The Spirit #14 — Writers: Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier;  Illustrator: Mike Ploog;  Inker: Mark Farmer Ploog apprenticed with Will Eisner, so he’s a good choice for artist here (his one weakness is that he can’t draw drop-dead gorgeous women like Eisner — or Cooke — could, but his talent for caricature more than compensates for it).  Aragones and Evanier offer a similar trade-off:  there aren’t the kind of “whoa” visual moments that Cooke threw in, but their storytelling is better; they know how to offer a well-constructed plot that plays to the characters’ strengths, and has a satisfying resolution. … Continue reading →

Ultimates 3 #3 (of 5) — Writer: Jeph Loeb; ArtJoe Madureira Still bad — everyone, every single character, is unpleasant, yelling and poking each other (and sometimes shooting holes in one another) like hyperactive kindergardeners. Joe Mad gets to draw dinosaurs and has one good Iron Man moment, but then he does a nude scene that indicates he’s never seen an actual live human breast before. Oh, and Thor, inexplicably, isn’t talking Asgardian again, and we’re told (but not, thank God, shown) that “Pietro found in Wanda…a kind of love… that no one in this room can really understand.” Sure, … Continue reading →

Uncle Scrooge #372 — Writer/Artists: Carl Barks, Don Rosa Offering reprints of “Christmas on Bear Mountain” (the first Uncle Scrooge story), by Carl Barks, and a collected three-parter by Don Rosa, “The Treasury of Croesus.” There’s also a back-cover poster by Rosa spotlighting the ways that Scrooge’s appearance changed in his early years, and a one-page essay from Rosa about the poster. All of this will set you back $8, but it’s worth it: better than 50 pages of great, great storytelling, and if you have young kids and read these to them, you’ll create comics fans for life. Astro … Continue reading →

Green Arrow and Black Canary #5 — Writer: Judd Winick;  Art: Andre Coelho Ollie sits around angsting about the fact that he’s been a lousy father and his kid has no brain. He swears to give up being Green Arrow. Cue the shocking twist ending, after which he says, grimly, “Get me my damn bow.” Presumably, next issue something will actually happen. For now, I’ve just saved you all $3 and five minutes of your lives. Dead of Night #1 (of 4) — Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa;  Art: Kano (framing sequences by Nick Percival) Man-Thing’s origin retold. Unfortunately, everything just seems … Continue reading →