Captain America 20
“Twenty-First Century Blitz” Part Three of Four
Published by: Marvel
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Steve Epting
Colorist: Frank D’Armata
I get the feeling that the ending of this comic would fill me with well earned dread, had I read the comic where this thing first appeared (the 65th Anniversary one shot, perhaps?). Brubaker nicely builds to its “oh, damn” unveiling, but since I don’t know what the heck the “Sleeper” is my reaction was a sort of muted, “oh…well alright then.”
Thankfully, despite an ending that managed to exceed my geek IQ, this is another thrilling installment of Captain America. Epting has yet to draw a panel for this book that I would judge as “poor” “below average” or even, really, “average”. His art and D’Armata’s colors have been a consistently outstanding collaboration and this installment is no exception.
Best moment this time out had nothing to do with the expertly ratcheted up tension or the art though. It was Spitfire and Union Jack’s squabbling as they prepare to board a blimp. Besides being funny, it nicely captures their relationship of amicable ex’s who may or may not be fooling themselves about what they want their relationship to be.
Grade: B
Powers 19
“Secret Identity” Part One
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Michael Avon Oeming
Colorist: Peter Pantazis
There is so much going on here, it makes me head hurt. In a good way. We’ve got Christian with a whole new set of powers hiding them from everyone he knows, including the woman with whom he has just begun a relationship. His unspoken wish to return to a “powers” life has been granted and he finds himself trying like hell to hold onto the non-powered life he’s been living for years. What’s shown here is thin, but it is exciting how this life change has shaken things up so much and opened up so many alleys for the stoic male lead.
For Deena, a very recent (as in, in this issue) possible “powers” murder (the husband of one Queen Noir appears to have been rung out like a rag) offers a possible avenue of escape from Internal Affairs and the crimes they wish to pin on her (some she is guilty of, some she’s not). Meanwhile, her bar freakout an issue back is dropped into another cop’s lap and its background offers a tantalizing set of clues. Either Deena has taken her act on the road or she’s inspired some copycat acts in other cities or, most intriguingly, transferable powers (and the need to use them in violent ways) are the newest epidemic.
I enjoyed Bendis’ experimentation with the Powers format for the past few storylines (starting in “Forever”) but I’m also glad to be getting back to the cop angle of it. The fact that both Deena and Christian are bringing a whole new set of baggage to the table is an added bonus, not a reason to abandon the established “a crime happens and the duo tries to solve it” format. It’s great to see that I’m not the only who thinks that.
Grade: A-
New Avengers 22
“New Avengers: Disassembled” Part Two
Published by: Marvel
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Lenil Yu
Colorist: Dave McCaig
I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’ve been down on New Avengers as of late. After a promising first two chapters of the “Collective” storyline, (issues 16 and 17, I think) the rest of the arc (18, 19, 20) floundered by, undone by muddled art and a deadening pace. Before that, the Spider Woman story was intriguing but never managed to draw to a satisfying close. The Captain America story from a few weeks ago was decent, but Falcon’s characterization was so off that I couldn’t pull my head back into the story. After all that, I was thinking that it may be time for me to severe my relationship with this title.
Then, Bendis delivers this issue and the book buys itself a stay of execution.
In it, Iron Man delivers an ultimatum to Cage: sign onboard the Registration side of Civil War or, in a few hours, the “capekillers” will descend. Cage responds in the only way he can think of. He puts Jessica and their new child on a car bound for Canada (uh-oh Alpha Flight fans) and sits in his apartment, waiting for the maelstrom to come.
It should come as no surprise, given Bendis’ love for Cage, that this issue proves the best New Avengers issue in some time. While its not needlessly navel gazing, it does a nice job of explaining Cage’s position on the anti-registration side of the fence and why he’d stick around when the Great White North is such an attractive getaway spot. It also buries a pretty thick nail into the coffin of the whole “even handedness” that Marvel has insisted is part of the registration debate. Really, how can you view the registration side as anything but the “bad guys” when they will bully retired superfolk (Jessica Jones) and harass and attack superfolk who are, literally, just sitting alone in their house in the dark?
Even with Lenil Yu’s art not being my cup of tea, I have no issue with grading this one an…
Grade: A
The Spectre 3
“Dead Again” Conclusion
Writer: Will Pfeifer
Artist: Cliff Chiang
Colorist: Dave Baron
Well…
Wait, first, let me just say that there will be spoiler. My apologies. I typically avoid them, but they are important to the discussion. So if you want to avoid them just use the “find” function and search for the phrase “END SPOILERS”. That’ll take you beyond the ruining stuff.
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Okay, for the rest of you, here we go.
Any comic in which a hero, be he living, dead, or undead, has to kill his son is bound to make you a little uncomfortable. When the son’s sin is avenging that aforementioned hero’s death? Things go just a touch beyond uncomfortable.
I honestly do not know how to feel about Cris Allen’s son Malcolm’s end. I appreciate that Pfeifer placed one more twist in the story to start with. The surprise of having older son Jake, shown last issue being the one acquiring the gun, ultimately unable to do the deed and his younger brother surreptitiously snagging the firearm instead was certainly unexpected. I also like the denouement of the incident which over so slightly tweaks the Spectre’s purpose to fit him more in line with Allen’s previous life. It’s what happens in between Malcolm pulling the trigger and Spectre explaining his/their role in the cosmic balance that I’m having a hard time processing. I had to read the scene a few times to make sure that what I thought I was seeing really was what I was seeing. That Cris embraced his son and, in doing so, ended his life. It was and now I’m trying to wrap my mind around it.
Obviously, at its most basic, it is a metaphor for Cris letting go of his humanity to become the Spectre. However, what I liked about the idea of Cris as the Spectre was that he had a deep reservoir of humanity. A by the book cop brought back from the dead to be an avatar of supernatural justice whose only path is ironic death? That’s interesting to me, especially when that cop is trying to reconcile this path with the one who lived with he was alive. Remove his humanity and there is no need for reconciliation. Plus, isn’t there any other way of putting forth this metaphor without having this hero commit child murder?
Much like Cris, I’m having a hard time figuring out how Spectre chooses who should be punished next. There is a patten, a system the Spectre continues to emphasize, but what could it be? Did Cris and the Spectre really need to pass judgment on Malcolm? I have my doubts, especially in a city like Gotham, which leaves me with the impression that the Spectre “chose” this one (just as Cris earlier chose the ritualistic killer that he’s been following all series). And if the Spectre did that…brrrr.
I guess the book is a success on some level to unsettle me enough to have me still mulling over this turn of events almost a week later. However, does that success come at the cost of making the Spectre someone I’d like to continue to read? That’s harder for me to say right now.
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END SPOILERS
Beyond that spoiler, I liked this issue and the mini as a whole. Pfeifer does a nice job of showing how overwhelming the gig of Spirit of Vengeance can be and nicely explains why the Spectre does things in such a piecemeal manner. I appreciate that Allen’s first gig as the fully merged Spirit reconnects with his first gig as a police officer. It does not change the story much, but it is a nice touch.
Chiang continues to be DC’s best utility player and thus compounds the mystery of how this guy does not have a steady gig yet. Next up for him, Tales of the Unexpected, is also a mini. What’re you thinking DC?
Anyway, the grade I’m giving it is either a little bit too high (if I decide that that spoiler really does derail the story) or a little bit too low (if I learn to stop worrying and love the spoiler), so take it with a grain of salt.
Grade: B-
Batman 655
“Building a Better Batmobile”
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Andy Kubert
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Grant Morrison’s first issue of Batman… and somehow the entire world of comics, nay, the entire world, has not been irrevocably change.
I have to admit, I’m a touch disappointed.
That said, there’s a lot here to like. Batman’s sense of humor is, as reported, appropriately skewed. Gordon’s questioning of whether his sanity is actually improving or not when he and Bats find the same thing funny is a keeper. So is the later one liner, “There goes my vacation.”
Bruce relearning his playboy persona is also a treat. Not only does it means more Alfred/Bruce dialogue (something a lot of Batman comics up until lately had far too little of) but it makes sense. After all, when’s the last time (not counting the recent issue of ‘Tec) Bruce had to be “Bruce Wayne, Gotham’s Best Known Playboy”? I can’t be sure, but I think it goes all the way back to the soft relaunch of the titles following No Man’s Land. That’s just too damn long.
What I found a little underwhelming were the pacing and the art. For a guy who usually comes on like a bullet fired out of a gun, Morrison’s first issue is a bit languid. Clearly it is poised to explode more with installment two (what with all the ninja bats and such) but this first effort, the opening sequence notwithstanding, is light on movement. Then again, that fits in with the idea that Batman has been on a tear since coming back and that Gotham is relatively quiet as a result. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays when the storyline is taken as a whole.
On the art side, Kubert does great when the “camera” is in close, but a lot of his medium and long shots suffer from an unnatural smoothness. It’s not a slickness (like, say, a lot of Turner’s art), it’s more of an…emptiness, I guess. Check out Robin (especially his face) coming down the Batpole for the first time for one of the best examples of this. It becomes even more apparent when you compare that panel to the one two later.
Overall, it didn’t knock my socks off like I expected, but it’s a solid comic. Funny, interesting setups, and strong shorthand characterization fit together nicely to give this book a feeling of brimming potential. We’ll see if the next issue brings a payoff to that feeling.
Grade: B
Astro City Special
“The Eagle and The Mountain”
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artist: Brent Anderson
Colorists: Alex Sinclair
I typically buy Astro City in trades (none of the awkward waiting between issues and it looks oh so nice on the bookshelf), but I decided to pick up this one shot. I have no doubt it will be included in a later collection, but it had simply been too long since I had had a fix of Busiek’s beautifully constructed universe and I figured that this was a way to satisfy that itch without the worry of long waits between issues.
As one might guess, it’s a decision I’m glad I made.
Infidel, a character introduced years ago in an issue of Wizard without any story in mind, finally makes his comic book debut. A mystical time traveler, he has clashed with Samaritan many times over the years until, finally, the two have hit upon a sort of compromise. Once a year they get together, eat, drink, discuss the world, and see if one can convince the other to change their ways and join one another.
I’m a sucker for this sort of setup, where the hero and the villain face another for something “normal” like a meal, perhaps bond a bit, and then part, still knowing that, at some point, a confrontation between them is inevitable. The coffee shop scene in Heat, the chess match between Magneto and Professor X at the conclusion of the first X-Men film, even the round of Russian Roulette between Daredevil and a comatose Bullseye all echo with the same sort of feel. The dinner between Samaritan and Infidel is a worthy addition to that roster.
Anderson, after what I would characterize as a very disappointing turn on The Pulse, is back in fighting form, delivering equally on the quiet scenes of the now and the action sequences in flashback. The coloring and lettering on similarly on Astro City par.
All in all, a great reminder of why Astro City is worth the wait.
Grade: A
Daredevil 87
“The Devil in Cell Block D” Finale
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artists: Michael Lark & Stefan Gaudiano
Colorist: Frank D’Armata
All I’m going to say, so as not to commit more spoiler offenses, is that I told you. I totally told you so. When you read it, you’ll know what I mean when you hit the last few pages. HAHA. I was right.
Sorry, but I do love me some good gloating.
Anyways, it is another issue of Daredevil and another reminder of just how damn good this creative team is. Brubaker finds a satisfying way out of the hellish labyrinth that was Murdock’s life post-tabloid unmasking that is both exactly what you were expecting and, nicely, just a little bit more. I also appreciate that, while it is an out, it is one that does not mean the problem is just *poof* gone. The immediate threat is gone, but it still has the potential to remain a complication for the already overcomplicated Matthew Murdock.
The most important thing you can take away from any of this though is this:
I was right.
Grade: A-
Young Avengers & Runaways 1
Writer: Zeb Wells
Artist: Stefano Caselli
Colorist: Daniele Rudoni
This is one I was excited for. Two of my favorite books, two of my favorite teams, together in one book? Woooo. My enthusiasm was, admittedly, tempered a bit when it was revealed that none of the creators from their respective titles would be writing or drawing this book, but still…Wooo.
After issue #1, the jury is still out on my enthusiasm.
The Young Avengers fare pretty well here. With their title on hiatus, we last saw them as coming together and that trend is reflected here. They are serious are about going good, but have a chemistry that is strong and allows for the occasional banter without leaving them looking silly. Wells nicely nails that dynamic.
The Runaways, meanwhile, are still reeling from the death of one of their own. That, coupled with the grievous injury inflicted on one of their own at the start of this book, has left them on edge, brittle. One can almost hear their bonds creaking under all their well-earned angst. Here, I think Wells trips. I know the wounds are fresh and that added stress would likely make them even more likely to lash out at one another, but it still doesn’t feel…earned. The anger and unrest has seemingly removed their personalities, with the exception of Molly who Wells does get dead on.
On the art side of things, the story is the same. Perhaps because the Young Avengers are costumed and naturally superheroic in appearance, Caselli captures them very well. The same cannot be said for the Runaways and they therefore seem overwhelmed and swallowed by Caselli’s style, especially in close up.
The grade below reflects the fragmented nature of this title. If the Runaways can be brought up to the Young Avengers level of characterization, that grade will certainly rise.
Grade: C
