IMAGE REVIEWS

I went to the comic book store today and bought six new books, all published by Image Comics. And they weren't old...they all came out today. I even passed up on another Image book I'll probably eventually read online, Jupiter's Children. I didn't buy any DC books because it was the first week of their "Convergence" two-month initiative...meaning it's two months of fill-in books (I did leaf through Convergence #1 and the art was bad and it looked like a mess...plus it was $4.99). I didn't buy any Marvel books either, although I will read Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man #12, Howard the Duck #2, and Ant-Man #4 eventually online ($3.99 for twenty pages of art is just a little too much in my opinion). So it's crazy, right? How good Image is these days? I guess you can thank The Walking Dead. And they keep their prices low and quality high (their books all usually have great letters pages, have more than twenty pages, and are less than $3.99). I think even Marvel and DC realize they have a shrinking fan base. Both "Convergence" and Marvel's "Secret Wars" this summer are bringing forth a plethora of new mini-series leading to new #1's of most of their books along with new titles (both events are, oddly, about parallel-universes combining to form one ultimate universe with every character ever). The other companies can try all they want, but Image is king these days. Here are some short reviews of a few of their current titles:

DESCENDER #2: How many books does Jeff Lemire write? Like a hundred? He's probably more famous for his art (Sweet Tooth was cool), but he did write a nice Green Arrow arc and this new Image book has a great premise. In some future galaxy, giant robots show up out of nowhere and lay waste to a bunch of planets. Then they disappear. The only clue is that they contain similar programming to a robot boy model. The catch? There's only one of these robot boy models left and he's all alone on a far-away mining colony. And it just happens that a group of anti-robot bounty hunters have arrived on the mining colony to capture him. Great premise (even though a robot boy sent to a human family has been done before in A.I.). The first issue was, so far, the best issue of any comic this year. This second issue isn't half as good. It doesn't reveal anymore of the mystery and thus isn't as compelling. The water-color art by Dustin Nguyen is very cool and very unique, though. Definitely curious to see where this goes. **1/2 (out of ****)

BIRTHRIGHT #6: This one also has an intriguing premise. A young boy in our world falls through a portal that transports him to a Lord of the Rings type world where he grows up to be a warrior fighting an evil sorcerer. There's more. He comes back to our world all grown up but time here hasn't passed...so he's grown up but his family is the same. He also comes back possessed by an evil spirit. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. This issue is not the best, though, and so far the book hasn't reached its potential. In this issue we finally get to see the evil sorcerer dude, a bear is killed, and both worlds look to be merging soon. It's a cool, wild romp but this issue is all set-up and needed more. **

RAT QUEENS #10: The first few issues of this book were insanely good. It's dropped off a bit. One reason is the change in art. The old artist (Roc Upchurch) was a better fit for the comedy aspect of this book. Upchurch was arrested for hitting his ex-wife and so they threw him off the book and brought in Stjepan Sejic, who's work in awesome. Sejic is a little too standard for the silly stuff to entirely work, though, so it might take a few more issues to regain steam. This issue is the big finale of an arc involving demons in the sky that look like Chtuhlo. It's a bit of a quick finish. The flashback opener is awkward. And it's not as funny ha-ha as the other, better issues. **

THE LEGACY OF LUTHER STRODE #1: This, the third mini-series in the Luther Strode universe, is already the best. The reason, so far, anyway, is the art. Tradd Moore made his big break on this book way back when then went to Marvel to work on Ghost Rider and do covers for Secret Avengers. Perhaps working with a talented, professional staff at Marvel helped because his art in this book is insane. It's by far the most gorgeous art I've seen this year. The story, as thin as it is, has Strode, a muscled, super-human hero, and his girl escaping from cops, hiding out, then returning to take on two super-human villains. It's all action and blood and guts and it's wild, albeit nothing entirely fresh. The art is the star, though, and we get forty pages of it for $3.99. ***1/2

NAILBITER #11: Joshua Williamson also writes Birthright and Ghosted, but right now Nailbiter is his best book. The premise is that a town in the Pacific Northwest has spawned a ton of serial killers...so what's their secret? Two F.B.I. agents head up their and get their money's worth. This is a mystery but also a horror/suspense tale with murder and surprises and twists. There's catacombs below a cemetery and creepy, black-masked dudes lurking in the woods and a torture chamber. It's crazy, entertaining stuff. This issue is one of the best, too, with a lot of storylines reaching their boiling points and a great last panel. The only problem is that there are way too many unrevealed questions and one awkward page of art, but this is definitely one of Image's best books right now. ***1/2

BATMAN ETERNAL #52

If you enjoy getting some new every week then I'm sure you loved Batman Eternal. It was a weekly book that just ended its year-long run. But with this quick fix came problems. There was never going to be one writer or artist. There was always going to be strands you didn't enjoy. And it was never going to be even half as good as Snyder and Capullo's current Batman run, which is awesome. I read all fifty-two issues. This means it wasn't awful. While a lot of it was crap, the main storyline was a good one. Police Commissioner Jim Gordon was framed and imprisoned. A new, evil, anti-Batman guy took over. An unknown menace, who turned out to be Bruce Wayne's brother, Lincoln March, orchestrated complete chaos in Gotham. The rest was hit-or-miss. Hush showed up. Batman's butler, Alfred, had a daughter that showed up. Some villains broke out of Blackgate. There was a weird supernatural story below the sewers that baffled me. In this finale we got a showdown between Batman and his brother (and this last issue, at $3.99 for 38 pages, is a steal). The art in this series was all over the map but at least we got a cool Jae Lee cover for this issue. The writing was also sub par, thanks mostly to the fact that only the B-team was involved. For what it was, though, it was high-entertainment week to week. It never got truly dull. Some of the storylines moved to other books (Arkham set-up shop at Wayne Manor, Catwoman took over as the mafia boss). You probably had to love Batman to enjoy this, but, really, who doesn't? Issue #52 *** The whole series **1/2 (out of ****)