Aquaman and the Others #2 – Review

By: Dan Jurgens (story), Lan Medina (pencils), Allen Martinez (inks), Matt Milla (colors)

The Story: The Others leave the world of the living—and come back again.

The Review: Usually, I give a new series a whole arc to get its bearings, especially if it’s from a set of creators I respect or admire. At the beginning, all I’m looking for is a sign, any sign, that greatness can arise from the title, given an opportunity to plant its roots. Every now and then, I run across a series that falls short of even that fairly low standard, which makes an early Drop necessary. I think Aquaman and the Others lands squarely in that category.

No one expects literary sophistication in comics, but Jurgens can’t even be bothered to create a veneer of credibility with his dialogue. Of all the ridiculous things I’ve seen in comics this week—see the mecha-zombie-ninjas in Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #2, for example—by far the most preposterous is the others casually chatting as they plunge from the sky after their plane gets shot down. Consider the following dialogue (and keep in mind this is all taking place during a freefall).

Aquaman and the Others #1 – Review

By: Dan Jurgens (story), Lan Medina (pencils), Allen Martinez (inks), Matt Milla (colors)

The Story: If the Justice League’s not available, we can always call those Other heroes.

The Review: Never in my geekiest daydreams would I have imagined a day when there’d not only be an Aquaman series that was actually popular, but two Aquaman books. That’s truly an abundance of riches, especially when you consider icons like the Flash haven’t gotten their second title yet (some, like Martian Manhunter, haven’t even gotten one). But are audiences ready for that much Aquaman? Can his current popularity handle that kind of exploitation?

I suppose the better question is: can the Others? The very existence of this issue shows that Geoff Johns was onto something when he created Aquaman’s personal justice league, but I’ve always felt that it would take a very clear vision of the Others’ purpose to bring them back. It probably would’ve helped if we’d known how they came together to begin with. They’re all permanently attached, but it’s never been clear what forms that attachment besides the Atlantean relic each of them holds, and this issue does nothing to change that.

X-Men Legacy #300 – Review

by Simon Spurrier, Mike Carey, Christos Gage (Writers), Tan Eng Huat, Steve Kurth, Rafa Sandoval, Craig Yeung, Allen Martinez, Jordi Tarragona (Artists), Jose Villarrubia, Rachelle Rosenberg, Ulises Arreola (Colorists)

The Story: It can be hard to make an impression when your very powers prevent you to do so.

The Review: I have to confess this issue confused me when I looked at the cover and the very concept of what it was supposed to be. Here was a book that starred three different characters, each having their own impact, their own cast and their own message, as done by the three writers that defined their very goals and concepts. The problem, though, was the fact that each of the characters that had been the protagonists of this book are now, let us say, in a problematic position of non-existence. With none of these characters actually there to advance the story or celebrate the title, how exactly could this issue manage to get to the point?

Enter Forgetmenot, a mutant with the power of getting no attention and being erased from the memory of those he previously met. Focusing the story on this unknown X-Man, all three writers are able to pinpoint a certain era where they wrote their character, inserting this particular one into the narrative. Essentially telling some important moments through the eyes of a character that no one can remember, does the issue actually manage to celebrate the very legacy that is included in the title?

The answer is not only a resounding yes, but one filled with a certain joy at seeing an experiment succeeding in a way that feels satisfactory. What makes this work very well, though, is the actual character of Forgetmenot. His powers and how he copes with them makes for a powerful message about individuality, but also about advancing through the adversary that is loneliness. His actions, his reactions and his feelings are very human at their core, with a presentation of his struggles that makes him very identifiable for readers. Who hasn’t dealt with being alone, be it with an opinion, an effort or a phase? Well, this character has been so through his entire life, making some of his actions all the more touching, yet also easy to sympathize with.

Justice League of America #10 – Review

By: Matt Kindt (story), Tom Derenick & Eddy Barrows (pencils), Tom Nguyen & Allen Martinez (inks), Hi-Fi (colors)

The Story: Martian Manhunter is the conscience that won’t quit.

The Review: I feel quite safe in assuming that we all like praise as much as the next person, but having a real thirst for it can lead to all sorts of problems.  The compliment-fishers are bad enough as they are, but at least they have the grace to be passive-aggressive about it.  People who brag on themselves, either humbly or through the backdoor (“This filet mignon is excellent—just like the one I make at home!”), take things to a more gag-inducing level.

But the absolute worst is when folks start dragging others to do their dirty work for them.  To spare themselves the effort of proving anything, they just get someone else to talk about it lavishly.  That’s exactly what Kindt has been doing with Courtney since last issue, which would have been bad enough.  Here he stoops to have Courtney’s best friend push her past a moment of doubt over her budding superhero career with the most blatantly self-serving lines I’ve read in a while: “You’re honestly the most genuine, purest girl I know, Courtney.  This is your calling.”

Justice League of America #9 – Review

By: Matt Kindt (story), Tom Derenick (pencils), Tom Nguyen & Allen Martinez (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: Stargirl gets into Martian Manhunter’s head—and wants out.

The Review: So…I pulled one of those lame Microsoft Word boo-boos that you always seem to pull off just at the very moment when you think you’ve finally become immune: I accidentally shut down my computer and impulsively, for absolutely no reason at all, clicked on “Don’t Save” when my unfinished document asked me what I wanted to do with it.  That document was the basis of this review.  Hence the lateness, which I’m very sorry about.*

Anyway, as I recall, my review of this issue originally began by saying how much I enjoyed Kindt’s ideas for each of the Leaguers’ personal prisons.  Instead of aiming straight for their physical weaknesses or greatest fears or some other trite target, Kindt dug deep to find more interesting anxieties and obsessions.  That said, he can’t afford to give individual attention to every Leaguer, not with combined roll calls of all three teams on his plate.  We do have a plot we need to move on to.

Aquaman Annual #1 – Review

By: John Ostrander (story), Geraldo Borges & Netho Diaz (pencils), Ruy Jose, Allen Martinez, JP Mayer, Mariah Benes, Oclair Albert, Julio Ferreira, Jay Leisten (inks), Rod Reis & Hi-Fi (colors)

The Story: The Others must race to stop a witch from saving the world.

The Review: Here’s a fun fact: Ostrander nearly shares my mother’s birth year, month, and is just shy of the day.  That definitely funks up the way I think of his writing.  I mean, do I really want someone my mother’s age to be writing comics for ostensibly a new generation of readers?  Not that it can’t be done.  Jim Shooter did a bang-up job on the Three-boot volume of Legion of Super-Heroes, and he’s only a couple years younger than Ostrander—and my mother.

On the other hand, I haven’t been all that impressed with Ostrander’s recent DC work, which makes me all the gladder that it’s only occasional.  While the premises of his stories are usually solid, his heavy-handed execution definitely reveals his age, or so it seems to me.  Under his pen, Aquaman and the Others seem a little too prone to theatrics; they’re blunter, louder, more melodramatic than their introverted personalities would support.

GI Joe #9 – Review

By: Fred Van Lente (writer), Steve Kurth (pencils), Allen Martinez (inks), Joana Lafuente (colors) and Shawn Lee (letters)

The Story: Destro, Duke and Mad Monk see their plans coming together.

Review (with SPOILERS): This is a very confounding issue.  I love the story, but I loathe the art.

Fred Van Lente’s story is great.  He has spent a number of issues creating layers of intrigue and it’s all starting to pay off.  Not only are GI Joe and Cobra locked in a battle, but each side has internal divisions.  Let’s start with Duke and whether he may or may not be a traitor.  I mean, how brave of a story choice is THAT?  Duke is basically the prototype for GI Joe: nice, no profanity, buzzcut, hard-working, honest, capable, leader-of-men, blah, blah…..  Just the thought that he might be a traitor is a brave step.  Even if he’s just allowing himself to be manipulated by Cobra because they kidnapped his wife pops some holes the the Duke mythos.  The Duke we think we know is duty-first, but the man in this story might be willing to compromise his duty and place comrades in danger to save his wife.  It’s understandable from a human point of view – many of us would do the same thing – but Duke is supposedly “better” than the rest of us.  Stay tuned to see how this works out.

Even more delicious than Duke’s possible betrayal is all the back-stabbing within Cobra.  This is already a time of turmoil for Cobra with Krake having only become the new Cobra Commander within the last year or so.  Baroness is on the outs for failing too many times, so she’s hanging out with Destro and Destro is always fun because of his questionable loyalties.  He seems to prefer Cobra’s ways, but that’s just because they buy his weapons… and he’s not above doing things to undermine Cobra if it means he’ll get to sell more weapons.  And then you have Mad Monk and Destro taking turns selling each other out……plus an appearance by Cobra Commander (who hasn’t been seen in many months)……and it’s all super-cool.

So, why isn’t a comic with all this plotting excellence the runaway “pick of the week”?  Well…..the art kinda stinks.  The art is bad enough that I’m considering dropping the title despite the cleverness of the story.

One problem with the art is that it is way, way too cartoony.  When I say “cartoony” I mean that the art plays too fast and loose with human anatomy and uses various artistic tricks to accentuate certain actions.  For example, a character who is doing something physical may be draw with arms and legs too long and a lean to their body that gravity would never allow.  And I actually like cartoony art, but I just don’t like it in GI Joe.  I think a story needs some element of comedy for cartoony art to work.  Spider-Man can be cartoony.  The Fantastic Four can be cartoony.  Batman?  Punisher?  Probably not.

So, I’m not objecting to the cartoony art because of a personal preference.  It’s simply that this art style is inappropriate for the subject matter.  This is GI Joe and there is nothing cartoony about terrorists and radiological bombs.

The other problem with the art is that it just isn’t very good from a sequential standpoint.  There are a number of action sequences in the comic where it just isn’t clear what happened.  Was Tunnel Rat throwing himself to the ground and letting the train pass over him OR was he diving to catch the back of the moving train?  Did Quick Kick throw both ends of his nun-chucks at the Dreadnoks?  These are quick-reading action sequences, not slower parts of the comic where you should be slowing down to see what happens.  There’s really no point in writing action sequences into a comic if the artists can’t do better; if the action has to look this poor, we might as well just have an extra serving of the political themes in the comic.

I really wish that IDW would get better with the art on the two “main” GI Joe books.  The Cobra-themed comic from Mike Costa and Antonio Fuso is fine, but the two GI Joe comics have been troublesome artistically for several years…..and this is at a time when the storytelling has been top-notch.  All the other IDW licensed comics from TMNT to Transformers to My Little Pony to Judge Dredd seem to have good art……I just wonder what GI Joe fans did to piss off some editor that we get this treatment.  It really baffles me.  I almost wonder if someone in the IDW-Hasbro licensing relationship is unhappy with the current state of the licensing contract and is burdening the comic series with poor art to force a renegotiation.

Conclusion: Story is great.  Art is not.   It would make a better audiobook than comic book.

Grade: C

– Dean Stell

GI Joe #8 – Review

By: Fred Van Lente (writer), Steve Kurth (pencils), Allen Martinez (inks), Joana Lafuente (colors) and Shawn Lee (letters)

The Story: Mad Monk continues playing games with GI Joe.

Review (with minor SPOILERS): This issue would be so much more enjoyable with better art.  The story is good enough to merit a higher grade, but this series will never reach great heights with art that is this problematic.  THAT could be the whole of the review, but read on if you want greater details….

It’s a shame because there is a lot to like about the basic story concepts that Fred Van Lente is using.  I really like the idea that Cobra is using a Myers Briggs-type personality test on it’s key employees to evaluate their leadership potential.  The (new) Cobra Commander basically buried the needle in the “natural born leader” range, but Mad Monk (who has just been appointed to run the NY office of Cobra) scored at the absolute bottom of the scale.  A jealous Baroness and Destro have a minor laugh at Mad Monk’s expense, but we’ve come to see over the last couple issues that having a low score in this area doesn’t mean that Mad Monk is an idiot…..he’s just not a leader.  In fact, he has no use for any sort of leadership structures at all.  He’s kinda an agent of chaos.  It’s a nice little spin to show that just because people are weak in some areas, they can be strong in others…..kinda like the continuum from severe autism to severe attention deficit disorder: Both ends of the scale have strengths and weaknesses.

GI Joe #5 – Review

By: Fred Van Lente (writer), Steve Kurth (pencils), Allen Martinez, Marc Deering and Juan Castro (inks), Joana LaFuente (colors), Chris Mowry (letters)

The Story: A small GI Joe team has to fight its way out of an American town that has been completely flipped by Cobra.

Review (with minor SPOILERS): “Pretty good story undone by poor art!”  THAT is the headline for this issue.

It’s never a good sign when an issue credits three inkers.  The art on this series hits new lows in this issue.  The problem is mostly related to depth.  If you stare at a lot of the panels, a crazy “magic eye” thing will happen.  Suddenly characters’ arms and legs will appear to be in totally different planes than the rest of their bodies.  It’s screwed up.  And once you start to see these problems with depth, the anatomy of the characters starts to come undone too because your mind starts trying to rationalize how an arm/leg could bend to achieve these weird depth positions.  Steve Kurth has never been my favorite penciller, but it’s not fair to heap this on him.  Depth problems are generally the fault of inkers and colorists.

GI Joe #1 – Review

By: Fred Van Lente (writer), Steve Kurth (pencils), Allen Martinez (inks), Joana Lafuente (colors), Neil Uyetake (letters) and John Barber (editor)

The Story: The Joes are no longer a secret organization, but they still have to fight Cobra.

A Few Things: 1). A fresh start. – I really want GI Joe comics to be good.  I’m the perfect age to know that everyone likes Star Wars, but the cool kids were into GI Joe and Transformers and their triumvirate of toys/cartoons/comics.  Unfortunately, the modern day GI Joe comics haven’t been all that awesome.  They usually have a decent story, but suffer from a $3.99 price tag, overly long story arcs, crossovers and some really mediocre art.

But, there’s always reason for optimism when GI Joe restarts.  That’s especially true when they bring in a new writer like Fred Van Lente.  Unlike the previous writer (Chuck Dixon), I know that Van Lente isn’t up to his armpits in military knowledge.  But, Van Lente is a very good writer and is willing to do his research (see Action Philosophers and Comic Book Comics).  IDW also brought in Steve Kurth to do pencils.  While Kurth isn’t at the top of my art list, he’s better than a lot of the folks IDW has hired for Joe books recently.  Optimism reigns supreme!

Avengers vs X-Men: Consequences #2

By: Keirron Gillen (writer), Steve Kurth (pencils), Allen Martinez (Inks), Jim Charalampidis (colors)

The Story: FINALLY! Someone is exploring what happens to Scott Summers going to jail. I thought nobody was going to show this guy behind bars. And I’m really glad someone is there to remind us of what a horrible person is, because we just haven’t had enough of it yet.

The Review: Was the sarcasm palpable enough? Yes, this is yet more Cyclops in jail. In fact, it’s an entire issue about Cyclops in jail. Not one of the plotlines from Consequences #1 are explored other than Cyclops and Wolverine. And it doesn’t look like this is going to be the end of it either.  Yes, by now we all fully understand–the Marvel Editors want to punish Scott Summers. But the person who wants to punish him the most? Scott Summers.

New Mutants #24 – Review

By: Mike Carey (writer), Steve Kurth (pencils), Allen Martinez (inks), Brian Reber (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Sebastian Girner (assistant editor) & Daniel Ketchum (editor)

The Story: Age of X comes to a close.  Will there be any wrinkles beyond “it was all in Legion’s mind”?

What’s Good: If I’m being cheeky, I’d say the best thing about this is that Age of X is now over and we can move on to some new X-Men stories.  That’s a mean thing to say because a lot of people worked very hard on this crossover, but it’s true.

Another nugget to take from Age of X is that it brings Legion front and center again.  If cover art is to be trusted, X-Men Legacy is going to have some focus on Legion in upcoming story arcs and it’s likely that a lot of current X-readers aren’t that familiar with Charles Xavier’s mentally unstable son.  If nothing else, by the end of this Age of X story, all readers would say that Legion is (a) crazy and (b) very powerful.

The final nice bit of this story was seeing the X-Men after the regain their proper memories at the end of the story, but before the Age of X thoughts have completely faded.  So, we see Frenzy and Cyclops share a passionate kiss…as Emma looks on….  and we see Storm and Namor give each other a meaningful glance since they were apparently a couple in Age of X (although nothing was done with their relationship).

New Mutants #23 (Age of X, Chapter 4) – Review

By: Mike Carey (writer), Steve Kurth (pencils), Allen Martinez (inks), Brian Reber (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Sebastian Girner (assistant editor) & Daniel Ketchum (editor)

The Story: Intrigue abounds as the action in Age of X turns inward.

What’s Good: As mentioned in the review of X-Men Legacy #246 two weeks ago, the Age of X event seems to be mostly skipping the traditional Act II of a story.  That is a very good storytelling choice by Mike Carey and the editorial team behind Age of X because Act II of stories doesn’t have much impact when we are dealing with characters that we already know well.  What is left of Act II deals primarily with revelations about the slightly different nature of these X-Men characters and that is plenty interesting because although we do know Magneto (or “The General”) and he has a very similar personality in this Age of X timeline, he has some fundamental differences from the wild type that are interesting to explore.

This issue also leaves the reader with a lot of mysteries unsolved.  We are now 2/3 of the way through Age of X and it is now pretty obvious that the big revelations will be coming right at the end of the story because things are clear as mud right now.

The strongest point of the art is the general layouts.  There really isn’t a panel in the issue where it is unclear what is going on with the story.  Now, there isn’t anything very adventurous about the pages and panel designs, but Kurth is not sacrificing storytelling by trying to feed us flashy images.

New Mutants #22 (Age of X: Chapter 2) – Review

By: Mike Carey (writer), Steve Kurth (art), Allen Martinez (inks), Brian Reber (colors), Chris Eliopoulos (letters), Jake Thomas & Sebastian Girner (assistant editors) & Daniel Ketchum (editor)

The Story: More is revealed in Age of X, Chapter #2.

What’s Good: Most of the really good things about this issue come from the editorial/publishing side of the equation.  The story is good too, but let’s take a second to slap some editorial backs.  First, good call to stretch out the opening act of this story.  The standard pacing to a 6-chapter story is two issues of opening, 2 boring middle issues and a 2-issue finale.  It makes a LOT of sense to stretch the opening because the boring middle act only is relevant if the story is actually going to change something in the X-universe.  Call it cynicism, but after reading hundreds of X-titles, nothing really changes.  So, let’s just have the fun mystery of the opening act flow directly into the slam-bang of the finale!

Second, it is great that this is truly a “Chapter 2” rather than an issue spotlighting the New Mutants as they deal with the same problems elucidated in Chapter 1 (“And now let’s go see how this set of characters is dealing with the same problem”).  Marvel had a nice opportunity to do this with Zeb Wells departure from New Mutants and they capitalize by making the events of this issue flow directly from Chapter 1.

Third, let’s give Marvel a little credit for just having the action of Age of X occur within the ongoing series rather than doing what they did with Shadowland or Chaos War and running a separate miniseries.  Those things are just sales gimmicks and while they do generate some sales, they raise fans’ expectations for the magnitude of the story and that leads to a cheapening of the underlying property.

As for the story itself, the mysteries are still building and that is fun and enjoyable.  Much of this issue deals with Rogue trying to get to the bottom of the appearance of Kitty Pryde in the last issue.  To investigate this, she has to invade Danger’s jailhouse where a LOT of mutants who seem to have some clues about what is really going on are being held.  We also get some tempting tidbits from Cyclops/Basilisk about the possible nature of the human troops attacking the Force Barrier protecting Fortress X.

Iron Man Legacy #5 – Review

By: Fred van Lente (writer), Steve Kurth (pencils), Allen Martinez (inks), John Rauch & Chris Chuckry (colors) & Dave Lanphear (letters)

The Story: The Big Bad behind the strife in Transia is revealed.  Surprise… It’s Doom.

What’s Good: This issue ends in the initial story arc on Iron Man Legacy and ends it on a positive note.  I have not been a tremendous fan of this series thus far and was concerned about this issue because endings to story arcs are hard: It is a lot easier to plop a lot of cool ideas onto a comic page at the beginning of a story than to do something interesting with them.

So, I was pleasantly surprised at the direction van Lente went with the issue of Tony Stark’s legacy.  Too often we have see his legacy illustrated by out of control Stark-tech falling into the hands of bad people.  Here we see that one of his other legacies is to inspire the inventors of the world to use their talents to create a better world for their peoples.  Thus, I was very happy to see them bring back the Dragana (the handicapped lady engineer from past issues) as a hero with a cool new armor suit that she hopes can become an inspiration to her people.  Actually, the suit is a little more like a mech that she sits inside, but you get the point.

Iron Man Legacy #4 – Review

By: Fred van Lente (writer), Steve Kurth (pencils), Allen Martinez (inks), John Rauch (colors) & Dave Lanphear (letters)

The Story: We finally get some Iron Man action in Iron Man Legacy as Stark has a throw down with a plethora of enemies.

What’s Good: Not a whole lot, to be honest.  It was refreshing to finally see the actual Iron Man be present in a comic titled Iron Man Legacy as we get to see a multi-way throw-down between Iron Man, Radioactive Man, Titanium Man and the Crimson Dynamo (thank goodness he isn’t named Crimson Man who that would have been a tedious sentence).  I enjoyed seeing a stranded Tony Stark get resupplied with armor by an orbital platform.

We also have the promise of better things to come with Dr. Doom getting in on the action with some Stark-tech juiced Doombots.

The art in this issue was quite improved mostly because the subject matter (armor battles) seems to play more to the strengths of Kurth’s pencils.  I’ve mentioned before that I think this more photo-realistic style in both Legacy and Invincible Iron Man work better on the armor than they do on the characters actual faces, so it is nice to see a story that is starting to play to the strengths of the artist.

Iron Man Legacy #3 – Review

By: Fred van Lente (writer), Steve Kurth (pencils), Allen Martinez (inks), John Rauch (colors) & Dave Lamphear (letters)

The Story: Tony Stark’s adventures in Eastern Europe continue as he tries to escape from the bad guys who are applying intense selective pressure to the locals to try to create a new Tony Stark.  Plus, Doom gets involved.

What’s good: I thought for a second that we were going to get to see Tony Stark hitting on a lady with no legs.  No wait… It happened in a really uncomfortable way, so it goes on the “bad” list!

The next best things that I can come up with “good” in this issue are that it has Doom in it along with Dreadknight and his winged horse.  But, other than that… This is pretty much a suckfest.

Iron Man Legacy #2 – Review

By: Fred van Lente (writer), Steve Kurth (pencils), Allen Martinez & Victor Olazaba (inks), John Rauch (colors) & Dave Lanphear (letters)

The Story: Tony Stark’s one-man war against the villains with stolen Iron Man technology in Transia continues.

What’s Good: I was a little hard on the initial issue of Iron Man Legacy,

but this issue feels a lot more grounded and put together.  One thing that bothered me about issue #1 was that although it was pretty clear that it wasn’t exactly in continuity with the rest of the Marvel Universe, it wasn’t clear when the action took place.  That is kind of answered here.  This story is taking place sometime before Tony Stark made it publicly known that he was the Iron Man.  That at least clears things up a little.

This is also very clearly a “new reader” comic.  The target for this comic is folks who loved Iron Man 2 and wanted to try reading an Iron Man comic.  The story is very unburdened by continuity (witness that I can’t figure out when this really happens).  As much as I love my continuity, it is a serious impediment for new readers and I’m glad to see Marvel trying to make this an easy title to jump onto.

The art has also calmed down a little bit.  I felt like in #1 there was almost an attempt to make the art look like Salvador Larroca’s work on Invincible Iron Man.  While this issue is still generally photo-realistic, it has its own look.  I particularly like the inking job on this issue.

Iron Man Legacy #1 – Review

By: Fred Van Lente (writer), Steve Kurth (pencils), Allen Martinez & Victor Olazaba (inkers), John Rauch (colors) and Dave Nphear (letters)

The Story: Iron Man gets a second on-going series where the bad-guy is using (no surprise) stolen Iron Man technology against civilians.

What’s Good: Not a whole lot to be honest.  The best part of this issue is on the final page where the villain is revealed.  I won’t spoil who it is, but I was really disappointed in this issue until turning the page and saying, “Ok….that might be interesting.”

I also think that Fred Van Lente is a good writer, so I have some faith that this series will get its issues sorted out.

What’s Not So Good: Perhaps we can start with the questionable need for another Iron Man ongoing series?  I would have rather taken more frequent issues of Invincible Iron Man (a la Amazing Spider-Man).  I’m sure this series is mostly motivated by the movie coming out and the desire to have a comic that new readers can follow along with.

Another problem I had was that it wasn’t clear when the events of this issue took place.  It sure didn’t feel like it was in current continuity: Tony Stark is happily running his business and there is no mention of SHIELD, Norman Osborn or erasing his mind.  If you try to date it by what armor we see, we see an automated suit of armor that looks kinda like the Extremis armor (but it could be that he’s got an old model on guard-dog duty).

The story wasn’t really doing it for me either.  This series is going to obviously get compared to Invincible Iron Man, so I’m a little confused that they would have the bad guys using rogue Iron Man tech to attack civilians (which is how IIM started off 2 years ago).

Mighty Avengers #29 – Review

By Dan Slott & Christos Gage (writers), Khoi Pham (artist), Allen Martinez (inker), John Rauch (colors)

The Story: US Agent, Quicksilver, and the People’s Defense Force are still dancing around The Unspoken, understandably reluctant to directly confront him again even as he unearths the ominously named Slave Engine. Stature, Ronin, and the Young Avengers are still working on getting some answers out of Scarlet Loki, and Pym is still too busy to be bothered with all of this. Can’t say I blame him.

The Good: I liked the cover.

The Not So Good: This is tricky. We’re in the middle of “The Unspoken” so it’s hard to speak to this issue directly when it’s only one component to the entire storyline. You can’t appreciate this issue without having read the previous two, which were much more promising, and you can’t appreciate successive issues without having read this. What I can say with certainty though is that after reading this issue I was bored to tears. I feel like “The Unspoken” has taken a nosedive and become yet another generic potboiler. That’s not to say the story can’t improve next month, because I really hope it will, but right now I cannot think of one reason why you need to buy this. The Unspoken’s explanation of Xerogen gas and Xerogenesis was weirdly moronic, the Slave Engine sounds like something selected at random from the Big Book of Generic Ideas, and the Young Avengers’ battle with Scarlet Loki was anticlimactic, considering how great a threat Loki poses. And then there was that tender moment between Ronin and Scarlet Loki, which may have not totally jumped the shark, but came pretty damn close. Assuming we are in fact in the middle of this story, I would think that this is the point where things need to happen, tension needs to build, and excitement should become palpable. None of these things happened though, and I honestly have no idea why because until now Mighty Avengers has enjoyed a string of great stories.

Conclusion: I hate to say it but for me, the honeymoon with “The Unspoken” is over, and I’m left wondering when this story is going to end so we can move on to better things. You don’t need this.

Grade: D

-Tony Rakittke

Mighty Avengers #28 – Review

By Dan Slott and Christos Gage (writers), Khoi Pham (artist), Allen Martinez (inker)

The Story: Cut off from the rest of their team by the machinations of Loki, US Agent and Quicksilver have no other choice but to battle The Unspoken alongside China’s premiere superhuman army.  Statue discovers ‘Scarlet Loki’s’ treachery but is prevented from revealing it to the other Mighty Avengers so she turns to her friends on the Young Avengers for help.

The Good: Ever since Slott came on board, I feel like this title has found new life and a sense of fun that is well worth my money.  There is a vibe to this book that reminds me of the kinds of Avengers stories I grew up reading, when dynamic and dramatic team rosters united against epic foes. Uber Republican US Agent was by far my favorite character in this issue, and I laughed out loud when he reverently referred to Norman Osborn as being a patriot.  What made that scene even cooler was his fight with the Collective Man, a Communist who can summon the strength of every person in China.  Delightfully mad ideas like this keep me coming back to this book every month.

The Not So Good: This was a fairly average issue that didn’t amount to nearly as much as it would have you believe it did.  I was so into the battle against The Unspoken that when Slott changed scenes to Pym injecting team members with keys to the Infinite Avengers Mansion or Stature deciding how to overcome the spell Loki placed on her, I felt like they dragged on longer than necessary .  The funny thing about that though was that when I went back to look at these scenes again, they really weren’t that long after all.

Conclusion: The Mighty Avengers is one hell of an entertaining book that harkens back to an older, more enjoyable tradition of Avengers stories.  If you’re fed up paying $8 a month for Bendis’ Avengers books, I strongly encourage you to give this a try instead!

Grade:  B

-Tony Rakittke

Mighty Avengers #23 – Review

By Dan Slott (writer), Khoi Pham (artist), Allen Martinez and Danny Miki (inkers)

Even as I grew to despise Bendis’s writing over the years, I was always willing to give him a chance when it came to The Avengers because they have long been a favorite team of mine since childhood.  From Avengers, New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, and right up to Dark Avengers, Bendis has conned me into thinking that each new iteration of the team might be the one that delivers the kind of epic action and drama that I’ve come to associate with the franchise.  Sadly, every title has let me down.  They’ve become vanity projects for Bendis full of overblown, Seinfeldian dialogue and plots that aren’t nearly exciting enough to justify the $3.99 price tags that are conveniently on his comics.  Needless to say, when I learned that Bendis was leaving Mighty Avengers I became optimistic, and when I read the roster for Slott’s new team, I became excited.  This team, a powerful combination of characters old and new, was a group of Avengers that made sense.  More importantly, it was a team I felt would be fun to read, and so far this title definitely delivers.

Completing the “origin” story of this new team of Avengers, this issue finds Hank Pym, now calling himself Wasp in honor of his late wife, being challenged by none other than Tony Stark for leadership of the group, which has been mysteriously assembled to combat the ancient Chaos god Cthon.  During the conflict egos clash, insecurities arise, a leader emerges, and the team’s malevolent founder is revealed.  In the sea of crap that Bendis has thrown the Avengers franchise into, Slott’s opening storyline on this title is a much needed breath of fresh air.  His script easily balances action, comedy, and characterization in ways that remind me why I’ve loved the Avengers for so long.  Khoi Pham’s art works best on a large scale, and if you don’t believe me, just check out the covers to his first three issues of this comic and tell me you wouldn’t buy a poster of it right now if you could!  Slott and Pham will need a little time to make this title their own, but I’m willing to give it to them because they have finally given me an Avengers comic I can enjoy again.  This is shaping up to be quite a fun comic and I hope you’ll give it a try!

Grade: B+

Tony Rakittke

Mighty Avengers #19 (Secret Invasion) – Review

By Brian Michael Bendis (story), Khoi Pham (pencils), Danny Miki and Allen Martinez (inks), Dean White and Paul Mounts (colors)

The Story: The Skrulls have a bunch of sleeper agents on Earth just waiting for the right time to be awoken. Among these sleeper agents is Captain Marvel and perhaps another Kree soldier, Noh-Varr. After he discovers the true nature for his return to Earth Mar-vell wrestles with his conflicted personality. Does he go with the brainwashing he received and take the mantle of the Captain Marvel persona, or does he follow the orders of the Skrull empire?

What’s Good? The visual use of storytelling takes front and center with Khoi Pham leading the charge. He not only manages to deliver on Brian Bendis’ script, but also produces many striking images as well.

After the initial set up of the opening pages the book goes for a non-stop ride until the tragic finish. It’s very tempting to skip over Mar-Vell’s inner monologue and be whisped away be Pham’s art, but to do so would deny the yourself of the turmoil he faces.

It’s also been a while since a lettering job has really wowed me. Dave Lanphear’s work on this issue is some of the best I’ve seen in a long time. It’s an exhibition of sound effects and it makes the action much more gratifying.

What’s Not So Good? If you’ve been reading Secret Invasion, you already know the outcome of this story. Also, the lack of dialogue and a lack of a more beefier story will upset some readers who plucked down their $2.99.

Conclusion: This is essentially issue #6 of last year’s Captain Marvel mini-series from Brian Reed. And that, by no means is a bad thing. Even though this is the end of a character, the last page shows a seed that will mostly likely germinate from the ashes.

Grade: B

– J. Montes

Thor #10 – Review

By J. Michael Straczynski (Writer), Olivier Coipel (Penciler), Mark Morales, Allen Martinez, and Victor Olazaba (Inkers), and Laura Martin (Colorist)

I don’t know how J. Michael Straczynski does it. Every issue so far has been nothing but a slowly stewing plot in which we get a lot of story, but relatively little development. There has been very little action, and it seems that Thor is getting even less “screen time.” But despite all this, and perhaps because of it, Thor continues to be one of my favorite monthly reads, if not my favorite monthly read in general.

Building upon Loki’s secretive sinister actions, we see exactly how Balder reacts to his new-found knowledge that he is a son of Odin, half-brother of Thor, and another heir to the throne of Asgard. As Loki relates the truth of Balder’s origin and why it has been kept secret, we get a classic mythical tale of Asgardian feasts, ominous visions, and even a brief explanation of the “true” origin of vampires! Loki continues to move her plot forward, as Balder confronts Thor demanding to know why the truth of his heritage has needlessly remained hidden. Thor, of course, had perfectly good motives, and while Balder seems to regain his trust in him, I wouldn’t be surprised if this might be the cause of friction between them later. Indeed, I am sure that is what Loki intended. Personally, I’m loving the little teases of what Loki has in store for Asgard, and I’m sure when her full plan is finally revealed it will be both epic and devastating. (I just want to know how it involves Dr. Doom, as revealed back in issue four or five!)

On the mortal side of things, we see that Bill is still struggling over his feelings for Kelda. While this may seem like a “soap opera” element for the moment, I’m sure Bill’s connection as well as Asgard, may play a significant role in the future. The citizens of Broxton also provide us with the obligatory humor of the issue as they are “startled” by the noises of the Asgardian celebration. (Poor Ms. Sooner, that’s all I gotta say.) So while Thor #10 may have been a slight bit slower than usual, Straczynski maintains his mastery of storytelling and I’ve been provided my “Thor fix” for now. That said, I already can’t wait for the next issue. (Grade: B+)

-M. Staples

Mighty Avengers #11 – Review

By Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils) Danny Miki & Allen Martinez (inks), Marko Djurdjevic (art), Justin Ponsor (colors)

Mighty Avengers #11 brings the current story arc to a satisfying, yet rushed ending. Buying himself some time, Doctor Doom travels back into the past to coax Morgana into teaching him the ways of summoning a demon army. With knowledge in hand, he ditches her and rushes back to the present to confront the Avengers. With little effort, the team is captured by Doom.

With their capture out of the way, the hilarity begins. Brian Bendis floods the pages with silly thought balloons, long diabolical monologues, and humorous exchanges of one-liners. Eventually, Spider-Woman manages to overload Doom’s magical bonds and frees the team. Ares, who’s already one pissed off demi-god, begins his thrashing of all things Doom. The rest of the team joins in the battle while Ms. Marvel goes off to find Iron Man and Sentry. With the battle drawing more even by the moment, The Sentry tips the scales and does something quite shocking to bring the battle to its conclusion.

The issue is good. It’s entertaining. But it’s not great. In fact, most of it is forgettable. It’s got gobs of action and nice bits of dialogue, but it’s also more of the same stuff we’ve seen in the previous two issues. Only the conclusion and epilogue really stand out as memorable. Even Mark Bagley’s art feels more rushed than usual. And if this is his last penciled Marvel comic (for now), then it’s even more of a let down. I will say this, though: The second to last page serves as a hint of what we’ll be seeing when the Skrulls finally unveil their plans next issue. (Grade: B-)

– J. Montes