The Drop List

In my various comicbook bloggings, I tend to skew positive. I've written before about why that is, but it boils down to generally feeling more energized by comics I like than those I don't. Negativity is an essential part of any criticism though, because not everything is going to be good, and when it's bad someone ought to say so. In that spirit, then, below are the comics I've decided to drop from my current pull list as of whenever I get around to sending an e-mail to Kelly at the store. (It'll probably be right after this). Oh, and of course, the reason(s) I'm dropping them.

Archer & Armstrong: I'm not totally sure when Archer & Armstrong went sour for me. It's still got a lot of fun and humor in it, but it feels like it's fallen into a narrative rut. The title characters keep fighting ancient evils and protecting ancient artifacts from being misused, but there isn't much actual progress made. This was probably always true, but it becomes more grating and noticeable the longer it lasts. Also, Archer and Armstrong haven't managed to remain as endearing as they once were, as individuals or a pair. Some of the playfulness has been sapped out of their relationship, and they both feel like empty echoes or their former awesomeness. I guess the whole series just got watered down somehow, not devoid of the elements that made it such solid entertainment in the past, but offering weaker, less interesting versions of those elements at every turn. Maybe this is more my fault as a reader than its fault as a comicbook; perhaps I've become less enamored of things that are exactly the same as they used to be, and I just can't say why. Whether I'm to blame or the books is or we both are or even neither of us are, though, is largely irrelevant. Bottom line is I'm over this title and ready to move on.

Hawkeye: As a rule, I've been less impressed with Hawkeye than other critics, or anyway the ones I read. I think there's been some smart stuff, but I wasn't as wowed by things like the dog issue or the most recent sign language issue. Cool ideas, carried through respectably and skillfully, but not mind-blowing or even necessarily stuff I'd never seen before. Not in that context, certainly, or in Aja's excellent style, so there's new good material, no doubt. It just doesn't excite me all that much. In between, there are Kate Bishop issues, which pretty much all suck. I don't have much experience with the character outside of this book, except for Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie's Young Avengers where she was considerably sharper, calmer, and more interesting. Fraction writes her as a little manic, and that makes her issues manic all over. There's a cartoonish energy about her and her stories that grates on me, doesn't fit with the Clint issues at all, and makes me dislike Kate as a character. I'm only talking about her recent move to L.A. In the early issues of Hawkeye, I loved Kate, and she was very much like her Young Avengers self. Maybe it's Fraction saying something about L.A., maybe it's the artists who should be blamed and I am pointing the finger at the wrong person...whatever the case, I have yet to like a Kate-Bishop-does-L.A. installment of this series. And I've always hated the bro villains. Cannot, will not, shall not accept them as a serious threat, no matter how many clown-themed hitmen they have in their ranks. The patriarch figure wheres what appears to be a Kangol hat and the world's douchiest sunglasses, so...not happening. With all the downsides and the longer and longer waits between issues, Hawkeye just ain't worth the wait any longer. Or the money.

Nailbiter: My normal probationary period for any new ongoing series is the first three issues. It's an arbitrary number, but three issues feels like the right amount to prove that you're worth following as a series. It gives the comic a chance to fully introduce its concepts, characters, and style, plus (ideally) move the story forward a significant beat or two. With Nailbiter, three issues wasn't quiiiiiite enough for me to make up my mind. There were some obvious negatives right away that never got better, but there was also the kernel of decent story in there, and I remained curious and invested despite the flaws. However, it only took issue #4 five pages for me to know I would not be following this series any longer (even though I still read the whole issue, because, you know, gotta finish what you start). There were two lines of dialogue in Nailbiter #4 that sealed the deal. First, a little background to explain why they were so awful. The story of Nailbiter takes place in a town that was the hometown of sixteen different serial killers. Nicholas Finch gets called out to that town by a friend of his, Detective Carroll, who believes he has finally uncovered the secret of why so many murderers come from the same place. By the time Finch arrives, Carroll is missing, so Finch teams up with local sheriff Shannon Crane to find him. This all leads to Finch and Crane digging up the grave of the first serial killer, which is what they're doing when issue #4 begins. BACKGROUND OVER. So, on page four, Crane says something about the guy they're digging up, and Finch says, "He was the first, huh? The first of the sixteen killers?" Ugh. I get it, they're trying to make this accessible to readers for whom this is the first issue of the series...but come on. That's not even trying. There is no way in the world Finch would feel the need to say that to Crane. It's a long-established fact that this is the first killer, and even if I accepted that Finch might want to confirm that, the notion that he'd qualify the statement by saying, "The first of the sixteen killers?" is just insane. She knows what he means by "the first" and he knows she knows it. The line isn't just forced and awkward, it's distractingly lazy writing. Then, at the bottom of page four and spilling onto page five, Crane gives a speech about how it wasn't until killer number sixteen, the titular "Nailbiter," that anyone paid any attention to the small town and its messed up history. According to Crane, "The victims showing up with their fingernails missing was big business." NOPE. Not buying it. The first three pages of this issue are devoted to describing another of the killers, called "The WTF Killer," who mutilated and messed with people's corpses like art projects. Two pages later you want to convince me missing fingernails is what got the headlines? Bullshit. It wouldn't take more than four or five serial killers coming from the same rural town for somebody to connect the dots, some cop or fan or reporter, and make it into something. Crane does say a few small-time books were written, but that's just not good enough. Fifteen killers went under the radar, but a guy chews on one not-that-intimate part of his victims' bodies, and that's news. I'm never going to be getting over that detail, so might as well call it.

Saga: I might actually decide to keep reading Saga for another month or two. It's so fucking good-looking and visually inventive, I resist walking away. But looking at my pull list (without the other five titles in this post) Saga is the only thing I'm not actively enjoying right now, the only one where I feel no attachment to any characters or plotlines. It's a dullard, as narratively dry as it is visually...wet, I guess. Rich. Whatever the proper opposite-ish adjective is. It drags and drags and drags, filling time and space with dialogue that thinks it's clever and/or risqué and/or funny but is usually none of those things. Lots of gratuitous sex and violence, too, which I'm sure the creators would say has meaning but the meaning has yet to reveal itself to me. It's spectacle more often than not, and that has its place, but I can't afford to stick with it indefinitely if nothing meatier is ever going to be provided. Sometimes I love an individual issue, but that hasn't happened since before the most recent little hiatus the title took, so it feels like forever ago. Is the hope of it ever happening again worth the risk of being super-duper bored for another month's worth of this comic? No, but I may avoid giving up just yet nevertheless, due to weakness. Be strong, Matt.

Unity: Of all the comics on this drop list, Unity is the one I should've left longest ago. The opening arc was pretty fantastic, for several reasons, but it got fairly crappy as soon as that ended and has yet to step its game back up. I think the problem is that Harada had to become a villain, since in his "main" book of Harbinger that guy is way evil, but he was a big part of the brilliant combat strategies that made Unity stand out at first. His tactical mind and immense powers contributed a lot to the team's overall agility and capability. Also his personality helped stir things up. Now it's just people who agree with each other working toward common goals. Wah wah. The other huge change, and easily the biggest reason to stop reading this series, is that Doug Braithwaite left. He was most of why I picked it up in the first place, having been none-too-impressed with Matt Kindt's writing, historically. I should have departed when Braithwaite did, but I've now read more issues without him than with, and enough it enough already.

The Wicked + the Divine: So far, everyone who's said anything in this comic has been incredibly, insufferably full of themselves. They think they're so smart and funny and fantastic, but mostly what they are is boring passive supermodels who do nothing but talk about themselves and each other. Yes, ok, some heads blew up and some people were set on fire, but even then it happens so casually, and with a literal snap of the fingers, so as to make it seem insignificant. The idea of this comic, with the group of gods who show up every ninety years as hip young weirdos, is sexy and cool in all the right ways, but so far all the book has really accomplished is to idly roll around in the brilliance of its own concept. The most recent issue (#3) was mostly wasted space used not for story advancement but just to introduce two crazy annoying and clever-in-a-not-at-all-cute-way characters, who ended up not even mattering to the plot yet and walked off stage as suddenly as they entered. Boo, hiss, etc. I'm sure there's a plan, and that what seemed to me like wasted space was in fact a super-important piece of a puzzle too enormous for me to grasp yet, but I already don't care to ever grasp it. If this is the pace at which this comics plans to move, and these are the types of people who populate its world, then no thank you. Parting shot: the plus sign in the title is just obnoxious. Unless, I suppose, it's pronounced, "The wicked plus the divine," in which case it just has a dumb name.

Dirty Dozen: Saga

Dirty Dozen is a semi-regular feature with twelve disconnected thoughts on the first twelve issues of a current ongoing series.

1. Fiona Staples brings so much to this series, and is the most essential part of its creative success and quality. There's no shortage of things to praise about her work, but I think for me what stands out the most is the character designs. Obviously there is some big, flashy stuff like The Stalk or the welcome girls on Sextillion who are just giant heads on legs, but there's a lot of more careful work done, too. The most consistent example is the different types of wings and horns on the various characters, major and minor, from Landfall and Wreath. They are all different sizes and shapes and colors, some based on real animals, some on fantasy creatures, and a few that seem to be Staples originals. They are used to not just distinguish the characters but define them, showing us immediately what kind of people they are through a small but important physical attribute. It's indicative of the level of care Staples takes with all of her work on this title, and it handles a lot of the important world-building stuff in a subtle, silent way.

2. At first I thought I really liked The Will, but now I think it's just that I love Lying Cat on her own and as his partner, and The Will himself is just sort of a dull, blank, boring non-villain. I can't pin him down, and it makes it hard for me to feel strongly about him one way or the other. I see the difference between killing and enslaving children, sure, but his total emotional detachment when it comes to murder still doesn't jive with how hung up he gets on saving Slave Girl—which is a terrible name for a character, by the way...she needs to be fully humanized quickly, but that's another point entirely—or even The Stalk. I need to know more about his history or how his brain works or something, because right now I just don't really see what drives him, why he has the job he has or really does anything he does. He makes no sense to me, and isn't funny or rich enough of a personality to keep me interested without a better understanding.

3. I appreciate the approach to violence in Saga. It's not glorified, nor is it made overly brutal or horrific. Instead, it's treated as an ever-present evil, difficult if not impossible to avoid, and always with serious consequences. In other words, violence is in this world what it is in ours. Some people revel in it, others actively resist it, and everyone is worse off for its presence in their lives.

4. Brian K. Vaughan does endings well. Not just the endings of whole issues, but individual scenes, too. He has a knack for landing on just the right spot, showing the reader only exactly as much as needed and then switching focus to the next important beat. There's not a tremendous deal of empty filler in this series or many long moments of inactivity, which is how Vaughan manages to make so much happen each issue while still taking his sweet time with the pacing of the larger narrative. There are a lot of characters to keep up with, so the story advances gradually on the whole, but Vaughan tightly structures his scenes and cuts them short enough to give everyone the room they need in each chapter. From one issue to the next, we may not see a great deal of time pass, but within each issue plenty of shit goes down nonetheless.

5. While, again, it's all gorgeous work, the other single aspect of Staples' art that continually impresses me is the coloring. It's not just that she has an expansive palette of nuanced hues, but also the different textures her color work brings. The incalculable depths of space, the fickle movement of fire, all kinds of magical spells and futuristic weapons, all rendered in very specific ways so they not only look but feel different from one another.

6. Vaughan's dialogue can sometimes be the most natural thing in the world, and then you turn the page and get something so forcedly cutesy, crass, or both that it pulls you right out of the story. It shows off, calling attention to itself more than assisting in the telling of a story. Not that there's pointless conversation. By and large, everything is said for a reason, though even that isn't always true. But there's still a tendency to play with the words overmuch, and it can be distracting to a fault. "I came like a dump truck," is the starkest example I can recall. "Gwendolyn may have been tall, but her hips were boyish, not womanly like yours," is one on the other end of crass-cute the spectrum. Even something as simple as Slave Girl asking The Will what he is if not her new master, and him responding, "The lord of shit vacations." It's a non-answer, a bit of blackhearted edginess for the freelance assassin to spit out depressingly so we can all see how good he is at brooding. I'd much rather have him say something that provides insight into a new facet of his character, or actually attempts to explain to Slave Girl why he's so hell-bent on saving her. Often, Vaughan's characters are capable of that kind of openness, but they're just as likely to pull out some overly clever wordplay instead.

7. I'm a big fan of Izabel. I don't know that she always talks completely like a teenager from our world or time, but she a very consistent voice, and it is young enough for me to buy it as the speech patterns of a typical teen from Cleave. Because, who the hell knows what kinds of differences might develop? Plus she has a fun, weird look, and she carries it well, owning her revealed innards with the same confidence as her oversized hat. And honestly, she just makes me feel safer. An extra set of eyes, a level head, another person who cares about Hazel's best interests. It's important for Marko and Alana to have allies, and Izabel was their first.

8. I love that the back covers are all just a single, solid color. Classy.

9. Here's a tiny, nitpicky thing. In the first issue, Agent Gale says that Marko and Alana disappeared twelve hours after he was transferred to her facility. Now, admittedly, when we see them interact in flashback, there aren't like timestamps, so I suppose it's possible that they go from her jacking his jaw up with the butt of her rifle to devoted runaway lovers who've read and deeply discussed an entire novel together in half a day, but...that does not seem to be the indication. Alana talks about "Secret Book Club" being the "highlight of [her] career", which to me implies that it's been an ongoing secret between them, not a one-time thing that they are in the middle of when she says that. Also, she lends her copy of the book in question to a co-worker, and that girl still has it when Price Robot arrives, so...did Alana get another? I mean, that's fully believable, but not explained, and definitely not fitting into a twelve-hour timeline as far as her and Marko fleeing is concerned. I am bothered by this kind of sloppiness. Perhaps I'm reading it wrong and Vaughan knows exactly how long it all took and it really was twelve hours, but...I find that hard to swallow, and if it is a mistake, then, I don't know. I just don't like having something so specifically laid out in the very first issue and then abandoned.

10. A final round of applause for Staples: while not every single-page splash is an absolute stunner (often they are used just for a moment of high emotion or the arrival of a new character) any time there's a double-page spread you can be sure it was selected deliberately and will knock your socks off. The reveal of the rocketship tree in issue #6 is probably my favorite, although the planet hatching in #10 gives it a run for its money. There are a handful of others along the way, each of them enormous and important and jaw-droppingly beautiful.

11. Prince Robot IV and D. Oswald Heist's long, tense interaction in Saga #12 is excellent. Heist is a character I can't wait to see more of, and I hope we can have some flashback scenes of him in his youth, maybe even with his son before he died. His writing is central to Alana and Marko's romance, and he's a very intelligent, well-spoken, and brave man in his own right. Funny, too, and warm. Meanwhile, Prince Robot IV has been the best, smartest, scariest villain in this series from the debut, and continues to prove himself a capable and ruthless hunter, as well as a skilled interrogator. And now he is closer than ever to finding our heroes, the revelation of which made his conversation with Heist feel even weightier than it already did. I think this most recent issue may be my favorite, and certainly that scene (which makes up the bulk of the issue, anyway) is one of the very best the book has had.

12. I'm wholeheartedly into Marko and Alana's love, but them as individuals I'm not wild about. They're just a little too locked into the roles they want for themselves sometimes for me to believe, Alana always the spirited, courageous force of will and Marko ever the noble family man. Not that those kinds of people don't exist, I'm just not sure that's who Marko and Alana truly are underneath it all. I think they both used to be people they didn't like in lives they weren't suited for, so now they've selected idealized new versions of themselves who they stubbornly insist on being. But this new approach is no healthier than the old one, because neither are designed to just let them be themselves. And their true selves poke through more often than they'd like. Alana, secretly, is pretty much terrified of life's necessary unknowns, but level-headed enough to deal with them when they arise. And Marko is actually a deeply pissed off dude, sitting on anger at a lot of people and things that he's had from a very young age and never dealt with appropriately. Revealing these truer, more vulnerable identities to each other is what their love is doing for them, and it's for that reason I love their love and stay invested in their story. But if I met this couple in real life, they'd drive me crazy with their incessant facades and rotating series of increasingly brave but equally false faces. And sometimes it gets under my skin even in this fictional context. Hopefully the truth will becomes more and more common as their journey advances. It would sort of have to, or else this love I'm such a fan of isn't what I thought.

Pull List Review: Saga #10

Fiona Staples is an impeccable artist, but partway through this issue I found myself thinking, "Yeah...she's still doing it." Not that I was disappointed, just that by now she has set the standard of her work on Saga high enough that I've started to take it for granted. Which is my problem, not Staples'. And the flaming ghost gorilla really did it for me, so it's not like she can't impress or make an impact anymore, but I've grown comfortable enough with the characters and the settings of this series that I'm just used to seeing them look the way they do.
     But then, kapow, I hit that two-page spread of the world hatching and my at-easeness imploded on itself. What a gorgeous goddamn moment. I didn't even notice that there was a dialogue balloon on one of the pages because I was so wrapped up in the planet-sized alien baby being birthed before my eyes. So applause for Staples for being able to shake me up and surprise me at exactly the right time with exactly the right image. I'll never again make the mistake of thinking I know what to expect from her.
     Unfortunately, Brian K. Vaughan's script this issue is less compelling. I did quite like the opening scene, even though I'm not sure it was needed. The details of Marko and Alana's history are interesting enough, but I understand their love even without seeing their past. All the same, it was a touching conversation between them, and I am glad to have actually witnessed the moment they first decided to go for it, to risk everything for each other. After that, though, the script sort of lazily rolls along on the momentum of last issue. All of our heroes get back to their ship, their pursuers catch up to them, but nobody gets caught yet. The reasons for that were maybe not expected, but they weren't exactly unexpected either, and none of it felt all that exciting. It was more like...get on with it already.
     The ending, which I won't entirely spoil but will say involves someone dying, was definitely a stunner. I'm actually still surprised at how hard it hit me. I was not anticipating another character death so quickly, and maybe least of all the character in question. And though I knew that this was a character I adored, I don't know if I expected to be so hurt by the loss. So far in Saga, death has been permanent, which I like in my fiction. But it puts me in the weird position now of hoping that one of my favorite characters will never be seen again. Rough stuff, handled deftly.
    So Vaughan and Staples each blindsided me in the best way once this issue. And I like that, I want it more than anything from the books I read. If I can see everything coming, then what is the point, you know? Saga #10 didn't have the meatiest story, just a few inevitable beats in an extremely slow-moving tale. But it looked amazing and it threw a few impressive curveballs, so kudos for all of that.
7.5/10

Pull List Review: Saga #5

The shine was bound to wear off a bit eventually. I'm still enjoying Saga immensely, but this issue left me feeling less enthusiastic than the previous four. I think it boils down to this: the story, while interesting, is moving at a snail's pace, because it has so many threads already and such a massive world to build. Meanwhile, Fiona Staples' art, while no less impressive here, didn't have as much new stuff to do this time as it has in the past. Saga #5 was more about advancing the stories of the bulk of the cast than building the reality of this book out any further, and so we weren't introduced to the usual visual surprises. Staples still did amazing work top to bottom, but without the unbridled joy of seeing her invent something brand new, I was less delighted by this issue.

Less delighted is still delighted, though. The scene where Marko gives into his violent urges was probably the strongest, both in terms of story and art. I appreciated the rhythm Staples gave to the coloring, with one blue panel on both the first and last pages of the fight, while the rest was done in harsh, rage-filled red. And I like Marko and Alana's strange relationship to violence in general. They're both used to it and, apparently, it comes naturally to them, but they are working together to put a stop to that, even if it means momentarily hurting one another to prevent further bloodshed. It's a delicate situation at best, a powder keg at worst, and it makes for a bizarre but understandably powerful bond between them.

I was less into The Will's scene, if only because it didn't advance far enough. I'm guessing we're building toward the little girl he's saving sticking around and becoming some kind of twisted friend/ally to The Will, but right now he's still stuck on a horrible planet trying to save her and failing. A planet that I'm not sure I get why he went there in the first place, based on his reactions to it so far. Nor am I clear on why rescuing the girl matters so much to him. Yes, I see the difference between killing a child and keeping one as a sex slave, but it still doesn't quite mesh with my picture of this freelance murderer that he would be so desperately broken up over one strange young victim.

Also, The Stalk's death at the end (if she's really dead, I guess) is hard to care about. She may be the best-looking creature in this book so far, but she's a cold bitch and an obvious villain and we've only seen her a handful of times. So not as hard-hitting an ending, especially with it tying into The Will's whole mess, as it seemed like it wanted to be.

Nevertheless, Saga #5 is a beautiful comicbook with a lot of solid characterization and dialogue when it comes to the two main characters. Not a misstep so much as a slight stumble.
6.5/10

Pull List Review: Saga #4

Fiona Staples is easily one of the best artists currently working in the comicbook medium. Every single issue of Saga has been not only beautiful but original. Because Staples is building this whole damn universe from the ground up, she has ample opportunities to show us some new creature or location or technology, and never wastes a one. In Saga #4, we visit Sextillion, essentially a planet-sized fetish club, and we’re treated to angels, demons, and all manner of beast in between rolling around in their own kink. Staples finds a splendid mix of the lovely and the creepy on Sextillion, all while following The Will as he walks through the endless debauchery with his typical detached calm.

That calm maintains until he is offered a six-year-old as a sex slave, and it is in that scene where Staples truly pulls out all the stops. All of The Will’s barely-contained rage seeps out of the pages, and of course we have the stunning and gruesome panel where he crushes the child’s pimp’s head with his bare hands. But before any of that there is the full page splash of the girl herself, a staggeringly heartbreaking image if ever there was one. It makes the reader cheer when the man responsible is killed, not because we’ve now warmed up to The Will, necessarily, but because we’re so overwhelmed with sadness and empathy for the girl, anything that makes her life even incrementally better is cause for joy.

Sadly, in spite of this remarkable artwork, Brian K. Vaughn’s writing is less impressive in Saga #4 than it was in the first three issues. Not a lot of forward progress, which is good in some ways because it gives Staples’ art more room to breath, but also makes for a duller chapter. Marko and Alana’s conversation about his ex-fiancé is too by-the-numbers for me. I suppose in theory it holds some insight into Marko’s character, but since he claims to have been a different person when he got engaged because it was before he became a soldier, I’m not sure how much we really learn about him from the simple fact that he once considered marrying another woman. My guess is that in the future Marko’s ex will play a semi-major role in the narrative so that, looking back, the importance of this discussion will be clearer, but on its own it feels like a subject given too much attention with too little payoff.

But seriously, the story is secondary to the art in this book, and as long as Staples stays on board I’m betting that will always be the case. Even if you hate science fiction, Brian K. Vaughn, and love, I suggest you pick up an issue of Saga and just stare at the pictures.

7.5/10

Pull List Reviews 05/17/2012

Avengers vs. X-Men #4: Somehow, even though so little happened, I ended up liking this issue slightly more than the previous three. Partly it was John Romita, Jr. who, despite some noticeable mistakes (the guy cannot get a handle on Colussus' helmet, huh?) generally delivered stronger work than before. The Polar Bear was nice looking, and Romita seems to have finally pinned down Hope. Mostly, though, I just enjoyed the Hope-Logan interactions as written by Jonathan Hickman. To my knowledge, he's fairly new to these characters, but I warmed to them. For a while, anyway. In the end it all got ruined because Wolverine decided that being a dick on the Moon is somehow different/better than just doing it on Earth, and then there was some dumb yelling, and then we were done. The middle was also weak, showing us tiny and often poorly-drawn glimpses of fights taking place in other titles. Still unimpressive overall, but just the tiniest bit less so than the earlier issues.
4.0/10

Birds of Prey #9: I understand that, ostensibly, Birds of Prey lives within the bat-family of titles. And it takes place in Gotham, too, so I see the argument for including it in the "Night of the Owls" crossover. However, so much about this issue felt forced: their reasons for joining the fight, the solution they reach to kill the Talon, and especially the incredibly rushed ending. Travel Foreman is a welcome addition, and draws the hell out of the Talon, so if upcoming villains can similarly fit his style I think he's going to elevate the series overall. He did make Starling a bit more scantily-clad than necessary when seen through the Talon's twisted perspective, but he killed it with Katana and Canary both, so I think I can let that slide. But all Foreman got to draw here was one long, drawn out fight, and no matter how good that looks it gets boring. Hopefully once Duane Swierczynski doesn't have to shoehorn a crossover story in, he can return to the excellent superhero action-thriller he's been writing all along.
5.5/10

Daredevil #13: I just don't think Khoi Pham is right for this title. He did an OK job with Daredevil himself, but his Foggy Nelson and Matt Murdock are both failures. And the panel where we see things as they look through Daredevil's pink sonar-vision things was a mess. Come to think of it, the New Avengers didn't look too great, either. Though not quite as bad as his first time on the title, Pham still feels like a poor fit here. Unfortunately, the story doesn't do all that much to help. I'm not a big fan of trick endings, but more than that, the whole thing felt more complicated than necessary, particularly when Daredevil ended up giving the drive to someone who asked for it ages ago. I know DD wanted to give Megacrime a new target, but I just wasn't thrilled with the solution Mark Waid cooked up. Still, Waid has earned a lot of credit with this title so far, and now that the Omega Drive stuff is winding down I'm anxious to see what's next. Plus, you know, DD in Latveria intrigues me...
4.5/10

Hardcore #1: A fairly standard first issue: introduce the high concept, the good guy, the bad guy, and the hook. I guess it's not totally obvious yet if Drake or Markus will be the ultimate hero of this tale, or if either of them even will be, but for the time being the roles seem set. The basic premise is a pretty cool bit of spy sci-fi, and Robert Kirkman introduces it clearly, but the exposition is largely delivered through kind of lame dialogue. While overall the character voices are strong, in those moments where they are explaining the concepts or their own actions they sound unnatural. Brian Stelfreeze handles the action scenes and the sci-fi elements all very well, and brings a nice energy to the overall feel of the book. His characters have some generic details, like facial shapes and glasses and such, but we know who's who and there's a lot of fun, entertaining stuff. I'm definitely curious to follow the title from here.
6.0/10

Hellblazer #291: I see why this is officially the epilogue to "Another Season in Hell" but truthfully it's more of a standalone story. A really good one. Constantine assembles a simple enough plan to take down his evil twin, puts it into action, and succeeds. Sometimes it's nice to just watch the hero win. Sometimes it's what they and the reader need. And it always feels good to have a major plot thread like this finally reach its resolution. Gemma is seemingly shuffled off the board for the time being, after being an integral part of the cast for a long stretch, and it feels not just right but good to see her go. First, of course, we get to see her torture the shit out of her own personal demon, and that feels just as good as her departure. Gael Bertrand really knocks out the artwork during Gemma's attack, and actually did a pretty fantastic job all over. At first his style was a bit jarring, but once I settled in it felt totally fitting. In a story about luring out a demon, Bertrand makes everyone looks a bit demonic, which sets a nice mood. Peter Milligan continues to tell wonderful tales of dark magic and violence and the Constantine clan, offering up a done-in-one story that still has major significance for the larger series.
8.5/10

Saga #3: Yes, this series is Brian K. Vaughan's idea, but make no mistake, Fiona Staples is the reason it is so excellent. Vaughan kicks ass in his own right. He keeps us plugged in to all the previous characters and advances their stories while still primarily using the issue to introduce Izabel, the ghost girl with no legs from the cover. And Izabel is a lot of fun. She's perhaps a bit of an archetypal chatty teen, but her history is interesting and I appreciate her go-getter attitude. I also continue to love The Will, and adding a bit of bitter romance to his character through The Stalk was a brilliant development. However, as I said, Fiona Staples' art is the reason to be reading this book. I finally realized it when I got to the page of The Will eating cereal with his cat. It so perfectly set the mood of the character for the conversation that followed. But really everything Staples draws, right down to her awesome colors, is breathtaking. Even the violent bits soothe the eyes. Vaughan and Staples are carefully constructing a universe together, and so far it looks and feels amazing.
8.0/10

Scalped #58: Very much a middle chapter, Scalped #58 is great, but the actual events of the issue didn't wow me. Important and heavy stuff happened, yes, but really Jason Aaron just turned the temperature up a little bit on all the chaos, bringing things that much closer to truly bubbling over. The cast seems to be getting set up for a final confrontation of some kind where everyone is trying to kill everyone else, but in this issue all we get are a few small moves in that direction. Important moves, yes, but small ones, like Dash learning about his child or Dino proposing an attack on Red Crow. Still, with only two issues left, Aaron and artist R.M. Guera both clearly know what they're doing from here on out. Guera brings his typical A game, which I mention as a courtesy since it's basically a given that any issue of Scalped which he draws will look phenomenal. Guess what? This one does, too. As big a void as it's going to leave, I'm more excited to read the conclusion to Scalped than anything else currently coming down the pipeline.
7.5/10

The Shadow #2: Garth Ennis' take on The Shadow is superb. Lamont Cranston is a no-nonsense, no-mercy kind of hero, who feels a genuine hate toward his foes. He acknowledges a certain darkness within himself, and embraces it, gladly giving up his own soul to fight the good fight. He's also a total badass, able to handle himself in a fight on an airplane where he is outnumbered and outgunned. And the details of his powers that we discover this issue make him all the more terrifying and fascinating. Ennis also writes a fully-realized and highly-likable Margo Lane. She's strong and capable but ultimately kind, an ideal counterbalance for Cranston whose just strong and hard from head to toe. They're a fun couple, and as we learn about them they also learn about each other. Aaron Campbell has a few rough moments on art, but mostly triumphs. The champagne glass in the eye is a great image, as are the fire extinguisher going off and The Shadow's initial entrance. Campbell is a talented noir artist, which is, of course, exactly what this story calls for. The Shadow is very quickly climbing up the list of my current favorite titles
8.0/10

Thunderbolts #174: A very Thunderbolts kind of ending, to be sure. Fixer being at the heart of the story helped with that, as did Jeff Parker's skillful use of his entire enormous cast. Parker and artist Declan Shalvey both have clearly hit a real groove with this series, and I am relieved the name change doesn't mean a change in creative team or, necessarily, cast. There will be additions, but based on this issue pretty much all the old-timers are sticking around, somewhen or another. That's definitely good news, but I appreciate that the end of the title Thunderbolts included the end of one its founding character's stories. An intelligent and satisfying way to make the transition.
6.5/10

Uncanny X-Men #12: So, why is Cyclops comfortable with ALL OF THE OTHER CHILDREN being in Avengers custody, but not Hope? I get that he wants the Phoenix to get to her and is afraid the Avengers will prevent that or whatever, but it still felt like it undermined his position somewhat the way he so forcefully brushed that topic aside. That's just one small gripe, and truth be told I have many. This title seems to really suffer from being forced into a crossover, because so far all that its tie-ins have offered is a bunch of fighting with no victors and no point. Visually, Greg land continues to underwhelm, particularly with Hepzibah and Namor. Their faces kept bothering me, as did their less-than-witty flirting from Kieron Gillen. The saving grace of this issue was the Tabula Rasa guy (whose name escapes me or maybe doesn't exist). He had some really fun bits all throughout, and his final assumption that all this fighting would lead to mating was awesome. A perfect little fuck you to the whole event. Even if that's not the intention, that's how I choose to read it.
4.5/10

Wonder Woman #9: So, so frustrating. I know Brian Azzarello likes wordplay, but Strife's stupid little turns of phrase alone made me want to pull my hair out. As if that wasn't enough, Tony Atkins doesn't make her look nearly as cool or powerful as when Cliff Chiang is drawing. And she's on practically as many pages as the title character. Speaking of, Diana was especially passive here. I'm starting to find this take on the character less of a stoic badass and more of an impossible-to-read, weird sort of blank slate. Her conversation with Persephone was as dull as it was uncomfortable. Ditto her chat with Hades at the end. Meanwhile, we meet not only Persephone but Aphrodite, Hades' father, and those weird dog-women maidens, too. I assume they have names from classic mythology, but I don't know 'em. The point is, Azzarello is piling on new characters, racing through his mission of building a complex world for the gods of Wonder Woman, and sacrificing storytelling along the way. This series impressed me so much when it started that I have tried to stick with it in these recent, rocky months, but this was a definite low point.
3.5/10

Pull List Reviews 04/12/2012

Sort of a light week, but lots of god villains! I love a good villain...

Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #8: I know it was said a lot last month with #7, but I still can't believe the difference having Walden Wong on inking duties makes to Alberto Ponticelli's art. It's not worse, exactly, it's just much more normalized. Closer to a traditional modern comicbook art, rather than Ponticelli's usual frenetic and kinetic style. Wong calms everything, taking away some of the usual energy. I don't mind it, but I do miss the old Ponticelli.

Luckily, this month's Frankenstein tells a calmer story than usual, so Wong's inks feel a bit more appropriate. As Frankenstein and Lady Frankenstein search for and eventually find their escaped son, we get to learn the details of their family's tragic history, and it helps to flesh out not only Frankenstein but also (and especially) his wife. Other than being completely badass and sassy, Lady Frankenstein hasn't had a lot to do in the series so far, but in this issue we see her undergo several major decisions and changes. Jeff Lemire keeps us on our toes and continues to grow the world of S.H.A.D.E., from Father Time's secrets to Ray Palmers character turn to, of course, Lady Frankenstein abandoning the cause. A solid standalone story in a title than continues to be reliable entertainment.
7.0/10


Saga #2: I was admittedly not sold on Saga after its debut issue, but I am a full-fledged fan as of this one. Brian K. Vaughn follows up on all the ideas and character introduced last time, and still uses a bulk of his pages to show us an impressive new villain, The Stalk. And he continues to make Marko and Alana's relationship more complex, compelling, and genuine with each panel they're in together. They show humor and affection in the face of great hardship, and it helps their love ring true.

The real star of this title, however, is Fiona Staples. Somehow she makes everything and everyone we see part of a clearly shared universe even when they are simultaneously so visually different. The prince with the TV head, The Will's freaky giant skinless cat-thing, The Stalk's spider-body, and the Horrors on the final page would most likely seem like they each belong in their own books if you saw the just character sketches. But Staples pulls it off, and makes it an absolute treat for the eyes while doing so. You could press the mute button and still have a whole lot to enjoy in Saga #2. Definitely a triumph all over.
9.0/10


Secret Avengers #25: At last, the Rick Remender I've been waiting for! I only know Remender from his amazing work on Uncanny X-Force, but after seeing Flash Thompson bring some much-needed humor to what has been a grisly title for the last few issues, I'm tempted to catch myself on Venom as well. He stole every scene he was in, and brought some of the best action to the issue, too. Though there was plenty of that to go around. Jim Hammond also had some great lines and moments of daring heroism all his own, and he's another character I'm excited to see more from (assuming he recovers fairly soon). But the best part of Secret Avengers #25, for me anyway, was when the little boy these superheroes have all been struggling to rescue manages to not only save himself, but to defeat one of the seemingly unbeatable opponents. I hope we see more of that kid in future arcs, though I'm sure that's just wishful thinking.

The other big thing I enjoyed about this issue was that we got some actual teamwork and team-building from our heroes rather than a lot of bickering and failure. And Gabriel Hardman was firing on all cylinders as well. The panel where The Swine smacks Venom, the two-page spread of the master mold sentry, and the previously mentioned kid-saves-himself scene were all stand out moments in a marvelously-drawn book. I'm bummed that AvX is interrupting Secret Avengers next issue, because with #25 it finally started to feel like the new creative team was hitting some kind of stride. And don't forget that reveal on the final page! I can't wait to see Father's agenda unfold...
8.0/10


Smoke and Mirrors #2: A big step down from its debut, Smoke and Mirrors #2 really has very little to recommend it. The main character, Ethan, and his new teacher/friend (Mr. Ward? Is that his real name?) are both sort of duds. Ethan's more annoying than he is interesting as a lead, and Ward just keeps saying the same things over and over. Actually, I guess they both kind of do. I really love the interactive elements being incorporated into the series, because people don't do cool shit like that in their comicbooks very often and it's always nice to see the medium expand. But with consistent yet never-impressive art and main characters I couldn't care less about, I'm starting to wonder if I'll even finish reading the rest of this title. I'll give it at least one more issue, but either the plot or at least on member of the cast needs to do something pretty interesting ASAP.
2.5/10


Ultimate Comics X-men #10: An enjoyable if predictable story. The revolution sparked by Storm last issue goes through all the necessary beats: rise up, take the day, lose some people, uncover some secrets, take the power from the bad guys, and then the revolutionaries start to vie for power and argue amongst themselves. Nothing new or particularly unexpected her from Nick Spencer's script, but in a series that can pull the rug out at any moment, it was actually refreshing to have such a classic, straightforward chapter. And Colussus' decision at the end, while not necessarily surprising, was certainly interesting and effective, in no small part due to a few choice panels from Paco Medina and Juan Vlasco, whose artistic storytelling matches the clarity and directness of the narrative. And it was good to see this whole Camp Angel story tie more directly, even if just for a page, to the events we've seen in the earlier issues of this series. Maybe now we can take steady steps forward rather than so often jumping around. Fingers crossed. But this time out, at any rate, a tidy and fun little comic.
5.5/10


Uncanny X-Men #10: Just like Venom made me want to read his title, Unit makes me want to read S.W.O.R.D. Sure he's obnoxious and way overpowered and looks sort of dumb, but...I love him. His whole calm-and-polite-but-still-horrible-and-heartless personality has completely won me over, and I love watching my heroes get handily defeated by a new foe. It can make their ultimate, inevitable victory over that foe all the more delicious if and when it pays off. Sometimes the ball gets dropped and difficult enemies are defeated in improbable or fully unbelievable ways, but Kieron Gillen has been delivering such good stories so far in Uncanny X-Men that I trust him to wrap this one up satisfactorily. And Unit is his character, so chances are there's a plan in place.

It's too bad this issue came out after AvX officially started, because the brief exchange between Cyclops and Captain America about Scott's priorities is a clear set-up for that conflict, and also sums up so perfectly my problems with AvX so far. Scott has put Hope's safety above all else, and while I understand his motives and I appreciate that he is consistent on this, it's pretty damned infuriating, and makes it hard to side with the X-Men. Be a superhero, dude, not a zealot.

While the artwork by Carlos Pacheco, Paco Diaz, and Cam Smith was quite good, I found myself more taken with the coloring of this issue than the drawings themselves for some reason. The amount of white, perhaps, I'm not really sure. No mater the reason, a quick shout out to Guru eFX for that.
8.5/10