Holiday Reviews

We're back! The holidays were fun and eventful, hope yours were as well. It's been too long away, however, and we've got a lot to get into in this new year so lets go straight to it. We've prepared some quick reactions to a few titles we missed over the holiday season. It's good to be back.


DMZ #26
Vertigo
3.5/5

Like the rest of the one-shot arc this accomplishes some really good things the regular narrative couldnt've. Thankfully though, these 'things' are getting closer to the main storyline now. These have been good, but this series is in need of diving back into some major advances. This issue is leaning toward getting us back there.


Proof #3
Image
4/5

This has been a great new series. It's basically an espionage thriller starring Big Foot and featuring a slew of X-Filey mythical creatures. The art looks good, the plot isn't throw-away stupid, and the dialog is well written, witty and entertaining. In addition, there are tons of articles, letters and extra bonus material packed into the back, as well as other short strips. This is a very fun series, though is best when its current horror-esque baddie isn't around too much. Thankfully he won't be much longer. Check this out.


Pax Romana #1
Image
5/5

Jonathan Hickman gets more info onto each page than anyone I can think of. It hasn't taken me this long to read a comic since the end of Hickman's previous series Nightly News. I also can't remember the last time I read something that made me so bursting with questions, curiosities, and ideas of my own. There isn't time to even dip into the discussions this book raises. This is easily the most intelligently heavy thing I've read in a long time. I'm very excited to see what happens when he forgoes art duties on the solicited Transhuman. That's not to say art in this series is poor however, as its not. In fact it's much improved over Nightly News' design theme of trendy photoshop pluginsmanship.


Captain America #33
Marvel
4/5

This was more controlled and interesting than the last issue. Brubaker has handled this whole situation unbelievably well. The events transpiring in this comic are debated at length by the public, given the utmost scrutiny, and yet despite the secretly campy storyline, changes are occurring without causing any distress or upheaval against the book. He's making this transition and somehow doing it without it seeming expected & common. I hope he writes this title for years to come.


Northlanders #1 & 2
Vertigo
5/5

These first two issues read like Brian Wood, most specifically DMZ. Some of the main character's setup seems too obvious but the introduction of the world, its politics, and its people is fantastically done. Wood has a gift for natural sounding dialoge and at giving the reader a ton of information without them being overtly aware of it at the time. The art by Davide Gianfelice is perfect for the book; a style that's similar to Burchielli's work on DMZ and Guerra's on Y: The Last Man. The colors are gritty, washed and full of good contrasts in light and shadow, adding to the mood quite effectively. So far everything about this seems on track to join Scalped as an ongoing Vertigo flagship of the future.


Ultimate Spider-Man #117
Marvel
4.5/5

Great stuff. This book is tangible and real. You can feel the impact of the events in this issue in a way that you know will stick with both you and the character for a long time to come. Ultimate Spider-Man has managed to give me new Spidey stories that many years from now I'll look back and remember as core pieces of his mythology. I love it for doing so.


Hybrid Bastards #1
Archaia
2/5

Unfortunately, the well worded solicits for this series are more thought provoking than its first issue. The concepts and intentions are winners, but the writing fails far more than it doesn't; pulling the art, plot, and entire experience down with it.


Nova #9
Marvel
4/5

What a success this has been. While setting the stage for the fun snappy space romps we may soon be getting, it hasn't yet completely removed itself from recent events. It is, however, definitely making a statement for Nova's solo adventures being well worth their own title. It mixes hilarious campy sci-fi with modern jokes and some very intelligent writing. This issue alone introduces references to Bad Company, 'Linda Blaire freakiness,' plenty of boyishly annoying sarcasm, and several incidents where I'm not sure whether a line was a joke or not which, in a way, is even funnier. Not to mention the continued presence of talking Soviet Cosmonaut dogs, inhabited dead Celestial heads, and the literal fringes of the Universe. This shit is righteous.


Ultimate Human #1
Marvel
3/5

There's some unfortunately heavy-handed stage setting in this issue's opening pages. It's not the freshest thing Ellis has written harking back in ways to books like Orbiter, with interesting and worth-exploring ideas but uncommitted and somewhat flat writing. Half this issue feels like his characters are acting a plot but not living its realities. Mostly this stems from too much background delivered through speech & unnatural conversation. However, once Banner starts slipping into Ultimate Hulk, it all feels to gel into place and Ellis has finally tuned in. From here this will probably be a lot of fun.


The Astounding Wolf-Man #4
Image
4/5

The nature of these characters 'powers' and how they use them is starting to turn into a sociological dialogue. Through a bunch of fun flashy comic conflict Kirkman illuminates and discusses various human qualities, struggles and relationships with lusts, urges and the occasional vice. The story itself is suddenly far more complex than it's been thus far and it's beginning to feel like Kirkman has really gotten his feet on the ground and has big plans for this title. If for some reason you skipped some or all of this, now's the time to jump aboard.


Ex Machina #33
Wildstorm
3/5

BKV has committed to some surprising things in this issue. There are so many huge open threads in this series that if he doesn't start focusing on some of them it may get slightly beyond control. Now more than ever before he's really looking to raise questions about 'where is this thing going?' instead of fleshing out where it's been. The events of this issue really suggest that Vaughan is willing to take this title anywhere. Thankfully, despite all his pushing, Vaughan is still managing to keep things interesting and the questions he's raising are ones worth sticking around to see answered. I'm understanding more and more how this guy is a writer on Lost.


Umbrella Academy #4
Dark Horse
4/5

Maintains its balance between exciting action, complex characters, and hilariously creative banter and presentation. This is easily one of the best new books of last year, and one that's going to be hard to wait on once it completes the last two issues of this current limited run. The less time before this book returns, the better.


Conquest #2 & 3
Marvel
5/5

This event isn't at all disappointing, and is one of the best series unfolding right now. It isn't pulling any punches or going thru any motions. It's well-paced hysteria and if Marvel can keep their cosmic universe this succinct and controlled after this second, potentially more phenomenal, main event they'll have created something truly special. From this moment forward, I will be disappointed every moment Abnett & Lanning aren't cast on a spacebound vessel.


Fables #68
Vertigo
4.5/5

Fables remains one of the best books on the shelves and its events have more weight and impact that most anything else out there. This installment of the Good Prince storyline continues to stay with Flycatcher and his plans for his land of Haven, but also gives us some time with the Adversary which always brings a wonderful depth to this title. Fables is not puttering in the least.


Punisher War Journal #14
Marvel
4/5

I can't speak on any issue of this series prior to the one proceeding this, so I don't know if the entire run has been what I'm reading here. But this, this is funny stuff. The Punisher has never been a character that appealed to me. I distinctly remember him from my childhood because those issues of his comics I did happen to read were a bit too dark and heavy for me at the time and haunted me a bit. As a kid, Punisher was just too much. As I grew older, I found him to be stupid. The character is lame and the shock tactics are always too obvious. But this - what Fraction has arrived at in these most recent issues of War Journal - is a Punisher book well worth reading. He makes Frank Castle his cute little tool in a crude cartoon playground and it's easily the most enjoyable I've ever found the character to be. Something like if Punisher is in The Emperor's New Groove and everyone has medicinal grab bags. It's made me laugh out loud to a degree that only Fraction has come to achieve regularly. You wouldn't necessarily expect it, but this is one of the most hilarious and fluidly written books out right now. Occassionally the fun is a little bit too loose, but overall this is great stuff.


Walking Dead #45
Image
5/5

We're starting to see what Kirkman has meant with all the eluding to the group being radically different following this current issues. Without giving away too much I can say that everything happens naturally and with very little, if anything, feeling forced. This new direction is exciting and looks like it will ultimately succeed in being a great change for an already classic book once Kirkman gets it all out on the table.


Black Summer #4
Avatar
4.5/5

This was a really good issue. This series has developed into more than a bunch of staged scenarios for political pandering and has also brought in a wealth of Ellis' sci-fi conspiratorial noodlings. The result is well rounded and satisfying well more than I initially expected it to be.


The Engineer #1
Archaia
3/5

This is a fun premise with good action, attractive art and a production value that impresses. The tone and appearance are quite similar to Atomic Robo, though with slightly higher ambitions. The speech, however, feels contrived and overly processed. It delivers plot info clearly enough, but isn't as smooth as it could be and leaves some of the witty quips out to dry. Churilla clearly knows what type of book he's trying to write here, can hear the tone of the story, but doesn't seem comfortable delivering it. Still, there is a lot of creativity happening and what he's got in mind for the title's personality would be wonderful with this zany but deeply layered plotline, if he can get more comfortable. This is worth reading more of.


The Order #5 & 6
Marvel
4.5/5

And lo, Matt Fraction has rekindled my desire for over-the-top old-school type comic ridiculousness (see: snapping turtle incident). The jokes are spot on, quite almost always. These issues contains phrases with double and triple meanings, references to Michael Bay and a mixing of Tim Burton with women's golf. Underneath all the humor though, are a bunch of superheroes in tights having educated discussions about media, public policy, the difference between country and government, foreign affairs and a whole lot more. A discussion which, by itself, is like another half dozen implied jokes. This, Thunderbolts, and Nova are definitely the surprise sleepers in the Marvel hero U. Matt Fraction isn't sleeper-what-now-never, he's a whisper-screaming maniac.


X-Men Messiah Complex
Marvel
4.5/5

I had the priviledge to read all but the first issue of this event in one sitting without advance solicitations or forum banter as context for it all. What a treat. This event is keeping par with its hype and is already close to guaranteed to go down as one of my favorite X stories ever, assuming it finishes strongly. Reading it all at once the event is well paced, unfolds logically and seems to be in good hands. This is the most unified the X books have ever been and the least overloaded or convoluted I can recall any of their crossover storylines ever being. There are minor quibbles for quibblers, sure, but I'm going to forgo that this time around because it's hard to complain when so much effort has clearly gone into making this organized, balanced and understandable. Outside of Astonishing, this is the most I've enjoyed the X-Men since I was a kid.