The Spirit #14 — Writers: Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier; Illustrator: Mike Ploog; Inker: Mark Farmer
Ploog apprenticed with Will Eisner, so he’s a good choice for artist here (his one weakness is that he can’t draw drop-dead gorgeous women like Eisner — or Cooke — could, but his talent for caricature more than compensates for it). Aragones and Evanier offer a similar trade-off: there aren’t the kind of “whoa” visual moments that Cooke threw in, but their storytelling is better; they know how to offer a well-constructed plot that plays to the characters’ strengths, and has a satisfying resolution. As long as creative teams like this keep doing the book, I’ll keep buying it.
The Umbrella Academy #6 (of 6) — Writer: Gerard Way; Artist: Gabriel Ba
Speaking of good creative teams: Way and Ba have meshed extraordinarily well in this mini-series, creating something strange and cynical and yet, sometimes, hopeful and wonderful too, and while I was disappointed at one or two plot developments near the end, they manage to stick the landing and make the reader feel like it’s been a good performance; this should make a perpetually-selling trade.
Death of the New Gods #6 (of 8) — Writer/Penciller: Jim Starlin; Inks: Art Thibert
The hidden bad guy is revealed, and it’s one of the two obvious ones (unless it’s another feint, although after last issue’s conversation with the Source Itself, any “human” agents don’t seem to matter that much anyway). Two more issues of suitably-impressive cosmic destruction to go, although hearing Darkseid murmur “Orion… gone. Our joined story has at last ended” would carry more weight if this wasn’t — what? The third time? The fourth? — that he’s said almost the same thing.
The Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death #1 — Writer: Matt Fraction; Artists: Nick Dragotta, Mike and Laura Allred; Russ Heath; Lewis LaRosa, Stefano Gaudiano and Matt Hollingsworth; Mitch Breitweiser and Matt Hollingsworth
The pulpy backstory of one of the Golden Age Iron Fist’s… um, acquaintances, who’s about to play a significant role in the regular title. It’s broken into episodes, like any good pulp story, each rendered by one of the listed artists/teams; those names, especially Heath and the Allreds, should be enough to get fans to check this out.
Wolverine: Origins #22 — Writer: Daniel Way; Artist: Steve Dillin
The second of what looks to be a three-part fight with Deadpool. Way’s really good with individual moments, and a big fight like this is just a bunch of those moments strung together, so he’s on safe (and entertaining) ground (it’s when he has to deal with themes and conclusions that he occasionally slips).
The Mighty Avengers #9 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Penciler: Mark Bagley; Inkers: Danny Miki, Allen Martinez and Victor Olazaba
Not too bad — Bendis throws Bagley a ton of battle splashes (proving that he can draw that kind of stuff quickly and well), stirs in all the fighting missing from last week’s New Avengers and then some, and shows that he was a fan of the Michelinie/Layton Iron Man years, specifically the Stark/Doom time-travel issues. Quick, readable, fun superhero storytelling.
Justice League of America #18 — (First Story): Writer: Alan Burnett; Pencils: Ed Benes; Inks: Sandra Hope with Ed Benes; (Second Story): Writer: Dwayne McDuffie; Penciller: Jon Boy Meyers; Inker: Mark Irwin
Various villains, not wanting to be sent to the Negative Zone pris — er, I mean DC’s Prison Planet of Doom, seek sanctuary with the JLA, followed closely by the Suicide Squad demanding their custody. Burnett and Benes do a good job of juggling the huge cast, giving everyone a recognizable voice, and moving the meta-plot along, as dominoes start to fall and Final Crisis, now less than ten weeks away, looms — while still managing to make this feel like its own story.
Runaways #29 — Writer: Joss Whedon; Penciler: Michael Ryan; Inkers: Rick Ketcham with Andrew Hennessy
Winding down the Victorian New York story. The cover’s off (the featured characters only appear in the actual story for two pages, and don’t come anywhere close to the depicted scene), but Ryan and Whedon have done enough research into the time period to make the attitudes and costumes work, and as always with Whedon the dialogue pops and and characterization’s appealing.
Stuff I bought and liked, but don’t have anything new to say about right now, so go read past reviews in the archives if you want to know:
Grendel: Behold the Devil #4 ( of 8 ) — Writer/Artist: Matt Wagner
Amazing Spider-Man #551 — Writer: Marc Guggenheim; Art: Salvador Larroca
Brave and Bold #10 — Writer: Mark Waid; Penciller: George Perez; Inker: Bob Wiacek
Ultimate Human #2 (of 4) — Writer: Warren Ellis; Penciler: Cary Nord
Knights of the Dinner Table #136 — Writer/Artist — Jolly Blackburn
Gold Digger #93 — Writer/Artist: Fred Perry
Phil Mateer
