Avengers: The Initiative #23 (Dark Reign) – Review

By Christos N. Gage (Writer), Humberto Ramos (Art), and Edgar Delgado (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: Avengers: The Initiative is almost always a sure thing as far as quality is concerned. Nearly every issue feels like a trip to a giant Marvel sandbox filled with all sorts of different characters. While recent issues have not been all that new reader friendly, the series is strong enough that I have no problem saying that it’s well worth taking the time to catch up with things if you are at all interested in jumping on board.

The Story: Camp Hammond is under fire as controversy rages. With the cover-up of Michael Van Patrick’s death now out in the open and part of a major city in shambles, the Initiative’s future looks shaky. Meanwhile, the Shadow Initiative finds Hydra operating in Madripoor and soon learns that things are more serious than initially believed.

What’s Good: Avengers: The Initiative #23 scores big points for simultaneously dealing with both the past and the future in a successful manner. It ties up loose plot threads that have been lingering for quite some time, while dragging the Initiative fully into the Dark Reign period of the Marvel universe. Fans of the series, both new and old, should find something a lot to like.

Christos N. Gage’s writing is very good throughout the issue. He effectively captures the transition of the Initiative through some fantastic character work. As for the artwork, Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado do a very nice job capturing the tone of the time and the emotional ride the various cast members are going through.

What’s Not So Good: As a long time fan of the series, I couldn’t be much happier with issue 23. That said, the comic isn’t perfect. A few of the scenes suffer from awkward visuals and, in some ways, the Shadow Initiative storyline seems sort of shoehorned into the plot until the last few pages. It seems like it might have been better off in another issue because both storylines in the issue suffer from breaks in momentum as the focus shifts back and forth.

Conclusion: Avengers: The Initiative #23 is just an extremely solid comic book all around. I highly recommend it, especially if you have been a fan of the series for a while.

Grade: B+

-Kyle Posluszny

True Believers #4 – Review

By Cary Bates (Writer), Paul Gulacy (Pencils and Inks), and Rain Beredo (Colors)

The Story: Payback lies unconscious after being caught in an explosion, so the rest of the True Believers spring into action. As Battalus and Red Zone pick up on the trail of a bio-weapon that Payback’s father had been working on, Payback remembers the events that made her choose the two men on her team.

What’s Good? True Believers succeeds because it feels truly unique when compared to all the other Marvel books out there. It has a compelling cast, appropriately moody artwork, and an edgy and surprise-filled storyline that simply couldn’t be used with any of the more established characters within the Marvel universe. Also, the stories about how Battalus and Red Zone joined the True Believers are almost worth the price of admission alone. They are quite entertaining and darkly humorous.

What’s Not So Good? With only one chapter left to go in this limited series, I have a feeling the conclusion may wind up being less than satisfying. There are many pieces of the puzzle that still need to fall in place and it is hard to tell whether all the threads will end up coming together well. Also worth mentioning is that the twist-filled plot leads me to believe this story will be a bit more satisfying when read as a trade.

Conclusion: I recommend this one for those looking for something a bit different from a Marvel book. That said, be sure to track down the previous three issues before checking out chapter four. The story is a bit dense and needs to be read from the start.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny

Echo #2 – Review

By Terry Moore (story, art), Brian Miller (colors)

I’m not sure if I’m going to continue with this book on a monthly basis. I’ll give the book a couple more issues, but if I’m not completely hooked by then, I’ll just wait for the trades. Echo is not a bad book by any stretch – it’s got a good science fiction concept, beautiful art, and excellent pacing. Now, you’re probably asking, “Well what’s there to complain about then?” And my answer is, I just don’t know if there’s enough story to get me by each issue. There’s also elements that nag me as disingenuine at times (which I’ll get to in a moment).

Terry Moore wastes no time putting us right on the heels of last issue with Julie’s metal problem. Try as she might, it won’t come off her skin. So, she drives to the nearest hospital for help to which the doctor completely blows her off; he believes she’s playing a prank on her. And even though the nurse is convinced that Julie’s problem is serious and reak, she wastes no time in discharging her. Now see, this is just stupid. No hospital would turn a patient away – especially when it’s something this serious. Prank or not, Julie easily could seek out a second opinion or at least fight for it. But she doesn’t, she just gives up and walks away. She also does this to her soon to be ex-husband when he blows her off. I mean, if her problems are as serious as this, wouldn’t she just drive down to his place of work and show him the problem first hand?

It’s this kind of characterization that annoys me. It’s like she’s playing the “stupid” character in a horror movie. You know the one I’m talking about – the one that gets killed. Moore has constructed events like these to play upon our sympathies for the character, but they do anything but. Readers are smarter than this. Don’t play them as fools. This is a serious problem for me, and it’s not one I’m going to let go. Moore should either let moments like these play out realisticly or he shouldn’t do them at all.

These rest of the issue is otherwise excellent. Moore does a great job with his compositions and narrative. They’re both much improved over the first issue. There’s a scene in particular with Julie and her dog that grounds this book with a lot of realism. We get more of the government conspiracy, and a new player enters the story who will most likely become Julie’s adversary. There’s a lot to like about this issue, but I’m just not convinced (yet) that this is a title that will read well on a monthly basis. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – Scalped and Walking Dead are similar books that read much better in trade form – so we’ll see. (Grade: B-)

– J. Montes

Iron Man #27 – Review

By Daniel and Charles Knauf (writers), Carlo Pagulayan (pencils), Jeffrey Huet (inks), Dean White (colors)

Month after month, this series goes unnoticed by many readers. Maybe it’s because Iron Man’s in every single Marvel Comic these days that no one cares. Whatever it is, it’s a shame that writers Daniel and Charles Knauf don’t get the recognition they deserve. I’ve heard lots of people anticipating Matt Fraction’s upcoming Iron Man title; they say this is the Iron Man they want to see and frankly, that makes no sense to me. First of all, they haven’t even read it yet. And second of all, if any of those people actually gave this title a try they might find it just as compelling and mature as Ed Brubaker’s Daredevil run. The writing’s not the only thing that’s good, this book is gift wrapped by Carlo Pagulayan’s art which perfectly fits the title.

Lecture aside, Iron Man #27 draws many similarities to what’s going on in Captain America. We’ve got a large scale conspiracy going on with Mandarin. This issue showcases just how devious and cunning he can be when we get the big reveal. Tony Stark is racing against time to foil Mandarin’s plot while the Government brings him and his senior SHIELD officers up on terror charges. Everything in this plot is very large in scope and my biggest misgiving is that none of these events are echoing in Marvel continuity. This is serious stuff!

Iron Man may not be as consistently good as Marvel’s top tier titles like Captain America, Daredevil, and Iron Fist, but it’s got a strong mature story that’s been brewing for quite a while. It’s not fun super heroics like Spider-Man, it’s a serialized drama that acts very much like a TV show. And the villains are no joke either. This version of the Mandarin portrayed is the one we’ve always wanted to see. And if they do make a second Iron Man movie, this is how he should be patterned after. (Grade: B)

– J. Montes