2004-12-08
Capsule Comic Reviews - 12/08
By: Harold Bloomfield
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Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa | ||
Between this series and Nightcrawler it has become clear that Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has a taste for the creepy and macabre. This series has featured strange disappearances in deep dark woods and countless images of horror brought forth on New York City by Psycho Man. Now we get the theft of eyes of a young woman and endless failed transplant attempts. You know what, it works. This is definitely one of the strongest issues of this book. It helps that things have been reset from the ludicrous handling of the FF goes broke story line and a few pages are used here to clean up loose ends from that fiasco. The Puppet Master thinks he has found a way to restore the sight of his step daughter, Alicia Masters. It soon becomes obvious where this is headed but it is a good read nonetheless. Aguirre-Sacasa clearly favors the character of Sue Richards and he sets this one up to be practically a solo adventure. He also renders the Puppet Master as fairly threatening which is an accomplishment. The art by Jim Muniz is very uneven. Some pages are marred by annoying lines on faces that make the subjects border on the grotesque while the pages over the last third of the book are much stronger and closer to the style Steve McNiven established for this book. While Aguirre-Sacasa goes about portraying Sue as a strong, intelligent, grounded character, cover artist Frank Cho show us that along with all that Suzie got back.
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Writer: Shane McCarthy | ||
Batman continuity is all over the place these days. Both this book and Detective Comics contain major stories that occur prior to War Games which says a lot about that bloated crossover. This one picks up threads from the original Hush arc, particularly the Riddler’s failure to gain respect from his criminal peers even after masterminding that torment of Batman. Well after a humiliating confrontation with Poison Ivy in a Detective Comics back story the Riddler is back with a complete make over that makes him look like a over age reject from Duran Duran or the Cure. This issue is hamstrung by a lack of an attempt, either through a summary page or writer McCarthy working it in the story, to inform the reader of what happened last issue. Without such information this is a tough read. Who is the woman being menaced in the abandoned warehouse? Exactly what is Batman doing on the opening page and why? The flashback to Riddler and Harris has no context. Go back and read the prior issue and it's fine. Then you can enjoy the exciting finish to this one and appreciate the new-found effectiveness of Tommy Castillo’s art. If you can’t read last issue this is close to a hopeless muddle. Finally, why is the fact that the Riddler knows Batman’s secret identity a non-factor for all involved just because Batman threatened him about it? I don’t think so. C+ (B when combined with last issue)
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Writer: Bruce Jones | ||
I don’t know what to say about this anymore. Previous issues retold specific Hulk Thing meetings from classic very early issues of the FF. Around the flashbacks were meaningless tussles and some dialogue that strove to be clever. This issue recounts a clash between the two that I can’t place which may be more my fault than Jones. But I can fault him for four meaningless issues. He tries to find a plot here by coming up with an excuse for the Thing to have sought out the Hulk in the first place and then uses that excuse for a few action scenes intertwined with the usual misunderstanding that pits heroes against each other. Jae Lee’s rendition of the Thing has grown closer to the peeks of the upcoming movie rendition with each issue, but his unique take on these characters is not enough to sustain four issues alone. Jones lost his way over the last year or so of his tenure on the Hulk and these four issues make for a sad swan song.
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Writer: Dan Slott | ||
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For the last two or three years Marvel has gone for the iconic cover over one that reflects the story inside. However this cover doesn’t lie. This is a book about Titania, not She-Hulk and since Dan Slott has made She-Hulk such an attractive and entertaining character her absence and that of the law firm setting can’t help but be a disappointment. This is essentially a detailed origin of Titania who as a regular person had it much worse than even Peter Parker. She worships super heroes and thought that her life would be perfect if she had super powers. Things turn out as a classic case of be careful what you wish for you might get it. Her story is told by a Watcher to a being searching for the person in the entire universe who hates She-Hulk the most. Slott goes a long way to show us that Titania blames her disappointment in her life as a super powered being on She-Hulk. It’s a well told story with the usual strong pencils by Paul Pelletier. It handles Titania’s roots in Secret Wars, a contrived and convoluted part of Marvel history, with surprising ease but it’s all a set up for next issue and takes the book away from the things it does best. I’m still looking forward to next issue when the regular characters hopefully become the focus again.
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