Green Lantern: New Guardians Annual #2 – Review

By: Justin Jordan (writer); Stephen Segovia, Edgar Salazar, and Jed Dougherty (pencils); Stephen Segovia, Jason Paz, Jason Gorder, and Jed Dougherty (inks); Andrew Dalhouse and Hi-Fi (colors)

The Story: Kyle finds himself drawn back to Earth when a mysterious artist starts trying to ‘put things right’.

The Review: Green Lantern: New Guardians Annual #2 gets off to a strange start, and I mean strange. One of the major themes of the issue is the feeling that things are just wrong and, while it never gets to quite that point, the early pages of this issue summon up some of that feeling, for better or worse.

The major problem with this issue is that it’s a little hard to get your feet. The transition from the last issue of the series to this story is extremely abrupt and Justin Jordan’s absolute focus on the here and now over the first nine pages doesn’t help at all.

It seems as though Jordan’s script is fighting his page limit a bit. Despite the extra storytelling power of an additional sixteen pages, things are kind of rushed. Part of that is a lack of economy that had been very much present in Jordan’s previous New Guardians work, but it would be dishonest to think that the scope of the story wasn’t a large factor in it. So even after the opening pages on Earth, Kyle is Deus ex Machina’d back to Earth and finds himself at an extremely important location to the torchbearer Lantern.

Quick Hit Reviews Week of Feb. 16, 2011

Some weeks it is just insane how many comics get published.  Despite the intrepid efforts of our writing staff here at WCBR, we simply can’t do a full review of every comic.  Thus, we bring you the quick-hit reviews where we say a few words about some comics that were pretty darn good and some others that are not so much…

Silver Surfer #1 – The story here is pretty good stuff.  It isn’t the best story ever regarding the Surfer, but a very solid story involving Earthly affairs with a surprising guest starring role from the High Evolutionary.  This action seems to dovetail with the High Evolutionary story occurring in the Iron Man – Thor miniseries from Abnett & Lanning.  What really puts this issue over the top is the art.  Stephen Segovia and Victor Olazaba do an awesome job drawing and inking (especially inking) the Surfer and Wil Quintana contributes great cosmic colors.  I am trying to pare down my “non-essential” Marvel titles, but this display of art will probably have me sticking around.  Grade: A-  — Dean Stell

Wolverine & Jubilee #2 – This is a great series so far that casts Wolverine in his best role: as mentor to a younger hero.  Not only is this my favorite role for Wolverine, but it has always been the best way to bring new members into the X-universe.  Jubilee isn’t new, but she is in a new “role” as she adapts to her vampiric powers (which we learn more about in this issue).  Kathryn Immonen even works in some very funny bits such as Wolverine’s revelation that one can apparently get one’s tongue stuck to Colossus if it is really cold outside.  I DEMAND that that story be in the next Strange Tales!  This issue is also telling a neat story that shows Logan and Jubilee finding zombies in Siberia and it would have gotten a better grade if not for a wholly confusing final page.  Seriously, the final page made me wonder if there was a printing error and I’d missed something.  Phil Noto’s art is again wonderfully pretty.  He draws such pretty eyes on his women.  Grade: B+  — Dean Stell

Venom/Deadpool #1 – No character but Deadpool could pull off a comic like this, and I highly doubt that many writers other than Remender could have written it. This fourth-wall slaughtering romp through the Marvel U is a great deal of fun, with in-jokes, creative references and absurdity to spare. The artwork is big and bold (as well it should be for this kind of a tale) and the story itself–Deadpool is on a quest to find the Continuity Cube, thus making himself the single most relevant character in the Marvel Universe–is a very funny concept that both Remender and Moll execute very well. I must admit, I’m glad I bought the single, $2.99 comic rather than trying to piece together the four mini-chapters that were spread out over four different books. The story is good enough, and fun enough, that $2.99 feels just about right. Any more cost–or effort–than that would be a little much though, even for a ‘Pool-addict like myself.  Grade: B    — SoldierHawk

Justice League of America #54 – What a difference new art makes!  Bagley’s time on this title was pretty drab, but I really, REALLY like the work that Brett Booth is doing in this issue.  Booth’s classic figures (with a beautiful fine line from inker Norm Rapmund) combines really well with Andrew Dalhouse’s understated colors.  I so enjoy this muted color scheme to brilliant and shiny colors.  The story is pretty good too showing Eclipso coming “back” and beginning to recruit shadow-powered villains.  Very little actual JLA in this issue, but that’s fine.  Hopefully this is the arc where James Robinson’s turn on the series finds its footing.  Very promising.  Grade: B  — Dean Stell

Captain America: Man Out of Time #4 – This series continues to be a wonderful character showcase for Steve, and a more overarching look at his current relevance to the Marvel Universe. I especially like Cap’s being forced to face the less-savory parts of American history he’s missed (rather breezily–or perhaps, very calculatingly–passed over by Tony Stark’s version of the temporal tour.) I am and always will be a huge Tony Stark fan, so the contrast we see between his America, and General Simon’s America, was fascinating, and a lot of fun to read. My only complaint is that, in this issue especially (and mostly for the sake of pushing the story along), Steve seems awfully naive. I understand that both he and the 40s are supposed to represent a more innocent and morally straightforward time, but…c’mon. Cap’s a soldier. He fought the Nazis for crying out loud. He’s seen the absolute worst of what humanity has to offer…and he’s really THAT shocked by the fact that, yes, crime and Bad Things still exist in America today? I do understand why he might be disappointed, but Waid and company spend far too much time milking that for the sake of a larger message.  Grade: B-   — SoldierHawk

Dark Wolverine #85 – Review

by Daniel Way & Marjorie Liu (writers), Stephen Segovia (artist)

The Story: Wolverine calls a meeting with his wayward son, Daken, to request his help in taking down uber-baddie Romulus.  However, unbeknownst to the feral X-Man, his son isn’t necessarily on his side.  But is that actually part of Wolverine’s plan?

What’s Good: * Sigh*  I would really like to be positive here and have something nice to say about this issue.  I’d really, really like to…

What’s Not So Good: This is by far the weakest Dark Wolverine issue since the character of Daken took over his father’s title.  The driving cause of this is easily the fact that it’s crossing over with Wolverine Origins beginning with this issue.  Despite the unnecessary convolutions in the life of Wolverine that Daniel Way has wrought over in Origins, Daken somehow emerged to be an interesting character when you separated him from all of that mumbo jumbo.  Now that this story has brought him back into the excruciatingly boring Romulus story-line, it seems we’ll have to deal with two months of uninteresting plots.  I’m being a little harsh here, really, but man, I love Wolverine, and Daken has grown into a favorite character of mine under the pen of Way and Liu, despite all odds.  The fact that we’ve taken a step back to wrap up the whole Romulus thing seems like a shame to me.  At least this crossover will tie all of that up and then we can move on to telling interesting stories again.

Dark Wolverine #80 – Review

By Daniel Way & Marjorie Liu (writers), Stephen Segovia & Paco Diaz Luque (artists), Sandu Florea, Guillermo Ortego, & Jay Leisten (inkers), Marte Garcia & Antonio Fabela (colorists)

The Story: Dark Wolverine saves a baby. There, I just saved you $2.99 and the urge to cut your wrists with the paper this piece of shit was printed on.

The Good: Paco Diaz Luque turns in some solid art and would have been a much better choice to carry this book instead of Segovia. Unfortunately, his meager efforts still aren’t enough to redeem this book.

The Not So Good: I’m disgusted that it took nine people to make a story that amounted to twenty-one pages of talk and a splash page of Dark Wolverine holding a baby in his arms. This title has only ever been marginally entertaining at best, and the first story arc held potential for the title as well as Daken, but I’m sorry to see my hopes so thoroughly crushed with this latest storyline, and this issue in particular, which culminates in one of the most pathetic, shark-jumping moments I’ve seen all year. And comic like this, we’re supposed to believe, are what passes for entertainment in this industry. Well, I’m sorry but I’ve had enough and I refuse to continue handing over my money to this comic anymore. Way and Liu have inexplicably found new ways every month to not live up to their potential, and I can’t keep waiting for them to turn things around and redeem a comic that was only barely interesting to begin with. It took me three attempts to actually finish reading this comic; I was that bored with every word on every panel. Monthly comics like this need to be able to stand on their own legs. You need to be able to walk into the comic store, pay for an issue, take it home to read, and feel like you were entertained enough to have made a good purchase. There is an ugly trend in comics though, of which this title in particular has been especially guilty, that advocates writing comic stories for their release as graphic novels and not as serialized entertainment. If the industry wants to sell graphic novels I’ll be more than happy to pay for them, but then let’s stop kidding each other with these monthly comics that have utterly no entertainment value. Issues like this are a blight on the industry and succeed in only wasting your time and money.

Conclusion: I’d like to offer Dark Wolverine #80 as The Worst Comic of the Year. I’m done buying this title and strongly advise anyone else currently reading it to do the same. We deserve much, much better than this.

Grade: F-

-Tony Rakittke

Dark Wolverine #79 – Review

By Daniel Way & Marjorie Liu (writers), Stephen Segovia (artist), Jay Leisten & Cam Smith (inkers), Marte Garcia (colorist)

The Story: Emmy Doolin!  Cutthroat!  The Inquisitor!  Moses Magnum!  Marvel’s latest fantastic foursome is on the run from Norman Osborn, but they won’t go down without a fight.  Hiding out in an abandoned warehouse, the team devises a cunning plan to barter for their freedom with the same man who wants to apprehend them.  Wait, this is a Wolverine comic!?  Uh oh…

The Good: To his credit, Segovia has turned in some impressive art for what was surely a lackluster script.  Although I’m still not his biggest fan on this book, Segovia deserves credit nonetheless for stepping up his game and delivering art that attempts to engage the reader.  His opening scene and battle between Daken and the D-Listers was a refreshing change of pace and made me wish I could see more of that kind and quality of action in this comic more often.

The Not So Good: I’m really concerned to see that it actually takes two writers to churn out such increasingly uninteresting stories.  The sole strength of this title thus far lies in its ability to portray Daken manipulating his way through Norm Osborn’s evil empire.  It’s a great angle to take, but only succeeds when the writer can deliver it.  I did not get that from this issue, and I think the reason why is that Way and Liu are clearly pacing their plot for its inevitable graphic novel release.  As far as I can tell, they are either wholly ignorant of or knowingly disregarding the fact that for you and me, the people paying three bucks a month to read their stories, the experience of reading a monthly comic is vastly different from that of a six-issue graphic novel.  The single monthly comic used to be (and to an extent should still be, I would argue) a complete and dynamic experience unto itself.  This issue by contrast felt like a very unspectacular chapter in a larger story.  Daken only showed up for half of his own comic this month, and when his presence is the only thing keeping this comic alive, that’s really not a good thing, graphic novel release be damned.

Conclusion: Dark Wolverine is a comic that’s going nowhere fast.  While its labyrinthine plots might make sense after they’ve been collected in trade, they fail to entertain as monthly comics.  I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be collecting this.

Grade:  D

-Tony Rakittke

Dark Wolverine #78 – Review

By Daniel Way & Marjorie Liu (writers), Stephen Segovia (artist), Marte Garcia (colors)

The Story: Uh-oh, the video footage that first got Daken into trouble has somehow gone viral, and Norman Osborn is determined to tear apart his organization to find the leak.  When the culprit is killed in a car accident though, Osborn decides the next best thing to do is stage a superhuman prison break that his Wolverine can resolve in a more heroic fashion.  Daken agrees to the PR stunt, but not necessarily for the reason Osborn thinks.

The Good: I like that this comic continues to be one of the better examples of what “Dark Reign” is capable of.  From the opening sequence of Bunny’s tragic “accident”, it’s clear that this is one comic that’s not afraid to flirt with evil.  Way and Liu have been crafting stories full of subterfuge and manipulation, and in the eye of their gathering storm stands Daken, observing all the chaos around him with cold detachment.  Even when he’s surrounded by Marvel’s most villainous bunch of bastards, it’s still Daken who somehow proves to be the biggest threat of them all.  We know he’s up to something, we know he’s got a plan, but what is it, and why?  The fact that we know so little about Daken’s motives makes him far more dangerous than a whack job like Bullseye, and that in turn makes for some good reading.

The Not So Good: Way and Liu are doing a great job handling Daken’s character, when he’s actually in his comic.  With exception to his cameos in the beginning and end of this issue, Daken barely even showed up for the rest of the story, and that’s a real problem when so far he’s the only thing making it worth reading.  I think the writers need to decide if they are going to continue making Daken a shadowy, secretive presence, or if they’re going to begin revealing Daken’s agenda, because “Dark Regin” will not last forever and at the rate they’re going the storyline will have ended before they finally get to the point, and I don’t know if I’ll want to stick around until then.  I’m actually disappointed to see Segovia on this book, whose work I’d last seen in the pages of Mighty Avengers.  Here, his art tends to remind me of Leinel Yu’s, and that would have been fine if Camuncoli hadn’t already left such a big impression on me!  Here’s to hoping he returns next month, because I sure missed his work here.

Conclusion: Daken continues to impress me as a character, but I’m not sure how long that will last before I get bored and move on.  Way and Liu need to do something with this plot soon to reassure readers that it is actually going somewhere.

Grade:  C+

-Tony Rakittke

Amazing Spider-Man #599 – Review

By Joe Kelly (writer), Stephen Segovia, Marco Checcheto, Paulo Siqeira and Amilton Santos (pencils, inks) Cris Chuckry and Jeremy Cox (colors)

The Story: Joe Kelly’s American Son arc concludes with the final showdown between Norman and Harry Osborn, as Spidey tries to recover from injuries sustained while he was tortured by the Dark Avengers.

What’s Good: Truthfully, there isn’t a whole lot that happens in this issue, since it is basically one long fight scene. With that said, the first five pages were awesome. The art was killer and the flashback scene between Peter and Harry was masterful. It showed the depth of their relationship and a lot of the motivations of each character. I also really like the whole Norman/Menace relationship. It had a lot of potential and the whole family dynamic seemed set to make a big impact on Spidey’s world.

Kelly told a complete story. All the dynamics were in play that he began with, i.e. Peter’s man-love for Harry, Aunt May’s wedding, and Wolverine’s advice. Perhaps, it came off as overly formulaic and almost text-book like, but it was still satisfying that all the pieces of the story were there.

What’s Not So Good: For some reason, there were three different art teams on this issue and it mostly didn’t look consistent. Also, the last art team seemed to have forgotten that Menace was pregnant. So why the hell did she have six-pack abs and a lean figure in some scenes. Also, remember when she looked like a devil who was so intensely ugly and monstrous that the reader couldn’t even tell her gender (hence the suprise that she was a girl! and Lilly! and pregnant!)? Well, not anymore. In this issue she was a Goblin-Babe with green skin and red-lipstick.

And another thing, I was really getting tired of Spider-Man always fighting past the point of exhaustion and physical durability, where at any moment he was going to pass out or die. Every major ASM arc has featured him in this state and it is getting really, really old. Also, his non-stop trips to the emergency room at the end of stories are getting way too formulaic.

Conclusion: As far as this arc goes, it was a bit of a downer to see everything, minus Menace bearing Norman’s child. I was hoping Harry would evolve into something other than a thirty-something still dealing with his Daddy issues. It would’ve have made this story infinitely better if it was clear that he knew that Spidey was Peter. Don’t get me wrong: this is the best written and plotted ASM arc of ’09. But, this finale was a little lack luster, consisting largely of two pseudo Iron-Mans duking it out during a dysfunctional family therapy session.

Grade: B

-Rob G.

Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #1 – Review

By Jason Aaron (writer), Stephen Segovia (pencils), John Rauch (colors), Cory Petit (letters), Dave Wilkins (cover)

The Story: A photograph reminds Wolverine of a particularly bloody brawl from 50 years ago that ended with his permanent exile from Chinatown. Never being one to back down or take orders, Wolverine decides to have a drink at the same bar where it all went down with the intent to settle the score once and for all.

What’s Good? Wolverine’s take on regaining his memories adds an interesting layer to the story. For so long he’s wanted to know what really happened and now that he does he sees that ignorance is sometimes more blissful. Since getting his memories back, most writers have focused on the memories themselves not Wolverine’s reaction to knowing the truth. This idea’s a good move on Jason Aaron’s part. Stephen Segovia’s art, however is the high point of the book. The action scenes are crisp, and while the character renderings may not be as clean as some of the other artists out there, they really capture the down and dirty mood of a classic Wolverine story.

What’s Not So Good? Not much happens. Aside from knowing Wolverine isn’t supposed to be in Chinatown we don’t learn much. What caused the fight? Why is the spearhead important? And most importantly, who is Wolverine picking a fight with? The opening chapter to a story shouldn’t answer everything, but it should lay the appropriate groundwork. The problem is, Aaron has left so many things open there isn’t much to keep the reader’s interest going into the second issue.

Conclusion: Having Wolverine finally deal with his returned memories is a good concept for a story. It’s a shame that the end result is mediocre. It’s not that things can’t or won’t pick up, it’s just that the first issue has to set the tone for the remainder of the series. This one misses the mark by a long shot.

Grade: D

-Ben Berger