Milestone Forever #1 (of 2) — Writer: Dwayne McDuffie; Art: John Paul Leon, Mark Bright and Romeo Tanghal
The Leon art is a framing sequence wrapped around the main story penciled by Bright, and that stars Icon, Rocket, the Blood Syndicate, Static and a few others — it’s a fun callback to the early Milestone stories, when the imprint’s urban pizzazz was a breath of fresh air, and McDuffie had a Jim Shooter-like creative control over the whole line that brought all the titles together and gave them a consistent, edgy voice. The only criticism here is with the covers, both inside and out — the lettering and trade dress are practically illegible, sacrificing looks for clarity, and will probably cost the book some sales from readers who’ll have no idea what they’re looking at.
Demo Volume Two #1 — Writer: Brian Wood; Art: Becky Cloonan
Beginning a new run of Wood’s and Cloonan’s quirky non-mutant mutant book, and just as quirky as ever in its look at the lives of various twenty-somethings with not-quite powers. As with the first volume, it’s subtle, startling and sometimes moving, and stubborn in its refusal to take easy narrative paths, or provide pat themes or answers — and the Cloonan art is worth the $2.99 cover price all by itself.
Jonah Hex #52 — Writers: Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti; Art: Jordi Bernet
Standard drill here — this title rises and falls on the strength of its artists, and Palmiotti and Gray have been able to corral a lot of excellent ones to visualize the adventures of their cynical, scarred about-to-be-movie-star. Jordi Bernet is one of the best, and this done-in-one-issue gives him the chance to draw, along with Jonah, various swamp-rats, pretty women and gunfights — which is about all anyone can reasonably ask from this title.
Blackest Night: The Question #37 — Writers: Denny O’Neil and Greg Rucka; Pencils: Denys Cowan; Inks: Bill Sienkiewicz and John Stanisci
This follows the formula of the better BN “extra” issues of fondly-remembered, now-cancelled titles — it’s got the original creative team in O’Neil and Cowan (with Rucka and Sienkiewicz both logical additions), and it manages to recreate some of the flavor of the old series, and deliver a little more than just the black-ringed zombie stuff. If you were a fan of Vic Sage and his idiosyncratic search for the truth, this issue would fit comfortably with the other 36 (well, plus the annuals and quarterlies…).
Siege #2 (of 4) — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Pencils: Olivier Coipel; Inks: Mark Morales
It feels like something ought to be said about Marvel’s big mini-series crossover wrap-up, so here it is: it continues to do just what it’s supposed to, as Osborn, having gone too far in attacking Asgard, manages instead to get the heroes to unite to oppose him; meanwhile, the Sentry gets more (a) crazy and (b) powerful, as Ares finds out to his dismay. It moves its pieces around the board perfectly well, and it won’t disappoint all the Marvel fans who have to have it, although I think Blackest Night continues to have an edge in fan-savvy compulsion: if I had the next issues of each series in front of me, I’d buy them both, but I’d read BN first.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight #32 — Writer: Brad Meltzer; Pencils: Georges Jeanty; Inks: Andy Owens
Meltzer comes in for the beginning of an arc that reveals the identity of Twilight, the main bad guy for the season, and, unless they do a swerve next issue, it looks like it’s going to be exactly whom we all thought it was. Lots of little pop-culture references in the dialog (including a Kitty Pryde one to make fans of Whedon’s run on Astonishing X-Men smile), and, almost three years into its run, this comic continues to deliver on its promise to be the next best thing to new episodes of the actual series.
The Boys #39 — Writer: Garth Ennis; Art: John McCrea and Keith Burns
Worth mentioning because Butcher finally sees Hughie’s girlfriend, recognizes her and jumps to the logical (but, we know, wrong) conclusion; that promises to lead to a number of Coen brothers, Blood Simple-like cases of mistaken motivations and tragic misunderstanding, as this title starts to pick up speed now that it’s in the second half of its run. I prefer Robertson’s art to McCrea’s, although the latter certainly has enough history with Ennis (via Hitman) to handle the tragicomic, parody-heavy take on superheroes delivered here.
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:
Criminal: The Sinners #4 (of 5) — Writer: Ed Brubaker; Art: Sean Phillips
The Invincible Iron Man #23 — Writer: Matt Fraction; Art: Salvador Larroca
Gold Digger #114 — Writer/Artist: Fred Perry
Phil Mateer
