A somewhat short but overall solid week. With next week being a wallet-buster and the last week of the month likely being worse, my wallet will enjoy these shorter weeks when possible. As always, full spoilers. Reviews are always at my Examiner link in the signature below.
Dread's Bought/Thought for 1/13/10:
BOOSTER GOLD #28: An overall fine issue, with one major flaw. Namely, that Booster Gold once again seems fit to retell his origin within the first few pages of narration. I suppose this is an okay idea since writer/artist Dan Jurgens is probably hoping (praying) that the 100-200% gain in sales for the last two issues weren't entirely because of orange plastic rings and at least SOME of the new readers will stay on to keep the book selling within the Top 100. However, the start of the BLACKEST NIGHT tie-in also retold Booster's origin. His origin is retold in the paragraph over his name in the title every issue. The story itself has told his origin at least 2-4 times before now, not including this. Even when Ed Brubaker sees fit to retell Captain America's origin, which he has about five times, he usually seems to either execute it better and make it relevant, or have more than 2 issues in between. Plus, with all due respect to Jurgens and Booster, his origin is not as iconic as Captain America's. This is mostly a set-up issue, setting up Michelle in Coast City around when Cyborg Superman blows it up (as an unlucky accident), while Booster begins the issue having a page-filling fight against the Royal Flush Gang before having to actually ensure that Cyborg Superman is created in the first place. It's an above average issue, but not as good as the last two. As always, Jurgens' art (with aid from Rapmund and some others) seems vital to the book, and it is hard to read it without it. The invading time-traveler seeking to muck up history isn't Black Beetle for once, but a mysterious woman who seemed to be a test pilot for a U.S. government experiment in time-travel in the (near) future, which is good to give Black Beetle a slight break for now.
Michelle Carter, meanwhile, has found herself dating some random schmuck and trying to score jobs in Coast City so they can pay for their car repairs to head elsewhere. She vaguely recalls the tragedy there, but can't quite put her finger on it. She's vexed by a mysterious sign-carrier predicting doom, and ends the issue literally bumping into Cyborg Superman himself. After spending a great deal of time dealing with histories from Batman, Green Lantern, and Teen Titans, it seems doing a Superman based adventure seems keen. I imagine the drama of the next issues was how Booster had to personally ensure Cyborg Superman would live so he could kill millions in Coast City (triggering Emerald Twilight, which at this point is really more a minor blemish on Hal Jordon's resume of boring perfection).
The back-up strip from Sturges and Norton actually entertained me more than the lead story this time. It also recaps a lot of Blue Beetle's series, but considering his ongoing title was canceled almost a year ago, summarizing some bits of it, such as his relationship to Peacemaker and the Reach, is more justifiable. It also reminds us of the subplot from the back-up before the BLACKEST NIGHT tie-in gave Sturges a break (likely to launch his JSA book) that Jaime Reyes' scarab is reacting badly, and has been since the end of his ongoing series when he "rebooted" it. Venturing into some secret ruins with his girlfriend Traci and Brenda & Carlo (some of the best supporting cast in comics), he finds out that his "rebooting" of the scarab actually fixed it TOO well; and coming in contact with it's original ruins now turns Reyes onto the Reach's side as intended. It's a logical conclusion and I do like seeing this development come within 10 pages, instead of 22. I haven't a clue how DC will eventually repackage the back-ups for Beetle, but that's not my concern. BOOSTER GOLD is set to lose his back up strip, and while the price doing down will be good, I did enjoy the strip and didn't mind paying an extra buck for it. I'll enjoy it for however long it may last.
A reliably fine issue, although not quite good enough for a full review at Examiner.
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #22: Yes, also ahead of the very late REBORN, but Steve Rogers is really only around for a few panels so it doesn't quite matter. Another solid issue from Fraction, Larroca, and D'Armata, who haven't missed one issue or a beat for almost two years worth of comics. No issue has been late and it actually may be a tad ahead of schedule considering what it launched in 2008, as I recall some issues coming out sooner than 4 weeks of each other. This is the third part of "STARK DISASSEMBLED" and what Fraction continues to prove is that while Iron Man may be in the title, the book's success or failure seems to hinge on Potts or Hill. For long stretches of time they have become the stars of the series, able to carry several issues if they must. If Bendis really does kill Hill in SIEGE, while he has every right as he created the character, it was Fraction who made her worthwhile and rootable, and it would deprive this book of a vital cast mate.
Having succeeded in destroying his stockpile of armors as well as his data-base of a mind, vexing Norman Osborn (who is stuck with his Iron Patriot suit as his only stolen Stark tech now, and even that isn't perfect) but leaving himself comatose. He left a message for his allies telling him how to "reboot" him, only there is a problem. His old Avengers buddies pick up all his horses and men, but not even Thor can put him back together again. This leaves the cast feeling very vulnerable in Ms. Sooner's Oklahoma hotel, just as the Ghost comes calling to try to off Stark once and for all. Between this and trying to kill everyone in THUNDERBOLTS, he's having a busy quarter. It does seem a bit out of character that EVERY superhero who was present; both Caps, Thor, Black Widow, even James Rhodes who doesn't have a series anymore (and isn't a cyborg anymore, or at least doesn't look as obvious as one as he did in AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE) abandon Potts, Hill, and Stark after they fail to revive him. Rogers returns, but he doesn't seem to stick around very long. While they all would have prior quibbles with Stark (Thor personally beat the stuffing out of him once), they wouldn't leave him a vegatable.
Fortunately, there is someone else they can call; the Sorcerer Surpreme. So Dr. Voodoo comes in, and...no, that doesn't happen. They call Dr. Strange. Which makes sense and is perfectly in character, but it begs the question; what was the ****ing point of making Voodoo the Sorcerer Supreme if no one outside of the Avengers and his own book TREATS him like one? Everyone from Thor to Iron Man still considers Stephan their go-to surgeon wizard who makes house calls for free. And while I admit I haven't read the last two issues of Waid's STRANGE, the first issue wrote Strange as being unable to even cast a minor spell; here he is able to perform an elaborate seance and zap his astral form into Stark's psyche as routine. It's like if we said Ben Reilly was Spider-Man up and down and had Peter Parker retire, only Parker keeps the costume, keeps web-slinging, keeps answering to Spider-Man and no one outside his own title treats him any differently than before. The Avengers keep calling him for team-ups, Daredevil keeps confiding in him, and so on. What would be the point? Maybe all Dr. Strange needed was good writing, not a depowering? Oh, well.
Tony Stark, meanwhile, is caught in some sort of bizarre mental illusion with his parents trying to jump-start his chest-plate while on the run from weird technological monsters. I'm sure it will make sense later, but until it does it will just serve as page filler, like when you read/watch THE MAXX and wait for it all to come together and make sense; until it does, you're just along for the ride enjoying the trippy visuals. Much like what JMS has done with THOR, Fraction has at times all but made Tony Stark a supporting character in his own book, only things still seem to click together more than they did for JMS' THOR, at least by the end. Not the best issue of this either, but still a reliably solid and good one. The variant cover was better than the normal one for me here.
MARVELS PROJECT #5: The Golden Age opus continues with Brubaker, Epting, and Stewart. Now we're in the thick of 1940 and Captain America has been created, albeit with a mix of triumph and trajedy. The Nazi's unleash Red Skull onto the populace of Europe as their own "masked champion" while John Steele and Nick Fury part ways. Thomas Halloway, the Angel and obligatory narrator of the tale, finally gets a bit more to do than he did last issue. His investigation of the murders of Phantom Bullet and then the Ferret (fellow Golden Age characters) leads him to Nazi spies by the docks, where he bares witness to one of Captain America's first battles. Things don't quite reach a climax, but we still have two issues to behold; be patient.
Brubaker's ability to properly pace an action sequence alongside whether artist he is with, whether Epting or anyone else, shows here. We've seen Captain America fight guys in suits a hundred times. We've seen him fight much worse than this. Yet it is paced and narrated in a way in which we can appreciate Angel's awe of the spectacle. Brubaker and Epting don't approach it as a mundane battle. Compare this to the "tell, because I don't help my artist show" defeat of Thor in SIEGE #1 from Bendis & Coipel. There's no contest.
As always with this series, Brubaker knows when to lay in retcons and when to leave things alone. He isn't remaking any big wheels here, just connecting dots that weren't before to make the Golden Age seem less random than it really was. Characters like Thin Man and Hurricane even get mentions. He really knows his stuff and seems to enjoy working with the era. It is also true, like last issue, that MARVELS PROJECT seems to provide better motivation and drive to see Steve Rogers live again than REBORN has sure had. That feels obligatory and editorially mandated; this feels more like a story that means something to the writer involved, and not as much of a marketting stunt. The quality shows. And that is considering that REBORN, schedule aside, isn't THAT bad at all; just not up to Brubaker's best.
The only downside to this series is that until it is done, Epting can't grace the paces of CAPTAIN AMERICA when it starts up again this month; he really helped make that book, especially after Perkins left. But, until he returns, he is doing good work here. I imagine this will easily make a must-buy hardcover collection to any Brubaker fan who decided to skip it as a monthly.
UNCANNY X-MEN FIRST CLASS #7: Where I least suspected it, my Examiner Book Of The Week. I haven't exactly been the biggest fan of Scott Gray's "X-Men vs. Aliens" story with the Knights of Hykon, but I must admit he as well as artists Koblish and DeCastro, alongside colorist Val Staples, saved their best for the finale. And y'know what? I can forgive a ho-hum Part 1 and Part 2 if Part 3 kicks all kinds of tail. That's a lesson that more Marvel writers, especially those who write big events, should learn. Stories with awesome beginnings but middling endings are reviled and/or forgotten; stories that don't start off perfect but end with a bang usually are pleasant surprises.
In this issue, Nightcrawler and Professor X discover the secrets of the Knights in their native dimension, dealing with their child-like "referee" in their endless planet-destroying civil war, Lifecode. The X-Men on Earth, meanwhile, prepare for their final showdown against the seemingly unbeatable force, with Phoenix fuming over her thrashing, and Cyclops fuming about being told that these Knights created the solar flare that forced Jean Grey into piloting that spaceship and being exposed to Phoenix. For a few issues now the tension between the two has been obvious, and now Cyclops clearly has someone who isn't a friend to blame. Gray gets in some good lines about the difference between sport and war, and how all of the characters are appalled at the fact that the Knights are, in effect, cosmic "paint-ballers" who don't even care about the worlds they destroy. Every member of the X-Men gets a defining moment here, especially Nightcrawler and Cyclops. In fact Cyclops' enraged thrashing of one of the Knights is the highlight of the issue. Even Lilandra, hardly the easiest character to write, has a defining moment against Lifecode. Xavier himself even avenges his earlier defeat. The pacing for the action is well done and the art & colors really do well to capture the style of the 1976-1977 era that the series takes place in, even mimicing some classic panels and covers from Cockrum and Bryne. I swear even Wolverine seems to have Bryne's trademark smirk and poses; and they even remember how short he is supposed to be compared to the others!
Aside for the FoxKids cartoon of the 90's, it was reprints of the Claremont/Cockrum/Bryne era that got me into the X-Men as a pre-teen, and when this series manages to help bottle some of that essence, it's good stuff. If you want adventures from that era only not written by Claremont with his predictable tics, this is for you. The ending is a mix of triumph and somberness, which is probably true of many X-Men endings.
While the trade dress doesn't show it, issue 8 will be the last of this mini, much as the first X-MEN FIRST CLASS under Jeff Parker and Roger Cruz was 8 parts. It seems like a funny Banshee story and hopefully it can follow this slam-bang finale sufficiently. The Knight of Hykon were hardly the most memorable alien adversaries the X-Men have ever fought, but they provided them a worthy challenge to overcome and a chance for character defining moments of butt-kicking, which is enough to please me, especially for $2.99 an issue (still).
I enjoy this book but I wasn't expecting to ever consider it the book of the week, but I don't care if I'm alone on this one; it was a rollicking good issue for me.
X-MEN ORIGINS: CYCLOPS #1: A 30 page one-shot retelling a modernized version of Cyclops' origin. It leaves out the cheesy Jack O'Diamonds of the 60's, as well as the Mr. Sinister revelations from the 90's. It retells the origin with the plane crash, Xavier finding Scott on the streets after fleeing the orphanage, and a very loose retelling of UNCANNY X-MEN #1 when the X-Men fight Magneto at a military base. Stuart Moore writes the story, while Jesse Delperdang does pencils and some inks, with Andy Lanning doing the rest of the inks. Is this the same Andy Lanning who co-writes NOVA, GOTG and all the space books? If so, who knew he could ink professionally too! Matt Hollingsworth does a fine job on the colors.
The story gets a bit fuzzy on Cyclops' age; I doubt he was 21 during the early days of the founding X-Men. Their costumes are from their pre-graduation days when he should be 17-18 at oldest. But that's a minor quibble.
The climax of the issue is a debate between Cyclops and Magneto, and it seems that while Magneto fails to sway him, Cyclops gives Magneto the basic idea to organize the Brotherhood. The artwork is quite solid and overall it gets the basic character down. A hardcore X-Fan will nit-pick this to death, but a casual or new one will probably get more out of it. Still, even for 30 pages, a Cyclops origin one-shot for $4 is hardly going to light up the Top 100 sellers. I imagine all the ORIGINS issues will be collected into a hardcover, which is the ultimate purpose. The cover's good, too.
Like SIEGE: EMBEDDED last week, this is a $4 book I bought on a whim. I got more content for this and while it hardly rocked my world, I didn't regret the purchase like I did for EMBEDDED. For a slimmed down, Cliff's Notes version of Cyclops' origin with some liberties and modern art & designs to some bits, it's fine.
Psylocke #3 - My best book for this week. I've always been a huge Psylocke fan mainly because of her close ties to Wolverine, the Tokyo underworld, and Matsu'o Tsurayaba. This limited is going back to a cool Wolverine story that I though was forgotten about. You see, way back when (early to mid 90's) Wolverine's true love (even more than Jean Grey) Mariko was murdered by Matsu'o. Since that day on every anniversary of her death, Logan hunts down Matsu'o and carves off a little bit of him each time. An eye here, an ear there, I thing at one point he removed his gall bladder
all to make him suffer slowly for murdering his love.
PunisherMax #3 - While last month provided more of an insight as to what makes KingpinMax tick, this issue moved the plot along swiftly now that there's only two issues to go in the Kingpin arc. Jason Aaron gives another quick scene of just how twisted and evil Fisk is as he continues to wheel and deal creating alliances for the "Kingpin". Fisk and Punisher have their first confrontation too, during a shootout where Fisk tries to murder a mob boss's widow that's on to his scheme. During all of this there's a side story involving a guy that's has a wife on her deathbed, two son's, and appears to be an assassin for Rigoletto. These scenes threw me a little bit, I wasn't sure when or where they were taking place, but that's how these comics are structured nowadays, for the trade paperback. Anyway, I'm assuming this guy is going to be BullseyeMax and the issue ends with him digging up his box of guns and knives leaving his dying wife behind.
Nice twist at the end when Nate takes over Osborn's mind in order to escape the Dark Avengers. 
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