Buck Rogers #2-5

Wow. I knew I liked Scott Beatty, his stories always have a good mix of characterization with brisk plotting, but I didn't expect to like Buck Rogers this much. This is a really fun, retro take on Buck Rogers. The sci-fi world Buck finds himself catapulted to is fascinating. Centuries ago, Earth launched DNA samples of the animals of Earth into space and in the intervening years, those samples have been used to genetically engineer intelligent animals that are out to harvest humans. For food. Not only that, their spaceships are gigantic floating abbattoirs powered by nuclear worms that eat liquefied flesh. That's gross, but also awesome. Buck is thrust into this mad future and he responds by taking charge, flirting with Wilma Deering, and shooting things with his atomizer pistol. There are some interesting politics going on with a few human traitors, and both of them survive this first arc by disguising their intentions. I'm also quite pleased at the mastermind species that leads the animal army. Let's just say the hulking, robotic form they wear does a good job making them more impressive than they normally are. I'm digging that Buck seems to have a soft touch too, when making his escape, he rescues some intelligent animal prisoners. I'm hoping that means we'll get some neat animal men joining the cast as good guys. I highly recommend this book to anyone who digs sci-fi action flicks.

Carlos Rafael is a real find. The futuristic space-ranger suits worn by Buck and Wilma look awesome, but he does just as fine a job on the retro suits they find in the trash. He does a nice job making the animal faces expressive too, which can be tough. Naturally, that means his humans are even more effective. This is a very professional package. Pick this up.

Good

Doom Patrol #4

Ah, I can't resist the Yellow Lantern ring. And so I picked up an issue I would normally pass on, Doom Patrol #4!

Keith Giffen does a nice job recapping the mid 80's Doom Patrol, making Celsius and Tempest actually seem like cool characters with legit adventures. I've read those comics and they weren't actually that good... There are some nice confrontations here, although I'm confused by Negative Woman's appearance. I thought that was Valeria Vostok who appeared (alive) in Checkmate recently. Is she dead? I like the idea of the Negative-being battle, but that did confuse me. Celsius takes out the Chief's legs, but I guess he wasn't using them anyway. Having Tempest be a fan of Elasti-Girl made their interaction a bit of morbid fun, and probably the second best confrontation of the issue. The best? No doubt the arrival of Robot Man's brainless corpse. What a horrific idea, that Robot Man isn't really Cliff Steele at all, but just a copy, leaving the real guy to rise as a Black Lantern.

The Metal Men backup had very little Metal Man action, most of the pages are taken up introducing us to the Clique, a new gang of female mannequin-robots. The Clique is a fun idea, but I've grown so fond of the bantering amongst the core cast that I missed it. The Metal Men don't get enough pages to lose most of them introducing a new opponent.

Justiano brings a very creepy tone to the book that is very appropriate. He does such a nice job with the main cast that I wouldn't mind him working on the book regularly. Kevin Maguire's Metal Men feature is as flawless as we've come to expect.

Fair

Dark Avengers: Ares #1

Dang, if Kieron Gillen isn't careful, he's going to become one of my favorite writers. I wasn't as impressed with his Phonogram series as everyone else, but dang if he's isn't great at writing the gods of the Marvel U. First Beta Ray Bill and now this.

Norman Osborn wants Ares to train a crew of Hammer soldiers. Osborn is curious what sort of soldier would survive and pass a course taught by the god of war. It's a great idea, and Gillen delivers on this fantastic premise. The soldiers are fun hard cases, standing up to Ares but still willing to learn from him. The complicated relationship between the teacher and his students is the core of the book. Ares is definitely one of those bullies who believes he is the only one who can push around his chosen targets. Anyone who messes with his troops will have to deal with him. There's also plenty of time spent establishing that Ares is more than the god of ancient combat. He's remained totally current and up-to-date in the most modern ways of killing. He even claims to know humans better than his godly kin. Ares is so larger than life and confident that you can't help but like him. He's one of the best characters in the Marvel U right now. You can't even call him a villain.

Manuel Garcia's art is heavy with shadows, at times things look almost Michael Lark-ish. But his style fits just fine with the action and violence in the script. The casual brutality of Ares is clear in both his body language and his actions. It's a great package.

Good

Blackest Night: Batman #1-3

I need to learn my lesson, but I won't. These ancillary Blackest Night tie-ins might be entertaining, but they really can't resolve anything. At best they'll be competent character pieces (like this one here) but for the most part, they aren't going to add to the narrative (last week's BN: Titans being an exception, I guess).

Very little actually happened here. Peter Tomasi had some nice moments with Batwing (not surprising, since he wrote Nightwing for the last 2 years), Red Robin, and Damian, but these three issues really amounted to dead bat-villains killing a lot of cops and chasing around the Wayne boys. I appreciate the clever escape to foil the heart-hunger of the Black Lanterns, but I can't help but think there wasn't actually much here. I will admit to really liking Dick Grayson as Batman. Nightwing was always one of my favorites back in the day, and I'm finding him a real treat as the new Bat-guy too.

Adrian Siyaf has a clean style that should get him more DC work. His storytelling is clean and still has a bit of the dynamism of an Ed Benes or Joe Bennett, he would fit right in the Titans stable of artists.

Fair

War Machine #10

Is it me, or has it been a long time since the last issue of War Machine came out? In any case, this issue picks up with Norman Osborn having turned the Ultimo robot over to his side by reducing it to the intellect level of a child. Naturally, War Machine can't let such a powerful force of destruction fall into Osborn's hands, so he has his ally the Cybermancer zip away with the child-like machine so that she can teach it some morals. I'm amused at how quickly that element was removed from the story. I think Greg Pak needed to wrap things up for the upcoming cancellation of this title and needed to focus on the more exciting aspects of this story.

This is actually a good thing, since that means more War Machine vs. Norman Osborn. WM takes on Osborn and the two of them have a nice back and forth as the issue goes on as each temporarily gains the upper hand. While Osborn is occupied, WM's allies from the West Coast Avengers each make a mad dash to bring corrupt allies of Osborn's to justice. This was a pretty amusing sequence, from the hot-button issues that Pak chose to highlight to the reaction shot in the White House. Obama seems quite pleased at the Avengers' whirlwind approach to law enforcement. It is clear that Osborn is heading for a fall. He does manage to capture Rhodey, and moves quickly to put War Machine on trial. The final two issues of this series should be pretty cool as Rhodey stands trial for his heavy handed approach throughout this series.

Allan Jefferson returns to handle the art duties, and he does a nice job. He has a habit of drawing lumpy faces (particularly on Rhodes and Osborn) but I really dig his take on Wonder Man. The storytelling is clear and the pencils have a really light line-weight. I bet this was colored straight from pencils.

Fair

Punisher #10

Obviously, I read this and the Dark Reign special in the wrong order. This issue wraps up the Hood-themed arc from the last few months. Punisher succeeds in killing off a couple more Hood-resurrected villains (I think Cyclone is one of them, I'm not sure about the other). I do like that Rick Remender has actually brought back a few of these villains to stay. At least Basilisk, Death Adder, and a few others seem to be back for good now. I won't complain about more costumed villains.

I will say I really don't like what Frank does this issue. The Hood uses his resurrecting trick on Frank's family. This is a great way to neutralize the Punisher, with his family back, what is there to be angry about? I was honestly shocked at Frank's reaction though. When he sees his family rise, he immediately has them set on fire and kills them again. How, how, how can he do this? Either he didn't want them used against him or he's ashamed of what he's become, I just can't rationalize that a man as pained as he is would dispatch his family so quickly. Even if Frank believed their return was tainted by the Hood and that their personalities were different, I can't believe anyone could do this so fast. The resurrected villains seemed to be themselves, so why would the Castles be any different? How are we supposed to view Frank after this? He's damaged beyond repair for me. I don't like what this story says about Frank, but it is pretty dramatic.

Tan Eng Huat has a fun style, but I'm not sure he's a great fit for the more "classic" elements of the story. His takes on Basilisk and Death Adder are just ugly. But the Hood and the supernatural stuff does look nice and spooky.

Fair

Secret Six #15

Sometimes you can come home again. John Ostrander returns to Deadshot for a nice little character piece, and he picks up right where he left off. Father Craemer even plays an important role in trying to help Deadshot deal with his current obsession with killing. Deadshot never minds killing, but now it is all he can think about. Deadshot and Craemer take a nice little walk down memory lane, hitting on Deadshot's past, both personal and "professional." I never knew that Deadshot made a brief (and fake) attempt at being a popular hero, but I always like seeing the contrast of Deadshot and Batman. Having Deadshot's current crisis of conscience relate to Batman's death is an interesting take on the situation. The best part is how Deadshot deals with it; he likes Craemer's analysis, and that's good enough for him, case closed. Craemer naturally wants to continue their counseling and get DS real help, but we all know that's not what Floyd Lawton wants.

Jim Caliafore's pencils are decent. There are some weird proportions at times, most obviously during Batman's big appearance; he has tiny arms. But he gets the point across.

Fair