2004-11-21
Capsule Comic Reviews - 11/17
By: Harold Bloomfield
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Writer: Gail Simone | ||
The BoP, working from their new mobile base of operations, are on the trail of a new vigilante in a story that’s part stand alone and part the first of a new story arc. It’s a tribute to the strength of Gail Simone’s work on this series that this is maybe my least favorite issue of her run and pretty solid work at the same time. The climax is a little too pat for me and a little too predictable. Still Joe Prada and Ed Benes have fun with multiple costumes for the villain and Simone, as usual, provides the sharp dialogue and dead on characterization of the leads. DC needs to get Ed Benes back on the covers as there have been a number of issues now where the art inside is much better than what is on the cover.
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Writer: Kurt Busiek | ||
I indicated that last issue was the weakest of this revived series so far. Well its reign was short lived as this issue falters even more. During an attempted robbery Conan comes upon a corpse and is soon accused of murder by the guards who find him. What follows is page upon page of talking heads and not very interesting talking heads at that. The Chief Investigator tries to figure out what happened while the guards and Conan trade threats. By issues end it is obvious what has happened and for regular readers of sword and sorcery stories it’s a yawner. Artist Cary Nord does his usual good job but isn’t really called upon to do much here other than draw a huge bloated corpse. If this is the first issue you’ve picked up rest assured that what’s come before has been much much better.
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Writer: Brian Michael Bendis | ||
This reads much better if you haven’t been reading Secret War. If you have been reading that limited series large chunks of this is simply a rehash of events in that book. However, there are plenty of good things about this issue. First off Jessica Jones takes center stage which is exactly where she belongs. She’s hands down the best character introduced in the Marvel Universe in at least the last few years. Even though this PG version of her severely limits her vocabulary (and the deleted expletives border on the ridiculous by just pointing out what she used to be able to say) Bendis, her creator, knows how to write her well as he shows here. The best news is the addition of Brent Anderson on the art chores. He brings the book much closer to the Gaydos and Maleev style that the writing and characters demand. As good an artist as Mark Bagley is he was never a good match for this series. The scenes of Luke Cage in the ER, Jessica trying to cope and the climatic last few pages carry the day even for us Secret War readers who had a severe case of déjà vu.
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Writer: Dan Slott Art: | ||
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Speaking of déjà vu, this week’s theme is great books with not so great issues; as in Birds of Prey, Conan and this one. Like BoP this is still an enjoyable issue; it just doesn’t reach the heights of what’s come before. First the good: a great guest turn for Hercules that comes at his character from a slightly different direction which is the type of thing that makes this book so good. Then there’s She-Hulk’s altered condition from her bulking up of last issue which leads us to learn that Reed Richards knows a secret about her. Paul Pelletier returns to the book, this time as the regular artist, and he provides just the right combination of ease with both super heroics and the off beat tone of the proceedings. The not so good, for me, was Jennifer’s solution to Hercules’ legal problem. It felt forced and unconvincing enough to drag this down from the usual excellence.
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Writer: Jeph Loeb Art: | ||
Coming off the strongest arc of this series so far Jeph Loeb delivers an intriguing start to a new adventure. Be it Buffy or various incarnations of Star Trek some of the strongest and most well liked stories center around alternative universes or time strands. Of course the same device can lead to major clunkers and terrible plot inconsistencies and contrivances. But Loeb offers a strong first issue as seldom used secondary DC characters go back in time and alter the origins of Superman and Batman and raise them in a way that produces a change in history that leaves the heroes as the absolute rulers of America. Loeb has fun tweaking the mythology and offering different takes on Green Arrow, Lois Lane, Selina Kyle and Wonder Woman. Carlos Pacheco provides the pencils and shows why he is an artist of such renown. The only things here that give me pause are: 1) why recycle old, lesser characters when new ones would serve the same purpose and get away from the seemingly endless reuse of everyone who ever appeared in a comic and 2) speaking of characters the one introduced on the final page had me scratching my head. This isn’t going to be that corny, is it?
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(preview pages)
Writers: Jonathan & Joshua Luna | ||
Definitely the best book I read this week. With this issue this thoroughly enjoyable series comes into its own with the right mix of character development, cultural satire and, yes, the introduction of an actual plotline featuring a threat to the super heroes. The issue revolves around the aftermath of Ultra’s date with a regular, non-super powered guy. From their pillow talk to the appearance of his roommate to Pearl finally getting to talk to her girlfriends everything is just right. This issue also introduces the first conflict among the three main leads as well as the introduction of an actual villain and scheme against Pearl. All this plus a hilarious parody of Rolling Stone magazine that’s laugh out loud funny at times makes for a can’t miss issue. Ultra and the rest of Heroes, Inc. may be the perfect superheroes for the 21 Century. The Luna Brothers have dropped on the comic scene in a big way.
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