things i liked this week

time is not my friend. so, in brief, here's the books that distracted me from Just Cause 2 and Borderlands.

Doc Savage #1 (DC)
Paul Malmont/Howard Porter/Art Thibert/Rob Leigh/Hi-Fi (covers: JG Jones, John Cassaday/Alex Sinclair)
so DC's big play is to harken back to its pulp fiction properties with crossovers with versions of its established characters. First Wave goes back to the childhood heroes of your dad, and updates it for your kids. Howard Porter's art gives me some JLA flashbacks, but i think he's past his shelf life (sorry). i am interested to see Warren Ellis do his take on the good doctor though, spoiled as i am with Planetary.


Justice Inc. (DC)
Jason Starr/Scott Hampton/Daniel Vozzo/Sal Cipriano
i remember reading the Richard Benson's origin story as a kid. again, with the 21st century update, its as fresh as could be. i actually like this better than the main feature. gimme a Mike and an Ike!


Iron Man: Legacy #1 (Marvel)
Fred Van Lente/Steve Kurth/Allen Martinez/Victor Olazaba/John Rauch/Dave Lanphear

somehow i like the way Marvel mines their characters' history, and am not even worried about the continuity cops. i know this is about creating more movie-related products, and i don't mind. Tony Stark, ex-weaponeer, worries day and night about living up to what his father was, belatedly realizing he can craft his own. this is another version of Armor Wars, but with Dr. Doom.

Green Arrow #32 (DC)
J.T. Krul/Federico Dallocchio/Michael Atiyeh/Sal Cipriano (cover: Mauro Cascioli)

wasn't it just long ago that Dinah and Ollie got hitched? the Amazons even messed up their honeymoon night. and now, we're witnesses to a painful breakup to one of DC's most enduring couples. Ollie goes on a short trial for his actions, and the jury finds him not guilty, but he's banished from Star City forever. i like the part where he whispers "now you show up" to Clark. its a surprisingly beautiful ending to something that started so messily.

New Mutants #12 (Marvel)
Zeb Wells/Ibraim Roberson/Brian Reber/Joe Caramagna (cover: Adi Granov)
this is the most entertaining action-packed book of the week for me (and that's with Punisher Max #6). somehow, the X-Men rescue team manages to get slowed down by a bunch of humans (hah!), and they need to resort more to their X-Force tactics to get the upper hand. of course, unless they shut down the spy (more like transmitter) in their ranks, it wouldn't matter. it's also great to use Karma in action, and move away from that useless moping character we've been subjected to for the last decade or so. (was that Claremont's fault?) Ibraim Roberson's art is spectacular. hey, any chance we'd see another round of Archangel decapitating Hodge? please please please!



Siege: Loki #1 (Marvel)
Kieron Gillen/Jamie McKelvie/Nathan Fairbairn/Joe Caramagna (cover: Marko Djurdjevic)

it seems everyone has underestimated Loki. he's no longer just concerned with mischief and punking the Avengers; he wants the full freedom to do what he wants, when he wants, without the consequences. kinda like what we wanted when we were young.

Punisher Max #6 (Marvel)
Jason Aaron/Steve Dillon/Matt Hollingsworth/Cory Petit (cover: Dave Johnson)

this is the most disgusting thing that Bullseye's ever done. well, as far as we know. Jason Aaron has grabbed this title from Garth Ennis and ran away with it. Bullseye is one of the best characters to write from a villain's point of view. and that's with the Kingpin in the picture.

Secret Six #20 (DC)
Gail Simone/Jim Calafiore/Jason Wright/Travis Lanham (cover: Daniel Luvisi)

with all due respect to Calafiore, i wish the interiors were being done by Luvisi. but regardless, the story keeps getting better and better. Catman was always the one sort-of honorable member of this team, and that may be coming to an end when he gets his hands bloody.

Daytripper #5 (DC/Vertigo)
Fábio Moon/Gabriel Bá/Dave Stewart/Sean Konot
another beautiful bittersweet tale from the acclaimed duo. sometimes i regret reading their stuff because there's a chance it may end sadly. i never learn.



The Flash #1 (DC)
Geoff Johns/Francis Manapul/Brian Buccellato/Nick Napolitano (variant cover: Tony Harris)

i like Manapul's art better with Iron and the Maiden. his newer sparse work in Adventure Comics and now the rebooted Flash kinda leaves me a little disappointed. anyway, Barry Allen is truly back, so let go of your Crisis on Infinite Earths slipcase edition. we know Johns' history with the character, and its likely he'll create some magic again. i want to be impressed, so let's go for a run.

pulp bits

drive-by readings

Batman/Doc Savage one shot (DC) "Bronze Night" Brian Azzarello Phil Noto Clem Robins J.G. Jones (cover)

imagine a young Batman starting his career in a world slightly different from any of the straight up variations we've been served - a Gotham in the late '20s to early '30s, the setting of pulp hero novels of yesteryear, with all the modern amenities (network TV, news crawl and wait - cassette tapes? what, no USB drives?). so its not inconceivable he would run into Doc Savage right? this is apparently, the concept of DC's 2010 project First Wave. feels like they needed to against Marvel's Noir line.

apparently, Dan DiDio has made peace overtures to Brian Azzarello, and now he's back for the Wave project. though i haven't finished his 100 Bullets run yet (i know, shame on me. i will.), i imagine, or hope, he'll be bringing some of the elements of his hard-hitting series into this pulp era condensation of the DCU (or maybe it should be in Noir instead?). i mean Batman already uses dual .45s (considering he swore off guns due to the death of his parents - well, that is, until the Joker pushed him to that line). and the back in the day, i guess guns were the norm (see Blackhawks and Justice Inc. - hey, i remember you, Richard Benson!)

so how else are two crimefighters gonna hook up? well, let's do it the time-honored way: one can be accused of a crime (especially if he operates in the shadows) and the other tries to catch him. Phil Noto doesn't do noir the way i expected but it's not a solo Batman show anyhow, and with the Man of Bronze around, there's a lot of sunshine to go around. i like the way Noto projects brilliance off the Doc. but here's what's puzzling - apparently upon mere observation, Doc Savage already figured out that the bullets that killed a man weren't the Bat's .45, making it look like the cops didn't have ballistics testing at that point, or they were just so lazy or slow (yes, that's a young Jim Gordon already ranting about a cop's one-hand-tied-behind-the-back job story - you go, Jimmy!).

in the Doc Savage Wikipedia entry, author Lester Dent has been quoted in interviews to have written Doc Savage as merely a job, to earn a living by "churning out reams and reams of sellable crap". that may or may not be the case back then (Dent got rich, so who's complaining), but i'm hoping Azzarello won't go down that path. nothing wrong with getting rich WHILE writing great stories, right, DiDio?