The Week of June 21st- June 27th, 2009

Daredevil #119

Isn't it strange that Thor, Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man and this book are all reaching monumental issues this year? Those books are hitting #600 and this book goes to #500 next month. Sadly, this is the end of writer Ed Brubaker's stint. His final flurry featuring The Hand, Lady Bullseye, and the Kingpin is legendary stuff. This issue is literally pitch-perfect. The climax has The Owl knocking out Dakota, Dardevil's psuedo-girlfriend. And we learn that the Kingpin is really setting things up to crush Murdock and take over the city. Great art. Awesome story telling. Just a terrific issue. ****

Thor #602

This book was probably easy to write back in the 60's. Superheroes were corny back then. These days you have to have attitude and be cool. That's hard for book like Thor. Marvel got their “serious” writer, J. Michael Staczynski, to re-boot the book. He's done some interesting things. He turned Loki into a smokin' hot chick (he's back to being a guy these days). Asgard, the city where all these Norse folk live, ended up above the U.S.A. Now the Asgardians are living in Latveria, Dr. Doom's country. In this issue a Kansas farmboy ends up traveling to Latveria because he's in love. Thor gets his hammer fixed with a catch (if it breaks he dies). Some chick named Sif shows up and dies. I loved the last issue. This issue is just mediocre. The major problem is awesome artist Olivier Copiel is M.I.A. Straczynski is leaving the book soon. He put a decent stamp on it so far. It's kind of a shame he isn't sticking around. **

X-Factor #45

Old man Peter David has been writing this book since it's first issue (he also wrote it for awhile during it's first go-around). David is famous for his stint on Hulk, although I only know him from his infamous debate with Todd McFarlane and his Dark Tower series. This book always gets rave reviews. I figured I'd check it out, although I'm totally lost. This issue takes place in both the present and future. In the present, Shatterstar's mind has been taken over and he tries to kill two X-Factor members. In the future, Dr. Doom meets with the other members. The big reveal at the end is that Shatterstar is...gay. Um...okay. The writing is good but the art is a little on the sloppy side. Does anyone even read this book? **

Uncanny X-Men #512

Wow. 38 pages. This book is big. It's also very, very awesome. After Ed Brubaker left the book I left along with him. Writer Matt Fraction comes up with a terrific story here, one that certainly could have filled a six-parter easily. The X-Men travel back to San Francisco 1906 to get blood samples from two people. The X-Men want to find out more about the mutant gene. What they end up with is battling the first Sentinel, a contraption not unlike the metallic spider in the movie Wild Wild West. The art by Yaneck Paquette is so-so, but the story is thrilling and fun and very well thought out. A great issue. ***1/2

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men Utopia

Mark Silvestri did the pencils here. He is utterly awesome. I don't know what he's been up to these days, but his work is some of the best ever. Matt Fraction is writing this, which is a six parter that will eventually end up in both Uncanny X-Men and Dark Avengers this summer. The story has protests gone awry in San Francisco. People hate mutants. The X-Men get their fight on. Norman Osbourne and his Dark Avengers show up. It's a war. The story is a good one. The art, though, is strange. Silvestri drew it...but he got “assists” by four other artists and nine inkers. You can tell that Silvestri started it but got behind. His art is phenomenal. There are some pages that are not. This definitely sets up an interesting plot. There should be some good battles. Dr. Xavier comes back and Emma Frost might be evil again? So far so good. ***

Detective Comics #854

This book got some rave reviews online. Writer Greg Rucka and artist J.H. Williams the 3^rd are doing it. It features Batgirl. She's a lesbian punk by day, crusading Batgirl by night. Her villain? A white-skinned, white-dressed Alice in Wonderland-esque Queen. The art is breathtaking stuff. One minute it's sketchy and dark, the other is bright and cartoonish. The story is thin so far, but it's an entertaining book. I'm not sure why it's gotten a lot of raves. I've never heard of this writer or artist. And it's good but not shockingly awesome. And really, do we need five monthly Gotham City books? ***

The Week of June 14th- June 20th, 2009

Captain America #600

They lucked out with the numbering. Last issue was #50 and now they're on #600. That was fast, right? Ed Brubaker has seemed a little burnt out on this book. It's almost as if: will Steve Rogers return already? This issue brings forth the shocking revelation that the gun used to kill him wasn't a real gun. Uh...okay. I do like the way this issue is set up, though. It's in parts, each drawn by a different artist. There's the fake Captain America getting his truck stolen. There's the rally for the one-year anniversary of Captain America's death. There's Sin and Cross Bones in prison. There's a strange chapter with a girl from another world. & there's Sharon Carter unraveling the truth. That part is good. Like Erik Larsen's “big” issues, this one is chock full of back-up stories that suck. There's an awful old one written by Stan Lee. Then there's all six-hundred covers shown. This book was called Tales of Suspense for awhile. Then it was Tales of Suspense featuring Iron Man and Captain America. Then it became Captain America. So it's cheating a little bit, although there was a Captain America published before Marvel got a hold of it. This book is continued in two weeks in Reborn, an Ed Brubaker/Bryan Hitch book. So what's going to happen when Steve Rogers does come back? Will Brubaker leave? Will the book fall into disarray once again? We'll have to see. **1/2

Incognito #4

Now that the shock of how good this book is has worn off, nothing new has arisen. It's still enjoyable. It's still thrilling. It's still one of the best books on the market. But...I think it needs something new. A new twist. A new surprise. Something. In this issue, Zack Overkill, is caught by the “good guys.” They take away his power and send him back to his dead end job. Ava Destruction, the blonde-haired, murdering pixie shows up to save Zack and take him away from the white-collar, office world. He agrees to go with her. Meanwhile...there's bad guys aplenty planning and plotting to get revenge. This is a terrific book, but this issue is basically more of the same. I can't wait for the big, epic, final showdown, though between Zack and the evil, behind-the-scenes villainous doctor. ***

Hellblazer #256

This book has had the greatest writers in comics work on it over the years. Alan Moore created the character and Garth Ennis and Warren Ellis went on to write it. Andy Diggle got so famous for his stint on the book that he's now at Marvel writing Daredevil and Thunderbolts. I have no idea who Peter Milligan, the current writer, is. His first storyline started off interesting but didn't have a good climactic punch to really nail it. I skipped his second storyline but figured I'd give this new three-parter a try. It's glorious. The art is cartoony but fantastic (Guiseppe Camuncoli and Stefano Landini did the pencils and inks). The story has John Constantine in the dumps. His girlfriend dumped him. He buys a love potion. It works. Also, a demon-girl sells him balm for his scab (the scab he got from Milligan's first storyline) and he gets addicted and has to help her out. John slips the demon-girl the love potion, too. Can we say that he's up shit creek? The issue closes with Constantine looking at himself in the bathroom mirror and thinking, “All right, Constantine. It's time to find out just how much of a bastard you really are.” Terrific stuff. The story here brings forth a wealth of possibilities. I can't wait to see how it unfolds. ***1/2