Batman #23.3 – Review

By: Frank Tieri (writer), Christian Duce (art), Andrew Dalhouse (colors) and Taylor Esposito (letters)

The Review: This can be a pretty short review because there really isn’t much to say.  Batman #23.3 isn’t a bad comic, but there also isn’t any reason for it to exist beyond selling another issue to fans.  It doesn’t reveal anything new and interesting about The Penguin and it doesn’t seem to feed into any upcoming storylines for the other Bat-books.

If you are a passionate fan of The Penguin or if you simply MUST have something comic book-related to read for the next 10 minutes (and think that 10 minutes of mediocre entertainment is worth $2.99), be my guest.  The issue tells a done-in-one story of The Penguin.  He’s basically the same character here that he always was in the Old 52: Musty old crime boss.  He still has a top-hat, monocle and trick umbrella.  At the end of the day, he’s really a kinda dumb character; he was designed for children’s comics back in the 1940s and have never really been updated successfully like some other Bat-villains.

Thunderbolts #159 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Declan Shalvey (art), Frank Martin (colors) & Albert Deschesne (letters)

Moonstone story by: Joe Caramagna (writer), Valentine de Landro (art), Chris Sotomayor (colors) & Deschesne (letters)

Ghost/John Walker story by: Jen Van Meter (writer), Eric Canete (art), Fabio D’Auria (colors) & Dave Sharpe (letters)

Crossbones story by: Frank Tieri (writer), Matthew Southworth (art) & Sharpe (letters)

The Story: A medley of stories detailing events on the Raft after it is destroyed by Juggernaut’s Fear Itself Hammer.

What’s Good: For one thing, this is a pretty fat issue.  Checking in at 40 pages for its $4.99 price, you’re getting a double-sized comic for less than double-price.  And none of the 40 pages is junky crap like an old reprinted Thunderbolts story.  Nice one…

This is effectively a Thunderbolts anthology.  I love anthologies, but it isn’t uncommon to get some crummy stories that you just need to skip.  That’s not a problem in this issue as all of the stories are between “solid” and “quite good”.  And, because these four stories are both bulky and from widely different parts of the Raft, it really drives home the enormity of the crisis.  It also continues the general strength of the Fear Itself tie-ins.  This issue adds a lot of local flavor to Marvel’s summer event.

For regular T-bolts readers, the star of the issue will be the Parker/Shalvey Underbolts story.  When we last left these characters, they were contemplating just running for it instead of continuing to serve as “heroes”.  Here we see them helping out with rescue efforts but also building in their own little insurance policy for the future.  This is just classic T-bolts storytelling since these characters are villains and you never want them to feel “safe”.

The other stories all have their moments such as Marvel letterer Joe Caramagna showing us what happens when the female and male prisoners come into contact without any chaperones present or how effectively the anarchist Ghost and the former US Agent, John Walker team-up (and build a grudging respect).

Amazing Spider-Man #662 – Review

Main story by: Christos Gage (writer), Reilly Brown (pencils), Victor Olazaba (inks), John Rauch (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

Infested Part 3 by: Dan Slott (writer), Emma Rios (art), Rodriguez (inks), Edgar Delgado (colors) & Caramagna (letters)

Magnetic Man back up by: Frank Tieri (writer), Javier Rodriguez (art), Caramagna (letters)

The Story: Spider-Man and the Avengers Academy kids team up to against the Psycho Man.  Will Spidey be asked to substitute teach ever again?

What’s Good: Well, it is fun and fast paced.  I’ll say that for this issue.  It was a lot of enjoyable watching Spidey team up with the Avengers Academy kids because Spidey is kinda the king of team-ups and the kids are fun (and everyone should be reading their series)!

It’s going to sound like I’m banging on this issue when we get to the next section and I really don’t mean for it to sound that way because there is nothing that is “bad” about this issue.  There are fun little Spider-Man snappy banter moments and all the kids get to do their thing.  Reilly Brown’s art is perfectly fine too.  Not “great” art, but it is perfectly fine.

Iron Man/Hulk/Fury #1 – Review

By: Iron Man: Paul Tobin (writer), Ronan Cliquet (pencils), Chris Sotomayor (colors) Hulk: Frank Tieri (writer), Salva Espin (pencils), Guru eFX & Chris Sotomayor (colors) Fury: Joe Caramagna (writer), Hugo Petras (pencils), Chris Sotomayor (colors)

The Story: This comic tells three short stories taking place in the Marvel Film Universe. The Iron Man story shows Tony before events of the film, and shows what happened right before his press conference at the end. The Hulk story details an encounter between Banner and Fury. When exactly it takes place in relation to the movie isn’t totally clear, but Fury has been sent to see if Ross really came across something with the Super-Solider serum. Finally, Nick Fury’s tale is heavy on espionage as Nick attempts to smoke out a traitor within SHIELD.

What’s Good: Iron Man’s portion really nails the tone of the film. The Tony Starks in this book feels so much like the film’s Tony, you can believe that these scenes could’ve served as extra features for the dvd. Also Fury’s inner monologue in the Hulk story also reads very well. He’s smooth, relaxed, and badass without being cliche.

What’s Not So Good: The Hulk-Fury story is inconsistent. Tony’s story wasn’t anything new or groundbreaking, but it also wasn’t a rehash of the movie. Fury could easily be replaced by Ross or anyone else as he tells us how careful and smart Banner is. There’s also a huge tonal shift between each story. That isn’t a problem, but what’s lacking is a clearly defined start/stop point to the stories. Without a title page or something at the start of each, the shift from story to story is very jarring.

Conclusion: The book is a little misleading. I didn’t know it was a movie tie-in upon purchase. Granted movie tie-ins are normally bad, so it’s probably for the best that they didn’t plaster that over the cover. Still, with Ultimate Fury on the cover most people will probably think it’s an Ultimate Universe story which isn’t the case. Decent art and a solid story for about a 3rd of a comic aren’t really compelling arguments to part with your four bucks.

Grade C-

-Ben Berger