Comic shop comics: May 2

There was a new Skeleton Key comic by Andi Watson out today, but I did not purchase it, because I did not pre-order it, because I did not know about it, and my shop sold out before I got there. That is sad.

So I've only purchased two comic books today, which I will now proceed to tell you about.

Daredevil #12 (Marvel Entertainment) Hey, it's another issue of the apparently now weekly Daredevil series. There seems to be a new issue at the shop every time I go in there. This one, at least, has pretty strong artwork in it, as incoming artist Chris Samnee handles the interior art.

It's a nicely full and complete story by Mark Waid, in which Matt Murdock goes on a date with that lady he's been flirting with off and on for the last 11 issues and, in the process, he tells her a story about he and Foggy's adventures in law school, which is actually a lot more interesting that it likely sounds in my description of it.

It ends with one of the "Megacrime" organizations attacking Murdock because of the Omega Drive he possesses, which Marvel just published a three-issue crossover story about that didn't resolve anything. It's damn weird, really; this issue could just as easily have taken place before "The Omega Effect" storyline, that's how meaningless it was.

Anyway, good script, great art, super-great cover: Daredevil remains at the top of the super-comic heap.

Hulk Smash Avengers #1 (Marvel) I like weekly comics, and I like comics with the words "Hulk Smash" right there in the title, so I pre-ordered this a few months back on a whim.

The premise is delightfully simple: Each issue, a different creative team will offer a tale of The Hulk fighting the Avengers, each battle set during a different decade of Marvel history. This being the first issue, it's set in the '60s, somewhere after the seventh issue of the original volume of The Avengers book and the fourteenth issue (at least according to the "True Believer Note" on the recap page).

It's from the creative team of Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz, with Sal Buscema finishing Frenz's pencil art, and it's an extended nostalgia act. How much like Jack Kirby and other early 60s Marvel artists can Frenz and Buscema drawn? How closely can DeFalco imitate the always-alliterating Stan Lee, without so overloading the panels with verbiage that they panels might assault the eyes of today's younger readers?

I thought they pulled it off quite nicely. It's essentially the Marvel comic book equivalent of a rock band covering a popular song from The Beatles or Rolling Stones, and Frenz and company hit all the right notes and pull it off admirably. No, there's nothing new here, but that was a pretty great song, wasn't it?

The plot? The Avengers—Iron Man, Giant Man, The Wasp, Thor and Captain America—track down The Hulk in order to try talking him into rejoining the team. He just beats them all up. They decide to try again but, in the meantime, Baron Zemo, The Executioner and The Enchantress convince The Hulk to let them help him beat up the Avengers. Then there's a big fight.

The dialogue is affected, but it's still campy, and I liked seeing the word "Killbot" in print. Also, this is the first time I've heard Baron Zemo's origin explained. I had no idea it was so funny! If he can't take his mask off, how does he eat...?

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Daredevil and Foggy Nelson were created by Stan Lee and Bill Everett. The Hulk, Rick Jones, Baron Zemo, The Wasp, Thor, The Executioner and The Enchantress were created by Lee and Jack Kirby. Iron Man and Henry Pym were created by Lee, Kirby and Larry Lieber. Captain America created by Kirby and Joe Simon.