Alex’s Stack

Hey WCBR readers,

So I’m currently sick as a dog and buried with work.  Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that this past week was huge for comics.  In an effort to at least get some opinions out there, I’m going to break from the norm and offer some quick opinions on everything I bought this week.  This isn’t a regular feature so much as it is a stop-gap for my currently ill and mad-cap life.  Also, just because I give a take on here doesn’t mean that a full review won’t be incoming.  Anyway, here goes:

Wolverine & the X-Men #15 (by Jason Aaron (writer), Jorge Molina (pencils), Norman Lee (inks), and Morry Hollowell (colors)

After a couple of good outings, AvX drags this issue back down.  This was a definition of “mixed bag” as it was an incredibly disparate issue with next to nothing in the way of an overall, unifying plot.  Instead, we just got a scattershot array of short vignettes checking in all the characters.  Some sucked (yet ANOTHER scene of Hope and Wolverine belly-aching about Jean), a couple admittedly shone (Toad and Husk’s quirky romance, an EXCELLENT exchange of barbs between Quire and Xavier), while the rest were completely forgettable.  Also, Jorge Molina’s faces are often ugly as hell.  For instance, Hope looks Asian but with a chin sharp enough cut diamond.  Thankfully, Hollowell’s colors are pretty slick.

Grade: C

FF #21 by Jonathan Hickman (writer), Nick Dragotta (art), and Cris Peter (colors)

I’ve been pretty unkind on this title of late due to a seeming lack of direction.  Thankfully, this far and away the best issue of FF in quite some time.  Put simply, it’s a great cosmic story with epic contests between larger than life character all surrounding a Romeo and Juliet sci-fi romance.  The issue, unlike others, works because it’s Hickman telling a story that needed resolution, tying up a loose end from his run.  As such, it isn’t plagued by the lack of necessity that dogged other issues.  Also, this is BY FAR Nick Dragotta’s strongest performance on FF.  His pop art leanings really come to the fore here and they are fantastic fit for a cosmic story, apparently.

Grade: B

Uncanny X-Force #30 by Rick Remender (writer), Dave Williams (art), and Dean White (colors)

Once again, Remender makes magnificent use of a frequent comic book storytelling device that is so hard to use properly.  Last month it was time travel and this month it’s mind control.  Remender makes devilishly clever and cerebral use of high-level telepathy this month, making for a psychological read in which it becomes hard to tell what’s real and what’s not….although I will admit that the twist at the end was nonetheless a little obvious.  It’s hard to judge this issue on its own, as it’s clearly the introduction to the next stage in a larger story, but I enjoyed the feel of the carefully orchestrated game that Evan is locked into, playing the rat in a maze of the Brotherhood’s creation.  I will say, however, that the art didn’t do much for me.  Dave Williams is a fine artist and Dean White is as brilliant as ever, but it’s just a case of standards being so high on this book and Williams simply not being quite on the same ridiculously high level of Opena/Noto/McKone/Tedesco/etc.

Grade: B

Winter Soldier #9 by Ed Brubaker (writer), Michael Lark (pencils), Brian Thies & Stefano Gaudiano (inks), Bettie Breitweiser (colors)

Shame on you for not buying this book!  Now Ed Brubaker is going away…or something.  Anyway, Winter Soldier, unsurprisingly, delivers another excellent issue, full of shadowy Cold War espionage action with bullet-casings scattered everywhere.  I found this issue to be a tight, tense outing that flew by and was very exciting throughout.  At times, the tone of this book felt like James Bond crossed with a noir detective fiction story.  Also, there is a really cool twist near the end of the issue that vaguely reminded me of one of my favourite scenes from the Avengers movie.  Also, Michael Lark continues to bring it as only he can, hitting the tone of the book perfectly.  It did leave me wondering, however, just how much better Brubaker’s run on Daredevil would have looked were it colored by Breitweiser instead of Frank D’Armata.  Anyway, I digress.

Grade: B+

Journey into Mystery #642 by Kieron Gillen (writer), Carmine di Giandomenico (art), Chris Sotomayor (colors) 

The first issue of the Everything Burns crossover led to the best single issue of Fraction’s run on Mighty Thor.  Naturally, Journey into a Mystery, a book that, unlike Mighty Thor, has been awesome throughout its run delivers a performance that’s just as good.  Suffice it to say, when it comes to Everything Burns, I am officially a believer.  I’m rarely one to sing the praises of a crossover, but this is awesome.  This month, Gillen really gives us a good healthy chunk of one of those high fantasy genre elements that make those gigantic novels so addictive:  politics.  The various powers, the deal-making, the shifting allegiances, the bluffs, the gambles, and the lies are all in play, making for a colorful, gripping read.  Also, Gillen reminds us that he really GETS the relationship between Thor and Kid Loki, which feels sincere throughout with Gillen reminding us what can at times be forgotten:  Loki is, in the end, a kid.  It’s great character work throughout.  The only thing holding this back is the art.  I’ll admit that it may be a personal thing, but I’ve just never been a fan of di Giandomenico.  I find his work muddy and too indistinct for my tastes.  That said, even that can’t keep this issue down.

Grade: B+

Justice League #12 by Geoff Johns (writer), Jim Lee (pencils), a ridiculous number of other people (art, inks, colors…etc)

At first, I reacted a little defensively to our own Mr. Nguyen’s review and I think that’s in large part because I really do feel that this title has improved significantly since it’s first arc.  Upon reflection though, this still isn’t exactly a game-changing comic book.  Graves just doesn’t doesn’t work as a villain quite as much as I want him to because…well…I still don’t really understand the nature of his powers and what they’re doing, and Johns only complicates that further this month.  It’s a shame, as I do like his back-story.  The whole soap opera romance stuff was another thing that didn’t work for me quite as well as I wanted it to: the Superman/Wonder Woman thing makes sense, but comes completely out of nowhere while Johns is still acting as though he’s given us a reason to care about the Wonder Woman/Trevor relationship when he hasn’t really.  As far as the art goes, I don’t know if it’s Jim Lee rushing or the brigade of inkers, but this felt rough and at times a little dated.  At times, it felt like I’d picked up a bog-standard 90s superhero book that’d been re-colored.  All that said, I thought the ending to the issue was strong, with a great cliffhanger involving Amanda Waller and a very interesting turn for Green Lantern that reminded me a little of Batman at the end of the Dark Knight movie.

Grade: C+

The Flash Annual #1 by Francis Manapul (story & breakdowns), Brian Buccellato (story), Marcus To, Scott Kolins, Diogenes Neves, Marcio Takara, & Wes Craig (art)

Another issue I wanted to like more than I did, particularly given how high I was on the last issue.  It’s funny that “moving too fast” seems to be an issue that’s plaguing this Flash comic, but here we are again.  Manapul and Buccellato had set up a great “Rogues Civil War” type status quo just last issue and yet, by the end of this Annual, it seems that we’re on to the next thing.  Sure, that next thing is a great cliffhanger, but that Rogues Civil War was nowhere close to being fully plumbed.  I mean for eff’s sake, the Pied Piper never even regained consciousness from being knocked out last month, and it’s already over.  One single punch-up just isn’t enough to satisfy me here, but that’s what I got.  That said, I didn’t rather like the reveal of how the Rogues got their new powers/appearances and the burdens they’ve gained as a result.  The art throughout is very strong and all involved are well-suited to the Flash…but it’s nonetheless hard to have a sense of cohesion in an issue with five artists, even if it’s divided into chapters.

Grade: C+

American Vampire #30 by Scott Snyder (writer), Rafael Albuquerque (art), and Dave McCaig (colors)

If you’re reading and enjoying Batman and/or Swamp Thing right now but aren’t reading American Vampire in at least some format,  you need to get your head examined.  Snyder and Albuquerque continue to hit it out of the park on this latest arc and there’s little more to say than that.  The big developments in the latter half of the issue, the Carpathians getting smarter and deadlier, and the brutal, visceral action are all high points of this issue.  Yet through it all, as is usually the case with Snyder, it’s the character-work that sings.  Pearl’s existential crisis as she feels lost and adrift without the anchor that is/was Henry and Skinner’s slow turn towards being a “good guy”are a joy to watch, especially when Skinner ends up doing a truly scoundrelish thing in the midst of it all, as if he can’t help himself.  Also, there’s a fun, wild west moment for Skinner that got me to mark out a bit.  All in all, a great read with fully realized, three-dimensional characters that leap off the page.

Grade: A-

Spaceman #9 by Brian Azzarello (writer) and Eduardo Risso (art)

Maybe it’s the fever and the poor memory of the last issue that may be a bi-product of said fever, but this issue, the finale, was rather confusing.  I struggled to figure out why shit was exploding all over the place and what exactly was going on in the opening and as the issue rollicks along, there are a couple of twists upon twists that leave the reader in a desperate game of disorienting catch-up.  At other points, Azzarello just isn’t blunt enough enough with things, relying too much on suggestion and implication to get the story across.  As a result, certain things that should probably be a pay-off and were probably intended by Azzarello to be just that end up…not being particularly strong pay-offs at all, as we’re just left in a state of not being entirely certain what exactly transpired.  I wish I could go into more detail, but this being the final issue, spoilers prevent me from doing so.  That said, it’s Eduardo Risso drawing, so visually, this book can do little wrong.  It’s the same grimy, gritty Euro sci-fi you’ve been getting throughout the series and it’s still glorious.

Grade: C+

Powers #11 by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Michael Avon Oeming (art), and Nick Filardi (colors)

I called the last issue the best issue since the relaunch and while this issue may not be QUITE as good, it satisfies nonetheless and is still pretty damned excellent.  Last issue set the dominoes up and this issue knocks them down, slamming us with one big development after another.  There are not one but TWO major character deaths this issue; the first comes completely out of nowhere and is shockingly visceral while the other is a truly superheroic, eye-watery death of the Barry Allen sort.  The issue also does a great job of setting up the new Powers: Bureau series; for once, we’ve got a comic here that lives up to the “nothing will ever be the same” tagline.  This issue truly ups the scale and the stakes of Powers to levels that were unfathomable in previous years of the series so the change in the series makes total sense.  Also, there’s a huge development that’s been a long-time coming for Christian and Oeming gets to blow a LOT of shit up.  It’s a visually stunning issue, that noir-y, late-night cartoon you always wished existed.  This issue is all about pay-offs as much as it is setting up the new status quo and it succeeds on both fronts in flying colors.

Grade: A-