Secret Invasion #8 (of 8) – Review

By Brian Bendis (story), Leinil Francis Yu (pencils), Mark Morales (inker), Laura Martin (colors)

Once again, Brian Bendis (one of my favorite comic book writers) fumbles the ball on yet another Marvel event. If you thought House of M and Secret War was lame, well, feel free to lump Secret Invasion right along with those titles. Sure, the series had some great highs, but the conclusion is so anti-climatic and uneven that I couldn’t help but shake my head the entire time. What a waste.

Right from the get go the on-going narrative/conversation speaks to the reader in past tense. The war is over by all accounts and the plot moves along, connecting the dots as if Bendis is running down his checklist of things to scratch off. The fate of The Wasp? Check. The rescue of the captured humans? Check. Tony Stark made the scape goat? Check. The rise of Norman Osborn and the most ridiculous status quo change to ever hit the Marvel Universe? Check. Oh yeah, and all this goes down in one day. This wasn’t a war or invasion. It was a skirmish.

It’s amazing to see how far Marvel has fallen over the last year. With continuity problems running amuck, the screwing of Spider-Man’s marriage, and now the undoing pretty much everything Civil War set up (not to mention the inevitable cover price increases to $3.99), well, let’s just say I’m at the edge of my rope here. I think it’s time Joe Quesada stepped down and Marvel put some editors in place who won’t let writers run wild with ridiculous ideas. Secret Invasion started off with a bang and ended as a farce.

Sorry guys but Dark Reign is an incredibly stupid idea.

Grade: F (FAIL)

– J. Montes

A Second Opinion

As I have mentioned a few times before, Secret Invasion is really my first experience with an event series. As such, I don’t have any lingering disappointment from something like House of M or Civil War to compare my thoughts about the conclusion of Secret Invasion to. That said, I am disappointed with Secret Invasion #8…just not to the extent my colleague Jason is.

Deep down, the fanboy within me wants to address and argue every single negative about the book mentioned in the main review. I woke up this morning to find the review and instantly thought to myself “it can’t possibly be that bad.” And you know what? It really isn’t. But that doesn’t change the fact that my critical side actually agrees with nearly every point that Jason makes above. In many ways the event’s conclusion is a big disappointment from start to finish. Now, after reading that I imagine many of you are wondering what’s with the fairly good score then. Allow me to explain.

While S.I. #8 mostly fails as the conclusion to a big, bloated, far too lengthy event, I believe it really succeeds as a mechanism for riling up the masses for the new status quo of the Marvel Universe. Truth be told, outside of a few new books set to launch (especially the Jonathan Hickman/Stefano Caselli Secret Warriors title), I really didn’t have a whole lot of interest in Dark Reign prior to today. Now, I simply can’t wait to see what happens next. That is why I absolutely must give credit where it is most definitely due. It is far from perfect, but it also does what was needed extremely well. And that counts for something.

Grade: C+

-Kyle Posluszny

Final Crisis #2 (of 7) – Review

By Grant Morrison (writer), J.G. Jones (art), and Alex Sinclair (colors)

Listen: Just because Grant Morrison wrote it, it doesn’t mean it’s automatically good.

Don’t believe any of the pretentious reviews out there that praise this book. They’re mostly written by Grant Morrison fanboys who will love anything he writes – even if it’s crap. Believe me, I enjoy most of Morrison’s work, but Final Crisis is just an incoherent mess. Make no mistake, the man makes it abundantly clear time and again that he knows lots about DC lore, and because of this, the reader is constantly challenged (and/or frustrated). I’m not saying I don’t enjoy being challenged or I’m a lazy reader, but this story will prove to be just too much for most readers. Final Crisis is basically porn for the DC historians.

As a casual DC reader, I’ll freely admit that I was lost for 80% of the story. Now, imagine someone who’s read about the hype surrounding this book in say, The New York Post or Entertainment Weekly, do you think they’d understand what’s going on? Me neither. Final Crisis shouldn’t be a summer mini-series. Heck, if it can’t be told in a coherent fashion in which casual comic readers can understand it, it shouldn’t be a series at all – big continuity shake-ups or not. Any comic that forces me to go to other websites for annotations just so I can get a grasp on what’s going on is crap. And I’m sorry to say this, but Final Crisis is crap.

For the 10% of comic book reading populace who “gets” every reference and can follow the story without “help” gets my admiration and applause. I honestly wish I could comprehend this story and I wish I could enjoy it. I’m a fan of the creative team, and J.G. Jones handles the monumental task of drawing a billion superheroes (and villains) almost effortlessly. Alex Sinclair also deserves kudos for his coloring work here. Unlike the boring, moody palettes he brings to Jim Lee’s artwork, the colors he uses here brings the world to life. It’s just a shame I couldn’t enjoy the story as much as the artwork, because the art is, quite frankly, the only criteria that prevents this book from getting an “F”. (Grade: D+)

– J. Montes

Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse: Calamari Rising #1 – Review

By: Ben Templesmith (Created, Written & vaguely Drawn)

Holy crap! What the heck is this comic about?! I didn’t understand anything of what was going on. Now, I haven’t read the previous series (I believe this is a mini-series), but since this is a #1 issue, I thought it would be accessible to everyone. Sadly, I was wrong. Good job, Templesmith!

So, the story is about this putrid guy (I guess he is a living dead corpse, if that makes sense), who gets scared about some dimensional rip in the sky and goes to put on his Robocop suit (probably to fight back because he’s the main character). There’s supposed to be a Calamari Rising somewhere – maybe it will in the second issue, but if it’s coming from the sky, shouldn’t it be descending? I don’t know, and I won’t know because I’m not picking this or any other future Wormwood issue.

I didn’t pick up 30 Days of Night because of Templesmith’s horrible art. And yeah, I know you shouldn’t judge the book by its cover. But whatever. I gave this book $3.99 and it stinks. (Grade: F)

-Daniel Yanez

The Ultimates 3 #2 – Review

By: Jeph Loeb (Writer), Joe Madureira (Pencils)

God, Ultimates 3 is just horrible. It completely destroys the “The Ultimates” lineage with its flamboyant story and art. I like Jeph Loeb as a writer and I like Joe Madureira as an artist, but book should be called something else, because compared to previous two Ultimates series, this is just crap. There’s the awful dialogue like Spider-Man yelling, “You shot me, screwball!” at Hawkeye (huh?!). But the biggest offender is Sabertooth’s, “Suck it!” Give me a break, Loeb. You’ve complete turned this series into a mockery of itself.

Nearly all the characters from the original Ultimates story lose their original outfits. Instead of a more realistic looking team, these guys are a bunch of cartoons again. There’s also inconsistencies in the art, like when Sabertooth slashes Captain America in the back. Clearly his uniform is torn in the back, but if you look at the corresponding panel below, Cap’s uniform is perfectly intact. What the hell?!

Loeb and Madureira are not only the wrong team for the Ultimates, but for the Ultimate Universe as well. This story may have played well to the comic book audience of the 1990s, but in 2008 it’s way behind in the times. (Grade: F)

-J. Montes