sam wilson and crew comics and tpb reviews for you, 2/19/09

[Sam Wilson]

wktf's Reviews

Dark Avengers #2
Marvel Comics
Written by: Brian Michael Bendis
Drawn by: Mike Deodato
Cover by: Mike Deodato
Cover variant by: Mike Choi

Last issue, the first of Marvel’s new “Dark Reign” Dark Avengers comics, Norman Osborn’s Avengers made themselves known to the world and, as if to add insult to injury, they co-opted the identities of existing Avengers for his rogues gallery of “heroes.” So, Venom is now The Amazing Spider-Man, Logan’s whacko son Daken is now Wolverine, Moonstone now is Ms. Marvel, Bullseys is Hawkeye, and Marvel Boy is being called Captain Marvel. Worse, Osborn’s stolen Stark’s armor and is calling himself the Iron Patriot. Oh, right, and the two resident psychos of Ares and Sentry are on board as well. The major obvious flaw in this concept is that when these Osborn-approved Avengers go out to tackle the world’s menaces we’re not really sure who to root for. Villains vs. villains with no real heroes doesn’t make for all that interesting a concept. The first issue was a bit of a strain to get through and this issue’s proving no less different.

So, last issue was saw Morgana le Fey come back to our time with some righteous rage against our own Victor Von Doom. She believes Doom used her, broke her heart even, to gain access knowledge of the dark arts. So, as a woman scorned, she comes looking for blood. And hell hath no fury, that’s for sure. Coincidentally, Doom’s being dropped off at the ruins of what once was Latveria by some HAMMER agents when Morgana comes calling. And the Dark Avengers, barely able to stand each others’ company, find themselves looking for something to do. One desperate call from the battle scene and these guys are on their way.

I’ll admit Deodato, whose art usually seems overly exaggerated and sloppy to me, does a great job with the rendering here. And there even are a few shockingly high impact moments, mostly involving Sentry, Morgana and Venom. But I find myself back to looking for a reason why I should care about any of this. Do bad guys battling each other mean anything if there’s not a hero involved? Maybe it can, but it doesn’t in this case, and not with these characters. Sure, Doom is potentially the greatest comic book villain ever created, but he’s barely a factor here. Bullseye also is one of my favorite villains but, I guess, I’m finding out, only when he’s going up against Daredevil. And I’ve always loved The Green Goblin but he’s nowhere to be found even though Osborn’s front and center. By the end of the issue these Avengers are in some serious trouble and my primary impulse was to get to my next comic. Not a good sign.

Ghost Rider #32
Marvel Comics
Written by: Jason Aaron
Drawn by: Tan Eng Huat
Cover by: Arthur Suydam

Okay, for anyone who hasn’t been reading the “Last Stand of the Spirits of Vengeance” you’ve been missing out on some seriously fantastic comic book storytelling. Seriously, DC thinks they had a “Final Crisis” going on with their books? They haven’t seen anything if they haven’t been reading Ghost Rider. What we’re talking is a final crisis of absolutely Biblical proportions. For those who haven’t been tracking this book, first of all, it turns out that Ghost Rider is NOT a pawn of Satan. Jason Aaron has turned this character’s mythos on its head and shown him to be a weapon of Heaven, the embodiment of God’s own spirit of vengeance. Think The Spectre but with a flaming skull head and on a motorcycle and you get a wickedly cool and terrifying concept of divine wrath. And how did this happen? Well, in the same way that Lucifer is a fallen angel, another renegade angel named Zadkiel created Earth’s many Ghost Riders, including Johnny Blaze’s version.

Now, however, Zadkiel has made it his mission to knock down the walls to the kingdom of Heaven and claim the city behind the Pearly Gates as his own. Zadkiel has duped Danny Ketch, Johnny Blaze’s crazed fellow Ghost Rider brother, into absorbing the power of Earth’s Ghost Riders and return that power to Zadkiel under the pretense of protecting Heaven’s Gates against its enemies. The reality though, as we’ve learned over the past few issues, is that Zadkiel wants to use that power to conquer Heaven itself! Add to this mix some Conga Voodoo Ghost Riders, a deranged former cop gunning for Blaze with a shotgun that blasts hellfire, a motorcycle race around the world to decide the fate of Heaven and Earth, and a page full of awesome Marvel guest stars in a throwback tribute to Steve Englehart’s Avengers #118, near the end of the Avengers/Defenders War when existence faced annihilation from Dormammu, and you have one loud, rocking and simply spectacular end to this story arc with one of the biggest questions ever to hit a comic book reader.

If anyone needed evidence as to why Jason Aaron was chosen as Wizard’s 2008 Comic Book Writer of the Year, you need look no further than Ghost Rider. Of course, you also could and should read what Aaron’s been doing with Scalped and Wolverine: Manifest Destiny. And you should most definitely pick up his Secret Invasion: Black Panther issues. The Skrulls simply experienced more hurt in Black Panther than anywhere else in the Marvel Universe. Back to Ghost Rider, add Tan Eng Huat’s wildly frenetic art to Aaron’s writing, reminiscent a bit of Lenil Yu’s work, and you have a stunning creative team on this book. So, in closing, is it true? What will the impact of this issue be on the Marvel Universe? How can it not affect the entire Marvel Universe? Secret Invasion and Dark Reign are nothing, nothing I tell you, compared to what’s happened here. Yeah, this book is my pick of the week.

Nightwing #153
DC Comics
Written by: Peter J. Tomasi
Drawn by: Don Kramer
Cover by: Don Kramer

Alright, granted, this book came out last week. But my lcs got shorted a bunch of books last week, including this one, and didn’t get them in until this week. So, to me, this is a new comic. I’ve reviewed Nightwing a few times since Tomasi’s started writing it and have found it seriously lacking. It just has not packed any real punch. But this issue is supposed to be this member of the Bat Family’s final issue and it looked to be a retrospective, of sorts, of Dick’s life as a result of Batman. So, against my better judgment, I picked it up.

As usual, I should have listened to myself. Sure, some of the scenes with Alfred and especially Tim were touching. But, all in all, this was a throw away issue. Having just established himself in New York, Dick returns to Gotham in the wake of Batman’s “death.” I put that in quotes because even though everyone seems to talk about Batman’s being dead but Final Crisis #7 sure didn’t make it seem that way. Anyway, he’s taken up residence in Wayne Manor and is working to restore The Batcave following the battle with Hush back a few months ago in Detective Comics. Dick thinks about the obvious parallels between his childhood tragedy and Bruce’s, and realizes how much he loves and owes Bruce for his current life. Kramer does his usual yeoman’s job on the art. After his stint with Dini on Detective I always like to see his work on a Batman title. Except this issue’s art feels uninspired. And it’s not that this is bad writing or art, it’s just that the entire issue feels unnecessary. As if we need to pay another $2.99 to experience Dick’s closure which really isn’t closure at all. I’ve been reading great things about Tomasi’s writing on Green Lantern but, as for Nightwing, I for one am glad this book is coming to an end.

[Sam Wilson]

Sam Wilson's Reviews

Justice League of America #30
DC Comics
Written by: Dwayne McDuffie
Drawn by: Jose Luis (filling in for Ed Benes)

For those of you who have been around, before his time on the Justice League Dwayne McDuffie was one of the founders of Milestone Media, a coalition of black artists and writers (including Denys Cowan, Chrisscross, Humberto Ramos and Mark Bright) who published comics under the DC Comics banner in the 1990’s. The most popular character to come from this venture was Static Shock (most popular with his cartoon and his guest spots on JLU and Batman Beyond) but he was just one of many. As announced at SDCC this past summer, DC is bringing the Milestone stable of characters back in play and this months issue of JLA helps kick it off with Icon, Hardware and the Shadow Cabinet all making their DCU debut. For a bit of a refresher, Icon aka Augustus Freeman the IV was an alien who crash landed in a cotton field in the American South. Raised as a slave, Augustus posed as his own offspring and eventually became a wealthy lawyer, a wealthy lawyer with superpowers who was quietly biding his time until Earth’s technology would catch up to his and he could eventually leave the planet. Circumstances dictated otherwise and he became the costumed hero Icon. Hardware, aka Curtis Metcalf was a child prodigy who was put through school by Edwin Alva, a prominent businessman. As payment for the tuition Curtis was expected to work for Alva upon graduation which he did making Alva millions. When Curtis wanted a share of the profits Alva shot him down and the nature of their relationship was revealed; Alva considered Curtis his property. A usefull tool, nothing more nothing less. It didn’t help things when Cutis found Alva to be completely corrupt and basically an evil bastard. To get his ironic revenge Curtis used Alva’s technologies to create the Hardware Armor, a battlesuit of advanced technology to bring Alva to justice and put a wrench in his evil ways (well, basically to bi%$ slap the motherfu%$er, brother Curtis was one pissed off cat). This finally brings us to the Shadow Cabinet, a secret organization that proactively sought out societal threats while they were in their infancy and stopped them before they became anything dangerous. Lead by Harry Chawney, aka Dharma (a precog) the group worked in the Shadows to Take down bad guys, hard, before they even did anything wrong. Rounding out the team was Blitzen (super fast), Donner (super strong and invunrable), Iron Butterfly (control over Metal), Starlight (electromagnetic powers), Iota (shrinking powers), and Twighlight (other-dimensional powers). So how does the JLA react to Dakota’s greatest heroes?

Our story opens with JLA reserve member Dr. Light. No, not the asshole Dr. Light who assaulted the Elongated Man’s wife but the female Dr. Light, Dr. Kimiyo Hoshi, PhD in Astrophysics. Her powers have been on the fritz of late, so she’s been placed on reserve status with the league. Forced to work at STAR Labs to make ends meet, Dr. Hoshi is a little more salty than usual, and is further agitated when Hardware and the Shadow Cabinet show up at her apartment and seemingly kidnap her (gasp!). Meanwhile, the JLA is sorting through some problems. Black Canary feels like the big three are talking down to her, Red Arrow and Hawkgirl are having relationship issues and Firestorm is still the new guy learning the ropes. Things get rolling when the team receives a distress signal from Dr. Hoshi and find themselves face to face with Icon, Hardware and the rest of the Shadow Cabinet the two teams go at it, seemingly, but Icon and Superman seem to have something else going on. The JLA seems to have the upper hand, which brings us to the current issue (after last month’s hiatus from the story). After fighting, our two teams end up united against a common foe (I know, shock), the newly powered up Shadow King (yes, he’s still a di$#). I should also mention this is an Origins and Omens issue (whatever that means, I could care less about “Final Crisis), and next issue is going to have huge changes considering that the big three are going to be out of the DCU (what? Whatever, “Final Crisis” can kiss my a$#) but whatever, this issue also has the Milestone U set up in a major way in the DCU, and that’s a good thing.

Icon, Hardware, The Shadow Cabinet, Ed Benes, Dwayne McDuffie, what more can I say other than oh hell yeah. I always felt Shadow Cabinet didn’t get enough love back in its heyday (then again, no Milestone book did) and its great to see those characters back in action. Even better, the best writer on the JLA in the last 20 years (plus the best artist, Benes, who is taking a break this month), who could ask for anything more?
Moon Knight #27
Marvel Comics
Written by: Mike Benson
Drawn by: Jefte Palo
Cover by: Gabrielle Del ‘Otto

Moon Knight, aka Mark Spector aka Jake Locley aka someone whom you don’t want to **** with if you are a bad guy. Born out of war, mercenary Mark Spector was beaten and left for dead and saved by the Egyptian Moon god to kick ass for him and fight evil. He’s has more than one series for Marvel Comics throughout the years, has been an Avenger (on the west coast anyway) and is now fighting on the side of the registration act. Well, not really. See, in superstar writer Mike Benson’s (HBO’s Entourage) first story arc Tony Stark tried to get him on board but Mark would rather beat the living **** out of drug dealers than have any part of Tony’s nonsense. Well, that and the ghost of the Bushman (an old enemy of his who just happens to be missing his face) is guiding Marks actions, encouraging him to, well, pound the crap out of people and maim them in nasty ways. Tony Stark tried his hardest to get Mark under control, but didn’t do such a good job so the powers that be decided to send in the Registration’s big guns. Well, their psychotic guns anyway with a bunch of sociopaths better known as the Thunderbolts. The T-bolts did their best and managed to kill Mark Spector. The only problem? Jake Lockley survived, and relocated to Mexico, and so it goes…

The new story arc, “Down South”, starts out pretty fu$#king bad-ass. Jake Lockley is alive and well (for those of you who don’t know, Jake Lockley was the NYC Cab Driver identity of Moon Knight, yes, same guy as Mark Spector) and living in Mexico, fighting in underground bouts to pay the bills. His skills earn him a rep, and soon a rich man whose daughter has been kidnapped asks him for help. By asking him I mean he offers him a ton of money to get his daughter back. Meanwhile, a mysterious man has Jake Lockley in his rifle sights, and well, okay he’s not so mysterious. His name is Frank Castle, aka the Punisher. All this and the Bushman is still talking to Jake, even though he takes an even stranger form than before in. Our story continues in issue 27 with Jake learning all is not as it seems and he got played, and he has a guardian angel with a big freakin’ skull on his chest watching his back too. All this and some Lucha Libre’s enter the scene and I’m thinking there is going to be a big fu$#ing brawn next issue…

Hell ****ing yeah. Mike Benson is the man. Mike’s had Moon Knight for awhile now, and every issue has been nothing short of an ass kicking festival of bad assness. With the sharp, modern dialogue Mike Benson is known for from his television work (Entourage) David Mamet could dare write Moon Knight better (and I’m a huge Mamet fan). Moon Knight sort of going back to his mercenary roots, getting raw in Mexico with the Punisher in the mix? Hell yeah. So buy it already. Word. My pick of the week.

Keith’s Review
Amazing Spider-Man #587
Marvel Comics
Written by: Marc Guggenheim
Drawn by: John Romita Jr.

Everybody’s favorite wall-crawler has seen his share of crap in the past year. He’s had just about everything wrong that can happen to a guy, happen. This issue is no exception to that rule either. With plenty of running plot threads coming to the surface for our hero, something has to give. Last issue Menace (whom we now know as Harry Osborn’s girlfriend Lily) beat the ever-lovin' snot out of Spidey for her own political motivations and left him unconscious for the police. He has been captured by said police and is in custody. He has been hunted down and framed for murders he did not commit by a group of corrupt cops, whom are tired of seeing Spider-Man act outside of the law. Our hero is NOT doing well and everyone else seems to be capitalizing on this for his or her own benefit.

Spider-Man is seconds away from being unmasked during a police interrogation, when his lawyer and friend Matt Murdock (Daredevil) crashes the party and saves Spidey’s secret identity from being discovered. With a fair amount of skill and knowledge of how to work the system, Murdock keeps Peter Parker’s face from being revealed as the one under the webbed mask. You gotta love that Matt Murdock guy for kicking ass legally by day, and ninja-bitch slapping criminals by night.

Meanwhile Pete’s roommate Vin is revealed to be one of the corrupt cops behind Spider-Man’s framing and thus becomes the fall guy. He is taken to jail, the very same jail that Spidey is in and you all know what happens to cops in general population… Spidey whom has been biding his time on Matt Murdock’s say, sees his friend and roommate in trouble and despite Vin hating Spidey, he is Peter’s friend and Pete can’t let him get his cop ass beat by murderers, and general scum of the earth.

Superhero antics then ensue as Spider-Man does what he always does… protect people who hate his guts, because it’s the right thing to do.

What else can you really say about a pairing between Guggenheim, and JR Jr.? These two are badass behind the wheel of Spider-Man. Romita Jr. was born to draw these characters and no one can do it as well. I have always loved Guggenheim’s writing and he is cleverly pulling together many of the plot lines that have been hanging since the status quo changed a year ago. A lot of people left Spider-Man for good when the status quo changed. It’s a fair decision for those who did, but at the same time, the folks telling the stories now, sure are kicking ass too. Spider-Man is always a fun read and this week, it’s my pick of the week.

[Frostbite883]

the newly powered up Shadow King

Actually, this guy's called Shadow Thief, not Shadow King.

[Sam Wilson]

my mistake, I'm getting my x-men and JLA confused...

[Frostbite883]

my mistake, I'm getting my x-men and JLA confused...

Eh, it's cool, man.

[masigl4179]

24 picks for February 18
24. Young X-men#11- I liked this series and I hate that it is coming to end, and there is more going on than meets the eye.
23. Adam Legend of the Blue Marvel#4- I like this series but I can tell that it is better to read it all in one sitting than in individual issues.
22.X-men Legacy#221- I really enjoy Mike Carey take on Professor X in this series but I'm not so much interested in his take on Rogue and Damage from Josh Whedon's run on Astonishing X-men.
21 Uncanny X-men#506- Even though Warren Ellis isn't writing this issue it has a Warren Ellis vibe to it with the Beast and his science team trying to solve the problem of the X-gene. Overall this issue is alot of fun.
20. Adventure Comics#0- Its ok, I mean its the classic Origin Story of the Legion of Superheroes along with a teaser Origin and Omens story.
19. Titans#10- Yep, I'm just about done with Titans. I've just lost interest in the team even though this issue was fairly decent with Joseph jumping from body to body among the members of the Justice League and the Titans. However, I really liked the Origins and Omens story where Nightwing left the team to go back to Gotham
18. Justice League of America#30- This issue was a solid cocnclusion to Dwayne McDuffie's crossover with the Milestone Universe's Shadow Cabinet. However there seems to be more going on thatn meets the eye.
17. Action Comics#874-I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed the New Krypton storyarc and this issue does a good job of setting up the new direction of the Superman universe. I highly recommend you pick this one up.
16. Tangent: Superman's Reign#12-I really emjoyed this series and I'm looking forward to sitting down  and reading the whole thing in one sitting.
15.Vixen#5- Man, I'm happy about the way that this miniseries turned out. This miniseries was truly a diamond in the rough in the croup of this year's miniseries. It really breathed a fresh life into the character of Vixen for me.
14. Supergirl#38- I'm really enjoying this series because I'm caughht up in the mystery of who Superwoman is and now after reading this issue we know that she isn't Kryptonian and she can whup Supergirl's ass. 
13.Booster Gold#17-This is another solid issue of Booster Gold. This time we get to see Booster  interact  with Barry Allen the night before the lightening struck him that turned him into the Flash. Also, we get a really good origin and omens back story as well.
12.Robin#183- I remember when I bought the first issue of Robin many, many moons and now here is the last issue. I wasn't particularly impressed by this issue but I was impressed by how much this issue showed how Tim Drake has grrown into his role as Robin.
11.X-factor#40- I always said that the dupe of Madrox that was living as a minister would show back up and he does as Madrox gets ready to kill himself but that's not the biggest surprise....guess who shows up all grown up....Layla Miller and she still knows stuff.
10. Black Panther#1- So here we are over again for another 1st issue of Black Panther and honestly it looks good. I'm curious as what exactly happened to T'Challa and who is going to take his place as Black Panther.
9.Outsiders#15- This is the first time we get to see the new team in action and look who is coordinating the orders Alfred Pennyworth! I'm going to keep following this title for a little while longer to see what's going to happen next.
8. Batman and the Outsiders Special#1- So Batman is dead...maybe but just in case he died he left Alfred Pennyworth a special message in the batcave instructing him to reform the Outsiders with Black Lightning, Katana, Geoforce, Metamorpho, Halo, and new members The Creeper and Owlman. I have to admit the line up has me intrigued.
7. Black Lightning Year One#4- Holy moley, its Tara, Ra's Al Ghoul daughter showing up in Suicide Slum to lend Black Lightning a hand and she gives him so background on the 100. This is the second DC Mini featuring a black character that I'm really really enjoying.
6. R.E.B.E.L.S.#1- I didn't really read the old L.E.G.I.O.N. but I do remember that Viril Dox was a dick just like he was this issue however I love the tie in to Supergirl and Brainiac 5 via her time in the Legion of Super Heroes. I enjoyed this issue and I'm looking forward to what's coming next.
5. Angel After the Fall#17- Well this is the official epilogue to the Angel After the Fall after last issue where Angel sacrificed himself to save the world officially hitting the restart button on this series. The thing is everyone still remembers what happen them when Los Angeles went to hell so know everyone knows who and what Angel is .
4.Green Lantern Corps#33- This issue was dope because Mongul and Arkillo get into it over leadership of the Sinestro Corps. If you haven't read this issue  you need to check it out.
3. Invincible Iron Man#9-  This issue is off da chain! Basically Tony Stark is on the run from Norman Osborn because he has downloaded the Superman Registration Database into his head. I love this issue for the technobabble and espionage but it's interesting to see how far Tony Stark has fallen in such a short amount of time.
2. Dark Avengers#2- Let me be honest, I hate the $3.99 cover price but I really love this comic. Let me say this though...Norman Osborn is insane. You know why I say that because he told the Sentry not to hold back and then the Sentry pulled off Morgan Le Fey's head. Yep what worse is that she came back.
1.Fables#81- The cover says it all the Blue Horizon and this issue is the sad story of how Blue Boy died. I can't believe that Bill Willingham went and did but damn if it wasn't good. Also, Blue's talk with Rose Red...man did he ever tell that chick off. I hope he comes back, but its weird that he died now the way that he did after his adventures in the Homelands where he confronted the Adversary. I was sure he was going to die then and he didn't and then I thought for sure Flycatcher was going to catch it but he didn't, and now Blue Boy has finally died.