Sunday, May 9, 2010

things i liked this week

Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of our Fathers #2 (Marvel)
Reginald Hudlin/Denys Cowan/Klaus Janson/Pete Pantazis/Joe Sabino
Captain America makes the case for being a wartime ambassador, carefully bringing Wakanda to play on the world stage. and he and the Black Panther need to move quick, because the Red Skull has his secret weapons (starting with the stupidly-named Master Man). by the way, who's this Panther? T'Challa's grampa? man, kids today don't even know WWII. this one's for hardcore fans.


Amazing Spider-Man #630 (Marvel)
Zeb Wells/Chris Bachalo/Tim Townsend/Jaime Mendoza/Joe Caramagna (variant cover: Joe Quinones)
reads like a movie script, especially around the end when the inevitable happens. maybe this should be Spider-Man 4?


Secret Six #21 (DC)
Gail Simone/Jim Calafiore/Jason Wright/Travis Lanham (cover: Daniel Luvisi)
Catman tracks down his son's kidnappers in an efficient manner that would impress Batman, while his teammates are hot on his trail, trying to pull him off the brink of the abyss. but it seems too late, as he's been leaving a trail of dead bodies in his wake. plus we get a backstory that says it may not be far off for Blake to be a killer anyway. can't wait for the conclusion.


War of the Supermen #1 (DC)
Sterling Gates/James Robinson/Jamal Igle/Jon Sibal/Blond/John J. Hill (cover: Eddy Barrows/J.P. Mayer/Rod Reis; variant cover: Aaron Lopresti/Matt Ryan/Brad Anderson)
this whole screw-it-let's-bring-back-the-Kryptonians thing kind of cheapens the myth of Krypton and Kal's parents sending him out as the only survivor of their doomed planet. the only thing i look forward to (and thus regarding this as the first step) is the eventual demise of everyone (including a painful death for General Zod), leaving Supes again as the only remaining Kryptonian (ok, including Kara and Karen).


Uncanny X-Men #523 (Marvel)
Matt Fraction/Terry Dodson/Rachel Dodson/Justin Ponsor/Joe Caramagna (cover: Adi Granov, variant cover: David Finch/Matt Banning/Peter Steigerwald)
the X-Men take a breather to bury one of their own (Ariel obviously didn't merit several pages), and still oblivious to the internal threat of Donald Pierce. seething emotions rise to the surface, the most obvious ones from Hank, blaming Cyclops for the debacle, and Logan, who can barely contain his anger at losing Kurt, not knowing whether Hope was worth the risk and loss. i don't know what the general consensus is for Second Coming, but personally it ranks high among the better X-crossovers of the past.


Incorruptible #5 (Boom Studios)
Mark Waid/Horacio Domingues/Andrew Dalhouse/Ed Dukeshire (covers: Rafael Albuquerque/Dennis Calero/Jeffrey Spokes)
Max Damage turns his town upside with a decoy Jailbait to find the real Jailbait. unfortunately, he may be too late. Mark Waid has been upping the ante in his Irredeemable universe, and this has the makings of what Invincible ultimately became for Image.


Irredeemable #13 (Boom Studios)
Mark Waid/Diego Barreto/Andrew Dalhouse/Ed Dukeshire (covers: Paul Azaceta/ChrisCross)
the secret of Bete Noir! yes, it doesn't stop at that damn candle wax. looks like she's the only one left to carry on the fight, and with Modeus on the loose, Tony the Plutonian may not be her biggest problem. at the moment.


Brightest Day #1 (DC)
Geoff Johns/Peter Tomasi/Ivan Reis/Patrick Gleason/Ardian Syaf/Scott Clark/Joe Prado/Vicente Cifuentes/Mark Irwin/Oclair Albert/David Beaty/Peter Steigerwald/Rob Clark (cover: David Finch/Scott Williams variant: Reis/Chuck Pires)
an event so huge, it took a million creators to produce it (and basically overloading Blogger's paltry tag limit). why is Aquaman still calling dead fish? is J'onn a murderer? will Ronnie and Jason ever become BFFs? why can't the Hawks ever find peace? is it really the brightest day or is that just the sun piercing my hangover? gaaaahhhhh!

Red Robin #12 (DC)
Christopher Yost/Marcus To/Ray McCarthy/Guy Major/Sal Cipriano
the whole point of the Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul is to position him to kill the rest of the Wayne family. just kidding, but not really. Tim Drake/Wayne checkmates him and ... well, it turns out that may not be totally the case. altogether now, Red Robin ..... yummmmm!


Batman & Robin #12 (DC)
Grant Morrison/Andy Clarke/Scott Hanna/Dustin Nguyen/Alex Sinclair/Patrick Brosseau (cover by Frank Quitely/Clarke)
who is Gotham's king?
Damian no longer Al Ghul.
Sexton is a joke.



The Boys #42 (Dynamite Entertainment)
Garth Ennis/Darick Robertson/Richard P. Clark/Simon Bowland/Tony Aviña
Butcher continues his surreptitious investigation of Wee Hughie, hoping that his worst fears won't come true. Metamorpho Malchemical laughing at Superduper continues to amuse (bad). the pacing's been a bit slow, but it all comes to a head next issue. heh, head.


Hellboy In Mexico (Dark Horse)
Mike Mignola/Richard Corben/Dave Stewart/Clem Robins
an idea that makes so much sense as much as it doesn't: Hellboy teaming up with luchadores to fight supernatural evil. Jack Black may have pushed it toward public consciousness, and Moon Knight and Deadpool may have ramped it up with their team-ups with the Zapata Brothers, but somehow putting Hellboy and festive-costumed Mexican wrestlers together is a lot more intriguing and entertaining. Hellboy 3 subplot?

2 comments:

Gloria said...

"Sexton is a joke"

;D

That last pannel was a W-H-O-A-H moment for me.

(On second thought, the idea or Mr. J doing book signings is a tad weird)

And then Hellboy was a truly W-H-O-A-H issue: I expected Rena Titañon and Vicky Glory to drop by and drink a coupla submarinos* with Big Red.

grifter said...

there should be a Hellboy in Mexico limited series or something. that would be fun.

i wonder what Mr. J's game is. there's always a point. oh wait, he's insane.