Amazing Spider-Man #544 — Writer: J. Michael Straczynski; Penciler: Joe Quesada; Inker: Danny Miki
Actually pretty good, thank God — the last few issues have felt like molasses, with everyone marking time and waiting for this Big Event to kick off. Now that it finally has, Peter can start doing logical things like going to Iron Man, having a fight, and asking for help for his aunt; then, he can start thinking about how to save her.
Here’s my guess on the big resolution: we know he’s going to see Dr. Strange, right? Dr. Strange owes Pete a big favor from that anniversary issue early in Straczynski’s run, so Doc hems and haws and finally says, OK, I can’t rerun time for the whole world, but I can do it for you and Aunt May. I’ll wipe out the last 15 years of your lives — but that means those years are erased: you never got together with or married Mary Jane, none of it ever happened — but your aunt will be alive. No one will remember you unmasked, but you’ll be, say, 15 years old and back in high school. Dangerous spell, can’t go back in time any further (say, to save Uncle Ben), blah blah blah. Tearful goodbyes to MJ, and boom: Spider-Man’s a teenager again, his aunt’s younger, they’re both living in that clapboard house where he was raised.
Well, OK, maybe that’s too close to Ultimate Spider-Man, but you have to admit that some variation on it (maybe he has to end up in college, like right after Gwen died?) would solve a lot of the problems Marvel’s claimed to want to fix: the marriage, the encrusted continuity, the complicated relationship with all the other heroes. At least, finally, something will have happened, and in the middle of all the fan outrage it’s refreshing that we all still actually care about what it’ll be, right?
Oh, yeah, a word on Quesada’s art: the page design and panel compositions are great, but his pencils don’t offer a lot of care on the faces — his shadowing, especially, doesn’t seem to offer his inkers a lot of help, so he’s dependent on a finisher who’s strong on facial features and bone structure. That isn’t Miki, and so we get Peter looking like the Molecule Man, with lightning-bolt lines radiating from the center of his face to indicate dramatic shading, or how worried and careworn he is. What, for a high-profile book like this there weren’t any old-school veteran inkers, ones with the confidence to correct Quesada’s anatomy, available? It’s a sour note in an otherwise-effective presentation.
Doktor Sleepless #2 — Writer: Warren Ellis; Art: Ivan Rodriguez
More focused than the first issue, as the world and the characters’ backgrounds start to get filled in. The Carlos Castaneda/Don Juan flashback riff is amusing, and Ellis is good at the near-future tech extrapolation (see Transmetropolitan). Sometimes he goes too much for the tech concepts, as the story screeches to a halt to listen to the main character reel off his ideas, but this early in the series that’s forgivable, and anyway it’s nice to see such a pure sf sensibility at work; that’s rare in the mostly-fantasy comics field.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season Eight #6 — Writer: Brian K. Vaughan; Pencils: Georges Jeanty; Inks: Andy Owens
Vaughan proves to be a good choice, as he steps in seamlessly, with the characters and their voices down cold, and this episode’s focus on Faith and Giles (with a little bit of the other players thrown in) gives him room to maneuver. The “My Fair Lady” routine, fortunately, isn’t milked too much, and the idea of Faith vs. a corrupted Slayer is enough to bring me back for the next issue.
The Boys #10 — Writer: Garth Ennis; Art: Darick Robertson
End of the current arc, and less over-the-top on the sexual stuff than the earlier episodes (well, in the “real” world, anyway, if you don’t count the trauma-induced asteroid hallucination), with everyone acting surprisingly human. This story hasn’t moved the main plot ahead much, but it’s shown us what Hughie brings to the team (empathy and a detective’s problem-solving skills), and set up some relationships for later stories.
Wolverine #57 — Writer: Marc Guggenheim; Artist: Howard Chaykin
Worth buying for the art (including the Suydam cover, although being known as the rotting-corpse go-to guy is becoming, let’s say, a fairly narrow market niche for him), and the story gives Chaykin enough action and bits of business to keep things rolling forward. There’s nothing new here, but it’s solid superhero work, and an entertaining package.
Lobster Johnson #1 (of 4) — Story: Mike Mignola; Art: Jason Armstrong
1930s pulp adventure, as a costumed adventurer is partnered with a team of operatives ala Doc Savage or The Shadow. Mignola’s affection for the genre is obvious, and Armstrong offers a cleaner, lighter art style, without as many of the shadowy, solid blacks that Mignola would have used. Good if you like this sort of thing — which I do.
Phil Mateer
