So late that the last week's comics of 2011 haven't been reviewed here until 2012. Sorry folks, Examiner takes priority because they pay me. Spoilers ahoy!
DREAD'S BOUGHT/THOUGHT FOR 12/28/11:
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MICRO SERIES #2: IDW's relaunch of the TMNT franchise has proven successful in terms of sales; the ongoing series co-written/co-drawn by Kevin Eastman has become one of IDW's best sellers. The series consistently sells in the Top 100 despite DC's New 52 or Marvel's crossovers, despite a $3.99 cover price. Thus, IDW has chosen to branch out a bit with a side mini-series which focuses on one Turtle per issue. This is an homage to the one-shots which Mirage Studios released in the mid 1980's when the franchise was in it's infancy that also focused on each Turtle and also tied into the main series as well. As an added treat, IDW is maintaining the order in terms of which Turtles get which issues. The first issue of this micro-series belonged to Raphael, since he got the first one-shot in the 80's. Thus, this second issue centered around Michelangelo, the designated "party dude" of the quartet. The writer for the series remains Brian Lynch, and it seems the artist will change every issue. This issue is drawn by Andy Kuhn, co-creator of Image Comics' FIREBREATHER which debuted in 2003 and was adapted into a CGI animated film for Cartoon Network in 2010. The colors are handled by Brian Crabtree, another veteran Image colorist. While this micro-series is also $3.99 for 22 pages of story like the ongoing series is, this is already becoming a novelty compared to quite a few Marvel and DC comics priced at $3.99.
The plot of the issue is simple, yet effective and very timely. Since inception, Michelangelo (or "Mikey") is the Ninja Turtle who is most into pop culture and diving into the indulgences of the surface world. Leonardo is the stoic ninja in training, Raph just seeks out combat and Donatello is content inventing gadgets in a lab. Mikey in the end wants to have new experiences and most of all, fun. To this end he sneaks out of usual Turtle chores to watch a New Year's Movie marathon at a "grindhouse" style theater wishing his New Year's Eve could be as memorable. When Mikey stumbles upon a costumed New Year's ball at the Musuem Of Natural History, he thinks he's got it made. As with anything involving the Ninja Turtles, Mikey quickly becomes part of an action plot involving a heist of a rare gem and even an undercover cop. Naturally, the tone of the issue suits Mikey's style. There is a lot of humor and one liners, and Mikey's stereotypical memories of his brother's antics are hilarious. While the last issue paid homage to the original RAPHAEL one shot with involving Casey Jones as well as hinting of the Shredder and his minions, this issue pays homage to Mikey's original one shot tale, "The Christmas Aliens". That tale was about Mikey stumbling upon a stray kitten as well as a plot by thieves to steal the latest fad holiday gift. In the end, this is probably a stronger story.
While Kuhn and Crabtree's artwork differs greatly from that of Franco Urru and Fabio Mantovani from the prior issue, it suits the themes of Lych's story well. The costume ball naturally allows an excuse for Mikey being in a straight forward caper, as well as allows Kuhn to draw some outrageous costumes. Lynch does well to help capture the "voice" of the ongoing series, so the micro-series seamlessly slips into IDW's canon. The handling of Mikey thus far both here and in the ongoing has been impressive. At worst, Mikey is the annoying kid brother who is the most obsessed for pizza and says catch phrases more often. Handled well, however, and Mikey becomes the Turtle who is the most optimistic and fun, while still having a flair for adventure. This one shot captures that well, and it will be interesting if some of the supporting characters introduced in these issues end up showing up in the ongoing series.
IDW's relaunch of the TMNT has been one of the pleasant surprises in the comic book industry of 2011. While old school Turtle fans may be wary of what Nickelodeon and Viacom will do with the franchise in terms of animation and/or film, the IDW era of the comic series has had a spectacular debut. Ninja Turtle fans new and old should be checking this series, and the main one, out.
ALPHA FLIGHT #7: Marvel's heroes up north continue to battle against a fascist version of their homeland run by their worst (and only) nemesis. As the cover indicates, Wolverine guest stars in this issue; while Wolverine continues to be all over Marvel titles, it makes some sense to include him in his former team. Writers Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente, penciler Dale Englesham and colorist Jesus Aburtov continue to do a story which seems similar to 2006's CIVIL WAR, only taking place in Canada and starring Alpha Flight, and having more focus. This issue addresses a long held criticism of this series - the jaw dropping character shift in Heather Hudson/Vindicator. Given the revelations last issue - in which the "Unity" process literally remakes someone at the physical and emotional level - it actually is more obvious now than it should have been. Wolverine, who has long held a torch for Heather, investigates her drastic shift in character the instant he'd heard about it, which makes a degree of sense. This issue has the Flight's plan to take on the Master's government hit squad come to play, and the return of the Sasquatch. Walter Langkowski has been unable to transform into the Sasquatch since roughly issue two of this series; the power returns to him in time for the climatic final battle, which is a bit convenient. Sasquatch is played for some laughs and is almost literally a furry version of the Hulk, which is ironic since Langkowski has long struggled to separate himself from being seen as "the Canadian Hulk". The artwork by Eaglesham is brilliant, and despite the intense story, this issue balances out the seriousness and the comedy better than some earlier issues did. It revisits some old subplots between the characters while propelling them in a modern adventure, and is actually a very effective take at reviving an old, much maligned franchise. It is a shame sales did not hold long enough for Marvel to keep it an ongoing series.
ANNIHILATORS: EARTHFALL #4: This is the swan song of the second ANNIHILATORS mini series by writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, and artists Tan Eng Huat and Timothy Green II. But in a way it may also been the swan song of the “DnA” era of Marvel’s space line, which began in 2006 when they wrote the first NOVA mini series alongside Keith Giffen’s original ANNIHILATION. Thus, they have been allowed to play in a corner of Marvel with roughly a dozen or two characters for virtually four years now, which is remarkable by modern standards. At any rate, this may be the last hurrah of the Annihilators, a team of space heroes who seek to keep the universe together by beating things up. As the title suggests, this time the team – Quasar, Ronan, Gladiator, Beta Ray Bill, and Ikon the Spaceknight – head to Earth to prevent the revival of the Magus, a major space villain. Silver Surfer was in the last ANNIHILATORS mini series but has left for this one, and Ronan is awfully busy in FANTASTIC FOUR/FF lately; thus, if there was a third ANNIHILATORS series, it wouldn’t make sense to have Ronan there anymore. Perhaps that is another reason why this is the end. The theme of this series is that Quasar is leader of the powerhouse team and isn’t terribly hesitant about collateral damage during disasters on other planets, but gets a bit more gun-shy when he’s on his own home world. This sometimes makes him seem like a hypocrite to Ronan and Gladiator, although Ronan’s Kree race have long been of the sort willing to sacrifice their own in droves to win a war. The Annihilators have discovered a branch of Magus’ Universal Church of Truth cult on Earth, and went about smashing it up. This resulted in a “routine misunderstanding bout” with the Avengers, which allowed the Magus time to possess millions of Americans to use as hostages.
In this issue, the Annihilators and Avengers go about with teaming up to thwart the Magus. While Ronan has surrounded earth with his Sentry robots as a final assurance Magus will not leave it (and has no problem with killing millions of Americans), some of the rest of the Annihilators are not as quick to slaughter civilians. They all pool resources and technology (such as Iron Man repurposing some Kree technology) to defeat Magus. This includes Gladiator being willing to sacrifice himself to become the host to Magus’ essence, and thus freeing all the civilians he possessed. This is naturally quite a character shift for him, as he’s often simply been the haughty muscle of whatever monarch was in charge of the Shi’ar empire. Now that’s monarch (or regent, one supposes) of the Shi’ar, he’s become a bit more compassionate to the needs of others. The Annihilators save the universe and had off into the sunset. Meanwhile, in the back-up strip drawn by Green II, Groot and Rocket Raccoon finally confront Mojo, who has had them in the midst of one of his insane TV shows for a while. They discover that the plot was actually the result of Mojo’s lackey, Major Domo, trying to fill in for Mojo who is in rehab (perhaps after the conclusion of ASTONISHING SPIDER-MAN & WOLVERINE). Rocket and Groot decide to forgo the fight in exchange for a cut of the merchandising rights on themselves, which is clever.
The future of the space line is up in the air. AVENGERS VS. X-MEN this year – Marvel’s annual event – will involve Nova and the Phoenix Force. That will be written by a committee of Marvel’s hottest writers. Abnett and Lanning’s final arc on HEROES FOR HIRE – sold as the mini series VILLAINS FOR HIRE – was cut an issue shorter due to sales woes. The Nova segment in POINT ONE #1 was written by Jeph Loeb. The iconic Richard Rider version was killed off at the end of THANOS IMPERATIVE last year and it is unknown if the Nova who will show up this year is him. There are naturally still quite a few unresolved subplots from “DnA” ‘s previously ended ongoing series, both NOVA and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. Neither hide nor hair has been seen of quite a few GUARDIANS characters, such as Moondragon, Major Victory, and Jack Flag – an obscure 90’s era CAPTAIN AMERICA supporting character dumped into a space book as a novelty. NOVA left no end of dangling subplots, from there being a squad of leftover “Nova Corps” members around (including Richard’s little brother Robert) to a time displaced version of Namorita (a New Warrior killed off in CIVIL WAR), to the seeming return of the villainous Super-Nova. Given how DC Comics has been running wild with their GREEN LANTERN franchise over the last few years, one would think Marvel to capitalize on NOVA, which even since the 1970’s was intended to be their counterpart. The “space line” in recent years has always had a devoted audience, the dilemma is that it is small; and the message of late 2011 was that Marvel would rather try to publish more issues of larger franchises than support smaller ones. The fact that “DnA” were only given a series of mini-series after GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and NOVA were canceled was writing on the wall.
If this is the end of their era on Marvel space, than it has sadly ended on a whimper. The writers were always more at home with Nova and Star-Lord as leads, and spent 2-3 years attaching supporting characters in the Nova Corps or the Guardians. They have attempted to follow suit with ANNIHILATORS material, but the characters don’t seem to mesh well. People scoffed when Matt Fraction threw Iron Fist into his DEFENDERS relaunch simply because he sought to write the character, but that is often better than a writer handling characters he/they are less passionate about. “DnA” have always had passion for Nova and Star-Lord, and without that, their work suffers. It doesn’t become bad, but it no longer is as great. ANNIHILATORS EARTHFALL is a better mini series than the prior one, but it hasn’t come close to matching the material that came before it on NOVA, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY or THANOS IMPERATIVE. It would be a shame to erase most of the development Nova had for years just to relaunch NEW WARRIORS whenever Marvel was in danger of losing the trademark, but who knows. Marvel will be betting on “safe” franchises in 2012, and if so, it is a shame to see anything else get the shaft.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #5-6: Two issues of Ed Brubaker's CAPTAIN AMERICA series. Why? Apparently initial regular artist Steve McNiven ran late (and needed Giuseppe Camuncoli fill in pages to be complete), and the next regular artist - old legendary talent Alan Davis - was on time. Thus, this week sees the end of one of Brubaker's arcs and the start of another. As common for Brubaker's run on CAPTAIN AMERICA, subplots carry over throughout the run so even the end of an arc merely bridges to the next story. "American Dreamers" was a five part arc which introduced a new villain in Cap's gallery, Codename Bravo. He was another WWII era super soldier who was rivals with Cap, and wound up frozen in time for decades as well. Only while Cap was trapped in ice and was thawed out "over a decade ago", Bravo was trapped in the "extra dimensional dream world" of Jimmy Jupiter in which dreams could become real and his ideals got hardened. Bravo sees Cap as a sell out due to current American corruption, and has aligned with a fringe sect of HYDRA. Bravo is essentially a dark version of Cap himself, a theme which Brubaker has written with near disturbing repetition. Earlier issues featured Ameridroid, another "evil Cap", and prior stories during his run focused on the Grand Director (the "evil 1950's Cap") or new stabs at super soldiers. It helps that Bravo is not a literal imitation of Cap like the Grand Director and Ameridroid were, but more a dark philosophical counterpoint. The arc ends and picks up with the Davis debut issue, with the start of "Powerless". This issue actually picks up a subplot from STEVE ROGERS: SUPER SOLDIER, a four issue mini series Brubaker wrote last year. In fact, that mini is so essential to this next arc that it is a shame Marvel has continued to not offer footnotes about references to prior comics; they might actually sell more trade collections that way. While Cap himself offers the required exposition, it still would have been effective. As the title suggests, just as Cap is once again doubting his patriotism, he seems to be losing his super-soldier abilities. In the mini series, the villain Machinesmith actually reversed the serum's effects within Cap; while Steve Rogers thought he'd fixed things, apparently it is still a plague to him. Other villains who appear include Baron Zemo (who aids the new HYDRA cell but insists he's neutral) and a new version of the Serpent Squad. The art by McNiven, Camuncoli, and Davis is exceptional, but naturally Davis wins the day in terms of the most appealing artwork. Brubaker's stories often seek to test Rogers' courage and character just as much as his skills or abilities, and this next arc seems to be no exception. While WINTER SOLDIER is much anticipated next year, Brubaker's CAPTAIN AMERICA is overall solid, even if he does suffer from some repetitive themes.
AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE #8: This five year delayed, and constantly behind schedule bi-monthly mini series by writer Allan Heinberg and artist Jim Cheung, releases the next issue. For the record, the previous issue came out on Sept. 21st, and even on bi-monthly standards, this is a month late. This lateness has worked in Marvel's favor, as it will supposedly end next year just in time for AVENGERS VS. X-MEN, their 2012 event. Editor in chief Axel Alonso has insisted this was a happy accident and not design, and given that this issue has two credited inkers (plus Cheung) and two colorists in tow, the lateness was likely organic. The primary strength of this series continues to be the artwork, even if Cheung struggles to make faces that don't all look a bit similar - a struggle many artists have, such as Mark Bagley. The continued detriment is Heinberg's simplistic writing. He clearly wants certain characters to be right, and others to be wrong, and writes them to this end regardless of anything else, such as sense or logic. In the previous issue, the Avengers and X-Men were literally battling on who got to arrest and/or kill Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch over her crimes against the world and the mutant community - despite the fact she offered no resistance or denial and only sought to help. Surrounded by insane adults, Dr. Doom was seen as a rational counterpoint in this story, only he went about with a magical rite to gain Wanda's reality warping powers himself, to become a god. This is naturally a standard procedure scheme for Dr. Doom, who has sought to steal godly powers from no end of figures in the past, from Silver Surfer (twice) to the Beyonder. Doom vows to be a wise and peaceful dictator of the world, but the fact that he'd still be a dictator disturbs everyone, so Doom zaps the kids (and Wanda) back to the heroes. Afterward, Wiccan gives both teams a tongue lashing about how stupid and hypocritical they are being, which is precisely why those heroes have been written in such a manner for seven issues. After initially seeing the combined Young Avengers, X-Men, and adult Avengers as enemies who will forever oppose him, the new omnipotent Doom returns just to provide a climatic fight scene as well to provide the cliffhanger panel.
Perhaps the best part of this series is the theme that the adult superheroes are all simplistic, morally ambiguous and violently hypocritical to the point that they shouldn't be idealized or followed by the next generation. It would be an interesting theme to play with in regards to other young heroes, such as the Avengers Academy or Spider-Girl or the new Thunderstrike and so on. Marvel doesn't have the stones to do so in any meaningful, relevant way, however. In the end, this is an over-long, over-due and tediously plotted series with solid artwork which has all but lost most of the characters to the heaviness of the plot and the need to accomplish editorially important things. It's Eisner worthy compared to Matt Fraction's FEAR ITSELF, but it still seems obligatory to read.
I just realized I missed Children's Crusade. They're putting one in my file for me but still. ARRRRGGGHHH!!!!! 
