Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America #5 — Writer: Jeph Loeb; Art: John Cassaday
Cap’s actual funeral takes up only half of this issue’s 22 pages — the rest is a series of single- and double-page pinups of various stages of his career (plus a few panoramic shots of the funeral itself). If you’re a Cassady fan, this will be worth it for the pretty art; if you’re looking for any kind of actual story, you won’t find much. This would be a nice tribute book if Steve Rogers actually stayed dead, but I think we can all agree that the odds of that are vanishingly small, so proceed at your own risk.
New Warriors #2 — Writer: Kevin Grevioux; Penciler: Paco Medina; Inker: Juan Vlasco
This seems like it’s moving toward a young-heroes-against-the-system theme that could be OK, but geez, it’s slow going — by the end of the second issue, it’s mostly been people talking, and lots of characters that only serious Marvel fans would recognize. What marketing genius, for example, decided that a murky shot of Night Thrasher would be just the cover image to pull in a bunch of readers? Are there that many ’90s fans out there going, “Man, I sure miss that guy who rode a skateboard and fought crime — at night! Thrashing, dude — I got to get me that book”? It’s not that this is badly-done, but it’s chosen to tell its story in a careful, complicated way, and in today’s crowded market it’s hard to see how it’s going to last more than, say, 12 issues.
The Loners #4 (of 6) — Writer: C.B. Cebulski; Artist: Karl Moline
See above: a quirky series with characters like Mattie Franklin (the former Spider-Girl), a grown-up Julie from Power Pack, Phil “I was the Good-Guy Green Goblin for ten minutes” Urich, Darkhawk… on the one hand, it’s cool that Marvel gave this a shot (it’s reminiscent of the what-the-hell, let’s-put-it-out-and-see-what-happens Bill Jemas Marvel of a few years back). On the other hand, not that much happens, and what does happen is often ingenue-in-Hollywood cliched. Plus, you need a master’s degree in Marvel Universe history to understand what’s going on. I happen to have one of those, and found it an interesting and not-horrible read, but I didn’t like it enough to actually buy it, and it’s hard to see who else would.
Supergirl #19 — Writer: Joe Kelly; Penciller: Ale Garza; Inkers: Alquiza, Friend, Hope and Davis
End of the Kelly run, and a good microcosm of it: the heart’s in the right place, especially the idea of the character as a teenager who feels screwed-up and put-upon, but never stops trying to be a better person. However, it seems slapped-together (four inkers?), and almost frantic in its effort to wrap up all the dangling subplots at once — as though Kelly got a last-minute call that he was off the book, and had to wrap everything up overnight. The result is that it doesn’t so much resolve anything as just stop, with more questions than answers. Final verdict? An ambitious but ultimately frustrating and unsuccessful chapter in Kara’s life.
The Irredeemable Ant-Man #10 — Writer: Robert Kirkman; Penciler: Phil Hester; Inks: Ande Parks
A World War Hulk tie-in, and the cover image of the character crawling out of the Hulk’s nostril tells you that it’s being played, wisely, mostly tongue-in-cheek (or, in this case, Ant-Man-in-stomach, as Our Hero decides to see if the Hulk is as invulnerable on the inside as the outside. Short answer: yes). Interestingly, by the end of the book the time-line has jumped forward to after the Hulk stuff, much like last week’s She-Hulk did, as though Kirkman decided to give the crossover event one issue, and then ignore it in favor of his own plans. Ths isn’t a bad book, but it has yet to make me care enough about its main character to want to actually buy and keep it.
Countdown #43 — Writers: Paul Dini with Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray; Pencils: Manuel Garcia with David Lopez; Inks: Palmiotti with Don Hillsman
Yawn…. mostly the Bart Allen funeral, without even any Goth-chick Mary Marvel to liven things up. We’re nine issues into this, and it’s a leading candidate for Disappointment of the Year. Where 52 benefited from reduced expectations, since no one was sure it would be any good — and was pleasantly surprised when it was — this has suffered because people expected a decent story, and so far… eh. Boring and forgettable.
The All-New Atom #13 — Writer: Gail Simone; Penciller: Mike Norton; Inker: Dan Green
The shout-out to the Gil Kane sword-and-sorcery version of the character is actually kind of cool, although it’s obvious from the start that, since searching for Ray Palmer has been one of the big Countdown plots, he ain’t gonna be found here — and, sure enough, by the end of the story we’re being referred to next week’s Countdown to see what happens next. As with Ant-Man, this is a book that I feel like I should appreciate more than I do, but I just can’t get into the main character enough to want to spend money on it.
Welcome to Tranquility #8 — Writer: Gail Simone; Artists: Jason Pearson; Chriscross; Georges Jeanty
Three shorter stories, one by each of the listed artists, showing origins and “what happened ten years ago” takes on some of the town’s super-residents. Perfectly OK, for what it is, but the whole plot device where you introduce a whole bunch of new characters with a history that goes way back, plopping the reader down in the middle of an already-constructed continuity, has been done so often since Watchmen that it’s become its own cliche, and so it’s hard to summon up much interest in it. However, it is well-written, with some interesting characters, so less jaded (i.e., younger) readers might have a better take on this book.
Phil Mateer
