Avengers #33 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (story), Terry Dodson (pencils), Rachel Dodson (inks), Jason Keith (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story:  The Avengers try to save the Wasp from Lord Gouzar and leave behind the Microverse once and for all.

The Review:  Comics like this are really frustrating, particularly when it comes to reviewing, let alone grading them.  What the hell do you do with a comic that is so perfectly inoffensive?  Bendis and the Dodsons give us that this month, providing us with an issue that is completely passable on every front but not a whole lot more than that.  There’s not a lot to praise, but there’s also nothing to really gripe about either.

That being said, in giving us a by the numbers “fun” Avengers story, it can definitely be argued that this issue feels a bit like comfort food.  It’s archetypal “big” superhero comics and everything is adequately and professionally done.  As such, it’s a nice, easy read and a fun way to pass the time, without causing any real irritation or frustration.

At the very least, Bendis gives us a nicely balanced comic here – there’s a good amount of action, plot progression, snappy dialogue, and humour, as well as genuine emotion in the reunion of the Pyms.  Overall, it’s a fairly rounded experience that never drags.

DMZ #54 – Review

by Brian Wood (writer), Riccardo Burchielli (art), Jeromy Cox (colors), and Jared K. Fletcher (letters)

The Story: Matty Roth reaches the US checkpoint, only to get assigned a new job and, perhaps, a second chance.

What’s Good: This issue features the sort of grand, sweeping gesture that manages to successfully represent an author working towards a well thought out conclusion to a long-running series.  Even though we’ve got another 12 issues or so to go, it’s clear that Wood setting up the status quo that will roll DMZ to its ending, which looks to be one that is fully organic and natural.

Wood essentially has Roth do something of a full circle, but it’s one of those beautiful rotations where, while the position may be similar, the participants most certainly are not.  Matty ends up in a place that’s quite close to where he was at when the series began but the bumbling, frantic Matty has been replaced by the grizzled, self-loathing, existentially befuddled Matty that we have now.  The result is a clash that is sure to bear fruit as already, the full circle rotation that Wood executes is elegant and sweeping.  Matty trims his beard away to resemble his old self, but really, this is a perfect representation by Wood:  the only things that are regressing to the past are the superficial and the circumstantial.

Much of this is executed via a gripping conversation between Matty and his father.  This is certainly something I appreciated, given how sparse Wood’s work can be at times.  It’s good to see him really hit the keyboard and show us some tight, dense dialogue.  It’s a further insight into Matty’s psyche, but I also appreciated how Wood better realizes Matty’s father, and later, his mother.  While I can’t call them good guys, they are no longer clear-cut sleazebags.  Much like his son, Matty’s father is a man trapped in crushing circumstances and we get inklings that, still, both parents care for their son, in whatever strange way.

On art, Burchielli’s work is at its usual standards.  Dense, desolate cities are there, but give way to great facial expressions, bang-on despite their gritty, cartoonist’s touch.

DMZ #53 – Review

by Brian Wood (writer), Riccardo Burchielli (art), Jeromy Cox (colors), and Jared K. Fletcher (letters)

The Story: While the situation in the DMZ worsens, Matty tries to survive his encounter with some unhappy Delgado relations.

What’s Good: As you might expect, MIA has proven to be a real downer of an arc.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that of course.

For instance, look no farther than the issue’s ending, which is a perfect fusion of a smaller, personal tragedy with a larger, more overarching catastrophe.  In a massive bombing, New York City loses a landmark in a catastrophe that also causes Matty to lose one of the landmarks of his time in the DMZ and his life in general.  NYC loses an icon and Matty loses a friend.  It’s a perfect blend of the public and the private.

That’s a theme that goes through much of this issue.  All of the DMZ is united in destruction.  As Matty dives for cover, so too does the faceless host of Radio Free DMZ on the other side of town.  This is a theme that Wood has continually returned to, and it’s always a good one.  It’s also well used by the unifying, desperate voice of the radio transmissions.

Perhaps more powerful than anything else, however, is Matty’s new-found role.  Well, perhaps “newly realized” is more apt.  Matty realizes that he is not a power player or an active participant; he’s a historian.  It’s an empowering moment of self-recognition and a great direction for Matty, and the comic in general.  Best of all is how Wood makes it clear that this is exactly what Matty’s role has been all along.  Though he didn’t realize it, he’d been fulfilling this function through it all, even between his loftier ambitions.

On art, this is some of Burchielli’s best work in a while.  He puts out a ton of emotion.  His explosions are awe inspiring in scale and unity.  Meanwhile, his illustrations of Matty are really well done, particularly when he juxtaposes Matty across the comic’s run, comparing his various physical profiles.  While Wood’s script emphasizes his perpetual role as record-keeper, it’s Burchielli’s art that really makes this realization hit home, drawing together and fusing the various Matty Roths of the past with that of the present.