MYSTERY SOCIETY #2

Steve Niles wrote the comic book 30 Days of Night. That means that he does have a knack for coming up with a cool idea. Is he a one-trick pony, though? He's mostly only dabbled in horror comics. This new series is lighter, funner, and feels a lot like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The first issue was a knock-out; it was crisp and clean and absorbing. A cool dude sneaks into Area 51 to kidnap two black girls with mysterious powers. This new issue continues the quest, and a few assorted characters are added to the gang, namely Jules Verne. There's also something about finding Edgar Allan Poe's skull. And the government wants the black girls back at all costs. The premise is that a husband and wife are The Mystery Society, a group that uncovers mysterious artifacts, places, and people. The first issue was a great introduction. It was helped by the terrific art by Fiona Staples (her coloring, though, is a little too dull). This issue is more of the same and not as intriguing. Whether or not this will go in new directions or follow the same path is beyond me, but the premise is basic and fun and so far it's an entertaining, quirky book. **1/2

SCARLET #1

This is writer Brian Bendis and artist Alex Maleev's newest series. They both had a famous run on Daredevil (I wasn't reading too many comics at the time, so I missed it) and last year they had a short stint on the epic failure Spider Woman (yes, it was terrible). You would think that everything these two touch will turn into gold because Bendis is an often great writer and Maleev is a spectacular, unique artist. This new series, though, while in its infancy, is awful, awful stuff. It does look good; it's gritty, stylish, and kinetic. There are some amusing parts of the issue: the series of “firsts” (first kiss, first orgasm, first A, first F, etc.) is cute. The story, though, has ambition, but hasn't presented itself as anything entertaining or profound (I think it's supposed to be profound, anyway). The premise is that a really pretty hippie girl in Portland decides to take on the establishment. It's basically the tale of a modern Anarchist. Eventually people will join her cause and it will be like the French cutting off Marie Antoinette's head (you get the premise, right?). Who is she after? Well...the government, The Man, the cops, society. It's a little sketchy, although in the first issue it's her vs. the Portland P.D. (a corrupt cop kills her boyfriend). This could possibly become awesome stuff. I envision mass carnage, bombings, epic riots, looting, chaos. But so far it's deadly dull. The other problem is that Scarlet talks to the reader. It's lame. It's only the first issue, sure, but it's a really terrible first issue. 1/2*

X-MEN #1

I'm sick of hearing about it, but yeah, in 1991, Jim Lee and Chris Claremont sold seven million copies of X-Men #1. To put in perspective how big comic books were in the early 90's, the best-selling comic book of June 2010 was New Avengers #1 and it sold only 129,084 copies (this number is based on the number of copies pre-ordered, which means a lot less probably actually sold). That's fucking nuts, right? Granted, every book didn't sell seven million copies back then, but it does go to show how big things were. They seem to be getting a little bit bigger now with all of the comic book movies these days, although with free comics found easily on the internet, no comic will ever sell a million copies let alone seven. I'm not sure why Marvel decided it was time...but it's time. The first X-Men #1 in nineteen-years! Instead of getting a superstar artist, writer, or multiple awesome covers, they've done neither. They've also put the X-Men up against Dracula. Yes, they seemingly want to fail. I like Dracula, though, and I thought writer Victor Gischler's last prominent job, writing that “Welcome to the Bayou” arc in The Punisher, was pretty cool. The art here isn't all that great, though. Paco Medina's pencils are pedestrian but his cartoon-esque style is not a good fit for a dark storyline featuring vampires. & since there is already X-Men: Legacy, Uncanny X-Men, and Astonishing X-Men out there, do we really need another X-Men monthly? No. But a good one wouldn't hurt. **1/2

SHADOWLAND #1

This is the new, mega-event about Daredevil. Yes, I'm surprised that they gave Daredevil an event, too. But I guess that Marvel figures that every superhero should get an event sometime. Hulk got a few in the last couple of years. The X-Men always have something going on. I even remember The Punisher having an event that was in The Punisher and The Punisher: War Journal where he went to Europe (it was actually pretty cool, shockingly). I wasn't hyped for this or anything because I stopped reading Daredevil after Andy Diggle took over. Diggle just didn't make the book exciting. This is the big stage, though, and Diggle delivers: Daredevil kills Bullseye on the last page. Normally that would be a big deal, but this is Marvel, which brings back everyone from Kraven to The Green Goblin to Elektra. They even killed off The Punisher last year, and he still has two monthly books. The plot is a little silly, but it does have Spider-Man and Thor and Iron Man and Iron Fist and a slew of other heroes and villains. The premise is that Daredevil has built a big, Japanese-looking home base in the middle of Hells Kitchen. Yes, it looks silly. Daredevil is the new leader of The Hand, an ancient army of ninjas. Is Daredevil slowly turning evil? Sure. So this epic is kind of Dardevil being evil and everyone fighting. If you didn't think Marvel was greedy and loves money, look out how many books are a part of “Shadowland”: There are 30 books from July to November that are officially part of “Shadowland.” Thirty books? Are you nuts? At $3.99 apiece, that's $126.90 with PA tax. This better be good. So far...it's just okay. **1/2

BRAM STOKER'S DEATH SHIP: the last voyage of the demeter #2

This was going to be a movie once. When Dracula gets in a coffin and has it sent to London, it travels by boat. Of course he wakes up during the night and kills off the crew members one by one. This is that story. That's it. Sure it's simple, but everything about Dracula is so damn cool. It's also one of the pillars of modern literature, right? A ton of things have been spawned from that book, mostly teen vampire sagas these days, but think about the creepy London of the 1800's, the fog, the candle light, the mysteries, the horse coaches rumbling down dark, cobble-stoned streets. All of this has come from Dracula and its thousands of film adaptations over the years. This is just as creepy. It's a dark ship in dark waters and storms and frantic, frightened crew members. It's blood and shadows and murder under mysterious circumstances. The art is great but the script is a little thin. I would have much rather gotten some back stories to the crew members and more dialogue between them. It's mostly just a bunch of sailors getting murdered while the captain prays to God in his room. A little more meat and this would have been a masterpiece. **1/2

ACTION COMICS #890

Lex Luthor is now the star of his own comic. I suppose after eight-hundred and eighty-nine issues they've done everything there is to do with Superman. Lex Luthor apparently got hold of some powerful ring during Blackest Night but lost it and now wants that power back. That's the basic premise. He also has a robot that looks like Lois Lane. & he's attacked by Master Mind, a giant slug-like creature. Yes, it's odd, but it's also fairly readable and fun in a dark sense. The art by Pete Woods is standard, but the script by Paul Cornell is fresh and funny. The cover by David Finch is excellent. This isn't anything awesome, though, and honestly, a story featuring Lex Luthor seems to be something that should be shocking, wild, and crazy sick, right? It's getting there, but for now it's just a mildly entertaining ride. **1/2 (out of ****)

WONDER WOMAN #600

Really? I mean...really? Who knew that this stupid character would have six-hundred issues under her magic belt. & even though I read this issue, I really have no idea who reads this book. I guess before internet porn, maybe perverts liked to ogle the chick in the short shorts. Girls don't read comic books (I've been in comic book stores a million times and have never once saw a girl buying a comic). There was a Wonder Woman TV show in the 70's. Maybe this book was big back then. I'm not sure why it continued. Finally, though, DC has a major player writing this book. J. Michael Straczynski, who wrote Amazing Spider-Man and Thor before escaping to DC, is the new writer on this book. The first order of business was to get Jim Lee to design a new outfit. Wonder Woman now wears leather pants. Straczynski's prologue is short, but not surprisingly the only good story in this book. The first story is fluff but drawn by superstar George Perez, the artist that seems to always give himself more work by stuffing each frame with thousands of characters (Perez also drew the clean-cut, gorgeous cover). The second story is written and drawn by Amanda Conner and is terrible. The third story is written by Geoff Johns but isn't really much of anything except a psuedo-history of the character. There are some amazing pin-ups here, too, by such artists as Jock, Ivan Reiss, Phil Jimenez, Shane Davis and Francis Manupal. This is a big anniversary issue and they've got every major player at DC working on the thing. It would have been a lot better if it was just a really good 22 page issue with something shocking or revelatory, but it's a celebration of a character, and that's okay, too. **

NEW AVENGERS #1

Writer Brian Bendis and artist Stuart Immonem have worked a lot together recently. They both worked on Ultimate Spider-Man and then New Avengers and now this. It's nice to see a perfectly matched duo staying together. It makes things more comfortable. We're right at home. The problem is that this new book is terrible. I never read the previous New Avengers, so perhaps this is similar to that, but so far this is a disaster on almost every level. The first major problem is that the whole reason that The Avengers was started was to create a super group with behemoths like Captain America and Iron Man and Thor. It was supposed to be a group of mega names. This book and Secret Avengers provide groups with a bunch of B-level superheroes, making the “super group” tag completely moot. The other problem is that Spider-Man and Wolverine are in the New Avengers and The Avengers. Really, is there any point to having this New Avengers team besides making money off the name? It wouldn't be a big deal if the book was complex, entertaining, interesting, and something fresh and a bit different than The Avengers book. This book is not different. It's superheroes fighting a super villain, this time some lame dude that possesses people (he takes over Dr. Strange in this issue). Luke Cage is the leader, a superhero I've barely ever heard of. The art is nice but it's a bore of a story with characters nobody cares about. Wake me when it's over. 1/2*

SUPERMAN #700

I guess that DC figured J. Michael Straczynski's debut would be enough to sell a boat-load of this book so they didn't really bother to do much else. They did have the awesome artist Eduardo Risso draw a cover, albeit a variant cover nobody owns. The problem I have is that they had a really big ending to their “New Krypton” storyline that has been going on for the last year and a half. New Krypton was destroyed and General Lane committed suicide. Why didn't they have that stuff occur in this issue, a monumental one? And while Straczynski's debut is cool, it's only ten pages and fairly pedestrian. Superman is faced with the real world. Okay. That doesn't sound very exciting. There are two other stories in the book. In the first, Lois Lane is saved by Superman and then they tell each other how much they love one another. The second story focuses more on Robin than Superman. This book is a lot worse than Batman #700 for a number of reasons. That book at least had the best Batman artists of the last few years work on the book. This book has none of them (unless you love Eddie Barrows). It would have also been nice to see Gary Frank draw the interior (he only supplies the basic cover) and Geoff Johns write a story. For a big issue, this one's a disappointment. *