[21] [AUGUST 03 2010]
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What’s up, USHers?! I have a total of five books for review this week, all from Marvel, with heavy doses of “X” and Heroic Age reading. That’s a pretty close reflection of my overall pull list these days, actually…
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 may discuss the buzz-worthy comic related news, pick my favorite cover for that week, and even provide the occasional movie/DVD review.
Reviews, roll out!… [WHAT I'M DIGGING THIS WEEK]:-- Highlights of this week’s books on my pull list -- [Secret Avengers #3] – – I usually start my review with the writing criticisms but artist
Mike Deodato gets first mention on this week’s highlight book, and he deserves it. I’ve made it no secret that he’s my favorite artist, so I’m always estastic to see him take his work up a knotch in difficulty.
Brubaker throws all kinds of elements into this third issue of
Secret Avengers, from epic space beings like Celestials and Watchers to Antman’s helplessly floating through time pockets, to amped up, Serpent Crown-possessed Nova dishing out pain —and
Deodato kills all of it. The book looks the part of a big time Avenger title, through and through. The color and ink are complement his work admirably and outside of a little posing (but..c’mon, the Avengers do that a lot anyway), his work stands as strong as any visual debut in the last few years. Its clean, consistent, and as always with his penciling, the reader gets a lot of varied panel design. That’s something that doesn’t happen enough these days, and it’s a sign that an artist is fast, has freedom, and has extra time to work with his writer.
That’s not like
Ed Brubaker’s chopped liver, either. While the story is moving a bit on the slow side, I’m impressed by the ambition in the script. When I heard about Secret Avengers being an espionage-y Avenger title, I liked the concept and it has had those elements….but it has surprised me with the sheer scope and imagination. Fresh off his announcement as a second time
Eisner winner for Best Writer, this issue drops and takes a fresh assembled team title to new heights with enough drama and danger of a space epic that he didn’t quite pull a few years ago on
Uncanny X-Men. His return to space with the Avengers has definitely faired much better. A couple guys still aren’t in the spotlight, mostly namely War Machine, but that may just be a bit of the fanboy in me. I wouldn’t say he’s hit his stride quite yet, but it’s definitely has the making of a great title.
Deodato’s still the draw, but this title is doing a hell of a lot of things right with an entertaining first three issues. I recommend this title whole-heartedly for anyone loves the team books….
[GRADE= A-]Cover by Marko Djurdjevic
[WHAT I'M NOT DIGGING THIS WEEK]:-- The biggest disappointment from my pull list this week -- [Uncanny X-Men #526] – Fuck it. Let’s start with art here too…change is good, right? The visuals are the reason this good doesn’t work anyways. This is
Whilce Portacio’s first full issue for the title, and its not the debut I was looking for, personally. I tend to get a bit spoiled to good art when writers are hot on a title, and
Matt Fraction has had the fortune of
Land and
Dodson in the recent past, and if this issue—in which
Portacio has had a bit of lead time—is an indication of future work, I’m not thrilled. It certainly isn't all a lost cause, as some of it is nicely portrayed and bit cinematic even, but he doesn’t pull it all together in a consistent effort. He kind of dulled the start of a story that I think could go a lot of ways, and it isn't up to par. He can convey emotion a lot better than
Greg Land, but he reaches a little too far with his pencil work at times. It’s not clean enough for a top flight book in my opinion, something that has become a more frequent decision among readers in this “$3.99 era”.
It’s unfortunate, because
Matt Fraction started the story arc “
Five Lights” with a strong issue. It’s been a LONG time since we’ve seen new mutants, and I like that both the low number and the connection Hope is going to always have to them, judging by how this issue revealed another aspect of her ability. The writer uses a lot of panel time adding to Hope’s character, shown most by her conversation with Scott before and after the quick Alaska trip. The dialogue is strong, if a bit on the light side this issue.
Fraction does have a habit of leaning on his narration a bit, which happens again here, but I'm fine with it as long as it remains to be well written. The art’s just holding this story back, something that hasn’t been a problem for this book in a while. I hope it isn’t a recurring trend, because it looks like this storyline has some ground-breaking potential if the art’s not a distraction….
[GRADE= C]Cover by Terry Dodson
[DEBUTS OF THE WEEK]:—The week’s best new #1’s -- [Ultimate Mystery #1] – This is the second debut issue in the planned
Bendis and
Rafa Sandoval trilogy.
Ultimate Mystery immediately improves on the biggest weakness
Ultimate Enemy had, slow pacing.
Brian Bendis has one especially chatty moment with Parker and his female clone, but the rest of the issue was ripe with new developments and plot progession. Captain Marvel, a star in the last Ulimate trilogy, (the
Ultimate Galactus trilogy by
Warren Ellis), shows up for the first time here, and he’s a key aspect to it all. His character injects a dose of comedy and snarky fun to an interesting, but somewhat grim story. There’s a better balance, and his addition is the second welcome surprise for the event, after Ben Grimm’s shocking transformation at the end of
Ultimate Enemy.
Bendis explores that in a satisfying amount of detail, and adds a wrinkle at the end of this issue that seems to have an obvious connection to him. I wasn’t wild about the end of
Enemy, but the wrting here has renewed my interest, for sure.
Unlike the story before, the art has been steady and consistent throughout the event.
Rafa Sandoval has handled every issue, and has been timely and solid. This debut didn’t have as many big moments, but his pencil work is a draw regardless. His facial work is his big weakness right now in my own assessment, but not a major one. He displays the ability to put a lot of action in small spaces as well as large spread work, and if anything, the sometimes claustrophobic amounts of dialogue actually dilute his stuff. The last trilogy had a different artists for each part, so I’m impressed that he’s doing them all, and I’ll be very happy if he can maintain the quality he’s displayed with
Bendis so far. Overall, it’s a strong, more focused Part Two. Check it out if this sounds like you’re thing….
[GRADE= B] Cover by Leinil Yu
[SHORT AND SWEET]-- Brief looks at more of the week‘s books -- [Wolverine: Weapon X #15] – This is the last issue of the “
Tomorrow Dies Today” arc by
Jason Aaron and
Ron Garney, and it’s a fitting conclusion and probably the best issue of the whole thing. To be honest, the last couple issues are much more a Deathlok story than a Logan one, but that didn’t bother me in the slightest because of the incredible writing of Aaron (and I'm always a sucker for Deathlok). The writer always has some cool ideas, but occasionally flubs the execution, but that’s not the case this time. I was pleasantly surprised in several revelations, but the best one was finding out the real reason for the main Deathlok’s evolution into a more heroic, compassionate character. The very ending was predictable as hell, but still felt cool somehow.
Ron Garney’s art is a big plus as well. He has consistently provided strong, dynamic action for the entire arc, and only had the slightest bits of sketch and sloppy lines start to creep up in this ender. He was backed by a good color and ink team as well, helping him showcase some of his better work on
Wolverine: Weapon X. If you missed out, this futuristic action fest with Avengers, Deathloks, and Wolverine might be worth another shot….
[GRADE= B][X-Men Legacy #238] –
Mike Carey is back with a non-
Second Coming issue of
Legacy with
Clay Mann on art, and together they bring a nice debut to this arc with Anole, Loa , Rogue and Magneto accompanying Indra as he returns to his native home of India in light of his brother’s sudden coma. The story’s beginning here is a very strong one, and as
Carey always does,builds it up with strong characterization and back and forth dialogue. The threats are shown but remain mostly mysterious, but the tale has a nice base so far.
Clay Mann’s pencilwork is always a treat, and that’s no different here. He somewhat reminds me of
Olivier Coipel with his thin linework and choice of “camera angles”, so that’s nice company to be in. Looks like one of the strongest X-books will continue to trend that way in this post-
Second Coming X-verse. Check it out!.....
[GRADE= B][COVER OF THE WEEK] -- The best cover selection from the past week’s comics -- [Thor #612, by Mico Suayan]
[Reason] -
Suayan’s covers are always fantastic but this one really caught my eye the first time I saw it. It’s extremely intense and relevant to the story, and it looks very realistic, almost the same effect that Alex Ross used to have. What an image…
-------------------------------------
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!!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
