Countdown to Final Crisis #5 — Writers: Paul Dini with Adam Beechen, consulting with Keith Giffen; Pencils: Jim Starlin; Inks: Rodney Ramos
Sort of the secret origin of Earth-Kamandi, as events spiral out of control, collapse, and then dovetail neatly into Kirby’s first issue. The Statue of Liberty on the cover is a nice shout-out to that ’70s series, too. (Now, where’s the tattered Superman suit from Kamandi #29? It’s hard to believe, and disappointing, that Dini would let that pass….) Between the nostalgia and the Starlin/Ramos art, this is the first issue of this series that I’d consider actually paying for.
Countdown Presents: Lord Havok and the Extremists # 6 (of 6) — Writer: Frank Tieri; Penciller: Liam Sharp; Inkers: Rob Hunter and Liam Sharp
This, on the other hand, just kind of lurches to a close, continuing to provide a bad early-’90s Image flashback with its murky storytelling, generic art and make-it-up-as-we-go-along plot (the kind of plot in which, at a critical moment, our “hero” takes away all of his opponents’ powers. How? Dude, if you’re asking questions like that, you shouldn’t be reading this book…). This series has demonstrated no real connection to Countdown, no fun, and no reason to exist.
Countdown to Adventure #8 ( of 8 ) — (Lead Story): Writer: Adam Beechen; Pencils: Allan Goldman; Inks: Julio Ferreira; (Backup story): Writer: Justin Gray; Art: Fabrizio Fiorentino and Adam Dekraker
This isn’t as bad as Lord Havok… , but turns out to be more boring, because after eight issues everything’s back the way it was — Earth and Rann went crazy, and now they’re not, and the only consequence is that the bad guy (well, girl, sort of) is loose in the universe again. As a three-issue series, this might have worked, but for an eight-month, $32 investment (think what great trades, or even hardcovers, that would have bought!), readers have a right to expect more than a competent-but-average, inconsequential story.
Ms. Marvel #25 — Writer: Brian Reed; Pencils: Adriana Melo and Ron Frenz; Inks: Mariah Benes and Sal Buscema
Worth noting as a “Secret Invasion” tie-in, and because the Silver Age-ish flashbacks by Frenz and Buscema are kind of fun — but not so much when they add another dollar to the price of the book, and the story deteriorates into a standard framed-by-the-bad-guys cliffhanger ending.
Black Panther #35 — Writer: Reginald Hudlin; Pencils: Cafu; Inks: Francis Portela
Black Panther writers treat Wakanda like Thor writers treat Asgard — they forget about it for a while, as their heroes are off on world-spanning adventures, and then they suddenly remember it, and trot out all the old characters and cliches. The good news here is that Eric Killmonger as an antagonist seems to bring out the best in Panther scribes, from McGregor to Priest to, now, Hudlin. Whether he can wring any new changes out of the same old plot, however, remains to be seen.
Spider-Man: With Great Power #3 (of 5) — Writer: David Lapham; Penciler: Tony Harris; Inker: Jim Clark
Continuing to look at Spidey pre-Uncle-Ben’s death; this kind of continuity implant/expansion can sometimes work (Joe Casey’s made a recent career out of doing it to the Avengers and Iron Man backstories), but here we know the big beats of the origin so well that it all just kind of falls flat. It’s hard making five issues out of what was five pages in the original Lee-Ditko version; Bendis pulled it off in Ultimate Spider-Man, but that’s precisely why it seems unnecessary here — and silly, when Lapham’s idea of adding to the story is to have, among other things, a great big monster show up.
Batman Confidential #15 — Writer: Tony Bedard; Penciller: Rags Morales; Inker: Mark Farmer
Part three of four. The dark-mirror-image-of-Batman bit isn’t a new idea (and the villain’s origin here is very close to Grant Morrison’s Prometheus in JLA, yet another dmioB), but the art helps: Morales offers standard superhero art, but with a boost; he always adds just a little bit more to each panel than lesser artists would, and make readers slow down to appreciate the extra effort.
Teen Titans #57 — Writer: Sean McKeever; Pencils: Eddy Barrows; Inks: Jimmy Palmiotti, Ruy Jpse and Eddy Barrows
Kind of fun, as Rose shows why she’s not to be messed with. This story structure — use each issue to spotlight one of the “new” members, while moving the big Titans-vs.-their-evil-counterparts plot along — is effective, and the scripting is smooth, and good at revealing character; if I cared more about the Titans, I’d consider buying this.
Phil Mateer
While I must agree that the more expensive cover price makes Ms. Marvel # 25 harder to recommend, this is pretty much par for the course for issues that are multiples of 25. More pages, higher cost.
If you are regular reader, I doubt you’d want to skip this issue, and if you are new it is a reasonable place to try it. Quite a few of the aspects of the character’s life from the series thusfar are touched on in the issue, with the notable exception of her Lightning team, which make up much of the interesting supporting cast admittedly.
I thought the new regular art team (used in the present day portions of the story) did a really nice job.
Is she “framed-by-the-bad-guys” at the end? Not clear yet, if you ask me. With all these Skrulls, who knows what’s really happening.
Thanks for talking about Ms. Marvel though, even it if wasn’t all positive. Somebody must like this book besides me.
(I didn’t read anything else discussed in the original post.)
Hmm… I think I may have been unclear. I don’t mean to imply you like Ms. Marvel. (Can’t tell.) But that somebody else out there must, I hope, although I begin to wonder with the sinking sales figures.