Reviews

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 →

Hellboy: The Crooked Man #2 (of 3) — Story: Mike Mignola;  Art: Richard Corben That last panel’s absolutely chilling;  the comic, even just two-thirds through the run, is a candidate for story of the year — and you don’t have to know a thing about the characters going in to be able to follow it easily, either. Action #868 — Writer: Geoff Johns;  Penciller: Gary Frank;  Inker: Jon Sibal Another book with a chilling last panel; Frank’s been getting better and better on this title, and now it’s just a pleasure to look at.  The characters in this episode spend … Continue reading →

Mercy Sparx #0 — Writer: Josh Blaylock; Art: Matt Merhoff Lord help us, we’re seeing the return of the early-’90s Bad Girl craze, with cute Gothy demon chicks who are bad because, you know, they have red skin and horns and, like, smoke cigarettes and have tattoos. Such characters stir the loins of your average comic book geek, who figures he could never get their real-life equivalents to look at him, and so he’s ready to forgive the cookie-cutter plots and pedestrian art (for a time, anyway) in favor of the mild fantasy jolt they provide. Points here for making … Continue reading →

Crossed #0 — Writer: Garth Ennis; Art: Jacen Burrows Avatar’s an interesting publisher — they get a lot of series from writers like Ennis and Warren Ellis, often quick-moving, B-movie-type tales, not as polished as the stuff they write for the mainstream publishers, but guilty pleasures nonetheless. This one’s no different; it’s a zombie riff, with a plague turning people into psychopaths and a small group of survivors that we follow as they struggle to fight off the murderous hordes, etc. Burrows is good at delivering the violence (a typical requirement for Ennis artists), and his gleeful, infected bad guys … Continue reading →