Two weeks worth of reviews, again. It's double or nothin' on spoilers!
DREAD'S BOUGHT/THOUGHT FOR SEPT. 11th - 18th, 2013:
ARCHER & ARMSTRONG #13: Fred Van Lente and artist Pere Perez (alongside colorist David Baron) conclude the latest arc revolving around the artificial land of "Faraway" that has existed across time as well as apart from time for eons. The titular duo are tested like they've never been before not only due to the flying saucer army of the cold war era General Redacted, but due to the impulsive Armstrong shacking up with the women Archer loves. The heroes team up with Armstrong's other brother Ivar as well as Amelia Earheart for a spectacular aerial fight to the finish as well as a story which exaggerates real life "mysteries" such as the Bermuda triangle for its own unique fantasy narrative. Perez's artwork is as lively and action packed as ever, coming the comedy as well as the drama and the explosive sequences well. It is sad to see the titular team break up, although it naturally won't last long and adds more drama to a series which is able to flawlessly mingle that with slapstick comedy and jaw dropping action.
BATMAN BEYOND UNIVERSE #2: Considering many of DC Comics' latest woes in terms of fleeing creators and public relations nightmares, a cover in which Superman of all characters is screaming "STAY AWAY!" at the top of his lungs could not be more ironic if it tried. The shame of it is that as a reprinting of one of DC's digital first comics, "Batman Beyond" has often been a anthology series best known for quality storytelling and a better mixture of tones. New creative team changes prompted a reboot of this anthology, and this time it is the "JLU" comic by Christos Gage and Iban Coello leads the way. A plot by a mysterious figure has interfered with Superman's powers, causing him to have to shut them down for the safety of everyone around him. Despite this, he continues to be involved with the Justice League of the future as a consultant and Kryptonian expert, even while attempting to focus on his civilian life as a firefighter. Not only is Kal having to adjust to being powerless and taking a back seat to his younger comrades, but in trying to spark a relationship with fellow firefighter Rita after years of being a widower (having outlived Lois Lane and most of his Metropolis cast). Gage has a ball with showing Kal get all sorts of ridiculous dating advice from his peers before getting to the point linking the plot to enemies in the Phantom Zone.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MICRO SERIES: VILLAINS #6: Although this issue takes place after the last micro-series issue, for all intents and purposes this is one of those mini series issues which essentially acts as an extra issue from the end of an issue from the core Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. IDW Comics' terrific relaunch of the TMNT franchise has succeeded in part because it has been able to draw from the wealth of material from the previous quarter century plus of TMNT comics, films, and cartoon series for ore and inspiration, as well as characters. This issue introduces the villain Hun, leader of the Purple Dragons gang, who is a major immigrant from the 2003 era "TMNT" cartoon which used to air on 4Kids TV. It is impossible to discuss the issue without noting the twist from the TV version, so it's best to lay it bare. In the cartoon series, Hun was the man who was implied to have killed Casey Jones' father; in this comic incarnation, he literally is Casey Jones' father. Arnold Casey Jones Sr. throughout the core series has been little more than a drunken, abusive widower father, only here we learn that in his prime he was known as Hun, gang boss and all around tough hombre. Distraught over the near death of his son, Arnold is manipulated by the Shredder (the man who almost killed Casey) into bulking up and retaking his old position once more. Mike Costa and Ben Epstein write the story alongside arts by Mike Henderson with colors by Ian Herring and do a solid job of making Hun a somewhat sympathetic character for an issue. It sets up a tremendous conflict for Casey in future issues as well as adds another great villain to the rich tapestry of the series.
DAREDEVIL #31: Every week in which the Eisner winning creative team of Mark Waid and Chris Samnee publish another issue of "Daredevil" seems to be a better week. Each tale is always carefully crafted, plotted, and expertly drawn and seems to push the limits of what a mainstream superhero book at Marvel Comics can do. Having recently sewn up a long term subplot, Waid has sought to work in a new one which provides ore for shorter arcs while expanding as a larger whole. To this end, Waid and Samnee have taken a page from "Law & Order" (a franchise with more spin offs than the Avengers) in terms of "ripping a story from the headlines" where any similarities between real life events or people are mere "coincidence" which is totally intentional. To this end, the trial of George Zimmerman for the death of teenager Trayvon Martin which captivated the nation for weeks is adapted loosely for Daredevil's latest adventure.
Despite having defeated Bullseye and his own long range attempts to destroy Daredevil, the life of Matt Murdock hasn't gotten much easier. His best friend Foggy Nelson is battling cancer while he's attempting to juggle a bustling law practice alongside a new temp - his ex, former D.A. Kirsten McDuffie. The masked "man without fear" has recently stumbled onto the entrenched plot of the "Sons of the Serpent", a racist organization Daredevil originally encountered in some random "Defenders" comics during the end of the Silver Age who have become deeply entrenched in society - including the justice system. When a rich and connected member of New York "high society" seems to be acquitted of the murder of a teenage ethnic minority after a sensational trial, the prosecutor seems to out the names of the jury on TV, inciting mad riots across the city. Hopelessly trying to quell the chaos, Daredevil senses the manipulation of one of his old enemies, Jonathan Powers, a.k.a. the Jester.
Created by Stan Lee and the late Gene Colan in "Daredevil #42" in 1968, when handled poorly he is a poor man's version of the Joker who seems to appear sporadically every two to five years. His last appearance was during the Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev run in 2005, which literally involved a bizarre demonic possession. As a hero who has often struggled to avoid relying on the same two or three villains endlessly, Mark Waid has sought to avoid this by involving a lot of villains or evil organizations from other franchises - such as the Spot, Mole Man, HYDRA, and even aliens - or newer villains like Coyote and Bruiser. Across over thirty issues, very few actual Daredevil villains have appeared, and it has often seemed like a missed opportunity. Fortunately, Waid seems to be working his magic on the Jester, twigging onto his angle of media manipulation to offer up a new incarnation of the villain who isn't a second rate Joker or random super-criminal, but as someone unique to battle a man who is a lawyer by day and vigilante by night.
As always, the artwork by Samnee and colorist Javier Rodriguez is sensational, capturing the chaos of massive riots as well as quiet scenes with cancer patients or watching a court drama unfold on TV to even wonky science fiction antics with Ant-Man. While the similarities to the very real and recent outcry over a legal proceeding might seem in poor taste or at least convenient, "Daredevil" puts a fresh spin on it while using it to revive and hopefully rework a long time but often maligned villain. Weeks with "Daredevil" on the shelves often offer little in the way of competition when it comes to quality, at least from the "big two". This week proves no exception.
FEARLESS DEFENDERS #9: A hike in the cover price by a dollar has caused this team comic by Cullen Bunn and artist Will Sliney (and colorist Veronica Gandini) has allowed this female friendly relaunch to outlast "Morbius the Living Vampire" and see the solicitation of a twelfth issue, although sales have continued to skid so it cannot be much longer for this world. Fortunately, Bunn's on an upswing from the opening arc as the team has expanded from last issue and he continues along the simple theme of action packed stories with a lot of snappy banter. The gist of this issue is turning certain gender expectations on their head. Flash Thompson/Agent Venom has become worried for his sometime girlfriend Valkyrie since she joined this team (and became merged with Annabelle Riggs), and gathered many of the male heroes who have been involved in the lives of the ladies lately. Bunn has fun with having worried and emotionally conflicted male heroes bickering on the sidelines while the ladies are having a brawl with some villains in the core plot. Bunn manages to dig up some obscure figures from the Marvel Handbook this time - the classic Defenders villains the Headmen alongside some newer characters like the new Enchantress. Sliney's art has improved although he sometimes has some issues with facial expressions; on the whole he is a hit with the action. A bonus comes from Bunn's dusting off of minor heroine Shamrock from 1982's "Marvel Super Hero Conquest of Champions" and offering her a new career in retirement (even if a cliched one). While this is hardly the best Marvel comic series to dwindle in sales lately, it's a perfectly enjoyable team book which has improved over time and capitalized on its obscure cast.
INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #13: Mark Waid's "Agent of T.I.M.E." story continues to unfold, and at this juncture it reads like a superior version of the dimension hopping story Jeff Parker was writing for his last year and change on "Thunderbolts". To a degree the flaw of the series is its simplicity; the Hulk and Banner (who are separated in spirit via technology) are hopping from one time period to the next stopping one Chronoarchist after the next from exploiting the crumbling time stream to make themselves gods. This time, Hulk and Banner are in 6th century England having a run in with Merlin, Black Knight and the remaining knights of the round table who have lost Camelot to the time tyrant. Matteo Scalera and Kim Jacinto handle art chores with colorist Val Staples, and they have a ball with the romp of warriors from across time against a rampaging Hulk. In matching the strengths of the franchise, Waid has adopted a more blunt style than his superior "Daredevil", yet he's maintained enough wit and imagination that things never get dull or stuck in a rut regardless.
MIGHTY AVENGERS #1: Although Marvel Comics has been heavily promoting and expanding upon their "Avengers" franchise since 2004-2005, such efforts naturally went into overdrive after last summer when Marvel Studios' "The Avengers" grossed over a billion dollars worldwide. The company has also never let a crossover event go to waste in regards to launching (or relaunching) new ongoing series into the marketplace. At one point, "Mighty Avengers" ran from 2007-2010 on the heels of "Civil War" and featured stories by Brian M. Bendis and Dan Slott; at the time it was the second core Avengers title. Its return this fall will officially mark it as the seventh Marvel comic with the word "Avengers" in its title. Al Ewing is a writer best known for stints on "Judge Dredd" and other regular features for the iconic British anthology series "2000 AD", although he's seen limited work from Dynamite Comics in the states. This relaunch of "Mighty Avengers" marks his first major gig with a U.S. comic book publisher, mired only by the inclusion of "artist" Greg Land, for whom Photoshop is mightier than his pencils. Thankfully, colors by Frank D'Armata seem to work better for his "art" than those of Guru eFX from "Iron Man", so at least so far his work is more tolerable.
The general gist of this series is covering a team of superheroes who haven't gone into space with the other six dozen Avengers during this "Infinity" crossover event and are left to protect NYC from regular crime by standard super-villains as well as an inevitable attack from one of Thanos' alien generals. Former Avengers leader Luke Cage has reorganized his old "heroes for hire" gig alongside younger heroes White Tiger (Ava Ayala) and the Victor Alvarez, who is using Cage's old mantle of Power Man. They quickly run afoul of the "superior" Spider-Man, who is still Dr. Octopus possessing the body of the hero with whom he mind-swapped with and then essentially murdered last year. Meanwhile, another former Avengers leader in Monica Rambeau is trying out a new costume as well as a new code name in "Spectrum"; by this stage she's had as many superhero names as Hank Pym, yet never is mocked for it. She meets with her costume designer as well as a mysterious man from her past, who soon earns the ire of "Spidey-Ock" by donning a bootleg "Spider-Hero" costume and teaming up for a big alien battle in Time's Square.
Considering there are six other Avengers titles right now, it is good for them to have a central identity. Hickman's two "Avengers" books are space books, "Avengers Arena" is a death match book, "Young Avengers" are about the younger heroes, "Secret Avengers" about a stealth ops squad and so on. This book seeks to offer a street level team focusing on protecting NYC featuring a cast which includes two former leaders of the team and a mostly minority cast of well written and established characters. Ewing quickly establishes a tone which is lighter hearted and more fun than many other Avengers books out there right now, hardly afraid of using and embracing cheesy villains like the Plunderer and Blue Streak. In a letter at the back of the book Ewing claims that Luke Cage and Monica Rambeau are his favorite Avengers characters, and it shows as they are almost the stars of the issue, claiming the lion's share of the panels. The issue offers no less than three fight scenes as well as introduces all of the characters on the cover and unites them against a threat - a feat which not even recent team books like "Fearless Defenders" usually pull off in a first issue. The dynamic between Cage and Victor is especially entertaining, which showcases how much Cage has grown over the years and how much more growing Victor has to make. As for "Spidey-Ock", he is likely there for sales and Ewing embraces the editorial memo that "superior" Spider-Man talks like a stock mad scientist from a 1950's B-movie yet none of the heroes around him notice it beyond his "banter" being off.
The major downside of the issue is Land's "artwork", which as has been chronicled across the Internet mostly relies on cribbing from various magazines and associated press photos from film, wrestling, and pornography. As mentioned earlier, the coloring this time is an improvement and beyond for a lazy "snap" panel, Land's work is more acceptable than usual; albeit his art on "Iron Man" often merely showcased how many film images he was pasting. Land still struggles, at best, to depict unique female figures, as Monica seems to gain yet another hairstyle. The villain in Proxima is a stock alien conqueror with minions wearing a Jack Kirby inspired space costume, seeming to exist merely to be opposed with little persona beyond that.
Overall, this new launch overcomes its shortcomings and embraces its characters as well as the expectations of the genre with a whole heart. It has been a while since Luke Cage was a regular in an ongoing series and Ewing has captured his voice extremely well; his work with Monica also helps keep her edge without making her a running joke as she often was in "Nextwave". The mystery of "Spider-Hero" should continue, with solicitations suggesting that he will soon become the third figure to don the mask of Ronin (after Echo and Clint Barton). Future issues promise another neglected character, Blue Marvel, and will build off this surprisingly fun and engaging debut issue. Ewing looks to have a ball on this book with a squad of heroes he's passionate about, and one hopes the buzz from the crossover will allow him enough of a wide berth to do so.
MORBIUS THE LIVING VAMPIRE #9: Morbius may be alive, but this series isn't, as low sales and a meandering storyline has sunk this latest "Amazing Spider-Man" spin off in less than ten months. Joe Keatinge, Richard Elson and colorist Antonio Fabela wrap everything up in a truncated brawl between Morbius and the Rose, who turns out to literally be a masked nobody. Morbius inspires Brownsville, Brooklyn by faking his death and Becky Barnes gets a new life as an artist in the big city. Highlights include some great art and solid action. Low lights include the characters themselves lamenting about how aimless this entire exercise is and some gaps of logic (such as Morbius seeking to fake his death while appearing outside an art show which had media attention). At best this series radiated a lot of lost potential, but its quick death isn't surprising.
SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #18: The duel between "superior" Spider-Man (Dr. Octopus possessing Spidey's body) and Miguel O'Hara/Spider-Man 2099 continues in a time spanning tale which features terrific artwork by Ryan Stegman, inker Livesay, and colorist Edgar Delgado. Writer Dan Slott has woven a solid cross time tale utilizing some "future" junk from the 90's, even if his "superior" Spider-Man continues to be as simple and crude as ever. As things seem to be falling down around the life of Spidey-Ock, any notion of "responsibility" he may have learned from the hero whose soul he slew has gone out the window as he seeks to settle scores just like any villain would. To that end Spidey-Ock seeks to save Horizon Labs from a corporate takeover by Ty Stone by assassinating him in daylight and seeks to tear his future counterpart to ribbons almost on sight. Miguel had met Peter Parker once and had only been in this era for five minutes, yet he's caught onto something that not even Mary Jane has noticed. "Peter" gets fired from Horizon Labs for yanking his research from their labs illegally as Miguel only has sixteen minutes to prevent a disaster which destroys the future and the Goblin subplot inches along with no end in sight. While some of the details of Miguel's life may be lost on casual readers, Slott has his voice down as a hero who may not be as smart as the original but whose heart is in the right place. As things seem to fall apart for "superior" Spider-Man, it does lend credence to the idea that Peter's return is inevitable no matter how much the writers and editors bleat to the contrary, and 2014 will likely be occupied with him trying to reassemble the mess Ock made of his life. Ock's devolution of Spider-Man from a dark hero to a super villain who only does good for his own ego has been swift and blunt; while it has been a shame that most of Peter's cast and fellow heroes are too stupid to notice their friend has been acting like a 1950's super villain for months, this arc at least gives Ock a worthy opposing force as well as offers an alternative to his arrogant blather.
That's how old I am.
