Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Read and Put Back #116

Dark Reign: Hawkeye #1 (of 5) — Writer: Andy Diggle;  Penciler: Tom Raney;  Inker: Scott Hanna
Not Clint Barton: this is a Dark Avengers spinoff, so the guy in the costume with the arrows is actually Bullseye, and Norman Osborn and the other “Avengers” are around, and much mayhem ensues; if you’re reading all the Dark Reign stuff, this is definitely worth a look. I’m going to make my weekly ratings complaint, though: there’s a lot of arrows through heads and pens through eye sockets and the like, and no “Max” or “mature readers” in sight. Considering that this is a character who’s been kid-friendly, and in cartoons, in the past, that’s not a particularly responsible move on Marvel’s part.

Wolverine: Weapon X #1 — Writer: Jason Aaron;  Artist: Ron Garney
A new ongoing title. No, we didn’t need one, but Marvel wants to duplicate the success of the Invincible Iron Man book, which offered a hassle-free entry to that character for readers who only knew him from the movie, and Wolvie, of course, has his own feature film about to hit. Aaron’s a good choice; he’s demonstrated a cheerful, entertaining anarchic streak on titles like Ghost Rider, and he and Garney did the Mystique crossover in the regular Wolverine book last year, so they have a history with the character. It’s got a shot, I suppose; it’s smooth enough, although any Weapon X story not by Barry Smith makes my eyes glaze over, and when Maverick shows up here I start getting bad ’90s crappy comics flashbacks, and my brain shuts down completely. What were we talking about?

Daredevil: Noir #1 (of 4) — Writer: Alexander Irving;  Artist: Tomm Coker
Just how many of these are we doing (coming soon: Howard the Duck: Noir…)? It doesn’t help that this is the same damn ’30s NYC setting as the Spidey and X-Men Noir titles, and that DD is, you know, noir anyway, so the whole concept of the book is pointless. I flipped through this and, as in a bad Elseworlds story, saw everything I expected to see, and nothing to get me to stop and actually get absorbed into the story. Meh.

Warlord #1 — Writer: Mike Grell;  Penciller: Joe Prado;  Inker: Walden Wong
Grell returns as the writer on a new ongoing Warlord title, celebrating the, my God, 35th anniversary of the character. The Skartaris well has probably been gone to once too often (that Bruce Jones/Bart Sears mini-series pretty much dried it up, and scorched the earth under it, too), but if anyone can revive the concept, it’s  Travis Morgan’s creator. The art doesn’t help or hurt; Garney is no Grell, but his character designs are considerably less repellent than Sears’s. The story suffers from trying to reintroduce everything to new readers in too small a space; it’s disjointed, and only hints at the pleasures that Grell’s been able to wring out of this concept in the past. Can he do it again, and attract enough sales to survive in today’s market? Doubtful, but I’ll be pleasantly surprised if he does.

War of Kings: Ascension #1 (of 4) — Writers: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning;  Penciler: Wellinton Alves;  Inker: Scott Hanna
Speaking of crappy ’90s comics… the star of this book is Darkhawk, and if this issue’s resolution sticks, fans of the original series are not going to be pleased. However, considering that these writers have seemingly killed off Nova a couple of times since his revival, not to mention Moondragon, Warlock, the Destroyer and most of the other cosmic heroes, I wouldn’t worry too much. If you’ve been following the Annihilation/Phalanx/War of Kings cosmic soap opera the last few years, you’ll probably want this, too.

Dead Irons #3 (of 4) — Writer: James Kuhoric;  Artist: Jason Shawn Alexander
This has gotten a bit of good press, but this third issue is practically unreadable: scratchy, hard-to-follow art with coloring that obscures it even more (Jae Lee is credited with character designs and covers; why am I not surprised?), and a story with so many disparate elements (Werewolves! Vampires! Zombies! Nutty preachers! All in one family… I think… who are these people again?), that it’s impossible to tell what’s going on; the script is as impenetrable as the art. To be fair, I had the same initial reaction to 30 Days of Night, and that turned out to be a hit — but that had an easy-to-summarize, killer concept, and “western horror” just isn’t enough for this book.

Captain Britain and MI13 #12 — Writer: Paul Cornell;  Penciler: Leonard Kirk;  Inker: Jay Leisten
This is one of those Iron Fist titles — chugging along under the radar, delivering entertaining stories within its own little world, and gradually accumulating critical buzz. I wasn’t all that impressed with the first few arcs (the Secret Invasion tie-ins didn’t help), but this current story, involving a Dracula who’s returned as a sleek, genius tactician, and all the scarier for it, is pretty good. If you’re a fan of Marvel Universe undead, this has Drac, Blade, Baron Blood, a vampiric Spitfire, and about a gazillion other bloodsuckers, so it’s worth checking out.

Jesus Christ: In The Name of the Gun #1 — Writers: Eric Peterson and Ethan Ncolle; Art: Ethan Nicolle
You would think a book wherein Jesus is reborn in 1910 and grows up to fight the Nazis, shooting them merrily in concert with a time-travelling Ernest Hemingway, would at least have a few glimmers of wit, or a couple of good panels of over-the-top mayhem, or at least a refreshing, look-what-we’re-getting-away-with zip to it. You would be wrong.

Phil Mateer