Uncanny Avengers #7

Thank goodness this comic is coming out. While the main Avengers title is wrestling with cosmic origin issues and ennui, this book delivers the hits. Red Skull! Grim Reaper! Apocalypse! The Horsemen of Apocalypse! Those are the types of problems that heroes solve by hitting them in the face! Let’s hear it for the Avengers!

Rick Remender must have mastered his Claremont 101 courses. This book has villain plotting, Celestials, and relationship building. How many books feature insane looking villains taking on the Celestials?

Amusingly enough, the two newest members of the Uncanny Avengers both strike out in their attempts to hook up with teammates. Wonder Man is still smitten over the Scarlet Witch, and Wasp continues her affection towards alpha males (in this case, Havok). Neither couple seems too close to getting together though; Wanda and Alex are some damaged goods!

I wasn’t sure if I liked the omniscient narrator caption boxes, but Remender officially won me over when he referred to Sunfire as the “solar samurai.” That narrator’s weighted tone makes the entire issue feel important. The neatest part of the trick is the way the narrator backs out of the panels when it is just characters talking. He doesn’t have anything to add when Wonder Man is pouring his heart out to Scarlet Witch. But when Sunfire and Cap are facing down a ramming Celestial starship? Let the purple prose flow!

Daniel Acuna brings a nice sense of continuity to the Celestials. I fell in love with his work on the Eternals series years ago, and he hasn’t lost his knack for the cosmic giants. They look fantastic. The designs for the Apocalypse Twins are fun too. All of the Horsemen look like a Jack Kirby designs used in a Guillermo Del Toro movie. (That’s a compliment!)

Excellent

Avengers #10

I think I’m a fairly intelligent guy, but I really don’t understand what is happening in Avengers. Jonathan Hickman is a cerebral guy, clearly. He does open up with one of my narrative pet peeves, though. I hate flashbacks within flashbacks, I consider it lazy storytelling. Of course, in this issue it actually makes sense, but I’m not sure if that is a good thing.

Ten issues in, we know Ex Nihilo wants to evolve life on Earth. We know there are multiple dangerous sites that have been dealt with one way or another. But we don’t know what the end goal is. We don’t know if there is a ticking clock. We don’t know the why’s of any of it. Ten issues a long time for the story to still be teased out like this. Thank goodness I have lots of other comics delivering action and excitement every month, because this book has mostly gloom and melancholy.

That’s not to say it is all bad, at all. Hickman has some nice reveals and some great character moments in this one. Falcon makes the most of his one line of dialogue. I also appreciated the power level of the group sent into such a hostile environment. Most of all, I like that Hickman populated his team of redshirt heroes with new creations that FELT like they had ties to the Marvel U. Wendigo? Box? We know them, even if they looked new. They were replaceable. The other heroes were new but archetypical enough to have some weight. (If Bendis were writing this, he would have killed off Hercules and Crystal, or other heroes of that level.)

Mike Deodato does a nice job with his new hero designs, the reason they work as archetypes is because of the design. I also like his alternate Cap costumes.  

I sure hope Deodato likes drawing people talking and walking from place to place. The Avengers pick it up from a stroll exactly once. The Omega Flight team gets to shoot off energy blasts and fight on one page. Other than that, this is a whole lot of sad heroes and administrators talking to each other.

Does that seem weird to anyone else?

Fair

G.I. Joe: Real American Hero TPB 6

If you are like me, you pick up this series to see all your old favorites. So here’s a list of the major players in this collection; Hawk, Duke, Scarlett, Stalker, Mainframe, Destro, Baroness, Darklon, Zartan, Zaranna, Road Pig, Pale Peony, Dr. Mindbender, and of course, Cobra Commander. The list of active Joes out on missions includes Clutch, RocknRoll, Dusty, Air Tight, Tunnel Rat, Ambush, Muskrat, Outback, and Low Light. That’s a pretty good list!

This trade isn’t quite as good as the last few because it is the middle chapter in an ongoing plot. Darklon is still out to sell the nuke codes he stole from Destro in the last collection and different player are making that difficult for him. I don’t know Darklon at all, but he’s turning out to be a good antagonist for the book. He’s pretty capable, and while he still hasn’t killed anyone, he certainly seems like a credible threat. It looks like the next story has Hawk sending Lt. Falcon, Spirit, Zap, and Leatherneck are getting in on this plotline.

Pale Peony, Zaranna, Road Pig, and Zartan are trying to muscle their way in (ever since the Comicon issue awhile back). I guess Peony is an old figure too? In any case, Hawk is giving Snake Eyes some time off, and I think Jinx is coming on stage to deal with this.

In my favorite story, Cobra Commander is relocating his base from the wonderfully named “Broca Beach” on the East Coast to “Luck” in Northern California. Fear not, Larry Hama is up to his old tricks, it seems the gated community of Rancho Corba. Ever subtle. I love it. Clutch and RocknRoll might be in a spot of trouble in this arc, and so far I don’t see Hawk sending in anyone to help.

SL Gallant and Ron Frenz handle the art in these issues, and it is no surprise I love the artwork. Frenz is a veteran, and Gallant draws like one. More importantly, they draw EVERYONE IN COSTUME. Unlike IDW’s other Joe titles where everyone looks the same, you can always tell each and every character in RAH. And once again, Gallant keeps up the continuity to old storylines with Cobra Commander’s disguise; it is the same as the one from the Joe comics from the 80s. I can’t stress enough how much I appreciate the little artistic touches like keeping out of “costume” Joes in street clothes generally matching the color of their uniforms.

So even when the book isn’t QUITE as good as I hoped, it is still pretty darn

GOOD

Batgirl: The Darkest Reflection HC

It must be me! I love Gail Simone’s work with this character in Birds of Prey, but to me, seeing Barbara Gordon as Batgirl is still just a step back for the character. Oracle was one of the neatest ideas DC had, and yet the idea of an information broker powering the Justice League just can’t compete against the idea that some people remember a red-haired Batgirl from the 1960’s TV show. That type of thinking just drives me crazy.

Simone goes out of her way to create a couple new Gotham villains in the classic Batman mold. Mirror is a widowed father out to punish others who have “miracle” survival stories. He thinks that surviving is a curse and that it is not fair that some get to live while his family died. That’s a classic warped bad guy’s back-story, PLUS he’s got a mirror on his chest! That’s a great logo/identifier. I think the guy certainly has potential to show up again in later Bat-books.

The second villain is Gretel, another villain who has been through a traumatic experience and is taking it out on the world. The Gotham underworld gets some of the blame, but when Gretel targets Bruce Wayne, it is easier to see just how crazy she is.

Simone’s two opening villains are both obvious contrasts to Barbara Gordon. Where she overcame the trauma of Joker’s assault (The Killing Joke still happened in the new 52), these new villains have never been able to move on. Simone works extremely hard to create a new status quo, supporting cast, and tone for Barbara Gordon, but I just can’t buy it. There are references to Barbara’s brother, so evidently Scott Snyder’s Dark Mirror story might still sort of count, but good luck figuring out how that continuity works.

The violence is as brutal as all the other new 52 books, ensuring that I can’t let my 8 year old daughter read a comic starring Batgirl. Ardian Syaf has that Joe Bennett DC-house style down pat, but it just isn’t for me. I can appreciate elements of the costume design like Batgirl’s armor plated gauntlets and Mirror’s chest piece, but faces and bodies sometimes get a bit lumpy during action scenes. I will say that Nightwing’s new costume seems to be one of the few positive redesigns in the new 52. I like that red on black look.

Average

Guardians of the Galaxy #2

Is it wrong that I don’t want this comic to be good? I was seriously in love with Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning’s run on Guardians a few years ago, so hearing that Marvel was going to “fix” the book by putting a top-tier creative team on it always sounded a bit frustrating. That book was fantastic BEFORE! It didn't need fixing! 

So I sort of hoped I’d hate this book so that I could stay annoyed.

But for good or ill, we’ve got “good” Bendis on this one! There is no doubt this is the middle of a storyline, but Bendis uses the chance to give us some time with every active member of the Guardians. We see the determination of Gamorra and Drax (and their connection is a nice moment). Star Lord is sort of a smarty pants and a good sarcastic leader. Iron Man is the newbie Earthling trying to prove his worth on a new team. Its fun seeing Stark like this, explaining decisions and tech to the Guardians rather than being the boss of the Avengers. 

Of course, Stark also badmouths Captain Britain, which certainly doesn’t seem very nice. Who’s going to write the scene fixing that line of dialogue? It would have been Christos Gage, but now my money’s on Kieron Gillen.

So the Guardians are all pretty cool. Except for one who is simply awesome. Rocket Raccoon! He takes such joy in his work that it is infectious to the reader. And his repeated line after taking out Badoon bozos is wonderful. Rocket is the man.

It’s too bad that Steve McNiven has to draw so many talking heads scenes involving the heads of Marvel’s space races. He’s so good action and aerial combat; I would have dug even more of it. The Badoon are a bit on the generic side, but McNiven’s design on their ships and armor actually covers up that issue. And with Rocket's kill rate, Bendis can't be expected to create new named baddies all the time! 

Plus, Rocket Raccoon is cute.

Good

Daredevil #25

So yeah, this is the best solo book on the stands. In fact, I’d say that since the series launched, it has never been out of my top 3. It is simply amazing that Mark Waid has turned Daredevil into one of my favorite series. After 25 issues, I may finally have to say that I like the character!

It’s been awhile since I’ve seen any references to Stick, the crazy dude who trained Daredevil. But DD needs to draw on those memories when he goes up against Ikari. Ikari is an evil copy of Daredevil boasting the same powers, but with a very different attitude. He’s rocking two kukris as opposed to DD’s billy club.

This is a wonderful issue. Seeing two guys with similar power sets can be boring, but it can also be a fantastic examination of fight styles and abilities. Waid and Chris Samnee do a fantastic job with this combat. It opens in a plain warehouse but rapidly breaks out into the city. It ends up being a frantic race above the streets before ending in a sporting goods store. The whole time, DD’s narration gives the reader a clear idea into his thought process and planning. The fact that Ikari counters almost every one of Matt Murdock’s plans just makes him scarier.

And Ikari is so quiet! He smack talks just a few times during the encounter, but most of the time, it is just fighting. Waid could leave the panels blank, that’s how clearly Samnee choreographs the fight. But Waid’s dialogue for DD gives the encounter a frenetic pace and a sense of danger that just adds to the issue.

This is just about my perfect comic. Good plot development, lots of fighting, and everyone stays in character. Wonderful.

Excellent

Iron Man #8

I swear, this armor is not growing on me. I love the black and gold “Mainframe” design in the Avengers title, so being reminded of this starburst… ugh. Just not for me.

So Kieron Gillen sure loves his evil robots, doesn’t he? There are two in this issue alone! Death’s Head and Recorder 451 are different types of baddies, but they are both robots. Death’s Head doesn’t quite look like himself, but he does sound right. I’m glad the character seems to be getting so much use these days. What happens to him after the Celestials attack, though? I’m sure he survives…

This little three parter, the “Godkiller” was really more about setting up Recorder 451. He has some dialogue about setting everything up so that he could arrange the Celestial slaughter of the alien Voldi. I certainly hope the upcoming “Secret Origin of Tony Stark” isn’t tied to 451. I can’t be the only one who’s having a hard time seeing Iron Man with all these ties to outer space.

I don’t think Greg Land likes drawing backgrounds. During the gladiator scenes, the crowd is made up of weird morphs that almost look humanoid or plain brown dirt. I found myself a bit confused during the fight, too. Is Death’s Head actually connecting when he’s tossing those statues at Tony Stark? I’d think that would kill an unarmored guy, right? So he’s missing and Stark is rolling out of the way? I’m missing something. His work on the main figures is usually better. I don’t like the armor, but it is striking. I’m pretty sure the Celestials proportions are off, but I do like seeing them. Land does a nice job with the Kirby designs.

Average