ComicCritic87’s weekly comic book reviews
Week of October 5th, 2011
Greetings friends and fellow comic book readers and fans, the ever continuing reviews march on. This week was special, It was a pretty small week, only 5 issues, however I decided to something I wasn’t expecting, I make my return to the Ultimate Universe. I know right, I enjoyed Ultimate’s Volume 1, I liked the premise that it was a more realistic and “grounded” universe that removed many elements in the beginning like Aliens and Magic for Super Solider Serums, Mutants, and Technology, since then its developed many different ideas, been at rock bottom for a while but now has found a good balance however keeping its own differences from the 616 universe. So after keeping away from the horrors of Ultimate’s 3, Ultimatum, and other bad spinoffs, I return to it with The Ultimate’s once again, how will this newer take fair? On the DC front its quieted down with the releases this week, after the huge success of #1’s how will the second issues handle? Let us begin shall we……
Comics this week
DC Comics: Action Comics #2, Justice League International #2, and Swamp Thing #2
Marvel Comics: Superior #5, Thunderbolts #164, Ultimate’s #1 and Ultimate’s #2
Other Comics: none
Top Picks of the Week
DC Comics: Action Comics #2 Writer- Grant Morrison Artist- Rags Morales
Abridged Story: Superman is being tortured and interrogated by Luthor in a Military base. Lois tries to get to the bottom of it and free him since he is a hero. Superman gets free and finds his crashed ship with Kryptonian words calling to him. Luthor talks to a mysterious voice that seems to know a lot about Superman (Not said or seen but its Brainiac, who else it could possibly be)
Review: I enjoyed this issue, I like the way they interrogated Superman, using various methods to keep him at bay since humanity hasn’t gained access to kryptonite yet. Luthor pretty much shines in this issue, showing off just how powerful he is and how much he loathes the young Superman, you can see him growing this hatred for him. Lois seems pretty much moot in this issue since she doesn’t do anything significant exception for a minor mention of a previous romance with an army guard. Grant Morrison has seemed to lighten up on the character, making him less Batman and more like what Superman should be, so it’s good to see the character starting to evolve.
Artwork: The artwork by Rags Morales has been good in the first issue and continues to be impressive here in issue #2. The cover features Superman strapped to an electric chair with guns aimed at him. The inner artwork is great, the glowing red eyes Superman shows off a few times gives a level of intimidation we rarely see from the character. The final page with Brainiac’s ship (its him, there’s no one else with a ship like that) is well done, giving us some level of its scope and size.
Grade: A-
Marvel Comics: Superior #5 Writer- Mark Millar Artist: Leinil Yu
Abridged Story: Superior begins to help humanity, taking out all members of the Taliban, making Africa a better place, saving various countries from disasters. All is well as Simon is living a perfect life as a Super Hero. He goes on a date with the busty news reporter Maddie Knox until the space monkey returns after the one week of time as Superior. He gives Simon an ultimatum, Simon sells his soul to Satan or live being handicap forever.
Review: FINALLY we are back with this Superman meets BIG story and it’s refreshing to see how much fun Mark Millar is making this story. The beginning of the issue I believe was changed since Bin Laden’s death, if I remember correctly the original issue was Superior capturing Bin Laden, I may be wrong on that but I heard that somewhere….anyway, this issue shows just how much one person can make a huge difference. The amount of good he does in one week as well as getting to do what he always wanted like playing against the best basketball players and hitting a pitch at a baseball game, it’s a nice shift in character allowing him to be a hero and human at the same time. The evil Satan space monkey has been a petty intriguing character; he gave Simon’s rival the super villain from the movie to life and setting up a climactic battle.
Artwork: Leinil Yu has been a fantastic artist on this series and should collaborate with Millar more often. The cover is great, featuring Superior flying with a various military aircrafts heading into the warzone. The inner artwork is great as well, the character designs are well done, the costume design of Superior is kind of simplistic but effective. The one character that is well design is Maddie Knox, this world Lois Lane except with a Power Girl bust. She is the only one in this series that seems more like a typical comic book girl than any of the others.
Grade: A
Quick Reviews
Justice League International #2: The team gets their asses handed to them by the mysterious giant robot, Booster Gold makes the team flee, and some see this as a sign of cowardice. August of Irons believes Booster was an effective leader and still can be. The team discovers the Hall of Justice destroyed and more of those giant robots awakening. This was a great second issue, keeping the momentum going from issue one and showing the team still acting like individuals rather than a unit. The artwork is still great and well done, the characters still retain their bright colors and each of the giant robots have variety to their color schemes. B+
Swamp Thing #2: Alec talks with a previous Swamp being who warns him of a powerful demon coming to destroy the world and the Green. Alec is attacked by possessed townspeople and it’s met by woman bearing a familiar last name. REALLY good, I loved this issue, so much is being built up, and I have to see its conclusion. The artwork as fantastic and adds a level of surrealism to it all. A-
Thunderbolts #164: The team groups up with Cap and Namor of the past while trying not to cause any changes to the time stream. The original Human Torch is captured and dismantled by Baron Zemo and used to create super soldiers for the Red Skull. Another fantastic issue with this series, I enjoy this group of villains, a bit glad that Luke Cage is gone. The artwork is really fun and well done, Satana’s WWII outfit is just….wow. A
Ultimate’s #1: Nick Fury is giving a rundown as to what is going on with the superhero community, the realm of Asgard raided a brewery and the Excalibur’s go in to deal with them. A mysterious group of people create a dome in the middle of Germany. Tony Stark is called in to stop a battle ship from colliding into shore. It’s a trap and he goes into shock. Thor and Captain Britain have discovered the Dome and get attacked by the new villains. Surprised to say but I enjoyed this, the story was well thought out, it might require some backstory but overall was enjoyable. Artwork is done great, the heroes costumes are all well designed and modern. B+
Ultimate’s #2: The Dome reveals its true power, the people inside have accelerated themselves to highly advanced technology and power. Thor battles many of them with ease until he is captured. The people discover what Thor is and invade Asgard. Thor catches up as he kingdom is being destroyed before him, he takes his son and places him and the hammer within the World Tree. Thor and Loki head into battle as Asgard falls and all the Gods are no more. Wow, much like JLI, this kept the momentum going, even adding to the escalating threat these new villains have become, I dig the aspect of the Dome and what it has made them into. The artwork is just as good as it was in issue #1 and the scene of Asgardians falling to their deaths was grim. B+
Well this was quite a fun week, Ultimate’s won me over for now, I will see how this first arc goes and see if I will invest once again in that Universe. Next week is the same amount as this week, catch you all later.