X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Frank Cho & Stuart Immonen, Marte Gracia (colors),  Frank Cho & Wade von Grawbadger (inks)

The Story: Yeah, yeah, it’s the start of a big event, there’s a big Sentinel battle, the fabric of time and space are unraveling, that’s all great. But deep down, you know the real reason to buy this comic: the X-Men fight Catholic dracosaurs!

The Review: Brian Michael Bendis is often at his best when his stories compel him to keep things moving. In such instances, he often finds ways to breathe essential character into otherwise mindless fight scenes and compress his well-loved writing style into a couple of choice words.

Luckily for us, X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1 is one of those stories.

Anyone worried about a slow start to this event have nothing to worry about. Though a couple of pages at the beginning serve as a cold open of sorts, after that and the recap page it only takes two more to move the original X-Men from a charming scene in the Jean Grey School to an all out battle in Phoenix, Arizona.

Something of the lighting-in-a-bottle energy that ushered in All-New X-Men is back this week. The youth and exuberance of the original X-Men is on display and finds a strong counterpoint in the skilled Professor Pryde, once the very face of youth and exuberance, herself. Whether that takes the form of their lunchroom interactions or their battle banter, the five of them just feel like a well-established team.

In fact, the issue acts as a fine sampler of what Bendis’ X-titles are capable of, complete with a helpful logo to let you know which pages belong in Uncanny X-Men. The interaction between teams seems primed to be a major focus of this event, so it’s nice to see how well Bendis illustrates the dynamics between the two mutant schools. Bendis really sells the complex feeling of falling into old patterns with friends you’ve grown apart from. It’s less the X-Men and Brotherhood and more the New Mutants and Hellions.

Savage Wolverine #5 – Review

By: Frank Cho (Writer/Artist), Jason Keith (Colorist)

The Story: Hulk arrives, Wolverine tries to fight him and some kind of ancient evil is unleashed out of the Savage Lands.

The Review: I had told in the previous review I wrote about this series a theory in which I told that Wolverine was kind of inconsequential to the story. In a way, I was mildly joking and I thought myself very clever when I pointed out that besides giving us action, he did not do much to advance the plot, leaving Shanna and Amadeus Cho the luxury of actually explaining what was happening to us. While it was a bit on the nose, it did not exactly detract from the enjoyment of the story.

As it turns out, I was right, albeit not entirely: none of the characters here actually mattered. While it may sound harsh and exceptionally unfair for me to say, I dare anyone to read this issue and then to just try to see why exactly the story needed Wolverine, Shanna, Amadeus Cho or even Hulk in there to explain its concepts. Basically, there is a lot of fighting between Hulk and Wolverine, which leads to the ancient evil sealed in the Savage Lands to wake up and go out in space. The end.

Savage Wolverine #4 – Review

By: Frank Cho (Writer/Artist), Jason Keith (Colorist)

The Story: Shanna gets resurrected as we get some explanation about the island and some of its mysteries. Meanwhile, Wolverine is angry and needs to do what he is best at, which isn’t very nice of him.

The Review: The more the series is advancing, the more it seems that Wolverine is absolutely inconsequential to this whole story about people being lost in the Savage Land. Really, from what I can see, he is pretty much only there to make the title sell, which is actually quite understandable, considering that a ‘’Shanna the She-Devil’’ or ‘’Amadeus Cho’’ title would not sell very well. Still, if adding Wolverine to the mix to get an actually interesting title is what we need, then so be it.

Savage Wolverine #3 – Review

By: Frank Cho (Writer/Artist), Jason Keith (Colorist)

The Story: Amadeus Cho gets some back story for the isle while Wolverine and Shanna battle some tribesmen.

The Review: There are some times when you wonder just why the titular character is even there when the supporting cast is more interesting. Sometimes, it seem that the more interesting parts of some series or issues are seen through the secondary characters, making those characters seems much more important than they are or at least their appearance become much more anticipated between issues. Sometimes, it is involuntary and other times it is by design, but it always results in the main character being pushed aside in many ways.

Savage Wolverine #2 – Review

By: Frank Cho (Writer/Artist), Jason Keith (Colorist)

The Story: Wolverine and Shanna deals with the dinosaurs attacking them, while Amadeus Cho arrive on the island and tries to understand just what is happening here.

The Review: Now this is more like it and, quite frankly, an improvement in close to every way from the opening issue of this series. Close to every problem I had with the first issue are either resolved, pushed aside or are just gone, creating something that is a little bit more up to the artistic talent of Frank Cho.

The first thing that had bugged me in the first issue was the over-reliance of self-narration that had been absolutely redundant considering what they said and how they were presented. The problem I had was that most of what Wolverine said could be very simply deduced by the art itself, making his speech completely useless in some ways. Here though, instead of describing just what he sees, Wolverine tells us how he feels and how he reacts to what is surrounding, creating a much better representation of who Wolverine is as a character instead of becoming something akin to a ‘’Captain Obvious’’. It is not completely out of the way, as there are still some narrations that are fairly useless, but it still much better than in the first issue.

Savage Wolverine #1 – Review

By: Frank Cho (Writer/Artist), Jason Keith (Colorist)

The Story: Wolverine gets stranded on a strange island that is part of the Savage Lands and meets Shanna the she-devil.

The Review: It is not common place these days to see an artist that can write a series on his own. Usually, it’s a combination of writer and artist, like Morrison and Quitely, or Ennis and Dilon, that creates great work as a team. We have seen people able to write and draw series by themselves, like Jeff Lemire with Sweet Tooth and Essex County, so could Frank Cho be the next discovery as the next big writer/artist under one of the Big Two?

Sadly, no. Frank Cho makes a good number of mistakes in this first issue that makes it very hard to enjoy its strong points. The very first of them is very simple: he writes too much. Close to every panel is accompanied with the various thoughts Wolverine has in his head, but the vast majority of those thoughts are completely useless, describing what Wolverine see in front of him. Considering that we can see easily what the character sees, those bits of text are pointless, bringing down the whole issue as if Frank Cho did not believe that his art could show all the necessary details by itself.

50 Girls 50 #4 – Review

By: Doug Murray & Frank Cho (writers), Axel Medellin (art), Nikos Koutsis (colors) & Thomas Mauer (letters)

The Story: The all woman crew of the Savannah have a final adventure on their trip home.

What’s Good: This comic has two big things going for it.  First, it is really pretty and features a lot of nice-looking women.  That’s all well and good.  I’d much rather look at pictures of pretty women than pictures of muscular men in skin-tight clothing, ya know?  But, pretty girls only carry a comic so far and this issue (and series) deliver on the story aspect too.

Granted, this series isn’t trying to be Watchmen, but sometimes I’d prefer to read a comic that is just trying to entertain than something that is all dark and gritty.  Each issue of this series has featured some clever little sci-fi problem that the women of the Savannah have run into as they try to get their vessel back to Earth: inter-dimensional beings, aggressive aliens, jungle planets that dissolve their spacesuits, etc.  In terms of feel and attitude, this comic reminded me a lot more of Star Trek: The Original Series than any of the later Star Treks that took themselves more seriously.

And, the art has been just grand.  While I’ve gotten familiar with Axel Medellin’s work through the pages of Elephantmen and this is earlier work for him, but he still knew how to draw pretty women (in the best Frank Cho style) so that they look curvy and fluid.  It’s just a skill that some artists have and some artists don’t….and Medellin has “it”.  One clever thing in terms of character design is how the uniforms (skin-tight, of course, because baggy clothes would just get snagged on stuff) have all these seams making them look a little like a wetsuit.  Theses seams give Medellin a way to accentuate the curves and give these women a stronger sense of energy, motion and depth than you’d normally expect.  From a coloring standpoint, I would have enjoyed less pronounced highlights, but the color palates are very pleasing to the eyes too.

50 Girls 50 #3 – PREVIEW

Story by: Frank Cho & Doug Murray

Art By:Axel Medellin

Cover By:Frank Cho

With the ESS Savannah now further from Earth than ever before, the crew is faced with the fact they may have to make a new home elsewhere. Will their new planet’s natives welcome them with open arms? No. Not even close.

X-Men: Schism #2 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Frank Cho (art), Jason Keith (colors), and Jared K. Fletcher (letters)

The Story: The X-Men race to deal with the global rash of out-of-control sentinels, Cyclops and Wolverine butt heads over Quire, and Kade Kilgore makes plans.

What’s Good: Like many kids who grew up in the late 80s to early 90s, I was an avid X-fan growing up.  That said, I’ve felt increasingly alienated by the last few years of X-Men stories to the point where I only cursorily followed what was going on in the X-verse.  The various creators, many of them quite talented, just weren’t telling the kinds of X-Men stories that I wanted to read.

And so, the first issue of Schism was a revelation as, out of nowhere, Aaron began telling a story that I was interested in.  With this second issue, we get more of the same.

In many ways, with Schism, Aaron appears to realize that a lot of what worked in the past for the X-Men didn’t need fixing and so, we’re getting a story that really brings back the basics of what makes for a compelling X-Men comic.  Namely, we’re getting Sentinels and anti-mutant hysteria.  More importantly, we’re not getting outlandish or bizarre reactions from the X-Men to all this either.  Instead, the mutants are heading out, kicking robot ass, and suffering the slings and arrows of those who hate and fear them all the same.  It’s not re-inventing the wheel on Aaron’s part, but there’s no mistaking that this works.  It’s a central conflict that makes for a relatable and enjoyable comic that pulled me in.

There’s solid character work as well.  An early scene between Wolverine and Idie of Generation Hope is tragic, haunting stuff that his the mark of an excellent writer.  It’s a scene that really punches you in the gut, and Wolverine’s reaction (and how he carries himself, as a result, through the rest of the issue) is a testament to his heart and empathy, beneath all the gristle.

50 Girls 50 #1 – Review

By: Frank Cho & Doug Murray (writers), Axel Medellin (art), Nikos Koutsis (colors) & Thomas Mauer (letters)

The Story: The crew of an all female spaceship is lost in space.

What’s Good: Well, it’s Frank Cho and Axel Medellin, so you know there will be pretty ladies in it.  I guess there’s also the hint that it’s called 50 Girls 50…

What makes this an enjoyable title are two things.  First, it seems to be in that space opera end of the sci-fi genre that doesn’t get covered by comics all that much.  And I don’t count the Big 2 cosmic stories where so many of the central players (the Kree, Thanos, etc.) are known entities.  50 Girls 50 is all new and has that wonderful sense of discovery that is a part of any good space opera.

The basic story is that in the semi-near future, Earth learns about wormhole technology and launches a ship.  For scientific reasons that are (thankfully) left vague, wormhole travel is not compatible with Y-chromosomes, so the crew is all women.  But, what was intended to be their maiden voyage, goes wrong and the ladies are stranded in unknown space.

The other neat aspect of the story is something that you’d kinda expect with Cho and Medellin.  As a landing party sets down on a planet to investigate, suddenly you have women in space suits tromping through a jungle full of huge insects.  That would be pretty cool by itself, but surprise, there is some aspect of the planet’s atmosphere that dissolves their gear, so with each passing page, the comic becomes more cheesecake.  First, they’re in spacesuits, then the sleeves fall off, then its pants and half-shirts and by the end of the issue they’re running around the jungle in their undies.  Two things about this work nicely and keep it from being too exploitative.  One is the neat transition from a sterile spaceship environment to sweaty bodies and loincloths.  The other is that it is all done in the best cheesecake tradition with tongue firmly planted in cheek and where everything is teased, but not explicit.

Hulk #8 – Review

By Jeph Loeb (Writer) Art Adams & Frank Cho (Artists) Walden Wong (Inker) Albert Deschesne (Letters) Peter Steigerwald (Colours)

The story: For the time being, at least until Ed McGuinness returns, Hulk Has been split into two separate stories with Art Adams and Frank Cho taking up the artistic duties on green and red Hulk respectively. The story. “What there is of it” seems to be written to match the artists strengths, so Art gets to draw slavering hordes of Wendigo’s and Cho gets to draw lots of ass and giant breasts as She- Hulk along with her Lady Liberators take on Rulk.

What’s Good: Unfortunately very little, to be honest the only reason that anyone would buy this dross would be for the art which I really cannot fault.

What’s not so good: Dear me, where do I begin? It seems to me that Jeph Loeb has completely lost the plot. The story makes no sense at all with random characters thrown in for no apparent reason like Moon Knight and Joe Fixit– two characters that behave in no way like they do in their own monthly titles which makes it even worse. This comic would be insulting for a five year old, nevermind the adults.

Conclusion: I remember reading a while ago how series artist Ed McGuinness claimed that he had waited years for the chance to draw Hulk, how dissapointed he must feel to have been stuck with this dud of a comic book. Shame on you Jeph Loeb, and Marvel in particular, for allowing this travesty to continue.

Grade: D

– C.Flanigan

Super-Con 2008 Report!

Daniel, Ray, and I had a chance to check out Super-Con 2008 today. Check out our complete report on what went down!

Jungle Girl #4 – Review

By Frank Cho (plot, cover art), Doug Murray (script), Adriano Batista (art), Frank Martin (colors)

You can’t expect too much from a book like this. One look at the cover and the title pretty much sums up what you’re about to get into. Delays have plagued this issue (I think it’s two months late), so I’ve sorta forgot what the story’s about.

I know there’s a crew of civilized people stuck on this island. Jana (the Jungle Girl) was helping them out when some rival natives capture the refugees. The tribe’s all-knowing leader, Dream Walker, says that if Jana can enter this sacred cave and slay the beast within, she and her refugees are free to go. Well, not only does she slay the beast, she slays the tribe’s leader in ultra violent fashion. From there a chase into the abyss begins.

Scripter, Doug Murray, is no Shakespeare, but he manages to write decent dialogue into the mouths of the characters. And penciler, Adriano Batista, is no Frank Cho, but he’s pretty darn good in his own right. His storytelling is easy to follow. In fact, one could easily follow this book without ever reading a single line of dialogue. His work is digitally inked so there’s a mixed result at times when his pencils aren’t so tight. I do wish he had an inker – the art would look so much more refined. Frank Martin’s colors are a mixed bag as well. When he colors the characters, they look amazing. But there are times when things look over-colored or too flat (like after the worm chewing scene). It’s just a bit inconsistent.

Jungle Girl is a book grounded in high adventure, unapologetic violence, and gratuitous amounts of fan service. If you’re into this kind of stuff, it’s fun for what it is. If you’re not, well, you knew you were never going to buy this book to begin with. If these delays continue, you’re probably better off waiting for the trade paperback, because you’ll just forget what happened in the issue before. (Grade: C)

– J.Montes