Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Read and Put Back #32

Sub-Mariner #3 (of 6) — Writers: Matt Cherniss & Peter Johnson; Artist: Phil Briones
The Wolverine-Subby battle on the cover only lasts four pages (Xavier shows up to tell them to quit screwing around), but there’s also a fight with a villain (an exceedingly overexposed one right now, too), so at least there’s action. However, the “shocking” last-page development has been done at least twice before (and is, oddly, ignored on the preview of the next issue’s cover), and the plot is just kind of sitting there, hoping you’ll ignore it as you admire all the punching. Worse, Namor spends exactly zero panels actually, you know, in the water (except for a dip in the X-Mansion’s pool); maybe Marvel should just start calling him the “Over-Mariner” instead?

Shadowpact #16 — Writer: Bill Willingham; Penciller: Tom Derenick; Inker: Wayne Faucher
Good job of playing fair with last issue’s disaster (a major volcanic eruption in downtown Chicago), not by retconning it but instead by showing how the characters were able to blunt its effects. This continues to be a well-thought-out, and frequently interesting, title, one that refuses to use any of the usual superhero or magical cliches. For me, though, it’s always been a little too soulless; it’s hard to find any heart in any of the characters, or care enough about them to buy the book, even as I admire Willingham’s slick plot twists and use of magical strategy.

Action Comics #854 — Writer: Kurt Busiek; Penciller: Brad Walker; Inker: Livesday
Busiek constructs a strong follow-up connection to this week’s Countdown (as in, the first-page splash is that book’s last-page cliffhanger), and, while it undeniably offers a better story, it’s still mostly Super Jimmy Olsen Comics, with the Kryptonite Man, Titano and Krypto, and I just can’t bring myself to buy it.

Super-Villain TeamUp: Modok’s 11 #2 (of 5) — Writer: Fred Van Lente; Pencils: Francis Portela; Inks: Terry Pallot
The “Ocean’s 11” reference in the title isn’t kidding; this is a caper story, except that the accomplices are super-villains, the break-in involves a bottled hypernova that can be used to construct a cosmic cube, and the George Clooney role features a character with a much bigger head. Good mix of deep Marvel continuity and humor — Armadillo, upset at being referred to by Modok as a “minion” (“That racial?”) mutters that he’d like to “bust a cap in his @$$” (that’s what it says — “@$$”), and then, after a one-panel beat, adds “If he had one.” Hey, if that just made you laugh, you should be buying this book.

Countdown #37 — Writers: Paul Dini & Adam Beechen; Breakdowns: Keith Giffen; Pencillers: David Lopez with Mike Norton; Inkers: Don Hillsman II with Rod Ramos
Karate Kid and Una talk to Oracle (and the phrase “Great Disaster” is muttered), while Zatanna takes Mary Marvel to the family mansion, Ray Palmer’s still missing, the Flash villains run into Poison Ivy (whose performance suggests that Dini’s “head writing” capacity doesn’t involve very much actual “writing” — or wouldn’t Ivy, one of his signature characters, be more interesting here?), and Jimmy Olsen’s inexplicable knowledge about the DC Universe turns out to be a plot point, not a bug, after all. This continues to provide more an unconnected series of action summaries and connections to other books than a story itself, so it’s still for DC completists and continuity freaks only.

Superman-Batman #39 — Writer: Alan Burnett; Penciller: Dustin Nguyen; Inker: Derek Fridolfs
Batman tries to find and help Superman, who’s been mindwiped by Darkseid (with help from the Scarecrow), and he has to find his way to Apocalypse to do it. Part three of a longer story, this isn’t bad — the art’s energetic, and it’s got some of that anything-goes what-the-hell kick that gave the early Jeph Loebs Superman-Batman issues their juice — but it’s hard to work up much suspense over, say, Desaad’s statement that the mind-wipe is permanent, and Supes’s brain has been destroyed (Oh, no! What will happen to DC’s other Superman books? Will they be cancelled?)

Outsiders: Five of a Kind: Thunder and Martian Manhunter #1 — Writer: Tony Bedard; Penciller: Koi Turnbull; Inker: Art Thibert
For some reason, I thought “Thunder” was Freddy Freeman’s new name, over in Trials of Shazam, but no — it’s Black Lightning’s daughter, who by some plot device that I can no longer remember now has the ability to increase her density and become diamond-hard, like Emma Frost but without the snooty attitude (instead, she became one of the Obligatory Judd Winick Gay Plot Devices in the previous Outsiders book). Her team-up here with Martian Manhunter is actually pretty good, and manages to hit the appealing aspects of her character — which makes it even more jarring when Batman comes in at the end, as with all the other books in this series, and acts like a big jerk with her. (See, this is my Batman and the Outsiders problem: hasn’t it been amply established that Batman isn’t the superhero-team-mentor type? And wasn’t 52 all about him learning not to be a dick anymore? None of this bodes well for an ongoing B/O series, does it?)

Spider-Man Family #3 — Writer: Jeff Parker; Art: Leonard Kirk & Kris Justice
The lead story, which guest-stars the Agents of Atlas, is OK, especially if you liked the A/As in their recent mini-series, although it uses a standard Marvel Team-Up-style plot to get the heroes together. There’s also a six-pager by Chris Eliopoulos starring the Puppet Master, reprints from the Mary Jane and Spider-Man Manga books, and a reprint of Amazing Spider-Man # 178, with the middle of a three-part Green Goblin story by Len Wein and Ross Andru. Not bad for $5, really, but since I’ve already read all the reprints it’s just not cost-effective to buy it only for the so-so new material.

Wolverine: Origins #16 — Writer: Daniel Way; Artist: Steve Dillon
As I was reading the lead story, I was thinking “Gee, this holds together better than Way’s stuff usually does.” Yes, because it’s really a retelling of Uncanny X-Men #268, a WWII flashback involving Captain America, Wolverine and a very young Black Widow (that original story, by Claremont and Jim Lee, is also included here, as is an 8-page preview of next month’s regular Wolverine book, starting a new arc with art by Howard Chaykin ). I’ve always liked Dillon’s art, but the new story otherwise comes off badly next to the original (it’s more cynical, but doesn’t add enough new perspective to the old story to justify the time spent telling it), so there’s not much reason for buying this — especially since the reprints have caused Marvel to bump the book’s price up by a dollar.

Black Canary #4 (of 4) — Writer: Tony Bedard; Layouts: Mike Norton; Pencillers: Paulo Siqueira & Joe Prado; Inkers: Amilton Santos & Joe Prado
This series was always about getting the characters from Point A (marriage proposal) to Point B (acceptance or rejection of that proposal) — but, since DC has already announced a “Wedding Special” of some sort for later, the “Will she or won’t she?” suspense has not exactly been excruciating. Bedard has, wisely, been focusing the tension on one of the supporting characters instead, and has been able to craft a suitably twisty plot and satisfying story out of it; how invested you are in the lives of these characters will determine whether you want to get this book.

Phil Mateer