Fables #91 — Writer: Bill Willingham; Penciller: Mark Buckingham; Inkers: Steve Leialoha and Dan Green
This is always good, but I’m putting it first this week because all the other books are Marvels (it being a light week for decent nonsuperhero stuff). Note how easily Willingham is able to keep two storylines going at once, ending one while cranking up the other, and how smoothly he doles out information to new readers, keeps his enormous cast balanced and fascinating, and throws in plot twists and asides to keep it impossible to resist. Buckingham, Leialoha and Green are all old pros, and they’re able to keep the visuals up to the same high level as the narrative, as what may just be the most consistently high-quality monthly book out there continues serenely, with no end in sight.
Captain America: Reborn #5 (of 6) — Writer: Ed Brubaker; Pencils: Bryan Hitch; Inks: Butch Guice
This book’s lateness has caught up to it, as at least three other Marvel books in the last few weeks have had guest cameos/appearances that show how it ends. That makes it hard to sweat the outcome (not that there was any doubt, given the series’s title, but still…), but Brubaker, aided by Hitch and Guice’s knack at both small human expressions and widescreen action shots, is able to offer both the startling (an army of Modoks), and the cliched-but-appropriate (a final showdown at the Lincoln Memorial leading to next issue’s conclusion) with grace. Once it’s collected into a trade, no one will remember the lateness; they’ll just be able to appreciate this for the skillful comics work that it is.
Astonishing X-Men #33 — Writer: Warren Ellis; Breakdown: Phil Jimenez; Finishes: Andy Lanning
Ultimate Armor Wars #3 (of 4) — Writer: Warren Ellis; Penciller: Steve Kurth; Inker: Jeff Huet
Ellis’s two mainstream books come out the same week, and each showcases his fondness for near-future technology. With UAW, it’s at the service of a smaller-scale story, as Tony Stark, trying to chase down his stolen ideas, battles one armored foe, and then a group of them, all with more back-and-forth weaponry deployed than a Transformers movie. In AXM, with its larger cast, the tapestry is noticeably bigger, too: large Sentinel clones give way to a much larger Krakoa/Brood hybrid, which gives way to an even larger city-sized spaceship, which… well, it’s one thing after another, and between the little character asides and the big splashy ideas, it’s a lot of fun to watch.
X-Factor #200 — Writer: Peter David; Pencils: Bing Cansino with Marco Santucci; Inks: Marco Santucci with Patrick Piazzalunga
X-Factor gets the big-chunk anniversary treatment, as in addition to the 40-page main story (which gets the whole team together and guest-stars most of the Fantastic Four), there’s a 23-page reprint of Madrox #1 (the mini-series that helped to launch the current, David-helmed incarnation of the book), a 12-page Siren backup by David, Karl Moline and Rick Magyar, 17 pages of Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe entries for all the team members, and one of those all-200-covers-at-once spreads. That’s almost 100 pages of content for $4.99, and if you haven’t been reading this title for a while, it’s a good reintroduction/summary. This book plays to David’s strengths, with Jamie Madrox as its smart, cynical, put-upon narrator, its large cast of offbeat characters (Layla Miller, who forms a lopsided romantic triangle with Jamie and Theresa , is probably the best), and its vulnerable, human take on the superhero world. The one false note is that the story isn’t stand-alone, and forces readers to continue to buy the next issue, but that’s become such standard practice in anniversary issues any more that it’s probably useless to complain about it….
Dark Avengers #12 — Writer: Brian Michael bendis; Art: Mike Deodato and Greg Horn
The team character who least needed a power-up gets one anyway, courtesy of Owen Reese, and I suspect that’s going to play a big part in the whole Siege thing at some point, given the way Bendis weaves his plot threads together. Otherwise, it’s the usual circus: cool ideas, realistic dialog and crisscrossing motivations, as both this book and New Avengers continue to provide essential chapters of the ongoing superhero soap opera that’s the mainstream Marvel Universe.
Amazing Spider-Man #615 — Writer: Fred Van Lente; Artist: Javier Pulido
Spidey vs. the Sandman, as the creative team continues their revamping (and power-enhancing) of his older bad guys. It’s interesting that, as with the last two Electro issues, the old-school villains are illustrated by new-school artists, instead of in generic Buscema/Kirby house style; that brings a freshness to the proceedings which makes it easier to gloss over the standard mistaken-motivation plot, and the normal soap-opera subplots. If it’s not classic Spidey, it’s at least competent and entertaining, and in a three-issue-a-month title that’s sometimes enough.
Phil Mateer
