Ultimate Hulk Annual #1 — Writer: Jeph Loeb; Art: Ed McGuinness/Dexter Vines and Marco Djurdjevic and Danny Miki
Zarda (from Squadron Supreme, or Supreme Power, or whatever it’s called now) has a big fight with the Hulk involving his lack of pants, after which they eat waffles, and then go to a motel and have sex. No, I’m not kidding. Loeb seems to be going for some kind of weird satire (the jokey, faux-Stan Lee intros suggest it), but, like all of his Ultimates work, this represents a creepy, repulsive view of an “adult” superhero world, and it just doesn’t come off successfully.
Punisher War Journal #26 — Writer: Matt Fraction; Artist: Andy MacDonald
A one-off story involving a bunch of petty thugs who latch on to the Stilt-Man’s armor, plus an appearance by the Rhino, who, to his, Frank’s and our surprises, ends up representing the voice of reason (albeit one with a Santa hat on his horn). OK, but even though I generally applaud Fraction’s writing (see the reviews from two weeks ago), on the Punisher his stuff often doesn’t quite click with me; he needs an artist like Howard Chaykin to get him over the top, and he doesn’t have one here.
Madame Xanadu #7 — Writer: Matt Wagner; Penciller: Amy Reeder Hadley; Inker: Richard Friend
I still like Hadley’s open, attractive art, and Xanadu’s clearly a good character match for her talents, but this book’s chronological march through history has become predictable; focusing this issue on Jack the Ripper shows off some of Wagner’s historical research, but it goes just about where you’d think it would, and by the time the Phantom Stranger shows up yet again, the reader is just as tired of him as the title character is. At least for me, this title continues to be worth reading, but not worth buying.
Teen Titans #66 — Writer: Sean McKeever; Pencils: Eddy Barrows; Inks: Ruy Jose and Julio Ferriera
Same here — McKeever tries his hardest to make the characters and situations in this book interesting, and it’s a readable result, but he’s undone by editorial fiat; by the end of the issue he’s got a team consisting of Kid Devil, Blue Beetle, Misfit, Wonder Girl, Bombshell and Spoiler. It’s an accepted team-book tactic to mix in a few minor characters, but when they’re all on the D-list there’s just no one to attract an audience; even if this was written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Jim Lee, who would want to read about these people?
War Machine #1 — Writer: Greg Pak; Artist: Leonardo Manco
Pak and Manco aren’t a bad team, but so far this title is firmly in X-Force territory, which is to say that it’s mostly grim, unrelenting slaughter, deliberately bleak and cynical. No thanks, guys — many of us get enough of that from the daily news; we read comics to get away from that feeling.
Northlanders #13 — Writer: Brian Wood; Artist: Ryan Kelly
This is also grim and bleak, but at least it’s removed from the present headlines — and most readers don’t pick up a comic about Vikings in the Middle Ages expecting a laff riot, even the ones who follow Hagar the Horrible. Wood’s got a knack for cold-hearted, flinty characters (see Local), and he’s sophisticated enough to understand that no one’s a bad guy in their own mind; still, while this represents a quality story, the lack of warmth at its core means that it’s not one that particularly attracts me.
Superman #683 — Writer: James Robinson; Pencillers: Renato Guedes and Jorge Correa Jr.; Inkers: Wilson Magalhaes and Jorge Correa Jr.
This “New Krypton” storyline continues to go just about where I expected it to (a massive change to the DC Earth status quo like, oh, 100,000 Kryptonians obviously can’t last; it’s just a question of how many issues it takes to correct it), and, worse, the required conflict is being generated by otherwise-sensible people acting badly, so it comes off as forced. Even the last-page appearance of one of my favorite characters (in one of my favorite costumes) isn’t quite enough to get me to shell out any actual money for this comic.
Phil Mateer
