Short Reviews for Wednesday, March 13th, 2012

AGE OF ULTRON #2: Sure this "event" is a rip-off of The Terminator and probably a ton of other things but if you're gonna rip-off something at least rip-off something good. So Ultron, a robot, has taken over the world and is killing all the humans. Spider-Man and Captain America and Thor and a few others are left and struggling to survive in a destroyed New York City. Brian Bendis is writing and Bryan Hitch is drawing it. Last week's #1 had a foil embossed die-cut cover (or whatever it's called...it took me back to the early 90's). Very entertaining, although I don't like that this event is happening outside of all of the regular books. Hitch's artwork is good in spots, and #1 was better...but it's the best event I've read from Marvel in awhile. **1/2

CROSSED: BADLANDS #25: Garth Ennis is back writing an arc. Of course he has to add a gratuitous, gross-out scene for no real reason (it involves anal fisting...if you wondered). Outside of that, it's a pretty good issue that does a nice job setting up an intriguing story. Crossed has always been hit or miss. Ennis' stories have been better than David Lapham's. This series, Crossed: Badlands, had a stand-out with Jamie Delano's tale that took place in Florida. But even that devolved into a mess. The one problem with this particular issue is the art. Raulo Caceres is just not very good. But he's okay drawing the dark shit Ennis comes up with...so I guess it's good they found some unlucky soul to do it. **1/2

BATMAN #18: No more Joker. No more Greg Capullo. So...yeah, most expected a waste of an issue. It does seem to cement a new Robin, but it isn't all that compelling. **

THE WALKING DEAD #108: This issue introduces a new hero, a dread-locked black dude that owns a tiger. The current Negan storyline is the best thing to happen to this book since pre-#50, when the book was awesome. So it's another interesting chapter. ***