[18] [JULY 04 2010]
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Welcome back, everyone! I cerainly hope you're enjoying a beautiful, relaxing Fourth of July weekend..
I’ve been away from you guys due to a few things out of my control (thanks for all the thoughts and kind words!), but I’m back on schedule for your weekly comic reviewing fix! Today, I have five books from last week for review, including three The Heroic Age entries, a massive annual, and more. For those reading In Case You Missed It for the first time, I cover the best and worst of what's on my personal pull list from last Wednesday’s new releases. Some of them get the full treatment and the rest get shorter, quicker coverage. In addition to the latest comics, I discuss the buzz-worthy comic related news, pick my favorite cover for that week, and even provide the occasional movie/DVD review.
Let’s get going, shall we?… [WHAT I'M DIGGING THIS WEEK]:-- Highlights of this week’s books on my pull list -- [The Death of Dracula One-Shot] – For those unaware, this is the one-shot that preludes the new
X-Men #1 that ships July 8, with this working to prelude the vampiric conflict advertised there. I was completely floored by the level of quality in this one shot. I’ve read some of
Victor Gischler’s work at Marvel, mostly a bit of his
Deadpool Corps, which was decent but was soon dropped. Here he finds an intriguing way to make his mark as a writer. There are a lot of fresh ideas right off the bat, and I like how well thought out this one-shot’s storyline seemed to be, as the plots takes several exciting and unexpected twists and turns before its conclusion, never becoming dull or predictable. The plethora of vampiric sects and Dracula having sons were solid pieces to start with, and despite obvious events proudly displayed on the cover, the rest of the issue was a surprise. Not often in an established universe can a writer find this much wriggle room to add a new threat, but
Gischler set up the Marvel vampires as a true and immediate threat with some deftly executed ideas.
Helping him bring those ideas to life was the artist,
Giuseppe Camuncoli. I was a fan of his stuff when he was on
Dark Wolverine, and he provided a similar, solid level of quality here. His moodier, heavy-lined work lended itself well to the horror-leaning tone and darkness of the vampire world. It was a consistently strong visual experience throughout.
Camuncoli was equally proficient with the action and the issue's numerous talky scenes. Frankly, it’s just an incredibly solid one-shot that came out of the blue. I wasn’t all that into the new X-men debut as an X-fan, but this completely changed that mindset. I definitely recommend giving this one a second look if you passed on it.
And hey, these vampires don't sparkle...
[GRADE= A]----------------------------
[WHAT I'M NOT DIGGING THIS WEEK]:-- The biggest disappointment from my pull list this week -- [Amazing Spider-Man Presents: American Son #2] – This series showed some promise last issue, and
Brian Reed answered several questions here that were held over, and gave the readers several new ones. There is definitely enough going on here to justify its existence, as he uses the dangling threads over Norman Obsorn’s fall from grace and the previously explored idea that he get his son his own suit of armor, and even a random plotline from the old
J.Michael Straczynski issues. Right now,
Reed is putting Harry through the ringer, as his life is probably at one of more interesting and defining moments he’s been in a long time. There’s a lot of potential with this direction, but I do feel like things are progressing a bit too slow for a four issue series. A bit less filler would have been ideal, but overall I have enjoyed the writing. I thought about skipping this series originally, but so far it seems like a good decision to have picked it up.
Unfortunately , the art didn’t quite hold its end of the bargain. Last issue,
Philipe Briones handled the artwork, and it was a big plus for the book. He finds me a lot of early
Jimenez and I had looked forward to more. But as I quickly found out,
Briones was accompanied by
Patrick Olliffe this issue. Their art styles were too different to work scene to scene, and I’m disappointed for the fill-in decision this early into a short mini-series. It was definitely noticeable and it wasn’t very smooth. As a complete package…I’d still say its worth getting. Hopefully
Briones does a full issue again, and
Reed starts moving his story along a bit quicker, but it’s pretty solid mini thus far…despite a bit of a quality dip here this go-around.
......
[GRADE= C]----------------------------
[SHORT AND SWEET]-- Brief looks at more of the week‘s titles -- [Secret Avengers #2] –
Brubaker and
Deodato back up their strong start to their new chapter in Avengers lore with this solid second effort. The plot continues to beat along at a nice pace, and the scope of the tale opened up a bit. I actually like that a few questions from the debut weren’t answered, adding to the intrigue as new developments continue to build. The players are a bit more unified in the way they're used here, and Brubaker moves the character focus around to the some of the members who previously lacked significant face-time or dialogue. He deserves a lot of credit for getting a team to gel this quickly and feel like a cohesive unit. It’s a motley crew, but under his guidance they work. Deodato continues his consistent and expressive work in a book that suits his strengths well. He’s Marvel's number one artist for expressive linework and dynamic action, and Brubaker’s been more than willing to indulge him with the script.
Deodato's been able to tweak his style a bit for each of his new projects, and
Rain Beredo's colors here have an excellent balance between bright, superheroic look and dark shading. This opening arc has been nothing short of top notch so far its short history....
[GRADE= A-][The Invincible Iron Man Annual #1] – This annual is a one-off story focusing completely on the Mandarin and his plot to kidnap his favorite film director to tell his life story. The director finds him in an impossibly difficult situation when he starts to figure out that “the truth” the Mandarin wants the world to see isn’t that truthful at all. The story is definitely plotted much differently than a normal annual as
Matt Fraction jumps back and forth in the timeline, and tells several important sections of the tale uses two versions of the origins at the same time to great effect. The 80-page giant ends up being well worth the hefty five dollar price tag, and
Fraction manages to keep the story from ever lulling, something hard to do with such a massive page count.
Di Giandomenico’s work wouldn’t have worked in a traditional Iron Man story, but was a great decision for a Mandarin-centered piece. The way that the different settings and timelines all contrasted and had styles of their own, all being done by the same artist, was impressive. The story is straightforward, which does leave some glaring questions about exactly when this happened and some continuity issues but I was so drawn in to the beauty of the story I didn’t mind. There’s always later, right?. It still was a truly memorable read, and a unique use of an annual…..
[GRADE= B+][Captain America #607] – It seems
Brubaker is completely back to form after the last, mostly lukewarm arc that preceded this story.
Captain America is back to its trademark superhero team up/espionage roots and Zemo fills the vacant villain spot left back by Red Skull with ease. The best parts of this title overall have been when the writer focuses on the richness and opportunity of Bucky’s backstory and I’m glad to see him return to it. He sets up “Zemo Jr.” as an incredibly compentent and worthy successor to top villain with several devious development and foreshadows some more intriguing turns. Steve Rogers, Black Widow, and the severly injured Falcon were well used as a supporting cast, too. I was a little disappointed to see
Mitch Breitweiser in the credits as the artist and
Guice back to inking, but the results looked strong and in tune with the plethora of strong artists that have worked with
Brubaker during his run. The title always have a solid, similar look. I’m glad to see that writing has that similar feeling again, too. Nothing breathtaking, but a nice part of a promising arc nonetheless…..
[GRADE= B]----------------------------
[COVER OF THE WEEK] -- The best cover selection from the past week’s comics -- [Astonishing X-Men #34, by Phil Jimenez]
[Reason] - Phil Jimenez provides a cover image here that's beautiful and isn't easily forgotten. It is a clever way to nod to the X-fanboys with Storm's history with the Brood and her claustrophobia both being played up together, all while making an image that stands on its own and is significant to the current storyline. The lack of bright color outside of the lightning and eyes makes the effect work that much better. Hard not to look inside with a image this sharp on the outside......
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Agree or disagree with any of my reviews? Thoughts on the cover? Click reply and let me know!
That’s it for me! Come back next week for more In Case You Missed It. As usual, you can post your thoughts below and you can also reach me at my email at ben.lehnsherr@the-ush.com. You can also follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/UndeadAvenger.. Thanks for reading!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
