Black Summer #3 — Writer: Warren Ellis; Art: Juan Jose Ryp
Ellis continues his grim political fun, as the team tries to figure out how to explain to the US government that, you know, even though your leader just assassinated the President, that doesn’t mean you’re bad people. Lots of near-future technical wizardry, along with lovingly-drawn (and colored) explosions and violence and rubble; what more could a superhero reader want?
Superman #668 — Writer: Kurt Busiek; Penciller: Rick Leonardi; Inker: Dan Green
The thing that sets Busiek apart is that he’s not afraid to make the effort — his DC Earth is carefully considered, with all the complicated relationships of a world with multiple superheroes and alien races worked out. That care extends to character: his Batman-Superman-Robin-Chris scenes here all make perfect sense, and no one acts childish or whines (even the kids), and everyone does their best to help out, and they’re all believably heroic and inspiring. He really is Apollo to Ellis’s Dionysius, and makes most other writers look lazy and shallow.
Graveslinger #1 — Writers: Shannon Eric Denton and Jeff Mariotte; Art: John Cboins
Another old-West horror comic, and the one new title I kept this week, because it managed to blend an interesting story (zombie gunfighters: how can you not love them?) with interesting art, and nobody made any bad moves, and after I was done I wanted to see what came next. Really, guys, sometimes it’s just that simple.
Punisher #51 — Writer: Garth Ennis; Art: Goran Parlov
Did I use the word “grim” earlier, talking about Warren Ellis? Well, never mind: this is grim, as Ennis, with the end of his tenure on this title looming, tightens the screws on Frank just about as far as he can. Compelling reading, although I pity the next writer who’s going to have to follow this years-long, stellar performance and find something new to do with the character.
Fantastic Four #550 — Writer: Dwayne McDuffie; Penciler: Paul Pelletier; Inker: Rick Magyar
Conclusion to the McDuffie run, as the full team, plus the Black Panther and Storm, plus Dr. Strange, plus the Silver Surfer, save the universe. Solid story and art, as always (although the Michael Turner cover has a particularly crappily drawn Mr. Fantastic — early last week, a couple of websites were commenting on Stan Lee’s old rule that you shouldn’t draw Mr. Fantastic stretching his neck or any stray facial parts, because it would make him look stupid; this cover is Exhibit A that Stan knew what he was talking about); the highlight of McDuffie’s tenure has been his characterization, and here he really makes you believe that Reed and T’Challa together, especially when backed by their families, could solve any problem in the multiverse.
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #24 — Writer: J. Michael Straczynski; Penciler: Joe Quesada; Inker: Danny Miki
Part Two of “One More Day,” as Peter has the whole Cycle of Life thing explained to him by Dr. Strange (who seems to be guesting in, like, every single Marvel comic this week), but refuses to accept it. That’s the one thing that bugs me about this story — I mean, he should accept it, and even though Straczynski does his best to explain why he doesn’t, the bottom line is that Spidey has to act like a butthead because Marvel editorial wants the book to move in a certain direction, and character be damned. Too bad — the sheer corporate manipulativeness of the situation leaves a bad taste, even in those of us who are old enough to know better, and takes away from an otherwise-decent story.
B.P.R.D.: Killing Ground #3 (of 4) — Writers: Mike Mignola and John Arcudi; Art: Guy Davis
This creative team has a lot of years of moody, weird horror under its collective belt, and knows when to hang back and be subtle, and when to press the pedal down and go for the explosive action. Always dependable, often creepy, it’s a good example of how to mold character, concept and atmosphere into an entertaining package.
The New Avengers #35 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Artist: Leonil Yu
There aren’t any actual Avengers in this issue — well, only on TV — as we focus instead on The Hood and his efforts to round up the bad guys and make himself into their leader. OK, although the efforts to make him seem like a badass come off as strained, and my pendulum on Yu’s impressionistic art has swung from “It’s an interesting experiment” back to “It’s a hard-to-understand, muddy mess” (especially with this issue’s large cast of obscure villains, whose scratchily-rendered masks and costumes vanish into murky backgrounds, making them even harder to identify).
Wolverine #58 — Writer: Mark Guggenheim; Art: Howard Chaykin
Chaykin continues to be the reason to buy this book (despite a closeup of Dr. Strange — yes, he’s guest-starring in this title, too — that makes him look annoyingly like Reuben Flagg). Guggenheim offers a serviceable plot, as Logan’s soul is stuck in limbo (which he visualizes as a seedy bar), and Doc has to talk him out of it. One annoying line, as Strange mentions an “anagram,” and then adds, helpfully, “a rearranging of all the letters of one word or name to make another.” Um, gee, thanks for that update, Steven….
Phil Mateer
