Resurrection Man #1 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Fernando Dagnino (artist) Santi Arcas (colorist)

The Story: He takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’.

The Review: If you want to give such a character another try at the popular market, it’s worth examining their core concept to see what made them a cult hit the first time around.  You won’t have too difficult a time recognizing the macabre appeal of Resurrection Man.  We often joke about death being no great obstacle in the world of comics, but the entire basis of R. Man’s powers and actions spring from his rising from the dead.

While the idea on paper sounds a little tongue-in-cheek, DnA, R. Man’s creators, manage to portray the concept in credibly tense fashion.  Right from the start we get to see his powers in action as he awakens on a morgue’s gurney and proceeds to sneak out, acquire some clothes and funds, and assess the skill set he comes back with this time.  He does all this with the systematic nonchalance of a veteran, which rings home just how often he’s had to repeat this process.

Of course, you have the big two questions: how and why?  While the “how” remains mostly a mystery, we get a couple intriguing clues as to the reason for his being.  Upon each revival, he has “a new…thing that I just have to do.  A gut feeling I can’t ignore.”  Your first instinct may lean towards the theory that a higher power guides him, but then you have to wonder: which higher power?  From the looks of things, both the guys “upstairs” and “the basement office” want R. Man’s soul.  So if he’s being compelled to act, who’s responsible for the compulsion?

Like many of the “Dark” titles, this issue doesn’t hesitate to offer some food for thought along with the action.  DnA set up the story so we get a very intimate look at a few of the individuals R. Man’s meant to encounter and presumably help.  When the rug ultimately gets pulled out from under us, the tragedy of the scene really comes through, its hopelessness emphasized by his flight companion, who informs him that the people’s fates had already been sealed, making you wonder if R. Man’s being brought back time and again for a purpose or as a cruel joke.

New Mutants #30 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), David Lafuente (art), Val Staples & Chris Sotomayor (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Sebastian Girner (editor)

The Story: Dani Moonstar is trying to get some help from Hela, but Hela needs some help herself in this Fear Itself tie-in.

What’s Good: If you like your New Mutants undiluted by appearances of bona fide X-Men, this is your kind of comic.  In the A-Story, we see Dani continuing her secondary role as a Valkyrie and I really enjoy this aspect for her given the character’s long association with Asgard (go read New Mutants Special Edition #1… Art Adams will make you weep).  Being a Valkyrie also makes her more than just another depowered and helpless mutant.

The B-Story is fun too as the rest of the New Mutants have accidentally landed in Hell-proper via a screwed up incantation of a spell.  Gotta admit, that would be tricky: Having a Hel and a Hell.  You’d think this sort of mistake would happen often.  But that gives Abnett & Lanning a chance to write a really delectable Mephisto.  Some writers make Mephisto more of a nasty or brooding presence, but I much prefer him as a sly and fun character that is always trying to trick folks into joining him willingly.  That characterization makes more sense to me because Mephisto does have all the time in the world to win our souls by offering us tantalizing treats.  He also takes a pretty fun interest in Magma/Amarra; what real devil wouldn’t use their powers to try to get the hot chicks?

Flashpoint: Lois Lane and the Resistance #3 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Christian Duce (penciller), Walden Wong (inker), Hi-Fi (colorist)

The Story: No, no, I said we need to get the truth out there!

The Review: I had a literary journalism major as an undergrad.  One of the required courses I took was on journalistic ethics, which included a session where we discussed how much a journalist can insert himself into the story, a debate of an intensity and heatedness that I can’t even begin to fathom now.  The point is, most of the time the journalist puts the demands of the story before himself, staying out of the action so events can proceed on their most natural course.

Despite Lois’ assertion last issue that she “has become part of the story,” her role never really reached beyond that of observer and narrator, a cipher to whom other people can tell their stories.  And that’s fine, except like most journalists, she spends far too much time focused on the splashy, action-packed side of things (the escapades of the Resistance) and not enough with the actually important points (the Amazon war crimes).

When you take a step back, you realize that in the context of Flashpoint, the revelation of the Amazon internment camps and gene-tampering experiments have the biggest, game-changing effects on the plot as a whole.  Wonder Woman’s discovery of it horrifies her sufficiently to fly off and confront her aunt (who presumably engineered the whole thing), and Lois’ broadcast of it to the world may have been just the prod the world needs to step in and shut down this madness.

Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies #3 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Agustin Padilla (penciller), Jose Aviles (inker), Andrew Dalhouse (colorist)

The Story: Anything Arthur and Diana do, Orm and Penthesilea can do better.

The Review: Batman may be a man of mystery, but Wonder Woman and Aquaman, for all their fame and stature, are easily the most enigmatic characters in the Justice League.  They have a devoted following, and no one doubts their status as icons, but you don’t really have a handle on who they are or what they really stand for.  You can know everything to know about their origins, ideals, and powers, but you still won’t catch a glimpse into their hearts, minds, or souls.

So it makes perfect sense that even with a major Event whose storyline is half-built around these two characters, it turns out their every action has been strung along by others.  In fact, by the end of this issue, you’ll know way more about Penthesilea and Orm’s goals, and the attitudes that drive them, than you do about their starring kin.

Not that getting an understanding of these Machiavellian schemers poses that much difficulty.  Both only care about preserving the traditions of their respective cultures, mostly by making sure the outside/surface world’s ridiculous ideas of progress (e.g., peace and diplomacy) never catch on.  They offer an interesting, though vastly divergent, parallel to Arthur and Diana.  The passion of their beliefs draws them together; whatever romance they feel for one another seems largely incidental, almost irrelevant.

Flashpoint: Lois Lane and the Resistance #2 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Gianluca Gugliotta (artist), Hi-Fi (colorist)

The Story: What do we want?  Men’s rights!  When do we want it?  Now!

The Review: Historically, resistance movements against foreign occupiers have been marginalized in importance, mostly because much of what they do tend to be, by nature and necessity, discreet and subtle.  Though overthrow of their conquerors is the endgame they strive for, their most ambitious goals usually revolve around weakening, not defeating, their enemies.  Ultimately, their efforts tend to be overshadowed by bigger, splashier military engagements.

And let’s face it: there’s a 99 percent chance that this whole Amazon-Atlantean conflict will patch up due to the Flash’s influence.  Whatever effect Lois Lane and the Resistance will have on the final outcome will be largely moot.  You don’t really expect the events of this title to really sway the events of Flashpoint in a significant way, but you can hope it’ll give you a closer look at the Amazon occupation and a fun, espionage-type story.

In fact, the plot offers a potentially interesting premise, in the Resistance’s quest for the next-gen Britannia armor that can possibly turn their fortunes around.  Unfortunately, the point gets introduced so late in the issue that you can’t possibly get too invested in it.  Instead of actually doing the work to get to the armor, the characters spend most of the time laying out their histories, setting details, and all sorts of other blather that just gets in the way of the action.

Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies #2 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Augustin Padilla (penciller), Jose Aviles (inker), Val Staples (colorist)

The Story: Boy, that decision to not sign a pre-nup sure takes on new meaning now, doesn’t it?

The Review: In the thick of war, neither party can claim to be innocent of wrongdoing, which is often the same case when trying to piece out who started it.  But in the Flashpoint world, with the aggressors on either side including characters we normally see as heroic to the core, you have to be a little interested to see what kind of incident can provoke them into all-out ruthlessness.

DnA do a very good job making the war a tragic chain of events beyond either Wonder Woman or Aquaman’s control, making them sympathetic figures even as they commit some fairly unconscionable acts.  On the one hand, you can’t help feeling like Diana gets the truly rough of the stick, losing first her mother, then her best friend and homeland, but knowing what you do about who’s really pulling the strings here, it’s impossible to blame Arthur.

In fact, you’ll have just as much pity for him after seeing his genuine dismay and horror at the damage inflicted upon Diana’s family and home, and his desperate attempt to make things right even his efforts are futile (“Diana!  We’re all being deceived!  Diana!”).  Again, I marvel at the difference in Tony Bedard’s totally hardcore portrayal of Arthur over in Flashpoint: Emperor Aquaman, and DnA’s loving, trusting, and peaceful (at first) version of the character here.

New Mutants #26 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Leandro Fernandez (art), Andres Mossa (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Sebastian Girner (editor) & Nick Lowe (senior editor)

The Story: The New Mutants continue their first mission now that they’re on official mop-up duty for the X-Men: The search for Nate Grey.

What’s Good: As with X-Men Legacy this week, it is great that this X-comics has a unique cast of characters.  We have plenty of opportunities to see the exploits of the main mutants and some of those characters like Wolverine are so larger-than-life than they suck the air out of the room; it’s hard for a character like Magma to shine or develop much when Emma Frost is in the room.  I also really love that Abnett & Lanning have given these junior mutants a coherent mission: clean up the loose ends that the X-Men leave behind.  The mission the New Mutants are tasked with here is: Find Nate Grey.   And in finding Nate Grey, they’ll run across a leftover from Age of Apocalypse.  Funny how that story line keeps swirling around this summer, huh?

So, the basic set-up for the mission and series are solid.

The art is a positive from a storytelling standpoint.  There’s never much doubt about what is going on and the issue is nicely colored.

Flashpoint: Lois Lane and the Resistance #1 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Eddie Nunez (penciller), Don Ho (inker), Hi-Fi (colorist)

The Story: All the single ladies, all the single ladies—put your hands up!  You’re under arrest!

The Review: Considering the overwhelming span and scope of these Big Events, DC has made a laudable effort to ensure the numerous Flashpoint tie-ins are as reader-friendly as possible.  After reading about a dozen or so of these, I can safely tell you they can each stand on their own, even if you never read a page of the main series.  This comes with a catch: every tie-in has to commit a certain amount of time briefing you on the primary Flashpoint facts.

Like a good half of the tie-ins, this issue starts off with the five to ten obligatory pages devoted to the Amazon-Atlantean conflict and its most infamous fallout, the sinking of Western Europe.  DnA manage to make the event somewhat more immersive than usual by virtue of placing Lois Lane right in the middle of the disaster, but even so the horror of the situation seems taken for granted.  Aside for a handful of fleeing people and some surfing cars, you just don’t see enough of the massive flood’s effects to feel suitably sympathetic with it.

And it all takes time away from the real substance of the story, where Lois Lane takes us into the Amazonian world order in New Themyscira, formerly Great Britain.  You get a few interesting bits: segregation of men and women, female reeducation camps, the conversion of select ladies into full-blooded Amazons (and possibly ogre creatures—a potential side-effect of the Super Soldier formula, girl version, I suppose).  All of these can make good, misandrous reading.

Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies #1 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Scott Clark (penciller), Dave Beaty (inker), Nei Ruffino (colorist)

The Story: Now, you guys are absolutely positive this isn’t a shotgun wedding?

The Review: Of course, one of the most impacting changes in the Flashpoint world is Wonder Woman and Aquaman’s fierce enmity, which has led to countless deaths and the devastation of an entire continent.  Flashpoint: Emperor Aquaman #1 danced around the origins of this intense hatred, noting the near-marriage between the two young royals and the enraging deaths of Queens Hippolyta and Mera, but we’ve still yet to see the nitty-gritty of these past events.

In Flashpoint: Knight of Vengeance #1, I mentioned how the real point of change came more from a subtle alteration in Thomas Wayne’s behavior, which led to drastic changes to the night of his family’s mugging.  In the same way, Diana’s more pronounced impulsiveness leads to her setting sail from Themyscira (prior to the tourney that traditionally marks her departure for the outside world), thus setting the stage for her fateful encounter with Arthur.

DnA deliver the goods with fine form, making the plot so accessible this issue could effectively work as a new series debut.  You don’t actually need much familiarity with the characters or their original conceptions to get engaged with this story. It wastes no time taking us through the major scenes: the first meeting of the Amazonians and Atlanteans, the unexpected announcement to both peoples of their rulers’ coming union, and the eventful day of the union itself.

New Mutants #25 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Leandro Fernandez (art), Andres Mossa (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Sebastian Girner (assistant editor) & Nick Lowe (editor)

The Story: A new creative team takes over New Mutants and sets them on a new direction.

What’s Good: It’s just so nice to see the New Mutants with something to do.  The action here seems to pick up shortly after the New Mutants return from Limbo, thankfully without mentioning Age of X.  So, we find Cannonball kinda out of action due to injuries and loss of confidence and Karma still reeling from the loss of her leg in Second Coming last summer, not to mention Illyana isn’t going to be trusted by Cyclops for a good long time after the end of the Limbo mission.  In the face of all that, is there even a need for the New Mutants team?  Who’s left?

We open with a fun and well executed opening showing the New Mutants + Wolverine, Kitty and Colossus smashing up a car factory where a piece of Nimrod (from Second Coming) seems to have taken refuge and has been corrupting the machines.  Once they get back to Utopia, Dani Moonstar gets summoned to Cyclops office and while she expects to hear that the New Mutants are being scrapped, he instead puts her in charge of the team and gives the team a mission: To mop up after the X-Men’s big events by taking care of things like the “piece of Nimrod”.

And, you know what….  That’s not a bad mission for these guys.  It makes sense that there will be loose ends after any big X-story and the New Mutants are an appropriate team to take care of those problems.  One of my problems with the New Mutants is that the writers are always devising threats for them that are too damn big. If the threats were really that big, they would be taken care of by the X-Men, Avengers, FF, etc… Not by a bunch of B-list mutants.  So, with this mission, Abnett and Lanning can just riff on whatever X-story has just wrapped up and give us a new and cool angle.  Furthermore, they can probably pick and choose which X-stories to play with and just skip the bad ones.  For example, I’d be surprised if they fiddle with that whole Lobe story from Uncanny X-men.  Why do that when the much more enticing Curse of the Mutants or Apocalypse stories are laying there?

Annihilators #3 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Tan Eng Huat (pencils), Victor Olazaba (inks), June Chung (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), John Denning (assistant editor) & Bill Rosemann (editor)

Rocket-Raccoon story by: Abnett & Lanning (writers), Timothy Green, II (art), Nathan Fairbairn (colors), Clayton Cowles (letters) & Denning & Rosemann (editors)

The Story: We finally see the Dire Wraiths again as the Annihilators journey into Limbo itself.  Meanwhile, Rocket Raccoon is dealing with an odd conspiracy having to do with other intelligent animals and killer clowns.

What’s Good: The art is fairly good throughout.  The star is Green’s art in the Rocket Raccoon story which is very cartoony and where he is drawing all kinds of crazy stuff like killer clowns, a space walrus, a cyborg rabbit, a weasel who is Rocket’s old flame and even a raccoon skeleton (when Rocket goes through an X-Ray).  Green’s layouts are bold and imaginative and the coloring by Nathan Fairbairn pops off the page.  Definitely keep an eye out for Green in the future.

In the “main” Annihilators story, the art team of Tan Eng Huat and Victor Olazaba does a pretty nice job too.  It is a fairly hectic issue with the Annihilators battling the Wraith Queen before journeying into Limbo itself and they manage to keep the story very coherent.  This would have been a pretty easy issue for the artists to lose their handle on the story, but that never happened.

What’s Not So Good: I love me some 70’s and 80’s comics, so I don’t mind exposition, but this issue is very exposition heavy and it doesn’t help that it is double sized (20 pages for Annihilators & 22 pages for Rocket Raccoon).  Some people like to talk about how you “got your money’s worth” for the $4.99 price tag, but I’ve never considered the time required to read a comic to equal “value”; I’m more interested in whether I enjoyed the story and found it memorable.  Probably either one of these stories could have been exposition heavy, and it would have worked IF the other story was quick and jaunty.  But, with both are really drawn out and ponderous, it gets to be a little painful to read.  I tend to blame editorial for this, as I’m fairly sure the original plan was for these to both be separate miniseries before Marvel bolted them together into a single $4.99 miniseries.  It probably would have helped story pacing to lengthen/shorten one of these stories in previous issues such that ALL the exposition wasn’t in issue #3.

Adventure Comics #525 – Review

By: Paul Levitz & Phil Jimenez (storytellers), Andy Lanning & Sean Parsons (inkers), Hi-Fi (colorist), Geraldo Borges & Marlo Alquiza (2^nd feature artists)

The Story: It’s not easy having a dad who gives superpowers to the people trying to kill you.

The Review: Having a magic-user on your superhero team can be a great idea in practice, but very risky for a comics writer.  Magic can be a great catalyst for telling stories, but it can get out of hand very quickly.  Too often, magicians end up acting as deus ex machina by instantly getting their team out of otherwise inescapable scrapes—just look at Dr. Strange on the Avengers, or Zatanna on the Justice League.

There’s plenty of reason to fear Glorith will wind up doing the same thing for her Legion Academy mates.  With all her pals out of commission, she still manages to take down the rest of the gene-modified gangsters by herself using some vaguely portrayed powers (Illusions?  Mind control?  Telekinesis?).  Let’s hope Levitz doesn’t make this a habit—it can get old pretty fast.

On top of that, you have the dissatisfying non-conclusion to Chemical Kid’s storyline, where as it turns out, his dad’s been selling off his gene-mod tech to cover his gambling debts.  It’s a pretty cliché sort of explanation that doesn’t lead anywhere, although it’s kind of fun to see Chem Kid’s dad as a whimpering coward. The kids don’t really have a chance to do anything about it either, since Levitz chooses to abridge their plot with two other stories in the issue.

Senior Academy members Lamprey and Power Boy get their graduation final by taking down some exotic animal smugglers (which, amusingly enough, include elephants—nice to know we haven’t completely killed them off by the 31^st century).  It’s a low-stakes test, and since you don’t really know the Legion-hopefuls all that well, you have little interest in their success.  Let’s hope their getting shunted to prison duty on Takron-Galtos ends their part in this title for good.

Adventure Comics #524 – Review

By: Paul Levitz & Phil Jimenez (storytellers), Andy Lanning (inker), Hi-Fi (colorist)

The Story: What—my rich dad’s credit card is totally wiped?  He’s got to be in trouble, right?

The Review: The rite of passage for any teen superhero group usually involves disobeying their chaperones or having a run-in with foes out of their league.  Almost always, the two incidents go hand-in-hand, and they usually wind up testing the kids’ powers, their code of ethics, teamwork, friendships, and relationships to their mentors.  The success and value of this old plot usually depends on the setup for why they end up in trouble in the first place.

Levitz takes a rich, bratty know-it-all out for some kicks and turns the story into one about family ties, a very worthy change in gears.  Even after one issue, Chemical Kid’s snide (Bouncing Boy says “spirited,” but I’m going with Duplicate Girl on this one) attitude has already begun to wear thin, so it’s a relief to see he’s aware of his own jerkiness, and beneath the swagger, he’s actually very sentimental—look how tenderly he holds his damaged robot nanny.

Besides Chem Kid, all his Academy mates get some interesting character moments in this issue: Glorith’s magical destiny forcing her removal from her parents; Dragonwing’s own parents trying to sell her off; even Gravity Kid’s decision to join the others hints he’s not the totally strict do-gooder he seems.  These are all little threads that can easily spin into bigger storylines down the road, so Levitz clearly has far-sighted plans for this bunch of rascals.

In fact, if I may be so bold to say so, it feels Levitz is more invested in this team than he is with the full-blooded Legionnaires, or at least he writes them better.  His expository style of dialogue seems to suit characters with history left to spill more than it does characters that already know most of the ins and outs of each other.  When the Academy kids interact, it feels like they’re actively building relationships and learning, rather than bantering pointlessly.

Quick Hit Reviews – Week of March 2, 2011

Our reading lists are pretty extensive here at WCBR and sometimes a few titles don’t get the “full review treatment”.  Sometimes that means a real gem didn’t get the limelight it deserved and sometimes it means a turd didn’t get properly mocked.  Let’s find out what we have this week…

Avengers Academy #10 – This is turning out to be the sneaky star of the Post-Siege Avengers line-up as Christos Gage is telling a story that just builds week after week.  What is amazing to me is how cool of a comic this has become without having a real antagonist for the Academy kids.  Pretty much every other teenage superhero book has trotted out a Deathstroke or Magneto by this point, but Gage is keeping it entertaining by just exploring who these kids are.  This issue focuses on both Veil and Hazmat who are both really tragic heroes.  The “smile” of this issue was the use of Leech to neutralize Hazmat’s toxic powers and allow her to take a romp in the park without her suit.  The “serious” was brought by Speedball still dealing with the events that lead to Civil War.  This is a great comic series that you should be checking out.  Grade: B+  — Dean Stell

Heroes for Hire #4 – How much you enjoy this issue is going to depend 100% on how much you enjoy the character of Misty Knight because she is very much the focus of this issue.  If you are a big Misty fan, you’ll love seeing this trip through her memories as Puppetmaster tries to maintain control of her for reasons still unclear.  If you’re not, you’re going to get bored and that’s the camp I fell into because this issue has none of the fun of the first three issues (Moon Knight battling velociraptors??).  I’ve never been a HUGE Brad Walker fan, but I greatly missed him on this issue because I didn’t enjoy the art nearly as much in his absence.  Grade: C  — Dean Stell

Herculian #1 – This collection of short comic doodles and 24-hour-comic material by Erik Larson is pretty hard to grade.  On one hand, it is clearly of the doodle/sketchbook variety and shouldn’t be graded on the same scale as “finished” comic art.  On the other hand, they are charging $4.99 for the book, so you need to be accountable.  What you’re hoping for in a comic like this is one stellar story and we almost get that with Cheeseburgerhead which is a story of a man who wakes up to find that his head has turned into a big cheeseburger.  But, while Cheeseburger head is pretty fun and inventive, it isn’t stellar and the rest of the material is pretty “ok” including the LONG intro story of a man and his brother discussing the virtues of marriage while a super-powered battle is raging outside their restaurant.  I do like the oversized format though.  Grade: C-  — Dean Stell

Annihilators #1 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Tan Eng Huat (pencils), Victor Olazaba (inks), June Chung (colors), Joe Caramanga (letters), John Denning (assistant editor) & Bill Rosemann (editor)

Rocket Raccoon/Groot by: Abnett & Lanning (writers), Timothy Green, II (art), Nathan Fairbairn (colors), Clayton Cowles (letters), Rachel Pinnelas & Denning (assistant editors) & Rosemann (editor)

The Story: Quasar, Ronan, Gladiator, Beta Ray Bill, Silver Surfer & a Spaceknight (yes…a Spaceknight) team up to keep the Universe safe.  And….we catch up with everyone’s favorite spunky sentient Raccoon.

What’s Good: The mere premise of this book is kinda “Avengers in space”.  And it isn’t some weak team of heroes either.  Abnett & Lanning (DnA) have basically gathered together the most powerful cosmic beings in the Marvel U. on the premise that the Guardians of the Galaxy were a good concept, but simply not powerful enough to stop the truly massive threats.

There is a lot of “team’s first meeting” in this issue, but the real highlight for me is that one member of the Annihilators is an honest-to-goodness Galadorian Spaceknight.  Alas, it is not our favorite silvery Spaceknight hero from the early 1980’s: ROM.  ROM is still stuck in the trademark penalty box between Marvel and Parker Brothers, but the story of the Spaceknights and their mortal enemies, the Dire Wraiths, is a good one and worth exploring in the Marvel U.  Granted, Marvel has never completely abandoned the Spaceknight concept (there was a miniseries ~2000), but it is always good to have them back.

It was also a fun to catch up with Rocket Raccoon in a truly zany tale that shows Rocky in his post-Guardians phase pushing a mail-cart through a prairie dog warren of cubicles for some faceless cosmic corporation.  Sigh…he hates his job, it’s boring, his boss is a prick and then he get’s attacked by a very strange killer clown which causes him to want to track down his old buddy, Groot.  Fun abounds.

This is also a beefy issue.  So, we’re getting 38 pages of comics for your $4.99.

The art is very solid throughout.  Huat’s designs and layouts interpret the story very effectively and I really like Olazaba’s inks.  He shows a real commitment to shading with very fine lines and it gives the comics a very throwback feel.  Green’s art in the Rocket Raccoon story is much more comical and that not only fits the silly nature of the story, but it is usually a good choice with Rocky.  It is really hard to draw a “realistic” bipedal raccoon and not have it look like a monkey.

Quick Hit Reviews – Week of February 23, 2011

Sometimes there are soooo many comics published in a given week (ahem….I’m looking at you Marvel) that despite the heroic efforts of the WCBR writing staff, we simply can’t give every comic a complete review.  Thus, the Quick Hit Reviews…

New York Five #2 – Wow is Ryan Kelly a great artist!  The story here is solid, slice of life stuff as we follow our four college freshmen as they adapt to life in NYC, but the star of this issue is Kelly’s art.  His character work is really strong as young ladies are all cute and express appropriate emotion, but his attention to the city around them in just incredible.  The city just feels alive. I really need to track down New York Four and I encourage everyone to check out this Vertigo series.  Kelly and Tommy Lee Edwards (on Turf) made a LOT of artist’s backgrounds look like dog food this week.  Grade: A-  — Dean Stell

X-Men: To Serve and Protect #4 – All I ask of an anthology series is to give me one really memorable story.  I almost don’t care if 3/4 of the issue is crap as long as I get that one stellar tale.  This issue has a BIG mission accomplished for Jed MacKay and Sheldon Vella’s story of Dazzler, Misty Knight & Colleen Wing engaged in roller derby death match involved a really wacky version of MODOK (Mental Organism Designed Only for Roller Derby!!).  Vella’s art and colors are just amazing.  Toss in a good finale to the Rockslide/Anole story that has woven through this anthology series and you’ve got a winner.  I love the X-office continues to publish these anthologies.  Grade: B+  — Dean Stell

Quick Hit Reviews: Week of February 9, 2011

 

Yeesh… What a lot of comics last week, huh?  Especially after the preceding week being so light that we didn’t even need to do a “quick hits” feature.  That’s randomness for you!  But, the upshot of this weekly feature is that all of the writing staff at WCBR have pretty extensive pull lists and despite our best efforts, some issues don’t get a full review.  Thus, we bring you “quick hit reviews”

Black Panther: Man without Fear #515 – Good and bad with this issue and story.  The good: Francesco Francavilla’s art is just incredibly good.  He’s a real master of dark, moody and atmospheric art.  A bonus is that he colors his own work, so there is a very clear sense of lighting.  I’m also enjoying the story by David Liss of a depowered Black Panther fighting eastern European gangsters.  My only quibbles are that the script is a little verbose and that I don’t understand why Marvel doesn’t just let Francavilla do the cover also.  Really?  A Simone Bianchi cover on a Francavilla book?  There is nothing similar about their styles.  Grade: B — Dean Stell

Osborn #3 – What a sneaky good book this is!!!  Ms. DeConnick writes a very creepy and chilling Norman Osborn: Composed and methodical one moment and a frenzied psycho the next.  This is basically the story of how Osborn busts out of federal custody where he has been since the days of Siege.  Emma Rios’ art is a show stealer.  She is really, really talented and gets to draw all sorts of cool detailed stuff in this issue (including a bad ass riot at the super-villain prison).  Grade: B — Dean Stell

Carnage #3 – Zeb Wells spins a really good symbiote story and Clayton Crain sells how creepy the Carnage symbiote is.  The whole story is just hopping along with the symbiote having taken a new host (that kinda made sense) and busted out of his holding cell before running across town to find a BIG SURPRISE!  This is a well-paced and enjoyable comic.  Even though I enjoyed it and am giving it a good grade, I’m going to throw a rock (or two).  Why does Carnage have to come back this way?  Why can’t a C-list character like him have a new chapter with the lady host?  That would have been more interesting (I think).  And I am really warming to Crain’s art, but wish that he wouldn’t darken the panel every time there is action.  I want to see what is going on!  Grade: B-   — Dean Stell

Tyrannosaurus Rex One-Shot – This was a fun romp.  Not much in the way of story: Caveman village getting repeatedly ruined by a T. Rex.  Village chieftain offers his comely daughter to any many brave enough to slay the beastie.  One randy young man decides to give it a try.  Lots of really good dinosaurs in this comic by Jeff Zornow (including adding the feathers that scientists are now pretty certain they possessed).  The only bummer is that it would have been nice to see a little more of the comely daughter.  Grade: C+ — Dean Stell

Adventure Comics #523 – Review

By: Paul Levitz & Phil Jimenez (storytellers), Andy Lanning (inker), Hi-Fi (colorist)

The Story: These ain’t your mama’s Legionnaires—they like to fight hard, and party hard.  And do it on their parents’ money, apparently.  Kids these days…

The Review: Bringing in a team of unknowns can be a risky, even redundant move, especially in the overpopulated universes of mainstream superhero comics.  There’s bound to be outrage over the neglect of established characters in favor of those who may turn out to be nothing better than thinly veiled copies of what’s already been done.  Still, new characters can inject fresh energy onto titles even when they’re raw, and it’s just plain fun to speculate on their possible evolutions.

Adventure Comics’ set of rookies breathes new life into the title—a good thing.  Since the futuristic team has returned to its Silver Age continuity, under the helm of Levitz, its veteran writer, the Legion seems a bit creaky with age when it should be appealing to a younger generation of devotees.  No one can tell if an all-new cast of young characters will do the job, but the interest they generate in their first issue looks and feels promising.

Levitz has clear direction in mind for these kids, allowing them to express their distinctive voices throughout the issue, though the focus lands mostly on a select number of the bunch.  Levitz wisely uses the newest recruit, Glorith, as a cipher to guide you through the setting and dynamic of the title.  Each snippet of dialogue reveals a layer to the character speaking, and they bounce off each other very well, making for a very lively sounding issue.

As strong as the dialogue can be in this issue, there are still a few weak links.  Levitz still overly relies on telling you straight up what’s happening.  The gimmick can really start to grate on your nerves during the action sequences, where lines like “Accelerating my own metabolism makes you sound so dreary—but it makes this easy!” sounds not only awkward, but ridiculously corny.  It’s a very old-school style from Levitz, which feels somewhat unnatural and melodramatic.

Quick-hit Reviews – Week of Jan. 12, 2011

Our pull lists are all a little too long to give a full review to every comic we read in a given week.  So, here are a few quick thoughts on a few issues that were slipping through the cracks…

Captain America: Man Out of Time #3  – I’ve like this series from the start, but this issue–a single scene from this issue, actually–catapulted it from “great” to “truly excellent.” I speak of course of the scene where Tony Stark leads the newly unfrozen Steve Rogers through the Smithsonian, and catches him up on sixty years worth of American history. Not only was it a treat–and some wonderful chary racterization–to watch Steve’s reactions, it really is neat to hear such a quick and well-written rundown of our accomplishments and advancements. Sure, you could interpret it as a little corny, and you might even question Tony’s wisdom in hitting Steve with all of that information at once, but in this case, cool trumps logic. If I was more paranoid–and if I didn’t love Tony Stark as much as I do–I MIGHT even go so far as to suggest the trip was specifically engineered by Tony and the President to make “sure” that Steve “knew too much” to safely send back to his own time. Whatever the truth though, between the museum scene, Steve’s interview with the President, and his heartbreaking and admirable dedication to Bucky, this story is a winner from beginning to end. Best origin story update in a long time.  Grade: A — SoldierHawk

Deadpool #31 – Way continues to deliver with this surprisingly short, and surprisingly entertaining, storyline. Deadpool plays off the vampires (both good and bad) extremely well; their grave and super-serious nature make them natural and very effective straight men for Deadpool’s antics. This issue, as well as the one before it, really show off some of the best that the character has to offer: great one liners, plenty of exciting (and creative) action, and just enough fourth-wall breaking and goofy humor to let you know that everything should be taken with a grain of salt. This makes the ending of this issue either very effective or very jarring depending on how you feel about a sudden and rather unexpected injection of pathos into your ‘Pool book. Personally I found the mood whiplash to be a little much, and felt that it took away from an otherwise successful outing for Way. (If you want to see endbook ‘Pool-pathos done right, may I suggest seeking out Deadpool Team-Up #886, one of the best Deadpool yarns I’ve read in some time.)  Grade: B (Although that absolutely beautiful Twilight parody very nearly pushes it into B+ territory).  — SoldierHawk

Heroes for Hire #2 – Although I was a little foggy on the exact connection between the bad-guys in this issue and those in issue #1 (even though the story indicates they are clearly related), I really enjoyed this issue.  The current comics sales market isn’t supporting any B-list character(s) in a stand-alone, ongoing series.  Marvel seems to finally be getting that, but it looks like Heroes for Hire could be a great place to get the B-listers in an ensemble fashion.  After seeing Falcon, Moon Knight, Black Widow & Elektra last month, this time we get Silver Sable and Ghost Rider.  I’ll be happy to keep this on my pull list just to get to see these B-listers in bite-sized quantities.  The story is fun too, but that’s no surprise coming from Abnett and Lanning.  Walker is an underrated artist (I think) too.  Grade: B — Dean Stell

Halcyon #3 – We finally start to learn why the world has no more crime and villainy in this third issue.  The exact mechanism is a little surprising (and gory), but I don’t think it was unexpected to see that something abnormal was afoot.  I think this issue benefited from reducing the cast of characters to the Batman-analog and his Wonder Woman-esq girlfriend.  It just made the story flow better.  The only thing that holds this issue back (for me) is the art.  It is probably just a personal preference because I’ve heard a lot of people who I respect GUSH about the art, but it just doesn’t work for me.  Grade: B- — Dean Stell

John Byrne’s Next Men #2 – Major improvement from the last issue.  I found the #1 issue to be very cluttered from a story-telling standpoint and wasn’t that enthused by the art either.  I still don’t know or have any attachment to the characters, but the premise that they are scattered in the time stream is fun enough.  Well….”fun” might not be the right word given the nasty situations that present themselves, but I’m interested in the story now.  Having settings like the Civil War and WWII allow Byrne to stretch his legs a little bit.  I actually enjoyed this art way more than the most superhero stuff in issue #1.  I don’t think this is staying on my pull list, but if I hear good things I may pick up the first trade.  Grade: B- (with a bullet) — Dean Stell

 

Quick Hit Reviews – Week of Jan 5, 2011

Here at WCBR we all have pretty extensive pull lists.  Every week, despite our best efforts, there are a few comics that get read, but don’t get the full review treatment.  Without further ado…

Avengers: The Childrens Crusade #4 – I’m enjoying this series as much as anything with an Avenger’s tag on it.  The big news is that the Scarlet Witch is back…. kinda.  The story is lots of fun as we have Wiccan trying to save his mother and the rest of the Young Avengers trying to save Wiccan, while Wolverine tries to kill Wanda, etc.  Just really good stuff.  Cheung’s art is also just top shelf material.  He draws a great Wolverine.  The only thing that has me a little concerned is that this is issue 4 out of 9.  With a bimonthly schedule, it’ll be done around November-ish.  So far, this title has been fun enough that the continuity alarm isn’t going off, but I wonder if they’ll be able to sustain that feeling once Marvel cycles through their next FEAR ITSELF event.  Grade: A- — Dean Stell

Thanos Imperative: Devastation #1 – I had mixed feelings going into this issue.  For all the bitching and moaning from fanboys over Marvel scaling down their cosmic franchise, I kinda felt it was time.  I enjoyed the cosmic stuff, but didn’t think the Thanos Imperative was setting the world on fire.  It was a fine miniseries, but nothing that screamed: You must continue to tell cosmic stories!!!!!  So, I figured this one-shot would be a kind of death-rattle for the cosmic line-up.  WRONG!  It was really awesome!  The basic story is that Cosmo the dog is carrying out the last wishes of Starlord (Peter Quill who died at the end of Thanos Imperative).  Peter had urged Cosmo to continue the Guardians of the Galaxy, but with heavy hitters and not the cast offs that the Guardians were.  So Cosmo ropes in Gladiator, Silver Surfer, Beta Ray Bill and a few other A-listers to form a few team.  I’m excited.  The only thing holding this issue back from getting an A was the art.  I just don’t think this is what Sepulveda was born to draw.  Grade: A- —  Dean Stell

Choker #5 – I quite enjoy the Bens (McCool and Templesmith) miniseries from Image and think it’ll be a great read in trade.  We’re really close to the final resolution of this series and while I’m (honestly) a little confused by some of the machinations going on and who is who, I’m still enjoying it. Templesmith’s art is just one of a kind and is perfect for this type of dark noir infused tale of steroids gone overboard.  The corpse vacuum even makes a return!   The thing hurting this series is the release schedule.  It’s not realistic to say, “they should have all 6 issues in the can before they solicit the comic at all” because the creators kinda need that cash flow to finance the creation of the next issue.  I just wish that the single issue buyers who are at least partially funding the creation of the art got a less punctuated reading experience than the folks who kept their money in their pocket and waited for the trade.  We should get a better experience than the folks who sat on their wallet, but we don’t.  That just seems backwards to me.  Grade: B — Dean Stell

Iron Man – Thor #3 – This comic was pretty good as we see Tony Stark trying to resist the High Evolutionary’s grand plan to make Tony a new “God” and then Thor gets into the act.  I think this would be fun if you just absolutely need more Thor or Iron Man in your life and Eaton’s art is really nice to look at.  The biggest negative for me in this issue is how the heck Diablo got powered up to the point where he could hang with Iron Man, Thor and the High Evolutionary.  He is a a career B-lister who got taken out by Black Cat a few months ago in ASM.  There’s nothing wrong with this comic, but it is an average Big 2 superhero comic.  Grade: C  — Dean Stell

Dean’s Drive-by Reviews

My pull list is way too long (even after a fairly vigorous pruning recently), so just about every week I read a few comics that don’t get the full review treatment from us here at WCBR.  But, it still seems fair to give the comic a quick thumbs up/thumbs down…

Iron Man – Thor #2 – Sometimes I wonder why I have such a long pull list.  Rhetorically, why do I take so many chances on comic books when I know that most will be mediocre?  Well….comics like this one are the reason.  The #1 issue (of 4) was nothing special.  Not bad, but nothing good either.  But, this comic was just all kinds of kick ass.  It features Thor and Iron Man immediately after the events of Siege.  They get pulled into a scheme by the High Evolutionary (who I love) to create a “new god for the 21st century” on the premise that the current gods are old and archaic.  In his mind a new god must incorporate diving power AND technology and get this…..[SPOILER WARNING]…..he wants Tony Stark to be the new god.  Cool, huh?  It also features Volstagg loaning out a pet dragon to Thor to serve as bloodhound.  Scott Eaton’s art is great and Veronica Gandini’s color just pop.  My only complaint is that continuity….how does this happen right after Seige?  I thought that is what Avengers Prime was?  Oh well.  It is funny how a good comic makes continuity problems wash away.  Grade: A-

I, Zombie #8 – This title took ~5 issues to get its feet under it because Chris Roberson had a LOT of groundwork to lay for his world, but this comic is really working now.  His neat world has friendly zombies, vampire, ghosts, possessed animals and ancient monster hunters and there is a lot to like.  And of course Mike and Laura Allred’s art is really impressive.  I love how they can draw attractive women without having them look like skanks.  Grade: B

She-Hulks #2 – This is just a whacky fun comic.  It isn’t central to the Marvel universe, but if you’re a She-Hulk fan, it is not to be missed.  It’s also a good comic for those trying to find a good comic with heroic women (something in short supply in comics sometimes).  The basic story is that Jen She-Hulk and Lyra, the Savage She-Hulk, are fighting the Intelligencia.  That leads to enough shenanigans, but when you mix in that Lyra is also trying to deal with the rigors of high school, the fun just ratchets up a notch.  Ryan Stegman’s art is not to be missed.  Grade: B

Wolverine: The Best There Is #1 – I’m not sure if it is “the best there is”, but it does have some promise.  The main draw here (for me) is Juan Jose Ryp’s art.  I’m all about artists who “go for it” and Ryp does that in a few places in this comic.  The story is just okay.  It’s a little derivative since we’ve all seen stories where someone is trying to do kidnap or otherwise twist Wolverine to their own purposes.  And, the story was a little disjointed and didn’t really come together for me.  Charlie Huston (the writer) could also have fed Ryp a few more scantily clad women and blood/guts since that is where he excels (and not as much with talking heads).  Editorially, I wonder what is up with this title.  Really…another Wolverine title that seems to be only partially related to continuity in either the X-books or the other Wolverine books?  Why not just call it Wolverine-Max and just turn Ryp loose to do his thing?  THAT would be awesome.  Despite the story/editorial challenges, I’ll be sticking around for Ryp’s art.  Grade: C+

Batman 80-Page Giant 2010 #1 – This was okay and solid.  The problem is that it is 80-pages long and that is a LOT of “okay and solid” to read.  Nothing in this comic was remotely “bad”, but the overall comic commits the cardinal sin for an anthology of not having a single superlative story.  The best story is Peter Miriani and Szymon Kudranski’s harrowing Joker story, but it is first story of the issue.  Then you get your energy sapped by a few of the middle stories and have to limp to the finish.  I hate to say bad things about it, because no single story was dreadful, but I was glad when it was over.  I also generally want to see anthologies take more risks from a storytelling standpoint and these were all pretty standard short stories with Batman’s villains.  Hard to recommend at $5.99.  Grade: C-

Generation Hope #2 – I preorder my comics, so even if #1 is bad (which happened with Generation Hope) I am usually still stuck with issue #2.  Sometimes that gives the comic a chance to find its feet, but not in this case.  This was a confused mess.  I spent a lot of my time confused about what was going on in the story and I didn’t like how a lot of the action in this comic was handled by Cyclops and Wolverine.  There are ~20 comics to see Cyclops and Wolverine…..I wanted this comic to star Hope, but she spends most of this issue knocked out of action.  Not an auspicious start to her semi-solo title.  Espin’s art is fine.  But….  Grade: D

– Dean Stell

Heroes for Hire #1 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Brad Walker (pencils), Andrew Hennessy (inks), Jay David Ramos (colors), Joe Caramanga (letters) & Bill Rosemann (Editor)

The Story: Marvel’s classic “Heroes for Hire” returns.  It’s a great place to see some of Marvel’s lesser-used NYC characters doing happy-mercenary missions.

What’s Good: Although there is a plot twist at the end that mixes things up a bit, the basic story for this issue (and perhaps series too) is that of Misty Knight playing Oracle.  If you’ve read Batman comics in the last 20 years, you should be familiar with the concept of someone sitting in a control room and calling in heroic assets to help as needed.  In some ways, the overall set-up reminded me even more of Warren Ellis’ Global Frequency than Oracle since the heroes are apparently always on call but used sparingly.

What’s fun is that this comic promises a way to see some of Marvel’s lesser-used NYC-based characters.  I’ve always loved Misty Knight, Colleen Wing, Luke Cage and the whole Kung-Fu/blaxploitation vibe that those characters captured back in the early 1980’s.  The characters have changed over the years, but I still think “fun” when I see Misty Knight.  Also co-starring in this comic are Falcon, Black Widow, Moon Knight and Elektra.  Although the cover also promises Ghost Rider, Iron Fist & Punisher, they don’t show up in this issue.  These characters are the epitome of Marvel’s B-list.  Sometimes they show up on an Avengers team, but usually don’t get used too much.  Sometimes they have an ongoing series, but it won’t sell well and will get canceled.  After the great job that Abnett and Lanning did with Marvel’s B-list cosmic heroes, I can’t wait to see what they do with these NYC street-level folks.

I tended to really like Brad Walker and Andrew Hennessey’s art.  I don’t have a huge amount of exposure to Walker, but I remember him mostly as the “good” artist who did about half of the Marvel cosmic issues recently, so he has experience interpreting Abnett & Lanning’s scripts.  That experience shows because the storytelling is very solid.  The style is very crisp and realistic with their characters striving to look like real people instead of some cartoonized version of a person.  And they draw full backgrounds in just about every panel and backgrounds really add to my enjoyment of a comic.

Dean’s Drive-by Reviews

My pull list is way too long, so every week there are at least a few comics that I read that didn’t get a feature review from me or my colleagues here at WCBR.  Nonetheless, they deserve some kudos (or a warning sign) as a service to our loyal readers.

Strange Tales II #2 – What a star this was!  It was my pick of the week in a really strong week.  What you have here is an anthology featuring a bunch of independent creators taking a whack at our favorite Marvel characters.  The stories are all complete one-off, out-of-continuity stuff, but boy are they fun.  Keep an eye out for a left over issue of this when you head to the comic shop this week.  Grade: A-

X-Men: To Serve and Protect #1 – Marvel should really just have a series called “X-Men Anthology” that allows a variety of established and new creators to tell quickie stories in the current X-Men continuity.  Fun stuff abounds: Rockslide and Anole taking a Dark Knight turn and fighting crime vigilante style, Emma getting her trip to the spa interrupted by an over-libidoed Mandrill, Cyper being heroic (with art by Pepe Larraz who I really like)….  It’s all good.  Grade: B+

I, Zombie #7 – This series took a few issues to get going, mostly because it took Roberson awhile to get all of his toys out of the box.  It is a complex world that he has created.  But, now that it is humming along I’m really enjoying the antics of Gwen the zombie and her band of friends.  It has an almost Scooby-Doo feel (think I may have heard someone make that comparison on a podcast, but can’t remember who).  I wish there was more of a connection between the monster hunters and Gwyn though.  Perhaps there is a connection and I’ve just misplaced it in my brain?  Also….Mike Allred art!  Colors by Laura Allred.  This is the softest style in mainstream comics (if you consider Vertigo mainstream) and I love it.  Kudos to anyone who can draw a pretty lady in gravedigger overalls without resorting to heaving bosoms or having the outfit unbuttoned down to her navel.  Grade: B

Punisher: In the Blood #1 – Now that he isn’t Franken-Castle any more, we can have plain, old Punisher back in the Marvel 616 universe.  What you have here is a pretty classic intro to a Punisher story.  The main villain is Jigsaw and that’ll probably please classic Punisher fans who didn’t like the monstrous turn that Remender took them on.  Boschi really nails it from an art standpoint.  It’s a little unclear if Punisher is going to have an ongoing in the Marvel 616 universe as this is only a 6-issue mini.  The economy is NOT being kind to sales of B-list characters, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Punisher went to a series of minis.  Grade: B-

Iron Man – Thor #1 – I was pretty excited about this because it is written by Abnett & Lanning, but for some reason it didn’t stick to me at all.  I had to pull the issue out of the bag just now to remind myself what the story was about.  That’s not a good sign.  But, that happens when the villain isn’t revealed until the final page and now that I’ve done my remedial homework, it appears to be a story about Thor and Iron Man getting caught up in some plot with the High Evolutionary.  This could be fun because Abnett & Lanning should write this sort of story well.  I didn’t love the art.  It isn’t even remotely “bad”, but Eaton’s work looks very Deodato-y and that just isn’t a style I care for much with harsh, dark shadows even in sunny scenes.  I’ll probably keep getting this out of my faith in Abnett & Lanning.  Grade: C-

– Dean Stell

 

The Thanos Imperative #4 – Review

By Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writers), Miguel Sepulveda (artist), Jay David Ramos and Wil Quintana (color artists)

I have cancer.

Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, to be exact.

It’ll probably kill me at some point, assuming I don’t drink myself into oblivion before then, but I felt compelled to share with you because that is the frame of mind I’ve been in as I read Abnett and Lanning’s latest, and possibly most disturbing, space epic for Marvel. I’ve long been a fan of DnA’s work for this corner of the Marvel Universe, and applaud how they have carved out and defined a territory that has been vastly under-utilized by creators for decades now. These guys have succeeded in forging Marvel’s universe a chaotic, exciting, and utterly terrifying place to tell stories in. With every epic they’ve crafted, they’ve gradually raised the stakes in ways that seem logical yet infinitely more perilous. Now, with The Thanos Imperative these guys are building one of their finest stories to date, one that forces me to consider my own mortality in a way that is deeply disturbing.

At the heart of this tale is the simple, eternal conflict between Life and Death. Specifically, it is the tale of a universe where Death died and Life prevailed. A universe that is now trying to infiltrate our reality in a desperate attempt to find more space to continue growing and living. Where this story excels though is in the way it fucks with our expectations by portraying Life as a vile, cancerous entity and Death as, if not The Good Guy, then certainly a necessary deterrent to the threat of Life unbound. Thematically, it’s a strange concept and not something we’re accustomed to endorsing; our education as readers of fiction has trained us to view Life as being Good and Death as being Evil, but here Abnett and Lanning do what good writers do and play with our expectations, twisting them in ways that make us reconsider what we thought to be true. I don’t know about you, but I like that.

The action in this issue is unparalleled and furious, even if the plot was rather sparse. Sepulveda has a wonderful understanding of these characters and his gritty style is perfectly suited to the large canvas Abnett and Lanning like to work on. I loved the contrast of Nova and his strikeforce leading an incursion into the Cancerverse while Lord Mar-Vell and his Revengers stalked our universe in pursuit of the Avatar of Death. With every issue, this cat and mouse game is becoming more intense and bloodthirsty, the stakes are being continuously raised as each side fights relentlessly to gain the winning advantage, and after this issue I’m at a loss to see where the creative team could possibly go from here with the story.

The Thanos Imperative #3 – Review

By: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writers), Miguel Sepulveda (artist), Jay David Ramos (colorist)

The Story: Thanos and the Guardians of the Galaxy sneak deeper into the Cancerverse with a little help from artificial friends. In the meantime, Nova, Quasar and the heads of various power groups in our universe talk war now that the Galactus Engine is chewing through the allies. Oh, and Drax picks an inopportune moment to remember why he was created.

What’s Good: Things are definitely getting worse for our heroes, which is always a great place to be as a reader. At least one Marvel cosmic entity buys it, and the Galactus Engine seems unstoppable. There’s danger and drama in the story. The reveal of the Cancerverse artificial lifeforms was a great tip of the hat to a lot of the Marvel Universe and fun for continuity fans. There were other nods to deep Marvel history for those who have been reading about Thanos since Jim Starlin turned him from a Blastaar-type of villain into the bad-ass who tried to commit cosmic genocide. I also liked the moments of growth (Nova) and the fast and furious revelations. By the end of the issue, we get a lot more of a grip on what caused all this and what everybody has to do.