Savage Wolverine #6 – Review

By: Zeb Wells (Writer), Joe Madureira (Artist), Peter Steigerwald (Colorist)

The Story: Elektra is elusive, Wolverine might have anger issues and Kingpin is shady. Also includes ninjas.

The Review: I had my doubts about continuing this series. After the last disappointing issue, I wasn’t sure if this title could keep my interest. However, I was quickly reminded that this title had kind of become some kind of home for writers and artists to do original stories featuring the ol’ canucklehead when I saw that it was both Zeb Wells and Joe Madureira that took hold of the title as a follow-up to Frank Cho’s tenure. Does this duo make a better argument for such a title when Frank Cho didn’t do so well in retrospective?

Surprisingly, they do give us a story that focuses a bit more on Wolverine, connecting a bit more with whom the character and what he does. The story starts with Wolverine being angry, out of his mind as we’re thrown to the end of a conflict where he took some big hits. As the story goes from here, we see a bit how he interacts with some of his Avengers team-up and with one of his always entertaining team-up partner: Spider-Man. Considering the lack of importance of continuity for this story, we are given the real Peter Parker version here, which could be considered a nice bonus for those not on board with the whole Spider-Ock thing, as we see his usual uncomfortable shenanigans and interactions with Wolverine, which are always entertaining.

Batman Annual #1 – Review

By: Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV (story), Jason Fabok (art), Peter Steigerwald (colors)

The Story: An apple a day keeps the doctor away.  Unless that doctor happens to be Mr. Freeze.

The Review: Mr. Freeze is definitely one of the staples of Batman’s rogues gallery, and ranked among the top-tier of those Gothamite villains.  Not only does he have a power set that borders on the metahuman, which goes a little out of the Bat-family’s comfort zone, but his unfeeling coldness just makes him seem more lethal than, say, the Riddler or Penguin.  He also carries a distinct air of tragedy which sets him apart from his peers and makes him even more intriguing.

The traditional source of this tragedy (i.e. his obsession with finding a way to save his terminally ill, cryogenically preserved wife) has always been effective in making Freeze sympathetic, but its inescapable romanticism often gets played to melodramatic heights.  If Snyder and Tynion wanted to ground Freeze’s backstory, their best bet might’ve been to explore the relationship between Freeze and his wife, to let us understand why Freeze absolutely can’t let her go.

Lady Mechanika #3 – Review

By: Joe Benitez (writer and artist), Peter Steigerwald (colors) & Josh Reed (letters)

The Story: Lady Mechanika investigates a gypsy circus to find more clues to her origin.

Five Things:

1. Glorious art. – This is really a wonderful looking book.  The art is very much in the Marc Silvestri by way of Michael Turner style.  There are a lot of artists who were influenced by those guys, but most of them suck when they try to draw like Michael Turner (and there’s not much worse in comic art than poor Michael Turner rip-offs!)  Not Benitez!  You could almost convince me this was some long lost Michael Turner story (what a shame to die at 37!).  The characters are elegant and detailed as hell.  Love the creative steampunk designs and we get lots of dramatic poses and interesting page layouts (many with a large, highly detailed character kinda superimposed over the top of the other panels).  The art is reason enough to buy the comic.

2. Simple story that fits the release schedule. – Well….we’re not going to get this as a monthly comic.  It’s simply not going to happen.  So, let’s give Benitez huge credit for realizing that he needs to keep the story streamlined because you can’t have a complex story when we’re waiting 4-5 months between issues.  You could sum this story up in two words: Steampunk Fathom.  That’s it.  Mysterious and beautiful woman with strange powers trying to figure out where she came from.  I can keep track of that for the inevitable delays between issues.

3. A little talky. – For a simple story, it is a LOT talky.  The opening sequence takes several pages just for Lady Mechanika to have a brief conversation with a bunch of circus folk.  It probably is how they would actually talk, but it makes for a slow reading experience.

Lady Mechanika #2 – Review

By: Joe Benitez (writer & artist), Peter Steigerwald (colors) & Josh Reed (letters)

The Story: The beautiful steampunk android Lady Mechanika continues to explore her origins while being pursued by mysterious forces.

What’s Good: This can be a pretty fast review because the highs and lows of this issue are pretty glaring. The art is the reason to buy this comic.  Joe Benitez has really got his style figured out and his linework is gorgeous.  His Mechanika is just stunningly well drawn.  The style he is using is very reminiscent of what Michael Turner used to do on Fathom, so if you liked that, you should love this.  Everything is nicely proportioned and while he takes a few liberties with anatomy, the muscle groups are all there where they should be.  He’s showing a really high level of detail on his inks too.  And, Steigerwald is doing a great job with the colors too.  This issue is a visual treat.

And, the overall story is pretty neat too.  In a way, it kinda reminds me of a steampunk Fathom– sexy heroine, mysterious origin, ominous forces after her, possible larger agendas at play…  There really isn’t enough steampunk in the world of comics, so this is a very welcome addition.
What’s not so good: Holy crap is this comic wordy!  Sometimes wordiness comes from having lots of exposition and there is some of that, but most of the verbosity comes from just plain old excessive talking.  In some ways it is a little funny because this is how characters would talk to each other in the real world, but in the context of a comic book, it is just way, way, way too much verbiage.  On some pages, the letterer did yeoman’s work to not cover up Benitez’s lovely art with all the word balloons.

Brightest Day #23 – Review

By: Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi (writers), Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Norm Rapmund, Oclair Albert (artists) Peter Steigerwald (colors)

The Story: Rise and Fall: The Earth is under seige by all sorts of odd manifestations of darkness and chaos. Heroes from all over are leaping into action to try to stem the tide. At the eye of the storm, Firestorm, Deadman and Dove (the girl whose time is running out) with the White Lantern, struggle with trust.

What’s Good: The art team sold me from page one. The opening splash page of the Earth and moon against the starry backdrop was powerful. Same thing with the double-splash of the elementals and the double-splash of the Dark Avatar. Evocative. Subtly textured and colored. Awesome eye candy. And the action and moods throughout the book kept the story moving. Brightest Day has always had me hooked with the emotiveness of Boston Brand’s tortured expressions, and this issue is no exception. The dialogue and action (except for some serious flaws I note below), worked.

What’s Not So Good: Structurally, it’s a screenwriting truism that you have to build the menace of your villain up to the climax, so that in the final battle, the audience has a true contest of champions, where anything can happen. We haven’t really had any consistent villains yet. Each resurrected hero has been facing his appropriate nemesis, but nothing has been presented yet as the all-encompassing villain to really make the reader soil his trousers. Now, in the second-last issue of a 24-issue series, we are introduced to the bad guy, and honestly, I know nothing about him and his abilities, so it’s hard for me to get worried (it’s not enough that the White Lantern is racing against time). Moreover, the revelation of the parliament of trees and the eco-mood going on drastically brought me down from the cosmic stakes I was expecting. Looking back, I can see how the greening of Mars, the forest on Earth, etc fits with the one hero at the end who will save everything, but I’m having a hard time reconciling an Earth-scale danger with something like the oath that Green Lanterns swear (In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night), which is, in itself, related to the cosmic-scale color spectrum Johns so cleverly created. Are Johns and Tomasi going to shift the stakes upward in the next issue? Likely. But this issue dashed my expectations in a bad way, instead of a good way.

Brightest Day #22 – Review

By: Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi (writers), Scott Clark, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado (artists), David Beaty (inker), Peter Steigerwald and Rod Reis (colors)

The Review: It’s hard not to like a flawed hero, being mentored by someone less experienced than him, travelling through a dark and storied wilderness, to sneak up on the most powerful bad guy in existence, thirteen green-lantern-level heavies, to rescue the lantern of life and the two fathers. The nostalgia trip for me was pretty high (I read Crisis on Infinite Earths month by month when I was fourteen), especially the throwaway touch of “Ronnie Was Here”. The menace of “le bad guy” was huge in the script and visually, and the double splash page opening pretty much sets the tone. The Anti-Monitor’s plan for the White Lantern is pretty ingenious considering his past eating habits and the reaction of the White Lantern to everything going on around it is, as always, mysterious, puzzling and page-turning, although it’s probably no spoiler that we don’t find out in this third-to-last issue what’s up its sleeve. Brightest Day is continuing to put the pieces in place for the big finale.

Brightest Day #19 – Review

By: Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi (writers), Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Oclair Albert, Rob Hunter (artists), Peter Steigerwald (colorist)

The Story: On one front, Boston Brand, all duded up as Deadman, deals with the white ring that has just greased Hawkman and Hawkgirl. One another front, Aquaman and Aqualad race against time to contain the attack by Siren’s forces. And Black Manta doesn’t exactly give them a hand once the battle is joined…

What’s Good: Cover to cover, the art team delivers a beautiful book. I have been loving the artwork on the Deadman and Aquaman plotlines, and having an issue stuffed to the gills with only them is awesome. The draftsmanship is among the cleanest and the best in the business, whether action scenes or close ups. The expressions especially carry a lot of the emotional power of the story. Deadman, hunched over the ashes of the Hawks, in body language and in expression, is haunting. Then, when a bit of a draft carries some of the ashes away…superb. Same thing goes for Aquaman. He’s tortured on the inside and bottling stuff up. The conversation (thank you Johns and Tomasi) with Aqualad reveals it, but the close facial expressions, the direction he’s looking and the tight body language tell the tension that’s eating at him. Action-wise, the dynamism in Deadman’s quiet conflict with the ring and in the all-out brawl on the beaches propels the reader along.

Brightest Day #18 – Review

By: Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi (writers), Ivan Reis, Ardian Syaf, Scott Clark and Joe Prado (artists), Vicente Cifuentes and David Beaty (inkers), Peter Steigerwald and Beth Sotelo (colorists)

The Story: The White Ring is charging on Deadman’s finger. Hawkman and Hawkgirl (with Carol Ferris) take on Hawkgirl’s entity-charged mom.

What’s Good: I am digging the whole Boston Brand (Deadman) storyline. I love that he got the girl. I love that he reconciled with his dusty grandfather. I love that he’s carrying around the one white ring. Johns and Tomasi write a solid confused hero and in a movie, I could totally see a young Harrison Ford pulling off this affable ne’er-do-well. Where is the ring going with Brand? Damned if I know, but the tension is rising every time we see him. Deathstorm with the zombie versions of the Brightest Day resurrectees in the Anti-Universe and the White Lantern ratchets things up even more.

On the action side, Johns and Tomasi are no slouches either. The action with Hawkgirl and Hawkman against the in-law from hell is tense, with the battle slipping one way, then another, while clues to both the love part of the spectrum and the ultimate climax of the series are building everywhere (“The bones are moving!”).

Visually, this art team is bringing some impressive talent (draftsmanship, layout, dynamism, evocative expressions, etc) to the table and the money shot splashpage of the Hawkman/Hawkgirl/mom battle is not only awesome, but is exemplary of what you get in each and every panel in the book. I should take a moment to also note how important color is to this series and how well Peter Steigerwald and Beth Sotelo paint the pages. The dominance of violets, whites and darks in different settings and situations really underpin the moods the writers are aiming for.

Brightest Day #17 – Review

By: Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi (writers), Ivan Reis, Ardian Syaf, Scott Clark, Joe Prado (artists), Vicente Cifuentes and David Beaty (inkers), Peter Steigerwald with Beth Sotelo (color)

The Story: Homecoming. I’ve got the “Love, Love, Love” part of “All You Need Is Love” by the Beatles after reading this story, because everything in it revolves around love and the Star Sapphire mythos. What’s up? Firestorm is going into one of the crappiest places in existence to rescue Stein and Jason’s dad. Boston Brand goes to visit his estranged grandfather. Carol Ferris takes a can of loving whoop-ass onto Hawkgirl’s mother.

What’s Good: The best issue of Brightest Day in memory! It’s a coherent and powerful story, and tied directly into the plot and DC’s growing lantern mythos. Johns has done some excellent work so far on Brightest Day in expanding the lantern mythos. This issue takes the field a few steps further with a deeper exploration of how love fits into his color spectrum. “Love is beautiful. Love is inspiring. But Love is also lethal.” Cool. On another love angle (and not surprisingly), Boston Brand and Dove have hooked up. It’s good. It’s emotionally satisfying and feels real. Even realer (no, that’s not a word…) is Boston Brand visiting his grandfather, his last living relative, who is now almost a hundred. Johns and Tomasi scripted this almost wordlessly to tremendous effect. Their later shenanigans were also a moment for emotional outpouring by the reader. Another love angle, you ask? Johns and Tomasi offer you the Entity of Love (Predator). Certainly not cliché. Who would have thought that the Entity of Love would look like something Ellen Ripley should be fighting and seeks out the absence of Love? And was the Predator badass and surprising or what? I don’t want to spoil anything, but reversal is hardly enough to describe the twist taken by the story, and the concept of love in the lantern mythos.

Artwise, the entire art team delivered first-class goods. The Predator was visualized very coolly, and Hawkman leaping into action was awesome. The bright color work around Firestorm in the dark carried a lot of visual impact, especially when he lit up to blow away… his surroundings… hehehe, no spoilers. And when he took off like a comet towards the…target? Definitely a panel worth some time to appreciate. The expressions in the story during Boston’s plotline really stole the show, however. Dove is loving and innocent and open. Boston is Han-Solo-Empire-Strikes-Back lost and dazed by everything. And the moments with Boston’s grandfather were A+ level stunning visual images that, even without any words, would have carried the emotional punch of the story.

Lady Mechanika #1 – Review

By: Joe Benitez (writer and artist), Peter Steigerwald (colors), John Reed (letters) & Vince Hernandez (editor)

The Story: We are introduced to Lady Mechanika, a half-human, half-mechanical woman who is trying to learn about her past.

What’s Good: This issue was really good all over.  The story mostly just lays the groundwork.  We are introduced to Mechanika: The City of Tomorrow.  Mechanika is kind of a steam-punk metropolis in Britain during the late 1800’s.  I guess the story said it was in the “British Commonwealth”, but that is picking nits.  We pick up the story by seeing a teenage girl who is half-human/half-mechanical running from some goons who work for a nefarious (and nameless) overboss.  She gets away and finds her way to Mechanika where we meet Lady Mechanika herself.  Lady Mechanika is a kind of noir-ish adventure heroine who is half-mechanical herself.  Although she goes on adventures to kill werewolves and the like, she is mostly driven to find out who made her the way she is and why.  Naturally, this will bring her into conflict with the nameless overboss, but that will be a story for a later issue.

Benitez walks the tightrope of giving us just enough information to keep the issue interesting while not telling us the whole story and he does it well.  There is a lot of mystery here and you want to learn more, not only about the Lady, but about the world she lives in.

Batman: The Return #1 – Review

By: Grant Morrison (writer), David Finch (penciller), Batt and Ryan Winn (inker), Peter Steigerwald (colorist)

The Story: Bruce Wayne is back in Gotham and giving orders. It might be best to say that General Wayne is back, because he’s got a small army of people he can draw on for his new vision of crime-fighting.

The Review: This book wowed me pretty much from cover to cover. The production (paper and thickness) felt satisfying to sit back and open. David Finch’s art, ably interpreted by Batt, Winn and Steigerwald, was awesome. There were a few gratuitous poses here and there, but the evocative settings and dynamism of even the heroes standing about made the whole story seem to be in motion. As an example, take a look at some of the non-standard chores the art team really knocked out of the park. First, the three-page opening with the wounded bat, especially the background of the library. Then, check out the batcave in Batman’s first briefing. The level of detail in the backgrounds and in the characters (unfortunately posing like they came out of the 90s) was eye-catching. And, check out the overview of Yemen. Great stuff. Money’s worth it for the art.

On writing, Morrison was nearly tone-perfect. He caught all the characters at their best (with one exception that I’ll get to in a sec). Morrison writes a good Damian. He’s a hateful, spiteful little bastard you’d just like to shake some so he gets his head on straight, if you thought he wouldn’t bite you. His growth under Morrison (via Dick Grayson) was genuine and Dick earned Damian’s respect. Damian’s insecurities here under Bruce completely transform Damian’s axis of aggression as he realizes that Dick is his only hope to keep on being Robin and growing into what he and his father want of him. It was really fun to watch. At the same time, I loved the role Bruce carved out for Dick. It is appropriate, logical (given Bruce’s new vision), and promises to keep my favorite member of the Bat-family at the front of things for a while yet. The quiet moments between Alfred and Bruce were also great to watch. And finally, as a reader of Batgirl, I also like the direction here that will play out in a book that needed a shot in the arm.

Brightest Day #13 – Review

By: Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi (writers), Ivan Reis, Ardian Syaf, Joe Prado (artists), Vicente Cifuentes (inker), Peter Steigerwald, John Starr, Ray Dillon (colorists)

The Story: All Hawkman! All the time! Step right up for the eternal lovers in danger and mace-to-the-face action!

What’s Good: As with the last (successful) issues of Brightest Day, #13 focuses principally on one plot thread. So, I may have forgotten what the heck Aqualad is up to, I got a satisfying faceful of Hawkman, and I mean satisfying. If you’re a purist looking for pulpy adventure à la Flash Gordon, this one’s got the action, menace and violence. Johns and Tomasi have Hawkman leading the lion men of Hawkworld (shades of Mongo) against the floating Nth city of the hawkmen to tear them a new one. Result: victory? Ummmm…well, you’ll see. So, the writers did such a good job that the action swept me along in a complete joy of escapism. The pace and adventure was so good, that I didn’t notice most of the mechanics of the writing. Most.

Same thing on the art work. The art team turned in some fine fine stuff. Hawkman looked cool, dangerous and gritty throughout. Dust, scratches and blood detailed him as much as bunching muscles and wrinkled seams on his belt and gloves. The hawk men and lion men were animalistic and viscerally detailed. And the bonework and purpled effects of Hath-Set’s portal were pretty damn cool. I should add one other thing on the art. Colors! I rarely comment on colors, but Steigerwald and crew really made Hath-Set’s portal come alive. Very cool.

Lady Mechanika #0 – Review

By: Joe Benitez (creator, writer & art), Peter Steigerwald (colors) & Josh Reed (letters)

The Story: In a steampunky world, a mysterious & lovely mercenary comes to the aid of a half-mechanical monster.

What’s Good: The big attraction on this title is Joe Benitez’s art.  If you see the image on the cover and like that, you’ll probably like this book because that is pretty much what you get.  Everything is just very highly detailed: the guns have all these steam-punky hoop-a-joops all over them, belts are covered with detailed pouches, shirts have intricate buckles (the better to allow bosoms to heave) and goggles have individual little screws.  As we know, even with a high level of detail on the characters, art can sometimes run amok, but Benitez also does many things with unique panel layouts and backgrounds (or lack thereof) to help tell the story.  The color palate is very muted (mostly shades of gray), but that makes Lady Mechanika’s red eyes really stand out.  More comics go for that “stark red in a field of gray” look than actually pull it off, but it works nicely here.

Brightest Day #9 – Review

By: Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi (writers), Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Joe Prado (artists), Rebecca Buchman, Keith Champagne, Tom Nguyen, Ivan Reis (inkers), Peter Steigerwald (colors)

The Story: Aquaman and Mera talk with Boston Brand and Dove. We’re getting some hints of who’s going to be the next Aqualad. Martian Manhunter blows his hands off (despite appearances, this is not a spoiler, since he’s a shape-changer) as the White Lantern tap dances in his neurons. And Black Manta meets up with the people out to kill Aquaman.

What’s Good: Wall to wall, the art pretty much kicked ass. Aquaman and Mera are attractive, heroic, and vaguely menacing. Boston Brand is his typical fish out of water (or lemming in water, in this case). The Jackson kid, in a scene different in visual tone, touch of texture and colors, is very convincing and the art invites the reader to sit a spell and enjoy the scenery. Martian Manhunter blowing his own hands off is, hands down (hahaha), the single most evocative image I’ve seen in a while. The other shapes he takes in seizure-like moments are brilliantly visualized and detailed the way I like them. There was a style change partway through the Green Arrow-Martian Manhunter fight, that was disconcerting (and the art was just not as good), but the shift was not enough to downgrade the book’s art as a whole.

Brightest Day #5 – Review

By: Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi (writers), Ivan Reis, Aridan Syaf and Joe Prado (artists), Vicente Cifuentes (inker), Peter Steigerwald (colorist)

The Story: Aquaman and Mera are dealing with a BP-level oil rig disaster, but run into something really big from Mera’s past. Boston Brand is considering raising someone from the dead. He’s got some fair arguments on one side. His white ring has another idea. Hawkman and Hawkgirl have followed the tunnel of Hath-Set to another world…Hawkworld.

What’s Good: Everything between the covers. And the cover. First of all, the art in this book is beautiful. The faces are expressive, the poses and figure heroic, the layouts dynamic (without losing any understanding in the turbulent action), the dangers menacing and the color work brilliant. This art team turned Aquaman into a warrior bad-ass. Check him out at the bottom of page 3 as he gets called out. He’s seriously pissed and somebody’s gonna get it. And on page 8, they get it. Too bad they’re bad-asses too. In terms of textured art (which I love), take a look at the fingers around Aquaman’s neck, Mera’s hard-water constructs and the scratches on the figures and the environment. This is a world that is lived in, that is getting used and bruised and the artists are showing it. Steigerwald’s coloring really sets off the scenes, as the different settings are done with different palettes that change the mood as Johns and Tomasi move us from scene to scene.

On writing, it’s no surprise that Johns and Tomasi have delivered their typically dramatic and tense Act II problems for our favorite resurrected heroes. And they managed different moods as well, among different scenes. The Aquaman/Mera scenes were action-packed with a summer block-buster feel. The Hawkman/Hawkgirl scenes were poignant without getting sentimental, until everything was overrun by a wave of brutality. The Boston Brand/Hawk/Dove scenes were spooky and metaphysically, cosmically mysterious in an “Oh crap!” sort of way. It takes writers who know what they are doing to pull off different moods like that.

Brightest Day #4 – Review

By: Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi (writers), Ivan Reis, Ardian Syaf, Scott Clark, Oclair Albert (artists), Vicente Cifuentes, David Beaty (inkers), Peter Steigerwald (colorist)

The Story: Hawkman and Hawkgirl pass through Hath-Set’s tunnel of bones. Somebody can finally see Boston Brand (Deadman). Ronnie is visited by a salty image from Blackest Night.

What’s Good: The quick spoiler-free summary (above) shows that this story is clean, but what the summary misses is that this issue of Brightest Day has fundamentally changed gears. The resurrected are interacting in a big way and the drama surges. Hawkman and Hawkgirl have been alternatively lovey-dovey or partners in crime-fighting so far, but now they get to a real cross-roads. Boston Brand has been chatting up a big-ass glowing white ring for the last three issues. Now, he runs into Hawk and Dove, and although Dove is as predictably soft as her soap-like namesake, Hawk actually throws down a challenge that gets to the core of what Brightest Day is about. And Ronnie? Well, the ghost of Christmas past isn’t really happy to see him. So, on the writing side (dialogue, plotting and conflict), all hand are on deck and things are getting weird.

The art side is the best place to talk about that weirdness, because so much of it is visual. I have to start by taking my cap off to Peter Steigerwald. I met him briefly in Toronto’s comic con last August in his role with the Aspen publishing team, but his color work has been showing up a lot more on the DC side and thank goodness! The pink/violet radiance so reminiscent of Star Sapphire’s power, is brilliantly filamentous and transparent for the tunnel of bones. His shining whites around Brand’s ring are equally riveting as is the salt fiesta around Ronnie. The pencils and inks tell what is essentially a talking head story (except for some roughing up of Brand) in a dynamic way with panel layouts and camera angles shifting and switching to draw the eye across the page and keep it moving. A great example of layout is the top panel of the Silver City, New Mexico page, where the two figures in movement are already on the right edge of a pan-shot to give the feel of vastness and movement. The bottom of the page and the next one are good examples of picking the right camera angle to keep the story in cinematic movement. And, I can’t finish praising the art without a nod to the brilliantly surreal double splash pages for Hawkman and Hawkgirl near the start of the book. I love comics that take me to weird places and the art team on Brightest Day is the right one to take the wheel on this ride.

Batman #700 – Review

By: Grant Morrison (writer), Tony Daniel, Frank Quitely, Scott Kolins, Andy Kubert, and David Finch (artists), Ian Hannin, Alex Sinclair, Tony Avina, Brad Anderson, and Peter Steigerwald (colorists), Richard Friend (inker)

The Story: Sometime in the past, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson stop the Joker, the Riddler, Catwoman, the Scarecrow and the Mad Hatter from using a time travel device. A weird loose end segues the reader into the story set in the present, with Dick Grayson as Batman and Damian Wayne as Robin. More weird mysteries are revealed, leading us to the future, where Damian Wayne is full-grown as the new Batman and sees the mystery fully revealed.

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: Morrison wrote a story that couldn’t have been done without Bruce being gone. He wrote a multigenerational mystery and it was well done. It had the feel of another time travel murder mystery Batman had solved from beyond the grave (America versus the Justice Society). It’s great fun to try to stay a step ahead of the caped crusader as he adds causality to method, motive and means. Morrison also did an excellent job in characterizing the villains and different heroes. Deft touches of dialogue and mood make the characters individuals. For example, Bruce, still captive, threatening a roomful of villains is classic Bruce. The Joker is truly lunatic in this story, with disjointed, jumping thinking that suits a time travel murder. In a funny nod to Batman’s occasionally campy past, he even has Bruce call Dick “pal.” Dick, on the other hand, carries a different mood as Batman. He asks about the health of the policeman’s partner. He shows happiness when he discovers a new weapon. He’s not jaded. He is no less the dark avenger, but he is not jaded and somber. We can relate to him. And Damian of the far future. You can imagine what kind of Batman he becomes. On plot, did this work? Pretty much. There is a mystery and we discover what happened and how things went, but can I really say that “Batman” solved a crime because he was on the hunt for it, or is this more a case of three men who share an identity and intersect with a temporal crime? It’s not less fun, but the sense of satisfaction at the end is not as great as if the Batmen had been running down a quarry with their detective skills.

Hulk #15 – Review

By Jeph Loeb (writer), Ian Churchill (pencils), Mark Farmer (inks) Peter Steigerwald and Aspen (colors)

The Story: Rulk and his team Code Red, which consists of Punisher, Deadpool, Tundra, Crimson Dynamo, and Electra, Face off against X-Force. Somehow, this battle leads to the creation and introduction of She-Rulk.

What’s Good: This series has greatly improved since Loeb started to do some actual character development with Rulk by putting his inner-monologue at the forefront. This issue continues that thrust and we get some emotional resonance with Rulk besides his giant ego and confident exuberance (all terrible by the way). Maybe there is some hope for Rulk after all. Maybe.

The basic premise here of X-Force vs. Code Red is pretty good, especially the realistic battle between Rulk and Wolverine. Granted, Wolverine is pretty one-dimensional but at the same time he is pretty entertaining. The rest of the battles are dealt with adequately and the Punisher vs. X -23 battle is interesting.

Also of note is Electra’s role in all of this. She is a very strong and interesting character here and Loeb does a good job of capturing the enigmatic and powerful aspects of her. You can tell that she is the difference maker in this arc.

Overall, Loeb has a certain child-like wonderment for characters that is enthralling when it works, though putrid when it doesn’t. Here it points more to the former rather than the later.

As far as the art, Ian Churchill shows a mix of McGuiness/Cooke style here. Overall, it is pretty successful, especially during the battle scenes.

What’s Not So Good: Um, I think Rulk is the Silver Surfer. Either that or Loeb completely flubs some text. I find it hard to believe that Marvel would give away its “big” “reveal” like this, so I’m sure the Rulk isn’t the Silver Surfer. Yet, Loeb clearly has Rulk say that, so I am lost to what is going on. Maybe Loeb is editing his own books and no one caught his mistake? Here is the line, you decide:

“The abuse of power is so seductive. I’ve even succumbed to it. Careening across the galaxy on a surfboard. Acting like a child.”

Uh, come again.

But here is the main complaint of this issue: She-Rulk has arrived on the scene. This is the worst character ever. Seriously, can it get more predictable and lame? I shutter when I think that this is a character that will most likely stay on the scene for years to come. Terrible. The worst part is that her existence probably precludes the existence of two other fun characters in the Marvel U. I’ll leave it at that.

Loeb should leave Deadpool alone. He’s just not funny in Loeb’s hands and a lot of real estate was lost listening to Deadpool and Warpath fall flat. Generally, all the dialogue here is forced and crude. No one says anything unexpected or interesting.

Lastly, Churchill’s depiction of Rulk’s face is really annoying and distracting. He looks like a fat, red Popeye with his bottom lip resting on the upper makes Rulk look stupid when Loeb is trying to write him as being intelligent. The whole presentation just sends mixed messages and detracts from taking this book seriously.

Conclusion: I think this series keeps getting better and better. That being said, we are still far from great here. But, I think Hulk is just a glorified Marvel Adventures and not to be taken seriously. This all well and good now, but once Marvel starts trying to make World War Hulks a major event, serious problems will arise.

Grade: C

-Rob G.

FanExpo 2009 Recap

Last weekend, I attended Fan Expo 2009 in Toronto, Canada, a convention featuring science fiction, comics, anime, horror, and games. I paid the most attention to the comics stream (obviously) and attended panels by five publishers and sat in on two sessions by Len Wein (creator of Wolverine, some of the New X-Men, Swamp Thing, etc). Here’s what I pulled out of it, straight to you, hot off the presses.

Aspen MLT Inc

Frank Mastromauro, Peter Steigerwald, Joe Benitez, Micah Gunnall, Mark Roslan, Alex Konat, Dave Wohl and Marcus To did the A to Z of Aspen comics. It’s hard to believe that Fathom is ten years old and finishing its third arc, and that it’s got a movie deal. Soulfire, Aspen’s other flagship book, is five years old. Aspen has lots of other great titles on the go, including Dellec, Shrugged and especially Executive Assistant Iris. Part of this year’s business strategy will be to do more trades so that fans can easily catch up on their books as new story arcs come out. Executive Assistant Iris also seems to be laying the groundwork for other executive assistant books and stories that would really round out that milieu.

Marvel Digital panel

Joe Quesada showed off the Spider-Woman and Astonishing X-Men motion comics. This was the first time I’d seen either one, and I was impressed, but not sold of the medium. I asked a question about the business model, and they’re using access to motion comics through iTunes sales as a platform to reach new audiences. Smart idea, I hope it works. My only question here is, since when did Jessica Drew get a British accent? Maybe I missed something in Secret Invasion.

DC Universe Editorial Presentation

Dan Didio and a big DC contingent talked shop for an hour and answered questions from all comers. One of the most interesting things I found about this was the focus that DC is doing on each of its eight cornerstone franchises. The franchises are obviously Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, the Flash and Wonder Woman, as well as the three team franchises: the JLA, the JSA and the Titans. One question that came up was “Where’s the love for Aquaman?” Didio diplomatically and rightly pointed out that Aquaman was never really that popular (same with Hawkman). Sure, they both have fans, but they don’t have the same draw as the flagship characters. Neither has the same sort of unambiguous, iconic image in the public’s eye that someone like Batman does. And, with a cast of characters as large as DC has, it makes sense to focus on a few flagship brands, make them really good, so that you can do more stuff with the people and characters and situations around them. I think it’s a great decision and I was pleased to hear that Wonder Woman was part of the lovin’ too.

Cup o’ Joe

Joe Quesada took us on a review of the Marvel universe, but mostly answered questions. One of the most important things for me, personally, was hearing the news about Marvel’s submission policy for people who want to write for Marvel. That was why I went to the con, and I was pleased that I was able to talk to C.B. Cebulski afterwards to get more details. In the session, I asked Joe a question about the Immortal Iron Fist, and how I thought it was a really quality book, but since it didn’t hold the readers in numbers to justify keeping it around, what could they have done differently creatively? There were also plans for Danny Rand after the current Immortal Weapons miniseries. They called it a cooling off period to build up anticipation. I hope it works. IIF was a brilliant series. Someone else asked a question about Dr. Strange, and I was glad to hear that Marvel had plans for him as well.

BOOM! Studios

BOOM! Studios really gave the impression of being dynamic and on the go. They’re hitting new markets, acquiring licenses left and right, looking at new distribution systems, and putting out quality books. Very impressive… They rightly pointed out the sales successes of Irredeemable and Unknown, and especially the artists that they were able to pull in who wanted a chance to work with Mark Waid. Everyone should be keeping an eye on BOOM!

Ultimatum # 5 – Review

By Jeph Loeb (writer), David Finch (pencils) Danny Miki (inks), Peter Steigerwald (colors)

The Story: The last chapter in the Ultimatum saga concludes with the deconstruction, rather than destruction,  of the entire Marvel Ultimate Universe. Magneto faces off against Wolverine and the rest of the heroes as they confront him for the untold mass destruction he unleashed across the Earth.

What’s Good: It’s over, it’s finally, finally over. 9 months and 5 issues later, Jeph Loeb’s wacker-piece is done and we can move onto the next chapter of the Ultimate Universe.

Outside of that, the art is slightly redeeming and although not my taste in style, it is detailed and very pleasing to the eye.

I wish I could find some more that was good with this story, but with the exception of how Cyclops handles Magneto, that’s it.

What’s Not Good: I can’t give away too much because of our non-spoiler policy, but characters are constantly offed by their lesser rivals. For example, I thought Doom was the strongest being in the Ultimate Universe? Well, actually the Thing can defeat him, permanently, in one second. Additionally, Loeb, as is his habit, rewrites characters just to fit the given scene. Another example: remember how Namor could cause a tidal wave that could swallow Manhattan? Remember how he defeated every character in the Marvel Universe and could also teleport?  Well, now he is kept captive in a tank of water and is unable to escape.

But perhaps the most frustrating part of Loeb’s work here is that he does the most irritating writing anybody can do that frankly makes his script look as if it was written by an amateur. Here’s what I’m talking about and it is a golden rule: You cannot have high-paced action scenes with needless, wordy, and drawn out dialogue. It doesn’t make any sense that characters stop to talk or tell each other off as they are fighting for their lives (well unless, your writing Spider-Man, but I think that’s the exception as that is pretty much one of his super powers). It just comes off horrible and reminds me of all the comics I hated in the late 80’s and most of the 90’s.

As far as the internal logic of this story, there is none at all, which is why I called this event Loeb’s wacker-piece. It is wacked out, non-stop nonsense in tone, mood, and events. Nothing is more evident of this nonsense than the “big” “reveal” at the “end” where we find out who was really orchestrating these events.

Conclusion: Just a bad, bad comic. Sorry to do this to David Finch– who is the plus side of this equation, but regardless of his nice work here, he’s on a sunken ship.

Goodbye Ultimate Universe. This is a death you didn’t deserve.  I hope Ultimate Comics has a better life than you.

Grade: D-

-Rob G.

Ultimatum #4 – Review

By Jeph Loeb (writer), David Finch (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), Peter Steigerweld (colors)

Usually it is an ominous sign here at WCBR when we forgo our standard format when writing a review; and in the case of Ultimatium #4, this warning is well warranted. Before I tear into this dreadful piece of literature; this horrendous and hideous production, I want to make a disclaimer: I am not a hater. I don’t hate creators for their past work or their approach to storytelling. You won’t see me railing against a Grant Morrison or Greg Land for their unique styles, even if I don’t like them (BTW, I am a fan of the former). Rather, I do my best to review every comic on its own merit and for what it and of itself brings to the table. Therefore, I am not a Jeph Loeb “hater,” so what I have to say here is objective and directed to the comic at hand. With that said, let me be blunt: this is one of the worst comics I have ever read.

I can not see one redeeming aspect of this comic and seriously, I don’t say this lightly, but this is a complete waste of a tree. In fact, there is a tree somewhere screaming from its pulpy grave that its life was cut short for the sake of this garbage, vowing vengeance against the editors at Marvel.

The character work here is totally laughable and I have no idea if this is supposed to be a serious comic or if there is meant to be some 4th wall comedy going on here; where the reader and the writer mutually acknowledge that comics take themselves too seriously. Also, the way the heroes and villains are killed off is, well, kinda disrespectful. Not disrespect to the characters, because that would be the proposition of an insane person, but rather, disrespectful to the readers. Marvel has wrapped many readers into the Ultimate Universe for years and these followers have dedicated a lot time and money to buy this line. So to see characters that readers were meant to invest into over these years killed off in such juvenile, silly, and irreverent ways just so that the writer has some shock value to fall back on, is, as I said, disrespectful.

The way this story moved along reminded me of a factory line. Things have to happen for point A to get to point B and that’s it. No drama, no real dialogue, and definitely no logic. In my opinion, the cause of these problems is just laziness. Loeb doesn’t even try to make things click. There is actually a scene where Cyclops addresses a helicopter crew that is hundreds of feet overhead and he just talks to it, telling it to lay off, and somehow the pilot hears him and backs off. I’m not even going to address the return of Nick Fury and that whole scene, as it’s not even worth me firing whatever synapses control my short-term memory has in order to recall how tremendously and pervasively ridiculous it was.

The art also seemed lazy and careless. I think Finch read the script and thought to himself that there was no point in eventrying. There is nothing impressive about anything here and the over-the-top, sloppy, and grotesque death and violence. It all simply forced me to look away from many of the panel.s.

I’m serious when I say, that there is no point in Marvel releasing the conclusion to this mini. It is a waste all-around. Just move on with Bendis and Millar and their new Ultimate Comics projects and pretend this whole sordid affair never happened. I will most likely not be buying the next issue as there is no chance that I’ll ever reread this series again ever, ever, ever…

Grade: F-

– Rob G.

Witchblade #116 – Review

By: Ron Marz (writer) & Stjepan Sejic (artist)

The phrase on the cover says “The start of a new era”. By the look of the redesigned logo, I’d say it’s not a good one. Why change the logo now? Does Top Cow not want to pay Peter Steigerwald any more royalties? This change bothers me big time. If you want change, kill Sara Pezzini. She’s old, worn out her welcome, and we’ve seen her for #115 issues. I know a lot of people won’t notice the change, but I’ve been reading this book since #1. I have rights (well, not really, but you know)!

The good thing is that Top Cow hired Sejic to draw the series until issue #150, the longest an artist has been on the series. I like consistency between issues and Sejic is my third top Witchblade artist (after Turner and Choi). He’s also the only reason why I continue to buy this book.

The story deals with Sara visiting her sister in prison, while Dani tells David everything about the Witchblade – which seems like a stupid move on her part. She barely knows this guy and she’s spilling all these secrets?! What’s the point of this? Is it because she’s blonde? Why was Ron Marz chosen to make her so dumb? Finally, Sara leaves her baby with a sitter and investigates some weird religious murderers, setting up the storyline for the future chapter.

The cover for the next issue tells me exactly what I’ve said the first time that this “David” character appeared: He’s after the Witchblade. Surprise, surprise. I might have given this book a grade of B+, but the new logo change pisses me off. (Grade: D+)

-Daniel Yanez