Age of Ultron #8 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Brandon Peterson (Artist), Paul Mounts (Color Artist), VC’s Cory Petit (Letterer)

Review: How crazy is Age of Ultron #8? “It’s insane. It’s—it’s a fantasia of insanity,” according to future/alternate Tony Stark. I’d say that’s pretty conservative. R Kelly would call it “crazier than a fish with titties.” Amanda Bynes would just do this. Though as good as those descriptions are, do any of them really do justice to the image of Morgana Le Fey flying into battle backed up an army of Dragon-riding Asgardian Doom-Bots!?!? Nah, not really. This ish is bugnuts.

Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #4 – Review

By Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Sean Chen (Pencils), Lorenzo Ruggiero (Inks), and John Rauch (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: While Dark Reign: Fantastic Four feels stretched a bit thin even though it’s only a five issue mini-series, it’s still worth checking out for the high-concept story and slick artwork. The Dark Reign tie-in also gives fans of Marvel’s first family a taste of what’s to come when Jonathan Hickman takes over the F.F. ongoing after Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch finish up their run.

The Story: After completing his exploration of possible realities, Reed Richards comes to terms with who he is. Johnny, Sue, Ben and their alternates fight a bunch of Venomy, Skrully aliens while facing the collapse of space-time. Meanwhile, Franklin and Valeria deal with Norman Osborn and Venom/Dark Spider-Man.

What’s Good: Though it has a few weak points (which I’ll get to), Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #4 is the best issue of the mini-series yet. In particular, it’s a big improvement over the last issue, which was basically just a rehash of the second chapter. Clever, funny, and full of action, the fourth chapter of the Fantastic Four Dark Reign tie-in makes me glad that I stuck with the mini.

Jonathan Hickman shows that he’s really gotten into a groove with the characters and it goes a long way towards making up for some of the pacing issues. Reed’s revelation is delivered with an arrogance and gravity that works quite a bit better than I had expected. Also noteworthy is how well Hickman handles Norman Osborn. The character’s confrontation with Franklin and Valeria, a highlight of the issue, is equal parts humorous and intense. That’s a tough combination to effectively pull off. The king of Dark Reign is written with a menace that’s been lacking since his climb to the top of the Marvel political ladder, while Franklin and Valeria are written in a way that mixes youthful enthusiasm, humor, and intelligence into an effective blend.

Sean Chen and his art team add a hell of a lot to Hickman’s story and character work. The artwork is clean, stylish, and, when it needs to be, awesomely chaotic. There are two particularly strong segments: the bizarre “Venomy, Skrully” alien scene and the scene that makes up the bulk of the confrontation between Reed’s kids and Osborn and Venom. The first scene is hectic, violent, and badass thanks to Chen’s take on the “Venom” look. The second scene is funny, tense, and loaded with personality.

What’s Not So Good: The problem with Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #4 is somewhat complicated to explain. In one sense, the story seems to be stretched pretty thin, leaving the whole thing feeling a bit light and somewhat repetitive (it seems as though D.R. F.F. #2-#4 all have the same type of plot trajectory). But in another sense, the story seems to be leaving a lot of territory totally unexplored. Reed’s search for information seems rich with possibility and, oddly, underdeveloped. It makes me wonder if the true conclusion to the Fantastic Four Dark Reign story will end not in the fifth issue, but during Jonathan Hickman’s run on the Fantastic Four ongoing.

Conclusion: While it’s not all that it could be, I still recommend the latest issue of Dark Reign: Fantastic Four. It looks great, reads well, and runs on a number of cool ideas.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny

Exiles #2 – Review

By Jeff Parker (Writer), Salva Espin (Artist), and Anthony Washington (Colorist)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: Exiles #1 wasted no time in winning me over. Jeff Parker’s script was informative, surprisingly funny, and featured a solid twist ending. Salva Espin’s lively, expressive artwork proved to be a perfect compliment to the story being told. As for the colors, Anthony Washington’s work made the entire book feel like a breath of fresh air from all the darker, more serious Marvel fare. Simply put, I found Exiles #1 to be quite the creative success because of the fact that everything just came together so damn well. It will be interesting to see if the second issue can keep up all the positive momentum.

The Story: The Exiles mission is to help Wolverine overthrow Magneto’s reign in Genosha. The one catch is that in the reality the Exiles are in, Wolverine isn’t much more than a head on a stick. So what that means is that it’s up to the Exiles to figure out a way to overthrow the royal family of Genosha while blending in with the general mutant population of this alternate reality.

What’s Good: Nearly everything about Exiles #2 works for me. The story that develops successfully threads the line between fun and serious, rarely losing balance. Jeff Parker’s script is clever, humorous (Black Panther has some great lines), and very effective in how it plays around with established character norms. The visuals from Salva Espin look fantastic, especially in regards to the highly expressive characters that show an impressive range of emotion throughout the book. Also, I must mention that Anthony Washington deserves praise for making Exiles one of the most colorful, eye-catching books on the stands.

What’s Not So Good: While rarely losing balance, Exiles #2 does occasionally teeter into melodrama here and there. It doesn’t really hurt things from a story perspective because the drama is used to develop the characters on the team, but it does come across as a bit heavy-handed. Another small complaint is that some panels look a bit rushed. It’s something that’s carried over from issue one and it, while somewhat understandable, still proves to be distracting.

Conclusion: Exiles #2 manages to maintain nearly all of the momentum generated by the strong debut. I highly recommend that you give the series a chance while it’s still early enough (and easy enough) to get into it right from the beginning.

Grade: B+

-Kyle Posluszny