Green Lantern Annual #2 – Review

By: Robert Venditti (writer), Sean Chen (penciler), Jon Sibal with Walden Wong (inkers), Andrew Dalhouse with Will Quintana (colorists)

The Story: Proof that Hal Jordan is messing everything up for everybody.

The Review: Though “Lights Out” didn’t officially start until this month, it’s effectively been playing out in the pages of Green Lantern: New Guardians ever since this era of Lantern stories began. Ever since Relic emerged from his celestial cocoon, he’s been dreaming of this moment. And yet, now that it’s here, he seems oddly irrelevant. Relic plays an important role in the story, make no mistake, but, for better or worse, this issue doesn’t highlight him the way you might expect.

To be honest, I haven’t been the fondest of Relic. Though Justin Jordan found a good rhythm for the character and the situation around him was interesting enough, Relic never quite rose above it. It seems like Robert Venditti agrees on some level.

While Relic provides the point of the spear, the real danger for the Corps comes from their dwindling power levels. It’s a potentially divisive choice, but one that I applaud. Power drainage is a classic Lantern concern and subtle, basic fears like asphyxiation can do a lot where a giant yellow man fails. It provides the sense of a time limit, something that can be hard to do in the comics format.

Avengers Academy #21 – Review

By: Christos Gage (writer), Sean Chen (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Jeremy Cox & Veronica Gandini (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), John Denning & Jake Thomas (assistant editors) & Bill Rosemann (editor)

The Story: After the destruction of the Infinite Mansion during Fear Itself, the Avengers Academy needs a new home, and possibly a new direction.

Five Things: 

1. Mixing things up is good.  To me, comics are kinda like that old myth about sharks: “If they stop moving forward, they will die.”  The worst times in superhero comics are when the stories run in circles.  I know there are fans that enjoy having the same story reserved to them year after year, but it’s not for me.  So, the idea of moving the Avengers Academy to the old West Coast Avengers facility and bringing in some new faces (both teachers and students) is great.  Just keep mixing it up with these comics!  Sustain the things that work and trash the stuff that stinks, but don’t be afraid to fail and keep moving forward!

2. WONDERFUL twist ending! That was an awesome twist at the end where we see [SPOILER] the evil future selves of our young Academy heroes.  It plays on two big themes of the series.  One, that the reason these kids are getting training is that they are the most likely to go evil due to being fiddled with by Norman Osborn.  Two, we kinda saw these adult versions of the kids before during the Korvac story (around issue #12) when the kids were able to access their adult power levels to defeat Korvac.  But, that wasn’t really seeing their actual future selves, just their future power-sets and we didn’t know that they became villainous.  Nor did we know that they had kidnapped Reptil and sent back “future, evil Reptil”.  How very sneaky and villainous!  Love it!  However, that final splash page really should have had an editor’s note referring people to that back issue because if I look at that splash page with “new reader” eyes, I wouldn’t have a clue what was going on since the only visual cues are that Finesse has longer hair and the electric guy looks grown up (Veil, Hazmat & Mettle look the same).

3. Too much talking in the middle.  There a lot of hand-wringing in the middle of this issue – too much of the teachers and students talking about each other from across the room.  It seems like that could have been wrapped up in a page if the creators weren’t afraid of old-fashioned exposition.  Just have the verbal misunderstanding happen at the same time as the physical conflict.  I know it seems unrealistic to have these long speeches in the middle of the fisticuffs, but that is far preferable to having to waste several pages to get to the same end point.  This comic existed to get us to the money shot (the cool reveal on the final page), not to beat into our heads how much misunderstanding there is among these folks.

Avengers Academy #14 – Review

By: Christos Gage (writer), Sean Chen (penciller), Scott Hanna (inker), Jeromy Cox (colorist), John Denning (assistant editor), Bill Rosemann (editor)

The Story: Electro attacks France’s main science institute while most of the full-fledged Avengers are away. The kids need a chance to prove themselves and Electro isn’t the baddest guy in town. When they get there, though, it turns out he ain’t alone. The kids don’t do too bad, though, all things considered.

What’s Good: Gage did one thing every great writer must do. He made the heroes active. They wanted something. They wanted it bad, and we the reader can sympathize: they want to prove themselves. They’re not asking for a free lunch. Just put me in the game coach. I like them already. This situation also creates a lot of tension, because when has any battle plan survived contact with the enemy? I love how well the trainees do against the Sinister Six and I have to say, I really like the ending. For a while, when I saw how they got the bad press and all, I was thinking “Oh great. Another thin persecution story. Seen it.” But Gage tricked me. That wasn’t the end. The end was about stepping up to the plate morally that was the big climax of the book. The fight, for all that it was a great superhero donnybrook, was really just a plot device to get to the personal growth made by a surprising number of people at the end. What am I saying about the writing? Gage was right on target.

And, I have to say, after my first exposure to the Chen-Hanna-Cox team, I’m loving the art. The fine lines leave a lot of room to fill the panels with detail, which I love. The credit page is a pretty good example of this. From top to bottom, the big panel is brimming with the external accoutrements of the Avengers Mansion, the backgrounded and framing characters, the tight line of those arguing, with some intense Giant-Man action thrown in as background. That is visual storytelling! And Cox’ colors are beautiful and clear, with the bright spots attracting the eye to the important parts of the page. I also enjoyed Chen’s slanting camera angles and overlaid panels. His layouts and choices of borders (or not) kept the pages from ever feeling the same. Chen and team made it feel like there was so much action going on that it could only be layered. And a PS: I loved the texture of Reptile and Rhino when they slapped down.

Avengers Academy #13 – Review

By: Christos Gage (writer), Sean Chen (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Jeromy Cox (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), John Denning (assistant editor) & Bill Rosemann (editor)

The Story: The Avengers Academy teachers throw a prom for the kids.

What’s Good: There’s a lot of good character development in this issue for the Academy kids and teachers and also a nice guest starring appearance by a bunch of other younger characters in the Marvel U.  Avengers Academy has been a really quality title and its kids have been through the wringer the last few issues, so it was fun to see the teachers (notably Hank Pym and Tigra) decide that a prom was a good idea. One nice thing about a prom issue is that it really nails down the age of these kids: They’re high schoolers.  That’s kinda important for the reader to realize because I’d imagine most readers are probably in their 30s and just perceived these kids as “young”, but we all know that there is a world of difference between 18 and 23 and that many of the experiences that normal people go through in that age range that help us mature (college, marriage, kids) will not be on the table for the Academy kids.

Of course, a prom issue is going to have lots of romance in the air.  If you read the quite good Giant Sized Avengers Academy (also released last week), you know that there are some residual issues with Reptile and Spider-Girl.  There’s a budding romance with Hazmat and Mettle.  Finesse has been had her eye on a few guys in her weird way.  Striker fancies himself quite the ladies man.  But, with all of this, it was kinda funny to see two of the teachers end up in bed together.  I also really like the Hazmat/Mettle relationship, as the two of them are both complete outcasts due to their powers.  We get the sense that a romance that seemed to begin as “any port in a storm” could become more.

It was also neat to see some of the Young Allies and Spider-Girl at the prom.  I’ll talk about this more below, but with those other series for young heroes never finding their footing from a sales standpoint, I wonder if we’ll be seeing more of them around the Academy.  I certainly wouldn’t mind it if Spider-Girl hung around.

Mighty Avengers #31 – Review

By Dan Slott & Christos Gage (writers), Sean Chen (artist), Yeung & Morales (inkers), John Rauch (colors)

Well, it’s now five months later and the best I can say for this story is that it’s finally over.  Thank. Freaking. God.  With “The Unspoken”, I feel that Mighty Avengers has hit something of a sophomore slump.  I finally gave up on this issue, and the overall storyline, about halfway through when, during a giant-sized fight with the Unspoken, Pym says “You’ve chosen to spend your time wallowing in past mistakes…not learning from them and moving on.”  I thought this was terribly apropos as it’s exactly what Slott and Gage have done.  These are both smart guys and good writers, and yet their sprawling story was exactly the kind of uninspired, MacGuffin-driven nonsense that was in style back in the 70s.  I’d like the think the bar in storytelling has risen considerably higher since those halcyon days, and yet this story utterly failed to become anything more than a less-than-average potboiler.

This story more or less seems to have been hatched for no other reason than to bring the various Avengers teams together for the upcoming ‘Siege’ storyline.  There is some value to this decision, as it was truly entertaining to see characters from the Initiative, New, and Mighty Avengers interacting with each other.  However, considering what a non-threat the Unspoken turned out to be, (which was a shame considering how much time the writers spent building him up to be a Serious Villain) and the disappointing way the Xerogen gas was finally resolved (really, Pym?  That was your great solution?  Kind of a buzzkill for the guy Eternity named Earth’s Scientist Supreme), I almost wish Pym would have called up the other teams and invited them over for beers and Xbox since it would have achieved the same goal, been just as entertaining, and taken up a fraction of the issues.

Despite an incredibly uninteresting, disappointing storyline, culminating in this issue that proved to be too little too late, I nonetheless feel like this book is headed in a direction that’s going to pay off in a big way down the road. Of the crop of Avengers books being published right now, this is the one that keeps me coming back month after month because I believe in its potential, even when the comic doesn’t live up to it.

Grade: D

-Tony Rakittke

 



Nova Vol. 1 – Review

By Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Sean Chen, Scott Hanna & Brian Denham (artists)

The Marvel universe (by which I mean that vast expanse of space in which Silver Surfer, Galactus, and Ego run around in as opposed to the Marvel Universe, the corporate umbrella that we gather all of the company’s intellectual properties under when we talk about them) has never been an especially interesting setting to tell stories in.  Weird, right?  I mean, this is space we’re talking about, the final frontier.  An endless, ethereal, expanse of limitless potential and imagination where anything can happen.  And yet, despite the wealth of stories that can be told here, Marvel writers have seemed reluctant to do anything with it.  The last time I ever got excited about a Marvel space story was when “The Infinity Gauntlet” came out, and that was eighteen years ago.

Fast forward to 2006 when I began reading  positive fan feedback and critical praise for “Annihilation” a storyline designed to revitalize Marvel’s cosmic franchise.  The story certainly sounded worthwhile, but I wasn’t quite convinced to invest the time and money to collect it.

And then I found out Dan Abnett was involved with the story.

I’d known and been a huge fan of Abnett’s work through his involvement with Black Library’s series of Warhammer 40,000 books (any Gaunt’s Ghosts fans out there?) and it was on the strength of his writing there that I was willing to take another chance on Marvel’s final frontier.  I’m glad I did, because there is new life and abundant imagination to be found here, and nowhere is that more apparent than on Marvel’s flagship space title, Nova.

This inaugral volume collects the first seven issues of the title and spins directly out of the events of Annihilation: Conquest, the sequel to the 2006 crossover.  Following the devastation of the Annihilation Wave, the galaxy has been torn asunder and left in a broken, fragile, and highly volatile state.  There was a time when the Nova Corps was around to maintain law and order, but that time has come and gone and the Nova Corps is all but dead, with only Richard Rider left standing as their sole representative, one man to protect an entire galaxy.  It’s a burden no one person should have to carry, and yet Rider does because he knows it’s the right thing to do and that he’s the only one capable of doing it.

Against this backdrop of one man pushing himself to the limit in order to do the right thing, Abnett and Lanning craft a series of explosive, entertaining stories that are deeply rooted in the continuity established by the Annihilation crossovers, and yet immediately accessible to new readers.  What I most like about this volume, and about the new landscape of Marvel’s universe, is that it is such a fully-realized continuity and fully divorced from mainstream Marvel.

For those of you who, like me, have had enough of mediocre crossovers like ‘Dark Reign’, you have here the opportunity to get your Marvel fix with an excellent comic that has absolutely nothing to do with Norman Osborn for a change.  Abnett imbues this graphic novel with a skilled blend of action, imagination, and pathos that frankly shames anything being turned in by Marvel’s ‘terrestrial’ writers, and if you’re looking for a change of pace in your comics then I wholeheartedly recommend this book to you.  This is damn good stuff to read, and I have a feeling it’ll just keep getting better.

Grade:  A

-Tony Rakittke

 

Mighty Avengers #30 – Review

By Dan Slott & Christos Gage (writers), Sean Chen (artist), Mark Morales (inker), John Rauch (colorist)

The Story: Hank Pym and the embodiment of reality have a heart to heart while a ridiculously impressive number of past and present Avengers unite to collectively bitch-slap The Unspoken.

The Good: I enjoyed the subplot of this issue far more than I did the main story, but that’s not saying much when talking about “The Unspoken”.  The conversation between Pym and Eternity was far-fetched and more than a little ridiculous, yes, but at the same time it was so wildly off the wall that I couldn’t help but admire its brazen audacity.  I question if this is the right direction for Pym, but am also curious to see where Slott and Gage go with it.  This issue seems to be a prelude of sorts to the upcoming “Siege” storyline, as the New, Mighty, and Young Avengers all meet for the first time.  I was pretty impressed with how epic and powerful that moment felt, and am really hoping to see new team rosters come from this assembly.

The Not So Good: Why, oh why won’t this story end already?!  We’re now four months into this sloth-like monstrosity and practically nothing has happened.  Despite the writers’ efforts to convince us otherwise, The Unspoken continues to be an uninspired and thoroughly boring villain.  I’m utterly baffled that three full teams of Avenger are needed take down this guy when it takes him so long to get anything done.  Sure, the Slave Engine has finally been raised, but at the rate this story is going it will take another four months for this moron to actually activate the damn thing!  My concern is that this storyline will be dragged on right up until “Siege” begins, and I’m not sure I can hold out that long, this story is really that dull.

Conclusion: Mighty Avengers continues to be a fun comic and the best Avengers title being printed right now, but it is taking a serious beating from a bad story that is getting worse every month.  There are a few slivers of good ideas present here, but not nearly enough to justify buying the comic.  You don’t need this one, either.

Grade:  D

-Tony Rakittke

Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #5 – Review

By Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Sean Chen (Pencils), Lorenzo Ruggiero (Inks), and John Rauch (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: I read in an interview that Jonathan Hickman intends for the conclusion of Dark Reign: Fantastic Four to roll right into his run on the Fantastic Four ongoing series. If that’s the case, I have a feeling that I’ll end up appreciating the Dark Reign mini-series much more once Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch finish up their time with the Fantastic Four.

The Story: Sue, Reed, Ben, and Johnny have a standoff with Norman Osborn. Also, it’s revealed what else Reed learned thanks to the Bridge…

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: I have a whole new appreciation for Dark Reign: Fantastic Four now that I see how the mini-series leads into Jonathan Hickman’s run with the ongoing F.F. series. While the mini-series ends with more of a whimper than a bang, the possibilities it introduces are quite intriguing. I look forward to seeing what else Hickman has in store for Marvel’s first family.

Creatively, Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #5 is quite a success. Sean Chen’s clean, attractive pencil work definitely gets the job done, even if most of the work consists of little more than people talking. As for Jonathan Hickman’s script, it does a nice job of setting things up for the future. While there isn’t a whole lot to it beyond wrapping up things with Norman Osborn and introducing the first plot threads for the F.F. ongoing, it reads well and proves to be entertaining enough.

Conclusion: There really isn’t a whole lot to Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #5, but consider it a must read if you are looking forward to Hickman’s Fantastic Four run.

Grade: C+

-Kyle Posluszny

Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #4 – Review

By Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Sean Chen (Pencils), Lorenzo Ruggiero (Inks), and John Rauch (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: While Dark Reign: Fantastic Four feels stretched a bit thin even though it’s only a five issue mini-series, it’s still worth checking out for the high-concept story and slick artwork. The Dark Reign tie-in also gives fans of Marvel’s first family a taste of what’s to come when Jonathan Hickman takes over the F.F. ongoing after Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch finish up their run.

The Story: After completing his exploration of possible realities, Reed Richards comes to terms with who he is. Johnny, Sue, Ben and their alternates fight a bunch of Venomy, Skrully aliens while facing the collapse of space-time. Meanwhile, Franklin and Valeria deal with Norman Osborn and Venom/Dark Spider-Man.

What’s Good: Though it has a few weak points (which I’ll get to), Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #4 is the best issue of the mini-series yet. In particular, it’s a big improvement over the last issue, which was basically just a rehash of the second chapter. Clever, funny, and full of action, the fourth chapter of the Fantastic Four Dark Reign tie-in makes me glad that I stuck with the mini.

Jonathan Hickman shows that he’s really gotten into a groove with the characters and it goes a long way towards making up for some of the pacing issues. Reed’s revelation is delivered with an arrogance and gravity that works quite a bit better than I had expected. Also noteworthy is how well Hickman handles Norman Osborn. The character’s confrontation with Franklin and Valeria, a highlight of the issue, is equal parts humorous and intense. That’s a tough combination to effectively pull off. The king of Dark Reign is written with a menace that’s been lacking since his climb to the top of the Marvel political ladder, while Franklin and Valeria are written in a way that mixes youthful enthusiasm, humor, and intelligence into an effective blend.

Sean Chen and his art team add a hell of a lot to Hickman’s story and character work. The artwork is clean, stylish, and, when it needs to be, awesomely chaotic. There are two particularly strong segments: the bizarre “Venomy, Skrully” alien scene and the scene that makes up the bulk of the confrontation between Reed’s kids and Osborn and Venom. The first scene is hectic, violent, and badass thanks to Chen’s take on the “Venom” look. The second scene is funny, tense, and loaded with personality.

What’s Not So Good: The problem with Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #4 is somewhat complicated to explain. In one sense, the story seems to be stretched pretty thin, leaving the whole thing feeling a bit light and somewhat repetitive (it seems as though D.R. F.F. #2-#4 all have the same type of plot trajectory). But in another sense, the story seems to be leaving a lot of territory totally unexplored. Reed’s search for information seems rich with possibility and, oddly, underdeveloped. It makes me wonder if the true conclusion to the Fantastic Four Dark Reign story will end not in the fifth issue, but during Jonathan Hickman’s run on the Fantastic Four ongoing.

Conclusion: While it’s not all that it could be, I still recommend the latest issue of Dark Reign: Fantastic Four. It looks great, reads well, and runs on a number of cool ideas.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny

Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #3 – Review

By Jonathan Hickman (Script), Sean Chen (Pencils), Lorenzo Ruggiero (Inks), and John Rauch (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: I’ll be honest with you and admit that I had completely forgotten about the Dark Reign: Fantastic Four mini-series until this week’s shipping list reminded me about it. That probably says a lot about the first two issues even though I gave them solid grades.

The Story: The third chapter of Dark Reign: Fantastic Four begins with Sue, Johnny, and two versions of Ben on an air-ship that’s about to be boarded by Skrull pirates. That situation doesn’t last long as space-time collapses and the group is thrust into another version of reality…and then another….Meanwhile, Reed Richards continues to search alternate realities for superhuman peace by using the supercomputer known as “The Bridge.” As for Franklin and Valeria, they remain in the Baxter building while they await the arrival of Norman Osborn and members of H.A.M.M.E.R….

What’s Good: From the airship battle to the wild-west showdown and the alternate reality Illuminati sequences, Sean Chen, Lorenzo Ruggiero, and John Rauch do a great job of visually bringing Jonathan Hickman’s high-concept story to the comic page. The effort makes Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #3 the best-looking book in the mini-series so far. It’s a good thing the visuals do a lot of heavy lifting, as the character work and the concept are barely engaging.

What’s Not So Good: The overarching story feels like it’s stuck in neutral. In short, D.R.: F.F. #3 feels a hell of a lot like #2. Ben, Sue, and Johnny bounce around alternate realities as Reed sifts through alternate realities looking for nuggets of information. Meanwhile, Valeria and Franklin sit around the Baxter Building thinking about what to do in case the rest of their family doesn’t return. Those same things happened in issue two and, as a result, issue three feels disappointingly repetitive and somewhat boring.

Conclusion: Pick up Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #3 at your own risk. It looks nice and has some solid moments, but it feels far too much like the last issue to warrant a recommendation.

Grade: C-

-Kyle Posluszny

Dark Reign Fantastic Four #2 – Review

By Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Sean Chen (Pencils), Lorenzo Ruggiero (Inks), and John Rauch (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: The first issue of Dark Reign: Fantastic Four left me fairly underwhelmed. The story didn’t really go anywhere until the final few pages and overall, I found reading it to be rather boring. Normally I would drop a mini-series after such a slow start, but I’m really interested in seeing how Jonathan Hickman handles the Fantastic Four, considering that he will be taking over the ongoing series once Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch finish their run. Whenever that may be…

The Story: Franklin and Valeria take care of the unexpected visit from H.A.M.M.E.R. soldiers as Reed Richards plugs away on the Bridge. Meanwhile, Sue, Johnny, and Ben find themselves tossed from reality to reality as Reed scans alternate ways for the registration act conflict to have ended peacefully. He learns something very interesting during the process…

What’s Good: The second issue of Dark Reign: Fantastic Four is, thankfully, quite a bit more interesting than the first. Reed’s search through alternate realities is pretty gripping thanks to a combination of Hickman’s creative possibilities and the art team’s great looking scenes. The same goes for the situations Sue, Ben, and Johnny find themselves a part of. In other words, the high concept story is putting the skills of the creative team to good use.

What’s Not So Good: The biggest complaint I have about the issue is that anything that doesn’t feature Reed seems largely inconsequential. What Sue, Ben, and Johnny do in one reality seems to have no bearing on what they do in whatever reality they find themselves in next. While that may sound like a nitpick, keep in mind that the segments take up a fairly large portion of the book. Sure they look nice, but the issue as a whole left me feeling as though Hickman has only scratched the surface of what he has planned…and with only three issue to go I fear things might end up feeling either rushed or not fully realized.

Conclusion: I really like the ideas that the second chapter of Dark Reign: Fantastic Four presents. Hickman, no stranger to high-concept, definitely makes that aspect of the story work. Unfortunately, the book feels only slightly above average as a whole because too much of it ends up feeling like filler. If a better balance can be achieved between the various storylines at work, I really think the mini-series could turn into a must read.

Grade:  C+

-Kyle Posluszny

Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D #35 – Review

By Christos. N Gage (writer) Sean Chen (artist) Sandu Florea (inker) Jay David Ramos (colourist) VC’s Joe Caramagna (letterer) Adi Granov (cover art)

The story: Part two of War Machine: Weapon of S.H.I.E.L.D wraps up Rhodey’s involvement in Secret Invasion and leads us neatly into his upcoming monthly title. After highjacking Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D for the last two months, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much I’ve enjoyed this book. Most of the story takes place in orbit above Russia and deals with a satellite that is still in operation during the Skrull invasion. Whist War Machine attempts to convert the satellite into a weapon the Skrull armada attacks.

What’s good: Whilst I feel that Secret Invasion has outstayed it’s welcome, I really found myself enjoying this particular story. It was nice to see The Winter Guard handled so well after their recently poor portrayal in the Hulk comic book.

What’s not so good: Very little actually, although I feel that Chen’s portrayal of armor could use a little spit and polish. It just does not come off as looking anywhere near metallic enough. However it could be a bit of the colourist’s fault as well.

Conclusion: A very enjoyable issue overall and it bodes well for the upcoming series by Greg Pak. Give it a try, I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Grade: B+

-C.Flanigan

Iron Man: Director of SHIELD #33 – Review

By Christos N. Gage (Writer), Sean Chen (Penciler), Sandu Florea (Inker), and Jay David Ramos (Colors)

I confess I haven’t read any comics with War Machine in them since… well, since before James Rhodes was War Machine. I mean, the guy is pretty much by definition a second-rate Iron Man, right? So why waste time and money? Well, this issue has forced me to reassess my opinion of War Machine, and of the previously awful IM:DOS series. We have a new creative team this issue, and while I’m not about to go out and buy everything Gage or Chen do, it’s a refreshing change from the overblown nonsense that’s gone before.

The story starts with the scene we’ve already seen in Avengers: Initiative, an emergency recording of Tony Stark tells Rhodey that all Starktech is off-line and that he can trust no one, which is good because the Skrull Yellowjacket is standing right next to him. Rhodey fights through the Skrull armada and a New Warriors amalgam Super-Skrull to a military satellite Stark has built in secret. (How do you build and launch a satellite without anyone knowing about it? Maybe Stark uses the same contractors who built the Batcave.) There he meets Cybermancer, a former member of Force Works who I also know nothing about, and we get an obligatory “How do I know you’re not a Skrull?” paranoia scene before they decide to team up against the invasion.

Rhodey is written well, carrying his wounds and the burdens Stark has placed on him with quiet dignity. He doesn’t moan about being alone and out-gunned—he seems more comfortable in this situation than he did at the Initiative. The book is mostly action, with just enough dialogue to give it a little depth. It remains to be seen if War Machine can carry the book for more than a few issues, but for now it’s a quick, good read. (Grade: B)

– Andrew C. Murphy