly every run since Waid, Hickman mostly writes from Reed's perspective, trying to salvage him as a bad ass fighting scientist type adventurer. The rest of the Four are written well but Reed is clearly the star.
The Four are Marvel's oldest superhero franchise, pre-dating even Spider-Man and the X-Men. In many ways they are both the most iconic and the most stagnant. Trying to drastically alter them won't work, the key is to handle the naunces and characters well without trying to feel like you need to apologize for it. In terms of the characters, Hickman is off to a solid start. I was most impressed by his Johnny Storm; he makes wisecracks and he's the youngest of the team, but didn't come off as the spastic ADHD victim that Millar and other writers sometimes write. Thing is still reeling from breaking things off with Debbie, but Hickman was the first writer in years to acknowledge Alicia Masters in the Dark Reign mini so I am confident she will return and Dan Slott going through the bother to spend eight issues reuniting them in THE THING years ago won't be wasted. Sue is as always the assertive den mother, and both Franklin and Val are interesting, with Val still being the brains while Franklin is more experienced and spunky. It worked in the Dark Reign mini and it works here, rather than make Frank the "Ron Stoppable" of the duo as past writers have done.
The biggest thing to get used to is Eaglesham's design for Reed; he's more muscular and he's not wearing long sleeves, and is trying to look more rugged. In a way you could say it is a call back to Kirby, who sometimes drew him akin to a Sean Connery type. That's not what Eaglesham drew but a reminder of trying to make Reed look more rugged is hardly a new idea that is shocking and horrible. Hell, back in the 60's Reed was so "manly" that he comes off as horribly sexist nowadays.
The crux of the issue carries over from the DR mini, with Reed wanting to use The Bridge to "fix everything" and make life better for the world in general and his family in particular. Against Susan's wishes, he has re-assembled the Bridge and used it to make contact with alternate reality versions of himself, who apparently have formed a society outside of reality and are led by three alternates who obviously chose to use the Infinity Gauntlet in their respective realities. This naturally ties into Bendis & Reed's ILLUMINATI issue where "our" Reed is briefly tempted by the Infinity Gauntlet, but resists it after Watcher shakes his finger at him. The initial flashback at the start is meant to remind Reed of the idea of taking risks for benefits rather be too scared to try, even when they are dangerous. Such risks bred the Four, after all.
There is also a battle against the Wizard in which Wizard rants about the obligations of uber-geniuses like them to remake the world in their image, and while Richards is hardly insane, there is a sense that he is starting to agree in some degree. The problem of course is that the Four are a dead end franchise; last film flopped and their comics pan out around 45k. Iron Man is the only uber genius allowed to influence Marvel as a whole. There is a sense if this issue of some grandeur and experience, but not the desperate "look how cool I am" vibe that Mark Millar wrote in his FF run...or in anything he writes, really. It seems obvious that Hickman is used to some DC heroes with pedigree behind them as well as family life, and he is bringing that into the Four.
Part of me fears he will be dismissed as "boring" as McDuffie was, but I'd rather nailing the fundamentals well than overcompensating. Hickman seems set on the fundamentals of the Four. The DARK REIGN mini is semi-essential reading, though. The issue covers itself fine if you only read the main FF title or have been away a while, but with that mini behind you it flows better. The only problem was that mini was essentially a 2-3 issue story that was stretched to five issues, and suffered because of that. At any rate, if you ditched the book for the Millar run, I'd recommend giving it another try for a few issues. Let's say that when Hickman makes a joke, he doesn't need to have a character say how hilarious it is with a line of dialogue and three exclaimation points like Millar did.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #17: You know a cast is large when about half of them are missing and you hardly even notice. It reminds me of X-Men books in the mid to late 90's, only this is done much better. To be fair, that is usually how Abnett & Lanning have handled the book; slice up issues between several characters rather than try and fail to write 14 at once. It's often successful, and in this issue the aftermath of WAR OF KINGS starts and comes to a head.
The fight between Bolt and Vulcan created The Fault, a tear in space & time that is huge and threatens the entire cosmos. Starhawk teleported half the team to the far future and they haven't returned. This leaves the other half (Phyla, Warlock, Rocket, Groot, Drax, Moondragon, and Major Victory) to handle the situation. They're also still with some of the Inhumans, who are hardly in a patient mood, having just all but watched Black Bolt sacrifice himself to end the war. Crystal is still the most level headed of the Inhumans, though, with Medusa being as haughty as ever; no wonder she worked with Wizard so long. Satisfied that the Inhumans don't have another T-Bomb, they ally with them to try to close the Fault, especially when a giant monster starts to emerge.
"DnA" try to salvage their old, "I am Groot!" joke by claiming Maximus the Mad can understand Groot via tone and whatnot and it is actually all strategy, akin to Luke and Han knowing what Chewbacca or R2-D2 are saying with all those growls and blips. Of course he could also be insane. Or both. It sort of works. Too late to stop The Fault from being made, the GOTG seek to prevent it from expanding. Warlock arrives with the Universal Church of Truth that worships him and uses their belief as ore for a magical spell that destroys the monter and prevents the Fault from expanding, by attaching it to a set alternate future (rather than all of them in flux). The problem is it is the future in which Warlock becomes Magus and goes psycho. This is further complicated by Phyla turned on Adam as per her pact with Oblivion that saved Moondragon, and she is seemingly slain by Gamora. Yeah, Magus snaps Gamora's neck, but she regenerated from nearly being fried by a sun in earlier issues; she'll be back. Magus, of course, is another cosmic villain from the 90's (INFINITY WAR I believe) so his return is rather big. Considering Gamora and Warlock were old time adventurers, their conflict was quite potent, and brief.
As always, though, the main pull of this book is almost not even the story, which is often good, but the dialogue. Every character is distinct and the lines are crisp and entertaining. It doesn't over think or underestimate it's audience, a rare balance. Brad Walker's art is solid although two inkers may denote a bit of rush, which isn't a problem. It's always a great read, this month more than others, although not many others. I do miss Jack Flag, though.
Next: INCREDIBLE HERCULES #133 & NOVA #28.
