War Machine #5 — Writer: Greg Pak; Artist: Leonardo Manco
Nova #24 — Writers: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning; Artist: Andrea DeVito
If you want to feel old, consider that the current generation of younger comics creators grew up in the ’90s, and were influenced by books of that era. James Rhodes, the title character in War Machine, now looks exactly like Deathlok, and from the dark, Simon Biselyesque art to the grim government-conspiracy storylines, this has the sensibility of titles like that and, say, Ghost Rider. Nova comes more out of the shinier, continuity-heavy early-’90s cosmic romps like Quasar; you get the feeling that Abnett and Lanning’s patron saint is Mark Gruenwald, with his vast knowledge of, and affection for, all the nooks and crannies of the sprawling Marvel universe. It all seems like second- and third-generation derivatives of the better Silver and Bronze Age originals to me, but who knows? If I’d been 12 years old in 1992 (instead of in… erm, never mind), I might be looking back a lot more fondly on those books now, too.
Dark Reign: The Cabal #1 — Writers: Jonathan Hickman, Matt Fraction, Rick Remender, Kieron Gillen and Peter Milligan; Art: Adi Granov, Daniel Acuna, Max Fiumara, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Tonci Zonjik
Not a book about all the current Bad Guys together, but an anthology of smaller stories, each focusing on one or two of them. The Doom episode has decent Granov art, but the story kind of cheats, and doesn’t quite nail his (admittedly very hard to get) character or worldview; the Fraction take on Emma Frost will be of interest to his Uncanny X-Men fans, while Remender and Fiumara supply a perfectly-OK attempt to flesh out some of The Hood’s background. Gillen gets Namor’s bored-monarch tone just right, and the art’s quirky enough to be interesting, while the finale offers a Doom/Loki dinner that’s mostly an ad for the current Thor book, but has good dialogue and is pretty to look at. At 48 pages for $3.99, this isn’t a bad deal.
Wonder Woman #31 — Writers: Gail Simone; Artist: Bernard Chang
Simone brings the interest to this; it doesn’t aspire to the inspired grindhouse lunacy of Secret Six, but it gives Diana a viewpoint, a worthy boyfriend, a strong (if sketchy) adversary and a goal. Chang’s not that good at panels with simple human faces, but can deliver on half-page splashes of giant war elephants crashing through buildings; toward the end, he and Simone click on a scene involving Wonder Woman’s casually direct approach to a launched nuclear warhead.
Justice Society of America #26 — Writer: Geoff Johns; Pencils: Dale Eaglesham; Inks: Nathan Massengill
The ending has a heartwarming little shot of the cast walking away from the camera, and a “thank you” to the readers, and I thought the book had been cancelled. No, but the creative team — Johns and Eaglesham — are leaving. Too bad; this book has sometimes suffered from too-extended storylines (especially when Alex Ross was hanging around), but it’s always treated its character with affection and care, and this last episode is a good example of how they made readers feel as if the were peeking in on the adventures of a really cool extended family.
Ms. Marvel #38 — Writer: Brian Reed; Artist: Rebekah Isaacs
OK: Reed’s obviously been waiting to get to Karla Soften as Ms. Marvel, and he has fun with her casually lethal approach to super-heroing. She seems a little too stereotypically Ms. Villainous here; she’s had unexpected flashes of character ever since her Thunderbolts days (ah, those Busiek/Nicieza runs…), and I’d become more of a fan of this book if Reed brought in, say, Clint Barton to help bring them out.
Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular #2 (of 2) — Writers: Chris Eliopoulos, Wyatt Cenac, Adam Warren, Chris Yost ; Artists: Jacob Sharot, Todd Nauck, Hector Sevilla Lujan, Joh James
You’re the right audience for this if you’re under 25, and think that being an assistant editor for Marvel Comics would be the greatest job in the universe; then, all the cutesy in-joke meta-stuff between the stories will go down a lot more smoothly. The stories are a mixed bag: generic Luke Cage (Nauck’s cartoony style doesn’t mesh that well with him); a “Galactus’s daughter” story that’s much better than it sounds, because it’s written by Adam Warren (now, if he’d only drawn it…); and an Elsa Bloodstone story enlivened by art that’s pretty, but has problems telling a clear story. Meh, as Dan (but probably not Marsha) would say….
Phil Mateer
