Uncle Scrooge Adventures: The Barks/Rosa Collection Volume 1 — First Story: “Land of the Pygmy Indians,” by Carl Barks; Second story: its sequel, “War of the Wendigo,” by Don Rosa
Those credits should tell you all you need to know — Barks was, without question, one of the top five comics creators of the 20th century. Rosa isn’t quite at that level, but only because he’s following a trail that Barks already blazed. Yes, this book is $8.50, but it’s a high-quality package, and it offers better adventure-comics storytelling than all the Civil Wars and Countdowns ever published. Try it and see.
Iron Man: Hypervelocity #6 (of 6 ) — Writer/Layouts: Adam Warren; Art: Brian Denham
This whole issue takes place in three and a half minutes (the soundtrack is Iggy and the Stooges’ “Search and Destroy,” which takes the same time), but there are enough cyberspeed attacks and counterattacks for much more than that. A satisfying, and appropriately hypersonic, end to this mini-series — and it leaves open the possibility at the end for a new Tony Stark 2.0, a disembodied ghost-in-the-machine consciousness that would make an intriguing 21st-century Iron Man if/when Marvel ever kills off the current Civil War bad-guy Tony. Adam Warren’s storytelling and technological strengths play right into this kind of stuff, and they’ve created a very nice comic here.
Spirit #7 — (1st story): Writer: Walt Simonson; Art: Chris Sprouse and Karl Story; (2nd story): Story: Jimmy Palmiotti; Art: Jodi Bernet; (3rd story): Story/Art: Kyle Baker
No Cooke this issue (except for a Spirit-vs.-beach-beauties cover, which more than makes up for it), but instead we get three classic-sized eight-pagers by various creative teams. The first one’s OK; the second stands out because of the Bernet art, and the third is a nicely noirish effort by Kyle Baker, who seems to be all over the place lately (not that that’s a bad thing). You can tell that Will Eisner built things to last by the way that working on Spirit stories seems to bring out the “A” game in everyone who tackles them.
Brave and Bold #4 — Writer: Mark Waid; Art: George Perez; Inks: Bob Wiacek
Hey, first a plug: I just put a bunch of ’60s/’70s B&B books out in the back-issue boxes this week; most are in lower conditions, so they’re around $2-$6, including some Adams art and even earlier stuff, too. If you like cheap silver/bronze age DC team-ups, go for it.
As far as new B&B, this continues the first story arc, with Supergirl and Lobo the featured pairing (although there’s some Batman, Blue Beetle and Legion of Super-Heroes thrown in, too). Very good straight-ahead fun super-action, as you’d expect from Waid and Perez, with both characterization and plot dead-on perfect. I still think one- or two-part stories would be better for this title than this sprawling six (seven? eight?)-part thing we’re currently in the middle of, but I can’t argue with the overall quality.
Ultimate Spider-Man #110 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Penciler: Mark Bagley; Inker: Drew Hennessy
Concluding the last Bendis/Bagley story (although Bagley’ll be back for a coda next issue) involving Ultimate versions of Daredevil, Moon Knight, Shang-Chi and Iron Fist against the Kingpin. Not the greatest USM arc ever, but it’s at least average or better — and, considering the general high quality of this title, that’s more than enough reason to buy it. The only thing that bugs me a little is that, near the end, Spidey goes into a big speech in front of DD and the Kingpin about how, when a burglar murdered his uncle, he wanted to kill him but didn’t. Um, dude, you just told your mortal enemy everything he needs to know to find your secret identity. Nobody says anything about it this issue, but I bet that’s going to come back and bite him later….
Amazing Spider-Man #541 — Writer: J. Michael Straczynski; Penciler: Ron Garney; Inker: Bill Reinhold
Continuing the Spidey-as-Spooky-Avenger-Guy plot, as he tells the Kingpin he’s gonna kill him as payback for Aunt May, and works his way up to a confrontation that sets the scene for a big fight next issue. Well-enough done, although the problem is that we’ve seen this before: hero gets pushed to the brink, almost crosses the line, decides that would make him no better than the bad guys, yadda yadda yadda. The only way Straczynski can surprise us at this point would be to have Spidey actually kill the Kingpin, but that would be so spectacularly wrongheaded that no one would do it. It would be like having Gwen Stacy sleep with the Green Gob… oh, crap.
Hulk #107 — Writer: Greg Pak; Penciler: Gary Frank; Inker: Jon Sibal
The Hercules-Hullk fight isn’t as fun as you might think, since Herc isn’t really trying (he’s part of the group that wants to be on the Hulk’s side), but the Gary Frank art is enough to sell the issue. The Amadeus Cho stuff is more annoying than anything else (smartass kid sidekicks just don’t do that much for me), although the “seventh-smartest person on the planet” bit is interesting. Let’s see: Reed Richards, Victor Von Doom, Tony Stark… Hank Pym?(nah). Um… Arnim Zola? (nah). Hmmm… wonder who the other three are supposed to be….
Wormwood #4 — Writer: Garth Ennis; Artwork: Jason Burrows
Getting more serious as the story shifts into gear (or, at least, as serious as a comic can be when it features a bartender whose name and physical deformity can’t be mentioned in a family blog). This is Ennis in his cosmic-religious-satiric mode, so if you don’t mind the idea of a horny Australian pope, or Jesus as a brain-damaged Rastafarian named Jay, then it’s worth a read.
Captain America #27 — Writer: Ed Brubaker; Artists: Steve Epting and Mike Perkins
Still motoring smoothly along; it’s amazing how Cap being, you know, dead hasn’t really impacted the book itself, since all the other characters (Sharon, Falcon, Bucky/Winter Soldier, the Black Widow, etc.) are intriguing enough to carry the story — at least, so far.
Boneyard #25 — Creator: Richard Moore
Beginning a new story line. This book’s felt like it’s been in a holding pattern the last few issues, and not that much actually happens in this one, either, although a big fight is set up for next issue. Good; Moore’s style is more set up for the quiet human moments than the flashy action sequences, but a few punch-em-inna-face brawls might be what it needs to kick-start it back to life.
Hellblazer #233 — Writer: Andy Diggle; Art: Leonardo Manco
Diggle continues to do a surprisingly-good job breathing life into Constantine. Here, instead of the usual writers’ routines of changing him by making him weaker, or knocking him down a peg, he reverses course by pumping him up, making him more confident and more of the charming, invulnerable old bastard he started out as in Swamp Thing (the last-page shot shows that attitude in full force). Things are going too well, of course, and a fall’s probably inevitable (it’s built into the character’s DNA), but it’s still smart storytelling, and an appealing angle so far.
Phil Mateer
I wish I could agree with you on the new Barks/Rosa “collaboration” – if only I could find it. Apparently it was good enough to sell out. I’ll be back to post my thoughts after I get my hands on a copy.