Amazing Spider-Man #600 — (Main Story/62 pgs.) — Writer: Dan Slott; Penciler: John Romita, Jr.; Inker: Klaus Janson; (2nd Story/12 pgs.) — Writer: Stan Lee; Art: Marcos Martin; (3rd Story/5 pgs.) — Writer: Mark Waid; Art: Coleen Doran; (4th story/5 pgs.) — Writer: Bob Gale; Art: Mario Alberti; (5th Story/5 pgs.) — Writer: Marc Guggenheim; Art: Mitch Breitweiser; (6th Story/5 pgs.) — Writer: Zeb Wells; Art: Derec Donovan; (7th Story/5 pgs.) — Writer: Joe Kelly; Pencils: Fiumara; Inks: Chuckry
Throw in a couple of “Spidey covers you’ll never see,” and that’s over 100 pages of materials for $4.99, even more than the Hulk #600 last week — and the Slott/Romita Jr./Janson main story, at 62 pages, is considerably better than the Loeb offering over in Hulk, with its event-style combination of a new Dr. Octopus scheme and a wedding for Aunt May and J. Jonah Jameson’s father. The Lee story’s slightly better than his Hulk offering, too, although it’s also light as a feather, and played for laughs; the other tales are small set pieces, meant to give all the current Spidey writers a chance to be in this anniversary celebration (even WIl Eisner, a master of compression, needed eight pages to tell his Spirit stories, and these are only five each), with the Waid/Doran one the standout. Altogether, this is a massive, worthy tribute to the first Marvel character to legitimately reach 600 issues of his own title (Thor, Hulk and Cap, of course, weren’t actually in the initial issues of their various runs, so they don’t quite count).
Fantastic Four #569 — Story: Mark Millar; Script: Joe Ahearne; Pencils: Stuart Immonen; Inks: Wade von Grawbadger and Scott Hanna
The highly-anticipated Millar/Hitch FF run ends with a fizzle, as neither creator is actually present at the finish line, and the big finale twist ending is… pretty stupid, actually (not as stupid as the end of Ultimatum, but still…). There were a few good stories along the way, and all the toys get put back in the box for the next creative team, but this last arc was symbolic of the whole sequence: lots of big talk, but little actual execution or result.
Citizen Rex #1 (of 6) — Creators: Mario and Gilbert Hernandez
Another Hernandez-style B-movie romp, like Speak of the Devil, this one an sf-themed story of inhabitants in a futuristic city that looks equal parts Dean Motter’s Mister X and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. Masterfully constructed and elegantly drawn as always, with babes, robots, weird angles and a couple of chilling effects: in other words, a typical Hernendez effort.
Justice Society of America #29 — Writers: Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges; Art: Jesus Merino
It’ll be interesting to see what this new team will bring to this title — it won’t look like Fables, but this first issue suggests that it might have the quirky charm, imagination and way with battle strategy that Shadowpact did; the big question is whether JSA readers who’ve been following this book because of Geoff Johns’s more mainstream, fanboy sensibilities will stick with this new incarnation.
Detective Comics #855 — (Main Story/22 pgs.) — Writer: Greg Rucka; Art: J. H. Williams III; (Question Story/8 pgs.) — Writer: Greg Rucka; Art: Cully Hamner
Rucka knows how to make use of his artists: giving Batwoman a villainess who’s modeled on Alice in Wonderland lets Williams III use his imaginative page designs and sense of the surreal to the fullest; that the story doesn’t actually get very far doesn’t matter that much when it’s this pretty to look at (and that’s coming from a reviewer who’s a lot more attuned to the writing than to the art side of a comic, too). The Question story, at eight pages, is a small part of a longer tale, and so offers only a few small pleasures; at least Rucka, who’s chronicled Renee Montoya’s adventures for years, knows the character intimately enough to make her believable.
Ultimatum: Spider-Man: Requiem #2 (of 2) — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Pencilers: Mark Bagley and Stuart Immonen; Inkers: Scott Hanna and Wade von Grawbadger
As with the first issue, this is mostly a way to shoehorn in an old Ultimate Marvel Team-Up-style encounter between the Hulk and Spider-Man, with a framing device set in the aftermath of the Ultimatum events. Eh, but JJJ gets to write an effective tribute to Spidey, and the last panel gives us the ending that the regular Ultimate Spider-Man final issue didn’t, making this two-book coda an important part of that title’s conclusion.
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:
New Avengers #55 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Pencils: Stuart Immonen; Inks: Wade von Grawbadger
Glamourpuss #8 — Writer/Artist: Dave Sim
Madame Xanadu #13 — Writer: Matt Wagner; Artist: Michael W. Kaluta
Battlefields: The Tankies #3 (of 3) — Writer: Garth Ennis; Pencils: Carlos Ezquerra; Inks: Hector Ezquerra
Wednesday Comics #4 (of 12) — Writers/Artists: Lots of different people….
Phil Mateer
Whoa, Ultimate Spiderman ended? and had a crap ending?? man, I was only on trade 11, hoped this would be my go-to book when other runs got suspended or otherwise sucked.