Alex’s Stack

Hey WCBR readers,

So I’m currently sick as a dog and buried with work.  Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that this past week was huge for comics.  In an effort to at least get some opinions out there, I’m going to break from the norm and offer some quick opinions on everything I bought this week.  This isn’t a regular feature so much as it is a stop-gap for my currently ill and mad-cap life.  Also, just because I give a take on here doesn’t mean that a full review won’t be incoming.  Anyway, here goes:

Wolverine & the X-Men #15 (by Jason Aaron (writer), Jorge Molina (pencils), Norman Lee (inks), and Morry Hollowell (colors)

After a couple of good outings, AvX drags this issue back down.  This was a definition of “mixed bag” as it was an incredibly disparate issue with next to nothing in the way of an overall, unifying plot.  Instead, we just got a scattershot array of short vignettes checking in all the characters.  Some sucked (yet ANOTHER scene of Hope and Wolverine belly-aching about Jean), a couple admittedly shone (Toad and Husk’s quirky romance, an EXCELLENT exchange of barbs between Quire and Xavier), while the rest were completely forgettable.  Also, Jorge Molina’s faces are often ugly as hell.  For instance, Hope looks Asian but with a chin sharp enough cut diamond.  Thankfully, Hollowell’s colors are pretty slick.

Grade: C

FF #21 by Jonathan Hickman (writer), Nick Dragotta (art), and Cris Peter (colors)

I’ve been pretty unkind on this title of late due to a seeming lack of direction.  Thankfully, this far and away the best issue of FF in quite some time.  Put simply, it’s a great cosmic story with epic contests between larger than life character all surrounding a Romeo and Juliet sci-fi romance.  The issue, unlike others, works because it’s Hickman telling a story that needed resolution, tying up a loose end from his run.  As such, it isn’t plagued by the lack of necessity that dogged other issues.  Also, this is BY FAR Nick Dragotta’s strongest performance on FF.  His pop art leanings really come to the fore here and they are fantastic fit for a cosmic story, apparently.

Grade: B

Uncanny X-Force #30 by Rick Remender (writer), Dave Williams (art), and Dean White (colors)

Once again, Remender makes magnificent use of a frequent comic book storytelling device that is so hard to use properly.  Last month it was time travel and this month it’s mind control.  Remender makes devilishly clever and cerebral use of high-level telepathy this month, making for a psychological read in which it becomes hard to tell what’s real and what’s not….although I will admit that the twist at the end was nonetheless a little obvious.  It’s hard to judge this issue on its own, as it’s clearly the introduction to the next stage in a larger story, but I enjoyed the feel of the carefully orchestrated game that Evan is locked into, playing the rat in a maze of the Brotherhood’s creation.  I will say, however, that the art didn’t do much for me.  Dave Williams is a fine artist and Dean White is as brilliant as ever, but it’s just a case of standards being so high on this book and Williams simply not being quite on the same ridiculously high level of Opena/Noto/McKone/Tedesco/etc.

Grade: B

Winter Soldier #9 by Ed Brubaker (writer), Michael Lark (pencils), Brian Thies & Stefano Gaudiano (inks), Bettie Breitweiser (colors)

Shame on you for not buying this book!  Now Ed Brubaker is going away…or something.  Anyway, Winter Soldier, unsurprisingly, delivers another excellent issue, full of shadowy Cold War espionage action with bullet-casings scattered everywhere.  I found this issue to be a tight, tense outing that flew by and was very exciting throughout.  At times, the tone of this book felt like James Bond crossed with a noir detective fiction story.  Also, there is a really cool twist near the end of the issue that vaguely reminded me of one of my favourite scenes from the Avengers movie.  Also, Michael Lark continues to bring it as only he can, hitting the tone of the book perfectly.  It did leave me wondering, however, just how much better Brubaker’s run on Daredevil would have looked were it colored by Breitweiser instead of Frank D’Armata.  Anyway, I digress.

Grade: B+

Journey into Mystery #642 by Kieron Gillen (writer), Carmine di Giandomenico (art), Chris Sotomayor (colors) 

The first issue of the Everything Burns crossover led to the best single issue of Fraction’s run on Mighty Thor.  Naturally, Journey into a Mystery, a book that, unlike Mighty Thor, has been awesome throughout its run delivers a performance that’s just as good.  Suffice it to say, when it comes to Everything Burns, I am officially a believer.  I’m rarely one to sing the praises of a crossover, but this is awesome.  This month, Gillen really gives us a good healthy chunk of one of those high fantasy genre elements that make those gigantic novels so addictive:  politics.  The various powers, the deal-making, the shifting allegiances, the bluffs, the gambles, and the lies are all in play, making for a colorful, gripping read.  Also, Gillen reminds us that he really GETS the relationship between Thor and Kid Loki, which feels sincere throughout with Gillen reminding us what can at times be forgotten:  Loki is, in the end, a kid.  It’s great character work throughout.  The only thing holding this back is the art.  I’ll admit that it may be a personal thing, but I’ve just never been a fan of di Giandomenico.  I find his work muddy and too indistinct for my tastes.  That said, even that can’t keep this issue down.

Grade: B+

Justice League #12 by Geoff Johns (writer), Jim Lee (pencils), a ridiculous number of other people (art, inks, colors…etc)

At first, I reacted a little defensively to our own Mr. Nguyen’s review and I think that’s in large part because I really do feel that this title has improved significantly since it’s first arc.  Upon reflection though, this still isn’t exactly a game-changing comic book.  Graves just doesn’t doesn’t work as a villain quite as much as I want him to because…well…I still don’t really understand the nature of his powers and what they’re doing, and Johns only complicates that further this month.  It’s a shame, as I do like his back-story.  The whole soap opera romance stuff was another thing that didn’t work for me quite as well as I wanted it to: the Superman/Wonder Woman thing makes sense, but comes completely out of nowhere while Johns is still acting as though he’s given us a reason to care about the Wonder Woman/Trevor relationship when he hasn’t really.  As far as the art goes, I don’t know if it’s Jim Lee rushing or the brigade of inkers, but this felt rough and at times a little dated.  At times, it felt like I’d picked up a bog-standard 90s superhero book that’d been re-colored.  All that said, I thought the ending to the issue was strong, with a great cliffhanger involving Amanda Waller and a very interesting turn for Green Lantern that reminded me a little of Batman at the end of the Dark Knight movie.

Grade: C+

Powers #10 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Michael Avon Oeming (art), Nick Filardi (colors), and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story: The murderer of the Golden Ones reveals his backstory and we learn that there are far, far bigger and nastier things out there than the Golden Ones.

The Review:  Wow…just….wow.  If anything, this issue is proof that when it comes to Powers, Brian Bendis does not hold back.  From the absolute, gut-wrenchingly vivid brutality of the serial god-killer’s backstory to the manner in which Bendis expands his comic’s universe and the stakes of this story, Bendis has basically laughed at the idea of limiting how far Powers can go.  It’s a brave and unflinching performance from Bendis in what is, in my opinion, by far the best issue of Powers since it relaunched.

When reading the murderer tell his story through a confessional tape, it becomes increasingly shocking and downright disturbing to read.  Bendis pulls back the curtain on the Golden Ones for us to see the ugliness and depravity that lurks behind.  They are certainly less than the golden gods they portray themselves at and are, in the case of Damocles at the very least, nothing more the humans that have come into incredible power, only to become twisted and depraved as a result.  I cannot describe how intense this extended scene, and narration, was.  To say that it “hits hard” is putting it lightly.  There is no holding back, no sugar coating, and Powers lives up to its “mature readers” label.  Through words alone, Bendis paints an unfathomably brutal scene that is as appalling as it is haunting, one that feels real, while also highlighting what has become a theme in Powers – that superpowers take the old adage “absolute power corrupts absolutely” to new heights of accuracy.

Spinning out of this, Bendis also really expands the scope of his universe, which really makes it clear why Powers is becoming Powers: FBI; the stakes have been far larger and so have, well, the powers.  What has long been a police procedural involving superpowers has suddenly become a statement on the relationship between god and man.  It almost feels as though Bendis puts a Lovecraftian spin to Powers; in revealing the true nature of the Golden Ones and whether they really are gods, we end up getting an answer that leads to more questions, an answer that tells us of the enormous, unimaginable, ancient powers that lurk behind the workings of the world.  The Golden Ones were small fries compared to these cosmic forces and in violating the threshold between god and man, man pierces the veil between the two just a little bit, and the result is a punishment of biblical proportions.  We end up a hell of a long way away from the safe, old police procedural.  Instead, there’s a sense that Powers, with its cops and criminals, have gone too far, played with powers too far beyond understanding, and the result is Cthulian promises fulfilled.  To hammer home this point, this revelation of the great powers at work behind the scenes of Powers universe is accompanied by a shocking, tragic character death, one that sees polar opposites meet, true and unquestionable representatives of the godly and the human/mundane; suffice it to say, it does not go well.

Powers #7 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Michael Avon Oeming (art), Nick Filardi (colors), and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story: Christian and Enki question members of the Golden Ones while dealing with Deena Pilgrim’s surprise return.

The Review: It has been five months since the last issue of Powers came out.  Five months.  It wasn’t the end of a story-arc.  It wasn’t an official hiatus.  There was never  a stop to the solicitations.  That’s really the biggest, and truly the only, knock I have on this issue.  I absolutely hate the fact that Bendis and Oeming took a five-month break to work on Takio between issues during a story-arc.  As a result, some of the details here are a bit murky without going back to re-read issue 6.  For instance, I struggled to remember much at all about the murdered Damocles.

But it is an excellent comic, one that shows that Brian Bendis can still write a really smart book when he wants to.  He espouses some interesting ideas on religion, particularly conventional religion in a world populated filled with superpowers, and how that phenomenon challenges faith.  It’s thought-provoking and elegantly, honestly written stuff.

More than that though, this whole arc with the Golden Ones is fulfilling the promise I saw in the first issue.  Bendis begins to really mine the concept of mythological gods in a superhero-populated universe here.  Indeed, there always has been something a bit ambiguous and problematic about Thor, Hercules, and such running about in such a world.  There are so many interesting questions that arise, and Bendis scratches the surface here.  For instance, there’s the fact that in the world with superpowers, there’s no black and white distinction between man and god; there’s now a weird gray area of superhumans between the two.

Powers #6 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Michael Avon Oeming (art), Nick Filardi (colors), and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story: Walker and Calista go on their first adventure together, a god (maybe) is found murdered, and a certain someone makes her unexpected return in an unexpected capacity.

What’s Good: Calista comes out as the star this month.  While her role as Walker’s student expands with her first team-up alongside him, she’s the highlight this month if only because her personality really shines.  Calista is really at her most adorable this month, so much so that it’s impossible not to like her.  Best of all is that this likability is wholly natural and never saccharine, as it’s accomplished chiefly through Calista’s absurd sense of humor and Bendis’ writing of her youthful impatience.  Calista’s dialogue was a job well done by Bendis this month; she’s funny, she’s human, and her age and personality really come through.

Other than Calista-related awesomeness, this month is fairly devoted to set-up.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it’s intriguing and really promising for the future, as Bendis seems to intend this arc to address a region of superheroics that he’d left untouched so far.  It looks as though this arc is going to be dedicated to the mythological gods who always seem to somehow find their way into superhero tights in the comics world.  That Bendis has never even once mentioned this area before is stunning and that I had never thought of it myself is testament to how good Powers really is.  Considering the various intelligent riffs Bendis has made on superhero comics in Powers, I can’t wait to see what he does here.

Then of course, there’s the surprise return.  Even though it’s not really a surprise, given the solicitations and the cover of next month’s issue, the capacity in which the character returns is certainly an interesting one.