Wolverine: Wendigo #1 (of 1) — Writer: Frank Tieri; Art: Paul Gulacy (First story); Paco Diaz and Guillermo Orega (Second story)
Reading the credits for this book made me feel like one of those movie scenes where, when the hero’s tempted, a devil pops up on one of his shoulders, and an angel on the other, and they argue it out. In this case, of course, the angel is the Gulacy art, and the devil is the Frank Tieri script. Sadly, the devil wins this one: in a comic whose cover promises a Wolverine/Wendigo fight, we get a 20-page story wherein the Wendigo itself appears for less than two pages, and Wolverine himself for only one, and their actual “fight” takes up… a panel. The rest of the story? Various backwoods characters (drawn entertainingly by Gulacy; there’s the angel, urging a sale) doing stupid things, with the standard Tieri clunky dialog and listless attempts at humor. Oh, and the second story is Wolverne vs. Thor, and while both characters actually do appear in it, it’s even more carelessly plotted (Loki did it! For no reason!) than the first one. Sorry, Paul: the Tieri curse outweighed my fond memories of your Master of Kung Fu art, and I stuck this right back on the rack.
Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam #12 — Writers: Art Balthazar and Franco; Art: Byron Vaughns
This comic’s a puzzle: on first glance, the art seems profoundly ugly; on second glance, that proves partly misleading — the panel compositions are solid, for example, and the non-human characters are OK. Anything with human anatomy or expressions, though, is bizarrely off-putting. Is it actually because of a lack of talent, or was it a conscious decision by the artist, because this is a “kids” comic? If so, it’s a disastrous one; classic kids’ books have crisp, efficient linework — they may be simplified, but they’re never amateurish (see this book’s original artist, Mike Kunkel — or, even earlier, Jeff Smith’s take). The story has similar problems: Captain Marvel’s mirror-image gets defeated… somehow (I’ve read the explanation three times, and it still makes no sense). Hey, writers: just because it’s a “younger readers” book doesn’t mean they’re stupid: you can’t just pull any old double-talk solution out of your butt after you’ve written yourself into a corner.
Iron Man: I Am Iron Man #1 (of 2) — Adaptation: Peter David; Pencils: Sean Chen; Inks: Victor Olazaba
Another puzzler — this is the first of a two-part adaptation of the first Iron Man movie. David and Chen do a perfectly OK job — this follows the movie plot and dialog efficiently — but why publish this book now, years after the fact? Presumably, Marvel wants product available for readers now that the second film is close to its debut — but why would readers want to pay $8 for a two-issue comic, when at this point $10 would get them a DVD of the actual movie? Decisions like this, and the company’s seemingly-random pricing policies, keep giving credence to the idea that they have no idea how to market their books right now; they’re just taking random actions, throwing stuff against the wall and hoping some of it sticks. Incoming Disney execs, you have your work cut out for you.
Red Hulk #1 (of 4) — Writer: Jeff Parker; Pencils: Carlos Rodriguez; Inks: Vicente Sifuentes
Wolverine: Origins #44 — Writer: Daniel Way; Pencils: Doug Braithwaite; Inks: Bill Reinhold with Gary Erskine
Secret Warriors #12 — Writer: Jonathan Hickman; Art: Stefano Caselli
X-Force #23 — Writers: Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost; Art: Clayton Crain
What do these books have in common? None of them would make any sense to new readers: they’re stuffed full of interchangeable characters running around, bouncing off of one another and doing incomprehensible things, and there’s no clarity of plot, or character, or theme — and, worse, no resolutions; they just stop, the story incomplete, to be continued later. Red Hulk is the best of the lot, because Parker’s the best writer, but even he can’t do much with the ingredients he’s been given, and the fact that he’s scripting just one part of an editorially-mandated massive story. The others are worse, undone not only by the huge casts and muddy ideas, but by the sheer obscurity of the actors (Secret Warriors) or by pointless gore (X-Force). When the most interesting pages in your comics are the ads for other comics (the centerfold Spidey 2010 splash, and the FF ad with the giant dead Galactus), you know you’re in trouble.
Daredevil #504 — Writer: Andy Diggle; Art: Roberto De La Torre
Thor #606 — Writer: Kieron Gillen; Penciler: Billy Tan; Inkers: Batt and Billy Tan
Fantastic Four #575 — Writer: Jonathan Hickman; Art: Dale Eaglesham
These three titles are linked because they’ve all had well-regarded creative teams leave recently, and now the replacements are struggling to retain the audience. On Daredevil, Diggle’s had to come on after Ed Brubaker (and, earlier, Brian Bendis) had long, successful runs on the title. He’s trying, offering a plot wherein Matt Murdock is now the leader of his arch-enemy ninja group, The Hand, and so far it isn’t horrible (it helps that the De La Torre art is close, in mood, tone and overall quality, to the earlier Lark/Gaudiano team), but then none of it quite rings true, or has the juice of the earlier stories, either. On Thor, Gillen and Tan are walking in the much-bigger footsteps of Straczynski and Coipel, who resurrected the title and made it a best-seller, and, again, while they’re OK at imitating the previous tone, it’s clearly just that: a copy, without the density or spark of the original. Over on FF, Hickman is offering the best writing job (probably because the Mark MIllar run wasn’t all that good); he’s got a casual way of throwing out huge cosmic concepts and fun ideas (the earlier Council of Reeds, and this issue’s Journey to the Earth’s Core bits), and at the same time has a clear grasp of the FF-as-family theme that’s at the center of the title’s appeal. However, he’s not quite there yet; there’s a feeling that he’s overextended, and can’t quite nail the landing on the plots, and this hasn’t been helped by the various artists he’s been given to work with. Eaglesham’s not bad, though, and this comic’s certainly the closest of the three to offering readers a good reason to stick with the book.
Punisher #13 — Writer: Rick Remender; Artists: Tony Moore and Mike Hawthorne
One thing you have to say about Remender and Moore here — they aren’t following in anyone’s footsteps, or trying to ape the classic Ennis take on Mr. Castle (literally carving up your main character, and then sewing him back together a la Frankenstein and pairing him up with Marvel’s various other monsters, may be a lot of things, but “safe” isn’t one of them). There’s no shortage of gonzo energy here, and the book’s readable, but the problem is that things are so over-the-top that the story doesn’t feel “real” any more (and, yes, I know we’re talking about a comics universe featuring planet-eating giants in purple Kirby helmets and silver-coated aliens on surfboards: there are still levels of “real,” and this doesn’t make it; it feels like a hoax, a dream or an imaginary story). Without that critical human link, that grittiness, it’s hard for the reader to care about a ground-level character like The Punisher, and so despite the entertainment this whole storyline feels like the gimmick it is, and is too easy to dismiss.
Phil Mateer
