It was one of those small but solid weeks in terms of comics for me, which is something neither I or my wallet mind. As always, full spoilers ahead.
Dread's BOUGHT/THOUGHT for 11/19/08:
DYNAMO 5 #18: The story of the band of half-siblings joined together as a superhero team continues on it's third arc, and it has been an intense one. Asrar, co-creator of the franchise with writer Faerber and regular artist, gets top art credit although most of the pencils in the issue are filled in by Marcio Takara. Takara does a good job and his style fits in well with Asrar's, which is a skill of fill-in art that sometimes is missing from some runs.
Scatterbrain came out of retirement from D5 to bring Maddie out of her psychic coma from the last arc. She is none too pleased to find out that after she was incapacitated, the entire team disbanded. Of course, she doesn't quite know that losing her wasn't the main reason why they split, but one of the catalysts (there others being the revelation that Myriad was an alien, as well as Visionary and Slingshot wanting to protect or obey their foster parents). Scrap, the sole founding member of the team, has assembled an ad-hoc squad of heroes to try to protect the city, but their team dynamics are not the same. Widowmaker, the killer of Capt. Dynamo as well as the figure who assembled a raid on the aquarium last arc alongside Bonechill and Voltage, has assembled a new crew of super-villains to take down the new Dynamo 5. One of them is Zero, a freezing villain who has a history with the Firehearts (mother & daughter duo), which I thought was a little redundant since we already had Bonechill as a "freeze" villain and he had a superior design. I understand the difference in intensity and enemies between Zero and Bonechill and even why the Firebirds would have a freeze villain, but maybe Zero should have had a different power so it didn't seem redundant. Anyway, teamed with a few stock villain types with cool designs (Dr. Chimera the illusionist, Slaughterhouse the armored-guy, Firebreak the fire-vixen and Optima the Amazon-vixen). Most of them exist to either give the Firebirds some extra fleshing or to provide a decent fight, but they're solid designs so that is alright.
The new Dynamo 5 despite Scrap's leadership is unable to defeat the psychic criminals, who prey on their inexperience with working with each other (or, in the case of Quake, his mental illness). The fight is pretty cool and naturally Scrap's psychic plea for aid will help bring the real Dynamo 5 to her rescue. The final page cliffhanger about Vigil's identity is also pretty good. It was the best way to make the story work, but it still seemed like a worthy surprise to me.
The $3.50 price tag for 20 pages a month puts some people off, but honestly this book is just as good if not better than a SLEW of Marvel & DC team books out there that sell 3-5 times as many copies per month. The premise is good and it isn't a book that is trying to be more than it is, which is to provide a solid superhero action title with enough drama and character depth that the action is worthwhile. The art is always solid. Definately better than much of the product DC puts out. The trades may be a better value overall for those who are not aboard on the monthly, though. Some might think the change in team after a year is a "stunt" to kill time, but it is a bit of an obligatory team storyline and Faerber's DYNAMO 5, aside for the interesting premise, has never been about to remake the wheel with the genre, just to do it very well and efficiently. He has succeeded.
INVINCIBLE #55: Easily the issue that a LOT of fans have been waiting for across the internet, the mail pages, and so on for a variety of reasons. While Mark and Eve get jiggy with themselves, it is another all Allen the Alien issue to further the Viltrumite plot along. Much like the last time, Kirkman assumes the style of some classic 80's Marvel comics with his Allen segments, and the strength of them easily add fuel to the fire of Invinci-pals who want Allen to get a mini like Eve got.
For ten issues, Allen has posed as a captive of the Viltrumite empire to get close to Nolan, having learned that he was a prisoner for rebelling against the empire. The cell cannot hold him at all, but Allen plays along until the time is right, until the time Nolan is to be executed. He speaks psychically with Nolan and over the course of the issue it is revealed they have become close friends. Normally it might seem odd for a writer to have two characters pledge such an allegenice out of the blue but Kirkman reframes it to the greater story, winding all the way back to early volumes and makes it work. Execution is an honor for Viltrumites as they prefer to simply kill in battle, but when threats prove themselves "worthy" they must wait for Viltrumites to do it personally. At the right moment, Allen stages a jailbreak and he and Nolan take on two Viltrumite assassins, which they kill with relative ease. At this point, Allen appears mightier than even Nolan, which is a bit staggering. Ottley naturally does the action stuff well and the new colorist FCO Plascencia actually manages to make blood look more like, well, blood colors IMO.
Then of course there are two big reveals. The first is the return of Battle Beast, last seen working for Machine Head back in HC #2 simply out of a quest for worthy enemies to fight. He aids Allen and Nolan against the Viltrumites and is eager to fight them for sport. Battle Beast was probably asked about by mail in letters about once an issue (almost literally) so I am sure a lot of people will be pleased to see him. Ottley did give him a great design. The other reveal is Nolan explaining a key weakness to the Viltrumites; the only caveat was that it had been hinted at ages ago and was a bit obvious, although this was more specific. There are not many Viltrumites left and that is why they deligate tasks to other races they have conquored or allow Invincible so many chances; Nolan puts their number at "less than 50". Heck, at that rate, who needs the books; Allen could probably kill them over a few years one by one. It also makes Invincible and Oliver very important in the fight to come. Now THAT is going to be something, perhaps even the greatest arc of the series so far.
The dilemma, of course, would be what to do after the Viltrumite War that would be able to carry as much anticipation? Because right now the return of Angstrom Levy certainly isn't.
Still, really nothing negative about this issue. Great writing, great art, some great action panels, and another issue that proves why Invincible can earn it's tagline as "all-awesome". Plus, the 2 Mark/Eve pages were sweet.
The cover for the next issue asks if Mark would be willing to kill. Technically, the answer is yes, but only in the heat of battle and usually when his friends or family have been directly endangered or injured. But naturally I always look forward to more INVINCIBLE. The storylines in the epic continue to develop and intertwine with a universe full of characters in a single comic, instead of a line of a dozen of them in an endless crossover. Just like comics should be. INVINCIBLE, still my favorite book. At least on a week when CAPTAIN AMERICA isn't out.
FANTASTIC FOUR #561: This is as how a lot of people at SHH predicted. No, Sue doesn't die. Future/Alternate Reality Sue dies, or rather is murdered by Dr. Doom. Those fearing for the last decent marriage of the Marvel Universe can rest a little easier. Hardly anyone, myself included, genuinely believed Millar would kill Sue, and if so that it would hardly be permanent. While not without delays, at least this run has come out faster than most of the ULTIMATES runs, although some of the inking did appear rushed. Not that I mind too much.
Mr. Fantastic is able to track down the "New Defenders" via some microchip injections in her alternate reality wife and the three of them stage a rescue. The fight is short and sweet, with Ben getting the upper hand on the Hooded Man, who turns out to be Future Wolverine, which makes me wonder how he PWNED Johnny so good a few issues back. Reed, of course, manages to stop them from inserting an extra 8 billion people onto the planet and sends them to Nu Earth with Alyssa's blessing. And now I wonder who Logan had to screw to produce Banner's son. Anyway, the final panel has Doom take his revenge for his ordeal.
Overall, this run isn't bad. It isn't as ground-breaking as Millar believes it is, and obviously readers are not as thrilled as it is slipping back to the Top 35 just as quickly as it was boosted. But Millar genuinely likes the Four and the dynamic between them, and while he may not always think Reed & Sue are the best match (he says in interviews how unlikely a couple they are, at least in 616 where Sue is not a biologist as she is in Ultimate), he may not actually have the heart to split them for shock value (which, I should note, JMS came to the verge of doing). Johnny is a bit of an exaggeration of himself, but honestly Millar is not the first or last writer to do that. The art is solid although naturally not everyone will enjoy the Hitch designs and I am glad this is not so super-detailed that every issue takes 7 friggin' months. If another team had handled this same story, though, some might have compared it to McDuffie's story about a Future Four and it would not have garnered breathless Newsarama attention. Star-power, kids.
It is reminding me of the Whedon AXM run. Solid, but overrated. Actually, I probably prefer Whedon's dialogue. Still, it is more upbeat and less jingoist than a lot of his past work (I am thinking of WAR SOLDIERS, which seems a bit ridiculous now that Obama won).
GHOST RIDER #29: Basically a brawl between Ghost Riders as depicted on the cover. Hey, sometimes they are accurate! I am still not the best fan of Huat's art, but he draws Ghost Riders rather well.
Basically, Blaze and Ketch toss each other around for a bit and zap each other with the Penance Stare; unbolstered by Zadkiel and having cost many people in his life their lives, Blaze comes out the worse for it and has to be saved by Sarah. Not only that, but considering the Stare was technically Ketch's move first, it makes sense that he would be better able to withstand and deliver it. Blaze is shaken by the experience and loses his resolve until he and the warrior nun and met by two more Ghost Riders.
In a way, Aaron is running with the legacy aspect much as Brubaker & Fraction did with IRON FIST. The difference is that Ghost Rider was already a legacy hero with two well known Riders, whereas with Fist, it was all vague hints. The angel angle was a holdover from Way and Aaron has really made the best of things, providing an arc good enough to launch a mini about Ketch (that I hadn't bothered with). Sadly, sales are plummeting; the book is practically out of the Top 100 and by the end of this arc it may be canceled. But at the very least, Aaron would have more than proved himself on a mainstream franchise and redeemed this title in quality. Ride on.
