Driveby Comic Reviews (April '08, Part 2)

by Chris

In this installment, I review Mighty Avengers #12, Witchblade #117, Spawn: Godslayer #8, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic #27, and Thor #8.










MIGHTY AVENGERS #12
When Bendis is on his game, he is very good. He is definitely on for this issue. This is the best issue of this series to date. Gone are the thought bubbles that Bendis never figured out how to use effectively (they were more annoying than anything). Gone are the double page spreads of things exploding and the pages with no dialogue. This was a well written issue with an excellent balance of intrigue and action. However, it was only tangentially related to the team we've been seeing in this book. It was more of a one shot tying Secret War to Secret Invasion starring Nick Fury with an appearance by Spider-Woman. Not really what you'd expect from this book. Despite that, it was enjoyable read. Alex Maleev's artwork doesn't do much for me, but it was solid here and was very
effective at setting the tone of the story.
Grade: B+


WITCHBLADE #117
Month after month, Ron Marz makes this book a very compelling read. He's taken what had been a Bad Girl book and turned it into an intelligent supernatural crime book. The antagonists in this book are truly creepy and this issue continues Sara's investigation of the murders that are reenactments of how the Twelve Apostles were killed. Meanwhile, it seems Dani's gotten in over her head with the guy she'd been seeing and we just knew there was something off about him. It seems the two storylines are linked somehow and the reveal of that should be quite interesting. Stjepan Sejic turned in another gorgeous issue. That he can turn in painted work like this on a monthly basis is astounding.
Grade: A-


SPAWN: GODSLAYER #8
This is the final issue of this book. Apparently, sales weren't sufficient to continue publishing it. There is no closure to any of the storylines that had been going on. The book is left mid-story and I suppose we'll never find out what was to happen. Not only that, but they actually introduced some new plot elements. How craptastic. Being the fantasy fanatic that I am, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It wasn't the best fantasy I'd ever read, but it took the quest story and gave it an interesting twist. Gorgeous artwork from Philip Tan (I look forward to seeing what he's got lined up at DC) made for some amazing eye candy. Unfortunately, none of that saved this particular issue. If they knew they were going to cancel the book, it would have been nice if they could have wrapped up at least one or two storylines. Ending it like they did left a bad taste in my mouth.
Grade: D


STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF OLD REPUBLIC #27
I've enjoyed this book since the beginning. A lot of that enjoyment had to do with Brian Ching's artwork. Since he left, the art in the book has been going downhill. For the last few months, it's been solid if not spectacular, but this month it got downright ugly. Not that Scott Hepburn is a bad artist per se, but his style does not fit at all with this book. It's way too cartoony and exaggerated. Looking past the art, however, the story introduces a couple of new twists that
promise to take the book an interesting directions. A character introduced in the last issue seems to question her allegiance to The Covenant and then the last page shows us something that my drastically change the direction of her life.
Grade: B-


THOR #8
I like the covers Marko Djurdjevic has done for various books, but his pencil work on the interiors of this issue and the previous one is gorgeous. He lends a visceral sense of power and violence to the battle between Thor, Odin, and Surtur. While not as effective in the quiet moments between Donald Blake and Jane Foster, he still does solid work. I may even like his stuff better than Oliver Coipel, of whom I am a big fan. On top of the gorgeous artwork, we have JMS's excellent writing. His prose lends a sense of grand drama to the book and his dialogue captures the inherent nobility of the Asgardians (though I do miss the Shakespearean English that previous writers have utilized). While the action in this issue was anchored to the battle, the plot itself was driven more by the scenes between Blake and Foster. Plus, those scenes introduced an element I am sure will drive the book in future issues.
Grade: A
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Driveby Comic Reviews (April '08, Part 1)

by Chris

I buy my comics online at Mail Order Comics and have them shipped to me on a monthly basis. I'll be posting reviews of the previous month's comics in batches of five or six. I won't be reviewing every single issue...just the ones about which I have something to say. This time around, I've got Secret Invasion #1, Checkmate #25, Justice League of America #20, Fables #72, and Hulk #3.

SECRET INVASION #1
I've seen comments from people after the reveal in this issue about "Poor Aunt May". Guess what? There's no need to feel sorry for her. Why? Never happened. Peter & MJ never got married. Aunt May never found out out Peter being Spider-Man (or did she just conveniently "forget"?). Peter never moves his family into Avengers tower. So, don't feel sorry for Aunt May. My One More Day rant over, this issue could have used some tightening up. For an introductory issue, we only really get teased as to what's about to happen. Four pages to show all the inmates from superpowered prisons breaking
up? Was that really necessary? Bendis is just abusing his decompression tendencies here. That aside, I enjoyed the issue. We're treated to a sense of impending doom, the heroes start to realize just how big this problem is, and we get a couple of pretty big WHAT THE--?! moments in the last couple of pages. Add in some gorgeous Leneil Yu artwork (sure, he can't draw women's faces, but he excels at drawing action scenes) and you've got a pretty entertaining book. Looking forward to issue 2 and I really hope that Bendis will find some way to avoid his usual "all buildup with no real payoff" results. Grade: B+


CHECKMATE #25
I'm really going to miss Greg Rucka on this book. He brings a very strong military sensibility to this book that I just can't see Bruce Jones duplicating. While Checkmate hasn't been my favorite book since it launched two years ago, it's been very solid. The rotating art teams didn't hurt the book since most of the artists had quite similar styles. That said, I really enjoyed this issue's focus on the Rooks. These were brand new characters that hadn't been seen before and was a really nice change of pace from seeing all the big guns in action. Rucka's sense of cutting edge military technology here added a sense of gritty realism enhanced by the fantastical elements that go along with a superhero universe. My one complaint is that Kobra seems to have been overused in this series. They seem to pop up every few months. It would be nice to populate the book with more variety in terms of antagonists. Grade: A-


JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #20
I've been enjoying Dwayne McDuffie's run on this book, but this issue was disappointing. It didn't even read like a Justice League book. It felt more like a fill in issue of The Flash with a guest appearance by Wonder Woman. It was competently written and McDuffie certainly captured the distinct voices of the two heroes and I know it's important to get those character moments in between all the action, but there was something missing here. When I'm reading a JLA book, I expect the threat to be of some massive scale and Queen Bee stealing transporter technology just
didn't give me the feeling of impending doom. On the bright side, it had some gorgeous artwork by Ethan Van Sciver. That fact doesn't save this issue from mediocrity, however. Grade: C


FABLES #72
Month in and month out, Fables is consistently one of the best books on the stands. This month is no exception. This is the conclusion of the story arc wherein Cinderella, the ass kicking super spy, extracts Pinocchio from the Homelands. This arc being the first one where we really see Cinderella (at least to my recollection), it is an amazing debut. I am already fascinated by
this character. She's beautiful, she's smart, and she can kick the crap out of you. As usual, Willingham does an excellent job of smoothly blending character moments in with the action. In addition, while action isn't really Buckingham's strong suit, he's more than up for the job in this case. Grade: A


HULK #3
His collaborations with Tim Sale aside, Jeph Loeb is the Michael Bay of comic books. His stories are big, loud action blockbusters (remember, he did write the screenplay for Commando). Some people complain about the fact that his stories have no substance. Yeah, well, sometimes I just want to shut off my brain and read a book where things get blowed up. This book delivers that in spades. Sure, some of the dialogue might be kinda corny and Rick calling himself A-Bomb sounds like he's trying too hard, but dang it, this book is fun. A red Hulk that uses a gun? Rick suddenly turning into a new Abomination? What the heck is going on here?! I have no idea, but I look forward to finding out. The pace so far has seemed slow, but that could be due to the late shipping. Grade: B
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