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 of Steve Rogers, doesn’t interest me a bit — I’m perfectly content to follow the current cast as long as he’s writing it, because the characters work so well together, and the smooth stories being told mesh with their skills and relationships just fine.
Uncanny X-Men #510 — Writer: Matt Fraction; Pencils: Greg Land; Inks: Jay Leisten
After what seems like months of buildup, we actually get some action directly connected to the main plot, and all the carefully-placed dominoes fall very well, thank you — although the ending is a bit of a cheat, since it doesn’t offer a resolution so much as a continuation of the mystery. Entertaining, although Land is a bad artistic choice for a book with so many female leads, both as heroes and as villains — all of his women’s faces look pretty much the same (since they’re all being traced from poses in fashion and porn mags), and so it’s almost impossible to tell who’s who except for external cues like Pixie’s bright-red hair and wings, Emma’s white costume, etc. It’s an annoyance in an otherwise-well-done story, although it’s leavened somewhat by the attractiveness of the faces that Land does use — the advantage of using models as references.
Fantastic Four #566 — Writer: Mark Millar; Pencils: Bryan Hitch; Inks: Cam Smith, Andrew Currie and Bryan Hitch
I’m continuing to buy this — the art’s certainly pretty — but not many people seem to care about it, and this issue is a good indication of why not: very little happens. Remember last issue, where Dr. Doom was all “My mentor is coming, and you’ll all be sorry”? Well, this issue, he shows up. Other than some side subplots, that’s all that happens — oh, and Doom appears to be getting a makeover, the results of which we won’t see until next issue. There are some lines about how after 20 years he needs one, which conveniently ignores the mystical dead-girlfriend’s-skin armorstuff Mark Waid’s run accomplished — and that lack of continuity is another reason why this doesn’t seem to be clicking that much: the FF have had a lot of great creative teams during their history, and while Millar/Hitch are good, they aren’t even close to the best that’s worked on this title (after Lee/Kirby, Lee/Buscema, Thomas/Buscema, Thomas/Perez, Byrne, Simonson and Waid/Weiringo (and those are in chronological order; I’m not going to try to order them by quality, although you’re all welcome to) , I might put the current team in eighth place, and even then I’m probably forgetting someone…).
Amazing Spider-Man #594 — Writer: Mark Waid; Pencils: Barry Kitson and Mike McKone; Inks: Morales and Lanning
Speaking of Waid… he wraps up his arc here, and it’s fine — new version of an old villain? Check. Subplots bubbling along? Check. NYC fickle toward our hero? Check (too much so, though — the reversal here seems too quick and artificial, but I suppose that’s what happens when you only have a few issues to get things done before the next tag team moves in). This title continues to remind me of the late-’70s Wolfman and Wein runs — nothing permanent is happening, and there isn’t much sense of anything at stake, but the stories and characters click right along, and Spidey is recognizably Spidey, and it’s a decent, better-than-average corporate superhero book.
Herogasm #1 (of 4) — Writer: Garth Ennis; Pencils: John McRea with Keith Burns; Inks: keith Burns with John McRea
In which we find that, when heroes go off on universe-saving expeditions, secret wars, etc., that’s all pr lies — they’re actually spending two weeks of r&r on a tropical island with loads of hookers, both male and female. Yes, it’s a Garth Ennis comic — why do you ask? Actually, it’s a Boys mini-series, so if you’re following that title (and, assuming you’re over 16 or so, you should be), this is more of the same, only with extra sex. You’ll note that it’s bagged; that happened we got to the semi-splash on page four with all the nude hookers and the line “Where the f*&% is my c*&% ring?” Not to mention that cover….
Stuff I read and liked enough to buy, but don’t have much to say about, so read previous reviews in the archives if you’re interested:
Jack of Fables #34 — Writers: Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges; Pencils: Russ Braun; Inks: Jose Marzan Jr.
Phil Mateer
