Amazing Spider-Man #576 — Writer: Joe Kelly; Pencils: Chris Bachalo; Inks: Bachalo, Mendoza, Townsend and Vey
So, against all odds, Spidey’s gotten pretty good again, huh? The Anti-Venom thing, with Romita Jr. and Janson, turned out to be satisfying fun, and here Bachalo and Kelly have delivered a good two-parter, much different in tone but equally entertaining . This title’s almost-weekly status isn’t so bad when readers can actually look forward to the stories (although I wonder if it had anything to do with the mildly-annoying tag-team inking here. Next issue? The Punisher guest-stars. That’s… kind of ominous, actually, but the next-issue blurb seems to know that (“Punisher and Spidey?!? What is this? 1995? Where’s Wolverine?”) so we’ll have to see….
Final Crisis: Resist #1 (of 1) — Creators: Greg Rucka, Eric Trautman, Ryan Sook and Marco Rudy
DC’s crack editorial team (sometimes I think they’re all on crack, ba-dump) seems to have left the credits off the book (except for the cover), so your guess about who’s doing what is as good as mine. Assuming that Rucka and Trautman are the writers makes sense, though, because this is basically a Checkmate-responds-to-Final-Crisis story, showing various mid-level (and lower: i.e., Snapper Carr) heroes banding together to form a resistance. Smoothly done, with lots of knowing little character bits (very much the kind of thing John Ostrander used to do so well over in Suicide Squad), it’s a solid, earthy anchor to the more-cosmic and portentous main event.
The Invincible Iron Man #7 — Writer: Matt Fraction; Art: Salvador Larroca
Iron Man : The End #1 (of 1) — Writers: David Michelinie and Bob Layton; Pencils: Bernard Chang; Inks: Bob Layton
Invincible is the smooth modern take: although it has a couple of deliberate call-backs to Marvel-Team-Up-era crossovers, it’s more about the modern, complicated relationship between Spider-Man and Tony Stark (the post-Mephisto one where Spidey never revealed his identity, and I’m sorry if reading that just made your head explode), and manages to mix its action, humor and not-quite-pathos effectively.
The End, of course, is just that: a “last Iron Man story” by one of the character’s best-remembered creative teams from a couple of decades ago, imagining if “those” versions of the cast had aged into the present day. They’re still able to call up the tone and voice of those stories, and older fans will see this as a chance to say farewell, not just to that version of Tony Stark, but to Michelinie and Layton as well, and to thank them for all those fond memories.
Jonah Hex #37 — Writers: Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti; Art: Jordi Bernet
European artists just love to draw Westerns; watch Bernet here, as he gets to do saloons, and lock-ups and stagecoaches and pretty women and lawmen and bad guys, and you can just feel the pleasure he’s getting out of it. The story’s no great shakes, but it knows how to stay out of the way, deliver the set pieces, and stand back to let the artist do the heavy lifting; the result’s a fun comic, both cartoony and sophisticated.
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:
Grant Morrison’s Dr. Who #2 (of ?) — Writer: Grant Morrison; Pencils: John Ridgway; Inks: Tim Perkins
Back to Brooklyn #2 (of 5) — Story: Jimmy Palmiotti and Garth Ennis; Writer: Garth Ennis; Art: Mihailo Vukelic
Secret Six #3 — Writer: Gail Simone; Penciller: Nicola Scott; Inker: Doug Hazelwood
Phil Mateer
