Agents of Atlas #8 – Review

By Jeff Parker (writer), Carlo Pagulayan (artist), Jason Paz with Noah Salonga (inkers)

The Story: Jimmy Woo makes Norman Osborn’s black list by returning the gold reserves that were stolen from the government two months ago. But no sooner he get back, he sets off on a private mission to get more information on Suwan and leaves his new ex-SHIELD administrator in charge. Unfortunately, there’s a problem at the Atlas Las Vegas Biolab. It’s gone feral with neglect and managed to annoy the Hulk. Then, it’s Atlas against the Incredible Hulk.

What’s Good: The strength of this issue owes itself in equal parts to art and story.

The art is detailed and expressive. For example, the expression on Bruce Banner’s face when he’s being drugged by the Atlas Biolab, the subtle touch of green in his eyes… simply beautiful. The Hulk’s transformation is fantastic as well. I haven’t seen a lot of artists take on the half-transformed Hulk and do a good job. Jimmy’s hovercar is a nice little retro touch, as is M-11 as always. And without a doubt, Mr. Lao the dragon is a never-miss always feast for the eyes.

The foreground story of the Agents battling the Hulk, was satisfactory, but unoriginal. The luminary part of the book was all the backstory development. Woo’s flashback in the dragon cave was just a conversation between him and Mr. Lao, but the content was so interesting and tense that Parker had me begging for more. The introduction of the Jade Claw was also a tantalizing dvelopment that will have me impatient for issue #9. Lastly, all I can say about Ken Hale the sniper is… cool.

What’s Not So Good: I couldn’t find much to complain about in this issue, but let’s pretend M-11 is forcing me. Then I’d have to say I’m indifferent to Venus. She’s one of the team’s powerhouses, but in terms of personality she’s really just an extra who also happens to be a plot device. That may change and I know there’s some interesting stuff to her (her non-human origin for example), but right now, almost everyone else is way more interesting than she is.

Conclusion: Pagulayan’s art, combined with Parker’s strong, well-paced un-ravelling of ancient and recent mysteries make this a very solid issue.

Grade: B+

-DS Arsenault

Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #2 – Review

By Jason Aaron (writer) Stephan Segovia (art) Noah Salonga & Stephan Segovia (inkers) Cory Petit (letterer) Dave Wilkins (cover art)

The Story: Writer Jason Aaron crafts a fine tale of Logan’s exploits in Chinatown. Fifty odd years ago, Logan destroyed the Black Dragon tongs and was cast out of Chinatown and told never to return, under penalty of death. After been recognised (and nailed to a wall with a samurai sword) by Lo Jun, Grand Master of the Wudangquan, Logan is then beaten within an inch of his life by the Black Dragons death squad. Logan manages to escape to the sewers where he is found by Master Po, who offers to train him, Kung-fu panda style, to defeat the Black Dragons.

What’s Good: I’m really enjoying this story from Jason Aaron, he’s probably one of the best writers around at the moment and really gives this mini series a 70’s schlock-fu vibe. On the art side Stephan Segovia’s art is very reminiscent of Leinil Yu’s, giving the book a wonderfully kinetic feel that’s needed to pull off this kind of story. My favourite part at the moment was seeing Logan getting thunder- kicked fifty feet through a brick wall, great stuff!

What’s Not So Good: As you may of guessed I’m really digging this mini series and to be honest there is very little to fault. If you are a fan of kung-fu cinema or the hairy runt you really can’t go wrong.

Conclusion: All in all, another solid offering from Marvel, I’ll definitely be picking up the remaining issues and I urge you to do so, there are certainly worse books than this on the market at the moment and it’s still priced at $2.99, bonus!

Grade: B+

– C.Flanigan