The Incredible Hercules #140 — Writers: Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente; Art: Rodney Buchemi
Pak reminds me of Abnett and Lanning, the writers of all the Annihilation/Phalanx/War of Kings cosmic books: he’s good at multi-part stories with large casts; you’re never bowled over by his description or dialog, but he’s got a broad knowledge of continuity, everyone acts in character, there are a couple of good bits in every issue, and it all goes down smoothly and entertainingly. Here, he’s continuing his “Assault on New Olympus” storyline, juggling Herc and Amadeus Cho, plus various Avengers and Agents of Atlas (although few of them appear in this issue), and if you’re a general Marvel fan, this is a decent midlevel book that’ll be worth your time.
Brave and the Bold #31 — Writer: J. Michael Straczynski; Pencillers: Chad Hardin and Justiniano; Inkers: Wayne Faucher and Walden Wong
Straczynski’s goodwill from Marvel titles like Thor, or even Spider-Man, is rapidly disappearing, as each issue of this team-up series is weaker than the last. Here, the pairing is the Atom and the Joker, as the Tiny Titan has to go into the Clown Prince of Crime’s brain to save his life. Is there a pointless philosophical discussion about the ethics of saving a mass murderer that makes no sense? You bet. Does the Atom somehow encounter the Joker’s memories of his childhood while in his head, a development that is (a) a cliche, and (b) also makes no sense? Why, sure. Does this story have any reason to exist? Not a bit.
Anna Mercury 2 #3 (of 5?) — Writer: Warren Ellis; Art: Facundo Percio
Gravel #16 — Writer: Warren Ellis; Art: Mike Wolfer
Two lower-level Ellis books: AM is about a British super-spy who scouts out foes in an other-dimensional Earth, where she has various powers courtesy of the scientists monitoring her progress back home. There’s an interesting contrast between her glamorous “on stage” persona and her dumpier civilian life, but the alternate-Earth stuff is old hat for Ellis, and developments like space-faring Vikings (with swords and axes) in giant space ships are more eye-rolling than mind-blowing. Gravel is actually one of his longest-running titles (between a number of mini-series and the current version, it’s somewhere north of 30 issues so far), about another Britisher, a grizzled military guy who’s a “combat magician,” and has slowly climbed the ranks of mystics until now he’s the sorcerer king of the Isles. Despite all that background, though, he’s still something of a cipher to the reader, without enough personality to be engaging, and this issue doesn’t offer much more than a minor ghost story to occupy his (and our) time.
Incredible Hulk #606 — Writer: Greg Pak; Pencils: Paul Pelletier; Inks: Danny Miki
Hulk #19 — Writer: Jeph Loeb; Penciler: Ed McGuinness; Inker: Mark Farmer
Two “Fall of the Hulks” stories, although they aren’t so closely connected that it matters what order they’re read in. Incredible focuses on Bruce and son, with the FF and Doctor Doom thrown in. Pak, as in Hercules, is good at moving the pieces around the board effectively, and skillful at writing about really smart people; his Banner is almost as fun to read about as his Amadeus Cho. That kind of cerebral gloss is nowhere to be found in the adjectiveless Hulk; Loeb doesn’t do intellectual, leaning instead toward mindless punching, bright colors and loud sound effects. Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that, of course (it’s part of the attraction of comics as lowbrow entertainment, after all), but it needs some nutritional value to make it interesting, and, as usual, in this title it’s all empty calories.
Avengers vs. Atlas #1 (of 4) — Writer: Jeff Parker; Art: Gabriel Hardman
Thunderbolts #140 — Writer: Jeff Parker; Artists: Miguel Sepulveda with Sergio Arino
Parker, like Pak, is good at the kind of fan-favorite team comics that require lots of knowledge of Marvel history, and a sure hand with group dynamics, to make their mark; Agents of Atlas, his currently-cancelled signature title, is a textbook example of that type of book, and those characters are featured in both of these selections. That’s probably too much exposure: between these and the Assault on New Olympus crossover, where the A of A are also featured, they’re everywhere, and while they have a certain quirky charm, they just aren’t interesting enough to justify all that page count. Avengers vs. Atlas uses the New Avengers, not the Dark ones (a good thing, Norman and Co. being even more over-extended than the Agents right now), but has little reason to exist; it looks like a generic team-up so far, not badly done but not standing out, either. Thunderbolts is less than that; its D-list villains give it even less reason to exist, and although Parker throws in a few shocks it’s hard to work up any enthusiasm for its events.
Green Lantern Corps #44 — Writer: Peter Tomasi; Pernciler: Patrick Gleason; Inkers: Buchman, Nguyen, Champagne and Gleason
Blackest Night: The Phantom Stranger #42 — Writer: Peter Tomasi; Penciller: Ardian Syaf; Inker: Vicente Cifuentes
Your two BN books for the week. The good news is they’re both by Tomasi, who’s closer to the main story than anyone other than Geoff Johns; he’s been the regular writer on GL Corps for a long time, and knows the characters well enough to keep the pot boiling (this issue involves, among other things, Mogo the planetary GL, and Guy Gardner with both red and green rings). The bad news is that, even so, neither book feels critical to the main story over in BN: GLC seems out of synch, a few steps behind events in that book, and Phantom Stranger doesn’t do much more than get Deadman and a black-ring-affected Spectre up and running and available for action there too. Fans who have to have a BN fix should go with GLC; skipping PS won’t hurt your enjoyment of the main series one bit.
Phil Mateer
