Backlog of Comic Reviews, Part One!

[dewinged]

The last time I did comic reviews here was a while back, easily over a month ago. I admit to being slack, but there was always the itch in the back of my head to do them, and going through a few websites this morning, I've gotten as much of a list (Marvel and DC-based, at least), of what I remember buying and reading, and I'm getting pretty good impressions of what happened in the books, since my memory hasn't completely blitzed on me yet.

Besides, I wanted to get back into the practice, because it's somewhat fun discussing comics, and I usually stay away from the message boards online because I've found myself with a certain mindset when I lurk there to read them.

Fandom = Crusades
Me = England

Not quite the healthiest point of view. And besides, I'm a better typist. Not perfect, but better. :)

Now, these are in no real order save the last few, but I'm going to review chunks of the same book in the same spot (it's been that long, yes). So, on with the show.


Teen Titans #18: Part Two of the story of the 'modern day' Titans being in a future with their adult selves...and finding most of their older selves are a bunch of hard-edged, murdering asses. I'm okay with the pacing on this, since I believe the story is meant to go to 3-4 parts, and we get drawn a little further into the Adult Titans world, with little pieces fitting together, showing what might have happened to get to the dim future that they're in.

And no, it's not 'We just read The Ultimates! Kicking people while they're down and calling ourselves heroes is kewl!' But damn, I wish it was. I really do.

Anyways, as the second part of what I'm gonna guess is a 4-part arc, we get a lot of story buildup, a good chunk of which is forshadowing to upcoming Titans things. Kon passes a picture on the wall of Speedy, and he notices it isn't Cissie. This sets up Mia, in a few months. We see Adult Bart's Keystone city, where Donna is listed as an ally. We knew that was going to happen.

Oh, and Older, one-armed Deathstroke attacking the 'modern day' Titans, telling Bart he becomes the worst, because Bart takes his daughter away from him. So, we will eventually get a redemption story for Rose, and Adult Bart was snogging her at the beginning of the issue, and that was pretty darn cute, besides.

What we find at the end is that Cyborg is leading a rebel hero team, trying to take the Adult Titans down. Nice semi-homage, the older Cyborg's tech having some resembalance to the animated Cyborg. As for his team: Cyborg, CM3, Ravager/Rose, Terra, and Flamebird. The last is what raises eyebrows, since it was said in the previous issue that Duela Dent killed Bette Kane. So, you have a heroine known as a non-powered type, well-trained with tech and weaponry, and it's not Bette, and way too young to be someone like Bruce and Selina's spawn.

My money is placed on the theory that it's Cissie King-Jones. Or King-Jones-Queen, depending on the theories.

But that's more speculation than anything. The issue is well-paced, with a heartbreaking fight between Young Tim and Old Tim in a graveyard where Arkham used to be. The artwork is okay. Not going to say it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, but I don't have the rancid hate some fans have for McKone, especially since I don't see the reasoning behind it. It's legible, which sometimes is a hard thing to ask for in comics.


The Authority: Revolution #2Something else I changed about my pull list was that I am finally done with the Authority. I begin to wonder if what I wanted was the Authority that existed under Warren Ellis' pen to come back. Ellis...what he had was this: The Authority was a group of heroes who took no prisoners, crossed the line, were into big kabooms and punching people through the head. Very cinematic, and Ellis admitted as such. But, at the core of it, there was still something 'heroic' about the group. Jenny Sparks didn't think twice about sacrificing herself, and there was a general undercurrent that the Authority did this because the gave a damn about the planet. Then Millar came aboard, and turned it into a team that did fuck-all they wanted (which, by sheer coincidence, coincided with Millar's personal political and religious beliefs. Coincidence), without any concept of cause-and-effect. (My personal fave: the Doctor couldn't make a mission, because he had overdosed on Heroin, and the rest of the team didn't give him any shit about it.) And the shitstorm cascade kept rolling downhill from there.

But it's okay now: they conquered the world, set themselves up as the Government, and I'm pretty sure they revoked the US Constitution in the process. And they're the protagonists.

Dr. Doom could take lessons from these guys. I'm almost ready to say they're imposters. I wish that were the case.

In any case, Midnighter ends up in an alternate future, where a much older Apollo tells him that Mid ends up killing Hawksmoor, and taking over Earth all on his own. (Of course he does: Midnighter kicks that much ass).

But...nope, I just stopped caring. Sorry, no dice.


The Flash #216Johns and Porter deliver another good issue, even if it's semi-linked to Identity Crisis. There's enough exposition that you don't have to know everything about IC to understand where Wally is, but it doesn't overbear the issue either. Wally gets Zatanna's help to reverse the mindwipe/morality switch Barry had attempted on the Top years ago. We find out that Spinning is a Damn Dangerous Power if one knows what they're doing, and there's that little problem the Top brings up, of what he did while he was 'good.' Wha we find is that the Top might have done the same thing to a bunch of the Rogues that Barry did to him, back in the day. So, any rogue who turned 'good' is suspect, and might be 'reverted' to Evil at any time.

Not good. I like Johns, but there's...something seriously wrong with that. Mostly because Piper is a more effective ally than an enemy, even if he is working for James 'Check out my new brill cream' Jesse with a Fed-sponsored ex-villain hunter team. It makes the side-switch any of the Rogues have done precarious. It might up the paranoia for Wally, but I can see this used as a plot device for decades of Flash comics down the road.

As for the last page...well, I hope Wally and Linda get to talk, next issue. As for how she hid from Wally while being a newscaster, I was under the idea this was her first assignment, since she might have just gone back to the station. (She gave up journalism for a while to go back to college, if I remember right.)


Outsiders #18 Okay, risking the wrath of moose_man, I admit that I don't mind Judd Winick's dialogue. Usually, I don't, but this issue, which is part two of the 'America's Most Wanted/John Walsh' guest appearance story, still suffers from one of WInick's bigger failings as a writer. (Note: I don't really blame him for Graduation Day, since I was under the idea Editorial came down, and told him to write a story where Donna gets killed and the Titans and YJ get the crap kicked out of them. That was all Editorial Edict). Judd seems to want to raise public awareness, which is all well and good. But he's doing it by hitting us over the head with the Sledgehammer of Public Service Announcement, which is not nearly as well and good. I might discuss subtlety when I get into Green Arrow later...

But, sigh, this could be better. The art style, shadow-heavy and a little harsh around the edges, fits the story, but the writing is way too heavy-handed for this to be effective. Also, the idea of what could happen to Lian horrifies me. Might be the point, but still.


X-Men/Fantastic 4 #1 It's a limited series, I know that much. As for me, I'm going to limit this series to one issue. :) It starts off on a simple premise: FF needs help looking for life signs aboard a space stations that has lost communication with Earth, and they wish to use Cerecra to scan it. But a fight results because they knocked, and woke up Wolverine before the snooze alarm. Insert obligatory misunderstanding/team fight, exposition. There was a FF/X-Men Limited Series a very long time ago, and it was a lot better than this one, I'm sorry to say.


X-Men #164: There's two adjectiveless X-Men issues here, and I really have to review them seperately, because of the changes between them. #164 has a more well-known name, which is Austen's Last Issue. While Larocca can rock as much as he wants on the pencils, it doesn't save a bland, directionless story, which buigs me because this Brotherhood attack, if it had a purpose other than Austen clearing the decks for illigan, it might have been, well, not bad. But, we don't get that here, despite some nice action by Northstar. What we end up with is Nurse Annie and Carter driving off into COmic Limbo, Juggernaut and Nocturne, along with the rest of the Brotherhood, getting sucked into NuXorn's black-hole noggin (God, I hate Xorn. Always did.), and a Wolverine/Sabretooth fight we were spared,. Because, you know, Wolverine Vs. Sabretooth has Never Been Done in comics before, Ever. :P

It just didn't fly. Only think I had any feeling for was the death of Sammy, which I was generally neutral on. I guess Austen felt that if he wasn't going to be writing, he could break his toys then go home. I was...well, Sammy didn't irritate me, and I feel kinda bad that he got killed. WHat horrifies me are the folks online who did cheer the death of a kid. Sure, they're fictional characters, but celebrating child death just makes my stomach twitch. There's something vaguely wrong with that.



X-Men #165: I separated these issues because of the change in writers. Auston didn't pen this one, and Milligan takes over with #166. What happens here is an interlude, and a Holiday issue, written by Claremont for the one time only.

I'm at least happy Claremont isn't also the regular writer on Adjectiveless. Considering the three 'X-Men books,' I'd rather there be different writers on each one, to allow for choice and variety. Marvel, despite the fact that Milligan does nothing for me, follows this mindset, which I can cope with.

Anyways, Claremont writes a holiday issue, and seems to have a lot of fun doing so. As a result, the readers get a little breather, and a few chuckles in the meantime. But, that's more a personal bias: I could read 22 whole pages of Emma getting pelted with snowballs and be a happy man. But it happens just enough that I am satisfied. One gets cameos by damn near everyone in the X-universe, as well as a rescue scene at the beginning. There's a sense of community here: it's not just limited to the cast of one book, which (continuity errors aside) makes it more natural.

Gambit's blindness gets cured by Claremont's new favorite plot device, a.k.a. Sage. (Will deal with her when I talk about Uncanny), Julian gets a humility lesson, and we get to see Santa Hank with his personal Elf assistants, Rachel and Kitty. (Note: Kitty, being Jewish, doesn't celebrate Christmas as a holiday, but does celebrate the 'togetherness with family and friends and goodwill towards people' aspect of the whole holiday season, so that wasn't jarring to me.)

And, as I said, we see Rachel in an Elf outfit. And for me to notice that says something. O:)

So it's a good filler, feel-better issue, and doesn't try to be anything else.

Uncanny X-Men #453: Now, this is Claremont's regular book, and we see this right in the middle of Chasing Hellfire. We get to take a glance at Bishop's future cop training, which ends up saving the asses of the rest of the away team in France, as well as Rachel and Guest-X Emma deal with the New White Queen, Sat-yr-9 (er, I mean 'Courtney Ross') and a mutant slavery ring in Asia with some help from Red Lotus. It's not bad, typical multi-layered Claremont, who has this huge story in mind, where he tries to fit everything in.

We get to see Shaw again, forming a Kinder, Gentler, Hellfire Club as one of the Lords Imperial (for those at home: Lords Imperial trump the Lords Cardinal/Inner Circle, if I understand it correctly). Sage is with him again, but I'm pretty positive she's got Some Plan In Mind; as Claremont's current favorite, she Always Has A Plan (tm).

On Sage: I don't mind her. I actually like the powerset, and how she developed from Tessa. Considering this is the writer who created her, the concept of Tessa being Xavier's double agent all along...think about who this is. You can see him thinking this far ahead, right? I just wish she couldn't do /everything/; some of her powers are Plot Devices, pure and simple. Makes things too easy for a Deus Ex when he needs one/

Oh, and did I mention Shaw has a new Black King? Did I mention that it's Roberto DaCosta? That alone makes this just a little more interesting, because what if Shaw is telling the truth?

But, one of the book's strengths are the characters themselves. While waiting in Paris, Wolverine knowing their presence will draw out their attackers, he and Kurt have a little chat, mostly about Kurt's love life, and the resulting Ororo/Kurt/Rachel triangle. We get acknowledgement of Kurt and Rachel's friendship in Excalibur and the passage of time, as well as the old friends Ororo and Kurt are. One of the more amusing aspects is Kurt's overall growth: where he used to walk around with an image Inducer, saying how no one could love him because of what he looks like...he is now public, walks around openly, is involved in a triangle and had random women giving him their phone numbers in Paris.

Chicks /do/ dig the fuzzy dude. Who knew?

But it's capped off by Wolverine-as-realist. "Geez, we can save the world, but telling a girl how you feel makes you chicken? Suck it up, deal, say what you feel and move the fuck on, elf." (The previous was very paraphrased). About time someone said it.

Anyways, I have fun with this book, in the 'ooo, look, continuity! Characters that don't piss me off! Story!' kinda way that I feel most of fandom needs to be reminded of.

But my idea of 'reminders' involves steel-headed sledgehammers. Not the healthiest thoughts. :)


X-Force #4
X-Force #5: These, I can review together easily. Mostly because I have the same thing to say about both of them: Arrrrrggghhhh! My eyes! They BURN!

Heck, it was said better on Drawn Together: Ling-Ling has seen things! HORRIBLE THINGS!

I wanted Nicieza's X-Force back, rationalizing that if I sat through this, That Artist Guy would go away like he always does, and I'd have what I wanted back. I no longer believe. It also shows me that I have to be /really/ specific about my pull list at my comic shop. Ugh. Don't even bother this time; bad art, bad plot, Nicieza trying to script out bad plot and not able to wade through the utter BS...ugh. Dammit.


Excalibur #7
Excalibur #8: Together. It's not that I only read X-books, but a majority of my Marvel reading now is X-oriented. This might change once Runaways returns and we get the real Avengers back, but I visualize how bad this is making me look, with a lean towards X-stuff. I'm not done with half the list of back-reviews, thought the latter hald has not nearly so much X in it, seriously.

Claremont/Lopresti. It's an essentially solid team, working at their own pace. Which is what fandom has a problem with; the slow pace. In eight issues, we've dealt with about...oh, three, four days time, if that? Which really skews the timeline compared to the other X-books. Some new characters are introduced in the space of two issues, but it's 8 which shines a bit more than 7, and I think I'm starting to get it. This isn't a 'hero team' book per se; the whole premise is Xavier going off to Genosha, and rebuilding it from the beginning. In 8, we get a lot more answers on some very simple things: how many mutants survived the Sentinel's attack on the island, how they're going to eat, is communication with the outside world possible, where can help be found (if it can), police efforts...

And it has to suddenly cross over with Disassembled, which seems tacked on at the end. I have the impression Bendis wrote Magneto into the Avengers, and Claremont had to suddenly write it in, because it does seem rushed.

I want to see where this goes, really. Some people were saying last week 'It's not Astonishing.' Well, of course it isn't: they're two different books about two different things, each having their own merits.


Okay, that's the first batch. I will get to the others today, and try and hammer out as much as I can.

I need to get back into the practice of reviews. Legion of Superheroes comes out tomorrow. (Kyle readies his chainsaw). Have to be ready for it.

Comments

[iceraver.livejournal.com]

I'm waiting for LEgion, myself. Sheesh....

As for Sammy, I'm in agreeance. He was a groovy guy, really. Just a kid with an idol in Juggernaut. And then he gets killed. He had no reason to die, other than being a kid. I've seen people cheering and it irritates me. If it was Angel... not Angel-Red (Josh/Jay)... Not Angel-Blue (Warren)... but Angel-Bitch, I could understand the cheering and hatred. But Sammy was really a sweet kid.

Re: Roberto - I'm hoping they're not using him and duping him again. That's never been done in the comics before. No. Really. It hasn't. *rolls eyes* But, I do have to say one thing about the other characters in the storyline... Rachel and Emma's dresses were amazing. I adore those. I think that the Rachel Apper that's planning for SMU is going to be giving her that gown for an occasional thing. It was, indeed, pretty.

X-Force - Total agreement.

Flash - My biggest problem with the 'rogues' was a line that they had Piper saying. "Can we use lethal force?" or something along those lines. Piper has NEVER been a killer. In all the years he's been in the comics, he's never been bloodthirsty. He does his job and that's it. Even when his lover was threatened, all he did was knock the opponent out. Sheesh.