2005-01-19
Capsule Comic Reviews - 1/19
By: Harold Bloomfield
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Writer: Gail Simone | ||
This may be the weakest issue of this series since Gail Simone took the reins. It doesn’t help that the art by fill-in penciller Tom Derenick is rushed and inadequate. The design of the villain leaves a lot to be desired and the plot is wraps up way too quickly and is a little too pat. Oh there are still moments that resonate like the developing teamwork between Huntress and Canary and Canary’s final assault on Harvest but the overall package falls well short of Simone and Company’s usual excellence.
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Writer: Brian Michael Bendis | ||
I commented that last issue was a perfect example of what people find frustrating about the Bendis style of storytelling. Well if you found that issue frustrating you’ll be pulling your hair out with this one. Much of the issue is taken up by talks between first Matt Murdock and then Daredevil and the FBI agent who has inherited White Tiger’s jewel. Flashbacks make up the rest showing White Tiger’s entrance onto the super hero scene and filling in the blanks about how Bont’s revenge plan came together. This is the kind of thing that you wouldn’t think twice about as twenty two pages of a trade paperback but seems almost besides the point as a single issue. The Murdock Del Toro talks get somewhat tedious and years ago Bont’s learning of Daredevil’s identity and obtaining the mutant growth hormone drug would have been taken care of by a couple of panels or a few lines of dialogue. All said the flashback pages that ape the 60’s style remain cool and as I also said in my comments about last issue I’ve grown to appreciate the style (or formula) that Bendis has developed on this book.
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Writer: Mark Millar | ||
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This limited series comes to an overly talky disappointing conclusion. Wesley Gibson’s father, the original Killer has returned and proceeds to reveal all. Unfortunately, all is none to interesting. The story of the Killer and Wesley’s mother is not the least bit compelling and to top it off the Killer’s plot to bring Wesley into his world is preposterous even for the fantastic world of super heroes. This issue also marks the return of the mean and nasty tone of earlier issues as we are reminded that given a chance to obtain super status Wesley choose to revel in raping, pillaging and murder. Here he feigns regret only as a joke. Of course villains, when written well, very often are much more interesting and complex than your typical boring good guy but the most Millar can offer is out of control indiscriminate adolescence rage which is the super powered equivalent of setting flies on fire with a magnifying glass.
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Writer: Mark Millar | ||
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I liked this issue a little more than what’s come before but I still don’t see it as much more than a gimmick laden mini series. Millar makes good use of the Daredevil appearance and a fight that would seem like a mismatch comes off very well. Millar shows us Wolverine’s turmoil through the interesting technique of internal dialogue. He also brings up telling comments about Daredevil’s loner status and relationship to more powerful heroes but mars the effect by having Wolverine express frustration over his own lack of nooky and jealousy over Murdock’s prowess with women by having him childishly claim that Murdock is neither smart or good looking. The joint Hydra Hand plot deepens and actually lends some credence to Daredevil’s appearance here and the large amount of time devoted to Elektra. Still the whole thing smacks of one big excuse to have super heroes fight each other and although the focus moves a little closer back to Wolverine he still feels like a guest in his own book. By putting this last I don’t mean it as an after thought but the art by Romita, Jr. and Janson is definitely the highlight here.
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Writer: Peter Milligan | ||
Those waiting for Peter Milligan to bring his unique sensibility to this book will be sorely disappointed by this issue. This is a typical X-book without the sense of style and humor Milligan has brought to other projects. He also must have figured that he wouldn’t be attracting any new readers since he makes no attempt to identify any of the characters nor clue us in on their relationships. Since I’m not up on the current line up of this book or who’s doing what with whom I’m sure some of the interplay was lost on me. Additionally if I didn’t know Salvador Larroca did the art I would never have guessed. His unique style is lost amid page after page of washed out colors and inking that fails to provide strong lines. Even pages featuring action and fire that should be full of bold colors are tepid. The plot is mildly interesting but moments like Emma Frost appearing on the scene seemingly minutes after she was thousands of miles away undercut the proceedings.
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