Earth Two #12 – Review

By: James Robinson (story), Nicola Scott (pencils), Trevor Scott (inks), Barbara Ciardo & Pete Pantazis (colors)

The Story: Up in the sky!  It’s a bird—it’s a plane—it’s—a green man in a fur-collared robe!

The Review: If you ever get into this reviewing business, you’re going to learn in a hurry that calling something “good” or “bad” just won’t cut it.  Like almost any other quality in the world, “good” and “bad” come in all kinds of different shades, each with its own unique effect on the person experiencing it.  The hardest part of this gig is trying to figure out how to describe those effects as accurately as possible.  That’s where experience comes in.

In my experience, I’ve read a lot of bad writing (quite as much and even more good writing as well, but that, unfortunately, is not relevant here), so over time, I’ve come to recognize some of the most common types.  Now, I’ve had plenty of complaints about Robinson’s work on this series before, but this issue really takes the cake as it possesses nearly every kind of bad writing I’ve ever run into.

Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search for Swamp Thing #3 – Review

By: Jonathan Vankin (writer), Marco Castiello (penciller), Vincenzo Acunza (inker), Barbara Ciardo (colorist)

The Story: John, you should know the only thing to do with a stubborn weed is smoke it.

The Review: Even if you’ve never taken improv comedy, you can appreciate one of its most important tenets: the only time you should enter a scene is when you’re needed.  This rule should apply as much to characters on the page (and to real life, honestly) as to those on the stage.  If you bring someone into a story, they have to provide some service to it, or they might as well be props, there to decorate the setting and distract your attention, but with no value in themselves.

Vankin seems to believe that bringing in figures from both DC’s occult and superhero traditions will somehow lend credence to this title in both fields.  Why else would he attempt to mash up the most recognizable figures (Zatanna, Madame Xanadu, and Deadman on one side, with Superman and Batman from the other) from each of the two schools?  But rather than making the story more convincing, they actually emphasize its indecisive lack of direction.

Much like Zee back in the debut issue, both Xanadu and Deadman appear briefly to offer a very limited purpose, ultimately proving of little use.  Madame X acts only as a conduit between Constantine and Deadman, while the ghostly acrobat himself only confirms what Constantine can already figure out on his own anyway.  With the Green exerting enough control over the wisecracking Brit to show him what it wants, John hardly needs any extra help.

Superman: Earth One (Hardcover review)

by J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI • Art by SHANE DAVIS and SANDRA HOPE

I really don’t like Superman. I give him opportunities to impress me every so often; and I am a fan of Superman: Red Son, but for the most part, he just doesn’t interest me. At all. His back story is completely uninteresting: a dude with the unlimited power who happens to fall into a field and found by the two most wonderful parents in comic book history, raised to be a decently happy guy. Oh, his planet was destroyed. Actually, I always like the part of the origin when pops has to send his son to a distant planet while his own is destroyed around him. But the Clark Kent stuff…I just never feel any emotional resonance to this guy.

Earth One is no different. I did like seeing a young Clark Kent completely abuse his powers to get whatever job he wanted. It also made the scene of his completely failing at the Daily Bugle that much better. This is not a humble Superman at all…until he has to be.  JMS’s story is interesting for the most part, but the pacing was a little awkward. It felt like a three act play missing the third act. Too much time was given to Clark wandering around Metropolis brooding about the fact that he has too much power, and not enough time to develop the struggle between him and Tyrell, the villain. Speaking of, the villain is the best character of the story. Followed maybe by Olsen, whom I’ve never liked more as a character than when reading him in this. Mainly because Olsen is the true definition of what a “super man” is. A guy who, when faced with death, will stand tall and take its photo. Meanwhile, Kent is cowering from responsibility. In fact, it’s seeing Olsen that prompts Kent to do something. But come on, if you were Kent—a guy with almost unlimited power, and you saw this meek little photographer showing more balls than you have in your entire life, wouldn’t you have to man up too?  Scratch that statement earlier. Olsen is the best character of Earth One. But it’s still a really damn good, and underused, villain.

Secret Invasion: Front Line #5 – Review

By Brian Reed (Writer), GG Studios (Art), Marco Castiello (Pencils), Barbara Ciardo (Colors), and Amerigo Pinellio (Asst. Colorist)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: After an extremely promising start, the latest installment in the Front Line series has sort of stumbled to the finish line (sounds like the main Invasion series more than a little bit eh?). And to be honest, I’m not exactly sure why that is, considering that the characters and situations have been compelling enough to hold my interest. I suppose my main complaint is that the story just hasn’t captured the situation as well as I’d hoped it would. With that said, I am still very interested in seeing how Brian Reed and his creative team handles the street level reaction to the main event battle in New York.

The Story: With only a few brief shots of the gigantic Secret Invasion battle, the final chapter of Front Line mostly deals with the aftermath of the event and the personal toll it has taken on the survivors. Journalist Ben Urich finds himself suffering from writer’s block while coping with the loss of his wife and the rise of someone he has written about. Melanie Crane deals with the trauma of losing her father. Officer Bill Dawson takes a desk job and pursues a relationship with fellow survivor Lisa Dobson.

What’s Good: If you can deal with the approach the book uses in regards to the event it is tied to, Front Line #5 proves to be a surprisingly powerful read. With Ben Urich’s emotionally charged narration driving a story about loss and the steps people take to move on after traumatic events, Brian Reed manages to effectively (and realistically) capture an often ignored segment of the Marvel Universe. As such, I find myself extremely satisfied with a comic I really didn’t expect a whole lot from.

What’s Not So Good: While the artwork is more than serviceable, it never really rises above being average. Then again, it doesn’t really need to, considering the story being told. So ultimately it is a very minor complaint. Also, I must mention that I was a little bit irked by how quickly the major battle was glossed over. I understand why the story heads in the direction that it does, but a little bit more time with the heroes might have gone a long way.

Conclusion: While the latest Front Line series is a bit hit-or-miss as a whole, the conclusion is definitely a homerun in this reviewer’s opinion. It hits all the right notes and manages to bring some much needed subtlety and realism to an otherwise bombastic event.

Grade: A-

-Kyle Posluszny

Secret Invasion: Front Line #2 – Review

Brian Reed (Writer), GG Studios (Art), Marco Castiello (Pencils), Barbara Ciardo (Colorist), and Amerigo Pinelli (Asst. Colorist)

This second chapter of the Front Line story creates an interesting dilemma for me as a reviewer. I thoroughly enjoyed every single page of the book and yet, I can easily think of a number of ways in which I can criticize it. Normally this would leave me at a mental stalemate as every positive matched up with a negative. In fact, I almost wrote a standard “C” review highlighting the positive and negatives in equal measure. But, while writing the review, I came to realize something: all the negatives I thought of stemmed directly from the positives. So, instead of writing a normal review, I figured I would explain why something with so many negatives can still receive the fairly high grade I give it.

Everything about the Secret Invasion: Front Line series is, so far, fairly standard. I was willing to give the first issue a bit of a pass considering that it had to establish the characters, but I can no longer overlook the generic characteristics of the story being told. This is the street level tale of what happens to people caught up in an unexpected alien invasion. There really is nothing in this issue that you haven’t seen before in some other science fiction piece. The characters are pretty cliché (a hot, but kind nurse, a cop going above and beyond his duty, a guy has a bad day that gets worse, a father/daughter in peril together… you get the point), the scenarios are fairly standard (driver abandons passengers, person examines dark area for someone in need, alien among the people), and the plot is about as predictable as it gets (so far). I want to hate it, but I can’t hate something that is done so well.

There is a reason the invasion story keeps being told – it just works. There is nothing particularly unique or interesting about this Front Line story and yet, I couldn’t be happier with how it is progressing. Brian Reed takes a comfortable framework and, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, keeps it familiar. The characters we can identify with because we have seen them before. The scenarios remain thrilling because they are thrilling when the characters involved can be identified with. The plot is predictable, yet still a rollercoaster ride in every way (the ride is always the same, yet you can’t help but go back on to relive the experience). It takes considerable skill to do what the creative team is doing here. Familiar as can be, yet as entertaining as anything on the shelves.

While I could nitpick about how the artwork is a bit inconsistent or how Reed may have too many characters to juggle, I will save it for an issue worthy of the criticism. I’m having way too much fun with this one. (Grade B+)

-Kyle Posluszny

She-Hulk #31 – Review

By Peter David (Writer), Vincenzo Cucca (Penciler), Vincenzo Acunza (Inker), and Barbara Ciardo (Colorist)

After my last review, in which I complained about the art in She-Hulk, Peter David ran off and got himself a better artist. I had no idea I was so influential.

Unfortunately, as the art has gotten better, the quality of the story has taken a distinct dip. In their bounty-hunting travels, She-Hulk and Jazinda have wandered into the dreaded Crossover Zone, a corporate-mandated purgatory that sucks the energy out of any plotline. The strategy behind this particular kind of crossover is to get readers of a good book (in this case, She-Hulk) interested in the characters of a less-good book (in this case, X-Factor). I may be wrong—maybe Peter David had this planned all along—but it sure feels like all the momentum that he’s built into the Jennifer-Walters-loses-her-license-and-becomes-an-outlaw story arc has just crashed into a brick wall.

The set-up this issue is this: whenever the Skrulls want to invade a planet, they always bring along a character called “The Talisman,” a religious figure who will supposedly guarantee success in their endeavor. He doesn’t have to be in the thick of the fight, he just has to be on the same planet, so they protect him by hiding him somewhere innocuous. For the Secret Invasion, do they drop him somewhere in the middle of the Amazon rain forest? No, for some damn reason they have him infiltrate X-Factor, disguised as Longshot.

Jazinda senses the presence of the Talisman on Earth, and tells She-Hulk that if they kill the Talisman the morale of the Skrull invasion will be conveniently destroyed and the invasion will fail. So they race to Detroit and of course immediately get into one of those typical super-hero-on-super-hero fights that could have been avoided if the participants had just paused five seconds to talk to each other.

All in all, it’s a decent issue. David’s writing is good as usual (I especially like Maddrox playing pile-up on She-Hulk), and Cucca sure knows how to draw a tight T-shirt on his women, but the plot is a mass of improbabilities. It’s just silly, and the sooner David gets back to She-Hulk‘s preexisting storyline, the better. (Grade: B-)

– Andrew C. Murphy

Secret Invasion: Front Line #1 – Review

Brian Reed, (Writer) GG Studios, (Art) Giuliano Monni, (Team Coordinator) Marco Castiello, (Pencils) Barbara Ciardo, (Colorist) and Amerigo Pinelli (Asst. Colorist)

Secret Invasion is really the first universe wide crossover event I have read as it actually happens. Since coming back to the comic scene, I (successfully) made an effort to catch up on the most recent Marvel Universe events (Civil War and World War Hulk, specifically), and while doing so have found myself impressed by what the Front Line series has to offer. The street level stories work extremely well within the context of a large event and an event like Secret Invasion most definitely fits the bill.

Secret Invasion: Front Line #1 is really broken into two parts. The first half of the book takes place during a three hour span before the invasion and introduces five characters that will likely be the focus of this series: a cab driver, a Front Line reporter, a nurse, a father, and his daughter. All five characters are shown going about life in some way – the cab driver is having a bad day because he finds out he must pay for the damage to his car that was (sorta) caused by a Spider-Man fight, the reporter is doing a feature on how hospitals deal with gang violence and begins by interviewing the nurse, and the father, an executive working at Stark Tower, has a meeting interrupted when his daughter demands to talk about why her parents are getting divorced. While nothing extraordinary as far as character introductions go, the first half of the issue does a nice job establishing relationships and personalities. The second half of the issue is, as expected, when all hell breaks loose. To be honest, the issue really brought to mind the movie Independence Day – especially during the scenes focusing on the moments just before the attack; I consider this to be a good thing (and all without the horrible Will Smith jokes).

Brian Reed does a great job establishing both the characters and the general sense of awe the public has towards the superhero community. By dividing up storytelling between narration and character interaction, Reed ably allows personal drama to work within the larger, action-packed event of the invasion. All five characters come across as likable, regular people and as a reader, I actually care about what’s in store for these people as much as I care about what’s in store for the Marvel heroes. I enjoy what Reed is doing with Ms. Marvel, and if he keeps the pace he establishes here, I’ll have gained more admiration for him as a writer.

The artwork in this book calls to mind the Caselli/Rudoni work for Avengers: The Initiative. The style is quite similar and, while not quite the same quality, still makes for a good looking book. The characters are well done, the Skrulls look as they should, and the action is easy to follow. Especially impressive is the work done for the moments before the invasion hits. My only major complaint is that there is a considerable dip in both detail and quality from time to time, especially in smaller panels, and it winds up being somewhat distracting when everything else is so well done.

Secret Invasion: Front Line is definitely off to a great start. The alien invasion storyline is perfect for this type of series and, after seeing the situations some characters are left in, I can’t wait to get my hands on chapter two. (Grade: A-)

-Kyle Posluszny

A Second Opinion

Don’t let that weird, abstract cover deter you. This is one pretty book on the inside. The art team really did a bang up job making New York a living city. The use of glow effects and bright colors coupled with Giuliano Monni’s art style almost gives this book an Aeon Flux (the cartoon) kind of look. I know some people may be turned off by the over coloring, but I think it adds a lot of dimension to the book, given the artstyle.

As for the story, it hits on a lot of beats and plays out rather well. I was actually not enthused about reading this after the disappointing World War Hulk: Front Line series. And while Civil War: Front Line had some interesting stories like the whole “Trial of Speedball” story, the others felt like unnecessary filler. This Secret Invasion themed series may be telling a bunch of different stories and Ben Ulrich may still be the series’ anchor, but I like how everything feels more cohesive and centralized. Brian Reed excels in conveying civilian life in the Marvel Universe (see his Captain Marvel mini-series), so I’m eagerly awaiting to see where he takes these characters from here.

If you’re enjoying Secret Invasion and wish to expand the story with some non-essential, supplimental material, this is a very good first issue that may actually be worth your money. (Grade: B)

– J. Montes