Satellite Sam #1 – Review

By: Matt Fraction (writer) and Howard Chaykin (art)

The Story: A 1950s TV serials star is murdered.  Who done it?

Review: There is good and bad in this first issue.  A lot of your enjoyment is going to come down to personal taste and how much you like the creators when they are working in their preferred particular style.

I’m not a tremendous Matt Fraction fan; I’ve enjoyed some of his Marvel work (Iron Fist, Hawkeye, FF), but not others (Uncanny X-Men, Fantastic Four, Defenders, FEAR ITSELF OMG!).  I think my only exposure to his creator owned work is Casanova, which I own and have tried about 20 times to read, but can never get past the second issue.  So, he’s hit and mostly miss for me.

The Spirit #17 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: You ever get the feeling some people can only see the world in black and white?

The Review: As much history and acclaim lies behind The Spirit, it really doesn’t have much of a mythos.  You have the core cast, of course, and the faceless Octopus as Spirit’s possibly eternal archnemesis, and a handful of recurring characters, but unlike any other major comic-book figure out there, the Spirit has few defining storylines and even less continuity.  Most writers and artists use the series more as a vehicle to stretch their storytelling chops than to tell a substantial story.

In “Strange Bedfellows,” Howard Chaykin gives us the oldest plot in pulp, the “Whodunnit?”  Unfortunately, since he shares the issue with two other features, he has scale back his plot and character development to the point where you never really get invested in either.  Half the fun of these mysteries is having the detective make deductive connections from the facts you somehow miss, but Chaykin goes for the strategy of having the Spirit pull conclusions out of thin air, almost making them up as he goes along: “Wearing your husband’s shoes with Sandra on your shoulders, to leave those heavy size-twelve footprints…using a recording of Brian raging at you to sell his suicide…”  Brian Bolland offers strong character figures and detailed settings, but doesn’t use the black-and-white constraints to his advantage, making it look like very nice inks the colorist forgot to fill in.

Paul Levitz delivers one that feels like it barely moves beyond the conception stage.  “Lottery” revolves around Brenner, a newsman whose doormat personality makes him sympathetic, but no less shallow in depth.  As for Ivan, the conman who preys on the hapless newsie, his brilliant plan is to replace the state-approved lottery board on Brenner’s stand with his own, a blatant substitution that makes you wonder why frequent visitor the Spirit doesn’t catch on sooner.  It’s also baffling why Brenner doesn’t just ask the Spirit, whom he considers the only man who respects him, to help him out.  So you’re not inclined to feel all that moved by the unfortunate, but hardly tragic by any means, ending.  Dolan has a point: “Fools who play these games deserve to lose, anyway.”  Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez provides enjoyable, lively versions of our characters, but needs more inking; it all looks so pale you’ll find it difficult to stare at it for too long.

Dark Horse Presents #2 – Review

By: Paul Chadwick, Robert Love, David Walker, Michelle Davies, Diego Simone, Thomas Mauer, Neal Adams, Moose, Carla Speed McNeil, Jenn Manley Lee, Bill Mudron, Howard Chaykin, Jesus Aburto, Ken Bruzenak, Michael T. Gilbert, Patrick Alexander, Sanford Greene, Chuck Brown, Tyson Hesse, Steve Dutro, Richard Corben, Clem Robins, David Chelsea

The Story: Another round of Dark Horse’s reborn anthology series.

Review: Honestly, this issue was a real slog to get through.  Part of the problem is that there was no singular story that was just electric in this short format.  Some of them might mature into great stories, but anthologies are hard. You have to grab the reader right away!  If the issue starts with 3 stories that fail to capture the attention, the remaining part of the issue might be doomed.

Another problem with this issue was editorial.  By having most of the first half of the issue filled with stories that began in last month’s issue, we got a lot of second chapters.  All told, we got a second chapter of Concrete (Paul Chadwick), Blood (Neal Adams), Finder (Carla Speed McNeil), Marked Man (Howard Chaykin), Mr. Monster (Michael T. Gilbert), Murky World (Richard Corben) & Snow Angel (David Chelsea).  That is just waaaayyyy too many second chapters.  Second chapters don’t have as much novelty, but they also don’t finish stories, so they can be pretty boring.  And this issue was pretty drab.

The few new stories in this issue were the high points.  Robert Love and David Walker give us “Number 13” which is about a post-apocalyptic wasteland, Patrick Alexander gives us The Wraith which is a silly kinda spoof of an evil Batman and Sanford Greene and Chuck Brown trot out Rotten Apple which had an interesting twist on a zombie overrun world.  I really enjoyed all three of these new stories because they were fresh.

Editorial could have helped this issue out a bit by putting the new stories at the front to build some more excitement for the rest of the issue.  It also might be good to stagger the ongoing stories so that we don’t get a whole pile of Chapter 2’s again.

New Avengers #13 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Mike Deodato & Howard Chaykin (artists), Rain Beredo & Edgar Delgado (colorists), and Joe Caramagna (letterer)

The Story: “Captain, my captain.  Well done, Miss Hand.”

The Review:  New Avengers #13 is a frustrating issue.  Thankfully, it’s frustrating because it’s a good issue, but it’s good in an irritating way that leaves you wondering why the hell Bendis waited this long to pull things together in an arc that has been a complete and utter mess thus far.

The two biggest problems of the arc are solved this month.  Firstly, the much more interesting, and relevant, Mike Deodato illustrated modern day portion takes up most of the issue.  The result is a much more cohesive, and coherent, experience that is much easier to enjoy.

Then there’s the fact that finally, finally, Bendis pulls together the past and the present-day plots, at long last showing how the two relate to one another.  Thankfully, the link isn’t forced or artificial and it is meaningful.  Hell, the brief back-and-forth between the Chaykin and Deodato portions actually works well for once, making the relationship between the two stories seem tight and secretive and when it all comes together, and Nick Fury shows up in the present, it feels like a real bleed-over, and a badassed one at that.  Of course, all of this did also serve to irritate me again about why Bendis took so long to get this formula right, but I can only judge this issue on its own merits.

The issue also makes solid use of Victoria Hand.  Bendis keeps her allegiance clouded in doubt and mystery for most of the issue and there are a couple of real fake-outs.  Cleverly, Bendis never actually has Victoria on panel either; she’s just a disembodied voice from the other end of a phone-line.  It makes her motives all the more murky, all of it leading to a super-slick ending.

New Avengers #12 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (script), Howard Chaykin & Mike Deodato (art), Rain Beredo & Edgar Delgado (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: Nick Fury and friends race to stop the Red Skull while in the present, Mockingbird continues to fight for her life while Victoria Hand gets an offer she can’t refuse.

The Review:  The key problem with this arc remains intact (the fact that Bendis is simultaneously telling two stories that have nothing in common),  but it’s minimized by the fact that one story, the Howard Chaykin drawn flashback tale, gets the bulk of the page-count.  So, at the very least, there is a greater sense of cohesion than there has been thus far.  Yes, the transitions between the past and present are still irritating and yes, I’m still wondering why the hell these two stories have been smashed together, but at least things are more coherent.

Because of this, I got a bit more enjoyment out of the Chaykin story than I have in prior issues.  It’s nothing overly special, but it’s decent, harmless fun with lots of action and old school Red Skull goofiness.  It’s helped along by the fact that this is by far Chaykin’s best performance in this arc thus far, with his Red Skull in particular looking funny to the point of being a bad guy out of a kids’ cartoon.

That said, while it is good fun, there’s a sense of half-baked ideas here.  The Nazi-created Captain America is dealt with before even being explaiedn in the remotest way and the ending is, well, more bizarre than tantalizing.  It also doesn’t help that Fury’s squad all starts to blur.  There’s Fury, Sabretooth, Kraven, Namora, and….uhm….no one else of real significance.

But really, the worst part of this issue is that, much like last month, the present-day portion is still the more interesting story.  The greater page-count of the flashback story does distract from this a little more, but the little space the present story gets are still the more interesting.

Justice Society of America #50 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: Look out Haggar of Metro City—the Flash is giving you a run for the money in the superhero mayor department.

The Review: This has been a good week for oversized, anniversary issues.  Like Action Comics #900, you get a good chunk of the title’s running events and then a healthy serving of short features a là the “annual” format.  In this case, regular writer Marc Guggenheim takes care of scripting duties for every piece, with a variety of artists to back him up.

“Cornerstone” feels more like a continuation of the DC Universe Legacies series, with its talk of the generational aspect between the Justice Society and Justice League of America.  It’s an old idea, one other writers have played with before, and with much greater deft than Guggenheim, who doesn’t really succeed in giving a new spin to the whole thing.  At least the script gets art treatment from George Pérez (with help from Scott Khoblish), whose style looks dated on most comics now, but really works with retro-stories like this one.

In “Infinitum”, which ties in with the main events on Justice Society, Guggenheim uses a dramatic style of narration to amp up the epic tone of his story, but it just comes off heavy-handed and not a little bit dumb: “The battle rages.  As it always does.  A never-ending battle.  Or so they say.”  Besides, the feature doesn’t tell you much about bald-and-bearded Degaton’s ultimate objectives with merging himself with his parallel Degatons (exactly as weird as it sounds), so it seems like a throwaway tale.  Freddie Williams II’s cartoony style doesn’t exactly help sell the drama Guggenheim’s going for, either.

Dark Horse Presents #1 – Review

By: Paul Chadwick, Howard Chaykin, Jesus Alburto, Ken Bruzenak, Neal Adams, Moose, Carla Speed McNeil, Jenn Manley Lee, Bill Mudron, Michael T. Gilbert, Frank Miller, Richard Corben, Clem Robins, Randy Stadley, Paul Gulacy, Michael Bartolo, Michael Heisler, David Chelsea, John Schork (assistant editor), Scott Allie, Rachel Edidin, Sierra Hahn & Diana Schultz (editors)

The Story: A great name in anthology comics comes back with pretty hot list of creators (see above) tossing a few pages each at the effort.

Anthologies: When I read an anthology, I am looking for something very specific: I just want one electric story that grabs me and makes me want to see more material from that creator NOW.  Other than that, I’m just looking for few nice stories, some nice art, etc.  And, I really don’t care that much if a few of the stories suck.  Just turn the page!  I think you score anthologies based on the high points, rather than the average of all the stories combined.

What’s Good: We have a winner!  In a comic that has a lot of pretty strong efforts from some creators who know a thing or two about creating comics, the best short-story is that of Michael T. Gilbert as he gives us a story of his character, Mr. Monster, fighting with a giant tree-alien calling himself Oooak (get it?).  This story has a very retro vibe both in terms of the language and the art, but it is just zany fun as Mr. Monster tries one thing after another to kill Oooak before he finally resorts to throwing a jar of “Acme Termites” at the bad guy.  This is the awesome sauce that made the whole comic worth buying.

There were a few other nice little stories in here too.  Paul Chadwick contributes a very nice story of his character Concrete.  I don’t even know the last time we got a new Concrete story, but this is some vintage stuff as we get to see the protagonist’s humanity filtered through this character that couldn’t look more different if he tried.  Neal Adams also tosses in a teaser for a new concept he has called Blood.  We get a singular image of the anti-hero Blood, but the rest of the story is recounted via a torture scene as some bad guys sweat the details out of one of Blood’s buddies.  It’s a very original way to lay out a story and Adams is on his A-game with the art too.

I’d absolutely like to see more of those three stories either in future editions of DHP or on their own.

What’s Not So Good: Considering the teaser on the cover for “Frank Miller’s Xerxes!”, it might be nice to have gotten more than 4 splash pages of art/story.  What we see is good, but it was a little disappointing when the name “Frank Miller” was one of the large attractions for the issue.  As if to compensate for the lack of story, we are treated to an interview with Mr. Miller.  I don’t know about you, but I have less than zero interest in reading an interview in my comic book.  For one thing, I pretty much don’t read interviews about upcoming projects; I’ll just look at the work when you get it done, thank you.  For another, in the year 2011, there are a bajillion places to find interviews online without having a few pages of a $7.99 comic devoted to them.

Invincible Iron Man #503 – Review

by Matt Fraction (writer), Salvador Larroca (art), Frank D’Armata (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: Tony fights to disarm Doc Ock’s bomb while Pepper goes for another round with Sandman and Electro.

The Review:  I think it’s issues like this that make people aggravated about event tie-ins.  Looking at the cover of this issue, you’d think Fraction had postponed the conclusion of his Doc Ock arc altogether, going for the tie-in straightaway.  Thankfully, that isn’t the case, with Fear Itself only being introduced as the next storyline in the issue’s final few pages.

Unfortunately, that most likely mandated prologue makes this Doc Ock arc feel rushed in its conclusion, as Fraction seeks to tie up this story as quickly as possible in order to move on to Fear Itself ASAP.  It’s a damned shame, given how solid this arc has been.  This rushed feeling permeates the issue.  Pepper’s fight with Electro and Sandman is shockingly brief this month, with the baddies putting up no fight whatsoever.  Meanwhile, with respect to Doc Ock’s bomb, Fraction goes for the oldest and most predictable twist possible.  Given how much I’ve been enjoying the duel between Otto and Stark, that Fraction would resort to such a tired trick, and then act as though it’s clever, was more than a little disappointing.   Then there’s an image of Tony breaking Otto’s neck, but this is never addressed or referenced.

And all this is sped through in this manner to lead into Fear Itself through an event that is so conveniently timed as to feel utterly forced.  Ugh.

It’s sad really, given that there is a lot to like here, were it not for the big event gumming things up.  For instance, Doc Ock’s getting Tony to beg and call him “master” was a lot of fun, and this being his entire motivation for this scheme was crazy goodness.  I loved seeing Doc Ock gloating, rewinding and re-watching Tony’s begging again and again, treating the video as though it were internet porn.  Also, while the pacing was off, I did like how Fraction ended this plot, with a whimper and not a bang.  There’s no conclusive end of Doc Ock here, no huge battle, and no Otto walking away in handcuffs or lying unconscious.  While this particular conflict and situation are fully resolved, Fraction leaves the story feeling a little more open-ended and hence, less run-of-the-mill.  In fact, seeing Otto simply leave after getting his video of Tony (for his own personal enjoyment) just adds to the demented nature of the character.

New Avengers #11 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (writing), Mike Deodato & Howard Chaykin (art), Rain Beredo & Edgar Delgado (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: Doctors try to save Mockingbird while in the past, Nick and friends raid a Red Skull base.

The Review: New Avengers #11 is a very frustrating issue to review.  On the one hand, it’s unquestionably better than last month’s debacle.  In fact, it does a lot of things really, really right.  Unfortunately, it also has many of the same major flaws from last month, which ultimately hamper the entire package.

The biggest example of this is the division of the issue between two stories, in two different timelines, in a constant back-and-forth.  We’re well into this arc now, and there is still absolutely no correlation between these two stories.  There’s no hint of an explanation as to why they’re occupying the same issue.  At this point, Bendis should quite with the back and forth and just call the book a double feature.  There’s nothing significant in common between these two plots and no narrative interaction whatsoever, leading to a bizarre reading experience.

But it honestly wouldn’t be so bad if the two stories were of equal merit.  Of course, that’s far from the case.  The present-day story is simply head and shoulders above the Nick Fury story and it feels like a chore whenever we return to the latter.  While Howard Chaykin’s art, while still idiosyncratic, does improve from last month’s disaster, the bottom-line is that the tale itself just isn’t very interesting at all.  While that jazzy, old time tone is there thanks to Chaykin, this is nothing more than a standard Nick Fury Nazi-hunting story, with nothing at all unique or exciting about it.

Which is a shame, because Bendis does so much right with the present day story.  Mockingbird’s critical condition creates real human drama and emotion.  The tension is palpable and sincere, which is really quite the accomplishment given that “certain death until the last moment” is usually so tired.  But Mockingbird really does feel threatened here and the reaction of the Avengers is genuine.

New Avengers #10 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Mike Deodato & Howard Chaykin (art), Rain Beredo & Edgar Delgado (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: The Avengers continue the fight against Superia while in 1959, Nick and Dum Dum meet some new friends.

The Review: Oh, Howard Chaykin.  What the hell happened this month?  There’s got to be a story here.

That’s the first thing of note about this issue, unfortunately; Chaykin’s work is a disaster.  It is incredibly rushed and it looks completely unfinished.  Everything is oddly ill-defined, character anatomies are all over the place and, at times, barely human, and any form of detail flies out the window the minute we get far enough to see a character’s entire body.  Quite simply, this artwork is an embarrassment, especially from a guy like Chaykin.  At times, this artwork just looks cheap and even amateurish and then there’s even one panel in an action scene that is so gloriously botched that I’ve no idea how it made it to print.  Overall, there’s no polish and no sense of completion.  Frankly, I’m not sure how editorial let something so clearly rushed and unfinished onto the stands.

While that’s the biggest disaster this month, Brian Bendis doesn’t have a particularly good outing this month.  He does do the little things right, though.  The banter is enjoyable, particularly Spider-Man’s and the back-and-forth between Luke and Jessica.  Those are Bendis’ usual strong points.  However, from there, things sort of fall apart.  For instance, perhaps it’s because of Bendis’ decision to divide the issue between two stories, but nothing of note actually happens in the present day story.  We are literally exactly where we were last month: the Avengers are on the ropes, Mockingbird is lying on the ground dying; and we still have no idea what Superia’s plans were.

New Avengers #9 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Howard Chaykin & Mike Deodato (art), and Rain Beredo & Edgar Delgado (colors)

The Story: The Avengers interrupt Superia’s plans in the present while, in the past, Nick Fury finds himself recruited into a certain initiative.

What’s Good: I wish Howard Chaykin would draw more comics.  He handles the Nick Fury flashback portions of the issue, and truly his style is like no other.  It’s gritty, a little cartoony, and absolutely brimming with life.  His chase sequence is filled with drama and his depiction of Fury’s 1950s spy world is slick and characterful.  Of course, that’s not to say that Mike Deodato’s work is no good; he and Rain Beredo deliver the same caliber of work we’ve been getting from them for some time now.  I also felt that the dichotomy between Deodato’s super-polished style and Chaykin’s more idiosyncratic look did a good job reflecting the past/present nature of the two plots.  There’s also a truly fantastic panel by Deodato that depicts the Avengers as the bad guy ex-HAMMER goons see them, and they look absolutely terrifying.

I had fun with Brian Bendis’ script as well.  As always, the New Avengers feel like a group of buddies more than anything.  Much as was the case last month, this issue’s dialogue is legitimately funny.  More than that though, Bendis enhances the humour with superpowers.  Seeing Luke Cage’s method of competing with his wife and Iron Fist in a truck-race (you read that right) is hilarious, as is Thing’s initiation of his battle plan.  Of course, the best laughs and the tone in general come from the character’s back-and-forth rapport, which is always completely natural, lively, and good humoured.  More than that, it’s also free of the notorious Bendis-speak.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #3 – Review

By: Nick Spencer (writer), Cafu (feature penciller), Bit (feature inker), Santiago Arcas (feature colorist), Howard Chaykin (flashback artist), Jesus Aburtov (flashback colorist)

The Story: As the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents make their next move against Spider, the many lives of NoMan come to light, with betrayal on both fronts.

The Review: Any time a new team of heroes gets together, you’re going to have a mix of rookies and the old vanguard.  Sometimes the conflicts between the two pop up further down the line, but sooner or later, the ghosts of the team’s past will come to haunt them.  From the beginning you had the sense that some old history was definitely at work behind the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents’ current mission.  After this issue, you’ll know if these new Agents survive, they’ll be rising from the ashes of their predecessors.

Nick Spencer continues to use flashbacks to furnish the backgrounds for the characters, but this time around he’s beginning to lay the path for those old ghosts to walk on.  NoMan’s past comes across as particularly chilling, but speaks to Spencer’s writing talent.  For frequent readers of superheroes, it’s easy to take the origins and science of their powers lightly.  Spencer takes some major steps to show the price of these extraordinary abilities, and in doing so, sets the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents apart from the rest of their DC counterparts.  NoMan’s increasing inability to feel as a side effect of his constant body-switching is shown to horrifying effect.

As effective as these flashbacks are at giving you a grasp on these characters, they also deaden the pace of the present story.  The current mission just inches forward with each issue, and with all the page-time devoted to the past, the logistics of the current mission tend to get lost in the shuffle.  So far, all you know is that the original Raven has been captured and the Agents are out to get him back.  But so little time has been spent explaining the risks and importance of the mission that it all feels very low-stakes and there’s hardly any suspense at all.

Irredeemable Special #1 – Advance Review

By: Mark Waid (writer), Paul Azaceta (art, Story A), Matthew Wilson (colors, Story A), Emma Rios (art, Story B), Alfred Rockefeller (colors, Story B), Howard Chaykin (art, Story C), Andrew Dalhouse (colors, Story C), Ed Dukeshire (letters)

This Irredeemable special serves as an anthology, made up of three three short stories from the Irredeemable Universe. All three of the shorts are enjoyable, and for my money, the first story (“Hornet”) is the real winner here.  Anyone who has been reading Irredeemable since the beginning remembers that first scene of the title where Plutonian fries one of his hero buddies along with the hero’s wife and young child.  It was a graphic and memorable scene that set the tone.  “Hornet” adds some extra color to that scene and makes it even more terrible that Plutonian killed the guy and his family.  What I find impressive is that Waid clearly has a lot of story already planned because I doubt this is the sort of short story he could have whipped up on the fly.

Captain America # 600 – Review

By Ed Brubaker, Roger Stern, Mark Waid (writers), Alex Ross, Dale Eaglesham, Butch Guice, Howard Chaykin, Rafael Albuquerque, David Aja, Mitch Breitweiser, and Kalman Andrasofszky (art), Frank D’Armata, Edgar Delgado, Matt Hollingsworth, Paul Mounts, Marte Gracia and Mitch Breitweiser (colors)

The Story: Everything you knew about the death of Captain America is wrong. On the eve of the one-year anniversary of that fateful day, Sharon follows a path built by fractured memories to discover a game-changing clue in Steve’s death. On the other side of town, while heading towards the memorial at Central Park, the Patriot meets a new hero from a different world, or at least she says, who has a particularly strong connection to both Bucky and Steve. Also attending the memorial is Bucky and the new avengers where they get a swift punch in the gut from Osborn, but not in the way you think.

What’s Good: Brubaker goes back to his mastery of spinning a mystery, crime noir story by starting with revisiting the first piece of evidence at any murder scene. From there, he weaves in hints of upcoming story-plots, centered around The Grand Director and this new, alien character, but then comes back to main issue at hand — Steve’s return. Most interesting is the surprise return of the Red Skull who we knew was out there somewhere, so don’t worry, I didn’t spoil anything here as its what he says that is the big reveal.

For me, it’s not just that Cap is back, but rather the whole series is back. I’ve felt that since Bucky became full-time Cap this story has been running on fumes and that all though it is extremely well written, it seemed like Brubaker was killing time or playing it safe. And this issue confirms my suspicions as all the dynamics, tone, feel, and even characters are back to where this series was at around issue 25. I’m no fan of Bucky being Cap at all, but who knows, the fact that this new direction is in full force and Cap is back, maybe it will retroactively sweeten Bucky’s roll for me? Also, there is a nice little vignette involving Crossbones and Sin that is sweet and yet so, so disturbing.

There is a team of artists on this book and I found each one of their parts to be executed to near perfection. My favorite was the art on the Red Skull tale, where the ultra-villain’s flash backs and current state were equally intense, his power and plans foreboding.

What’s Not So Good: As with all annual’s or event comics, like this “hundredth” issue, this pamphlet is a mixed bag as far as price. I’m not sure with the entire buzz and greatness imbued in Brubaker’s main tale, there was little worth reading in the smaller tales by Stern, Waid, and Lee. Waid’s didn’t make sense at all in the current marvel Universe as we see Tony Stark poised behind a desk with an assistant. Perhaps those that follow the Captain America Universe very tightly will have nostalgic feeling towards what these tales were about, but I didn’t and rather have had the extra cash to put towards another comic this week. I mean this comic was $5.30! That’s half of a decent trade. Tossing in these throwaway tales and cover gallery doesn’t justify the price point for me. I’m sure some collectors are happy with this and for them Marvel should offer two choices: a collector’s edition, like this issue, or a regular edition, with just Brubaker’s tale.

I think it is a fair critique to say that despite all the artists doing a yeoman’s job on their given task, the overall aesthetic feel for Brubaker’s main tale is jaded at best. Having Chaykin follow Guice next is like using a sponge instead of sandpaper. When I returned to the normal visual feel of Captain America at the end of the story, it felt like I was reading several other comics in between. Besides showcasing Marvel’s talent, there was nothing gained by using such radical art styles on one story. In fact, this decision hurt the book.

I know that Captain America has a rich history of team-ups, so I will wait and see how this eventual team-up between the Grand Director and this alien girl goes, but for now, I’m not sure that the Captain America mythos needs another partnership or anymore characters. Especially with the Skull and Steve returning.

Conclusion: Because of Captain America # 600, Reborn is by far the most anticipated event for me. This is the upcoming project helmed by Brubaker and Hitch that continues what was laid out here. I didn’t think anything could dampen the excitement around Blackest Night, but Steve’s return does. Most surprisingly, I am not pessimistic about how Steve’s resurrection will be handled as I have great faith in Brubaker and his talents, especially with crafting a good old-fashioned murder (or not) mystery. Brubaker’s story is an easy A, but with all the mishandled art oversight and expensive fluff stories, I have to give Captain America #600 an…

Grade: B

-Rob G.

Squadron Supreme 2 #1 – Review

By Howard Chaykin (Writer) and Marco Turini (Artist), Guru-EFX (colors)

Marvel’s track record on its reinvention of the Squadron Supreme has been decidedly uneven, from Straczynski’s masterful 18-issue miniseries—perhaps the best interpretation of Superman’s origin ever—to the bombastic Ultimate Power, which proved that it is, in fact, possible to have too much of a good thing. So where does the new Squadron Supreme mini-series fall? Honestly, it’s too soon to tell. It could be great, or it could suck.

This time the Supreme storyline careens off on yet another direction: the introduction of duplicates of heroes from the Marvel universe. Personally, I think it’s a bad idea. The special appeal of the Supreme universe is that there are only a few super-beings. The dramatic tension is not between good and evil; it’s between normal and godlike. On the other hand, the characters are kind of cool. The female version of Spider-man is as creepy as a human arachnid should be, and the ersatz Captain America is literally wrapped in tattered flags.

This issue also reintroduces Emil Burbank, still the most irritating super-villain in this or any other universe. He’s an evil genius who’s only superficial evil, and not that great a genius. Somehow, despite causing the deaths of millions of people in Ultimate Power, he’s free again and working for the government. Beside him is Nick Fury. How did Fury end up here? Don’t ask me. I’m still trying to figure out how he regrew that arm he lost at the end of Ultimates 2.

The book is written by Howard Chaykin, so the script is naturally peppered with sexism, homophobia, and racism. But it’s so toned down for a mainstream audience that it’s neither particularly offensive, nor particularly funny, nor particularly sexy. The good news is that the bodies in the suspension chambers on the last page indicate that this mini-series will finally wrap up the King Hyperion story line started way back in 2005 (you know, the one where Hyperion brainwashes everyone, like in the Gruenwald version).

So… As good as the original Supreme Power? Or as bad as the Doctor Spectrum mini-series? Stay tuned to find out. (Grade: B)

– Andrew C. Murphy