Ultimatum #1 (of 5) — Writer: Jeph Loeb; Art: David Finch
Well, the art’s OK, in its solid, super-heroey way, and a Big Thing happens and characters (maybe) die, and the big mystery villain is revealed on the last page. Oh, and the Sub-Mariner says, in a moment of anger, “I could care less what you think!”, which of course is the opposite of what he means, and is as good a symbol as any of the general slipshod nature of the writing here, and of why I’m not buying this book.
Wolverine: Chop Shop #1 (of 1) — Writer: Mike Bensen; Art: Roland Boschi
In which Logan gets his organs harvested by a gang of medical thieves, and then enacts bloody revenge on them. The pick-’em-off-one-by-one plot is one of the oldest in the book, and is OK when done with some measure of wit or imagination (see Alan Moore’s take on it near the end of his Swamp Thing run), but none of that’s particularly on display here; this is a generic Wolverine story, indistinguishable from all the others out there.
Sgt. Rock: The Lost Battalion #1 (of 6) — Writer/Artist: Billy Tucci
Tucci offers a great-looking Kubert tribute on page one, but that may be a mistake: it reminds us of past glories. Then, we get the inevitable Saving Private Ryan riff, the general-who’s-a-pompous-dick riff, the embedded-war-correspondent riff (except that this one is a Mauldin-like cartoonist), etc., but while the art here is very accomplished as art, it can’t find the gritty core or heart of those old war stories’ appeal, and it all falls flat.
Daredevil and Captain America: Dead on Arrival #1 (of 1) — Writer: Tito Faraci; Art: Claudio Villa
European comics creators paying tribute to their youthful Marvel influences, circa the early ’80s (Deathstalker is the villain, if that gives you an idea). At $5 for 46 story pages, it offers decent and detailed (if a tad pin-uppy) art, although the ending depends on a bit of a cheat; readers’ tolerance for the whole thing will probably be affected by how much they share Faraci and Villa’s fondness for that particular era.
Avengers: The Initiative Special #1 (of 1) — Writer: Christos N. Gage; Art: Steve Uy
Gage has a certain smooth playfulness that leavens this otherwise-generic superhero work; his knowledge of continuity and easy, engaging style make him Marvel’s utility infielder, this generation’s Bill Mantlo, with the ability to write almost any title and make it at least tolerable. Uy’s feather-light art is a good match for it; none of this has any substance, but it’s readable enough.
Terra #1 (of 4) — Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray; Pencils: Amanda Conner; Inks: Conner and Palmiotti
Worth a look for the Conner art (especially since Power Girl, one of her signature characters, guest-stars), but the story itself slips from the memory as soon as it’s read (it’s about some… um, underground invasion thing, sort of, and some guy gets dragged into a pool and gets all diamond-hard and villainy, and… did I mention the Conner art?).
X-Men/Spider-Man #1 (of 4) — Writer: Christos N. Gage; Art: Mario Alberti
Gage again. This is set during early-’70s Marvel continuity (the X-Men have just fought the Hulk in Las Vegas, and gotten their book canceled for the first time, and Gwen Stacy’s still alive). Alberti’s art is interesting — it’s not quite retro, but it is slightly exaggerated; he reminds me of Michael Allred sometimes, although he’s much busier in the inking and background detail. Using Kraven the Hunter as the villain is kind of lame, especially given the even-lamer X-villain who’s revealed at the end, and despite some good parts that’s just enough to talk me out of actually buying this book.
Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #1 (of 6) — Writer: Kevin Grevieux; Penciler: Mat Broome; Inkers: Sean Parson and Alvaro Lopez
Eeesh. OK, so there was this early-’60s Marvel character, the Blue Marble — er, Marvel, and he was powerful but hasn’t been seen in 40 years….. What’s that? It sounds exactly like The Sentry? No, no — see, he’s Black, and President Kennedy told him to lay low because the country would be scared of a powerful African-American, and… well, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, frankly, and maybe over six issues it will, and it’ll be engaging and hard-hitting social commentary, but based on this first issue I’m betting it’s just going to be derivative, and not particularly interesting.
Phil Mateer
