Batman #31 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks) and FCO Plascencia (colors)

The Story: Batman and gang get a little closer to solving the Riddler’s riddle.

Review (with SPOILERS): This doesn’t have to be the most complex review ever.  This is another wonderful issue of Batman’s Zero Year story.  It is well-written (as always) and beautifully illustrated (as always) and Zero Year will be another instant-classic when it finishes with issue #33.

There are a lot of wonderful moments in this issue and I loved seeing The Gang (Batman, Gordon and Lucius) planning how to take down The Riddler.  I love the Riddler and how he’s just smarter than everyone.  His power is being smart.  How cool is that for a group of people like comic fans….considering that comic fans usually consider themselves pretty damn smart?  And we get to see Post-Apocalypse Batman fighting a effing LION!  Where is the Post-Apocalypse Batman action figure?

All of that is excellent. But…(you knew there was a “but” coming)

Batman #29 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors) and Steve Wands (letters)

The Story: Batman tries to disrupt Riddlers plans for Gotham.

The Review (with SPOILERS): This story is really hitting all the high notes right now.  What strikes me the most is that it is great in spite of a few structural things that bug me.

• Overall length of the story/Passage of time: If you read many Marvel titles or The Walking Dead right now, a comic like Batman that comes out every 4 weeks (like clockwork) seems a little slow.  But Zero Year has been cleverly broken into subcomponents so that no parts of the story seem elderly.  There is an art to a Scott Snyder story where you are rewarded if you remember details, but never punished if things slip from your brain.  It’s hard to put my finger on how he does it and I suspect that it isn’t easy or obvious even to other writers – or else everyone would do it.
• Interruptions in the story: Those stand alone issues that have allowed Greg Capullo to maintain this incredible pace of storytelling have been perfectly placed.  They’ve broken the story into chapters and still been relevant enough to the overall tale to not feel like filler.  Last issue was one of those issues and here we are coming back without missing a beat.
• Lots of words: I usually like my comics to have fewer words to an allow the artist to do their thing.  But Scott Snyder has this easy and flowing way of writing that makes wordiness work.  It amazes me.  I mean, I write a lot for this blog (and others) and I tend to write in a more conversational manner, and I’m an acceptable writer.  But when I proof-read my work, I find all of these clumsy sentences, weird phrases, run-on thoughts…  Snyder just flows.  It’s one of those things where I look at his writing and remind myself to keep my day job.  I’m not saying that Snyder doesn’t work his butt off to get the story right, but I think he also has an innate talent for words that few other people can approach.

The art is glorious.  So much good stuff from the Capullo/Miki/FCO team.  Earnest faces, glorious colors, a monstrous villain.  It’s wonderful.  There isn’t a better looking comic on the stands and they do it all without sacrificing the storytelling.

Batman #27 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors) and Steve Wands (letters)

Wow! What a great issue!  Honestly, this is better than a Batman story has any excuse to be given that I kinda think of all these Marvel/DC characters are a little old and used up.  I mean, these comics usually have potential to be FUN, but it is hard for them to be GOOD.  I’ve read a LOT of Batman over the years and this is as good as anything that’s ever been done with the character.  I remain a huge fan of Year One and still think Year One is a superior story from the standpoint of Bruce’s motivations to become Batman, but Zero Year is stomping Year One when it comes to Batman himself and his relationship with Gordon (and Alfred).  It’s hard for me to say that something is superior to Year One, but it is true.

There are two things that really stand out about this issue.

Batman #26 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks) and FCO Plascencia (colors)

The Story: Bruce, Batman and Gordon continue to work on their relationship while Dr. Death prowls the city.

Review (with SPOILERS): What I’ve always found remarkable about Scott Snyder’s work since he burst on the scene 4-5 years ago is how he seems immune to the dreaded “transitional issue”.  You know what I mean…   In typical modern comicbooking, the 5-6 issue story arc is popular because it collects easily for publication as a trade paperback.  It is common for the middle issues of those arcs to be really boring because the writers could never figure out how to link the cool concept that was introduced in issue #1 with the climax and resolution in issues #4 and #5.

By all rights, this Batman #26 should be a transitional issue:  It is in the middle of the Zero Year Bat-Epic and it is even in the middle of the story-within-the-epic that began with issue #24.  So, how does Snyder avoid having a dreaded transitional issue?

• Capullo: Art is the ultimate buffer for a comic series.  In chemistry you use a buffer to maintain a certain pH in a solution because the buffer makes it so you have to add/subtract a LOT of other chemicals to move away from the buffered pH.  Greg Capullo’s art fills that same role for Batman.  His art is so routinely awesome that you can’t really have a poor issue with him holding the pencils.  I could hand Capullo a draft of this review and he could do a compelling sequential drawing of me at my kitchen table at 0500, drinking my tea, charging my devices while typing away as I reference the issue on my iPad…   Capullo is just a monster of modern comic art.  He makes even the routine panels sing more than they have any right to.  I LOVE how Capullo draws Gordon.  You can just tell he enjoys drawing the guy.  Capullo’s Gordon has a bit of a swagger about him; he’s been beaten down to the point where he’s lost his youthful and naive idealism and just doesn’t give a shit anymore as long as he can do what works.  His Gordon looks like a man who is liberated by the fact that his bosses hate him: He’s resigned himself to not getting promoted and now he’ll just do the job that he is so good at.
• Multiple stories: I’ve noticed a pattern with Snyder’s writing in these Bat-Epics and also in his American Vampire work: He never has just one story going on.  So, even though this issue is somewhat transitional, the stories are all breaking in subtly different ways and at slightly different times.  Have you ever been to one of those water parks that has a wave-making machine in the BIG pool?  You know….everyone paddles out there and there is one cool wave every 5 minutes?  That is the model of typical superhero writing.  Snyder is more like the real ocean: wave after wave after wave.  Some of the waves are better for surfing than others, but there is always something splashing around you while you wait for that one perfect wave to ride.  Furthermore, Snyder always gives you something to look forward to, much like those moments when you look out to the horizon and see a wave coming that could be “the good one”.  Just in this issue, Snyder has this Dr. Death story, the growing Bruce-Gordon relationship and the Batman-Police relationship.  If Snyder was focused on just ONE of these stories, this issue would have sagged and been boring, but by keeping in busy he’s giving us a lot to react to and that overpowers the traditional weakness of the transitional issue.

Batman #25 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors) and Nick Napolitano (letters)

Back-up by: Snyder & James Tynion IV (writers), Andy Clarke (art), Blond (colors) and Dezi Sienty (letters)

The Story: Batman and Gordon separately try to solve crimes while Gotham is in blackout.

Review (with SPOILERS): This issue continues the bit of magic that Batman found last month in Batman #24.  Batman is really, really good again and that’s great because the world just seems more centered with a Scott Snyder-written Batman comic among the best comics in publication.  He’s been doing this for 3 years now, folks.  It’s pretty amazing.

But, let’s mix the review up a little bit and talk about his artistic collaborators first.  Even an art fan like me always talks about the art second and that’s not really fair…

This is really a glorious issue from an art standpoint.  The team accomplishes the two stretch goals for any comic: (a) no crappy panels and (b) memorable images.  I can’t emphasize enough how important the “no crappy panels” rule is.  It’s all well and good to have a snappy story and a few wickedly good panels of art, but if the art stumbles anywhere the entire comic can be like that lady in Ode to a Louse where the lady is all pretty and beautiful for church, except for the louse crawling around on her bonnet.  Yuck! It kinda ruins the image!  Well, singular crappy panels of art can make a reader have to repeat pages or stare at a panel long enough to break the rhythm of the comic.  It’s amazing to me how Capullo and Co. create so many great panels, but maintain their excellence to grind out even the most mundane panels.  It’s really professional.

As for memorable panels, it’s easy to get distracted by the energy of the new Batmobile (a little too Plymouth Prowler for my taste…) or the scary Dr. Death (imagine his flossing problems!), but let’s instead go to the page where Bruce and Alfred crawl out of the Batcave and find Gordon waiting on them.  The panel at the top shows Bruce halfway out of the hole and Gordon, squatting to look down at him as he emerges.  Bruce is looking up at him like a little kid would look at a grown-up and Gordon is returning the gesture of looking down in a kindly fashion at a little boy, the way you might look down at a little boy who had just jostled into you in the crowd and fallen on his butt.  Everything about the panel is amazing.  It frames the dynamic between the two men perfectly, the anatomy is perfect, and the facial expressions (in profile, no less) are perfect.  The color is perfect.  Yeesh… Do you know how easy it is to screw up a panel like this?  A weird expression, a weird wrinkle of clothing, having Gordon’s knees not bending properly…  There was a lot that could be screwed up and they instead created a tour de force of a panel.

Batman #24 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors) and Nick Napolitano (letters)

Back-up by: Snyder & James Tynion (writers), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors) and Taylor Esposito (letters)

The Story: Batman finally hatches his plan to take down the Red Hood.

Review (with SPOILERS): Boom!  Batman is really back!

I’ve had difficulties enjoying the first several issues of Zero Year (beginning with issue #21 in June).  It was the first Bat-related story from Scott Snyder that I haven’t LOVED (since he started working on Detective Comics  in the Old 52).  It was weird and shocking for me NOT to think the Snyder/Capullo Batman was among the Top 10 comics in current publication.  I just didn’t enjoy revisiting Batman’s origin for a whole pile of reasons that you can find in those older reviews.  Mostly it was because the origin conflicted with my preferred Old 52 origins and the fact that Bruce Wayne stories are usually less interesting than Batman stories.  Has there ever been a comic called Bruce Wayne: The Death of the Parents #1?  No… Well, there’s probably a reason for that.  Bruce is less than Batman.

Batman #23 – Review

 

Main story by: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors) and Nick Napolitano (letters)

Back-up story by: Snyder & James Tynion, IV (writers), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors), Dezi Sienty (letters)

The Story: Attacked in his own home, young Bruce Wayne is inspired to “become the bat.”

The Review: This is a tricky comic to review because I’m starting to feel that this Zero Year storyline is written for people who are not me.  As I consume this story (issue by issue), I cannot help trying to shoehorn its events into Bat-continuity.  I literally spend the whole time thinking, “Is this at the same time as Year One?  Is it before?  After?  Gosh, it seems like the same time as Year One, but how could this happen when we already know that that happened?”  Of course by Year One, I’m referring to the classic 1987 four-issue storyline by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli.  That story is about as perfect as any superhero story that has ever been written: tight, focused, well paced, poignant and beautifully illustrated.  I’ve reread Year One a few times over the years, and while many 1980’s superhero stories don’t “hold up” (see: Dark Phoenix Saga or the Kree-Skrull War), Year One still has its mojo.  But, this isn’t specifically a problem with comparing Zero Year with Year One.  It happens to me anytime superhero comics gaze backwards because I’m a person who tries to complete the puzzle, and often superhero comics make me feel as if they are multiple puzzles combined that have the same finished picture, but where the pieces have been cut differently so that you can’t mix-and-match; you can get a general outline of what the characters look like, but never a tidy image.

On the other hand, even though Year One is great, it is also close to 30 years old.  Sometimes you gotta freshen up your look and I don’t want to be the old dude who holds back progress by demanding that all comics of today conform to the comics I read 30+ years ago.  New 52 and all that…  It’s just that maybe these comics aren’t for me, or at least I realize they aren’t quite for me when they look backward.  I find I like the “continuing saga” but not the history anymore.

Batman #22 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors) & Nick Napolitano (letters)

Back-up by: Snyder & James Tynion, IV (writers), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors) and Taylor Esposito (letters)

The Review (with very minor SPOILERS): This issue/storyline still isn’t really grabbing me.  From a technical standpoint, it is 100% good. The dialogue is excellent and the art is crisp and lovely.  But it still doesn’t have me on the edge of my seat…

Why have I LOVED everything else that Scott Snyder has done with Batman, yet this story gives me a lukewarm reaction?  Let’s consider some possibilities:

• It’s still early in the story: If memory serves, Zero Year is supposed to be an eleven-issue story.  We’re only on issue #2 of this story, so perhaps it just hasn’t had time to fully congeal?  However, Snyder has written other lengthy Bat-stories (The Black Mirror, Court of Owls) and those tales got under your skin right away.
• It’s about Bruce and not Batman: You’ve heard the old argument about whether the guy really IS Batman, and Bruce Wayne is just his disguise?  It’s usually framed as a contrast to Superman/Clark Kent where Supes is still mild-natured, midwestern Clark even when he puts on the tights.  I’ve never been as interested in Bruce and his motivations and his family and his relationship with Alfred.  So much of Bruce is wrapped up in the lack of a family and that’s something I was never able to identify with…  I was fortunate to always have my father around and I’ve always been around for my family as well.  I suspect that the Bruce/Alfred relationship speaks more to readers who had less of a relationship with their own fathers.
• It isn’t creepy: You’ll hear some commentators complaining that Snyder is a one-trick pony and that he only does horror-themed stories.  Black Mirror, Court of Owls and Death of the Family were all very creepy.  So is American Vampire and so was Severed.  Swamp Thing was kinda creepy.  Zero Year is not even remotely creepy.  It’s a different look for Snyder.
• Maybe expectations are unreasonably high: With the track record of Snyder and Capullo, you just expect an epic masterpiece right away.  I think they probably demand masterpieces from themselves and I admire their work ethic, but you can’t hit a home run every time.

Seriously, the funny thing is that I’m talking about this like it was a bad comic and it isn’t.  It’s a solid “B” which is entirely respectable and my criticism has more to do with the immense respect and admiration I have for the creative team.  I expect them to blow my socks off  every time and they aren’t quite doing it yet.

Batman #21 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors) and Nick Napolitano (letters)

Back-up story: Snyder & James Tynion, IV (writers), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors) and Taylor Esposito (letters)

The Story: A young Batman has to deal with the Red Hood and other Gotham menaces.

Review (with minor SPOILERS): When the last two Bat-epics you’ve written have been the Black Mirror and Court of Owls, expectations are bound to be high when you launch a new 11-issue saga with the ambitious title “Batman: Zero Year”.  Scott Snyder and his able companions are mostly able to live up to expectations and give us a solid first issue that leaves us wanting more.

Probably the strongest part of this issue was the first several pages where we see a trashed Gotham and a little boy spear-fishing in the flooded Gotham subway system.  He gets attacked by some guys wearing horrible masks [What is it with Snyder and creepy masks?  Owl Masks, gas masks, etc….] and he is saved by Road Warrior Batman.  The single panel of Batman with his sleeves ripped off and kitted up with all sorts of post-apocalypse standards like crossbows, dirt bikes and rope was really tantalizing: I’m willing to read just about any story if the payoff is that we learn how Batman ended up in that state.  I think we’ve found Greg Capullo’s Batman: Black and White sculpture!

Batman #20 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Back-up by: James Tynion IV (writer), Alex Maleev (art), Nathan Fairbairn (colors), Dezi Sienty (letters)

The Story: Batman versus Clayface.

Review (with very minor SPOILERS): Last issue suffered from misaligned reader expectations.  Snyder & Capullo had been telling epic Bat-stories for a year and a half, so when they hit us with a mere Batman vs. Clayface 2-issue story, it was hard to know what to make of it: “Really?  Just a superhero fighting a supervillain?  No redefinition of what it means to be Batman?  No deconstruction?”  Now that last issue altered my expectations, it was possible to enjoy the solid execution in this issue.

From a macro-standpoint, it’s probably wise for Snyder to mix up the storytelling.  As mentioned above, he’s been telling hardcore Bat-stories for a long time.  Even before this partnership with Greg Capullo, he did that great run in Detective Comics.  Starting with next issue, he’s doing this Batman: Zero Year story that will run for 11 issues and will surely have epic overtones.  Maybe Snyder just thought we needed a cigarette break before going back into the serious Bat-stories.

Batman #19 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors) and Comicraft (letters)

Back-up by: James Tynion, IV (writer), Alex Maleev (art), Brad Anderson (colors) and Dezi Sienty (letters)

The Story: Wait…..what is Bruca Wayne robbing a bank?

Review (with SPOILERS): I didn’t love this quite as much as the beginnings of Synder’s other Batman stories.  There’s nothing really wrong with it, but when you compare it to Black Mirror, Court of Owls and Death of the Family, it’s a little hard to see how a Clayface story will be joining those all time greats.  And make no mistake–those previous Snyder Batman stories are ones that DC should be able to keep in constant hardcover publication for 10+ years.  They are all comics that you could hand to any friend who “wants to read a good Batman story”.  In fact, I’d probably give those Snyder Batman stories as gifts before other classics like Dark Knight Rises and Year One just because they have a more modern sensibility about them.

Uncanny X-Force #2 – Review

By: Sam Humphries (Writer), Ron Garney (Penciler), Danny Miki with Scott Hanna (Inkers), Marte Gracia with Israel Gonzalez and Wil Quintana (Colorists), VC’s Cory Petit (Letterer)

The Review: One of my big comic book regrets of late is that I didn’t pick up Remender’s run on Uncanny X-Force. I borrowed the odd issue from friends but didn’t get the big picture, and from what I hear the whole run is an epic Must Read; I’m basically waiting for Marvel to package the whole thing up in an Omnibus edition so I can try and read it all in one massive sitting. Anyway, the point is that as well as missing out on some great storytelling, I also feel that I’ve missed out on some key moments which inform Sam Humphries’ turn on the title.

This feeling was a bit more pronounced with the first issue (lots of vague plot points discussed between Storm and Psylocke and glimpsed in flashback panels) but the sense still lingers here. This, along with the general bluster that dogs the books composition, makes things a little hard to follow. I can’t quite work out whether I like it or not. There’s good and bad, and I’m not sure if any one side really wins out.

Incredible Hulks #635 – Review

Heart of the Monster by: Greg Pak (writer), Paul Pelletier (art), Danny Miki (inks), Morry Hollowell (colors) & Simon Bowland (letters)

Conclusion by: Pak (writer), Tom Grummett (art), Cory Hamscher & Scott Hanna (inks), Jesus Aburtov (colors) & Bowland (letters)

Jake Thomas (assistant editor) & Mark Paniccia (editor)

The Story: Greg Pak wraps up the Heart of the Monster story AND his ~6 year run on Incredible Hulk.

What’s Good: Hulk is one of those characters that can be great in the hands of a writer who knows how to use him, but Hulk can also be really dismal with a mediocre writer.  So, let’s give Greg Pak an huge round of applause for 6 years of (mostly) really good Hulk stories AND a special gold star for giving us Planet Hulk which is the best Hulk story ever written (go read it if you haven’t).

This issue wraps up the really cool Heart of the Monster storyline.  The essence of this story is that a Wishing Well has been created and Hulk and Betty and all other sorts of characters have been making wishes that have led to things like Kirby-monsters stampeding in Vegas and the Hulk getting sent to Hell (although it is unclear who wished for this).  Sounds grim until you consider that for Hulk, hell is probably heaven: He has lots of things to fight and doesn’t have to worry about going too far and destroying the world by accident.  It’s serious Hulk smashing action at its best.

Naturally, there is great sentiment by the heroes to let Hulk stay there since he’s finally at peace (as he’s ripping demons apart) and not threatening Earth anymore, but what would that mean for Banner?  Does Banner die if Hulk is allowed to cut loose for an extended period of time?  And could there be anything back on Earth sufficient to justify dragging an enraged Hulk back to Earth?  Obviously there is, but the way that Pak takes us from point A to point B is really cool.

Venom #4 – Review

by Rick Remender (writer), Tony Moore (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), John Rauch (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: It’s Venom vs. Spider-Man in the race to save Betty Brant.

What’s Good: Hurray, Tony Moore is back.  Tom Fowler is a solid enough artist, but there really isn’t any replacing Moore’s likable, characterful, and slightly goofy style.  His work is naturally fun and both his characters and action scenes look solid.  That said, a lot of credit is due to the inking and coloring of Danny Miki and John Rauch, respectively.  Together, they’ve really helped give Venom it’s distinctive look, one that’s feels dirty, smudged, and sci-fi pulpy.

As far as Remender’s writing goes this month, his strongest work is done with Flash’s narration.  It’s intense and really close to the action and it’s rather nice to see how the action actually has a direct effect on the narration and Flash’s stream of thought.  It’s a nice change from the usual detachment that narration usually has.  More than ever, Remender also does an awesome job using the narration to show the symbiote’s effect on Flash’s psyche.  It’s most effective when Flash himself doesn’t realize small things like his referring to himself as “we.”

What’s especially cool this month is how Remender is giving the symbiote itself an increasing amount of its own sentience.  Flash essentially has a running conversation with the symbiote, who responds primarily with wordless emotion that he intuitively senses.  More creepily fun still is how the symbiote subtly does things, unbeknownst to Flash, such as how it deals with the failsafe device.  Remender is slowly building the relationship between the two and the symbiote’s attachment to Thompson.

The Incredible Hulks #631 – Review

By: Greg Pak (writer), Paul Pelletier (penciller), Danny Miki (inker), Morry Hollowell with Jesús Aburtou (colorists), Jake Thomas (assistant editor), Mark Paniccia (editor)

The Story: Heart of the Monster, Part Two: OK. AIM scientist party-crashes on Red She-Hulk/Tyrannus lovefest to turn fountain of youth into a wishing well. Some dumb wishes get made, bringing back to life a cool half-dozen of the Hulk’s foes, plus some random monsters and additional sub-wishes, and some more sub-wishes….

What’s Good: I started buying Hulk again because I was interested in seeing what Pak had been doing with it for a while, but more importantly, because of Pelletier’s art. Pelletier, Miki and the colorists really have a good thing going on. The art is detailed and textured, no matter who or what Pelletier is looking at. Fin Fang Foom has deep, shadowed ridges and the monster teeth are cracked and irregular. Rick Jones’ face (such as it is) is expressive and the weapons are shiny and new-looking. Wendigo and Bi-Beast figured heavily in this issue and the art team depicted them in lavish rage, while Umar (I didn’t even realize she was a Hulk foe!) and Amadeus have more subtle characterizations of their moods. And of course, the Hulk was big and blocky and green and all muscle, slapping it down with all comers and creatively outsmarting (in his limited way) the dumbest of his enemies. All in all, a visually satisfying issue.

On the writing, Pak’s tongue-in-cheek tone, mixing enemy and friend in quick-moving banter, while stirring in deadly danger, made for a fun ride. The wishing well and the complexity of the wishing structure that Cho figures out was intriguing, fitting cheek-by-jowl with funnny, Hulkish cunning involving Wendigo’s tail. I liked all the characters involved, even the villains, and no one seemed to be taking any great pains to take themselves too seriously, which was my signal to take it easy. Why did I like them? Well, they all wanted something that was obvious and important to them. The Hulk is heart-broken. She-Hulk, Cho and Rick are his buddy musketeers and Betty is his lost love. Poignant. Painful. Heart-warming. At the same time, on the villains’ side, we have some villains, who, at every turn, have seen their efforts stymied by this gamma-irradiated monstrosity. Of course they want a bit of payback, or to rebuild what they lost. What reader can’t buy into that? Pak has taken some very bizarre people (I’m talking about all of them), and made them sympathetic with some very clear, simple desires and obstacles.

Hulk #35 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Carlo Pagulayan (art), Danny Miki (inks), Jesus Aburtov (colors), Ed Dukeshire (letters), Jake Thomas (assistant editor) & Mark Paniccia (editor)

The Story: Red Hulk finishes up his business on Planet Red Hulk and returns to Earth.

What’s Good: I say this every month on Jeff Parker’s titles, but there is a LOT of comic for the money here (especially considering that this is a $2.99 title).  I loved the Planet Hulk saga, but that took like 14 issues to complete.  What’s bad about those yearlong stories is that when it doesn’t click for some fans, they have nothing to fall back on for a year.  So, fans that wanted to see Hulk be a superhero were just screwed for a year and probably dropped the title.  With Jeff Parker’s stories in Hulk, he tells his Planet Red Hulk story in 2 issues.  So, even if some fans don’t love it, it’s over so fast that they can’t drop the title.  And, most fans will love it.  It’s really amazing how quickly paced Parker’s stories are without feeling rushed.

Parker’s issues are actually really hard to review in a concise fashion because so much happens that it’s really hard to talk about everything and keep these reviews to 500-600 words.  The Planet Hulk stuff is all good.  Love the scene where his two sexy native wives are fighting over him (complete with hair pulling!) and Red Hulk remarks that the “conflict has some payoffs too”.  Who knew that Thunderbolt Ross was such a kinky bastard?  We’ve also got a great little fight scene where Red Hulk settles all these people’s problems before heading back to Earth.

Carlo Pagulayan and Danny Miki again outdo themselves on the linework.  I didn’t love their Omegex (Hardman’s is WAY better), but everything else in this issue is awesome: the sexy-wife hair-pulling contest, warrior Red Hulk, the several splash pages where they drew ~100 native soldiers and the sheer kinetic energy when the Red Hulk punches the other warlord.  I think it’s really hard for the inker to not screw up the energy of a rampaging Hulk character, but Miki does a great job.

The Incredible Hulks #630 – Review

By: Greg Pak (writer), Paul Pelletier (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), Morry Hollowell (colors), Simon Bowland (letters), Jake Thomas (assistant editor) & Mark Paniccia (editor)

The Story: The Hulk vs. Red She-Hulk love/hate affair continues, AIM gets involved and a wish fulfillment fountain erupts in Vegas.  Only in Vegas!

What’s Good: This is yet another month of Greg Pak telling us a fast paced Hulk story.  It’s really beyond me why anyone who likes superhero comics would fail to enjoy this.  It has big monsters, sexy ladies, things getting smashed and a sense of humor about it all.  I guess it isn’t very deep, but most of the time when I read a Hulk comic, I just want a fun romp and Pak is delivering month-after-month.

Although this is the beginning of a new arc and it is a decent “jumping on point”, we’re also building on a lot of stuff from the last few arcs too.  As I was saying in my review of X-Men Legacy #250, too many comics today tell stories in 6-issue arcs that are only mildly related to each other.  This story is spinning right out of the events of the recently ended arc that saw Red She Hulk (Betty) run off with Hulk’s old enemy Tyranus.  Also flowing from that story is the same obsession with ancient artifacts.  All in all, it’s nice to read a story that doesn’t instantly make an issue from 4 months ago feel like it never happened.

I’m a little sad to see Tom Grummet get replaced on art, but I’ll take the Pelletier/Miki combo any day.  Pelletier’s layout and storytelling are just fine and Miki really outdoes himself with the inking.  This issue is just packed with the fine-line shading that I love so much.  It’s just classic superhero goodness.

Hulk #34 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Carlo Pagulayan (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), Jesus Aburtov (colors), Ed Dukeshire (letters), Jake Thomas (assistant editor) & Mark Paniccia (editor)

The Story: Yes, you’ve seen the general story before.  Red Hulk is sent to a distant planet where he has to fight to survive.

What’s Good: I don’t know about you, but Greg Pak’s Planet Hulk story from several years ago was the best Hulk story I’ve ever read.  So I really don’t mind Marvel going back to the well to let Jeff Parker put his own personal spin on that type of story with the Red Hulk.

In typical Parker fashion, he moves the story along briskly.  There’s no overwrought decision by the Illuminati to send the Red Hulk away. It just kinda happens and by the end of the issue, Parker has covered the same amount of material that most writers would milk for an entire 6-issue arc.  It’s really amazing.  All in one issue Red Hulk goes from being on a rescue mission in space, to being lost in space, to landing on the alien planet, meeting natives, establishing conflict and having a big set-piece battle!  Life is short and time is precious, so it’s nice to read a writer like Parker who doesn’t dick around.

And we get all the stuff that you expect in a good Hulk story.  He’s shown hopping around, unprotected in outer space, falling from orbit without getting burned up and generally kicking ass.  The thing I love about Hulk stories is when the writers can find a way to put Hulk (Red or Green) as a disadvantage and have them get smacked around for a minute….the whole time as a reader, you are thinking, “Just you wait, buster!  When Hulk escapes the control of those ______ he’s going to beat the snot out of you!”  We get that moment in a BIG way in this issue.

Incredible Hulks #618 – Review

By: Greg Pak (writer), Paul Pelletier (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), Paul Mounts (colors), Simon Bowland (letters) & Mark Paniccia (editor)

A-Bomb back-up by: Jeff Parker (writer), Yacine Elghorri (art), Bowland (letters) & Jordan White (editor)

The Story: The Hulk family is sucked into the Chaos War.

What’s Good: Kudos to Pak and editor Paniccia to finding a way to tie the Hulk family into Chaos War in a way that makes sense in continuity.  One of the things I really miss from the comics I enjoyed as a kid was the feeling that the Marvel U is one big place and that all of these characters exist at the same time and in the same world.  Too often nowadays each branch of the Marvel U has its own threat-to-Earth going on that is made to feel small because none of the other books acknowledge each other.  Heck, Avengers and New Avengers don’t even acknowledge each other and they have the same writer and some of the same characters.

So, it was very nice to see the Hulks go immediately from their adventures in space last story arc to being tied into Chaos War.  One of the first events of Chaos War was that all the mortal heroes on Earth were knocked into a coma of sorts, so it makes sense that the Hulks (being off planet at the time) would have a role to play since they were unaffected.  It’s just nice to see nods to continuity in an event that isn’t blatantly numbering its books (although all the cross pollination between Chaos War scribe and Greg Pak and the Hulk and Hercules universes probably helps coordination).

The story itself is pretty average.  It’s nothing special, but no one who enjoys Hulk stuff is going to be disappointed to see that Abomination is back from the dead to fight the Hulks when they get back to Earth.  Hulks are big and they smash stuff.  Yeah!

Amazing Spider-Man #641 – Review

By: Joe Quesada (writer), Paolo Rivera, Quesada, Danny Miki & Richard Isanove (art) & Joe Caramanga (letters)

The Story: One Moment In Time lurches toward the finish line.  Will the ending make any sense?  Will Dan Slott punch his boss in the face for messing up this series’ momentum?

What’s Good: I’m going to go ahead and give a SPOILER warning because there is really no way to discuss what I liked about this issue without getting into spoilers.

I am generally a comics optimist.  I enjoy the hobby and have enough passion to spend my free time writing reviews, so I (mostly) just roll with the punches and don’t get too worked up about the stupid stuff that happens from time to time.

And you really need to have that attitude to pull anything good out of OMIT.  Just deal with it and accept that for whatever reason, Joe Quesada wanted to put Spider-Man into a different place with a new status quo.  He’s the editor and he gets to make that decision and for all the people who bitch about stuff like this, just remember that no one is perfect and that Quesada has mostly made okay decisions during his tenure as EIC at Marvel.

Amazing Spider-Man #640 – Review

By: Joe Quesada (writer), Paolo Rivera (primary artist), Quesada, Danny Miki & Richard Isanove (pgs 1 & 24) & Joe Caramanga (letters) and Spidey Sundays by Stan Lee & Marcos Martin

The Story: So, you thought that Peter saved Aunt May with his superpowered CPR technique, huh?

What’s Good: Paolo Rivera’s art is very nice and he handles the bulk of the art in the troublesome issue.  It’s a shame about the story, because the art is quite good.  It is very clean and efficient and never tries to be inappropriately flashy.

The story has a few moments.  I did think the moment where Peter pulls up his shirt to show the hospital orderly his costume to get his cooperation was pretty cool.  (BTW…the fat orderly was pretty clearly Spidey-editor Tom Brevort)  I also thought that the overall pacing of the story was pretty good and I enjoyed the chase/fight between MJ and the luchador-masked hit man.  And the final reveal [SPOILER] of Peter asking Dr. Strange to give him his secret identity back has me mildly intrigued about how the next issue will wrap up.

Too bad the plot for this issue was screwing things up.

Amazing Spider-Man #639 – Review

By: Joe Quesada (writer), Paolo Rivera, Quesada, Danny Miki & Richard Isanove (art), Joe Caramanga (letters)
The Story: In the second chapter of One Moment In Time, Joe Quesada goes to greater lengths to explain what happened on the day of Peter and MJ’s failed wedding and ties this failure to One More Day.

What’s Good: If you wanted to pick at the scab of One More Day, this is an interesting way to do it that actually has me slightly curious about what will happen in the next couple of issues of this One Moment In Time story arc.

Going back to last issue, we had a couple of revelations: One, that Peter Parker missed his own wedding because a fat guy was lying on top of him.  Two, during the deal with Mephisto in One More Day, MJ also made Mephisto promise to leave Peter/Spidey alone for all time as her condition for giving up their marriage.  Both of those tidbits come into play in a slightly interesting way here.

What I think happened in this issue is that Quesada is telling us that no wedding means no marriage, and no marriage means Mephisto doesn’t show up as Aunt May is dying because there is nothing that he wants to take away.  Thus, I think Quesada has just ret conned One More Day out of existence.  If you’re doubtful about what this means, you’re not alone.  Go read any internet message board on the issue and you’ll find a lively discussion.

Amazing Spider-Man #638 – Review

By: Joe Quesada (writer), Paolo Rivera, Joe Q., Danny Miki & Richard Isanove (art) & Joe Caramanga (letters)  Spidey-Sundays by Stan Lee & Marcos Martin

The Story: Marvel wants to do more Peter Parker and Mary Jane stories in the future and that means they think they need to reconcile some inconsistencies in the continuity that occurred during One More Day.

What’s Good: This issue is very strong from an editorial art standpoint.  We are given a mix of new pages that happen “now”, old pages from ASM Annual #21 (from the late 1980’s) and new pages that are adding additional information to ASM Annual #21.  So, it is impressive that editorial managed to get this all to come off from a technical standpoint.  It reminded me of watching the re-released Star Wars movies in the late 1990’s and trying to guess what elements were new CGI stuff and what was old.

The art teams also do a nice job throughout.  I like how they’ve made MJ look like the girl next door and not some super-model like some artists.  I also think they did a pretty good job of aping the art style of ASM Annual #21 with some of the newly added interstitial pages.

I also think it’s nice that they clearly have some interest in doing some Peter-MJ stories.  As a kid who grew up in the 1980’s, I’m too young to really remember Gwen Stacey as an active girlfriend.  And, I was out of comics in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, so seeing MJ & Peter together just feels “right” and has been missing of late.

Ultimatum # 5 – Review

By Jeph Loeb (writer), David Finch (pencils) Danny Miki (inks), Peter Steigerwald (colors)

The Story: The last chapter in the Ultimatum saga concludes with the deconstruction, rather than destruction,  of the entire Marvel Ultimate Universe. Magneto faces off against Wolverine and the rest of the heroes as they confront him for the untold mass destruction he unleashed across the Earth.

What’s Good: It’s over, it’s finally, finally over. 9 months and 5 issues later, Jeph Loeb’s wacker-piece is done and we can move onto the next chapter of the Ultimate Universe.

Outside of that, the art is slightly redeeming and although not my taste in style, it is detailed and very pleasing to the eye.

I wish I could find some more that was good with this story, but with the exception of how Cyclops handles Magneto, that’s it.

What’s Not Good: I can’t give away too much because of our non-spoiler policy, but characters are constantly offed by their lesser rivals. For example, I thought Doom was the strongest being in the Ultimate Universe? Well, actually the Thing can defeat him, permanently, in one second. Additionally, Loeb, as is his habit, rewrites characters just to fit the given scene. Another example: remember how Namor could cause a tidal wave that could swallow Manhattan? Remember how he defeated every character in the Marvel Universe and could also teleport?  Well, now he is kept captive in a tank of water and is unable to escape.

But perhaps the most frustrating part of Loeb’s work here is that he does the most irritating writing anybody can do that frankly makes his script look as if it was written by an amateur. Here’s what I’m talking about and it is a golden rule: You cannot have high-paced action scenes with needless, wordy, and drawn out dialogue. It doesn’t make any sense that characters stop to talk or tell each other off as they are fighting for their lives (well unless, your writing Spider-Man, but I think that’s the exception as that is pretty much one of his super powers). It just comes off horrible and reminds me of all the comics I hated in the late 80’s and most of the 90’s.

As far as the internal logic of this story, there is none at all, which is why I called this event Loeb’s wacker-piece. It is wacked out, non-stop nonsense in tone, mood, and events. Nothing is more evident of this nonsense than the “big” “reveal” at the “end” where we find out who was really orchestrating these events.

Conclusion: Just a bad, bad comic. Sorry to do this to David Finch– who is the plus side of this equation, but regardless of his nice work here, he’s on a sunken ship.

Goodbye Ultimate Universe. This is a death you didn’t deserve.  I hope Ultimate Comics has a better life than you.

Grade: D-

-Rob G.

Ultimatum #4 – Review

By Jeph Loeb (writer), David Finch (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), Peter Steigerweld (colors)

Usually it is an ominous sign here at WCBR when we forgo our standard format when writing a review; and in the case of Ultimatium #4, this warning is well warranted. Before I tear into this dreadful piece of literature; this horrendous and hideous production, I want to make a disclaimer: I am not a hater. I don’t hate creators for their past work or their approach to storytelling. You won’t see me railing against a Grant Morrison or Greg Land for their unique styles, even if I don’t like them (BTW, I am a fan of the former). Rather, I do my best to review every comic on its own merit and for what it and of itself brings to the table. Therefore, I am not a Jeph Loeb “hater,” so what I have to say here is objective and directed to the comic at hand. With that said, let me be blunt: this is one of the worst comics I have ever read.

I can not see one redeeming aspect of this comic and seriously, I don’t say this lightly, but this is a complete waste of a tree. In fact, there is a tree somewhere screaming from its pulpy grave that its life was cut short for the sake of this garbage, vowing vengeance against the editors at Marvel.

The character work here is totally laughable and I have no idea if this is supposed to be a serious comic or if there is meant to be some 4th wall comedy going on here; where the reader and the writer mutually acknowledge that comics take themselves too seriously. Also, the way the heroes and villains are killed off is, well, kinda disrespectful. Not disrespect to the characters, because that would be the proposition of an insane person, but rather, disrespectful to the readers. Marvel has wrapped many readers into the Ultimate Universe for years and these followers have dedicated a lot time and money to buy this line. So to see characters that readers were meant to invest into over these years killed off in such juvenile, silly, and irreverent ways just so that the writer has some shock value to fall back on, is, as I said, disrespectful.

The way this story moved along reminded me of a factory line. Things have to happen for point A to get to point B and that’s it. No drama, no real dialogue, and definitely no logic. In my opinion, the cause of these problems is just laziness. Loeb doesn’t even try to make things click. There is actually a scene where Cyclops addresses a helicopter crew that is hundreds of feet overhead and he just talks to it, telling it to lay off, and somehow the pilot hears him and backs off. I’m not even going to address the return of Nick Fury and that whole scene, as it’s not even worth me firing whatever synapses control my short-term memory has in order to recall how tremendously and pervasively ridiculous it was.

The art also seemed lazy and careless. I think Finch read the script and thought to himself that there was no point in eventrying. There is nothing impressive about anything here and the over-the-top, sloppy, and grotesque death and violence. It all simply forced me to look away from many of the panel.s.

I’m serious when I say, that there is no point in Marvel releasing the conclusion to this mini. It is a waste all-around. Just move on with Bendis and Millar and their new Ultimate Comics projects and pretend this whole sordid affair never happened. I will most likely not be buying the next issue as there is no chance that I’ll ever reread this series again ever, ever, ever…

Grade: F-

– Rob G.