NEMESIS #2

Well, it's not even half as good as Kick-Ass. The art helps, as Steve McNiven is a superstar artist. The story, though, is fairly dull, even though it's trying to be nothing short of awesome. The premise is that there's a super-villain who is rich and powerful and trying to take down a great, unstoppable chief of police in Washington, D.C. The super-villain has kidnapped the president and done a bunch of other outrageous things like crash Air Force One and spread a poisonous chemical inside the Pentagon. It sounds so thrilling yet it's not at all interesting. The problem I guess is that it's mean-spirited. That's kind of the point, though, unless the bad guy loses in the end, which would be kind of a cop-out. At the close of this issue, Nemesis is apprehended by the D.C. cops. When he's being handcuffed he shouts, “You retards! You brain-dead little shits...You think I didn't plan all this?” So maybe his big masterful plan will make #3 a little more entertaining. *1/2

BATMAN #700

Bizarre writer extraordinaire Grant Morrison wrote this issue and Tony Daniel, Andy Kubert, David Finch, Scott Kollins, and Frank Quitely penciled it. The problem? Only Quitely's art is phenomenal, the others are average at best. Daniel's art is usually awe-inspiring stuff, but here it looks sloppy and unfocused. David Finch's art is also too dark, too odd. Quitely's is great, but he only does five pages. The story, albeit discombobulated and near incomprehensible, is actually entertaining and fairly readable. It deals with time and The Joker, and isn't really worth rehashing (good luck trying to explain it, anyway). As much as I admire Morrison, I really think that Batman has lost its edge since he was brought on board. He's certainly made things interesting, but more often than not he's presented a great premise only to go nowhere with it logically. Where's the dark Batman or the fun Batman? Morrison's Batman is a mixture of both with no footing in reality or fantasy. It's a mystery never fleshed out, a combination of everything that comes out unreadable. If Morrison didn't have Daniel or Quitely drawing such awesome pages, nobody would give him the time of day. Still, I enjoyed this issue more than most of Morrison's recent work. For starters, it's a self-comprised story with a beginning and ending, and while it doesn't make that much sense it's not totally baffling. And Quitely's art is so damn good, I'd pay to see him draw a fucking subway station for twenty pages. The dude's got it. ***

CHEW #11

Rarely does a book come out where both the artist and writer are spectacular. Usually I'll get a book because I like a writer or a writer/artist and often I'll pick up a book because I like the artist but it rarely happens that I'll pick up a book because I like the writer and I like the artist. Chew would be a phenomenal book if it only had one piece of the puzzle because the writing is zany, swift, bizarre, and oh-so fun and the art is top-notch, jaw-droppingly creative, and a pleasure to gaze upon. This is truly one of the best new books in years, a fresh feature from two nobodies. It's so good that this issue isn't even all that great but it's still miles ahead of most mainstream stuff out there. This issue presents a new arc, “Just Desserts.” Agent Chu gets his date with the beautiful food critic. They just so happen to attend a dinner that serves famous, extinct delicacies like Dodo eggs. The catch? It's an ultra-secretive society. And it's sort of illegal. Chu ends up putting two bullets through a guy's skull and sleeping with the food critic. Hi-five! This issue also has a terrifically cool cover with a wooly mammoth. Nice. ***

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #11

The best Marvel monthly out there these days, this book has picked up speed again with a doppelganger plot. Mysterio beats up and knocks out Peter Parker and takes his form, thus making the next few issues even more interesting. We know the “evil” Peter Parker is going to hook-up with Mary-Jane (thanks to the teaser cover for #12), but what else? Will things get super ugly? Probably not, as writer Brian Bendis keeps things mostly in family-friendly mode for this book (he had a character impale a baby on a spike in an issue of Powers this year). Bendis does family-friendly well, though, as his cute/funny dialogue is infectious and fun and his stories are always fairly breezy and light (when Bobby aka “Iceman” gets a job at the fast-food place, Johnny Storm aka “The Human Torch,” shows up to bust his balls. Bobby: “Can I take your order?” Johnny: “Let's see...do you have any dignity? No, it looks like you're all out.”) Having a round-up of teens populating this book now helps, as some of the more clever lines and amusing moments are now picked up by Ice-Man and The Human Torch who are now living with Aunt Mary, Gwen, and Peter. The art by David Lafuente is the icing on the cake. The book is light, sure, but it's fun. ***

CAPTAIN AMERICA #606

I missed the last arc, so I missed Bucky killing the 1950's Captain America, the Tea-Party controversy, and Sin apparently peeling her face off (she now looks like daddy, the Red Skull). Certainly it sounds like I missed an awesome storyline, but the reviewers have said that it was the worst of the current Brubaker run. This issue is very well-done, so I'm glad I've returned. When writer Ed Brubaker is on he's on, and this is a typically excellent issue. It has all the classic hallmarks of a good Brubaker issue: there's darkness, a vicious villain, and cool spy hi-jinks. The art, by Butch Guice, looks like it came right out of a 50's dime novel. Not a crackerjack of a plot here, but it's same-old in a good way. *** (out of ****)

SWEET TOOTH #10

This book is great, although it's getting a tad stale while Gus is in captivity. In this issue a doctor hypnotizes Gus and takes him back to his past. We learn that Gus' father was writing his own Bible. We learn that there was a picture of Gus' mother, although it seems that Gus was born in a lab like Kyle XY. Things should start heating up in the next issue when the doctors and evil, mad scientists head off to Gus' home in Nebraska to look for answers. I envision a break out and escape for Gus and perhaps a penultimate battle? The art is ragged but the dialogue and story keep everything moving. Not a terrific issue compared to the others, but it's still very engrossing stuff. It's sad, too, but compelling. **1/2

I ZOMBIE #2

And it all comes together. The first issue was mostly a book with a plethora of monster cliches; the zombie, the vampire, the ghost, the werewolf, etc. It didn't entirely make a cohesive, entertaining book. It felt more like a bunch of ideas that didn't connect. This issue, however, is better, richer, and more alive. The pieces are slowly fitting into place, even with a new added threat: the mysterious mummy/invisible man character. The spectacular, iconic art certainly helps. Artist Mike Allred seems to be channeling the 1950's with his art. It fits because back then there were a ton of lame, B-monster movies that arrived for the drive-in set. This book feels like a 1950's I Married a Werewolf type of film
with it's aw-shucks attitude and quirks and scary monsters that seem more playful and humorous than deadly. In this issue we learn that the werewolf is really a typical nerd working in the IT department at a nursing home. His friends decide to finally go out on a Saturday night and happen to catch the eye of a female vampire that runs a pack of vamps that used to run a paintball company. Meanwhile, the zombie grave-digger (she has to eat a brain once a month to remain normal) keeps getting visions from the last dead guy whose brain she devoured. He was murdered and perhaps this mummy/invisible man was the culprit. And there's a cute, blonde ghost milling about. It's a lot, sure, but it works. It's not really fresh but it is strange and fun and pretty to look out. Definitely one to stick with. ***1/2 (out of ****)