Pull List Review: Half Past Danger #1

I am not qualified to get into the finer points of what separates homage from rip-off. But I can say that while the characters of Half Past Danger #1 seem to be aiming for the former, they end up very much the latter, which is the biggest weakness in a generally enjoyable debut. Protagonist Tommy Flynn is, you guessed it, Irish. Not only Irish, but the drinkingest, fightingest, most offensively stereotypical Irishman I've seen in a long while. The same goes for intelligence agent Elizabeth Huntington-Moss who, in spite of her sort of interesting last name, is ever the droll, eye-rolling Brit. John Noble is the square-jawed American with a John Wayne complex, and to top it off there is a nameless Asian gentleman who, surprise surprise, is great at martial arts. None of these characters ever evolve beyond their most one-dimensional versions, and those have all been done something like a million times before.
     What bring these stock characters together? A goddamn island full of dinosaurs with a secret Nazi camp. Now that is a fun, fresh, inviting concept. Soldiers fighting dinosaurs isn't at all new territory, but having it be spies infiltrating a Nazi facility adds a layer of political intrigue that is... damn intriguing. Seems safe to assume that the Nazis already know about the dinosaurs, because why else would they have a secret base already in operation? When the bad guys have the edge, and the edge is, say, control of fucking dinosaurs, then you can probably count me in.
     Sadly, this aspect is left largely unexplored for now in favor of, sigh, character introduction. The issue is split into two halves, set two months apart in 1943. The first section focuses on Flynn, a sergeant in the army, leading his men on a recon mission on the aforementioned island, which they assume is nothing special. Just another Japanese-controlled island in the South Pacific. The troops, who have names but are largely indistinguishable in both appearance and voice, get pretty quickly eaten by dinosaurs, and only Flynn makes it out alive. Then we jump to New York City for the second half of the story, where Huntington-Moss and Noble try to recruit Flynn for...something. Presumably it's connected to the Nazi dinosaurs. We don't find out the details because they get in a bar brawl with each other and some nameless background dudes instead. It's a weak closing to the issue, because the opening was guns vs. dinosaurs, but it does make the whole thing quite action-packed, which is clearly the goal.
     Half Past Danger is written and drawn by Stephen Mooney, and on the whole I prefer his art to his writing so far. It's not amazing, but he does draw a nasty-looking dinosaur. There is some really fine detail in the giant lizards, and they inspire the appropriate awe and fear in cast and reader alike. Mooney's not as strong with his humans, who each have only a small number of facial expressions available to them. But they look distinct from one another, at least, save for Flynn's troops who suffer from wearing the same uniform. The rest of the cast is physically varied, different body types and clothing based on their personalities, however watered down those may be. And even if their faces don't change much, they are emotive and realistic, at least.
     What Mooney does very well, though, is action. Which, again, seems like it's kind of the whole point here. Dinosaurs being gunned down, Flynn thrown through a window, and the spreading chaos of the bar fight all have a strong sense of motion and liveliness to them. If this title does in fact intend to put more weight on its action sequences than anything else, then it's certainly playing to its creator's strengths.
     This is not a deep comic, nor is it particularly original as of yet. But there is the seed of an awesome core concept in this debut, and a lot of great-looking fight scenes. So if you're looking for a fun, violent popcorn comic about dinosaurs and 1940s spies, look no further friends. I'm still sticking around, in spite of the flimsy cast and thin plotting here, because I still had a pretty good time.
5.0/10

Pull List Review: Young Avengers #5

It hasn't always been true of this series, but in Young Avengers #5, Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie absolutely nail the team book. In the script and art both, the creators are extremely careful to give every member of their cast something to do that is tailored to their individual personalities and/or motivations. That is a depressingly rare achievement for superhero comics these days, and what's best about it here is that all six of these kids are likable and relatable characters. Some are funny, some deeply flawed, and many of them remain somewhat mysterious, but they're all strong and fully fleshed out. And, as of the end of this issue, they are completely, officially (I guess) a team, which is an exciting if late-arriving development.
     I'm still not wild about the threat of Mother and her mind-controlled parent hordes. As central a bad guy, Mother is a little bland, and though some good character bits have come from these kids battling their parents, on the whole I'm just not crazy about mind-control and/or memory-wiping stories, of which this is both. But it speaks volumes about the strength of the other aspects of this book that my lack of interest in the primary villain does not at all take away from my enjoyment of the issue.
     McKelvie's art, with the usual assists by Mike Norton, has been praised all over the Internet for a long time, on this series and others, so I'll try not to beat a dead horse here. Seriously, though, they produce gorgeous artwork with crystal clarity. What McKelvie does best in this issue, though, as I mentioned above, is to give the entire team their fair share of screen time. The opening panel displays Noh-Varr, Hulking, Hawkeye, and Miss America Chavez all in the thick of battle, and they each get to show off not only their specific power sets, but their individual approaches to combat. It happens again later, with Wiccan and Loki included, in the issue's breathtaking double-page spread. It is the first moment where these six characters have truly operated as a unified whole, and McKelvie delivers one of the best-looking pair of pages this title has seen yet. It's hard to describe, but essentially he splits the pages into pie pieces, one for each character, and then within each those slices he manages to include several smaller panels. It may sound cramped, and it is, but done with enough skill and care that there is no great loss of energy or clarity. It's a knockout scene in an issue full of beautiful imagery.
     It took a while, but I think Gillen's writing has finally risen to match the quality of McKelvie's art in this issue. Not that previous issues had bad writing, but this time out, I felt like both creators were firmly, confidently sure of themselves and their cast. Where before Gillen was still doing a bit of character exploration alongside the reader, he now knows exactly who these kids are through and through, and gets to cut loose a little and let them all sparkle as they do their thing. Hawkeye is hilarious and calm even during the chaos. Noh-Varr is detached and matter-of-fact in everything he does (I have no idea if this is an accurate portrayal of this character, but I like Gillen's take, even if it's not true to older versions). Miss America Chavez is the self-assured badass with an unexpectedly level head and observant wisdom. And Hulkling is the noble do-gooder, very much a prototypical superhero, urged on by his love for Wiccan.
     Then, of course, there's Loki. Or Kid Loki, I guess. This is the character that launched Gillen to a new level of comicbook celebrity in the pages of Journey Into Mystery, but I appreciate that the writer doesn't just assume we all know the story from that series. So he includes a recap here and while, yes, it is a page-long infodump, it's also cleverly written and, most importantly, it helps progress Loki's story at the same time that it reiterates his past. Not a lot of exposition pulls that off.
     The best character, though, has got to be Wiccan, the reluctant, angst-filled superhero. Where his boyfriend doesn't seem to question their continuing adventure, Wiccan is clearly more torn, hoping against hope that there is a way to defeat Mother that doesn't involve forming a super-team. As the one responsible for Mother's existence on our world, Wiccan naturally feels obligated to help out, but it pains him to admit that he and his friends must return to their superpowered, villain-fighting lifestyle. There was a genuine hope that he could leave that all behind him, and there's visible pain in his eyes when he finally agrees to be a superhero again. Wiccan's struggle is the most interesting and well-put-together element of this issue and, indeed, this entire series.
     I wasn't sold on Young Avengers as quickly as many others seemed to be, but with the conclusion of its first arc, the book has won me over completely. With the team now fully assembled, Gillen and McKelvie should now be able to raise the stakes and deepen their characters and just generally start to pile on the madness and fun. I'm expecting great things from this creative team and the superhero team they've built.
7.5/10

Pull List Review: Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #23

I have talked many times before, online and in person, about how much I love David Marquez on this book. Don't get me wrong, Sara Pichelli is amazing, too, but Marquez has a certain ineffable something that just clicks with me. That tradition continues here, where he ages up the characters convincingly (maybe they look two years older instead of one, but that's a tough argument to make) and draws a strong, emotionally-wrought issue with his usual care and attention. There is so much life to his characters, warmth in their expressions, even when they are at their saddest. And there's a heaping plate of sadness in this issue, for Miles and those around him, but Marquez makes a smart choice in not going too dark or brooding with the visuals. He lets the strength of his characters' expressions work on their own without needing to cast everything in shadow and gloom. This is a more grounded sadness, a more human depression, and the art represents that.
     There's not a lot of action in the issue, but Marquez does those few moments of it well. I especially liked Miles in his hoodie and backpack climbing a building in a huff. And of course the last page, which I guess I won't spoil but has already been spoiled if you've seen the cover for issue #24. Whatever, the point is it looks awesome and has characters I am really stoked to see Marquez handle next time. He doesn't stray too far from their normal Marvel U look, but that is a smart call for this particular pair, I think. They have a distinct and recognizable look, so why mess with that?
     Brian Michael Bendis has a lot of strong dialogue in this issue, but that's really all there is to it. In classic Bendis fashion, this is an issue largely devoid of plot. There is story, things happens that matter, and seeds are even planted for plots that I'm sure will crop up down the line. But nothing really changes here, and the new threat, such as it is, isn't introduced until the final few pages. From the beginning of the comic until then, this could be summarized as, "Miles talks to various people about his past as Spider-Man but refuses to face it entirely or return to the costume."
     And that's perfectly fine. If you're going to start with a "One Year Later" banner, it makes sense to take a breather issue and catch the reader up. And it's important to know that, for the last year, anyway, Miles has kept his promise to himself not to be Spider-Man anymore. I always like his conversations with Ganke and his Dad, and Bendis writes a strong Spider-Woman, too, who chooses her words carefully to make her case. She clearly cares a lot about Miles and understands his reasons to stay out of the game, but she also sees it as his responsibility to use his powers for good, as she and her ilk do. A simple and predictable point of view, but also an important conversation for Miles to have, a significant person for him to turn down. It's one thing to say no to Ganke, and another entirely to say it to Spider-Woman.
     So this is Bendis as the top of his idle chatter game, but at the end of the day, it's still idle chatter. And for every line of actual importance, there is at least one of purely filler conversation, too, which slows things down and makes the issue as a whole feel light.
     Basically, this is exactly what you'd expect a Bendis-Marquez hiatus issue to look and feel like. A good and gorgeous read, but thin.
6.5/10

Pull List Review: Dream Thief #1

I knew going into Dream Thief #1 that there was already a fair amount of buzz and hype surrounding it, so I tried to keep my expectations tempered. But this book is absolutely as good (better, even) as any and all the hype says it is. I was stunned by this debut, which was an amazing comicbook by any measure, and a truly perfect opening chapter for an exciting new series.
     At the beginning of the story, I felt very overwhelmed by what was going on. The opening page is of main character John Lincoln waking up in a strange place without knowing how he got there, and since I knew nothing about him yet, my own confusion was exponentially larger than his. That confusion felt like it lasted for a while, until there was a moment where I distinctly remember thinking, "Ok, Now I've settled in." Looking back, I can see now that this moment came on page six, which means in the first third of the issue alone, Jai Nitz and Greg Smallwood took me from dizzied and lost to comfortable and clear. They had also, by then, fully introduced the series' three central characters, four if you count Claire (hard to say if she'll matter much in the future since she dies this issue), and five if you include John's father, who is so far just a voice in a letter, but we'll see. That's a shitload of work to do in six pages, but Nitz and Smallwood make it seem easy.
     Nitz is a talented writer, able to show us his cast through their varied and realistic voices. Even when it serves as exposition, the dialogue sounds real, the characters talk to each other like people. That helps Nitz explain a lot about their relationships without needing to say anything at all---by seeing how they talk about the various problems in their lives, we also learn how they interact with one another. The strength of Reggie and John's friendship is apparent from their first phone conversation, and only gets bolstered by the scenes that follow. And John's general assheadedness comes through in his dealing with Claire and Jen, women who seem to want to love him but are running out of reasons. He has a strong supporting cast and interesting relationships with all of them, which helps him work as a successful protagonist. John's a thoroughly unlikable guy, but the story and people that surround him are fascinating, and so is his constant calm when faced with enormous, deadly, inexplicable things.
     But it's Nitz's incredible pacing that truly brings this issue home, ultimately even more impressive than his character work. We meet the core cast, are introduced to the series' high concept, and have three separate inciting incidents: John steals the mask, John kills Claire, John kills all those other guys. In a standard 22-page story, Nitz has already written what could be, like, half of a mini-series in another writer's hands. And the high concept is a complicated thing, a mask that somehow transfers the memories of dead people into its wearer's mind so said wearer can avenge their deaths. By sticking us right into John's head after the mask takes control, though, Nitz gets this new and large idea across to the reader efficiently, and in a way that also always propels the narrative forward. John never sits still to consider the implications of what's happening to him, because he's too busy covering it up from the rest of the world.
     For all the awesome writing from Nitz, though, Greg Smallwood earns most of the credit for Dream Thief #1, if only on the basis that all of the visuals---art, colors, and letters---are his work. And he impresses in all three areas. His stuff is moody and stylized but still down-to-earth, with figures and backgrounds that are equally realistic and detailed. His cast is expressive and consistent, everyone distinct and recognizable from their first appearances. Really, in terms of the characters, Smallwood delivers rock solid but not astounding artwork. But his layouts are inventive, and used for maximum effect, most notably in the scene when John first wakes up with the mask on. We get a page where the panels form a question mark followed by one where they're an exclamation point, but the images escape the borders of these shapes, too, heightening the drama and making the panels themselves a background. Then, immediately, there is a tremendous two-page spread done in all black and red and with curved, warped panels borders. These pages represent dreams or memories, so they reflect that visually, and the result is as surprising as it is beautiful as it is haunting.
     Smallwood does a lot of good color stuff, too, sometimes reminiscent of Tonci Zonjic in Who is Jake Ellis? where whole pages are done in a wash of yellow or blue. At other times, though, the colors are more true-to-life, and they're always carefully chosen and emotive. Even in the lettering, Smallwood does good stuff, with John's narration done in white text on top of stark black captions, and his father's letter popping up in chunks of lined yellow paper and handwriting. The best bit of lettering, though, is when John attacks his drug dealer. I don't know how to describe it, exactly, but basically the bubble letters of the battle sound effects have small but detailed visual flourishes in them that are just delightful.
     I can't say enough good stuff about this debut, and could not be more excited for the four chapters to follow. I haven't been so fully blown away by a single issue in a good long while.
10/10

Pull List Review: Twelve Reasons to Die #1

There is some definite ambition here, and that always counts for something. And the art is very good, and surprisingly cohesive considering the number of different artists. Breno Tamura and Gus Storms draw the two main stories, with Kyle Strahm and Joe Infurnari each handling a few shorter scenes, and they all have their own unique styles, but there's a clear common ground between them, too. The art is consistently a little gritty and a little loose.
     The opening story, presumably titled "The Lead Years" (the titles of each section are only named on the inside cover credits page, so I have to assume they go in the order they're listed, more or less), is Tamura's, and is the sketchiest, artistically, though not in a bad way. His lines are jagged and jittery, which matches the fluidity of the storytelling. The narrative is told is a pretty rushed manner in this section, all caption boxes summarizing things past. That's a weakness, but the art makes it a bit stronger, with its sense of constant motion pushing the story forward.
     The story itself is tired old material about a new crime family's rise to power. There's not a new idea to be found here, just the same old "We did crime better than the criminals we replaced," bullshit as always. Until the end when, surprise surprise, an even younger and newer criminal makes a move against them. Though the move he makes is brutal and inventive in its violence, and drawn with what felt like just the right amount of excess gore by Tamura, it's still expected. And because it is the ending of the story (which is only eleven pages long) it doesn't lead us anywhere yet. So not a lot of reason to come back to this particular story, really, since everything that happens here is formulaic and dull.
     There is then a four-page horror scene that I have to assume is the "Flashback 1" credited to Kyle Strahm. It's the best part of the issue, a standalone short that's effectively disturbing. I have no idea what the hell a guy getting killed by wolves (or maybe they're monsters?) in the middle of a flock of sheep has to do with the larger story of this series, but I enjoyed this interlude thoroughly all the same. Strahm does fear really well, and creepy animals even better, and that's essentially all there is to this piece. A terrified, jumpy dude confronts a bunch of creepy animals and gets devoured for it. Straightforward but haunting material.
     Finally, there is the last story, "The Dead Years," drawn mostly by Gus Storms with, I believe, the final few pages counting as "Flashback 2" by Joe Infurnari. Again, this is speculation based on the clues given on the credits page, so if I am fucking up who did what, apologies all around.
     This story is certainly fresher than the opener, but ultimately it still doesn't hook me. A young man buys a rare record for an older, wealthy gentleman whose face we aren't allowed to see all of for some frustrating reason. The older man then reveals the record is one of several he intends to collect, all of which were somehow connected to the deaths of their owners. That's an alright concept with definite potential, but the idea is so barely and briefly introduced here. There are too many pages of the younger guy getting and delivering the record, by the time we find out what makes it valuable, whammo, the issue is over. Who the old man is, why he wants the records, how he knows how many there are, and what they even exactly have to do with people's deaths is all still unknown. If one of those questions had been answered, even, this might have been a more satisfying first taste, but as is it feels like a teaser trailer for a story that might be good in its entirety, but might well not.
     On the art side, Storms has the smoothest lines and calmest art overall, though there is still a certain sketchiness to it in places. Not everyone always looks the same from one panel to the next,  and there are places where the background details are left a bit undefined, although that's not always the case. Storms' work is right for his part of the issue, to be sure, as it is the most subdued portion of the narrative as well.
     The final scene is of the old man discovering the first record in his bizarre collection, which played while his friend was killed by a swarm of bees or hornets or some kind of stinging insect. Infurnari's pencils are the angriest, heavy and thick chaotic. Perfect for drawing an attacking insect swarm, but the rest of the imagery feels a tad over-aggressive. Also, it's not laid out ideally, with some important panels being given too little space so that the events of the insect attack aren't immediately obvious. Nothing terrible or impossible to make out, but the weakest and ugliest pencils of the bunch.
     The whole issue is written by Matthew Rosenberg and Patrick Kindlon, though the project was created by Ghostface Killah and Adrian Younge, and is a companion piece to their new album, I guess. The story is credited to Younge, Rosenberg, and Ce Garcia, so obviously a lot of different creative minds are involved. Even so, there's a lack of originality and detail in these stories that underwhelms. Flashes of cool concepts and the beginnings of somewhat intriguing narratives are here, but nothing meaty enough to make me need to come back for more.
     Yet Twelve Reasons to Die is trying to be different, just not always succeeding, and it's trying to be daring, too, which goes a long way with me. Plus it looks good all the way through, even those pages I liked less than others. There's nothing to bemoan here, but nothing to celebrate, either. A debut that didn't grab me, nor did it send me running.
5.5/10

Pull List Review: Thor: God of Thunder #8

This book continues to be fantastic. Jason Aaron seems to feel the same way about Thor as I do: go big or go home. His top priority, far as I can tell, is making this story as epic and grandiose as possible, and it is definitely working for him. A bomb made of destroyed moons, planets, and stars that can kill every god in existence isn't even the most insane bit of badassery in this issue. No, that would be young Thor smacking current Thor in the face with a space shark. Right there, that's worth the cost of admission alone.
     Aaron is having fun with the character, even in the midst of a dark tale about a merciless butcher of immortals. The interplay between the three different Thors continues to be smooth and contain a lot of heart and humor, and each of them has a distinct voice and attitude. I also liked how the narration called them "Thor Odinson of the Viking Age," "Thor the Avenger," and "King Thor." It's nice wording, with the youngest Thor defined by his age, the middle one his job, and the last his status. The third-person narrator had a lot of smart, well-chosen wording, even if one or two places might've gone a shade too purple with the prose. In general, the narrative captions only deepened the sense of how important and, again, downright epic this story is.
     This issue's main goal, plot-wise, was to bring young Thor together with his future selves. But it did so by having him first do something characteristically brave, dangerous, and heroic. He attacks the godbomb, expecting to sacrifice himself in the process, and in order to pull that off he first summons a powerful storm on Gorr's world, something which previously seemed impossible. Even without his hammer or the experience of age, Thor is portrayed as one of the boldest and mightiest of gods. Yet all he's doing is lashing back against an enemy who's already defeated and captured him. Gorr remains as imposing and impressive a villain as ever, even though he doesn't actually do or even appear much this issue. His brainwashed child, the crucifixion of innumerable gods, and the plan of the godbomb itself all represent the scope of his evil and madness, so he doesn't need to appear on the page for his presence to permeate the issue.
     Esad Ribic is still the perfect choice for this title, because of the very epicness I keep referring to. He does grand scale action better than most, and his Thors are properly looming and muscular and regal in their manner. He adds a lot of nice, almost hidden detail to the many other gods he draws this issue, too. And there are a lot of memorable panels, but the single best has got to be the half-page of Thor wiping out Gorr's minions with a literal rain of lighting. You can almost feel it, and it's an image that captures the essence of Thor as a character as well as everything I am loving about this run.
     I have said this before, but there are times when Ribic's faces bother me. The eyes and mouths have a tendency to take on a fishlike quality in moments of great excitement, shock, or anger. And that's true here, more than once, but I am trying to learn to look past it as much as possible. It is only a tiny quibble, and it's not as if it makes the pictures significantly worse or inaccurate, even, necessarily. Just not my style, and I notice it every time.
     But otherwise, I have no major complaints about Ribic's artwork. He's been a reliably fitting artist for this title since its launch, and colorist Ive Svorcina has done a damn good job coloring his work since issue #2. This issue, the colors are particularly well-done in the scene of the gods meeting around a fire. The way Svorcina does the wash of orange light over everything is obvious and simple, but deceptively nuanced, too, for the sake of realism. The atmospheric mood is key to that scene's success, and Svorcina is the one who delivers it.
     Very fine work from everyone involved, which has been the norm for Thor: God of Thunder. Probably time for me to stop reviewing it until I have something to say other than, "This rocks!" But it fucking rocks, y'all.
8.5/10

Pull List Review: Hawkeye #10

Francesco Francavilla can draw all the comicbooks. I mean no, obviously that would make his distinctive style less distinctive but...damn, what a talent. I'm just going to provide a quick list of all the things that wowed me about the visuals of Hawkeye #10 because that seems more efficient than trying to talk about them in paragraph form:
1. As always with Francavilla, the colors were amazing, in particular the way he uses them to light the scenes. When Kate and Kazi are at their most intimate, he is lit in dull blue and her in soft pink, displaying their differences but still unifying them in the intimacy of the moment.
2. Speaking of that intimate moment, Francavilla has an incredible skill for getting across the tense calm of this kind of situation, where one character is a mystery and/or threat to the other. It reminded me of some of the James Gordon, Jr. stuff he did with Scott Snyder on Detective Comics. Lots of very close shots and panels of silence to add layers and pregnant pauses to the tension.
3. The shattered glass layouts of pages 8 and 9. All the layouts were typically dynamic and inventive for Francavilla, but that one-two punch hit harder than the rest.
4. The entire look of Kazi/The Clown. Chilling and sad in the perfect doses.
     So the art, as I expected, was spectacular. Did Matt Fraction's script rise to that challenge?
     It absolutely did. Firstly, Fraction was smart enough to take a step back in many places and let Francavilla run the show. Clipped dialogue, scenes of silence, conversations that we only get parts of here because we've seen them in other issues. There is as careful a use of space in the script as there is in the art, and it creates a very unified whole.
     The story is essentially a character study and origin story for Kazi, a villain with a somewhat typical history but a perfect personality and approach to be a nemesis for the Hawkeyes. He is humorless, detached, always cool and collected. Neither Kate nor Clint fit that description. They're wise-cracking street-level good guys with heart. He's a heartless sociopathic assassin.
     Fraction and Francavilla give Kazi an epic yet fairly quiet entrance onto the Hawkeye stage. It's a tight, crisp, intelligent issue with a shifting chronology, fascinating central character, and an ending that shocks even though it's a spoiled reveal. Applause, y'all. As solid a showing as this series has offered yet.
7.5/10

Pull List Review: Dial H #12

Dial H #12 is a dizzying read, but in a way that mostly works. China Miéville's script never takes much of a pause, speeding from a fight to a chase to another, bigger fight that also introduces a whole new seven-person team to the cast. There are definitely glossed-over details as a result, with the new characters especially, who at this stage are more like one big group character than a team of distinct individuals. Still, on the whole the story works because there's a lot of humor and action to it, both of which are aided by the pacing. The reader has a chance to get just as overwhelmingly swept up in the issue's events as Nelson and Roxie, and if you let yourself go along for the ride, there is quite a bit to enjoy. It isn't the most well-put-together comicbook available, because its approach is too slapdash for that. But it is knowingly, intentionally so, and that attitude, when embraced so completely, does more good for this series than harm.
     The book has always been zany, and to some extent its been about the inherent zaniness of the superhero genre. So here we have that same lens applied to a meet-the-team story, where the group that's introduced is about as madcap and silly as you could hope for. Nonsensical names, goofy power sets, bizarre looks, and the ever-changing nature of the group because of their use of dials make The Dial Bunch—aka Team Adventitious aka The Junkyard Posse—immediately entertaining and amusing. They are an addition to be excited by, because it's a fitting time for this book's cast and world to expand. Now that The Fixer has been established as a new, bigger-than-ever-before threat, having the good guys get larger and more powerful makes sense. And we've been with only Nelson and Roxie for so long, fresh blood is welcome. When Roxie first came onto the scene, there was a lot of material to be found in learning her backstory and discovering what she already knew about the dials. Now there are seven new characters who will also have their own histories and personal experiences with the dials, and they clearly already know more about what's happening than the established protagonists. So the potential for them to deepen Nelson and Roxie's (and, by extension, the readers') understanding of and control over the dials' power is enormous.
     For now, though, they arrive only to temporarily save the day, ganging up on The Fixer and The Centipede with a clear team harmony, sending the villains back to wherever The Fixer comes from. It is a high-octane battle with a lot of players, several of whom change their physical appearance in the middle of it, some more than once. That's a tall order for penciler Alberto Ponticelli, but he largely pulls it off. Though some of the exact workings of the story are confused by the artwork, the actual fighting is all done well, and Ponticelli does much more consistent work with the cast than usual. Nelson and Roxie still have panels here and there where they look wildly different from themselves, but not as many as there have been in previous issues. All of The Fixer's many looks, as well as those of the entire Dial Bunch, are really impressive and detailed and fun. Ponticelli has a clear knack for character design, and seems to enjoy it, giving a lot of life and energy even to characters who only get a panel or two. And they all have unique abilities which, even if we don't know exactly what they all actually do, always look great, and that counts for a lot.
     There is a fair deal of portal opening and closing, and that is where the art becomes a tad muddied for me. I think there must be two portals open at one point, but Ponticelli never makes the layout clear, and there's not enough help from Miéville's dialogue to clarify or explain what exactly is going on. The portals themselves look neat, as if the walls are being pulled open like curtains, but where they are and precisely how they work is indecipherable. But that's just a tiny annoyance, a plot point that's not as strong as it could be but holds up well enough to get the job done.
     I'm firmly in a place of being re-jazzed about this title, because it seems to be moving away from it's slightly darker era and back toward the outlandish hilarity it once focused on. Add to that general shift this month's introduction of a whole slew of new characters, all of whom look great, and there's plenty to be excited about. Ponticelli's artwork seems to be finding itself at last, going big and broad and just plain silly as often as possible, and Miéville's writing is playful and snappy again instead of feeling garbled or awkward. Oh, yeah, and Open-Window Man was perfect, a totally sincere and capable superhero who just happens to have an absurd appearance and a name to match. Can't wait to see more from him, or any of his allies.
6.5/10

Pull List Review: Journey Into Mystery #651

I haven't had this much pure, childlike fun reading a comicbook in ages. Even if you have no interest in following this series, I highly recommend picking up this issue, because Kathryn Immomen uses it to tell, rather than the beginnings of a new Sif story, a self-contained Asgardia story. It pays off handsomely. A relatively low-stakes but nevertheless significant threat turns up in the form of a released Fenris Wolf, and the noble warriors and gods of Asgardia must rein him in while still wearing their pajamas. A lot of excellent characterization and artwork make the humor of this issue incredibly effective, and there's plenty of it, too. Seriously one of the most enjoyable comics I've come across in some time.
     I suspect "Deal with thine pants!" is going to be the most adored and talked-about line, and deservedly so. It got a raucous laugh from me. I also loved Volstagg's snoring noises, and most of all his relationship with daughter Hilde. Essentially, she ignores everything he says while he hears her every word, which is a perfect father-daughter dynamic. It's also the foundation for one of the funniest, simplest throughlines of the issue: Volstagg tells Hilde to go back to bed, but she doesn't. This happens like four or five times, but always with the right amount of brevity and humanity to keep it from growing old. That's not easy to do with a repetitious gag like this, but Immomen has no trouble.
     I also appreciated that Sif, ostensibly still the current star of this title, got to stand out in the ensemble of this issue. She shoots down brusquely the notion that she and Thor are together, stands up to the Fenris Wolf more boldly than anyone, and just generally seems to be the most level-headed member of the group. While the men are eager for the fight, Sif says they shouldn't wreak havoc within Asgardia, and is smart enough to ask where Fenris' magical leash is now. So she owns all of her moments, even if the issue overall is shared.
     The best part about Sif, though, is that she spends the entire time in a nightie (since everyone has their PJ's on) yet artist Pepe Larraz never makes her into a sex object. The outfit covers her completely, and she wears it into battle as comfortably and confidently as if it were armor. Even the panel where part of it is torn is used more for the effect of battle damage than as an excuse to show some skin. That's a rarity in mainstream superhero books, and I was glad to see Larraz take this approach. Sif has never been one much for cleavage or exposed midriffs, and seeing that carried over to her sleepwear is refreshing.
     Larraz does really great work with everyone. A few enormous panels allow Fenris' size to be fully captured. Hati is an adorable and very lifelike young dog, even with the fire breath. And the general tone is one of lightness and constant motion. The story never really takes a breath, and so the art rolls along with it, everyone always moving, even during scenes of conversation. Hilde telling Volstagg about what's going down could easily have been a series of talking heads, but instead it is a highly animated scene of sandwich-making, collar-grabbing, and similar exaggerated action. This perpetual mobility in the images helps maintain the bouncy pace of the narrative, and amplifies the humor as well.
     An unexpected break from the darker and more violent issues that came before, Journey Into Mystery #651 is a deeply impressive and entertaining read. While Immomen has always had a lot of fun on this title, this was the first time she really cut loose and delivered a script that reads like an episode of an Asgardian sitcom. Based on this, I'd watch that show repeatedly, and though I know this isn't going to be the norm for this book moving forward, I hope it takes the time to do this again, even occasionally, in the future. But whether or not that happens, I'll always have this wonderful, highly re-readable issue.
8.5/10

Pull List Review: The Answer! #4

This would have been a much better issue if it wasn't supposed to be the last of a series. I get the feeling Dennis Hopeless and Mike Norton wanted more space to tell this story, and certainly the ending indicates that they have hopes for either a sequel or an ongoing series to follow this. But because there's no promise that'll happen, this issue is forced to try and bring things to a conclusion, and the results are jumbled at best.
     There's an awful lot of dismissive half-explanations and people saying something "doesn't matter" when, in fact, it totally matters. Chip, presumably the main villain, shows up out of nowhere to info dump on Devin, the protagonist. But what he tells Devin is confusing, half-finished, and undoes a lot of the preceding story. Turns out the Brain Trust that recruited Devin isn't even real, although I'm not sure what that means since obviously there are a bunch of real people there who are really working on things and taking weird mind-enhancing drugs and so on. In some convoluted way, though, the Brain Trust is just a branch of or front for Chip's Apeiron, an evil organization devoted, according to Chip, to specifically hunting down Devin. Why would they care so much about one individual, you ask? Because of some ridiculous backstory tying her to Chip from years ago that gets inserted into the narrative quite forcibly. When she was eight, Devin accidentally unlocked the secret to some magical equation that opens a rift in existence leading...somewhere. Chip witnessed Devin's inadvertent discovery way back when, and has been hunting her ever since to try and get her to do it again. In his delusional mind, entering the rift will grant him power or a new life or...something. I'm not 100% sure what he thinks it will accomplish, honestly, because as unnaturally expository as most of his dialogue is, it still doesn't supply a lot of concrete information.
     We do finally see the face of The Answer's ally, Jay, only to learn that he, too, is involved in this adventure because of what Devin did as a child. Jay was the only person other than Chip to witness it, and just as Chip's been tracking Devin down, Jay's been protecting her in the years that followed. Which is alright as far as it goes, but also makes Jay kind of creepy, something Devin even points out, understandably disturbed by the notion of someone secretly watching her for her entire life. What Jay cannot do is answer any of the innumerable questions about The Answer, such as who he is or how he comes back from the dead so quickly. Which means that the title freaking character, who's name is literally The Answer, remains as mysterious as he was when he first saw him.
     Maybe that's the point? "Haha, his name is The Answer but we don't answer anything about him." And I'm down with that, whether it's intentional or not. He's an enigma with an ironic name, and keeping his identity and powers obscured is arguably the best and biggest joke of the series. But it would feel like a stronger decision if the rest of the story had stuck the landing. With all the rushed and incomplete wrap-up work that fills this issue, ignoring The Answer just comes across as unavoidable. They didn't even have space to conclude the plot satisfactorily, so how could they be expected to explain every character?
     There are some clear pacing problems, too. The dramatic climax comes at just the right moment, where Devin reopens the rift and The Answer has his showdown with Chip, and there is a natural wind down afterward when Devin meets Jay. But then the very last scene is a jarring second action sequence where Devin's library is blown up, a team of heavily-armed dudes shows up to nab her again, and she and The Answer handily defeat them. I can see that the idea here is to show Devin coming into her own, using her new-found rift-opening abilities actively to defend herself against those who would use her for evil. Which is a great thing for her to do...if I'm ever going to see her again. I mean, it's not a terrible or illogical place to have her character end up at the close of this mini-series either, but it reads much more like the end of an arc that will launch into the next one than a true finale. Devin, Jay, and The Answer are fully a team now that Devin knows who's after her and (to some extent) why, so now it's time for them to have their next adventure, right? Certainly that seems to be what Hopeless and Norton have in mind, and I'm rooting for them to get their wish, but I would've preferred it if they'd still treated this issue as the last. There are just way too many questions remaining, mysteries half-solved and loose ends dangling freely. This is not, by any stretch, a bad comic, but it is a weak and rushed last issue.
     Norton still brings it on the art, though, which has been a strength of the title all along. When Chip has Devin visualize herself battling a giant squid, Norton renders the animal in all its terrifying enormity. The library explosion looks great, and I got a damn good chuckle out of The Answer jumping a motorcycle through the smoke while machine-gunning a bunch of the baddies. And though plot details were confusing, none of the action ever was. Norton is a mighty fine visual storyteller, and not one shred of that is lost here, even if the story itself wasn't up to snuff. Most importantly, Devin was perfect on every page as always, her bravery and intelligence coming through powerfully in the art, starting with the very first page, which is a splash of a close-up on her face. She's the real reason to read this book, and Norton appreciates that fact and gives her the appropriate level of detail and depth.
     I liked this series a lot, and I want to see more of it. I want to have my questions answered and have the answers I've been given clarified. I want to spend more time with Devin and The Answer both, either together or separately. And so, I suppose inasmuch as it left me wanting more, this issue was a success. But it was not successful in providing any sense of closure to the story it told.
5.0/10

Pull List Review: The Black Beetle: No Way Out #3

Surprise, surprise, this comic looks amazing. Francesco Francavilla is pouring himself into this series, and every page glows. The visual highlight is easily the fistfight Black Beetle has with a trio of thugs in an alleyway, where the action is so big and bold that the pages literally cannot contain all of it. So the sound effects are in panels that get cut off by the borders of the comicbook itself, while the carefully choreographed combat takes center stage and always looks incredibly fluid and bold. Right before that fight begins, there is a page that does sort of the opposite thing, breaking two static images up into a number of panels. It is the tense calm before the storm, where every second feels like a minute, and then when the tension breaks it bursts wide open, spilling out beyond the edges of the world in which it's contained.
     The very opening page is also intelligently laid out, a grid of tiny panels with musical notes running underneath, showing us a series of stolen moments from a typical lounge/club scene before the amazing two-page title card spread that follows and reveals the club in all of its atmospherically-lit glory. It is a strong opening beat that pulls you right in with its details and warmth, both of which are maintained right until the end of the issue. Perhaps the most notable example other than the very beginning is when Black Beetle is standing in the Colt City medical examiner's office. The eerie lighting of the room and rich, realistic anatomical pictures put the reader on edge while simultaneously welcoming them in. That whole scene, actually, has that effect, getting under your skin but also daring you to look away. It all builds up to the exciting final splash of Black Beetle tearing off in his car, a huge, block-lettered VROOM effect trailing on the road behind his vehicle. It serves as both the issue's final beat and an excellent standalone image of the character, capturing his sense of adventure and pulp look exactly.
     On the story side of things, The Black Beetle: No Way Out #3 is a bitter lighter than the previous chapters have been. There is basically only a single plot point introduced in this issue, the fact that one of the supposedly dead criminals from issue #1 is, in fact, still alive and in hiding. This is a significant detail, and sets everything up for what will become the final confrontation next time, but it is such a simple and straightforward truth, discovered in an equally simple manner, that when I hit that amazing final page I was surprised I'd reached the issue's conclusion. It felt like it was only getting started, and then it ended. But this is the penultimate installment of the mini-series, so having me anxious to see the resolution is probably exactly what it wants to accomplish. In that regard, I guess the pacing of this issue is a success, but I still would've liked a bit more narrative meat.
     Instead of filling in the plot, Francavilla takes some time to lean into the tropes of the genre he's emulating, and that he does quite well. Black Beetle makes an "easy way or hard way" offer to the thugs before he beats them up. There's a somewhat cliched sultry lounge singer in the beginning that he flirts with. Even the notion of a villain faking his death is a well-worn idea. I go back and forth on whether or not Francavilla is relying too heavily on these immediately recognizable details, but ultimately I think that if you want to do an homage to an entire era/style of storytelling, you may as well go big or go home. Francavilla ain't going home, and I wouldn't want him to.
     So perhaps airier than usual, but no less artistically stunning, easy to follow, or fun. And even if the script was on the fluffy side, it left me eager to see the story's conclusion, wishing I was racing toward it with the same speed as our protagonist on the closing page. A consistently triumphant book continues to impress.
7.0/10

Pull List Review: X-Factor #254

I love Tier. He's a bit predictable, maybe, but he's also a kid in the middle of a fight between immortals, so I can understand his being overwhelmed by a few especially strong emotions. Fear, confusion, anxiety, shame, and above all a desire to see this whole mess end. Unfortunately, I am starting to wish the same thing, because aside from some strong characterization for Tier, X-Factor #254 falls flat and fully deflates what was already a not-so-amazing story arc.
     The Hell Lords fighting each other makes up six whole pages of material, and all of it feels like boring filler. When they "kill" each other, there isn't any actual death, just a gaining of power over one another. Worse, though, is that we've been given no reason to care one way or the other who wins their little struggle. They are all evil gods, so pick one and get on with it, because everyone else is damned no matter what. Except, of course, this takes place in a shared universe, so even the havoc wreaked by the Hell Lords fighting is bound to be undone by the time the story ends, which lowers the stakes even further. Don't get me wrong, I am pulling for Marvel allowing Peter David to genuinely and permanently destroy Times Square in his peculiar little X-book, but that just isn't how it's done. There's likely a reset of some kind on the horizon.
     There are hiccups in the rest of the script, too. Shatterstar insists there is no time to talk about Tier's reluctance to kill, and teleports the team away before Rahne can respond. But then the next thing they do is have that very conversation, now standing in the middle of a recently-demolished Times Square. Why would arriving there lessen the urgency of what they're doing? I guess the idea is a new location means they aren't so likely to be found, or something along those lines, because Polaris says she doesn't think it's safe to stay where they are. But if that's the case, it's unclear. And the final beat is not a natural stopping point; I honestly did not realized I'd reached the end until I turned the page and saw the ad for next issue. It feels like it needed one more scene, or even one more page of the scene it ended on. Instead we get Monet and Guido up in the air, mere seconds away from somebody landing the first blow, and dialogue that's way too long to be delivered in such a short amount of time. Just an awkward landing, not terrible or uninteresting, but abrupt at best.
     I don't mean to give the impression that this is a terrible comicbook. Peter David at his most rushed and sloppiest still has strong dialogue, moves his story forward, and stays true to his cast. And Leonard Kirk is doing excellent work, actually adding some life to the less interesting moments. The full page of Mephisto slaying Satannish is excellent, a painful gutshot delivered with a horribly wide and satisfied grin. And I love Madrox's demon look, most of all when he leaps off of Guido's shoulder. There's actually an exorbitant amount of people diving into combat like that. Guido, Rahne, Monet, and Jezebel all do it as well. Not a complaint nor a compliment, just something I noticed that tickled me.
     Kirk also adds a lot to the great work David's doing with Tier. The opening page of him and Rahne is very touching and understated, as well as being perfectly lit by colorist Matt Milla. Tier stands out against the pale blue background even though he's still done in soft shades, because of both Kirk's careful emotional work and Milla's deliberate choices. And there are far more panels of action than not, which Kirk tackles deftly. Lots of motion to his fights, obvious progression and varied angles. Again, it adds to the duller moments and amplifies the stronger ones.
     My one gripe about the art is that Monet looks really weird on the last two pages, bulky in the body and strained in the face. I mean she's strong and furious, so it's not entirely inappropriate, but she just looked uncomfortable in her own skin, which is very much not true of the character. But it's only two pages, and even then it is just Monet---Guido looks spot on in the final splash. Kirk has always been a reliable artist for this series, and overall that doesn't change here.
     It's too bad that "Hell on Earth War" has lost any remaining steam now, because I think there are only two chapters left, so they've got a fairly steep uphill battle in front of them. It's not that X-Factor is any less entertaining, but it has become less interesting, and perhaps less sure of itself than usual. David can still write the hell out of his main lineup, and Kirk carries some serious weight, but it's not enough to raise this issue up to snuff.
4.5/10

Pull List Review: Dark Avengers #189

One issue from the finish line, Jeff Parker gets to have some ludicrous fun as he prepares to bring this title to a close. What I most like about Dark Avengers is that its total isolation from the rest of the Marvel U means the stakes are relatively low, but in a way that's freeing. Because all of the bad guys are just alternate reality good guys, and the primary good guys are real-world bad guys, it's easy to avoid getting overly wrapped up in plot details and, instead, let yourself go along for a wild and entertaining ride. Not that the details are missing or contradictory or anything, but Parker embraces and celebrates how little this title "matters" by being as zany as he pleases. Tony Stark is a brain in a floating bubble living inside his Iron Man suit. The Thing wants Reed Richards dead more than anything, but refuses to do it himself because they're best friends. Dr. Strange's torso literally eats Iron Fist. It eats him.
     If there is a problem here, it's that the supposed main cast of the book mean almost nothing. Moonstone, as she has always been, is an exception. Her confident personality and leadership shine though, and she continues to be the only character whose fate concerns me. Even Skaar, while I am warming to him, could definitely get left behind in this dark world and I wouldn't miss him. The rest of the team continue to underwhelm, even though the fight they're in is highly enjoyable. They could be any collection of super-people right now, doubly true because they're teamed up with a group of heroes from another reality. There is, however, some solid work done with Ragnorok, who finally wakes up so he can tear Iron Man apart and then, briefly but effectively, expresses a lack of self-identity. It's an interesting route to take with this character, who has always been the poor man's Thor and, now, seems to want to step out of that shadow and make a name for himself. And it looks like he might get that wish when, at the end of the issue, he grabs the Mjolnir of this world's Thor and transforms into...something or someone amazing. It's possible I am meant to recognize the character he becomes, but I don't, yet I'm no less interested to see what he does next. It could've been quite the gripping final page if it wasn't punctuated by a seriously anti-climatic panel of some A.I.M. ships floating around. But one weak beat at the end doesn't ruin what is generally a good time of a superhero action frolic.
     Neil Edwards is still on pencils, and seems to be having as much fun as Parker. I especially enjoyed the stretched-to-his-limits Reed Richards, flopping around as Skaar reluctantly pummels him. The best of the issue's many brawls, though, was Ragnorok vs. Iron Man, a great contrast between a man who just regained his life and one who long ago abandoned his in favor of becoming robotic. Plus it's so gratifying to watch the most dickheaded version of Iron Man ever get torn apart like tin foil.
     I also really liked the effect of having the Dr. Strange vs. everyone and Skaar vs. Richards fights each take up half of a page, above and below one another. It allowed you to either read each page as a whole or read directly across the top line and then the bottom line as you choose, which was a cool and simple thing to do. Unfortunately, the panels had to be very small, and some clarity was lost in the Dr. Strange fight. I'm fairly certain, after reading it something like 6 times, that USAgent deflect a blast of Strange's by tossing his shield the right way after covering it in webbing. This makes the blast hit and kill Clea, so Strange wigs out, but it doesn't matter because by then Ai Apaec has had enough time to jump onto Strange's body and fill him with fatal poison. Why the shield needed webbing, though, is still unknown to me, and I'm not 100% on Strange's powers being rerouted to take out Clea. That's really just a best guess.
     But hey, that's just the top half of two pages, and even then the characters are consistent and detailed, it's just that their actions are a tad unclear. Overall, the issue is just much fun in its pictures as its words. Not the smoothest ride in the world, but no potholes too deep to get out of, either. I'll definitely miss this series when it ends next month, because even without caring that deeply about all of the characters, I love the larger story. And it feels like Parker and Edwards do, too, that they're enjoying their time in this bizarre reality. It's a playful comic hanging out beyond the borders of continuity, and the world needs more of those types of books, not less.
6.5/10

Pull List Review: Wonder Woman #19

About three pages into this issue, I was bored, and that boredom never stopped. So I thought about it for a few minutes, and realized that I'm generally bored with Wonder Woman right now as a series. I can remember being excited by it long ago, and I can't say for certain when I lost my interest, but it's been a while since I felt particularly invested in anything happening in this story. There are several reasons for this, each of them exemplified in their own way in this issue.
     There is the commonly-acknowledge problem of Diana's lack of personality, as well as her passivity. Now, there is a moment in this issue where it almost seems like writer Brian Azzarello could improve both of those points, but then he flubs it at the end. Orion's been overbearingly sexist and idiotic since he showed up, though, admittedly, in a way I think works and provides some solid humor at times. This time out, he makes a wisecrack or two insinuating Diana is sexually interested her half-brother Lennox, and for once she responds in appropriately dramatic fashion, by threatening to tear his genitals off. She kisses him first, to distract him, I guess, while she gets close, but it's a very long and awkward kiss that serves little purpose. But it gets brushed aside quickly when we discover her true intentions, and it's quite satisfying to have Orion finally be put in his place. It is also a flare up of activity and attitude from Wonder Woman that we rarely see in her own book, and for a page or two everything is great, with Orion making another jackass comment and getting decked in the face for it. Things get lame again quickly, though, when his reaction is to storm off and quit the little team Diana had assembled, which she silently lets him do. She looks amazed when he boom tubes away, stunned and scared and sad. Yet she makes absolutely no effort to keep him from leaving, though there is plenty of time to do or say any number of things. This is indicative of Azzarello's whole take on the character, which is basically that she can be a badass when he wants to splash some of that into his pages, but is otherwise mostly a set piece that happens to share a name with the book's title.
     She's not even in most of the issue, which is more about The First Born getting his sword back from Poseidon after they have a dull negotiation in which everyone gets exactly what they want. I mean yes, technically The First Born sacrificed a chance to invade the seas and hell, but he gets his weapon and his armies returned with no hassle so he can run off and attack the heavens. Which brings me to another thing that bores me about this title: The First Born as a character. How one-note can a villain be? And it's not even all that interesting a note, just rage rage rage against the gods. It is ceaseless and unwavering, i.e. he never changes or grows or does anything the least bit unexpected. And the pace of his progress is ridiculously slow. He's been off on this weird introductory side adventure for so long, and yet I feel no excitement at the idea of him finally being integrated into the main storyline. He hasn't hooked me yet, and he's had ample time.
     Lastly, we have the rest of the gods, who Azzarello obviously loves and finds brilliant, but come across to me as a band of kids playing grown-up and doing it badly. All the attempts at clever dialogue wind up as cutesy puns, and for their incessant talk of power, they do so very little. I can't think of anything the gods do more than hang around by the pool drinking, which accounts for multiple pages this month as well. It's the world's dullest soap opera when they're the book's focus, and just as slow-moving and one-note as any of The First Born's material. Here again, it's all about the same prophecy and capturing the same baby as it has been since the very first issue almost two years ago, now. It was a fine if not entirely original hook at the start, but it doesn't have the legs for this distance, and almost every sentence from Apollo, Dionysus, and Artemis (who really goes by Moon in this series) is the same bland "we've got to stop this kid" as always. Blander, even, than usual, because the characters themselves seem a little tired of talking about it.
     The issue looked pretty good. Tony Akins and Goran Sudžuka go well together, so the shifts in art were never jarring. I quite liked the look of the smaller catfish-squid-thing Poseidon that lives inside of his sea monster body. It complimented the larger form without copying it, and was generally very detailed and lifelike. And after Diana punches Orion his face gets super weird, like he ages suddenly or something, and again there was a lot of minute detail in the linework and loads of seething emotion coming from Orion. Nothing was ever unclear, the backgrounds were full and rich, and all the characters looked like themselves on every page. So definitely a solid book, visually. It actually seemed like the most polished work Akins has delivered on this series, since he tends to be a bit more sketchy. I don't know if it was being paired with Sudžuka specifically or just having fewer pages to do or what, but there was none of the roughness Akins sometimes brings to the table.
     But even when it was at its most beautiful, Wonder Woman #19 never grabbed my attention. It didn't even feel like it wanted my attention, except arguably during the gimmicky and absurd kiss. Yet another DC title that feels more worth abandoning every time I consider it. Azzarello is doing his thing, and doing it well. But his thing isn't doing it for me.
3.5/10

Pull List Review: Archer & Armstrong #9

I haven't reviewed this book in several months, and the main reason for that is that Archer & Armstrong feels to me like one of the steadiest, most reliable books I read. Not a lot of new stuff to say. The quality never jumps up or dives down. The story and characters keep on trucking and bringing me back every issue without having yet won any wild adoration from me. The art is consistent and clear. It's not at the top of my list at all, but it's equally far from the bottom, a beautiful but not load-bearing column in the building of my comicbook collection.
     Archer & Armstrong #9 marks the end of an arc, and is a satisfying if slightly easy win for our heroes. Easy only in the sense that, in the pages of this particular issue, all we see is the good guys' have things start to swing in their direction and continue to ramp up to a victory. Right out the gate, Kay McHenry is visited by the spirits of past geomancers, which leads to her gaining a much more comprehensive understanding of her powers and the purpose of geomancers in general. So in a very sudden, off-screen moment of immense power, Kay shuts down The Null's entire plan by literally rewriting the way the world works. Then, just as suddenly, Archer's consciousness reappears within his mind and he rids himself of The Last Enemy, an agent of The Null who inhabited Archer's body at the very end of last month's issue. These rapid solutions are arguably a bit unearned, inasmuch as they amount to "my powers are good enough to win" versus them being some brilliant, last-minute tactical decision that saves the day. But these are both characters who have been struggling to identify and understand themselves since their respective introductions, so having them wrap up this storyline with moments of self-realization/actualization is actually quite fitting.
     All of our heroes get a chance to shine by fulfilling some inevitable actions. Armstrong saves his brother, finally able to fully put aside their differences. And Gilad in turn not only lets himself trust Archer but goes so far as to provide some helpful information for the boy's larger quest (i.e. setting up the next arc). Fred Van Lente has been constructing a very clear narrative with constant forward momentum, and so when it finally arrives at its destination here, nothing is necessarily surprising, but it's all logical and right and good. Everyone is where we want them to be, and where they want to be, at least on the heroic side of the equation. And in the final scene, Van Lente lets us in on a secret about the current status of some of the series' best baddies, too. It's a well-done final chapter, leaving many doors open for the immediate and distant future, but landing in a place of closure, too.
     It's also a heck of a lot of fun, even though there aren't necessarily as many jokes and jests as usual. There's just a general lightness in the air, bolstered immensely by Emanuela Lupacchino's art. She is an excellent choice for this series because her style lies somewhere between classic superhero and goofy kid's show. Everyone is exaggerated, but the world around them isn't, and even the characters aren't wildly unrealistic in their appearance. It's more the expressions and the action that become larger-than-life. Yet the fights are never needlessly, excessively gory or brutal, so even the violence has a sense of fun about it, or at any rate an energy that keeps the fun alive. When Archer mentally thwarts The Last Enemy, he has a self-confidence that borders on smugness, and the same is true of Kay when she finally reaches her full potential. Having the characters actually enjoy themselves, even in their most serious and high-stakes moments, is a big part of what makes this title work. The Last Enemy smirks right up until the moment of his defeat. Armstrong basically refuses to ever take anything seriously, shouting "Crappity-crap!"when he's nearly blown up. The characters are having a blast, and it creates the strong sense that the creators are, too. Which naturally translates to the reader joining in.
7.0/10

Pull List Review: Threshold #4

Unsurprisingly, when the competition/reality show facet of "The Hunted" is put on the back burner so a few members of the massive cast can be focused on more sharply, Threshold improves significantly. Even with the cliffhanger ending being spoiled by both the cover and the opening scene, Keith Giffen's script was able to interest and surprise me. Jediah Caul and K'Rot were both characters with glaring flaws before now, but here they are not only likable individually but have a strange and enjoyable chemistry between them that's the first example of such a character connection "The Hunted" has ever offered. Actually, I suppose there's a glimmer of a similar thing in the brief scene between Stealth and Ember. I've never felt attached to any of these characters, and suddenly I find myself interested in the futures of all four of them.
     The breakout star of this issue, though, is the robotic cleaning lady of Bleeding Adonis (who I think remains unnamed...if she has a name I did not catch it, but it matters very little). The premise is that she has the personality/memories of the ex-wife of the man who built her, which Giffen not only mines for several strong jokes, but actually incorporates into a major plot point. When Caul and K'Rot are cornered by a massive group of guards, the robot lady valiantly and explosively sacrifices herself to clear their path. And her only reason for saving them is because he ex-husband/creator told her not to. It's hilarious, intelligent, and even a bit poignant.
     Bleeding Adonis is also a lot of fun as the villain, because he so steadfastly refuses to let himself be rattled or even show the tiniest sign of being upset until the moment he is being physically attacked. And even then, when Brainiac pulls Bleeding Adonis' house and all the people in it into one of his bottle cities, Adonis speaks very calmly and matter-of-factly about what a drag it is. There's strong, understated humor like this all over the place, far preferable to the forced and hamfisted sarcasm of the preceding issues. By setting aside the concept of these characters being members of a city-wide televised hunt and boiling the plot down to a more direct, simplistic heist story, Giffen is able to flesh out these characters and slow down his jokes and generally just take his time in a way he hasn't up to now. I hope this is indicative of the future of this series, because based on what's here, I might actually want to follow along.
     There's still the problem of Phil Winslade and Tom Raney clashing so dramatically in their artistic styles. Winslade's work is too shifty and undetailed, feeling unfinished even though I'm sure it's not. Compared to Raney's work, every member of the cast is far less expressive or interesting, K'Rot most of all, who doesn't come to life for me until Raney takes over halfway through. I did enjoy the two-page splash Winslade drew on pages 2 and 3 of a destructive Brainiac attack, but from then on he was forced to draw actual living people, and he's just not very good at it. Look at Stealth when she jumps at Ember. It's so unnatural looking, with Stealth floating inexplicably in the air. There's no motion to it, and the ultimate effect is that Stealth appears to be suddenly floating, rather than jumping out as she is meant to be. So Raney is very much the stronger of the two artists, but the real problem is just that they are so dissimilar it's distracting and frustrating.
     The "Larfleeze" back-up continues to be the real reason to read Threshold at all, though. After next month, Larfleeze is getting his own title, so there's a pretty strong chance I'll be dropping Threshold then. Giffen feels like he was born to write this character. Larfleeze could and maybe even should be the Jar Jar Binks of the DCU, but instead Giffen makes him into a viable star with serious lasting potential. There are two moments I would point to in this particular ten-page stretch: 1.When Stargraves tells Larfleeze that the orange energy constructs are about to steal his butler, the very notion of being stolen from gives Larfleeze the power boost he needs to defeat them, and 2. When Rancor says Larfleeze still has all of his stuff, it is actually a comforting thought, because better for Larfleeze to misplace all of his possessions than actually lose them to someone else. These are jokes, yes, but they also get at the heart of the character, taking the idea of avarice made flesh and displaying how rich it can be. Larfleeze runs the risk of being a one-dimensional buffoon, but Giffen is exploring all the facets of greed, and the addition of Stargraves as someone who understand Larfleeze enough to effectively communicate with and even sometimes manipulate him is a brilliant move.
     Scott Kolins is just as perfect a choice for artist as Giffen is for writer. I've praised Kolins' work on this book before, and it all still stands. It is funny overall but with just enough of an edge to get scary when needed. There's a powerful sense of fun infused into every page, most starkly the almost-full-page panel of Larfleeze hugging Stargraves too tightly and saying, "Mine." In ten pages, Kolins delivers many more impressive panels than there are to be found in the whole of the 20-page primary "The Hunted" storyline.
     A big step up from "The Hunted" and continued excellence (if not even a half-step of improvement) from "Larfleeze". For the first time, I feel zero regret about the four dollars spent on Threshold.
7.0/10

Pull List Review: Fearless Defenders #3

Before this issue, I'm not sure I could have accurately summarized the plot of this opening arc of Fearless Defenders. The concept was clear: Valkyrie assembles a new team of valkyrior made up of various Marvel superheroines. But the details of the threat this team is meant to battle against were a bit hazy for me, because the opening two issues were just too scattered/unfocused for me to sink my teeth into the story. Here, Writer Cullen Bunn takes considerably more care to ensure that everything is clear and understandable, and the result is a comicbook I found much easier to follow.
     The other aspect of this title that seems to have finally fully clicked three issues in is the voices of the cast. Not that they all sounded the same before, but in this issue everyone was a bit more nuanced and fleshed out in terms of their personalities. They felt like a team. A new team, to be sure, still grating each other's nerves and learning each other's skills, but nevertheless a cohesive band of distinct individuals with their own viewpoints and attitudes toward a shared goal. Hippolyta may be the least three-dimensional, but she is also the funniest, so I can forgive some flatness in exchange for jokes. I feel similarly about new character Annabelle Riggs, whose role is mostly just to say that she doesn't belong on the team, but in a mostly endearing and humorous way. There's a strong sense of humor throughout the issue, actually, and it is yet another element of the series that seemed absent or at least weaker in the earlier installments.
     Sadly, even though Bunn is finally on point with much of his script, there are still some areas that need improvement. The largest of these is primary antagonist Caroline Le Fay, who is about as generic a bad guy as I've ever seen. Her speeches are overly expository and entirely uninspired, to the point where she herself seems disinterested in them. The goal of destroying the world is extremely tired and trite, and her reasons for being so evil and crazy thus far amount to the fact that she was beaten as a child. Yeah, Caroline, so were innumerable other character in innumerable other stories, so give me a reason to give a shit or shut the hell up. Does she even ever stand up in this issue? Certainly she spends most of her time seated which, again, makes it seem like she herself is unenthusiastic about what's going on. The Doom Maidens that Caroline and her people raise are somewhat interesting, but still not original enough conceptually for me to be all that invested. And without a fresher main villain to back them up, they fall that much flatter.
     Really, I think my problem with Fearless Defenders is that it feels like the world's most generic superhero book, but with women. If our world were run by women instead of men, we would have seen this series done a thousand times over, probably in both significantly worse and better ways. Of course, we don't live in that world, so I give some credit to Marvel, Bunn, and artist Will Sliney for simply producing an all-female title, but...it should still be something more. Thus far, it has only barely achieved the status of dull, run-of-the-mill cape comic with ladies on both sides of the conflict. If nothing sets it apart other than the gender of the characters, it isn't doing enough.
     Sliney, at least, reins in the T&A this issue. He still can't draw breasts without them looking inflated and stiff and weird, but at least there are no angles in this issue overtly designed to draw attention to the ladies' anatomy. His designs for the Doom Maiden costumes---I am assuming these are new villains? If not, and someone else designed them, apologies---are definitely more bathing suit than battle armor, but again, he does not call direct attention to that fact, and the women inside the outfits are by no means sexy. So significantly less objectification this month than we've seen in the past from Sliney, though I'm not entirely sure that's even a compliment. "Good job, man! You were hardly sexist at all!"
     Sliney's art is otherwise just fine, boiler plate superhero stuff in the same vein as Bunn's script. At least they match in that respect, and Sliney does everything just right. Solid layouts that also vary, strong and clear action sequences, and a strong sense of who each of the characters are. Though, just as she is in the script, Le Fay looks far less finished and detailed and...alive than the heroes of the story. Otherwise, though, all the valkyrior and all the Doom Maidens are distinct and unique and immediately recognizable on every page, which feels like common sense but is not something you always get in a team book. So props to Sliney for what is overall an easy-to-read style of visual storytelling. It may not dazzle, but it never deeply disappoints.
     Three issues is typically the first mark where I reexamine a title I am following and decide whether or not to cut it from my pull list. Fearless Defenders definitely made a case for itself with this issue, but I'm afraid it may only have climbed from "definitely dropping" to "probably still worth dropping." No final decisions until I reread all three issues, but I'm afraid it's just too bland a series to keep me around.
5.5/10

Pull List Review: Where is Jake Ellis? #3

Had to wait for a while for this issue, but this is one series where the delays never bug me. It's all because of Tonci Zonjic, whose art is regularly worth the wait. And sometimes being forced to wait makes it all the more satisfying. What I appreciate about his work on this book is that, even though he clearly has hit a groove, there's no stagnation or self-replication. He continues to try new things and change up his strategies, all with great results. So where we used to see a lot of pages done mostly in a single color, here Zonjic will often break those up with a panel or two in the middle done in entirely different hues. Or he'll fill a scene with many colors, but all under a sort of muted lighting that changes them and gives the page as a whole a more uniform look. These are only slight departures from what he did on the first series, Who is Jake Ellis?, but they enrich Where and give it its own distinct feel without disconnecting from its predecessor.
     As for the characters, Zonjic is clearly at home in this world and with this cast. Even new people like Dawid and Mollie are consistent and expressive and detailed on every page. And Jon and Jake are both locks, immediately recognizable and capable of very nuanced emotional performances in Zonjic's hands. He's done a ton of work with them both, and it shows.
     Sadly, Nathan Edmonson's script isn't growing in the same direction as Zonjic's art. The story seems to be stalling a little, and now that the curtain has been drawn back part way, all anyone can talk about is pulling it down completely. In Who, Jon and Jake had a very clear goal: to find The Facility and get inside. They knew what they wanted, from each other and themselves, and became a well-oiled machine in the pursuit of those goals. But now our heroes have no idea what they want, except that they don't want to get caught and/or killed. They are passive forces, waiting for their enemies' next move with no means of stopping it, slowly it down, or striking back. And they're at odds with one another in a new, jarring way. Where once there was slight friction, Jake now displays some open hostility. He has no emotional investment in Jon, apparently, and becomes an aggressive dick about it when asked. It's grating, and does nothing to help what is already a lack of progress on the part of these characters.
     Also, Jake's level on information has shifted. Now that he is sometimes aware of the waking world around him, he's able to info dump a bit on Jon about who they're fighting, which basically just gives us a scene or two of being told things we've already been shown. So once again we have an example of wheel-spinning where there should be advancement.
     It's not that I am not interested in the things Jake says. And any answers he provides come with several new questions, so the mysteries of this series continue to grow. But there was a marked deflation of energy in this issue, starting with Mollie's lackluster walk-off and carrying through to the end when Jon quietly, dully surrenders himself to the bad guys. This is one of the best-looking books around, and it has the potential to be one of the most unique and fascinating stories in comics today, too. But Edmonson seems to have lost some of his mojo now that we know where Jake's body is. Somehow that single detail changed too much about the nature of our heroes' dynamic and the larger story around them for Edmonson to tell as strong or exciting a story as he did before.
6.5/10

Pull List Review: Threshold #3

"The Hunted" continues to pile on new characters without having established anyone enough for the reader to latch onto them. The closest we get is Jaime Reyes because, as the newest contestant on the murderous reality show, he has the least knowledge about the game and almost acts as a POV character. But even he can be confusing if you don't have any preexisting knowledge of how he interacts with his Blue Beetle armor or what the scarab is. I have only the most basic understanding of that myself, and was lost in a few places when Jaime was bemoaning the fact that his armor was functioning differently. Having never read the New 52 Blue Beetle, I'm not 100% sure how the armor used to work, so whatever changes have taken place to it in Threshold are lost on me. Still, Jaime seems like a decent kid trapped in a shitty situation, and that makes him the most likable member of the cast so far.
     Not that everyone else is unlikable, necessarily, there's just so damn many of them it's hard to feel strongly one way or another about anyone. They're all still introducing themselves to the reader, and so far that amounts to most of them hitting the same notes repeatedly. Jediah Caul is always the same brash, self-reliant jerk. Stealth is an incessant skeptic and cynic. K'Rot won't shut up and never says anything serious. Etc.
     There are moments of strong humor but just as many jokes that fall flat, and as a whole there seems to be a tonal uncertainty to "The Hunted." Keith Giffen has a long history of balancing the comedic and the dramatic in his writing, which seems to be the target here, but I am not sure he's hit the sweet spot yet. Too many of the would-be humorous moments are just K'Rot ans his crew giving each other shit and/or revealing thesmelves as uneducated. It's another example of the repetitive nature of much of the cast.
     And I'm already bored with the crowded-street chase scenes, in a series all about a show where people get hunted through the streets.
     The art didn't do much to improve things, especially with the awkward and ill-fitting change in penciler halfway through the issue. Regular artist Tom Raney handles the first ten pages, and does a decent job. Again, Blue Beetle was the standout character. Raney put a lot of nice detail into the armor, and was able to clearly express Jaime's intense rage when he was mindlessly hunting Caul, as well as his frightened and depressed confusion when he finally snapped out of it. But Raney had some weaker moments, too, like Caul throwing a cleaver in the wrong direction or the overly-busy and confusing opening pages. Not too strong a showing, especially considering it was only the issue's first half.
     I'd like to know the story behind Phil Winslade being chosen as the artist for the rest of the issue, because his style does not mesh in the least with Raney's. Winslade's work is blurry here, rough around so many of the edges and generally feeling hurried and/or unpolished. It's not TERRIBLE overall, but it has panels that are, and it is so much less lively and detailed than Raney's stuff. A very poor decision on someone's part at DC, pairing these guys.
     As is becoming the routine for this title, the "Larfleeze" back-up was far and away the best part. Scott Kolins is so sure of himself with that character, making him look nasty and greedy as he should but in a way where you never quite take him entirely seriously, either. And Branx Rancor is an excellent addition, obnoxious on the same level as Larfleeze but for completely different reasons. And, similarly to Larfleeze, Kolins makes Rancor look immediately both formidable and comical. It all comes together in the stellar splash page of Larfleeze and Rancor trading blows, without a doubt the high point of all of Threshold #3. Chances are that, at this point, the Giffen-DeMatteis-Kolins Larfleeze title is going to replace Threshold on my pull list come June. These back-up stories are only just enough right now to keep this book from being dropped already, but when I can get a full twenty pages of orange lantern ridiculousness and adventure, I'll probably walk away from "The Hunted" and/or whatever else this book is about by then.
4.5/10

Pull List Review: Sex #1

This book looks damn fantastic. Piotr Kowalski crams in the details, whether he is drawing a vast cityscape or a close-up on the face of a bitter old man or anything in between. And even though something like half the panels were shots of Simon Cooke looking weary and glassy-eyed, the art never grows tired or truly repetitive. We are constantly being shown new settings, new background details, new characters other than Cooke. Plus those panels underlining his depressed exhaustion are spaced and angled intelligently so that they never get old. Besides, Cooke's sadness is so deep and all-consuming, it seeps out through the pages and permeates the whole issue, even when he's off-camera. Everybody we meet has their own take on this lack of joy, the entire cast coming across as worn out yet still trudging forward, alive just for the sake of it. Some of that emotional heft is present in the dialogue, but it is Kowalski that breathes life into it and makes it feel real. This is a depressing comicbook, if only because sharing in Cooke's depression (and that of his supporting cast) is unavoidable, since Kowalski renders it so convincingly so many times.
     Brad Simpson's colors also deserve a paragraph of praise, because with a different palette or general approach to the coloring, I'm not sure what effect Kowalski's drawings would have, exactly. The brash and limited colors Simpson employs add to the starkness and power of the overwhelming sadness. They clash with it, being bright and vibrant where the story is glum and slow. But rather than feeling ill-fitting, the colors highlight the issue's gloominess by shining a light on it directly. He uses a lot of single-color background with opposing single-color foregrounds. Cooke in all orange against an all-blue wall, for example. It is stylized and bold, and helps keep the energy of the title alive even as it aids in creating a feeling of hopelessness.
     And I'd like to shout out Rus Wooton's lettering as well. It looks handwritten, though I assume it's not (if it is, though, then just consider this shout out to be twice as enthusiastic), which I like, because at least it's new. As for the words highlighted with faint blocks of color for emphasis...I liked it at first, then got annoyed by it after a few pages, then liked it again after a few more, and then got totally used to it and stopped really noticing. Which, ultimately, is a process I like. The lettering called attention to itself, forced me to consider it and analyze it, but only just enough to slip into a more background role before the issue came to a close. That's a rare feat Wooton pulls off, and it's worthy of applause and perhaps further study.
     So if nothing else, this is a gorgeous and visually stimulating read with a TON to notice and enjoy. Yes, there is a gratuitous lesbian sex scene. And though it served a purpose, I do think some of the specifics of it were there more for a shock or shake-up effect than anything else. But it was only a few pages, it was never truly off-putting or over-the-top or unrealistic, and overall the scene was incredibly strong and the sex called for. Cooke sits there, just feet away from two flawless half-nude women in masks who are all over each other, but in his mind he is still standing next to the hospital bed of Quinn (a character I am anxious to learn more about) as she makes him promise to give up superheroism with her dying wish. This speaks volumes about Simon as a man, a hero, and a protagonist, so it wasn't just sex for the sake of it. I am still a bit unclear as to why Sex is the title of the book, but at least it tied into something in the debut. 
     I am a rabid Joe Casey fan, but Sex #1 didn't really feel like a Joe Casey read. Now, I haven't read everything in the vast library of comicbooks he's penned, so maybe it's just that I'm not familiar with his subtler and more subdued work. But I think of Casey as a very in-your-face, experimental, high-octane writer, whereas Sex #1 was a quiet and calm. Is it the calm before the storm? Seems likely, since we already have The Old Man---I assume that is his official villain name because it got said a few times and I never heard him called anything else other than "Boss"---promising to show the world he's still as scary as ever. But in general, Casey displays amazing restraint here, letting his readers fill in a lot of the blanks of the story by not spelling things out in his dialogue. Everyone sounds real when they talk, which means they don't relay information to one another that serves no purpose except bringing the audience up to speed. There's clearly a long and complex history behind Cooke's Armored Saint persona, but nobody spells it out for us yet, because why would they? THEY all already know what's what, so they move forward with their lives, and it is our job to catch up. Not that Casey isn't helping, but neither is he handing us a map.
     It is a deceptively full story, in that on the surface very little happens. Cooke comes home, does not run his company like he apparently said he would, gets a drink with his lawyer, and then pays to watch a sex show that he doesn't actually watch. In between, we hear the Alpha Brothers bemoan the loss of the Armored Saint, and meet The Old Man, who apparently has one hell of a reputation to protect. But none of these apparent bad guys do anything, they're just chatting about their futures while hanging out at a club. It's almost all talking, and absolutely no violence, but Casey still fills the space and excites me. I want to know everything about The Old Man, the Armored Saint, and Quinn, based solely on the glimpses I've been given in this single issue. The Old Man is obviously a proud and intelligent guy, but seems to be past his prime and aware of it, which makes me all the more interested in seeing what his prime was like. As for Simon Cooke/Armored Saint, even with his incessant frown, he is a rich leading man who seems to only speak when he has something to say. And Quinn, whoever she is, is obviously an integral part of who Simon is today and, it would appear, who he's been all along. The details of their relationship are bound to be surprising and informative.
     A rock solid opening from a creative team that seems built for me personally, Sex #1 establishes a lot of great characters in an even better world. Now it's time to explore the nooks and crannies of that world, as the cast undoubtedly continues to grow. The cliffhanger ending that introduced some kind of femme fatale wasn't quite snappy enough to click with me, but it was a one-page stumble at the end of a fast and steady race. And even if that final page didn't do it, the issue as a whole has me antsy as shit for more of the same.
8.5/10