Secret Invasion #8

C'mon. Wasp gets ported out before she explodes? That is a tremendously returnable death! In fact, I'll be so certain of that, I won't even let myself be bummed about the death of a founding Avenger. Bendis sets up the story through a debrief with Norman Osbourne, who comes across as a charismatic jerk. He says the right things, but you just KNOW he's a slimebag. Most of the issue is merely mop-up duty as the various players get in their spots for Dark Reign, but that actually makes it one of the strongest issues in the series so far. Secret Invasion dragged on for FAR too long. Adding in the boring Avengers tie ins, and this was one hell of a drawn out snoozer. So on its own, Secret Invasion is a blunder. On its own, I give it a poor. Hell, there were too many pages in the early chapters devoted to Maria Hill and Agent Brand that should have gone to the Wasp and Norman Osbourne. They were central to this story, but we didn't know it for the first 6 months.

However, the Dark Reign idea is a good one, and it puts our heroes in underdog roles, where they fit in better. The core concepts for the Avengers titles look strong, and I like the return of various characters to the Marvel U with clean slates. Hank Pym can be a major player, Mockingbird is a great character to bring back, and even Dum Dum and the Contessa could end up improved if they are used correctly. The setup for the Marvel U is a nice one. The list of registered super-humans is now in the hands of the Green Goblin. That's an exciting idea! (I guess I was wrong to be pro-reg after all!)

Leinil Yu's art was fine. He works better with an inker, and you see it again here. His characters look fine. He's not my favorite artist, but he gets the job done. On its own, this issue only gets a Fair, because it concludes a horribly boring series. But it keeps the Fair rating because of where it leaves the Marvel Universe.

Fair

Justice Society of America #21

Man! It took us long enough to get here, but I'm thrilled to see the JSA standing up for themselves to Gog, finally. Gog forced a confrontation in last week's special when he asked that the more pro-active JSA'ers kneel, but they aren't having it. Magog is the only one who goes along, and he even he comes around in the end. Gog shows his true colors in this one, telling the Society how only those who worship him have a place in his new world. And if he can't have it, he'll destroy it. It was predictable as all heck, but well handled in this issue. The best part was Hawkman's contingent turning right around and going against Gog when it became clear they had to. Citizen Steel is the narrator, and probably the most tempted to follow Gog, but he shows his heroic nature. Gog shows his vengeful side as he restores the status quo to those Society members that he had "helped" in previous issues. Think Damage is going to lose it? I do. Geoff Johns does a great job in this issue. This is the type of story I expect from him. The meandering, wandering narrative of the past 12 months has robbed the story of a lot of its momentum, but it may end strong after all.

Dale Eaglesham's art is great. Two panels in particular stick out, the first when Magog gets blasted in the face by Superman, shattering his helmet. The second when Gog takes back Magog's gift. That was some great emotion and pain in David Reid's face. The question is, is he dying again?

Good

New Avengers #47

When Bendis sticks to what he does well, he does it... well. That could have come out better. In any case, he returns to familiar ground with Michael Gaydos on art to tell a lost story of how Luke Cage fell in love with Jessica Jones. Unlike the "bonus" stories of Secret Invasion, this fills in unnecessary blanks while adding to both characters. Bendis does well with these personal stories when they concern his pet characters like Jones and Cage. I liked the feel of them as a couple too, some nice bantering mixed in with true parental concern. The issue ends with the two of them panicked about Skrull-Jarvis absconding with their baby. The panic in both characters' faces is drawn extremely well by Billy Tan. If New Avengers' first plot is the two of them roping in friends to hunt down their child, count me in.

Both Tan and Gaydos do a good job on the issue, but Tan's style is a little more my speed. He does a great job drawing Ms. Marvel in a few cameo shots too, so I'm hopeful about his work when he takes over the book for Dark Reign.

Good

Invincible Iron Man

Huh. You'd think a comic featuring Iron Man and Spider-Man vs. the Terrible Tinkerer and Big Wheel would feel more... fun. This issue was a downer. I know it was supposed to be, Fraction wants us to see how Stark is suffering as he tries to make the world a better place, but man, what a bummer. Putting Stark up against Spidey kind of made Peter Parker look like a shallow guy too. He spends the issue laughing off Stark's talk of responsibility, then when Stark is kind of overcome at the end, he snaps a picture to put up on the Frontline web-page. Peter Parker is a vulture! I think my favorite part is Stark ribbing Parker for leaving Stark Enterprises to go be a photographer again. "Great career move there, guy." Heh. No mention of the stupidity of One More Day or any of that stuff, thank goodness, that story made everyone involved look like an idiot.

Salvador La Rocca's work used to be a lot more dynamic before he got all photo-realistic. He's still good, but I'm thinking the reason those fights didn't feel fun was his art. I wonder what it would look like if a classic Iron Man artist like Sean Chen drew it, or even if a classic Marvel guy like Ron Frenz handled it. I bet it would have been fun...

Fair

Booster Gold #14

Here's a problem with Booster Gold. I hate time travel stories. They usually lead to ill-defined story rules, problems that have no drama because of the arbitrary nature of those rules, and a lack of a coherent story. I've been pleasantly surprised with Booster Gold until Geoff Johns left the title. Chuck Dixon messed things up a bit with his confusing story, but the title has really gone off the rails now. Rick Remender's story doesn't really have a narrative that I can follow at all. Basically, Booster is bouncing around in time with the Chronos twins, Skeets is appearing and disappearing out of the story at random, and I'm not even sure how the whole Starro thing got started. Did Super Nova find him at random? Did Chronos bring him in to Rip Hunter's HQ? I just don't understand what happened in the story. I guess the scary repercussion of the fill-in arc is that Chronos has information he stole from Rip Hunter, but I don't understand why we had to jump through all these confusing hoops to get to that point. Basically, this story is a mess. I'm worried that this title can't survive 4 or 5 bad issues in a row, I hope Dan Jurgens clears things up next month.

Pat Oliffe's pencils always have a classic look, and he brings that in again here, but man, I don't understand the story he's trying to tell us. I blame the script more than the pencils though. Remender seems like a nice guy when I've met him at conventions, but I haven't really cared for his mainstream DC work so far.

Poor

Top 10 Comics of November 2008

1. Final Crisis
2. Thor: Truth of History
3. Secret Six
4. Thunderbolts
5. Guardians of the Galaxy
6. Captain America
7. Nova
8. Green Lantern Corps
9. Iron Man: Director of SHIELD
10. G.I. Joe

Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns #1

The whole thing just feels kind of silly. I mean, we are really going to have an army for every color of the rainbow, each with their own rings? And these aren't old groups, they are all inspired by the GLs, it seems. The whole thing just seems kind of inherently silly. Another problem is the typical gore we expect from every story from DC these days. Since the Red Lanterns are the new foes, they succeed in slaughtering some other ring-slingers. The Sinestro corps pastes a few GLs too. I'm just getting tired of the constant deaths in the corps. Between this and GLC, I'd never want to be a GL these days, the death rate has got to be through the roof. The one development I'm intrigued by is that the Controllers (former founders of the Darkstars) seem like they're going to be the Guardian-type for the orange corps, that could be pretty neat. Atrocitus has a silly name and doesn't interest me as the leader of the Red Lanterns. Their whole vomit-blood power is pretty silly and over the top. I find the whole concept pretty laughable.

Shane Davis' art is really nice. He does good work, I was impressed with his Mystery in Space work a few weeks ago, and he brings that level of detail to this special, and everything looks good. Without a doubt though, the high point of the book is the hissing rage-cat. It's weird, this issue is competently done, but with all the death and dismemberment, I just feel like I've seen it before.

Fair