CaptainCanada
Shield of the True North
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2006
- Messages
- 4,608
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 31
Booster Gold #9
Ill begin this review by stating, once again, that if this story arc ends with Blue Beetle going back to die in order to restore the future (as has been the obvious ending since issue 5), this arc will have been both massively misjudged and incredibly predictable. With that disclaimer out of the way, this is another good issue, as we continue with the standard "apocalyptic alternate future" scenario. Booster and Beetle use the Mother Box the stole to hunt down other members of the JLI (Guy Gardner, Fire, Ice, Mister Miracle, Martian Manhunter) (I wasnt around for the original series, so I review this without nostalgia), before storming Brother Is satellite to try and defeat Maxwell Lord and mind-controlled Superman. There are a couple of good twists, and the coup de grace in the fight against Lord is assigned to a surprising character who rarely gets to do much. In an interesting twist on most alternate futures, the story is peppered with references to stuff that happened later in the mainstream universe (the arrival of Alex Luthor and co., "Sinestro Corps") that happened differently. This story isnt nearly as amusing as the first few, deliberately, but the drama is solid; Jurgens art remains high quality, and Im glad hes sticking around after.
Captain Britain and MI:13 #1
The successor to New Excalibur has arrived, and it thankfully looks much more like Wisdom than it does New Excalibur. The Skrulls are invading Ye Olde England, and Captain Britain joins a group of MI:13 operatives led by Pete Wisdom (also including John the Skrull (Ill miss the other Skrull-Beatles), and Spitfire the WII-era British speedster, now apparently a vampire too; what would her father say?) out to prevent the Skrulls from conquering the Otherworld and seizing control of Britains magic (a formidable strategic weapon, it seems). Elsewhere, Black Knight and the new character, Faiza, put in an appearance, though its not yet clear how theyre going to link up with the other four. Its a strong debut issue, with good action (some of the Skrull power combinations are fun), a few character hooks (such as whatevers going on with Jackie), and a good cliffhanger ending (though, his names on the book, so I wouldnt be too worried). Leonard Kirks art is fantastic here; the best Ive ever seen from him.
Clandestine #4
Speaking of British heroes, Alan Davis miniseries nears its end, and there are about three or four plots going here that have no obvious connection, so theres a distinct feeling that Davis jumped at the opportunity to revisit his creations and crammed in as many stories as he could, since (especially based on sales) there isnt likely to be another shot for a while yet; I hope Cornell finds room for a guest appearance by the Clan at some point, because it would be a shame for them to fade away again; theyre good characters. Davis is still toying with audience expectations; the resolution to last months cliffhanger ending is not what one would expect. He also ties one plot into the Destines first appearance, and has a bit more fun with Dominic and time-lost Excalibur. A very enjoyable story, with entertaining writing and Davis customary strong art.
Huntress: Year One #1
DCs "Random Origin Story Retelling Wheel" finally lands on a character Im interested in reading about, everyones favourite crossbow-wielding Bat-family outsider. Ive always thought Huntress had one of the more compelling origin stories at DC outside of the icons, and this is off to a good start; I particularly like the reversal of the typical "you killed my family" dynamic, since her family (her father, anyway) was involved in crime, rather than being the victims of criminals, which is how things usually go. The writer is Ivory Madison, one of the few ladies to venture into the field, and this is a very good debut (theres one point where debate over gender-specific words like actress seems a bit too academic for someone like Helena). Cliff Richards, the artist, who I recall for one of those "Outsiders: Five of a Kind" one-shots, does a great job as well.
Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #2
Iron Man faces off with his demon-dad (literal, rather than figurative, demon) in Hell, while Doom uses a captive Morgan le Fay to initiative the next phase of his evil plan, taking possession of the sword Excalibur. Its another enjoyable, old-school adventure, with great art from Ron Lim; Im not too familiar with how Howard Stark has typically been portrayed in the comics, but this issue doesnt have a very high opinion of him. Its also nice to see Michelinie and Layton pick up on the thread of what happened to Morgan at the end of the first "Camelot" story, since we know she eventually ended up back in the present, the better to fight Spider-Woman and the Avengers in the future (if this is the last we see of her, it doesnt exactly leave her in a place where shed be interesting in ****ing Doom, but whatever; a few years of being totally alone might make her desperate for male companionship).
Wonder Woman #20
We launch a new, rather vaguely-premised arc that sees Diana involuntarily enlisted by a mid-70s Paul Levitz character named "Stalker" to go to his world and slay their version of the Devil, necessitating a change into a fur-based costume that is really cool, but totally impractical for the winter (not that superhero costumes normally take practicality into consideration), and a team-up with the epic hero Beowulf. These segments are pulled off with aplomb (Simone is really good at giving Diana a sense of humour without writing her as an American, which is something a lot of writers cant do (Jodi Picoult, for one)). We also get more DOMA stuff (that place needs a new acronym), which is still annoying/boring; I dont care about Dianas false identity; in fact, Id love if it were discovered, so this stupid story could be over. This issue also sees the debut of Aaron Lopresti as regular artist, and his work is terrific; I hope he sticks around the title for a good while yet.
X-Men Origins: Colossus
It's been said that Stan Lee liked the idea of mutants because it was a catch-all explanation for how a hero (or villain) got their powers, and saved having to come up with bizarre new origins for characters. And it's served the X-Men quite well. Here we get a psychological origin (which has become more important than the "powers" explanation in the current age of comics), as well as expanding how Colossus' early life went. It's quite well-done; Chris Yost and Trevor Hairsine provide quality writing and art (Hairsine does a great Colossus, though his renditions of everyone else on the final page are a bit more middling).
Ill begin this review by stating, once again, that if this story arc ends with Blue Beetle going back to die in order to restore the future (as has been the obvious ending since issue 5), this arc will have been both massively misjudged and incredibly predictable. With that disclaimer out of the way, this is another good issue, as we continue with the standard "apocalyptic alternate future" scenario. Booster and Beetle use the Mother Box the stole to hunt down other members of the JLI (Guy Gardner, Fire, Ice, Mister Miracle, Martian Manhunter) (I wasnt around for the original series, so I review this without nostalgia), before storming Brother Is satellite to try and defeat Maxwell Lord and mind-controlled Superman. There are a couple of good twists, and the coup de grace in the fight against Lord is assigned to a surprising character who rarely gets to do much. In an interesting twist on most alternate futures, the story is peppered with references to stuff that happened later in the mainstream universe (the arrival of Alex Luthor and co., "Sinestro Corps") that happened differently. This story isnt nearly as amusing as the first few, deliberately, but the drama is solid; Jurgens art remains high quality, and Im glad hes sticking around after.
Captain Britain and MI:13 #1
The successor to New Excalibur has arrived, and it thankfully looks much more like Wisdom than it does New Excalibur. The Skrulls are invading Ye Olde England, and Captain Britain joins a group of MI:13 operatives led by Pete Wisdom (also including John the Skrull (Ill miss the other Skrull-Beatles), and Spitfire the WII-era British speedster, now apparently a vampire too; what would her father say?) out to prevent the Skrulls from conquering the Otherworld and seizing control of Britains magic (a formidable strategic weapon, it seems). Elsewhere, Black Knight and the new character, Faiza, put in an appearance, though its not yet clear how theyre going to link up with the other four. Its a strong debut issue, with good action (some of the Skrull power combinations are fun), a few character hooks (such as whatevers going on with Jackie), and a good cliffhanger ending (though, his names on the book, so I wouldnt be too worried). Leonard Kirks art is fantastic here; the best Ive ever seen from him.
Clandestine #4
Speaking of British heroes, Alan Davis miniseries nears its end, and there are about three or four plots going here that have no obvious connection, so theres a distinct feeling that Davis jumped at the opportunity to revisit his creations and crammed in as many stories as he could, since (especially based on sales) there isnt likely to be another shot for a while yet; I hope Cornell finds room for a guest appearance by the Clan at some point, because it would be a shame for them to fade away again; theyre good characters. Davis is still toying with audience expectations; the resolution to last months cliffhanger ending is not what one would expect. He also ties one plot into the Destines first appearance, and has a bit more fun with Dominic and time-lost Excalibur. A very enjoyable story, with entertaining writing and Davis customary strong art.
Huntress: Year One #1
DCs "Random Origin Story Retelling Wheel" finally lands on a character Im interested in reading about, everyones favourite crossbow-wielding Bat-family outsider. Ive always thought Huntress had one of the more compelling origin stories at DC outside of the icons, and this is off to a good start; I particularly like the reversal of the typical "you killed my family" dynamic, since her family (her father, anyway) was involved in crime, rather than being the victims of criminals, which is how things usually go. The writer is Ivory Madison, one of the few ladies to venture into the field, and this is a very good debut (theres one point where debate over gender-specific words like actress seems a bit too academic for someone like Helena). Cliff Richards, the artist, who I recall for one of those "Outsiders: Five of a Kind" one-shots, does a great job as well.
Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #2
Iron Man faces off with his demon-dad (literal, rather than figurative, demon) in Hell, while Doom uses a captive Morgan le Fay to initiative the next phase of his evil plan, taking possession of the sword Excalibur. Its another enjoyable, old-school adventure, with great art from Ron Lim; Im not too familiar with how Howard Stark has typically been portrayed in the comics, but this issue doesnt have a very high opinion of him. Its also nice to see Michelinie and Layton pick up on the thread of what happened to Morgan at the end of the first "Camelot" story, since we know she eventually ended up back in the present, the better to fight Spider-Woman and the Avengers in the future (if this is the last we see of her, it doesnt exactly leave her in a place where shed be interesting in ****ing Doom, but whatever; a few years of being totally alone might make her desperate for male companionship).
Wonder Woman #20
We launch a new, rather vaguely-premised arc that sees Diana involuntarily enlisted by a mid-70s Paul Levitz character named "Stalker" to go to his world and slay their version of the Devil, necessitating a change into a fur-based costume that is really cool, but totally impractical for the winter (not that superhero costumes normally take practicality into consideration), and a team-up with the epic hero Beowulf. These segments are pulled off with aplomb (Simone is really good at giving Diana a sense of humour without writing her as an American, which is something a lot of writers cant do (Jodi Picoult, for one)). We also get more DOMA stuff (that place needs a new acronym), which is still annoying/boring; I dont care about Dianas false identity; in fact, Id love if it were discovered, so this stupid story could be over. This issue also sees the debut of Aaron Lopresti as regular artist, and his work is terrific; I hope he sticks around the title for a good while yet.
X-Men Origins: Colossus
It's been said that Stan Lee liked the idea of mutants because it was a catch-all explanation for how a hero (or villain) got their powers, and saved having to come up with bizarre new origins for characters. And it's served the X-Men quite well. Here we get a psychological origin (which has become more important than the "powers" explanation in the current age of comics), as well as expanding how Colossus' early life went. It's quite well-done; Chris Yost and Trevor Hairsine provide quality writing and art (Hairsine does a great Colossus, though his renditions of everyone else on the final page are a bit more middling).
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