Quick Hit Reviews – Week of April 20, 2011

Sheesh….we can’t review everything in full…..  🙂

Wolverine and Jubilee #4 – So, this n

ice little miniseries written by Kathryn Immonen wraps up and it is a must read if you are a Jubilee fan because this arc really establishes where she will be going forward.  Kudos to the X-creative team for taking an interesting direction with Jubilee.  I know there are some folks out there who feel vampired out, but I’d much rather have characters cast into a new status quo and then see what various creators do with the new toys than allowing characters to languish.  Besides being important for Jubilee, this was a good story if you enjoy seeing the fatherly side of Logan too.  And, of course, for the art snobs out there, it just doesn’t get much prettier than Phil Noto.  If you can find an artist who draws prettier eyes on female characters, I would like to see it.  He also get’s bonus points for drawing women who look like actual women as opposed to back-arched, DDD-boob porn creations.  Very nice issue.  Grade: B

Avengers Academy #12 – Why aren’t more people reading this series?  Every single issue by Christos Gage & Co. has been pretty good and this one continues the string.  This issue picks up the Academy kids’ battle with Korvac where the kids have had their consciousnesses placed into their future selves, giving them access to their adult-level powers so they can beat Korvac.  Not only is it fun seeing what these kids could become, but it’s fun seeing some of them (Mettle & Hazmat) being quite disappointed that they still face limitations in the future!  Great story and the Raney/Hanna art combo does a great job of telling the story.  Grade: B  

Twilight Guardian #4  – I actually kinda liked this series about a slightly mentally ill (or maybe not) female comic fan who goes out on some really uneventful patrols in her neighborhood.  This issue she runs into her long-lost daddy which is kinda cool.  This comic really has a lot of potential because Troy Hickman did the hard thing: he made me care about his central character a lot.  That isn’t easy to do.  Now, he just needs to punch up the pace of the story a little bit.  I don’t know any of the circumstances behind this story’s creation, but this smacks of a story that could’ve used a ‘laying on of hands’ by a good editor.  Still, it is a good story and I’ll be keeping an eye out for Hickman’s future work because he knows how to do the hard stuff.  The art isn’t too shabby either.  Grade: B-

’68 #1 – It’s another zombie book and while it was nice to read and had pretty good art, it didn’t seem to have a lot novel to offer beyond a unique setting (to me, at least): the Vietnam War.  The story is that of an isolated firebase in Vietnam that is about to have the shit hit the fan in a much worse way than the Tet Offensive!  This issue actually represents one of my favorite parts of any zombie story: The early stages where no one really knows what the hell is going on.  The art is nice and crisp too.  If you like zombies, this seems like a solid series but I don’t see anything stunningly unique about it yet.  Grade: C+

Iron Man 2.0 #4 – I really like Nick Spencer and I wanted this series to be good, but it just isn’t and I honestly couldn’t even make it through this issue.  For me the problem is really on the side of the art.  I hate to pee on artists because I can’t even draw a stick figure very well, but Spencer is trying to tell a deliberately paced story and this story needs the art to do a little more to help it along.  This issue features page after page of people talking about Palmer Addley in debriefing rooms.  I question that a little bit as a story-telling device because LOTS of people are going to struggle to read it, but the art doesn’t help at all.  Some of it is due to choices that Olivetti makes (boring poses and really boring backgrounds) and some of it is the choice of Olivetti for this issue at all.  Olivetti’s art is very pretty, but this uninked, straight-to-painted-colors style just isn’t vital enough to hold the reader’s attention.  Talking heads needn’t be this dull (see Spencer’s Infinite Vacation #2 where the girl in the story discusses her aversion to the technology of the story).  Why Marvel hampers these C-list titles (like War Machine 2.0) by screwing around with the art — by making odd art assignments and then switching the artists around — is beyond me.  Grade: D

-Dean Stell

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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

NEWS: Top Cow Announces Winners of 2008 Pilot Season!

Fans vote for TWILIGHT GUARDIAN and GENIUS to get their own series!

Top Cow Productions, Inc. announced today that the winners of the 2008 Pilot Season campaign are Twilight Guardian by writer Troy Hickman and artist Reza and Genius by writers Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman and artist Afua Richardson.

For over a month, fans went to the Top Cow website, the Pilot Season website or other sites once per day, every day, to vote for their favorite 2008 Pilot Season one-shots. Pilot Season is an annual initiative Top Cow began in 2007 that borrows its concept from the television industry: Six “pilots” are submitted for consideration to be “picked up for a season,” except instead of TV executives deciding their fates, it’s the fans! 2007’s top two vote getters, Cyblade and Velocity, will debut with new series later this year. 2008’s winners will debut with new series in 2009.

Twilight Guardian and Genius beat out Urban Myths by Jay Faerber and Jorge Molina, The Core by Jonathan Hickman and Kenneth Rocafort, Alibi by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Jeremy Haun and Lady Pendragon by Matt Hawkins and Eru.

Twilight Guardian is about an average woman with a particular kind of OCD that drives her to patrol a nine-block area in her neighborhood every night, and about the other “night people” and situations she encounters because of it. Genius asks the question, “Alexander, Hannibal, Napoleon, Patton. What if the greatest military mind of OUR generation was a 17-year-old girl who grew up on the tough streets of an urban war zone?” Both books resonated with a majority of the voters and their creators are ecstatic, excited and even surprised.

“Holey crullers! I really don’t know WHAT to say,” said Troy Hickman. “I feel like I did once at a convention years ago when I somehow wound up on an elevator with Mr. Curt Swan, and I remember thinking, ‘Something’s gone terribly wrong. They’ve accidentally let me on the IMPORTANT elevator!’ The creative teams on the other Pilot Season comics are just terrific, some of the most talented people working in this, or any, medium, and I feel so proud to even be included in this competition. And big congrats to Genius for winning the other spot!”

“I’m shocked, really,” said Adam Freeman. “Genius is not a traditional comic and I suppose that is one of its greatest assets as well as its biggest obstacle. We weren’t sure how readers would react but we knew it was a story we were passionate about. Kudos to Top Cow for being the only publisher willing to take that risk with us. Someone wiser than me once said, ‘Never underestimate your audience’ and, truth be told, we did a little on this one. We didn’t think people would ‘get it’ but apparently they did.”

“Hell, I’m just thrilled to have won something,” added Marc Bernardin. “Seriously though, it’s like Adam said: We knew Genius was an uphill battle, but every now and then, those uphill battles get WON.”

“I blew my voice squealing like a happy pig for a half hour and came up with at least five victory dances,” exclaimed Afua Richardson when she found out Genius was one of the winning titles. “I feel like I won one for all the oddballs out there—all the artists left of center, for the chicks who fight stigmas in comics, all of them!”

Now that the winners have been declared, the creative teams will work with Top Cow’s editorial department to start planning out their series, which will debut in 2009.

“Issue #1 of Genius sparked a few pretty heated debates in some circles but that was only the first act to a much larger story,” explained Freeman. “There is a lot more to tell. I am very curious how the future issues will be received because, trust me, this book is not going where you think it is.

“We’re going to dip a bit into Destiny’s back-story and the forces that combined to make her the woman she is today,” teased Bernardin. “And we’re going to show just how bloody revolution can be.”

“I look forward to a) seeing what happens next; b) getting the chance to work with Marc and Adam again; and c) really getting a chance to show my stuff,” asserted Richardson. “I just really want put my best foot forward on this.”

“Well, now comes the fun part: making comic books,” conveyed Hickman. “Let’s see if we can take Twilight Guardian where comics haven’t gone before. I don’t want to give anything away, but I promise you there will be comedy, and drama, and plenty of the unexpected. Maybe she’s a Skrull”

“Everyone here at Top Cow wants to wish a hearty congratulations to the teams on Twilight Guardian and Genius for a hard-won victory in this year’s Pilot Season,” proclaimed Top Cow Publisher Filip Sablik. “It was an incredibly close race across the board and these two teams campaigned hard for the fans’ votes. The fans have spoken and we’ve already got the wheels in motion to give them more of what they want!”

-Ed: Check our own review of Genius #1