Actually a low volume week, but with the wonders of Marvel pricing, five comics are still $20. It was all a good week overall for me; nothing that was bad or even below a "meh". Spoilers and rants ahoy.
Dread's Bought/Thought for 12/2/10:
ANT-MAN & WASP #2: Second part of this highly amusing three part mini featuring the "odd couple" of the Avengers - Eric O'Grady and Hank Pym, two heroes using mantles from other people and who couldn't be more opposite if they tried. Springing from the last issue, this unlikely duo are forced to work together to recover some stolen technology of Pym's that the dastardly A.I.M. organization have stolen. The real question is whether the two of them can get along enough to actually take on the bad guys properly! Comics that imitate "buddy comedy" films are not exactly new, but Tim Seeley, who both writes and pencils this series, executes it very well. Val Staples does the colors and Victor Olazaba the inks. This isn't a series that will remake the wheel, but offers both O'Grady and Pym being well written and drawn in a tale in which the clash between the leads is almost as important as against other adversaries. The tone is kept fast and furious, with enough laughs to drown out the occasional techno-babble. Much like TASKMASTER, a fun series for those who like lesser tier characters than Spider-Man or Wolverine written well.
The half-human, have Sleepwalker villainess is an interesting idea, and it was nice to see Pym defend Scott Lang's honor so forcefully. To be honest, if anyone was going to try to handle Hercules stories that were not Pak and Van Lente, Seeley could be a possible alternative. Plus, at three issues, it is not stretched thin as a story; frankly, I don't think any Marvel story should be longer than four issues from what I have read these days. I haven't read one in years that didn't feel like an issue could have been trimmed. And at the very least, with AVENGERS ACADEMY #7 shipping about two weeks later than originally solicited, the awkward timing of this compared to that, where Pym dumps his Wasp mantle, isn't as bad as it once was.
HEROES FOR HIRE #1: This is the second launch of this series within less than five years (and the third since the 90's); the prior volume of the series was spun out of CIVIL WAR in 2006 and ran for fifteen issues. Writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, fresh off THANOS IMPERATIVE and best known for running Marvel's "space line" of comics since 2007, add their talents to this, their first ongoing series since NOVA and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY were canceled. They also are writing an IRON MAN/THOR mini series, and while the debut of that was a tad clunky, this is off to a much better start. The premise of the series is that Misty Knight, one of the original Heroes For Hire, organizes a rotating cast of "street heroes" in tactical strikes against specific criminal targets. Instead of being "hired" for cash, most of the heroes are employed due to wishing to do good work for it's own sake, such as the Falcon, or in exchange for information on another mission, which gets Black Widow involved. Moon Knight and Elektra, the only two who are actually shown on this issue's cover, also appear within. The artwork is done by Brad Walker, who often collaborated with the pair of writers on GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, and he does his usual terrific job in this series as well.
The only downside is that he seemed unable to handle the art for more than two or three monthly issues at a time without a bit of "lead-in time", so it remains to be see how long he will be doing solo pencils without assistance or a break. Andrew Hennessy does the inks with Jay David Ramos delivers on great colors once more. The premise seems simple, but a major twist, as well as an unlikely villain, are revealed in the last pages. A HEROES FOR HIRE SAGA, which summarizes the history of the team, is included in the back to justify the $3.99 price tag for the debut issue. Marvel promised not to launch any new ongoing titles with a $3.99 issue one in 2011, but it isn't 2011 yet, is it? The devil is always in the details. At any rate, as the first ongoing series by these this creative team set in the traditional, NYC set Marvel Universe, is actually is quite good. The pace is fast and the banter is enjoyable, with some action and great art. If you like street level heroes, this is a solid team book for you.
The villain at the end is either an original or odd choice, as I can't for the life of me figure why he should care about street crime or controlling street heroes in secret when he could simply do so directly. But I suppose it remains to be seen. At the very least, Abnett & Lanning in their earth based work are willing to utilize villains we haven't seen in a while.
IRON MAN/THOR #2: This is the second issue of a four issue mini series teaming up Marvels last movie superhero with their upcoming movie superhero, all written by former NOVA and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. The artwork is done by Scot Eaton, with Jaime Mendoza on inks and Veronica Gandini on colors, so it looks very pretty. The premise of the series is simple; several of the villains that both Thor and Iron Man have battled in the past have united in the present, and are working with the High Evolutionary on some master scheme of his that he always seems to have. The duo of writers last used the High Evolutionary in their first space event, ANNIHILATION CONQUEST, so this gives them a chance to work on familiar territory. The major criticism of the last issue was that the pace was a bit slow for such a simple story. This issue is an improvement on that; there is more fighting, and the plot of the series is revealed. Its nice when a four issue series gets around to the plot halfway through.
Iron Man has apparently been captured by the villains, but as anyone who knows Tony Stark knows, hes almost never down and out. Thor, meanwhile, is still out there trying to hammer his way to the threat, after Ulik as well as Diablo the alchemist (who usually fights the Fantastic Four) have managed to steal the Destroyer armor from the shattered Asgard.
The pages still seem to rely on four panels or less, which gives the artwork a lot of room to depict the action, although it can give the impression that a three issue story has been stretched to four. What saves it is that High Evolutionarys plot itself is interesting in a Marvel science fiction manner, and it makes perfect sense to involve Iron Man and Thor within it. Overall, this is a solid series for fans of the titular characters who just want a simple team-up story that is drawn well and has an interesting plot within it. It isnt completely essential for completist fans who feel they must buy all Iron Man or Thor material. In terms of seeing Abnett and Lanning handle earth-based heroes, this weeks HEROES FOR HIRE #1 is likely better in terms of quality, especially for $3.99. Still, it is effective overall at what it sets out to be, which is a straight forward team-up with villains to smash from several rogues galleries.
SHADOWLAND #5: The latest "mini-event" from Marvel wraps things up, after taking November off, and while it still is in the obligatory territory, it is a superior issue to the fourth and overall has probably been better than material such as SIEGE and SECRET INVASION. Picking up from the last cliffhanger, things end quite as one might expect if one has been reading this series, or skimming summaries of it online. Daredevil has been possessed by "the beast", a major demon that a sect of the Hand ninja worship, and it has not only driven him mad, but his madness is spreading throughout the outer boroughs of NYC and causing massive riots. If one is thinking, "didn't we see a detail like this back during MAXIMUM CARNAGE in the 90's, only it was with Shriek and not a demonic hero", one would be right. An armada of street heroes, such as Iron Fist, Spider-Man, Punisher, Elektra, Luke Cage, Shang Chi, Ghost Rider, and Wolverine have all piled in to take out their former ally, but the demonic DD, whose body is starting to look more stretched and awkward, is too much for them. Fortunately, one of those heroes manages to strike an "all or nothing" attack at the last minute, which gives Matt Murdock enough time to psychically kill himself and end the possession, and the threat.
The rest of the issue is the aftermath. The Kingpin is back in prime position as the "Kingpin Of Crime", which was obvious if one has been reading AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, Black Panther will be taking over as the vigilante of Hell's Kitchen (and as the star of DAREDEVIL's main title, INCREDIBLE HERCULES style), while Matt Murdock is slumming it up as a hobo in the DAREDEVIL REBORN series. The best way for wayward heroes who have fallen from grace to redeem themselves, beyond a resurrection, is wandering around as a homeless bum for a while; just ask Iron Man (whose tenure as a hobo is being recounted in IRON MAN LEGACY lately). As an editorial move, this is an attempt to relaunch Black Panther on the back of DAREDEVIL, while trying to scrub off years worth of stories from Murdock himself that got him out of his status quo, and shift back towards that (much as the "FALL FROM GRACE" story did in the 90's). The artwork by Billy Tan, inks by Victor Olazaba (a busy inker this week), and colors by Guru eFx (which is hopefully a pen name) are all solid. In conclusion, this "mini-event" wasn't as poor in quality as some of Marvel's "bigger" events, but it was still an issue too long and perhaps took itself too seriously. On the positive side, it has provided an excuse to see a lot of B and C list characters play major roles in a big story, or spin off stories, again.
Except for Moon Knight; his involvement here was very close to worthless, and simply an excuse to sell the last three issues of VENGEANCE OF THE MOON KNIGHT as a mini series for an extra buck. The only character who did less was probably Shang Chi. Still, while overall I'd give this series a grade of about 6.5 out of 10, that's still better than some line wide crossover mini's. And it will likely succeed as an excuse to get Murdock to shed years worth of baggage and return to status quo, although I imagine the latest reshuffle of his series will be a "jumping off point" for many readers, who will never return.
TASKMASTER #4: While writer Fred Van Lente stumbled a half step with last week's SHADOWLAND: POWER MAN #4, this finale rebounded quite well for the rock solid writer. The rest of the creative team for this series include Jefte Palo on art and Jean-Francois Beaulieu on colors. Before getting into summaries and details, it must be said that for an Avengers C-List villain, the Taskmaster has benefited from quite a bit of interest from several writers in recent years. Dan Slott and Christos Gage added him to the cast of AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE after seven or eight issues, and once Gage took over as the sole writer on that title, Taskmaster all but became the star. Fred Van Lente has taken the character a step further in his own mini series, laying out his origin once and for all as well as managing to both make him a tragic figure while also a figure who is often in the middle of hilariously insane threats. In fact the only downer is the misleading cover; good thing it says "featuring the Secret Avengers" instead of "versus", because there's nary a battle between the two.
As revealed last issue, Taskmaster's a former SHIELD agent and that hapless waitress who has been tailing him all this time is, in fact, both his wife and his SHIELD handler. Ever since Nick Fury's SHIELD operations were shut down, however, she and her "husband" have been rogue. Taskmaster's "condition" may allow him to acquire and retain no end of skills via photographic reflexes, but it comes at the price of erasing his long term memory, to the point where he often has no idea who he is and makes it up when he has to. Now Steve Rogers has caught wind of the situation from Fury, and is leading the Secret Avengers after the two. Unfortunately, they have to deal with an armada of thugs from every evil organization in Marvel, led by perhaps the most hilarious villain devised in years, the Red Shirt (yes, jokes have been made at his choice of name). The action gets fast and furious, and Van Lente is able to apply a subtle and appropriate mix of humor and serious, even tragic drama. Palo's artwork works well to capture both sides of the story, as well as working especially well with Taskmaster's mask (which with some artists can seem too generic). In the end, things aren't completely different from where they started, but it will be impossible to look at Taskmaster the same way again.
This has been a truly excellent series; one of few that is actually good enough to justify the high cover price. If one wasn't able to pick up this series, this is one trade that will be worth getting when it comes out sometime next year. If you like unbelievably satisfying and entertaining stories about lesser tier characters, this is a gold mine.
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