Punisher War Journal #15 — Writer: Matt Fraction; Artist: Scott Wegener
The second part of a two-parter with the re-villainized Kraven, son of Kraven, and the first in a long while where Fraction’s hit the right spot between sincerity and parody (Wegener’s idiosyncratic art helps enormously). He tends to have his own take on characters like the Rhino and the Vulture, and it’s sometimes only casually related to previous versions, but if you can get past that it works; the scenes of the two battered old pros and their associates trying to survive capture by the insane bad guy had some fizz. If this keeps up, I may have to start actually buying the book….
Green Arrow and Black Canary #4 — Writer: Judd Winick; Art: Cliff Chiang
Winick’s grasp on his cast’s personalities and relationships is firm, and he can write a good character-in-crisis scene, but he’s been overdoing it with this title (and Green Arrow before it), piling on more grief than any strip this side of Funky Winkerbean, and it gets wearing. Would it be too much to ask for a couple of stand-alone, shiny-happy competent teamwork stories every once in a while?
Infinity Inc. #5 — Writer: Peter Milligan; Penciller: Max Fiumara; Inker: Matthew Southworth
Milligan, at this stage in his career, is at his best when he’s juiced about his characters or concepts, or goosed along by a good artist; otherwise, you get competent, slightly quirky journeyman efforts like this. It’s all smooth enough, but weightless too, and easy to put back on the rack.
Salvation Run #3 (of 7) — Writer: Matthew Sturges; Penciller: Sean Chen; Inker: Walden Wong
Luther vs. Joker, although instead of trying to slit each others’ throats they mostly make campaign speeches between monster attacks, and deliver their knives by proxy, just like real politicians. Sturges has trouble handling the Joker’s voice (which, in fairness, is notoriously hard to nail), and the art is just adequate, so this isn’t a particularly satisfying issue.
Hulk #1 — Writer: Jeph Loeb; Penciler: Ed McGuinness; Inker: Dexter Vines
This isn’t horrible, but it’s determinedly average — Doc Samson and She-Hulk trying to track down the title character, and a double-page splash introducing the Winter Guard (all the Marvel Russian heroes), are pretty much the high points. There’s a lot of typical first-issue plot groundwork and neither green nor red Hulks actually show up, although a shirtless Rick Jones who wakes up in the middle of nowhere may or may not be an, um, red herring. Loeb could deliver something good here eventually, although his recent track record — Wolverine and Ultimates 3 — doesn’t give a lot of cause for optimism. Pass.
Gen 13 #16 — Writer: Simon Oliver; Penciler: Sunny Lee; Inker: Jon Mills
Without a strong writer or artist (see: J. Scott Campbell, Jim Lee, Adam Warren), there’s no reason to care about these characters; they aren’t strong enough concepts by themselves to sustain a generic superhero story like this one.
Green Lantern Corps #20 — Writer: Peter J. Tomasi; Pencillers: Patrick Gleason and Carlos Magno; Inkers: Rollins, Nguyen, Geraci, Ramos and Buchman
Sales on this issue, the first after the Sinestro War, indicate that readers are sticking around; it continues the focus on all the GLs not named Hal Jordan, and on plot threads like Mongul picking up a yellow ring, and so far seems to be making the right moves. It’s OK, although the dealbreaker for me was the uneven art — the inking, particularly, is all over the place (something you’d expect with five, count ’em, five inkers, an unfortunate pattern in some of DC’s books lately) — which offered enough of an excuse to drop this junior GL title.
Countdown to Final Crisis #16 — Writers: Paul Dini with Tony Bedard; Story Consultant: Keith Giffen; Art: Pete Woods, Tom Derenick and Wayne Faucher
This continues to feature actual measurable events, with the Monitors vs. Monarch (and his super-doppleganger army) vs. Prime — although it’s all taking place on Earth-51, so its relation to the “real” DC Universe is still tenuous. No Mary Marvel, no Rogues and no Karate Kid, but one page of Jimmy Olsen with the nude insect chick and some strategically-placed shower steam. You know, this title would make up for a lot if it could just keep accelerating from here, ending as an out-of-control rollercoaster ride into the heart of Final Crisis (I’m not saying it’s going to do that, but it would be nice…).
Phil Mateer
