Week in review (comics released 20/02)

UMBRELLA ACADEMY APOCALYPSE SUITE #6
The end of series one, with a promise of another series later this year. This has been a surprise hit for some. The art is nice, the story solid and its just fun from beginning to end. The kids (no all grown up) rally against one of their own to save the world.

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #4
It’s hard to tell if this book is important or just a ‘cheap’ Batman-run version of the JLA. Much of the issue is devoted to Batgirl and Green Arrow working out their differences as the both join the team. It is well written but its hard to tell where things are going.

BIRDS OF PREY #115
Black Alice joins the team and clashes with Misfit. Oracle in the role of mother-figure just doesn’t work for me.. and possibly that’s the point as it does not go well. The Huntress and Zinda story is far more interesting, even if it does have similarities to the Marvel’s Alias story with the Purple Man.

BRAVE AND THE BOLD #10
Superman in the Middle Ages and the original Teen Titans (as kids). This issue doesn’t really go anywhere. The Challengers of the Unknown, currently holding the book of Destiny (and DC swore they wouldn’t cross mainstream with Vertigo). The Superman story is short and pointless, the Teen Titans story reads more as an advertisement to Teen Titans Year 1

CATWOMAN #76
More Salvation Run crossover. Catwoman is either trapped in her own head or jumping through the Multiverse. Her own series appears to be in a holding pattern until Salvation Run is finished.

CHECKMATE #23
The first part of Pawn 502, which follows up on the story started nearly a year ago. A Checkmate agent that infiltrated Cobra nearly a year ago makes an emergency call to be extracted, leading to the revelation of a much bigger plot. Its DC’s version of SHIELD with more intrigue and less flying hellicarriers

COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS 10
Ten to go before Countdown 0. In the final run to the end the big changes start to happen. Revelations and changes for Mary Marvel, Holly and Harley. I still don’t know why Karate Kid is there. Piper nearly becomes and god and Brother Eye levels up in a big way.

DEATH OF THE NEW GODS #6
In contrast to Countdown, this series just doesn’t make sense. Maybe I don’t know enough about the Fourth World to appreciate it (it’s a gap in my comic reading) but the big reveals of who’s doing what don’t mean anything. It’s obviously going to be relevant to Final Crisis so maybe it’ll be something to read again after its all done.

EX MACHINA #34
New storyine, this issue focuses on the Chief of police’s relationship with major Hundred over the last 5-10yrs. The ending hints at a change in the status quo, but could be going down the wrong path. I trust Brian Vaughn to keep things on track though.

FLASH #237
Wally tests his children to see if they’re made of the right moral fibre to be heroes. It’s a good excuse for a Superman guest star. Flash has become a book about a family of heroes, rather than just the speedster himself. Some of it works, some of it could be seen as going nowhere fast.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #18
JLA vs Suicide Squad.. well not really. It’s a minor squabble at best and really its one of those things that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Sending Suicide Squad to raid the JLA’s moonbase doesn’t seem like a rational thing to do, even for someone with as big an ego as Amanda Waller. It does serve as the trigger for JLA to get involved in Salvation Run as of next issue though.

ROBIN #171
Robin loses his girlfriend, takes detective tips from Alfred and does other ‘stuff’. Not very memorable but continues to hint at the fact that a crime fighting career and a normal teenage life just don’t mix.

SHADOWPACT #22
End of the story involving Nightmaster’s home dimension. Probably a good jumping off point for the series. It started out clever and trying to make a place for magic in the DCU.. now it may as well just be another super-team

SUPERMAN BATMAN #46
Silver kryptonite makes Superman see cartoons?!? The Kryptonite story so far has been quite good, this issue was a serious letdown. Between Superman acting like a child and Batman stubbornly arguing with Zatanna that magic doesn’t exist (which makes no sense at all given he’s followed his own mystical paths on more than one occasion) the issue doesn’t resolve anything. Hopefully the next issue goes back to what I’d expect from the writing.

UN-MEN #7
Self contained, but with a history of its own. The original Un-Men concept goes back to Anton Arcane and Swamp Thing. This book focuses on life (and death) in what is effectively a freak town. Vertigo’s version of Mutant Town without the superpowers and gaudy costumes.

WILDSTORM REVELATIONS #4
Backlash talks with Backlash whilst Savant and Nemesis break into IO. It’s been revealed that the next Wildstorm series is called ‘Number of the Beast’ so the best we can expect form the last two issues of this mini-series is a set-up for the next big event.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #551
Blah. Spider-man is a public menace again already. Peter’s working for the Daily Bugle and making lots more money (you just know its all going to go wrong again soon). Jackpot comes across as a sidekick and a politician dies because of it.

HULK #2
How many hulks are there? Green Hulk, Red Hulk and now the Abomination looks more like Blue Hulk than anything else. Obviously the series is taking its time about revealing everything, but it feels like the secrets are getting in the way of the potential story.

IMMORTAL IRON FIST ORSON RANDALL GREEN MIST DEATH
Another one-shot special for Iron Fist. The specials are required reading for anyone reading the main story (which means they need to be in the collected editions too) as they fill in the background of characters that are being introduced in the primary book. The timing and the writing of both specials has worked extremely well, developing the history and characters of the Seven Sacred Cities.

INCREDIBLE HERCULES #114
Hercules goes nuts, Hercules breaks things, Hercules becomes sane again. You can see why its been said that Hercules was the ‘orignal’ Hulk. All that and Amadeus Cho starts to stray towards the dark side.

IRON MAN #26
Iron Man vs the Mandarin. The reinvention of the Mandarin makes him a villain to be taken seriously (rather than a guy in flowing robes with glowing rings). The corporate spin on him feels borrowed from the Red Skull but still works well. The nuke’em from orbit policy is used to deal with a drastic threat, leaving us to wonder what’s happened to Shellhead.

MIGHTY AVENGERS #9
Whilst Dr Doom is seen as the FF’s major villain, this issue does a very good job of lining Iron Man and Dr Doom up as opposites. The 4 double page spreads (8 pgs) of battle seemed a little extravagant and could have been put to better use to tell more story, but the ending goes in a direction very few would expect (and no, its not a skrull reveal)

ORDER #8
This book has probably been under-appreciated. The writing is solid and the characters increasing well explored. The concept of a new team struggling to survive in a registered world (and have Tony Stark looking over your shoulder) should have been picked up a lot more than it has been. Latest news is the series is to be cancelled, but until then its still worth a read.

RUNAWAYS #29
I can’t remember when the last issue of Runaways came out, nor do I remember any statement saying this was to become a book released every 2-3 months. The story has far too many characters to be able to keep track of and with the kids all in the past there’s no sense of them belonging anywhere except in their own series. No doubt there will be longer running repercussions for all the characters as a result of the current story but that would require it to finish first.

TERROR INC #5
Last issue of the mini series. It was an interesting read. I can’t imagine the character really has a future beyond this story and it would be hard to have it fit anywhere inside the Marvel U. Otherwise it’s nice and self contained, without promising anymore than it delivered.

ULTIMATE HUMAN #2
Hulk vs Iron Man.. well for the first few pages. Then Tony ‘cures’ Bruce and offers him free run of the Stark Labs to perfect his super soldier serum. There’s a good conversation between them which explains a lot of why Banner did what he did, giving the characters an added depth. Pete Wisdom as the Leader still takes some getting used to, but overall this appears to be a solid story so far.

ULTIMATE X-MEN #91
Apocalypse, ultimate style. He kills and sucks people powers, oh and he used to be Sinister. Anyone else lost? Apocalypse, like him or hate him, is one of the big hitters in the Marvel U. The Ultimate U version of him seems rushed and two dimensional. Maybe there’s a history there we just haven’t seen yet.

ULTIMATES 3 #3
Spoilers in this one, if only to highlight the insanity of it. The Avengers head to the Savage Land. Why? Well the Savage land was really created by Scarlet Witch’s powers when she got upset. Now she’s dead and Quicksilver is missing the Avengers head there (with Wolverine in tow) to track down Magneto. Something seriously miraculous would need to happen to make this series come anywhere close to the standards set by the first two.

JENNA JAMESONS SHADOW HUNTER #1
Why oh why? Why was this written? Why did I buy it? The good – the artwork is quite nice. It’s a little stylised and suits the subject manner. The bad – everything else. I would go so far as to say it is one of the worst scripted comics I’ve ever read. Whilst the concept could be interesting, the text is nothing more than 30+ pages of exposition and jagged scene changes without a point. Virgin Comics missed on this one though the Superbowl ad spot for it (the only reason I picked it up) may still boost the first issues sales higher than they deserve.