Reviews

Captain America #50 — Writer: Ed Brubaker;  Pencils: Luke Ross;  Inks: Rick Magyar and Luke Ross Since this is an anniversary issue (although, due to the wonders of reboots and renumbering, next month is an anniversary, too — Cap #600), we get a self-contained lead story, a nice jump-on point explaining the current situation with Bucky as Cap, plus a 15-page summary of Steve Rogers’s career, plus a two-page Fred Hembeck strip — not bad for $3.99. It continues to be a tribute to Brubaker’s creative skills that the upcoming Reborn series, which may or may not feature the return … Continue reading →

Secret Six #9 — Writer: Gail Simone; Penciller: Nicola Scott; Inker: Doug Hazelwood Catman, Bane and ‘Doll go to a now-Batmanless Gotham City to help out against a wave of child kidnappings, and fight crime in their own cheerful, lethal fashion. Between the clear storytelling and the spot-on characterization (Nightwing appears near the end, and Simone is perfect at showing the enormous stick he’s always had up his butt), this continues to be a fun guilty pleasure, and one of the better super-“hero” titles on the stands right now. The Umbrella Academy #6 (of 6) — Writer: Gerard Way; Artist: … Continue reading →

Unknown #1 (of 4) — Writer: Mark Waid;  Art: Minck Oosterveer No superhero tropes for this comic — it’s a Sherlock-Holmesish thriller, if Holmes was a modern woman with amazing deductive abilities who solves crime as a freelance investigator, and has only six months to live because of some tumor. This reminds me of Potter’s Field, in that it has “potential TV pilot” written all over it; in this first issue, we watch her hire a hunky guy as her Watson — rather too conveniently, but the dialogue’s snappy, and assuming that this mini-series resolves the whole “imminent death” thing, … Continue reading →

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century: 1910 #1 — Writer: Alan Moore;  Art: Kevin O’Neill Well, of course you should buy this; that goes without saying: it’s a new episode of one of the most high-profile, high-quality series of the ’00s. What makes it worth mentioning is Top Shelf’s handsome package — $7.95 for 84 squarebound pages (74 pages of actual story, plus some text features), with very high production values. There’s a lot of talk in comics retailing about the “satisfying chunk” theory — the idea that comics buyers will buy whatever makes them feel like they’re getting good story … Continue reading →

Irredeemable #2 — Writer: Mark Waid; Artist: Peter Krause I don’t like Waid when he’s in this fan-fiction mode (What if Lois Lane reacted with disgust and betrayal at Clark Kent’s revelation that he was Superman, exposing his identity, driving him away and eventually turning him into an apparent mass murderer? Yeah: what if? I don’t care). The best thing here is the house ad for Waid’s upcoming The Unknown, said to be “in the vein of Ruse,” Waid’s Victorian supernatural-detective series for Crossgen. Yes, more of that, please. Run! #1 (of 6) — Writer: Matthew Sturges; Artist: Freddie Williams … Continue reading →