Nemesis #1 (of 4) — Writer: Mark Millar; Art: Steve McNiven
It’s hard to resist a new Millar series; although there’s always the dread that it will peter out into nothing (yeah, 1984, I’m talking to you — not to mention that thing with the super-powered soldiers that never did finish, and which no one missed…), there’s just as much chance that it will be an entertaining, if cynical, ride, a Wanted or a Kick-Ass or an Ultimates. Here, you have to like the cover copy (“Makes Kick-Ass look like $#it,” with that “$” and “#” providing just enough of a fig leaf to pull the braggadocio away from the edge), and the movie-ready opening sequences: establish the bad guy’s bad-ass terrorist credentials with a big body count, then cut to the folksy hero (also racking up a body count), then finish with the Air Force One set-piece and challenge that pulls them together. Add in McNiven’s art, and the damn thing’s probably been optioned by a major studio already; who are we to reject it?
Amazing Spider-Man #626 — Writer: Fred Van Lente; Art: Michael Gaydos
Guest-starring the “new” Scorpion, the secret-agent woman one, and also involving the Hood and various bad guys. It’s worth noting because Gaydos provides some good-looking painted art (it reminded me of Alias), and because the story gives us some classic Peter Parker, trying to do the right thing and even getting a small reward for it in the end — a nice antidote to the depressing losses of the last few issues. Now, if they’d just shut up about The Gauntlet for a couple of weeks….
Supergod #3 (of 5) — Writer: Warren Ellis; Pencils: Garrie Gastonny; Inks: Nursalimsyah
Ellis continues his take on the end of the world, brought about by a super-power arms race between the US, India, Russia, Great Britain, etc. that’s created the gods of the title, but neglected to come up with a way to control them. Take enough cosmic concepts bouncing around to fuel a dozen other books, and a “man shouldn’t screw with the universe” theme right out of the ’50s sf movies he must have watched as a kid, filter it all through the hallucinatory kaleidoscope of his imagination, and the result is fascinating, if grimly humorous, fun.
Green Lantern #52 — Writer: Geoff Johns; Pencils: Doug Mahnke; Inks: Christian Alamy, Mahnke, Rebecca Buchman and Keith Champagne
This is actually Blackest Night 7.5, a major info-dump about the origin of the White Entity, as well as the color avatars like Parallax — it’s wise of Johns to get all that covered here, since it would have slowed the mini-series’s final issue down too much. The story itself is problematic: it’s all a trifle too pat, and the hubris involved in putting the Earth at the cosmic center of it doesn’t help. On the other hand, it does provide a sort of Unified Field Theory of why, in the DC Universe, our planet generates so many heroes and so much alien attention, and the book continues to benefit from Mahnke’s confident, multitalented pencils (fortunate,that, since there are three splash pages and three double-page splashes, involving dozens of characters — an excuse, for once, for having four inkers on the book).
Uncanny X-Men #522 — Writer: Matt Fraction; Pencils: Whilce Portacio; Inks: Ed Tadeo
Speaking of the importance of art… this features the return of Kitty Pryde, although of course it isn’t that simple — and it requires an ability to draw human emotions that’s largely beyond the art team (not that I think that, say, Land could have done it any better); the only time they’re able to rise to the occasion is in the wordless three-page coda. There’s an eight-page bonus story, too, with art by Phil Jimenez and Andy Lanning, which takes place on an alien planet menaced by Kitty’s bullet ship, and in its quiet look at little people in the shadow of big events is worthy of Kurt Busiek.
Gold Digger #116 — Writer/Artist: Fred Perry
I don’t usually give this a spotlight — I just keep buying it and listing it in the “not much to say” section — but this a good stand-alone issue, not requiring any previous knowledge of the characters and not in the middle of some long narrative, and it offers a nice sampling of the pleasures of the series: vampire princesses, sly humor, a confident way with technostuff that rivals Warren Ellis’s, and art that’s an appealing amalgam of manga and more mainstream American influences.
Stuff I read and liked enough to buy, but don’t have much to say about, so read previous reviews in the archives if you’re interested:
Captain America #604 — Writer: Ed Brubaker; Pencils: Luke Ross; Inks: Butch Guice
New Avengers #63 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Art: Mike McKone
Glamourpuss #12 — Writer/Artist: Dave Sim
Phil Mateer
