Cataclysm #0.1 – Review

by Joshua Hale Fialkov (Writer), Mico Suayan, Mirco Pierfederici, Leonard Kirk (Artists), Nolan Woodard (Colorist)

The Story: Getting a load of knowledge about what is happening in the universe, the Vision see the need to stop Galactus by herself.

The Review: After the somewhat disappointing Hunger mini-series, the announcement of an event named Cataclysm: The Last Stand of the Ultimates is currently sending a lot of rumors about the imminent cancellation of the Ultimate line of titles. While Marvel is currently being coy about what this event might lead to, it is dead set on telling this story about the regular Marvel universe (616 for the fans) Galactus stuck in the Ultimate universe. There are plenty of opportunities for rather interesting comparisons along with some good stories being told here, but does Joshua Hale Fialkov bring in a strong entry with this prologue issue?

Bringing in his stronger side, the one that was behind I, Vampire rather than the one behind Hunger, Fialkov is able to not only introduce the finer points of the inevitable conflict, yet also draws some interesting comparison between the regular and the Ultimate universe in the process. Telling a complete story all the while, this issue succeeds far more in taking advantage of the setting and the newer elements than what preceded it.

One of the first noticeable element that is better is the lead character, the female version of Vision that had been introduced in the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy. With her being properly introduced in terms of personality, with her conflict against her more logical and emotional side being evolving during the comic as part of the narrative, she succeeds in being a part of the story without making it all focus around her. She is central, as is her point-of-view, yet she is merely an instrument to the plot, which is then seasoned by how she envision things and how she evaluate her own development. With her development being complete in the 20 pages of this comic, Vision works rather well as the protagonist here as the ominous presence of Galactus dwell.

The Trial of the Punisher #2 – Review

by Marc Guggenheim (Writer), Mico Suayan (Artist), Sunny Gho (Colorist)

The Story: The trial of Frank Castle goes on as the mystery behind why he got himself captured in the first place is solved.

The Review: This mini-series is a rather strange little thing. With only two issues to tell its story and to give readers a conclusion and a certain message, it is perhaps a bit too optimistic of me to hope for a good resolution to a story that did start up rather nicely. With most of the setup already in place and the mystery about Frank Castle and his current predicament being firmly established, can this second and last issue provide a neat bow as it connects everything together in a good way?

The short answer is not really. While it do try in bringing a certain resolution to the mystery of why Frank got himself caught to begin with and does use the courtroom setting to provide some interesting points, not everything connect seamlessly. This is the kind of comics that could have indeed been a bit better if it had a bit more space in order to tell its story with more details.

The main reason why the issue is perhaps not as good as it could have been lies very much in how it conclude and the explanation that follows everything Frank did, so here’s what it means.

Harbinger Wars #1 – Review

By: Joshua Dysart, Duane Swierczynski (Writers), Clayton Henry, Clayton Crain, Mico Suayan (Artists), Brian Reber (Colorist)

The Story: Project Rising Spirit is coping with the losses that resulted with Bloodshot removal of several of their psiot children, while Peter Stanchek is being prepared for his role in the upcoming conflict concerning those psiot children.

The Review: There are many types of event comics. There are those that grow naturally from a story, yet are much too big to just encompass their respective titles and there are those that are just big concepts that encompass the larger universe and that cannot be tattered to a single book to be told effectively. This may seem like a simplistic way to view the juggernauts that are event comics, but it is effective nonetheless. Valiant comics very first event, that is also a huge crossover, symbolizing the unification of their still building universe, is a little bit of both. Harbinger Wars grows from the storylines found in both Bloodshot and Harbinger, yet also entails a concept that is too large to be just told in any of these titles respectively.

Batman: The Dark Knight #0 – Review

By: Gregg Hurwitz (story), Mico Suayan & Juan Jose Ryp (pencils), Vicente Cifuentes (inks), Sonia Oback (colors)

The Story: Kids, if you’re going to investigate your own parents’ murders, wait till you’re 18.

The Review: Reading my last couple reviews on this series, I realize I’ve been rather hard on Hurwitz since he took over the title.  But weird and creepy as it sounds for me to say this, I do it only because I care.  During my teaching days, I tended to be most critical on my smartest, most ambitious students.  I figured if you were smart and talented enough to know better, why should I have to tolerate sloppy, uneven work?

Clearly, Hurwitz doesn’t want to tell your run-of-the-mill Batman story, where a villain does something horrible and Batman cleans it up with prejudice.  You can always tell from the script that Hurwitz wants to find the bigger meaning out of the plot, to establish some kind of theme he can work around.  Therein lies a part of the problem.  As anyone who’s done some writing can tell you, theme can’t be generated; it can only be developed, often without intention.

The Punisher #14 – Review

By: Greg Rucka (writer), Mico Suayan (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story:  Frank and Rachel plan and execute a daring attack on Exchange HQ with their leader, Dr. Gerard, firmly in Rachel’s revenge-fueled cross-hairs.

The Review:  Talk about a white-knuckle issues.  If you want a nice, easy read to relax you, this isn’t it.  This entire issue just drips with tension.  Every page feels impossibly heavy, with all the characters clearly clenched with stress and tension.  If I could give a prize for “most stressful issue of the month,” it’d be this one.  I cannot overstate the tension that Rucka has injected into this issue.  It’s almost like you have to grip the comic extra hard or something.

The Amazing Spider-Man: Fear Itself

By Joe Moore (Writer), Joe Suitor (Art), and Mico Suayan & Frank D’Armata (Cover)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: I’m pretty much what you would call a casual Spidey fan. I like the character quite a bit, but rarely will I follow him for more than an arc at a time. That said, I’m definitely a sucker for good one and done Spider-Man stories, especially those featuring fantastic artwork. If the previews are any indication, Fear Itself has the artwork I’m looking for. Time to find out if the story can deliver as well.

The Story: Spider-Man encounters Man-Thing in Florida and gets a little bit too close for comfort. As a result, Peter Parker begins to have a reaction at the injury site that slowly begins to make his anatomy more plant-like. With the clock ticking, Spidey must locate Man-Thing in order to find some way to reverse the effects of the strange reaction.

What’s Good: Joe Suitor’s stylish artwork looks outstanding during the scenes featuring Spider-Man or Man-Thing. I absolutely love his take on the characters and the way he handles most of the scene direction. Also, the story is serviceable enough and contains a few interesting ideas regarding the complexities of fear.

What’s Not So Good: While most of the artwork is great, Suitor’s Peter Parker just looks a bit too hip and slackerish considering what type of character he is. Another thing that bothers me is that the story and dialogue never really rises above being average at any point. A disappointment considering how slick the visuals are.

Conclusion: Eye-pleasing artwork can only get an average comic story so far. And while Fear Itself provides a nice dose of Spider-Man, it ends up being far from memorable. As such, it’s hard to really recommend considering the $3.99 price point.

Grade: C

-Kyle Posluszny