Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Bought #45

World War Hulk #5 (of 5) — Writer: Greg Pak;  Pencils: John Romita Jr.;  Inks: Klaus Janson
On first flipping through this, I was disappointed — big fight (with the Sentry), seemingly-lame resolution, no big change in status quo (and the ads in the back for the “new” Hulk book with a red Hulk, and for something next year called Skaar, Son of Hulk didn’t help).  However, a second, slower, less fanboyish-what’s-gonna-happen read paid off;  it’s a story about, not only rage, but uncontrolled use of power — by the Illuminati, by the Hulk, by the Sentry — and what it costs the user. Yeah, it’s really about punching and Romita Jr.’s gorgeously kinetic art, and energy rays and lots of rubble, too, but give Pak credit for trying to build all of that around a serious core; as with the end of Civil War, I suspect there’s going to be lots of bitching about this conclusion, because it boils down to one side choosing to stop the fight, and that seems unsatisfying — but it’s hard to see, in either case, what better story resolution was possible.

All-Star Superman #9 — Writer: Grant Morrison;  Penciller: Frank Quitely;  Digital Inks and Colors: Jamie Grant
This seems the most Silver-Ageish of all of Morrison’s issues so far, mostly because of its sudden, convenient deus ex Weisinger resolution (Superman’s explanation: “As far as I can guess, you passed through a certain radioactive cloud in space — which caused the minerals in your bodies to turn to toxic kryptonite,” could have been lifted verbatim out of any Superman family book of the early ’60s). Combine that with the pitch-perfect scene at the Daily Planet, Superman’s downright-eerie nobility and the wonderful art and production values, and this continues to be one of the top five books in the market right now.

Badger: Bull #1 (of 1) — Writer: Mike Baron;  Art: Kevin Caron;  Ink assist: Scorpio Steele
With this, and the recent Nexus, Grimjack and Jon Sable books, the ’80s First Comics line is lacking only a revival of American Flagg to be complete. This one-shot (a prelude to a regular Badger series starting next month) showcases both the strengths (Baron’s gonzo scripts, which shoot off weird pop-culture references like sparks; the cast of bizarre characters, both animal and human) and weaknesses (the tendency for the hero to go catatonic every time the plot demands it; the split-personality angst; the just-this-side-of-competent art), but the result, as always, is a big lovable goofy mess, and oddly appealing.

New Avengers #36 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis;  Artist: Leonil Yu
At this point, this issue is one piece in a vast Marvel shattered-continuity jigsaw puzzle, and where it fits (before the Illuminati issue from last week? After World War Hulk? After Mighty Avengers? Maybe after the next six issues of Mighty Avengers?) is anybody’s guess. Still, even with the Yu art (why can’t he be the one to melt down and not keep his deadlines?), it’s hard to put down; watching these characters interact, and wondering what’s going to happen next (that last-page splash: 90% of it’s a Dr. Strange illusion, right? And the villains are gonna figure it out because they’ve got the TV on, and it has a live feed from NYC?) make it hard not to get caught up in the story, and keep coming back for more.

Punisher #52 — Writer: Garth Ennis;  Art: Goran Parlov
As with New Avengers, I’m betting there’s less to this issue’s last-page scene than meets the eye; it’s hard to believe even Ennis would be that downbeat, even in this grimmest of books. Sure makes the reader want to read the next issue right now, though — and to wonder how Marvel’s going to replace him on this title, when his run ends in a few months.

Wolverine #59 — Writer: Marc Guggenheim;  Artist: Howard Chaykin
The story, a sort-of origin review with some implants, mostly just treads water, but the Chaykin art continues to sell the book. An interesting package, though: this is a 52-page comic (counting the covers), but still at the regular $2.99 price. How? Well, there’s only 23 pages of art, but 7 pages of Marvel house-editorial material, and a whopping 22 pages of outside, presumably-paid-for advertising (19 of them advertising various video games). That’s enough cash, presumably, to justify the higher page count and still turn a tidy profit, and I wonder if it’s going to become the new standard for the weekly floppies — at least as long as Sony, Nintendo, et al think that comics readers are their prime target audience.

Salvation Run #1 (of 7) — Writer: Bill Willingham;  Penciller: Sean Chen;  Inker: Waldon Wong
I’m willing to give this a shot because of Willingham, although the whole planet-of-deadly-perils bit owes an obvious debt to Harry Harrison’s Deathworld books. The real problem is that there’s a neon-bright, predictable path for the plot to follow — the villains get manipulated and toughened into a well-oiled, pissed-off fighting machine timed to break out and come after the good guys just in time for Final Crisis. If that happens, “manipulated” and “pissed-off” are going to describe the readers, too.

Fables #67 — Writer: Bill Willingham;  Penciller/Inker: Mark Buckingham;  Inker: Steve Leialoha
If stuff like Salvation Run comes from Bill Willingham the mercenary, writing for the bucks, this title is the other side: Willingham the creative fantasist, doing it for the love of the story and the characters. It shows, too, in both the script and the art: along with All-Star Superman, this continues to be one of the top five mainstream comics currently being published.

Phil Mateer

About Phil

With 40 years of experience in comic reading, collecting and reviewing, English Professor Phil Mateer has an encyclopedic mind for comics. Feel free to ask Phil about storylines, characters, artists or for that matter, any comic book trivia. He will post your questions and answers on the AABC blog. His knowledge is unparalleled! He is also our warehouse manager, so if you are looking for that hard to find comic book, ask Phil!
This entry was posted in New Comics, Reviews. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.