Well, here we are, with a brand-spanking new title, and a new
website:
http://www.unreachablestar.net
There, you'll find not only the weekly comic reviews, but also
columns (well, okay, just one at present), discussion forums, and
a newsblog with links to news in the realm of comics, science
fiction, and fantasy.
This is our 76th edition overall, but our first with the new
title. What a week to make the switch, too. We've got 10 books.
So, you know the drill, I may be brief in a few reviews.
This week we've got...
Batman: The 12 Cent Adventure - 3.75 Stars
Birds of Prey #71 - 3.5 Stars
Exiles #50 - 3.25 Stars
Guardians #2 - 3 Stars
Runaways #17 - 3.25 Stars
Ultimate Nightmare #1 - 2.75 Stars
Ultimate X-Men #50 - 3.75 Stars
Uncanny X-Men #447 - 2.5 Stars
X-Men: The End Book One #1 - 3.5 Stars
X-Men Unlimited #4 - 2.75 Stars/2.75 Stars
(Overall) - 2.75 Stars
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Batman: The 12 Cent Adventure - "War Games Prelude: No Help" (Writer:
Devin Grayson, Penciller: Ramon Bachs)
With these cheap issues, if you have any interest in the characters
involved, it's hard _not_ to pick them up. Even if it's the lead in
to a huge multi-title crossover.
In my case, this works out fairly well because it reads very much like
an issue of Robin. Tim himself doesn't appear (except in flashback), but
Stephanie is a key player. The story has Stephanie, in an effort to
prove herself to Batman, spying on a meeting of the leaders of Gotham's
more prominent gangs. Batman, meanwhile, is in the middle of a terrorist
assault and kidnapping.
I like how the Stephanie story ran, and her narration through the rest
of the issue. Her frustration with what happens, and her feeling that
she was useless or froze at the wrong moment, rang true. On the other
hand, the Batman story, while not terribly bad, read a little funny.
Perhaps it's more a problem with the art than anything else, but it
seems that when a Batmobile crashes through the wall, the soldiers
just seem a little surprised at first, and then just go about their
business. Instead of, you know, shooting or threatening to shoot
hostages (which also made me have trouble believing Batman would
make that particular move).
The issue also gives us a pretty good recap of the history of Robin,
from Steph's point of view. The only problem is, some of it doesn't
quite make sense. She mentions never knowing the identity of the
first Robin (now Nightwing), but since she knows Bruce is Batman,
it's really not that hard of a jump to deduce that his adopted son,
Dick Grayson the former circus acrobat, might be the right guy. I
know she's not supposed to have the detective skills of Tim, but a
simple internet search could probably come up with the information.
Any issue that costs 12 cents (20 cents Canadian) automatically gets
a few bonus points tacked on just for that. This is tempered somewhat
by the fact that this is only a small part of a really large story.
While what happens with Spoiler could be read in isolation, the Batman
plot leaves us dangling unless you also bought the first part of the
crossover.
As for 'War Games' as a whole? I'm still not planning on picking up
any issue of a series I'm not already buying. It looks like it could
be interesting, but it's hard to tell from here. We'll see how it
looks in a few weeks.
Review: 3.75 stars
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Birds of Prey #71 - "Between Dark And Dawn, Part Three: Insanity Defense"
(Writer: Gail Simone, Penciler: Ron Adrian, Inker:
Rob Lea)
There's a lot of weirdness going on in this issue. Luckily, so far it
seems to be good weirdness. Barbara is recovering in the hospital
from the weird attack through the computer, while Huntress is still
in the cult, facing off against a somewhat confused Vixen. She
doesn't seem to know her identity, but with both the brainwashing
and the animal instincts included in her powers, she's aware that
there's something wrong, and she's torn about what to do.
That's all fair enough, but then Babs starts doing weird things.
Really weird things. Like believing she's hacked the cult's
website again while staring at an empty screen. Whatever it is
that's going on seems to have a way with minds like a hacker would
with computers, and, perhaps, a way with computers like a telepath
would with minds.
I suppose it could be a jumbled mess by the time it's over, but for
now I'm really intrigued and want to know where the story is going
next. Since Birds of Prey is bi-weekly for the next little bit,
hopefully I'll get a little bit more of an idea in two weeks.
Review: 3.5 Stars
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Exiles #50 - "The Big 'M', Part 1 of 2" (Writer: Tony Bedard, Artist:
Mizuki Sakakibara)
It's kind of ironic. I had decided that, unless they really impressed
me, this would be my last regular arc on the title. On my website, I
wrote my first column about what was wrong with Exiles and how I'd
suggest fixing it. Then, with issue #50, they give us a plot that
hits on a few of those notes.
In this issue, thanks to Destiny, the Brotherhood of Mutants knows
the Exiles are coming. She's briefed Mystique, who's ready to
intercept them, then steal and impersonate Blink, telling them all
their mission is to reform the Brotherhood and free 'The Big M'.
It's a pretty good plot (though, I must confess I had some higher
expectations of what someone with advance warning of their
arrival might choose to do), and we get some amusing guest shots
from the likes of AIM.
While I'm not overly impressed yet, I'm not disappointed either,
which is at least a step up. If they can manage to deliver in
the conclusion, I might decide to stick around after all.
Review: 3.25 stars
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Guardians #2 - "Reach for the Stars, Part 2 of 5" (Writer: Marc Sumerak,
Artist: Casey Jones)
Vince has finally decided to give up on the idea that his 'alien
encounter' as a youth was real. Naturally, it's at about this
time that he realizes the alien has returned, and, to everyone
else, looks like he's totally gone off the deep end. Charlie
in particular is troubled, until she sees something herself.
To be honest, when I picked up the issue, I thought it was going to
be my last issue. The second issue would have fulfilled my right to
say, 'Oh, well, I gave it a fair try, it's not bad, but I'm not all
that interested'. But I wound up liking it more than I thought I
would.
I don't know what exactly it was. I'm still annoyed at the amount
of decompression, but it does give them a chance to flesh out the
characters a little more. I also appreciated that they didn't
make Charlie's 'new boyfriend' unlikeable. In fact, although at
present it doesn't seem likely, I want him to find his way along
on the adventure, to be the one person who isn't dealing with the
fact that they were convinced into denying the truth, but instead
just dealing with the fact that there's aliens right there.
I'm still wavering on the title as a whole, but I may give it the
first arc. Runaways is going on hiatus soon anyway.
Review: 3 stars
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Runaways #17 - "The Good Die Young Conclusion" (Writer: Brian K.
Vaughan, Penciler: Adrian Alphona, Inker: Craig Yeung)
It's been about a month and a half since the last issue, but somehow,
it feels like months. That's what a good cliffhanger can do to you.
There's a delicate balance with this issue, because I hope people
are going to be following this series through the Marvel Age trades.
So, I don't want to spoil who the 'mole' is, or what happens, even
though I occasionally spoil things in these reviews. So, I'll try
and be vague. When the mole was revealed, I had to go back and
reread issues to see how it could have come about. I'd realized
some of the things pointed out by this issue, although with it and
others, it all fit together nicely.
Despite all that, I'm left with a real sense of disappointment. I
wanted things to turn out differently, for one thing, but there's
a little more to it than that. For all that the overarching plot
was pretty cool, when it came time to resolve the problem of the
Gibborum, it just seems too pat. Everything, so far, seems to
be wrapped up (with only an epilogue to go). There's even the
suggestion that the Gibborum won't be able to be a significant
threat to the world somewhere down the line.
The explanation of an aspect of the Abstract in a minor plot
point also annoyed me. When a character in the plot actually
says 'It's magic, don't try and understand it, it'll make your
head hurt', that's usually a bad sign. Granted, it wasn't
all that big a deal, but combined with everything else made
the issue a little disappointing.
Disappointing for Runaways is still pretty good on other
measures though. I'm still planning on reading the second
season when it debuts in January, and can't wait to see how
the Epilogue is going to set it up.
Review: 3.25 stars
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Ultimate Nightmare #1 - "Part One" (Story: Warren Ellis, Pencils:
Trevor Hairsine)
100 years ago, there was a weird phenomenon in Tunguska, Russia.
Now, from that same location, there's a weird transmission,
randomly breaking through on TV and radio all over the world,
somehow broadcasting in every language, and showing what looks
like the total destruction of an alien race.
The signal's also affecting people. Telepaths the world over
are feeling it, and suicides (even mass suicides) are up
dramatically. Clearly, something must be done.
It's a decent premise for a miniseries, and with Warren Ellis
writing, we really could get a great story out of this.
There are some nice visuals (despite my general disappointment
in Hairsine's previous Ultimate work, he's doing a good job
here so far), but otherwise, I don't get the sense of an 'event',
and the way Marvel's been hyping it, that's not good.
The major problem with this issue is it's pretty well all setup.
Sure, we get the introduction of yet another Marvel Universe
character, but beyond that, we just see a few initial reactions
to the phenomenon and then we see them planning a trip to
investigate. It doesn't even end on some kind of dramatic
moment. I've already decided to buy the miniseries, but
I'm disappointed in the introductory issue. Perhaps they should
start making the first issues double-sized, so we can actually
get more plot in and actually give us something to make us
excited about what happens next.
Review: 2.75 stars
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Ultimate X-Men #50 - "Cry Wolf, Part 1 (of 4)" (Written by: Brian K.
Vaughan, Penciled by: Andy Kubert)
It's the return of Ultimate Gambit in this issue. A trip to Coney
Island for the kids turns into trouble as Gambit shows up to steal
something. This issue's already been made available for free
via Mile High Comics First Look program, so really, if you want a
more detailed summary than that, you can go read it.
I don't know, there's something about this title under Vaughan I just
can't help but enjoy. It's mostly classical formula, with the X-Men
as a family, but he still picks up old threads and does right by them.
Ali's working in better than I'd have expected (I especially like her
repeated instance that Dazzler is the name of her band, not her).
We also get another love triangle brewing (or perhaps it'll wind up
a square). Yet I just love it. Nothing spectacularly daring, but
the personal moments ring true so it feels there's some depth and
real humanity to these people. Even the Professor gets a single,
wordless panel that just works.
The action's also a lot of fun, and I'm especially fond of the way
Gambit thought to deal with Logan.
I must say I prefered the old look of Ultimate Gambit. This one looks
a bit too much like the normal Gambit below the chin, and his head just
looks... weird. Other than that, though, the art works well for me.
It's not quite as nice as David Finch's run on the title, but I can
enjoy it.
It's been made official that Brian K. Vaughan is not taking over
X-Men after Austen leaves. So, considering Bryan Singer apparently
jumped ship on directing the next X-Men movie, maybe the powers that
be at Marvel will just keep him here for a while. I can't say I'd
be upset at that. Besides, he seems to like working New Mutants into
his story, so maybe we'd finally get around to getting an Ultimate
Cypher to be a friend to Kitty.
Review: 3.75 stars
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Uncanny X-Men #447 - "Hell Hath No Fury! (The End of History:
Conclusion)" (By: Chris Claremont & Alan Davis)
Argh.
You probably heard the jokes. The X-Men face the Fury, an
unstoppable killing machine that does nothing but kill Superheroes.
It's even wiped out all the superheroes on its own world, and so
moved on to others. So, naturally, with Claremont writing, the
joke goes, it'll be defeated in one on one combat with a powerless
(probably female) X-Man, because she's an X-Man, and what the X-Men
do best is win, against all the odds.
It's not quite that bad, but it's close. Oh, the exact method of
destruction isn't too bad, as far as these things go, but all the
'getting there', and the means they actually used to achieve it
made me want to bang my head against the wall. For those who
really liked the Fury, my advice is to tell yourself this was
an imperfect copy or something, or one created in another universe,
made by a less-able Mad Jim Jaspers.
Before the actual fight hits, there's some decent but not spectacular
character interaction, but the 'Holempathic Crystal' annoyed me as
well. It seems Claremont's gained a new fetish... communication and
advice from beyond the grave. He's using it both here and in
Excalibur, after all.
The arc was going so well, too. Oh well, at least there are
pretty pictures.
Review: 2.5 stars
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X-Men: The End, Book One: Dreamers and Demons #1 - "The Gathering Storm"
(By Chris Claremont & Sean Chen)
The latest in Marvel's line of 'The End' miniseries is a massive three
book, 18-issue story, chronicling the End of the X-Men.
It starts off with an unfamiliar character, the half-Shiar daughter of
Bishop and Deathbird, and for much of the issue it reads more like a
Space Epic in the Marvel Universe than an X-Book. Some mutant characters
show up, but they're working as agents of the aliens. Towards the end
we start to get closer to Earth (and this is another issue made
available for free).
Still, it actually turns out pretty well, if you don't go in expecting
it to deal with the X-Men directly, right off the bat. It may, in fact,
be one of the better things Claremont's written in a while. He's still
got his love of narration, and there's a little bit of a mind-control
subplot already, but here it works. Everything flows smoothly, his
stock phrases are toned down (except for his apparent new love,
'totally'), and on an action-adventure space-opera level, it works
well... I'm not really that much of a fan of the space-based Marvel
Universe, but despite starting out there, I'm interested in seeing
where the story goes.
The art, provided by Sean Chen, is beautiful and compliments the story
well. I can't wait until we see more of the regular X-Men in this
series.
Review: 3.5 stars
-
X-Men Unlimited #4 -
"Testing Times" (Writer: Lee Barnett, Penciler: Travel Forman)
In this story, Juggernaut wants to teach Gym at the X-Mansion, but,
naturally, seeing as how he used to be a villain and all, Scott
isn't convinced he's suited for the job. One particular problem is
his anger. Juggernaut promises he can keep his cool when it matters,
so Scott proposes to have Wolverine test him.
There's some good in the story, but when you put it all together,
it doesn't work for me. The ending, in particular, is too schmaltzy.
I suppose, given the writer was probably told whether Juggernaut
would be the teacher or not, he had little choice, but somehow, it
doesn't really address many of the issues. You could make the
argument that the first 'test' didn't necessarily make him a bad
teacher, but I'd still be very wary of anyone failing the second
test teaching kids. The ending seriously undercuts the power
in the scene confronting Cain with his past deeds, which was the
best part of the story.
Review: 2.75 stars
"Mutual Secrets" (Writer: Ted Naifeh, Penciler: Greg Tocchini)
Emma's been invited to the wedding of an old friend, even though
there is still some bad blood between her and the bride. She
drags Logan along with her, because either she didn't want Scott
with her, or Emma was reminded by the editors that Wolverine's
30th anniversary was coming up, so she'd better start including
him in more stories so fans don't forget about him. Given that
Emma and Logan are both publically known as mutants, they
suffer more than a few snide comments from the party-goers.
Really, though, the story's nothing special. I have nothing
significant to say about it, in fact. I wasn't terribly
impressed, and in fact through most of the story I was
reminded of an episode of Friends, in which Rachel was invited
to a wedding and ended up being the butt of jokes and snide
comments. Except, of course, here the situation wasn't terribly
funny. Or terribly anything else, either.
Review: 2.75 stars
Overall review for issue: 2.75 stars
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X-Books not being reviewed (and why):
Wolverine/Punisher #5 (No interest in either of these characters)
-
That's it for this week folks. Next week, according to the shipping
list, we go back to a more reasonable number of comics. There's a new
issue of District X, and, sadly, I think I'll be picking up X-Force #1.
We also get Supreme Power, Gotham Central from DC, and the last issue
of Chosen from Dark Horse.
See you next week...
Peter Dimitriadis
http://www.unreachablestar.net
The Unreachable Star - Comics & SF News/Reviews/Opinion
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