New Comics

Eternals Annual #1 — Writer: Fred Van Lente;  Artist: Pascal Alixe The one thing going for this book is that it also includes a reprint from the original series (issue #7, not that the editor cared enough to include that information here). That Jack Kirby offering, with its jam-packed action, powerful layouts and awe-struck sense of wonder, blows the modern-day main story (ugly art and an impossible-to-plow-through plot ) completely out of the water; mediocrity looks even worse when it’s lying right next to genius. The Cleaners #1 (of 4) — Writers: Mark Wheaton and Joshua Hale Fialkov;  Art: Rahsan … Continue reading →

Amazing Spider-Man #576 — Writer: Joe Kelly;  Pencils: Chris Bachalo;  Inks: Bachalo, Mendoza, Townsend and Vey So, against all odds, Spidey’s gotten pretty good again, huh?  The Anti-Venom thing, with Romita Jr. and Janson, turned out to be satisfying fun, and here Bachalo and Kelly have delivered a good two-parter, much different in tone but equally entertaining .  This title’s almost-weekly status isn’t so bad when readers can actually look forward to the stories (although I wonder if it had anything to do with the mildly-annoying tag-team inking here. Next issue? The Punisher guest-stars. That’s… kind of ominous, actually, but … Continue reading →

Ultimatum #1 (of 5) — Writer: Jeph Loeb;  Art: David Finch Well, the art’s OK, in its solid, super-heroey way, and a Big Thing happens and characters (maybe) die, and the big mystery villain is revealed on the last page.  Oh, and the Sub-Mariner says, in a moment of anger, “I could care less what you think!”, which of course is the opposite of what he means, and is as good a symbol as any of the general slipshod nature of the writing here, and of why I’m not buying this book. Wolverine: Chop Shop #1 (of 1) — Writer: … Continue reading →

Hellboy: In the Chapel of Moloch — Writer/Artist: Mike Mignola Mignola handles full art duties on his signature character for the first time in a long while, and offers a mordant commentary on bad art and demonic inspiration, leavened with lots of punching and tough-guy quips. It’s a one-shot, requiring no prior knowledge from the reader, and is thus a perfect try-this-comic comic for those who’ve never picked it up (the rest of us figured out that  Hellboy drawn by Mignola (and, really, most anything else in the Hellboy universe that he has a creative hand in) was worth an … Continue reading →

Ultimate Captain America Annual #1 — Writer: Jeph Loeb;  Art: Marko Djurdjevic If you liked Ultimates 3… well, never mind; it’d be too easy to insult you, but anyway here’s a sort of sequel to it, trying to fill in the Black Panther/Cap relationship that made no sense in the series itself. The cover’s symptomatic of the book: a replay of an earlier Cap Annual cover with Wolverine, only this time with the Panther instead. Why? Because it’s easier than coming up with an original idea, apparently; there’s no story reason to justify it. Loeb plays it straight here, which … Continue reading →