2005-03-02
Capsule Comic Reviews - 3/2
By: Harold Bloomfield
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Writer: David Lapham | ||
This is the fourth part of “City of Crime” and as with last issue this one loses some of the momentum built up by the previous issues. This is still high quality stuff but the slight degradation of the last two issues is troubling. A strong opening features one of Gotham’s outstanding citizens killing his wife and then when thwarted by Robin from killing his infant child, hurling himself out a penthouse window. Further creepiness ensues with a literally chilling scene in a meat packing plant, bizarre attitudes of parents at their child’s funeral and a visit to Arkham Asylum. Things unravel after Batman receives a ticker tape clue and then miraculously shows up at the sight where thugs are ambushing Mr. Freeze. This is the sequence that really brings things down, from Batman’s unexplained arrival to Mr. Freeze somehow emerging from a hale of gunfire unscathed only to be felled by a sniper’s single bullet. Throw in confusing staging by Ramon Bachs (who by the way does one of the worst Bruce Wayne’s ever) and you’ve got a climax unworthy of what’s come before. Next issue needs to reverse the ever so slight downward trend of this arc.
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Writer: Brian Michael Bendis | ||
A few arcs back Brian Michael Bendis coyly named the issue where Peter Parker and Wolverine switched bodies “Jump the Shark” after the term used to signify when a once fine television series featured a storyline so absurd that the show never recovered. Well in hindsight it seems that the death of Gwen Stacy may have been such a moment for this series. While what followed was enjoyable at times the sense of wonder and growth that has been the trademark of this title has all but disappeared. Add to that that if I never read anything featuring Norman Osborn or a goblin of any kind again it won’t be too soon and my opinion that the Ultimate version of the Goblin has been one of the few flat out failures of this series and you can see how this storyline featuring the return of Harry Osborn doesn’t appeal to me at all. And finally consider that one of the very best parts of this series is the depiction of Peter and Mary Jane and that they barely make a cameo here and you have one of my least favorites issues so far.
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Writer: Akira Yoshida | ||
If you had any doubts about writer Akira Yoshida’s ability to assimilate current super hero writing styles, this issue is proof that he’s mastered the presently in vogue decompressed storytelling method. Three things are shown here, Storm, Sue and Johnny teaming to land a hurling space shuttle safely in the heart of New York City, Reed and Hank McCoy trying to reverse the cosmically generated mutation of some X-Men, and Ben Grimm and Scott Summers trying to subdue Wolverine who, after being bombarded with cosmic rays, can now stretch like Reed. Considering the Hank and Reed angle only takes two pages you can see how skimpy this is and even though the landing of the space shuttle is an exciting and well done sequence, it can’t carry the whole issue. Wolverine’s elasticity adds an interesting twist to his battle with the Thing but that marks the second time in four issues that Yoshida’s come up with an excuse for the heroes to fight each other. As I said in an earlier review there’s an intriguing FF-X-Men team up story waiting to be told, unfortunately this isn’t it.
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Writer: Andrew Dabb | ||
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Your enjoyment of this limited series (of which I did not read the first two issues) depends on a few things. One is how deep your affection runs for the movies on which this is based and how much you care for any tweaking of that formula. While I enjoyed the movies I never thought of them as anything more than light disposable comedies, certainly nothing approaching classic status so a comics series based on the films really doesn’t excite me all that much. Feeling that way the decision to bring the stories to the present as if the movies took place now and not twenty years ago doesn’t bother me in the least. Finally licensing issues, I’m sure, prevents the characters from looking like the actors who portrayed them. All that said, here are my quick impressions: terrific artwork, some funny dialogue, but a run of the mill story. Too much of the humor is derived from Peter Venkman’s smart ass remarks. Remember the films got great mileage out of using the ghosts themselves as humorous devices. That’s sorely missing here as the ghosts are played straight as powerful menaces. Then there’s the plot that features an old friend driven mad after a failed scientific experiment. We’ve only seen that a few hundred times before and in fact are currently being subjected to a variation of it in “Amazing Spider-Man.” I’m sure if you love all things Ghostbusters that this will certainly satisfy your appetite but I’m afraid for the rest of us, as a series that has to stand on its own there’s not much that makes it stand out.
NOTE: “Ghostbusters: Legion” was released at an earlier date and was not part of this weeks’ new comics.
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