Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Sean Phillips

The creative team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips bring their noir sensibilities and mixing in a little bit of horror and fantasy with their newest project, Fatale. When Nicholas Lash meets a strange young woman at his godfather’s funeral, he finds his life taking some unexpected turns, and wonders if it has anything to do with a novel his godfather wrote three years before he was ever published.

Having never been a fan of Phillips artwork before, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it through out the book. There’s impressive amount of detail, and the overall composition in most of the pages helps to move the story along. It’s very evocative of pulp detective tales of the 40s and 50s. The art is especially effective when it comes to one particular scene, showcasing the mutilated bodies of a group of occultists. Not to mention an impressive splash page flashing back to World War II. The color work by Dave Stewart certainly helps to set the mood from one page to the next.

Storywise, Brubaker is all about the slow burn. We’re given just enough story to peak our interest, as we’re introduced to the beautiful Josephine, and Hank Raines, who’s looking to break a story on police corruption that might get both of them killed if he’s not careful. She warns him about Walter, a homicide detective she has a relationship with, the nature of that relationship still unclear. And despite his pregnant wife at home, Hank now finds himself inexplicably drawn to Josephine, and dead set on protecting her, should any danger cross her path.

The set up is all there for quite an intriguing series. It’ll be interesting to see what Brubaker and Phillips have in store for readers.

Verdict: B+

Say what you will about Marvel, but I still think the Ultimate line they created a decade ago was, and still is, one of the best ideas they’ve had in a good long while. For a time, it was interesting to see alternate versions of classic characters like Spider-Man, X-Men, and the Avengers. Creators like Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley, Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch, and others, took these characters and put them in an entirely different light. . . . . and the whole Ultimate Universe would eventually become a clusterfuck of monumental proportions. There were wholesale character assassinations in the streets (that is to say, a whole lotta people got killed just for the sake of getting killed!), books got restarted, Joe Mad returned to comics only to realize no one gave a rat’s ass about him after he bailed on Battle Chasers, the list goes on and on. But in spite of all that, Ultimate Spider-Man remained the standout; even at it’s most ridiculous and contrived, the book still managed to keep my attention. But will that continue to be the case now that Peter Parker isn’t Spider-Man?

The introduction of Miles Morales as the new Ultimate Spider-Man, following the death of Peter Parker, certainly sparked controversy. Reactions across the board were very telling as to how some people view minorities in comics and popular culture, and the mentalities of those people that are clearly still very dated and narrow-minded. I certainly saw it as a bold opportunity to do something different with Spider-Man in general, especially given the “everyman” mantle the fans have bestowed upon him from day one. The appeal of the character was that he COULD be anyone, and anyone could relate to him. And to that extent, I like Miles Morales. He’s not the nerdy pushover Peter Parker was before becoming Spider-Man, and I did enjoy that his introduction had a “pre-teen’s day out with the folks” vibe to it. He’s impatient, moody, easily embarrassed by his mother’s smothering him, etc. Miles has been entered into a charter school lottery, and it’s actually one of my favorite moments in the book, as there’s a sharp balance between the joy Miles’ parents are feeling when he’s picked, and his own reaction as he looks at all the other kids who didn’t get picked. He doesn’t know whether or not to be happy for himself, or feel bad for them. There’s an interesting theme of luck and fate, and the idea that for every fortunate person, there’s someone who has to suffer. Laying this groundwork is important, and Bendis understands this.

What holds the issue back, however, (besides Bendis’ misguided emphasis on the main character’s “blackness”; Miles being first in the family to go to a “good school”, his hoodlum uncle that his father insists he stay away from, his “uniform of da ‘hood”, circe 1996: over-sized jeans, Jordans, and a basketball jersey over a white tee) is that Miles essentially gets his spider-powers the exact same way Peter Parker did, as it’s revealed that a year prior to Peter Parker’s death, Norman Osborn had another batch of super-spiders engineered for the purpose of replicating Spider-Man’s powers. And once again, one of these spiders gets loose. You’d think they were splicing Harry Houdini’s DNA into these things, as many times as they escape containment! It’s just disappointing that with everything Bendis established in regards to Peter and his many spider-enhanced “offspring”, as it were, that he decided to rehash this.

Ultimate Spider-Man’s saving grace comes in the artwork of Sara Pichelli, who definitely captures the youthful essence of Miles, and gives him just a touch of sadness in the eyes for you to feel for the character, and inquire as to what his life must be like. It’s nice to see Bendis work with such an expressive artist, as his dialogue here doesn’t seem as abundant as most fans have probably grown accustomed to. He’s letting the artist tell as much of the story as possible, and with a book like this, it’s immensely important. Not that very much else happens in the issue, (as I’ve now resigned myself to the fact that #1′s no longer feel obligated to have much of anything go on) but I’m interested enough to see where the next few issues go.

Verdict: B-

Nothing says gritty quite like the opening pages of Detective Comics #1, which features a naked Joker stabbing the hell out of a man who purports himself to be one of his biggest fans, clearly evidenced by the fact that he’s wearing a mask made out of skin, ala Leatherface! It’s all delightfully gruesome, as we’re reintroduced to the Clown Prince of Crime, as well as the Caped Crusader.

What makes this issue work so well is that, unlike titles like Justice League, which will probably spent the next two or three issues introducing all the characters to one another in the most forced and contrived ways possible, all Detective Comics has to do is focus on establishing Batman, which is done rather efficiently. What we have here is a first issue where stuff actually happens. Even with the story arc destined to span multiple issue, it’s balanced with some sense of a beginning, middle, and end to the one issue. Batman is obsessed with catching the Joker, and it’s made quite clear that for one, cops don’t like him, and two, this is a Batman that seems to genuinely regret not having a normal life. Missing out on dating seems to genuinely affect him. There seems to be less focus on him putting on a billionaire playboy front, choosing to portray him as someone frustrated that he doesn’t have enough time to be Bruce Wayne and he really wants to be. It’s impressive how well Tony Daniel illustrates this without over-selling it. It’s played more as something for readers to merely keep in the back of their minds, while the main story is going on.

And part of the story is establishing Batman’s relationship with Commissioner Gordon. De-aged to his ginger state, Gordon is still a man who believes in what Batman is trying to do, but makes it clear that it’s a balancing act for him, having to play to the loyalties of his police force, as well as thinking about the Mayor’s political interests. Both characters are still trying to prove themselves to one another, and it’s an aspect of the book I’m very much looking forward to.

Art-wise, it’s amazing to see just how much Tony Daniel has evolved (and continues to evolve) as an artist. For someone I honestly believed would be little more than a poor man’s J. Scott Campbell (and this was even before coming out with his “poor man’s Danger Girl” title, F5!), he’s managed to truly come into his own in the past few years. It’s a more restrained style that doesn’t skimp on the detail, grit and grime, that perfectly fits Batman. To say nothing of nods to the art of Dave Mazzucchelli and Dark Knight Returns-era Frank Miller that are present, but never overbearing.

While I’m still on the fence regarding DC’s bold relaunch, I’m more than happy to support the good books that come as a result, and Detective Comics is leading the pack at the moment.

Verdict: A-

PICK OF THE WEEK:

Though not the most entertaining read of the week, the one that was the most powerful and memorable the most was Hickman’s elegant farewell to the fallen FF member. Fantastic Four #588 showed FF family and friends in their mourning, and my heart broke a bit for their anger and sadness. The book ended on a note of courage, when Spiderman explains to Franklin the duty of a hero to care for what he loves. The conversation was an echo of Uncle Ben’s “great power, great responsibility” speech, and made for one of those powerful, resonating scenes that make me glad that I read comics.

MUST READs:

DC’s best bet this week is Synder’s noir Batman, while Marvel offers up some choice bit with its Iron Man titles, and Age of X get a’rolling.

Detective Comics #874sets up the new arc involving the return of Commissioner Gordon’s criminally insane son. Synder write a really sympathetic Gordon, and Francavilla ’s soft, moody art suits the gravity of the story perfectly.

Invincible Iron Man #501 begins a new arc with Stark against a cankerous Dr. Octopus. Not much action took place thus far, but a dude rebuilding Broxton/Asgard—and rebuilding it green—is worth reading about even when not punching out supervillians. While Stark’s gone all small-business in the main Iron Man title, Iron Man 2.0 #1 features War Machine as the Iron Man in the system. Hats off to Spencer’s promising Marvel debut, with its engaging premise (tech and the military) and a suspenseful plot about undead rogue technology.

This week, Carey kicks off his gloomy alternative future where mutants are being oppressed (surprise) to the point of near extinction with X-Men Legacy #245 and New Mutants #22. The story itself isn’t particularly radical, but it is fun to read re-imagining of classic heroes—particularly in the X-Universe where the cast is so diverse. I <3 Rogue as Legacy.

GOOD READs:

Gotham City Sirens #19 was a fun little read, quick and possibly a little forgettable. Really like Calloway’s comparisons of Catwoman and Batman’s relationship to that of Joker’s and Harley’s.

I dropped the Conan series a while back during Cimmerian, because all Conan stories are the same Conan story. That said, King Conan Scarlet Citadel #1 reminded me that a distinctive pleasure to be found in cheesy machismos. It is like going to Medieval Knights and eating chicken with your bare hands.

… AND DISAPPIONTMENTS:

The biggest disappointment was Cornell’s Action, which has declined steadily since its promising start. Now, Lex Luthor’s not that complicated, Larfleeze is not that complicated. Yet somehow, I had no idea what went on Action Comic #898… probably a whole lot of nothing?

Thor #620 is almost too epic to be interesting. Pascal’s art is beautiful and Fraction has greatly improved his God-Speak, but this issue has no story. It was just Odin with his crazy-man beard, doing gloriously violent battle for twenty pages, and.. FIN.

Morning Glories #7 focused on Jade, the cheerleader-princess-bitch, and once again, was all setup and no explanation. I did learn that Jade, the current issue’s focal point, is apparently Indian, and not Korean. Didn’t guess that from the art, all Asians must look the same to Eisma.

- – -

PCS WEEKLY PULL is fangirl Sirui reading comics and telling you want she thinks. She makes her list in Weekly Pull List and sums it up in Weekly Pull Scored. Shoot her an email if you got comments or suggestions.

In the case of the latter, having to follow-up the near-perfect comic-to-screen suit from Raimi’s films was an obvious hurdle to overcome, but it’s immediately recognizable as Spider-Man, with some subtle yet dynamic changes. And hey, it looks like he might even have mechanical web-shooters!!! So that right there is one thing some of y’all can’t bitch about like last time!!!

Writer: Fabien Wehlmann
Penciler: Sean Phillips

7 Psychopaths is a new series from BOOM! Studios set in London during the WWII. The British military thinks assassinating Hitler is either nearly impossible or would only serve to make him a martyr. Imprisoned religious history professor Joshua Goldschmidt has a different idea. He believes Hitler is the focus of the Nazi movement and his death would cripple the Nazis. To kill Hitler, he proposes that seven psychopaths are parachuted into Germany to carry out the assassination.

Working without official sanction to keep Nazi high command from getting wind of the plan, Schmidt and Colonel Thompson, a laughingstock of the military looking for respect, begin to put a team together. As seven is a recurring number in religious texts as a symbol of total victory, Schmidt believes it will have to be seven people (himself included) in total to achieve his plan and they need to be disturbed enough to be unpredictable to plan for. They begin by gathering a former member of the SS who thinks Hitler speaks to him telepathically, a suicidal pilot with rage blackouts and a compulsive liar/ con artist.

First off, Sean Phillips’ art style blends well with the story’s real world setting. He gives people realistic forms, but can pull off dynamic scenes. Wehlmann’s story immediately brings to mind Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, but with the mandatory minimum eight WWII-related games or movies that come out per year, any quick comparisons need to be thrown out. These aren’t soldiers looking for revenge. They’re mentally disturbed individuals being brought together to achieve the impossible. Considering the people around brought aboard, I’m eager to learn not only how the last candidates are afflicted, but how this plan can possibly succeed with such unstable personalities.

Rating: B+ Off to a great start and has the potential to be an excellent series.

Writer: Jeff Parker
Penciler: Humberto Ramos

Oh, boy. This is a doozy, even by Marvel standards. Backstory: a group of the smartest villains in Marvel have teamed up as the Intelligencia in a bid for world domination. The plan includes utilizing the brainpower of the smartest heroes (and Doom) to power their machines and making an army of mind-controlled Hulks from their soldiers and other, dumber heroes. Somehow it was necessary to create Red Hulk, who punches out cosmic beings, but is threatened by X-Force. Anyway, their plan is succeeding, and they hulk-up their army and the heroes who attacked their Hellcarrier. One of the heroes onboard: Deadpool, the justification for a 2-part, $8, and plot unrelated mini-series.

Hulkpool (seriously Marvel, you need to stop right now) decides he has to kill Deadpool because he’s the reason Hulkpool is the way he is. The ever on-hand Bob, Agent of Hydra (now A.I.M.) is going to help his buddy accomplish his mission, even though it’s completely insane. Using the time platform left for Thundra, Bob sends Hulkpool back in time since Deadpool would be impossible to find. Hulkpool comes across Thing in his Thingbeard the pirate adventure causing Ben to not return to his own time. Next he’s transported to WWII where he saves both Cap and Bucky from Baron Zemo’s missile. In fact, Hulkpool interrupts many of Marvel’s most historical moments. But no worries, JJ Abrams has the answer for this problem.

I’m conflicted about this mini. On one hand, it’s hilarious. Parker keeps the ridiculousness of the material ramped up. Considering the lead character, it was the only way to make this story work. Also, Humberto Ramos puts in some slick visuals. The action is dynamic and he is good at putting in sight gags without putting too much attention on them. On the other, this is supposed to be a tie-in to the FALL OF THE HULKS/ WORLD WAR HULKS storyline and it’s really not. The only connection is Deadpool being Hulked-up with no bearing on the Intelligencia’s plan or Banner and (ugh) Rulk’s counter. It’s just a way to draw attention to the storyline with Marvel’s newest cash cow.

Rating: B Don’t read this if you’re dying to know how it affects the Hulk storyline. Do read this if you’re a fan of Deadpool or Deadpool Team-up.

Writer: Ralph Tedesco
Penciler: Rearte

I honestly don’t know where to start. This series is the latest in a line dealing with sisters Mercy and Grace, whose parents were killed by an assassin. Mercy grew up to be a contract killer in a bellyshirt, who killed herself rather than kill the assassin’s daughter. The backstory is necessary since there’s also a woman named Sela Mathers, who “has the power to help people choose the correct path in life,” who sent Mercy back in time to undo killing that assassin’s daughter.

When we meet Grace, she’s suffering from amnesia from a car accident six months ago. She has bad luck as evidenced by her purse being knocked over and her cellphone stepped on. Despite never recovering her memory, she has a job as an insurance sales associate and a boyfriend of some time. The problem is that her boss is threatening to fire her if she doesn’t sleep with him and her boyfriend is an alcoholic who doesn’t take backtalk. Add to the fact that her therapist is making her take medication for hallucinations, and you can see why you would think she’s cursed.

Things get weird when, while riding the subway, she sees a passenger with a demon face and a blind guy tells her she needs to open her eyes, and that “they” would be coming for her. Immediately upon leaving the subway, she’s set upon by rapists. She arm drags one to the ground and scratches his face when he lunges for her again, making the reader wonder where was this Grace when she was getting felt up by her boss and smacked around by her boyfriend. The other rapist (they’re apparently twins since they’re drawn exactly alike) knocks her to the ground, and before he can get to work a gray-haired woman in a purple business suit shows up with a gun to scare them off. She’s the Sela who helped Mercy shoot herself in the previous mini, and she’s here to help(?) Grace.

I don’t think words can express how much regret I feel after reading this…whatever this is. It was like a Lifetime movie with big boobs. How does an amnesiac get a job and abusive boyfriend in six months? She couldn’t remember anything from before her accident. Who takes that as an acceptable work history? Her boss already knew about her medical bills. And wouldn’t that amnesia be a pre-existing condition? Ugh. Being cryptic in the beginning can be forgiven if it was so unoriginal. And the backstory! The only way for Mercy to stop herself was suicide? What about the time honored tradition of walking away? Just tragic writing. The art isn’t a complete waste, except for the fact that its being used to illustrate this mess. Grace seems to fall and pose seductively on purpose, making you wonder if maybe those rapists were just getting mixed signals. Because really, who gets sexually harassed, beaten by their boyfriend and attacked by rapists within 24 hours?

Rating: F Whoa Nelly, stay the hell away from this one.

Writters:  Mark Waid and Landry Walker
Artist: Marcio Takara

Man did I like this comic a lot.  This comic was fun and dope.  This issue was my first of BOOM! Studios’ Incredibles comic and they did make a fine impression on me. This comic felt very much like the film in terms of its wit and delivery. It also has that wholesomeness that really sold the concept of the family as a superteam. The plot of this issue is pretty simple; Elasti-Girl has to team up with Syndrome’s right hand girl to stop a recently resurfaced supervillain from her past.  The issue reads like a buddy cop movie since neither of them really likes the other for different reasons. The B-plot in this comic is Mr. Incredible dealing with the kids by getting Violet a job and having Dash go with him and Frozone on patrol to learn how to be a superhero. Those moments were really funny to me since it had this feeling of a good sitcom where the Dad is trying hard, yet failing to a certain degree with interacting with his children.

Marcio Takara’s art in this is really good. His figures stand out and emote well. None of the characters look off model.  The storytelling is done well enough so that the visual jokes pop like they are supposed to. The backgrounds, while not detailed, serve well to let you know a setting, which I must say for my tastes is all I really need. This comic is good if you want an entertaining super hero comic that doesn’t have anyone getting ripped in half, turned to salt, or an arrow in the dome. This comic is perfect to give to a kid, and have them experience some fine comic book fun.

Rating: B

Writer: Grant Morrison
Artists: Andy Clarke, Dustin Nguyen, and Scott Hanna

OH MY!

Read that in George Takei’s voice please.

That was this comic book this week my friends. Flyer than the rest of them. Like Bishop Don Magic Juan walking out of his green and gold Cadillac to enter the players ball. In 12 issues, Grant Morrison has crafted a Batman comic for the 21^st century. It’s full of new dynamics, new villains, and new settings. So I guess its recap time; We return to our Dynamic duo as Robin, who being controlled Slade by what I call his WiiRobin machine, created by Talia (Robin’s mommy dearest), is attacking Batman.  Batman being Batman figures out a quick way to take out Slade and save his partner.  The next part of the book, where Batman and Robin go to confront Talia and Slade, is one of the best parts of the series.  The scene in which Robin talks to his mother about her actions and disapproval of the life he choose is great, and really brings full circle what Morrison started with his first Batman arc, Batman & Son. He’s taken a kid that you weren’t supposed to like at all and humbled him, humanized him so now you really like Damian. Damian, like all Robins, has in his own way lost a parent. He hopes to be a worthy opponent for his mother since she basically disowns him for following the “circus boy” aka Dick Grayson into, for Damian, what is also the family business as much as assassination and evil-dom, crime fighting in a cape and mask. Andy Clarke shines in this scene as he perfectly shows how gosh darn crazy Talia is. She’s like the worst mother ever.

My other favorite scene is where Batman confronts Slade in a hospital bed after getting beaten thoroughly earlier. It’s interesting that he’s never referred to as Deathstroke in this comic. For me this calls back to the way Robin and Slade were depicted in the Teen Titans cartoons as being archenemies. Like Robin’s Joker. Now in that show, it’s never said that Robin is Dick, but it’s alluded to a lot. And I think Morrison is alluding to this cartoon in this issue.  It’s perfect how it alludes to the past 5 of so years of their fights and comes down to “I can drop you like bad habit at any time, old man”.

The last part of this book deals with the reveal of the Domino Killer and the return of a character to the book that isn’t Bruce Wayne, but just as important.  It was such a nice way to reveal something we’ve been seeing since the first arc.  Dustin Nguyen and Scott Hanna does a great job of keeping a consistent look to the comic with Andy Clarke only able to do 12 pages of pencils. I didn’t even notice it until someone brought it up to me.  The colors are a little bright for me at spots but not enough to take me out of this fine story.

So in the end why should you read this comic? I’ll tell you-Bat Electro knuckles punching ninjas in the face.

IN. THE. FACE.

Rating: S rank (higher than A)

Writer: Mark Millar
Penciler: Leinil Francis Yu

Full disclosure: I swore off the ULTIMATE line right before Ultimatum because, let’s face it, any universe under the direction of Jeph Loeb just cannot be enjoyable. However, I’ve heard from a few friends that Millar’s Ultimate Avengers was a solid book so I decided to check out the new series. Going in, I prepared myself for anything Millar could throw at me. I’ve read Kick-Ass and The Ultimates, but he also wrote JLA #27, which made me appreciate the Atom.

UA2 opens with the reintroduction of Ultimate Punisher Frank Castle, a cop whose swore to punish organized crime for the death of his family. He dishes out 12 panels of destruction before any dialogue, and then treats us to a 2 page spread of maneuver #5 from How to Kill with a Shotgun. Punisher is dismantling a Russian crime syndicate from the bottom up and is planning a hit on the boss who is coming to America. Castle has been very successful killing everyone from lieutenants to drivers so the boss arranges a summit.

After torturing a tweaker for info, Castle tries to execute the Russian before the summit only to find the business end of Captain America’s fists. Cap and SHIELD arrested the mob boss earlier and set up a sting to trap Castle. While in custody, we get to the point of the series as Nick Fury recruits him to join his Avengers team. They do the job people with morals like Cap refuse.

Reading this book, I’m reminded of what Millar is best at, ULTIMATE-wise: making every character into a complete douchebag. Regular continuity Punisher has strict rules he imposes on himself, only going after murderers, rapists and assorted dangerous people. Ultimate Punisher kills a driver he knew had nothing to do with the Russian mob business. If there is anything remotely noble about the mainstream version of a character, Millar excises it from his Ultimate iterations, leaving readers with these uber-flawed people who only fight on the side of good because it’s legal.

To be as objective as possible, there’s nothing terrible about the story in terms of flow or presentation. Yu is a vet now and if you liked his previous work on New Avengers and Silent Dragon, you’ll enjoy the fine work he put in here. It’s not till the end that I was truly baffled because the next member of the team not only has tattoos similar to the mob boss, but his identity doesn’t match up to Ultimate history. At least, the way Nick Fury tells it.

RATING: D+ because Mark Millar is a douche + bag.

Writer: Brian Clevinger
Penciler: Scott Wegener

Atomic Robo and the Revenge of the Vampire Dimension is the fourth volume of the series starring the first artificially intelligent, atomically powered robot created by Nikola Tesla. Each mini-series is a contained story in the decades-long and adventure-filled life of Atomic Robo, who eventually becomes the head of Tesladyne, an advanced research firm. The stories have that pulp adventure feel to them. Robo fights enemies ranging from the conventional to the weird with a mix of wise-cracking, super science and his servo-controlled fists.

Issue 1 of this series actually had Robo fighting off an intrusion of extra-dimensional vampires, their defeat being the result of the use of an experimental laser. This issue has Robo visiting Dr. Yumeno of Big Science Incorporated in Japan. He needs the doctor’s help to find out why that laser wasn’t operating the way it should. No sooner than he’s introduced to Yumeno’s Science Team Super Five, Tokyo Bay is attacked by what looks like Putties from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. We are then treated to STS5 going through the major Super Sentai tropes as they face a threat from Yumeno’s past. But will Atomic Robo ever get someone to help with his laser?

Atomic Robo is great looking for something just plain fun to read. It’s not dumbed down or takes itself too seriously. Wegener’s art has an animated style like a blend of 70’s manga and 80’s action cartoons. Clevinger’s adventures have seem straight-forward at first but there’s always an element to them you don’t expect. Just something funny, ingenious or downright bad-ass that enhances the story and shows this not an average story. It’s like Hellboy with science instead of magic and a more upbeat feel. How can it not be when Atomic Robo teams up with the likes of H.P. Lovecraft, a Scottish commando, and Carl Sagan?

Rating: B+ While the premise may seem average, the execution is solid entertainment and worth the $3.50.

Here we go again.

So those not familiar with the first 4, Marvel Zombies 1 and 2 by Robert Kirkman dealt with the aftermath of the cosmically infected superhero zombies’ takeover of the parallel Earth shown in Mark Millar’s Ultimate Fantastic Four run. MZ 3, Van Lente’s takeover of the series, had a monster squad consisting by Morbius, Son of Satan, Werewolf by Night, Jennifer Kale and Man-Thing stopping the infection from spreading across the regular Earth and MZ 4 was about Machine Man trying to retrieve a sample from the Zombie Earth to help devise a cure. And now we have, Marvel Zombies 5, and it’s fair to say, zombies are a little tired.

For this mini-series, we see that the zombie infection is spreading across parallel Earths and a team is trying to collect multiple infected samples to help Morbius with his cure. In the first issue, we’re treated to a world at the tail end of the settlement of the West, where the gunslingers and outlaws have been mostly put down into Boot Hill and pioneering is giving way to industrialization.

Arno Stark, a producer of a popular Wild West show is meeting with Jacali Kane, the half-Apache daughter of the gunslinger Hurricane, now a boozed up shell of his former self. Hurricane wants nothing to do with being in a circus and put on display like the body of the Outlaw Kid, so Stark leaves quite angry. Not for long, because the Outlaw Kid is there to feed on Arno and the town is quickly overrun by guntoting zombie gunslingers. No fear, Hurricane is supernatural (literally) with guns and headshots work on these zombies as well. But they may be too much for the power of the Hurricane and I’ll let you find that out.

Van Lente (Action Philosophers, Incredible Hercules) gives what on the surface looks like a run of the mill zombie story. But it’s actually an origin story and Jacali Kane seems like an interesting new character. Also, Van Lente understands is that these highly visible mini-series are the perfect platform to show off underused Marvel characters. The Monster Squad I mentioned before, Machine Man, former Darkhawk support piece Portal, and Jocasta pre-Mighty Avengers, were all prominently placed in MZ 3 & 4 and in this series we get treated to that master zombie killer, Howard the Duck!

It’s these characters that bring out the beauty in what could have been complete dreck, like a B-movie starring actual actors. Kano’s art elevates this book, as well. He has a marvelous hand and the action pops off the page. His work on H-E-R-O and Action Comics stayed with me and I will instantly give anything he’s on half a thumb up.

RATING: A (It’s a robot and talking duck fighting zombies across the multiverse. This is why comics were INVENTED. Loses the “+” for having someone come back who was already shot in the head. That made no sense.)

Let me preface this review by saying that of every superhero comic book on the stands I think Batman & Robin is the best. Period. It has more ideas in 3 pages than most books have in a year. This issue begins with in a villa as we see a man with lashes on his back from a whipping. He also has the letter “W” on his back which he refers to as the “double you”. The Villa is being attacked though, like straight Bad Boys 2 DEA raid style. This guy who is wearing the same gear as the Black Hand peaces out in a helicopter. Then we go back to Stately Wayne Manor as Dick continues to discover new things in this secret area of the mansion while talking to Alfie. On the outside in the graveyard Robin and Oberon Sexton are accosted by some ruffians and proceed to give them a what for! (See you got to talk kind of classy when talking about Sexton, he’s that cool.) While scraping with the bad guys Robin notices something wrong with him. We see that his mother is controlling him like he’s Gerard Butler in that movie Gamer. Alfie tells Dick of the situation and He proceeds to get to the place of battle. But, on the way out he sees an upside down statue of bat demon named Barbatos. On the outside Robin and Sexton finish off the foes and Sexton proceeds to question the head guy and really just gets nothing but more clues dealing with the Domino killer. Robin talks to Sexton and then…POW! He hits Sexton upside the head with Sexton’s shovel and proceeds to beat up Dick with it as we see Robin’s hatin’ mother Talia laughing it up in the reveal that my man SLADE WILSON aka Deathstroke the Terminator is now controlling WiiRobin to kill his arch nemesis Dick Grayson, the new Batman.

What I liked about this issue from a writing standpoint is that it’s very concise and to the point. Morrison gets a ton of flak for writing “weird”, “for himself” or “Smarter”. Here, point A goes to point B then to C, yet staying within and moving the ongoing narrative of his Batman saga. He drops in all these nice little clues like all of the bad guys this issue are named after demons. Dick calls Alfred “Alfie” which is great because Michael Cane plays Alfred in the Nolan films and he also played a character “Alfie” in the 60s. Also, as unexpected as the Slade reveal is, it makes sense, because if Dick has a main bad guy its Slade.

Andy Clarke has been really surprising me with his work. I don’t read R.E.B.E.L.S. but I really enjoy his work in these past two issues of B&R. He paces out his panels smartly to move the action and not confuse the reader. His line is very smooth and not varying in weight. The inks in this by Scott Hanna are decent, nothing to glaring to me in either a bad or good way. The colors are fine but the texture on the grass I really don’t care for. I’m not a fan of the clouds either, sorry.

This is a good issue of Batman & Robin and while not as mind-blowing like some have been, it’s still better than most on the stands.

Rating: B

Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Becky Cloonan

Now, I can talk for hours about a comic that I think is awesome, or a comic that I think is some hot garbage. . . and I have. Since I was asked to review comics in a quasi-professional way, I thought I would branch out and review books I would not be inclined to read personally. I get to grow as a person and you get a motivated reviewer, since I’ll be expecting reimbursement for all these miscellaneous books, PCS. Ha ha. I’m only a third serious. Back to work. I decided to pick up Demo #3 from Vertigo/DC for two reasons; One, I heard from a lot of people who say that the series is excellent, and two, Becky Cloonan. She is a talented artist and it shows throughout this book. She shows amazing detail in her drawings without using too many lines. The facial expressions she makes are worthy of Kevin Maguire.

As a new reader to this series, I should have started with the first since it is a mini-series. Still, this story seems to be, if not a complete stand-alone, the beginning of a longer story. We meet Marlo, a cute young woman who seems to have a small issue with obsessive compulsive disorder that takes the form of Post-it notes she makes for herself. Some are little inspirational notes and others are tips on how to deal with the stress of her job and life. Most, though, are the daily instructions of her life: brush hair, grab keys, make sure you have your phone. She’s seeing a therapist for this who wants her to get to the root of her disorder, but Marlo has other plans. Constantly writing and leaving notes is troublesome, but the notes help her manage her life and give her a perk up, even though they are from herself. She’s content with them until she finds a note not written by her, but by someone interested in her. The notes say Marlo’s notes have attracted their writer’s attention and Marlo is stuck wondering if these new notes are from some stranger, from her therapist, or more frighteningly, from herself.

The brilliance of this story is in how much of it is told through the art. The conversations are sparse, giving the notes more prominence. You see the notes effect on Marlo from the smile they illicit while she’s frazzled at work, and the confusion they spark when she can’t tell who they’re from. It’s a great team when the writer lets the artist do much of the narrative. Brian Wood seems to realize that as a visual medium, comics don’t really need an overload of exposition. As a superhero fanboy who only occasionally branches out (Scott Pilgrim, Fables, Criminal),I was really taken with this comic. I was impressed with how much the story engaged me. On seeing the final page, I wanted to read more and that’s about the highest compliment I can give any series.

RATING: A (So far, so good)

Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Dustin Weaver

Hmmm, how does one explain S.H.I.E.L.D. #1. Well it is the beginning of story that shows that man can overcome any obstacle that threatens him. From tying in historical figures known for their intelligence into one long conspiracy of good to save us from any threat from the heavens. In short this isn’t your pappy’s Steranko Nick Fury and SHIELD book. In fact there is no Nick Fury. We meet in the first page a brand new character in the late 50’s called Leonid and how he’s taken into this whole new world under Rome. Now if you’ve been following Hickman’s FF you know he’s been playing with secret science cities on Earth. This is one whose purpose is to house S.H.I.E.L.D. the ancient order started in honor of Imhotep (yes the Egyptian guy) who stopped the very first Brood infestation with a Spear and Shield like golden Shaka Zulu (Yes I know He’s white in the comic but that is a coloring mistake). Also the classic symbol of the organization now has an origin. Leonid is offered to be in this brand new order because for some reason he is special. He’s all starry like Genis-vell. During the talk with whom I’ll call the “Council of Shield” we learn of past members of Shield in the past of civilization and their interactions with celestials, Galactus and his herald. They set up Leonardo Da Vinci as some kind of Renaissance Tony Stark. Later we are introduced to Leonid’s father the Night Machine. He gets no introduction, he just appear and gives his son a key. By the way the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent react we are led to believe he is a bad guy. The key leads Leonid to a discovery that who knows what will be. But that is the point. Leonid is the point of view character for us. He’s discovering more about S.H.I..E.L.D. as we are. The back of the book like most Hickman books has diagrams and charts to give you information on the ins and out that really just leaves you asking more questions to what this is all about.

Hickman here has crafted a very dense and concept rich comic book that I will say I’m not used to seeing from the House of Ideas. It’s kinda like if you mixed Morrison’s 7 Soldiers with Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with a side of Da Vinci Code in a Marvel comic candy coated shell. This book has my interest piqued; I’m down for this at least for now. Now I can’t talk about this book without talking about Dustin Weaver’s art. It’s very airy and clean. His line is smooth and crisp with a confidence I usually see mostly in European comics. Also a little Kaluta. He also uses gray wash very well in the book. See I bought the black and White variant. So I can’t really tell you how well the colorist did on the book. But I did like the lettering, for me it read old, like on parchment. And the setting captions were bold enough yet felt like if this was a show it type across the screen for a file. So Todd Klein gets another high five.

I’d tell anyone out there to buy this comic. I think it’s the most interesting new comic from Marvel since New X-Men and X-Force (Milligan and Allred version) debuted.

Rating: A

Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciler: Ivan Reis

Regarding Blackest Night #8, I could do some pretentious analysis of how Ivan Reis went with the art or how Geoff Johns’ script can become too dense, like the crowded action scenes, but that’s been done. Instead, since you’ve probably read the book by now, I want to talk about BLACKEST NIGHT’s place in the long history of DC crossovers.

For starters this is the culmination of Geoff Johns’ reboot of the Green Lantern mythos. From the beginning (GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH), Johns has been expanding on the theme of other Corps using emotional energy and working to bring Alan Moore’s GREEN LANTERN CORPS work into the present. It was Moore who originally made The Blackest Night into a catastrophic event coming to decimate the Corps, as opposed to just a line in the Green Lantern Oath. BLACKEST NIGHT effectively completes this saga, while keeping the Corps in play for future stories.

What BLACKEST NIGHT means overall is that Geoff Johns has given DC its most successful crossover and it had nothing to do with restructuring the entire DC Universe or his history. Marvel and DC released crossovers in 1984, with Marvel putting out SECRET WARS and DC putting out CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. SECRET WARS ended with Thing leaving the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man wearing a black suit. CRISIS ended with the entire DC multiverse being destroyed and replaced by a new universe of revamped or modified characters. While both Marvel and DC have been making crossovers since, only DC has been trying to remake the importance of their first crossover. With ZERO HOUR, they tried to clean up the history of the ten years since CRISIS and then with INFINITE CRISIS, they set up the series that would undo what CRISIS was created for.

Early on in the BLACKEST NIGHT, with the many deceased characters becoming Black Lanterns, I thought the series would end with all those characters getting a do-over, at least the majority of them. I think many people also assumed the conclusion would be that way, because past experience conditioned us to believe DC crossovers are game chargers. You can’t have a big event without some kind of cosmic change and this one seemed to be about bringing back old characters like Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, the main heroes of BLACKEST NIGHT. But Geoff Johns threw a curve. Characters came back, just not as many as people were expecting. Way less characters.

My friend Devon noted that with the characters that were resurrected, they were brought back as almost the purest form of themselves, not as they originally were. We get the return of the more popular form of a crime-fighting duo, not just the original guys. We get a villain back almost as an amalgam of himself and his replacement. In short, Johns gives DC viable characters, not just resurrection for the sake of nostalgia. More importantly, Johns gives DC readers a blockbuster crossover that makes change on a small scale. Characters came back, but the history behind the deaths aren’t wiped away and in only one case is a character brought back unaware of a large chunk of his history.

While FINAL CRISIS didn’t set any new universal standard, it also wasn’t the commercial BLACKEST NIGHT was. If DC takes notice, maybe these kinds of crossovers become the norm with the focus on telling an epic story, not correcting continuity.

Writer:       Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost
Penciler:      David Finch

Let me start off by making it known that I am not a fan of Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost as a team. You ever play a fighting game against someone who is really great with a specific character and they never play with anyone else? Have you ever played HeroClix with someone who builds his team around the same character? Yost and Kyle have one card in their deck and they play it all the time.

“MANY WILL BE WOUNDED. SEVERAL WILL DIE.” This is the tagline.

Anyway, X-MEN: SECOND COMING #1 is exactly how you want to start a crossover or storyline. Starting with the ruins of Xavier’s School, Cable and the first post-HOUSE OF M mutant Hope return to the present and boom, recap page lets you know the backstory of why these two are important and teleporting. After some foreboding emo-ness from Hope, the duo is promptly attacked by the creepy smiley-face armored soldiers of The Right. One of the seven or twenty anti-mutant groups, The Right was introduced in the first X-FACTOR series and haven’t been seen since Claremont left that title.

Off the bat Y & K get right into what this story is about: Hope. Her birth gives (yeah, that’s right) hope to the remaining mutants who are dealing with the deaths of three mutants, killed in the last Yost & Kyle crossover. See what I mean? These two have been racking up a mutant bodycount higher than the Marauders’. Back to the emo-ness. Cyclops damages the walls of Utopia’s one shanty until he gets the news that Cable’s back and mobilizes teams to do stuff, but the main focus is on the team going to help Cable and the girl.

Pay special attention to the exchanges in this book, because if this crossover doesn’t end with Nightcrawler in a bodybag or the headmaster seat, Yost & Kyle are just horrible writers. Anyway, by the time the X-Men show up, Cable & Hope have taken out The Right soldiers, and are now being followed by members of The Sapien League. Fun fact: someone left their jeep at the ruins of Xavier’s because Cable & Hope managed to get away in one without taking out any of the Sapien League crowding the driveway. Don’t think about it too hard, because the X-Men show up for the best bit of highway violence not directed by Michael Bay. Stabbings and vans overturned, then uncomfortable interrogation practices lead the X-Men to learn of a threat from their past is back in play. I won’t spoil it, but since Yost & Kyle have seemed to focus on Nimrod, William Stryker, human anti-mutant militias and bringing back every old X-Men villain not currently part of the team, you can guess who it is. *cough*cough* He’s on the cover *cough*cough*

David Finch is awesome in this situation, presenting great action scenes without losing detail. He’s great with movement, positioning characters in a way to suggest a movement has been done or is about to happen, instead of having the Sapien Leaguers reacting to punches that haven’t been thrown or people seeming to stand still while fighting. Finch is the reason you read this book as the plot is predictable once you realize it’s mutants versus mutant haters backed by future sentinels, as written by guys who can’t go a month without killing someone or have someone crying about killing someone.

Rating: C (A-, if you like that old bull$#!t): Solid beginning but I can tell I won’t like where it leads.

Serenity: Those Left Behind

By Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, and Will Conrad
Dark Horse, 104 pp.

Serenity: Those Left Behind takes place shortly after the final episode of Firefly, “Objects in Space.” Inara has not left yet; while the ship is en route to her destination, they’re taking jobs along the way and though Mal proclaims this is necessary it’s Wash, who’s well acquainted with doing stupid things (like working a dangerous job when he could make a cushy living) to remain near the woman he loves, who realizes that he’s just trying to keep her around a while longer.

After one such job, a bank heist, goes poorly, the crew is offered another job by Badger: to retrieve a stash of cash left at the scene of one of the bloodiest battles in the war. Meanwhile, Dobson (the federal agent who appeared in the first episode of the series) is teaming up with the hands-of-blue fellows to track them down. It’s unclear whether Badger is in on this or not, but it all boils down to an ambush in a field of spaceship debris, no payoff, and Dobson’s death. Too, in the final page, we seem to be witnessing the moment that the Operative (from the feature film) receives the assignment to bring in River. Another important thing that happens here is that Book decides he needs to leave the ship. He’s an active participant in helping the crew escape at one point and later hits Mal, something that the Captain is ready to forgive but which Book is not.

For the most part, Will Conrad’s art is decent. In some panels, the characters don’t look much like the actors who played them—Simon and Inara fare pretty poorly in this respect—but Conrad is an absolute ace at close-ups. There’ll be a page, for example, with a vaguely Kaylee-looking person in a few panels and then, once you zoom into her face, it’s “Oh, now she looks like Jewel Staite!” This happens with Mal a few times, too, and there are also a few outstanding close-ups of River. Different artists have also contributed some color portraits of members of the crew. Again, Simon and Inara get the short end of the stick—are their actors just too pretty to be drawn easily or well?—while Book (drawn by Tim Bradstreet), Jayne (Brian Hitch), and Wash (Sean Phillips) look fabulous! Honorable mention goes to Jo Chen’s Kaylee who, while she doesn’t really look like Jewel Staite, is positively adorable.

All in all, while this isn’t as good or as fulfilling as an episode of the show, it’s really great to see all of these characters again and fill in a little background for where we see them in the movie.

Serenity: Better Days

By Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, and Will Conrad
Dark Horse, 80 pp.

While Serenity: Better Days is the second comic miniseries based on the TV show Firefly to be released, I am not sure whether its events take place chronologically after the end of the show or not. The one thing that would help establish its place in the timeline—Inara’s decision to depart the ship—is not mentioned at all, nor is any reference made to Shepherd Book’s wish to leave (first stated by him in Serenity: Those Left Behind). While the story works just fine without knowing when it happens, this still bugs me a little bit.

The plot of Better Days is extremely simple. For once, things go well and the crew of Serenity is suddenly rich. Several members share the way they plan to spend their money in scenes that nicely capture the warm, family-like times the crew occasionally shares. Meanwhile, the Alliance is looking for Mal (when are they not?), though this guy is special in that he’s one of Inara’s clients, and a builder whose drone Mal stole is out for revenge. I must admit that this peril did not interest me very much, though I’m used to looking past occasionally lame plots in Whedon shows in favor of character interaction. The best character goodness happens here between Inara and Mal, especially in their final scene together, though there’s also some nice continuity between Wash and Zoe as well as an intriguing tidbit regarding Inara and Simon.

Will Conrad is back as the artist for this miniseries, and seems to have a little better feel for the characters now. The likenesses are more consistent and Inara is vastly improved, finally meriting some impressively realistic close-ups of her own. Although a new cover was created for this trade paperback, the original covers of the three comic issues—forming a triptych that depicts the crew lounging atop sacks of money—are reproduced within.

I have now read all of the Firefly-inspired comics currently in existence and enjoyed them a good bit. Any time Dark Horse would like to make more, I’ll be happy to give them my money.

Serenity: Those Left Behind and Serenity: Better Days are available now.