WCBR Quick Hit Reviews Dec-22-2010

We all have pretty long pull lists and every week there are a few titles we read that we simply don’t have time to give a full review.  Some are good and some are bad…

Uncanny X-Men #531 – Fraction’s script of the second chapter of ‘Quarantine’ moves along rather nicely. The addition of Keiron Gillen to writing duties, while welcome, doesn’t seem to rock the boat much and that’s just fine.  Pretty much all of the X-Men are locked up on Utopia as a precaution, to avoid possibly infecting any other mutants on the mainland.  Meanwhile, a ragtag squad of X-Men are attempting to keep the peace in San Francisco and Emma Frost, along with Fantomex and Kitty Pryde, continue to debate about the fate of Sebastian Shaw.  There are some interesting bits here (the clever cliffhanger, the Drunken Trucker School) and the structure of the plot is solid, but there are still a few hiccups.  I’ve found myself over the last few months wishing the Sebastian Shaw subplot would just get it’s own dedicated issue so it could finally end and this month, that feeling continues.  There’s also a lot of Kavita Rao info-dumping on the reader and it doesn’t make for a particularly dynamic experience.  And then, yep, there’s Greg Land’s artwork to make it that much more unpleasant.  All in all, not bad, but could use some tightening up.  Grade: B- — Joe Lopez

Ultimate Spider-Man #151 – Bendis and new-ish penciller Sara Pichelli knock another one out of the park here and, boy, is it welcome.  I’ve had the feeling that Bendis has gotten a second wind on this title ever since the Chameleons arc and that wind continues this month as we’re given some set-up on what looks to be a team-up of the Black Cat and recent big bad, Mysterio.  There’s also plenty of great character moments, such as the Amazing Friends’ first meeting with Lana or Aunt May’s touching phone call to Gwen Stacy.  Speaking of Gwen, I have to admit that Gwen’s return so soon after her departure feels like a misfire.  Bendis sort of shoots himself in the foot there and robs a powerful moment of a few months ago of its weight.  I’m also a little annoyed that the “Superhero school” plot just gets around to showing up at the cliffhanger, despite it being led into heavily in the last issue.  Despite those minor complaints, this issue is a fair reminder of what Ultimate Spidey has been doing so well for the past 10 years. Grade: A- — Joe Lopez

The Incredible Hulks #619 – This was Part 2 of the tie-in with Chaos War and it continues to be really well done.  It actually explained some things (that were probably in Chaos War-proper that I’d missed) having to do with the fact that “death” has been conquered by the Chaos King in our universe and that’s why dead guys like Abomination are coming back.  Lots of good action with hulks smashing crap and a good cliffhanger ending.  The star was the Tim Seeley back-up about the Savage She-Hulk, Lyra, and her relationship with Banner and Jen-She-Hulk.  For some reason I find the She-Hulks way more interesting than the boy-Hulks.  Grade: B — Dean Stell