A short week but overall a very good week collectively. Spoilers abound!
DREAD'S BOUGHT/THOUGHT FOR 8/15/12:
SAGA #6: Image Comic's latest hit creator owned series by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples has now published their first trade paperback's worth of issues. In order to maintain the high quality art and scripts, the series will go on "hiatus" until November to give Staples more time to draw as well as Image's trade paperback department time to sell the first trade for under ten dollars. This may be a drag for fans of this exceptional science fiction opera, but it may be a boon towards attracting new readers. Already the book sells in the Top 50 and has seen multiple printings of every issue.
This issue does what every climax of an arc in a serial should do; close the book on some subplots while opening the doors to others. Alana, Marko, their half-breed daughter Hazel and their ghostly companion Izabel finally manage to escape into space on a living space ship which mixes mysticism with science in a truly imaginative manner. Elsewhere, Prince Robot IV winds up earning the vengeance of the deadly mercenary called "The Will" though happenstance and a quick trigger finger as both sides continue to chase after the leads. Sacrifices are made, curse words are uttered with abandon and there is even a surprise visit from someone's in-laws! The cast has extended since the first issue but it hasn't become too large too quickly, which is a bane to many sci-fi epics. As always, Staples artwork from pencils to colors to her own penmanship for Hazel's narration is a wonder to behold and makes every page a pleasure.
In summary, reviewing this series becomes difficult because it is more of an experience than something which can always be summarized or boiled down to formula. It features two terrific creators at the top of their game and in sync with each other producing something which feels both familiar yet innovative at the same time. Alana and Marko truly embody the TV Trope known as a "Battle Couple" with neither one of them being diminished to make the other appear strong. Prince Robot IV has qualities which match that of a robot as well as his own quirks. "The Will" naturally is the anti-hero poised to steal most scenes he is in, and generally succeeds. Izabel is one of few "alien ghosts" who exists in fiction yet automatically has made her presence felt, even if she often seems to exist mostly to vital exposition. The design work for the various species, uniforms, and landscapes also serve to embellish the world SAGA has created. And as such, it is a series which is best to be enjoyed by reading it oneself, not reading others reviews of it.
Thus, one can see the hiatus as a chance to catch up those you know on this series, and convince them to add one of the best new comic series around to their pull lists.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #691: Longtime series writer Dan Slott and tertiary regular artist Giuseppe Camuncoli wrap up "No Turning Back", which is the first major story in years to focus on one of the web-slinger's oldest enemies, the Lizard. While the character's appearance in a film was the editorial catalyst for this arc, Slott has continued to mine ore from older stories as well as mine his own imagination for newer ones. The twist of this arc is that despite being "cured" of physically being the Lizard, the monster's personality remained in Dr. Curt Connors' form. While "Lizard-as-Connors" manipulated the capture of Morbius and mutated many of the scientists at Horizon labs into "lizard people", he was unable to revert to a reptilian form himself. In this issue, a weary and enraged Spider-Man has yet another showdown with the Lizard, who is back in his reptile from but is now ironically embittered upon losing human sensation. The battle itself is quite thrilling and the conclusion opens the doors for yet more stories with this antagonist. Meanwhile, a subplot with the Kingpin and Hobgoblin continues to rise to the fore. Camuncoli is aided by penciler Mario Del Pennino and there are two inkers in tow, but the colors by Frank D'Armata manage to make all of the art read together smoothly. The Lizard gets another new design and it may be one which other artists will either struggle with or will make look generic. The march towards the 700th issue continues and the next arc has likely gotten more publicity - Spider-Man gets a sidekick - but this arc has been a simple but effective take on a Spidey/Lizard tale with a few twists and a lot of action.
AVENGERS ACADEMY #35: Christos Gage and frequent guest artist Andrea Di Vito continue onward with this latest arc, "FINAL EXAM", which is easily the best story this title has had in at least six months, if not all year. Subplots from the past several years of the book are coming to the fore in such a flourish that one wonders if Gage expected this to be his last arc on the book before ultimately learning Marvel didn't intend to cancel it (yet). This issue also matches that of AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE, which was the last fourth tier Avengers title which Gage wrote, which ended in 2010 and laid a lot of the ground work for this series. Picking up from the last issue, corrupt superhuman tycoon Jeremy Briggs has removed the powers of the Academy cadets and offered them either a place with his new organization as he seeks to remove the powers of most older superheroes to prevent "event" style carnage to cities, or a furnished prison cell. Some characters appear to accept this offer while others refuse and find themselves on the run and struggling to survive. This story includes all of the founding cadets (including Veil) but also some of the newer additions such as White Tiger, Lightspeed, and X-23 who all manage to weave themselves in well here. Briggs remains an effective young antagonist to the cadets (as well as a solid new villain created for them), although Gage makes the same error that Joe Casey made with Manchester Black in his famous story in ACTION COMICS #775 from 2001. Much like Black, Briggs makes a lot of harsh but fair points about the ineffectiveness of "modern superheroes" and the status quo. Yet in order to avoid a complicated resolution, Briggs turns out to be a fanatic himself and surround himself with completely immoral lunatics and thus his points are diminished. Briggs hates the "hero vs. villain paradigm" yet winds up falling into it himself; irony or simplicity? Despite this, all of the characters have moments of heart or courage in this issue and it effectively builds the tension for the next two issues, as it should. It has been too long since this title had an arc as awesome and "important" as this.
AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #10: Here's a riddle; is a mess still a mess when it's less of a mess? The answer may be debatable as Ed Brubaker scripts this issue (with the usual five writers credited to the story) and Adam Kubert continues on the pencils with John Dell on colors and two inkers in tow. Picking up from the last issue, the "Phoenix Five" are now "The Phoenix Two" with the power hosted by Cyclops and Emma Frost. While the latter has become a psychic fascist upon the island of Utopia - it is never a good sign when Magneto has the moral high ground in an argument - Cyclops tracks down Hope, the "MacGuffin That Walks Like A Woman", to K'un L'un. Various Avengers and immortal dragons are blasted until Hope does what she does best; absorb the right power set to win by sheer plot convenience. The Watcher does what he always does, which is appear as a spectator when an editor insists something is important, even when it's forgotten in two years time. Cyclops flies off to have a final showdown with Frost in order to absorb her power while Hope learns that while she may be able to absorb any power she wants, she has yet to absorb a personality besides "stock teenage girl". Scarlet Witch's role in the story continues to be as a living weapon against the Phoenix hosts, which is terribly hypocritical as at the start of the year the Avengers and X-Men came to blows over who considered her a worse menace in THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE. Much like the last issue, this stretch of the series has become "less terrible" than prior issues to the point of reaching mediocrity. However, this isn't true quality at all. Comics this week such as SAGA and DAREDEVIL are true examples of this. AVX remains a marketing gimmick with staples, and it is written as such. Highlights are almost by accident.
DARK AVENGERS #179: Jeff Parker and Kev Walker continue on with the title formerly known as Thunderbolts, with Gabriel Hernandez Walta aboard as co-artist. Once more, the casts of characters remain split in two eras. The escaped T-Bolts are not in the far future which is essentially a rip off of JUDGE DREDD with some future clone of Luke Cage in the titular role (or as "Boss Cage") of being the only metropolis' stern defender against mutant freaks. In the present, the Dark Avengers continue their struggle to liberate a metahuman for FACT and oppose Sultan Magus, who is the super powered dictator of a made up Middle East country. The two are on a collision course as it seems this time the T-Bolts do have a clear path home while Cage's superiors have given them and his program up for lost and have gone over his head. This issue was enjoyable but it remains cluttered and was the lessor of many good books which came out this week. The attempt to give Clor/Ragnorak some sort of angst is commendable.
