52 #11 (DC Comics) Some new character named Batwoman debuts. Maybe you’ve heard of her? Plus, scouring the labels on the boxes in the back of the Question’s Questionmobile, I’m glad to see someone is looking into the election in Ohio in ’04. Come visit us after you bust Intergang, huh Vic?
Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #43 (DC) How do you know when a late-shipping book is too late? When a reader can’t really remember what was happening when he last read the book, and half the characters seem unrecognizable. Otherwise, I have no complaints about Kurt Busiek and Butch Guice’s new take on Aquaman, even though they’ve gone and replaced my favorite DC character (I don’t know why, so don’t ask) with a younger, newer version. Confidential to Guice: Draw faster!
Civil War #3 (Marvel Comics) Wow. For two issues in a row, Marvel has ended their crossover event with a panel that will blow their fans’ minds right out of their skulls. It’s not quite as big as Spider-Man unmasking, of course, but it’s definitely the biggest "Holy @#$%!" moment in mainstream comics since then.
Civil War: X-Men #1 (Marvel) I promised myself I wasn’t going to buy this, but my growing excitement over Marvel’s Civil War (coupled with the fact that I’d just slogged through Jim Lee’s first seven issues on X-Men on Monday) compelled me. And I regret it. It’s not a terrible read, and I imagine X-Men fans will enjoy it, but it is so tied into recent X-Men continuity (Heavily referencing House of M and at least two “Decimation” spin-off series) that it’s a pretty daunting read for the uninitiated. In fact, it’s the first time I’ve actually read the first-page summary of past events that leads off almost every Marvel book these days. The story, by David Hine, deals with the X-Men’s stand on the Superhero Registration Act, which Millar dealt with quite elegantly in a few panels of Civil War this week. Hine doesn’t really add anything to that position, just details. Two members of the old X-Force rescue “the 198” from their semi-captivity at the Xavier school, and Tony “Iron Man” Stark recruits Bishop and an all-mutant team to hunt them down. Meanwhile, the four original male X-Men suit up in their Grant Morrison/Frank Quitely-era costumes to try and beat Bishop to the punch. If those last two sentences meant nothing to you, neither will this story. Penciller Yanick Paquette’s art is always a welcome treat, however, even if he can’t draw Beast to save his life.
Conan #30 (Dark Horse Comics) Yeah, I know it was just 22 pages of a man in a loincloth fighting a giant monster frog, but, on the other hand, it was 22 pages of a man in a loincloth fighting a giant monster frog!
Elephantmen #1 (Image Comics) Easily the best comic book about a mutant elephant/man hybrid killing machine adjusting to civilian life and soberly coping with some hardcore PTS flashbacks released this week.
Eternals #2 (Marvel) Two strange men continue to try and kill the very-hard-to-kill “Ike Harris” in a variety of creative ways, while “Mark Curry” and “Sersi” meet and bring something…interesting out of one another. No complaints about this plot-heavy story by Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr. so far, other than the fact that Rick Berry’s painted covers seem out of place. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer Romita Jr.’s art on the cover of a book with Romita Jr. interiors.
Justice League of America #0 (DC) Novelist Brad Meltzer begins his tenure as the monthly writer for the relaunched JLA, nonsensically renamed without explanation “Justice League of America”, with this special zero issue. The story jumps back and forth between a retconned past (Wonder Woman is once again a founder of the League, contrary to the past 20 years of JLA and Wonder Woman stories) and a possible future to show us how the three are best friends, how the past was changed in Infinite Crisis and what could be coming in the near future. Other than broad, problems integral to any story working with this new continuity (which are editorial problems, really), Meltzer does a fairly strong job, giving each of DC’s “Trinity” members a shot at first-person narration, which checking in on them throughout certain period’s of League history (the Detroit years, the JLI years, “Tower of Babel”). The real pleasure of the book is the unparalleled art team though: George Perez, Rags Morales, Kevin Maguire, Dan Jurgens, Jim Lee, Howard Porter, Phil Jimenez, Ed Benes and others not known for their work on the League.
Public Enemy #1 ( American Mule Entertainment) Public Enemy front man Chuck D teams with artist Adam Wallenta to bring the noise in the first issue of Public Enemy: The Comic Book. Though Chuck D and his bandmates are the stars of the book, I’m pretty sure it’s not exactly autobiographical.
Robin #152 (DC) Despite the horrible way new writer Adam Beechen’s first story arc wrapped up—for anyone who’s read any issues of Batgirl and/or was aware of her existence, the arc didn’t just reveal Beechen’s horrible mishandling of her character, but of Batman’s and Robin’s as well—I thought I’d give he and artist Freddie Williams II one more issue. Why? The boomerang sticking out of Jack Drake’s grave on the cover. The meeting between Robin and Captain Boomerang Jr. (hey, I don’t name ‘em) has been long overdue. Unfortunately, it takes a really long time to get to their actual meeting, and the bulk of it seems to occur next issue, and I don’t think I’ll be wasting any more time or money on this creative team. Williams is a competent artist, and I know Beechen’s capable of good writing, but I really don’t understand his characterization of Batman and Robin in reaction to Cassandra “Batgirl” Cain at all. In this issue, the Dynamic Duo discusses her, and Batman seems so utterly blasé about the fact that one of his closest allies has gone over to the dark side (two, if you count Jason Todd, who’s still running around in the pages of Nightwing, but I try not to think about him at all) that he doesn’t resemble any Batman I’ve ever read about.
Runaways #18 (Marvel) I know it says “One of these Runaways is about to die” right there on the cover and everything, but I was still pretty shocked at the death. For a variety of reasons, I honestly thought the person who died in this issue was the last person Brian K. Vaughan would kill off. Of course, maybe that person’s not dead-dead. The title of the next story arc, after all, is “Dead Mean’s Dead,” which was what Marvel E.I.C. Joe Quesada famously said about death in the Marvel Universe…before they brought Colossus back from the dead. If it sticks, let’s talk more about this death later here, okay?
She-Hulk #9 (Marvel) Come for Shulkie’s wedding to Colonel John Jameson, stay for She-Hulk’s first dinner with her new father-in-law, J. Jonah Jameson. Writer Dan Slott gets Jameson’s reaction to Spidey’s unmasking over in Civil War #2 so right it’s beautiful, and the page of spit-takes reacting to the news of the eloping couple’s nuptials is equally awesome.
Snake Woman #1 (Virgin Comics) The second Virgin Comics title is the second comic book character created by film director Shekhar Kapur, but written by someone else (Zeb Wells). No matter—hard to decipher credits aside, the fantastic art work of Brian Michael Bendis’ old Alias partner Michae Gaydos makes this first issue really sing. It’s a very strong first issue and, unlike Devi #1, has me very much looking forward to the second one.
Strange Eggs Presents: The Boxing Bucket (Slave Labor Graphics) This 48-page anthology comic, edited by Chris Reilly and Ben Towle, is full of short, humorous stories about a bucket who wears boxing gloves and boxer’s shorts and, um, boxes a lot. If that synopsis doesn’t grab you, this probably isn’t the book for you—personally, I loved it. Some of the stories were weak, but the best of them were pretty funny and this is exactly the sort of subject matter—boxing buckets—that our medium should be tackling more often.
Superman/Batman #28 (DC) I knew this series’ regular artist, Ethan Van Sciver, was a good artist, based on his past work. But the true test of a great artist? He makes Silver Age Superman foe Titano look totally awesome. Little happens in this issue, the first from the brand new guaranteed-to-always-be-late creative team of Van Sciver and writer Mark Verheiden, other than a succession of random villains and one hero-turned-villain pouncing on the World’s Finest team, but that’s quite all right. The way Van Sciver draws, that’s story enough.
Testament #8 (DC/Vertigo) It’s a new story arc, and writer Douglas Rushkoff and Liam Sharp pick up on the Bible story of Joseph (he of the amazing Technicolor dream coat) to parallel the modern day action. The book that’s a perfect blend of Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles and Superbook continues to be a rewarding read.
Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #1 (DC) As a huge fan of the original Freedom Fighters line up, and a fan, individually, of The Ray II, Damage and Black Condor II, I was pretty primed to hate this book, which introduces a brand-new team, composed of brand new versions of the familiar heroes. Two things helped sell me on picking up #1, however: The Brave New World preview story wasn’t bad, and the “based on ideas and concepts developed by Grant Morrison” box hovering above the credits. While this new team of Freedom Fighters seems incredibly unlikable (well, Doll Man’s okay), it seems that they may end up being the bad guys of the series, as their mission is to bring in Uncle Sam himself. The last panel is pure Morrison, and issue #1 has definitely sold me on issue #2.
X-Factor #9 (Marvel) Writer Peter David may be a vocal critic of crossovers in general, but you wouldn’t know it from how well he writes tie-in issues. This issue finds the members of the X-Factor detective agency arguing with Quicksilver over the secrets of “M-Day” as well as the upcoming Civil War, and when they look to Jamie “Multiple Man” Madrox for leadership, he splits. First figuratively, then literally. Plus, the Astonishing X-Men show up to throw down.
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