She-Hulk: Sensational #1

That cover doesn't really scream "class," does it? I mean, I love Gary Frank, and She-Hulk looks hot, but she looks like a moron too. Not exactly empowering.

I really, really wanted to like this more. I'm a big fan of She-Hulk, even if her comics usually aren't as good as I think they should be. This anniversary issue is a mixed bag, since the Peter David-penned story was actually quite fun. Packed with fourth wall breaking commentary and amusing visual gags, I enjoyed it. I wish David had done more humor in his run a few months ago, that dour book was never any fun, even when he brought back the Man-Elephant. This amusing little look at She-Hulks past, present, and future should be a wake-up call of the potential the character has. At least let's get her on one of the new Avengers teams. She could be an instructor at the Avengers Academy at the least, right?

Brian Reed continues his average output with a missing issue from Ms. Marvel. She-Hulk comes off a moronic guest-star, and this is supposed to be her book. Tell me, when she gets the description (from a criminal) that "someone with force beams" is the boss of a bank heist, and Ms. Marvel is at that same spot, does that justify She-Hulk attacking a fellow Avenger from behind? This story sort of belittles every character involved. When She-Hulk, Spider-Woman, and Ms. Marvel dress up like skanks to "sneak in" to a Hydra base hidden in a dance club, it shouldn't be a surprise that the story is disappointing, but wow. These are the type of stories that make me think that characters being in no comics might be better than being in bad ones.

The John Byrne reprint was amusing, as I rememberd. I need to dig out those back issues sometime.

The art was actually fairly solid in both stories. Jonboy Meyers loves beachball style chests on his ladies, but he handled the humor well and his storytelling was clear. Iban Coello's art was more inconsistent. Some panels looked like he languished over them, and they are detailed and crisp. Other panels look way more rushed, but overall his art was decent.

Average

New Teen Titans #1-6 (1980)

I'm reading the New Teen Titans Archive from the library because I'm pretty sure I'm not a full comic nerd until I've read these issues. The problem? I don't love them. Like Marvel Two-In-One, they are a product of their age, but I think Marvel had a better handling on pacing earlier. It takes Trigon 6 issues to fully materialize, and then he spends 2 or 3 issues backing down from challenging anyone in exchange for Raven taking her place at his side. And heck, both of them know she won't stay! Trigon has some fantastically evil dialogue, the bit where he dissolves Psimon into the lightstream because death is too good for him is just wonderful. But I didn't care for the fact that the threat is resolved by Raven's mother sacrificing herself to stop Trigon. It seems like the team kind of got off easily after getting their butts kicked for 6 issues. Heck, they lose to the Fatal Five pretty convincingly. It really seems like the team needed some more effective members like Wonder Girl and Starfire.

As for the actual team members, I'm surprised at a couple things. Kid Flash isn't even sure he wants to be a hero, he just wants a normal life with a wife and kids. This is very different from the Wally West I remember from the 90s. Robin is a strategist, but that's almost all he is, he's basically useless in combat. Raven is as annoying as ever, was she ever popular? Wonder Girl and Starfire are the main powerhouses of the team, I'm not sure they could beat anyone without these two ladies. Cyborg is a lot angrier and less powerful than we see now. I like seeing how far the character has come. Beast Boy had his thing down even in these premiere issues, he's the team doofus.

George Perez is awesome, of course, and I love seeing him lavish time on Starfire's skimpy outfits and Robin's bare legs. He clearly loved drawing this book. Was he the first to draw Deathstroke? I love the guy, but Ravager's costume is actually pretty cool too.

Fair

Marvel Two-In-One #25-32 (1977)

So I'm reading two classic runs of Marv Wolfman's, one on Marvel-Two-In-One and the other is his more popular New Titans stuff. I'm going to say, I'm actually liking the Marvel stuff better. I'm not even that huge a fan of the Thing, but I think the pacing works better with the globetrotting adventures of the rocky guy and his gal pal Alicia Masters. These issues make up the "English tour" of the book that really is paced like a current TPB. The Thing needs to travel to England to find a scientist who can save the life of Deathlok. Since he's headed across the pond, Thing brings along Alicia Masters. Since this is a comic, they bump into all sorts of interesting folks like Sub-Mariner, Shang-Chi, Spider-Woman, and Modred the Mystic. I really dug the stereotypical English supporting characters. Spider-Woman deserves a co-starring credit here, she starts off controlled by Hydra but then sticks around for quite a while helping the Thing deal with all sorts of bad guys. This book is so full of mad ideas, I just have to love it.

Heck, the Thinker and Mentallo decide the most efficient way to kill Jimmy Carter is to bring Deathlok from the future to the present! Later, Alicia Masters is injected with Spider-Woman's DNA or something and she turns into a horrific spider-beast that the Thing still can't bear to harm. And through it all, the snooty English bystanders are annoyed at what the Thing is doing to the country. They even regret allowing Captain Britain to operate since he's probably bringing all this on! It's a fun little adventure that's kept light throughout, but with trademark angst for Ben Grimm. I don't think the guy could ever be happy.

And as a side note, it's too bad we're so far removed from WWII now that we can't just pop in old Nazis as the villains for every story. There's a great running story about an old Nazi treasure hunter that pays off with a Merlin-powered quartet of elemental demons. That would be a lot harder to pull off today! Heh.

Ron Wilson handles most of the art and his style says classic Marvel like almost no one else. There is an issue here and there with great fill-in guys like John Buscema, but this is Wilson's book. His Thing is definitive, a big blocky bruiser. I don't like the closed hood on Spider-Woman, but that was the design at the time, so I can't really blame him.

Good

Incredible Hercules TPB

I never would have guessed that I could love the Marvel version of Greek mythology this much. Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente have created something wonderful with this Incredible Hercules series. It's a buddy book. It's a super-hero comic. It's a mythological book. It's all of those things, but most importantly, it's good.

The trade opens with a flashback story where Hercules learns he is the son of Zeus. It's a great little origin story, made better by Herc exhibiting all those smug (yet heroic) traits that was love so much. We also see the origin of his "uniform." There is a short little Amadeus Cho story, but it is pretty much a fluff piece about Kirby, Cho's coyote pup. There is a lot of Dark Reign action early on, establishing Herc squarely in the Marvel U as he goes up against the Dark Avengers and his mother's Olympus Group. The Olympus Group is an evil company run by the Greed deities on Earth. It's a great idea and the back and forth with the Dark Avengers is quite entertaining. I get the impression that Norman Osborn is never quite certain what or who he is dealing with here.

The rest of the story deals with Hercules and Cho traveling to Hades to try and defend the life of Zeus. New Warrior Aegis features prominently in the story, since he's one of Athena's chosen champions, but he doesn't make out too well. He's killed off pretty quickly, but at least with a story set in Hades, he still has a pretty big role after he dies! His best sequence is the tour of the afterlife casino populated by heroes and villains of the Marvel U. It seems they wait around and play the slots, gambling that soon one of them will be called back up to the land of the living. "Although, to be honest, more of them win than you might ever expect." We see Jack of Hearts come up a winner, is his return imminent? Hercules is unable to absolve Zeus of the crimes he committed as the head of the gods, and so Zeus is banished back to the land of mortals with his mind wiped. He has to learn his ways again, now as Kid Zeus. Look at that idea! Classic superhero and classic mythology at the same time. The fit is perfect.

There are a bunch of artists on this collection and I'm not too familiar with any of them. They all do a nice job keeping things classic looking. I especially liked Rodney Buchemi's pencils on the flashback story. The facial expressions are top notch.

Good

X-Men Legacy: Salvage TPB

This is going to sound really nerdy, but I think I'd like to sit down and have a drink with Mike Carey and talk comics. The work he's doing in X-Men Legacy is so solid, so well founded in X-Men history that he seems like he loves the material enough to know it inside and out, but knows where he can add and improve too. This book is filled with throwbacks to everything from Rogues' 90's mini-series to the Mutant Massacre and the Outback days. He isn't just re-hashing the distant past though; Mystique and Danger play huge roles in this story, as do his brilliant new alien salvage crew. In fact, the aliens might be my favorite part of this book. The way they constantly treat Professor X and Gambit like cavemen is simply awesome. And to a space-faring race, it totally makes sense. I loved how they try to explain spaceships to Gambit in such an insulting way. Just awesome.

I've spoken in the past about how impressed I am that Carey can make a pairing like Gambit and Prof X work so well. But it makes sense. They're both damaged goods and at this point, they're both outsiders from the X-Men with nowhere else to turn. The team-up makes sense even if I would have never predicted it. The Prof X showdown with Juggernaut that leads off the trade is fantastic. When was the last time that Prof X came out of that confrontation looking like the more dangerous brother?

The thing is, all of these other things are just extras. What Carey is really doing here is "salvaging" Rogue, re-establishing her personality, powers, and outlook. Redefining her relationship with her mother, boyfriend, mentor, and friends. She's one of my favorite characters so I really appreciate the time and effort spent making the character work again. I can't wait for the next installment. If you are a Rogue fan (or want to be one) check out this trade.
Scot Eaton is a chameleon, but he switches between styles I like. Sometimes his stuff looks like Paul Pelletier, sometimes like Aaron Lopresti. But the art always looks good, regardless of the time period we're reading about. His take on Wolverine's brown and tan outfit is awesome. I also loved how he drew Rogue in her yellow and green jumpsuit without the jacket; it actually works pretty well as a classic style costume without the 90s' accessory. Phil Briones handles two issues too, and he does a solid job.

Good

Justice League America #43

Hmm, it could be that DC is taking over my top spot. James Robinson redeems one of his recent mistakes in this issue when he shows us that Blue Jay is still alive. See? The story works just as well when you don't kill the characters, see James? Heh.

Anyway, the triumphant new lineup didn't last long did it? Everyone's already gone! Hal and Barry shoot off to deal with the rogue Green Arrow. Starfire flies off to find join the REBELS. It sounds like Cyborg is going to be in Rise of Arsenal, I guess. Mon-El is too busy with Superman crossovers to stay around. So at least for now, Nightbats, Donna Troy, Congorilla, and Starman are the whole league. Why the heck can't this group keep a lineup? I like seeing the team take on some classic baddies like Hellgrammite, but I do wish I knew if Plastique was a full on baddy or not now.

I did like Red Tornado and Green Arrow's scene together. Do the two of them have much of a history? Have they been buds? That might be a fun thing to explore.

I like Mark Bagley's DCU. It looks... right. He's fitting in quite nicely.

Good

Blackest Night #8

BIG TIME SPOILERS BELOW.

This really is a triumph for DC comics. In the event era, Blackest Night is going to be hard to top in terms of quality, impact, and storytelling. It dragged on a bit long, but as a collected story? This thing is going to entertain the hell out of readers for a long time.
We pick up with White Lantern Sinestro going toe-to-toe with Nekron, and we find out that Nekron's physical body doesn't matter too much, he can basically hop from host to host as needed. The combined Lantern Corps are doing a decent job holding off the hordes of undead, but even so, the double splash page with the arrival of the rest of the corps and DCU? That was downright stupefying. I honestly can't imagine how long it took Ivan Reis to draw that page, the detail, the number of characters. Just a shocking, inspiring page. The next reveal is a kicker too, Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, Superman, and the rest of the resurrected heroes that were mostly morphed into Black Lanterns? WHITE LANTERNS, BABY! Their desire for life is what brought them back, and here they come all powered up to lay it on Nekron. I love the "comic-book" way to defeat Nekron too, using the white light of life, they must break Nekron's connection to Black Hand. To do that, Black Hand must LIVE.

And you know what that means. That means that after dealing with Nekron, a handful of DCU characters come back from the grave to rejoin the living. Most importantly, Martian Manhunter comes back in some stylin' new duds. But I was also tremendously pleased to see HawkWOMAN come back with Hawkman. That's my favorite pairing of the characters, yee-haw! Aquaman and Mera will be the royalty of the DCU. Hawk is back to fight and argue with the souped up Dove. Max Lord is back to scheme and plot. Reverse Flash is back to torment Barry Allen. Jade is back to complicate Kyle Rayner's lovelife. Captain Boomerang is here to replace his son's spot with the Rogues (who was only a placeholder after all). Firestorm is back and he's finally a mix of Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch (that could be awkward). And weirdest of all, Deadman and Osiris are back too, although I predict they won't last.

What's so impressive about all these returns is how Geoff Johns and the other DC writers sort of cleared the spots for these characters to come back. The new Hawk was cleared away. Captain Boomerang II just got taken out last month. Everything is set for these guys to fit back into their old roles. I just want to know where Ralph and Sue Dibney are?

Ivan Reis deserves a round of applause. That tremendous splash page. The double fold out page returning this classic crew of folks to the DCU. His new uniform tweak for Martian Manhunter. The modern looks for the Hawks and Firestorm. This guy did a fantastic job throughout this series and he's got a lot to be proud of.

It makes me happy that comics can still get me this excited.

Excellent