Ultimate X-Men #82 — Writer: Robert Kirkman; Pencils: Pascal Alixe; Inks: Danny Miki with Victor Olazaba
“Ultimate Morlocks” kind of says it all here — I’m sure there are fans who consider the early 200s of Uncanny X-Men the “classic” years, but to me they’re the “too many subplots and stupid characters” years; when Ultimate Dazzler is the most interesting aspect of your comic, you have a problem. Kirkman may be using some of these plot points to try to redeem them, the way Bendis did with the Clone Saga in Ultimate Spider-Man, but I can see Ultimate Marauders and Ultimate Gateway coming, and Ultimate Inferno can’t be far behind, and the reaction right now is, ultimately, disinterest.
Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America #3 — Writer: Jeph Loeb; Pencils: John Romita Jr.; Inks: Klaus Janson
Well, the art’s nice (Romita Jr. and Janson — how could it not be nice?), although there are a few panels that look like Hawkeye’s nose got stuck in a pencil sharpener. The story itself is “Tony asks Clint Barton to be Captain America, and he tries it and doesn’t like it, and tells Tony off; the end.” As often happens with Loeb, there are some good bits of business, and the individual scenes are OK, but somehow it never seems to gel, or add up to much of a satisfying whole; that’s why it’s on this list.
Flash #12 — Writer: Marc Guggenheim; Penciller: Tony Daniel; Inkers: Art Thibert and Jonathan Glapion
Not minding the story — I liked the whole “I’m the Flash — screw the secret identity” bit — but the art this issue just doesn’t work for me. It’s not that Daniels is a bad artist, but… no, wait, maybe that’s the problem; he is a bad artist, or at last not as good as he needs to be. He hasn’t developed many good tricks for drawing speed yet, and the figures are too static. That leaves a character who should be jumping off the page and zipping around the room just posing, and that leaves the reader too much time to realize that the anatomy is often off (not into Leifeld territory or anything, but still…). There’s a double-page splash that shows potential, and I’m still interested enough to scan the next issue, but it just doesn’t seem like time to hop back onto this train yet.
Conan #49 — Writer: Tim Truman; Artist: Paul Lee
And… that’s about it for me and this incarnation of Conan. Truman’s art would keep me around, but his writing by itself is just competent, and after 49 issues the wraparound evil-vizier-and-the-prince plot is getting old. This is probably still a little above average as a Conan comic, but the extra oomph that Busiek’s writing (and, later, Truman’s art) gave this book is gone, and since I already have a lot of slightly-above-average Conan comics, there’s no reason to buy and keep another one.
Supergirl #17 — Writer: Joe Kelly; Penciller: Ale Garza; Inkers: Marlo Alquiza and Andy Lanning
Same song, different verse as the last few issues: I don’t really mind Kelly’s writing, but the plot has gone on forever, and it doesn’t get resolved this issue either; instead, the entire Earth is apparently now infected by the Phantom Zone aliens we never heard about, or knew existed, until Kelly thought them up a few months ago. After Infinite Crises and World War IIIs, it’s hard to get up the sense of awe that events like this are aiming for; it’s more a “What? Again?” sense of mild annoyance. Kelly’s very good at the small human touches he used early in his run — the late-teen-tries-to-find-her-way-in-the-world stuff — but watching him beat up his character for months on end has just felt sad and depressing.
X-Factor #19 — Writer: Peter David; Penciler: Khoi Pham; Inker: Sandu Florea
Another book, like Conan and Ultimate X-Men, that isn’t bad but doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere, either, and that I’ve been buying mostly out of familiarity and force of habit. Generic cover, generic Peter David characterization, generic art, generic Bad Quicksilver — we’ve had some fun, X-Factor, but maybe it’s time for us to start seeing other people, y’know?
Blackgas 2 #2 — Writer: Warren Ellis; Artwork: Max Fiumara
For $3.99, we get about 30 minutes’ worth of advancement of the plot, all of it depressing and dark. There aren’t really even any cool moments of zombie action — there’s a car/helicopter chase, and a helicopter explosion, but although that would at least have sound and fury in a movie, on the comic page it’s fairly static; only the coloring helps make it stand out. I suppose the downbeat plot is to be expected of a classic zombie story, the kind where no one gets out alive, but it still leaves a bad taste in the — well, maybe that’s not the best phrase for a zombie review, but you get the idea.
Phil Mateer
