New Comics

Marvel Apes #1 (of 4) — Writer: Karl Kesel;  Artist: Ramon Bachs In case you really care, this isn’t about the Marvel heroes turning into monkeys; it’s about Marty Blank — The Gibbon — and a female scientist being accidentally transported to an alternate dimension where everybody was an ape to begin with. Thus, we have Iron Mandrill and Spider-Monkey fighting the likes of Doc Ook and Kong the Conqueror. If those names just made you laugh, congratulations — you’re the target audience for this book. For me, while Kesel’s script and Bachs’s art are cute enough (and good at … Continue reading →

Final Crisis: Superman Beyond 3D #1 (of 2) — Writer: grant Morrison;  Pencils: Doug Mahnke;  Inks: Christian Alamy with Rodney Ramos, Tom Nguyen, Walden Wong and Mahnke Final Crisis: Rogue’s Revenge #2 (of 3) — Writer: Geoff Johns;  Artist: Scott Kolins DC Universe: Last Will and Testament — Writer: Brad Meltzer;  Pencils: Adam Kubert;  Inks: John Dell and Joe Kubert Unlike Marvel’s Secret Invasion tie-ins, DC’s Crisis mini-series this week are (mostly) worth a look. The Superman Beyond, by Morrison,  is a cosmic adventure-inside-the-adventure wherein Clark is recruited to battle a multiversal disaster, alongside some of his parallel-Earth counterparts like … Continue reading →

The Secret Invasion tie-ins infiltrate most of the Marvel books this week: Nova #16 — Writers: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning;  Pencillers: Wellington Alves and Deraldo Burges;  Inker: Scott Hanna She-Hulk #32 — Writer: Peter David;  Art: Vincenzo Cucca Black Panther #40 — Writer: Jason Aaron;  Artist: Jefte Palo Avengers: The Initiative #16 — Dan Slott and Christos N. Gage;  Art: Stefano Caselli Amazing Spider-Man: Secret Invasion #1 (of 3) — Writer: Brian Reed;  Pencils: Marco Santucci;  Inks: Mark Pennington Thunderbolts #123 — Writer: Christos N. Gage;  Art: Fernando Blanco None of these are particularly crucial to the story, so … Continue reading →

Amazing Spider-Man #568 — Writer: Dan Slott;  Pencils: John Romita, Jr.;  Inks: Klaus Jansom Probably the best issue since the relaunch;  although it’ll cost you an extra buck, a lot of things seem to click into place. There’s 28 pages of Romita, Jr./Janson art (including a good three-page recap), action, new and old villains, subplots about Parker’s personal life that actually make sense: If you haven’t been reading this lately, and want to know how it’s going, this is a very good place to start.. Air #1 — Writer: G. Willow Wilson;  Artist: M. K. Perker A good first issue … Continue reading →

1985 #4 (of 6) — Writer: Mark Millar;  Art: Tommy Lee Edwards Wasn’t the original idea for this series that it would be a fumetti (that is, that it would be told through actual photographs)? That might have been cool, especially if it had switched to art during sequences in the Marvel universe, in sort of a Wizard of Oz changeup.  As is, Edwards isn’t quite able to handle the difference between “photorealistic” Earth and Marvel-Earth; I think the last panel here is supposed to be shocking, but the change in style isn’t extreme enough to have any impact (it’s … Continue reading →