Checkmate #22 — Writers: Greg Rucka and Eric Trautman; Art: Travis Lanham
The conclusion of a two-parter introducing the new Mademoiselle Marie, in a very Queen and Country-flavored action story involving the solo rescue of a young kidnap victim in the MIddle East. Decent enough, with competent art and a couple of effective scenes, but it’s marred by some uncharacteristically-clumsy staging in the climax (wait: she hit him with that? Um… how, exactly?) that pulls the reader out of the story.
Booster Gold #6 — Writers: Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz; Pencils: Dan Jurgens; Finished Art: Norm Rapmund
The return of the Gold and Blue team, at least for the moment. Like Checkmate, the plot suffers from a “Wait a minute…” resolution (“In order to preserve history, the world must continue to believe that Ted Kord is dead.” Is that meant to not make any sense?). Since it’s by Johns it might actually stick, although there’s a nagging feeling that it won’t. Hey, if so, though, the ’80s JLA is poised for its revival: Ice is back, and once it’s revealed that it was actually the evil Earth-47 Max or whomever that got his neck broken, the bwah-ha-ha cast is assembled….
Countdown to Final Crisis #15 — Writers: Paul Dini with Tony Bedard; Story Consultant: Keith Giffen; Art: Pete Woods, Tom Derenick and Wayne Faucher
A few pages of Mary Marvel washing up on the Island of the Amazons and hooking up with the good guys, and a few of Brother Eye consolidating power and, presumably, gearing up for the Great Disaster; the rest is Monarch vs. the Monitors vs. the unfortunate superhero denizens of Earth-51. Continuing to become more readable, although there’s one bit of dialogue with Donna Troy that involves the least-convincing use of the word “bitch” since Mrs. Weasley (and then she says her name with periods — “Donna. Troy.” — just to prove how hardcore she is, and how tone-deaf the scripters are).
New Exiles #1 — Writer: Chris Claremont; Penciler: Tom Grummett; Inker: Scott Hanna
Pretty much the same book Claremont’s been writing since he came back to Marvel, through X-Men and Extreme X-Men and Excalibur: this incarnation has versions of Kitty, Sage, Psylocke and Rogue, and it’s fine, albeit predictable; your reaction to it will depend on your tolerance for tics like the Claremontian insertion of the familiarity after the verb (“The problem I got, pal, is with you”). The reason it bugs me, bub, is I’ve been reading it for 30 years.
Penance: Relentless #4 (of 5) — Writer: Paul Jenkins; Artist: Paul Gulacy
Robby fights Dr. Doom, which actually manages to be less stupid than it sounds (come to think of it, it couldn’t sound much more stupid, could it?); no ringing endorsement here, although the Gulacy art might be enough to tip this into the “buy” column for some readers.
The Incredible Hercules #113 — Writers: Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente; Penciler: Khoi Pham; Inker: Paul Neary
Pak’s take on Herc uses quite a bit of the original Greek stories (he deserves some kind of Roy Thomas award for Classical Continuity Integration and Repair), and it’s still entertaining, but the “sell-by” date on this conceit is closing in fast; he and the smartass kid can’t sustain this title by themselves much longer, can they?
Steve Niles’ Strange Cases #3 — Writer: Dan Wickline; Art: David Hartman
Note the title, and then the credits: what is this, Technocomix? (Remember? Leonard Nimoy’s Primortals? Ah, those golden years of the mid-’90s…) The art’s just quirky enough to be worth a look, but the story doesn’t exactly tread new ground — it features wendigos, who, between the recent BPRD series, Marvel’s version, and it, are apparently poised to become the new zombies.
Catwoman #75 — Writer: Will Pfeifer; Penciller: David Lopez; Inker: Alvaro Lopez
Crossing over with Salvation Run, at least for an issue (although I’m not sure Selina is back on her own Earth-1 by the end of it. One thing that bugs me: this is supposed to be the Planet of Death, right? Monsters and danger lurking behind every leaf and rock? Then why, throughout this entire issue, does everybody debate and argue and interact, and nothing ever attacks them? It’s like the creators were ordered to take part in the crossover, but considered it so stupid that they blew off the whole concept: “Yeah, Didio, I got your crossover right here. Now let us get back to our own story…”.
’76 #1 — (“Jackie Karma”) — Writer: B. Clay Moore; Art: Ed Tadem; (“Cool”) — Writer: Seth Peck; Art: Tigh Walker
Mildly entertaining: it’s two separate stories, both set up with ’70s-action-movie plots; the first involves a former New York martial-arts streetfighter getting his mojo back (the creators mention Chuck Norris and Steve McQueen as role models for the title character), and the second , set in LA, involves two bail bondsmen (they’d have been played by Robert Culp and Bill Cosby) tracking down a stripper who’s gotten on the wrong side of the Mob. Both stories are in black and white, and the artists are just starting their careers (and have a ways to go), but there’s enough potential to make the book at least worth a look, if only for the obvious fun they’re having with the ’70s fashions and hairstyles.
Phil Mateer
