Monthly archives: February, 2007

Another solid week in the world of 52. Other than Montoya not fighting a dragon, as the cover teases, the issue didn’t disappoint. And other than Lex Luthor getting his powers, as the cover gives away, the issue had some nice twists. It’s getting to the point where there are so few issues left that each one is probably going to be packed with good stuff.

Which leads me to Daredevil #93. It was this week’s Book of Doom, but I didn’t get my thoughts in on time to get included. So speaking of being packed with good stuff, this was almost too neat of a resolution to the past few years of Daredevil stories, both Bendis and Brubaker-spawned. The fact that everything wrapped up so nice and tidy only assures us that Matt Murdock’s world will continue to reach new levels of awfulness. That’s yet to come. This month, we just got a happy ending and a nice look back over some great stories.

Which leads me to The Vault of Michael Allred #4. I’m a big Allred fan, as I’ve written about before with this series, and so I love this fantastically self-celebratory series. It’s something I’d love to do if I were in Allred’s shoes. None of the later installments have had the drama of volume 1, which chronicled Allred and Madman’s ascent into the comics mainstream, but they still have their own character. This volume includes his work on X-Force / X-Statix and some sample storyboards for the non-existent Madman film, but overall, it’s just a lot of pinups and random things that probably just didn’t have a home in any of the previous volumes. The biggest excitement here was reading on the last page that there’s going to be an 852-page Madman Gargantua Hardcover coming out this week (Jean Claude, if you get a free promo copy, my birthday is in March…) and that Madman returns monthly in April. Again, not as poignant as earlier volumes, but a definite for Allred completists such as myself.

Which leads me to Ghost Rider #94. Originally cancelled at issue 93 back in the ’90s, this is the long-awaited, never published finale to volume three of Ghost Rider. Presumably due to the upcoming movie hype, the return of an ongoing series and the fact that Tom Breevort is now a Marvel bigwig, the inks and colors on the unfinished pages were completed and fans of the Dan Ketch era finally got their conclusion. As an added bonus, Marvel packs issue 93 into this bonus-sized book. I sometimes have trouble remembering what happened a month ago when I pick up a new comic; presumably it’s even harder when the last issue came out almost a decade ago.

Sadly, the story was written to extend well past issue 100, so the finale really only sets the stage for more, but it’s nice to see a cancellation get the closure it deserves. I stopped reading the book when I gave up on comics in the 90s, so I never really knew where the series went. There were too many complicating factors with all the Spirits of Vengeance and Midnight Sons and a purple-headed Ghost Rider with fangs, and I just lost interest.

But whether the writers and editors had a vision all along or Ivan Velez Jr just managed to make lemonade out of crap, I found myself really liking the direction the book took from this finale. The whole dark, vengeful anti-hero thing was so early-90s, so it was essential to give the characters more to work with, and Velez did that. I would have loved to have seen where he was planning on taking the story after issue 94. Maybe Marvel will put out #95 in 2015 or something.

Dropped Book of the Week- Blue Beetle

When I got done reading Blue Beetle #11 this week, I thought to myself “Why am I still reading this?” I didn’t realize until I looked at the cover that Keith Giffen isn’t co-writing the book. Cully Hammer, whose art I really enjoyed, isn’t on the book anymore either. I don’t know how my interest this book could have dropped off so sharply. But I just don’t enjoy reading it anymore. So I guess this was my last issue.

Least Funny Funny Book of the Week- Ultimate Civil War Spider-Ham Crisis (featuring Wolver-Ham) #1

There’s one thing J. Michael Stracynski forgot about when he was writing this comic: you need more than a funny title to make a funny comic. The issue started out with a decent enough concept: Spider-Ham gets tired of exposition boxes, and goes on a quest to find the thought balloons that have been missing from comics for who knows how long. Then a bunch of unfunny things happen, including a series of splash pages featuring other Marvel heroes as pigs (even though in the Spider-Ham universe, every character is already a different animal). Okay, I got to give it up for the “Devilled Ham,” because that’s just a funny name. But everything else was not funny. And I bought this thing because it was supposed to be funny.

Book of the Week- The Walking Dead #34
Writer of the Week- Robert Kirkman
Art Team of the Week- Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn
Splash Page of the Week
Moment of the Week
Chase Scene of the Week
Surprise of the Week

I don’t know how they do it. Every single time I pick up a new issue of The Walking Dead I am blown away by what I read. Without fail, what I’ve envisioned will happen in the book is not at all what actually occurs. Kirkman & Co. always keep us on our toes. Like this, for example:

How the crap did that happen? What would cause the group in the prison to open all three gates like that? Why would they leave Dale’s RV out in the open? And where the hell did Dale and Laurie and Tyrese and everybody go? Did anyone die? Did everyone die?

A while ago, when the whole “Governor” story arc was just beginning, Colonel Doom and I were talking about TWD. I told him that I hoped Kirkman never went back to prison for the duration of the Governor storyline and when Rick & Co. inevitably got back to the prison, something could be radically different. Then Kirkman did an issue set back at the prison, where everybody’s just sort of hanging out, and I thought, “Well, there goes that idea.” Little did I know Kirkman was just lulling us into a false sense of security so when Rick got back to the prison it would be even more shocking.

The last seven pages of the issue are really worth the cost of the issue alone. Those seven pages were a better comic than anything else I read this week (although, to be fair, it was a pretty crappy week). But then Kirkman throws in a great attack scene and a great chase scene, and a great introduction to one of the new characters. Walking Dead #34 was like two of the best issues of the series condensed into one.

A decent week, despite relatively few books coming out. Of six books, DC took three, Marvel two and Archaia Studios Press took one. As per usual, there are a couple mixed in that I simply missed during previous weeks. So, in case you were wondering, I’m still dumb. Of note: most of what I picked up are mini-series either hitting the last issue or nearing the end of a run. Now, to the reviews:

Six: 52 #39

We’re back in build-up mode, which means lots of little periphery stuff going on, but mostly just deepening-of-the-various-mysteries sort of stuff. Don’t take the low placement as a sign this was a bad book, though. It just faced heady competition. I like the interplay of mad scientists, though it still seems a bit under-baked. At least we get some potential superheroics from Magnus. I don’t like the chaotic “52 dropping” that just seems far too disparate. I do like that we’re soon to see Black Adam kicking ass. I also do like Luthor’s big reveal, just not that it was spoiled on the cover yet again. And, for the first time all series, the origin story was interesting enough for me to read.

Five: Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #7

Last issue was just bad. This one takes a big step up, largely leaving the political grandstanding aside for a disappointingly minor fight but a solid build-up to the major fight to come in the penultimate (that means last, right?) issue.

Four: Criminal #4

Forgot to grab this last week and almost didn’t pick it up this week. I’m a harsh judge when it comes to following a series, and I don’t like to spend too much on comics. The first three issues were sort of back and forth, but this one is solid throughout. And, unlike some others, I find Sean Phillips’ art to be perfectly fitting of the desperate and seedy tone of Ed Brubaker’s writing. Also, the letters column at the back is worth reading to learn more of how one of comics’ elite writers goes about his job.

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