Batman/Lobo: Deadly Serious #2 (of 2) — Writer/Artist: Sam Kieth
As if to balance last issue’s parade of cheesecake shots, this issue is tilted more toward beefcake, with lots of full-panel Batman and Lobo poses. Kieth seems to be pushing the art, too, exaggerating even more than normal and letting design dominate any attempt at realism (exhibit A: look at the cover). As for the story, the plot aspects that were confusing in the first issue now, in the conclusion… make no sense at all. I’m sure that if I reread both books and thought about it, I could figure out what actually happened in this story, but it wouldn’t change my final verdict on it: occasional nice art, but ultimately disappointing.
World War Hulk: Gamma Corps #3 (of 4) — Writer: Frank Tieri; Penciler: Carlos Ferreira; Inker: Sandu Florea
After two issues where nothing happened, now everything happens, as we get the actual team fight against the Hulk — and it ends with them beating him completely. The Hulk’s dead! He’s never coming back! This will be the collector’s item of the decade! Um, yeah — somehow, I don’t think that Marvel’s 6-month big mega-crossover event is going to revolve around the third-issue climax of its most obscure (and lowest-selling) spinoff mini-series. Betcha the main book doesn’t even acknowledge any of this, and that there’s a completely lame resolution next issue. Don’t say I didn’t warn you….
Repo #4 (of 5) — Writer: Rick Spears; Artist: Rob G.
I loved this creative team on Teenagers From Mars, and thought Spears’s Pirates of Coney Island was OK, if over the top, but this book… I dunno. Maybe it’s all the similarities: this is much more science-fictiony, but it’s the same tough, two-fisted heroine who shouldn’t be indestructible but is, the same well-they’re-lucky-that-happened plot twists, and the same obsession with punching people in the face to show you’re attracted to them (a sex/violence connection that came off as startling and nervy in Teenagers, but now is just starting to seem repetitive and creepy). Been there, done that, and I think I’ll pass on it this time.
Criminal Macabre: My Demon Baby #1 (of 4) — Writer: Steve Niles; Art: Nick Stakal
This has always been a quirky little series, and I was never sure whether I liked it because of Niles’s writing, or the Kelly Jones art. Well, it must have been the art, because Jones ain’t here no more, and the story’s nowhere near as good. Stakal tries, but there’s so much shading on everything that the hero, his zombie sidekick and a priest all look about the same, and the Rosemary’s Baby plot can’t carry the weight. There’s one startling shot of a demon fetus, but unless you’re a big collector of those that’s not enough to justify the book.
Avengers Classics #4 — Reprinted Story: Stan Lee & Jack Kirby; New Story: Writer: Dwayne McDuffie; Painter: Michael Avon Oeming
Reprinting the reintroduction of Captain America, and worth it if you don’t have a copy somewhere else; it’s the anti-definition of “decompressed storytelling,” and as it rockets along you can tell that Stan and Jack are having a great time with it. The new backup story is an interesting contrast, with its modern indy-influenced art and quiet moments, but it’s not worth the price of the comic by itself.
Countdown #32 — Writers: Paul Dini with Tony Bedard; Breakdowns: Keith Giffen; Pencils: Al Barrionuevo; Inks: Art Thibert
Mostly about the buildup to the Green Arrow/Black Canary wedding, as Supergirl and Wonder Girl try to sneak drinks at the bachelorette party, and the Rogues make a break for it. There’s a little of the Atom-searching crew, and Mary Marvel fights Klarion the Witch Boy and has a last-page encounter that would be startling if, you know, all the preview ads for Countdown, plus that two-page “Triumph of the Villains” spread in every DC book this month, hadn’t already clued us in on it.
The Irredeemable Ant-Man #12 — Writer: Robert Kirkman; Penciler: Phil Hester; Inker: Ande Parks
Final issue, and if there’d been this much character development (and sly undercutting of that development, as Kirkman keeps reminding us of the definition of “irredeemable”) in every issue, maybe the book wouldn’t have been cancelled. Fans can at least be glad that O’Grady isn’t killed off, maimed or imprisoned, and in fact is set up to be a Marvel Universe regular (if only a bit player) from now on.
Annihilation: Conquest: Quasar #3 (of 4) — Writer: Christos N. Gage; Penciler: Mike Lilly; Inkers: Bob Almond & Scott Hanna
Not-bad space opera, with a startling development for Moondragon fans, and decent art. I’m not much buying the Super-Adaptoid, of all people, as the big scary main villain, and knowing that this will conclude next issue and wrap back into the big crossover makes it less than compelling, but Gage and Lilly both show flashes of good storytelling, enough for me to at least check out their work on future books.
Phil Mateer
