X-Force Annual #1 — Writer: Robert Kirkman; Art: Jason Pearson; (Deadpool story/11 pgs.) — Writers: Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost; Pencils: Carlos Barberi; Inks: Sandu Florea
Kirkman (Invincible)/Pearson (Body Bags) sounds like it would be a winner for this title; both are known for flashy, sometimes-violent action stories, and that’s what this current incarnation of X-Force is all about. The plot mostly involves Wolverine slicing through a number of Hydra goons to kidnap one of them. The “why” is mildly interesting, but it’s an 8-page idea expanded into a 22-page story, insubstantial as smoke, that takes about three minutes to read and has such an open layout, and so little dialog, that it feels like a particularly violent coloring book. The backup Deadpool story is a slight tie-in to Necrosha, and if you’re a fan of Wade’s Bugs Bunny-like reactions to the X-people and their enemies, you’ll be OK with it.
Haunt #3 — Writer: Robert Kirkman; Layouts: Greg Capullo; Pencils: Ryan Ottley; Inks: Todd McFarlane
Kirkman again; Haunt has felt derivative from the start, a James Bond story crossed with Spawn, seasoned with a little Preacher and tossed into a blender. Kirkman knows how to keep stirring in little plot developments to keep the pot boiling, but this third issue has a fatal flaw in that nothing happens: the main character gets interrogated, spends three pages in “costume” fighting off a bad guy, and… well, that’s it; it’s the kind of necessary bridge that will work fine in the inevitable trade, but doesn’t offer much satisfaction as an individual comic. McFarlane supplies an extremely violent cover that has no connection to the story, and an inking job that suggests that he’s already getting bored. Is this a bad comic? No, but it’s bordering on mediocre; it needs to get somewhere fast, and offer the reader more satisfaction, if it’s going to stick around for very long.
JSA All-Stars #1 — Writer: Matthew Sturges; Art: Freddie Williams II
DC’s marketing strategy: one JSA book has middling-but-descending sales, so the way to make things better is to split it in half, take all of the characters nobody cares about, and start another JSA book with them. Oh, yeah: take the half of the current book’s writing team that no one cares about, either, and give the whole thing to an artist with no particularly appealing style or flash. Here it is, kids: if you’ve been pining for a JSA book with Steel, King Chimera, Damage, Magog, Cyclone, Judomaster, Kid Hourman, Kid Wildcat and Stargirl, come get it. How could it possibly fail?
Fall of the Hulks: Alpha — Writer: Jeff Parker; Penciller: Paul Pelletier; Inker: Vicente Sifuentes
Oh-kayy…so, it turns out there’s been a supervillain Illuminati for years, consisting of: The Leader (who’s, um, the leader, but only sort of, because Dr. Doom lets them use his castle as a clubhouse and storage shed, and of course Doom doesn’t get led by anybody), The Mad Thinker, the Red Ghost, the Wizard, and, so help me, Egghead. Egghead got killed years ago, though, back when Jim Shooter was writing The Avengers, so the villains replaced him with, so help me again, Modok. This comic gives us all that backstory, leading up to the revelation that (and this is sort of a spoiler, but not really, if you’ve been reading the Jeph Loeb Hulk and noticed the presence of both Modok and the Leader in this one) they’re the guys who created the Red Hulk, with the intention of using him to bring down the Green Hulk, not to mention Reed Richards and all the other good guys who’ve “wronged them.” Thus, for your entertainment: the next three months’ worth of Hulk crossovers. As massive retroactive continuity implants go, this could be worse; Parker’s got enough knowledge of Marvel’s complicated continuity, and enough storytelling chops, so that there aren’t any gross missteps, and Pelletier offers exactly the middle-of-the-road superhero posing that’s required. If the thought of a 12-book multistory involving the gamma-irradiated corners of the Marvel Universe excites you, have at this.
Iron Man: Requiem #1 (of 1) — Writer: Matt Fraction; Art: Kano
Iron Man: Whiplash #1 (of 4) — Writers: Marc Guggenheim and Brannon Braga; Art: Phillippe Briones
Requiem is six pages of new material wrapped around yet another reprint of the Tales Of Suspense #39 origin of Iron Man (albeit with updated coloring and sharp printing that, like the Journey Into Mystery reprint over in the Thor Special last week, makes it look surprisingly modern and fresh) and a reprint of the 1980s Iron Man #144, which was another booklength origin rehash featuring sidekick Jim Rhodes. The real “new” stuff, though, is 22 pages of Official Marvel Handbook -type entries in the back, which recap both Iron Man and War Machine’s careers up to now, with lots of blueprints, stats, and plot summaries. The main Iron Man book’s been very good lately, and if you haven’t been reading it, this is a decent little summary — and, plainly, a possible holiday gift for fans who are starting to get interested in Tony Stark again, now that the next movie is looming in the spring. As for Whiplash, it’s an uninspired, Iron Man-framed-for-murder tale setting up a new bad guy with the name of the old villain, one who’s out for misguided revenge on Tony. Neither the story nor the art is likely to create any new Iron fans, or inspire any old ones.
Thor #604 — Writer: Kieron Gillen; Penciller: Billy Tan; Inker: Batt
Gillen picks up the story threads dropped by J. Michael Straczynski as he left for D.C., declining to continue this title after being told it was going to be a major part of “Siege,” Marvel’s early-2010 wrapup to the “Dark Reign” story (and, if you’re wondering what all these storylines are about… trust me; you’re better off not knowing, and sleeping the sleep of the innocent — especially considering that explaining “Dark Reign” would require explaining “Secret Invasion,” which would require explaining “Civil War,” which would… well, never mind, but you can probably sense why J. Michael preferred not to get involved). Anyway, the Asgardians have been camping out at Doctor Doom’s, and acting like Loki was reformed, all of which has, predictably, come back to bite them in their Norse butts. Gillen is almost able to ape Straczynski’s style, but he makes the mistake of starting with an ill-conceived death, just to show how bad-ass the bad guy is, and despite some other action the whole thing is rather listless. This isn’t helped by the Tan art, which pulls off a couple of OK big panels, but fails badly on the little things, like people’s faces and emotional beats. The overall effect is of an almost-good imitation, but one that I don’t think is going to convince a lot of readers to stick around.
North 40 #6 (of 6) — Writer: Aaron Williams; Art: Fiona Staples
This turned into a decent little redneck Lovecraftian horror book; by the end, the main characters were well-crafted, heroic (even super-heroic) and easy to root for, and the conclusion leaves a solid basis for further adventures. You probably haven’t been buying this as a mini-series (like most Wildstorm titles lately, its sales are abysmal: around 6,000 copies per issue), but when it comes out as a trade, it should make a satisfying, self-contained book — nothing to set the world on fire, but a decent-enough reading experience.
Phil Mateer
