ComicCritic87’s weekly comic book reviews
Week of October 19th, 2011
Greetings friends and fellow comic book readers and fans, the ever continuing reviews march on. Well my friends, this is one of my bigger weeks. So much is coming out this week it’s astounding, Today will mark the end of the big Marvel Event, Fear Itself; I’m excited to see how it all ends. I got a huge amount of my DC reads this week, which after today a few will sadly be cut due to overabundance. Also we have the end of one the best Godzilla comics to date, Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths #5 concludes this amazing tale. I have a lot to get through so let’s begin.
Comics this week
DC Comics: Blue Beetle #2, Captain Atom #2, Catwoman #2, DCU Presents #2, Justice League #2, Nightwing #2, Supergirl #2, Wonder Woman #2
Marvel Comics: Avengers #18, Fear Itself #7, Fearless #1, Invincible Iron Man #509, Journey into Mystery #629, Wolverine #17
Other Comics: Godzilla: Gangsters &Goliaths #5, Superior #6,
Top Picks of the Week
DC Comics: Wonder Woman #2- Written by Brian Azzarello and Artwork by Cliff Chiang
Abridged Story: Diana brings Hermes and Zola to Paradise Island where Diana reunites with her mother and fellow amazon warriors. Hermes tells Zola of Diana’s “origin” when the Island is under attack by Strife, the sister of Ares. She came not for Zola’s child but Diana.
Review: As I have mentioned a few times, it’s typically the second issue of any series to really catch my attention and be a part of my reading lists, and here Wonder Woman is locked in as one of them. I love this new take on her mythology. I love the way they are blending the human element as well as the godly element, the gods are very well defined by their intentions and actions. What really helps is that Brian Azzarello does a top notch job writing this not as a Super Hero story but more in tune to a Greek epic, which as I mention how HERC did it over in Marvel has now switched back to here with DC where it’s done better than HERC, in fact, if Grant Morrison does do that rumored Wonder Woman series, he better take example by this series or else he should just stick with Bat and Supes.
Artwork: Cliff Chiang’s artwork is nothing short of Amazing. The cover features Diana holding onto a spear with her feet in pools of blood and Strife behind her with a devilish smile. The designs of each god of Olympus are greatly diverse and very inhuman like, which is always something I like to see in interpretation of various pantheons. The action beats with Diana fighting a fellow Amazon was great to see. This is easily one of the best titles with some fantastic artwork that fits it like a glove.
Grade: A-
Marvel Comics: Fear Itself #7- Written by Matt Fraction and Artwork by Stuart Immonen
Abridged Story: The final stand takes place in Broxton; Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and the Mighty (Spider-man, Black Widow, Iron Fist, Dr. Strange, Red She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, and Wolverine) face off against the Serpent and his children, the Worthy. Thor battles the Serpent, Captain America becomes worthy to wield Thors hammer as he battles Sin to avenge the death of Bucky. As the battle begins to favor the heroes, the world begins to recover and become less afraid and begin to embrace hope. Thor finishes off the Serpent once and for all, the Worthy lose their power and return to being human. Thor falls into his father’s arms and dies fulfilling his part of the prophecy. The world tries to return to normal, or has it?
Review: WOW, simply WOW. This was an AMAZING way for this big event to end. This was such a big event that they had to have it end on a huge note and it did. Everything that can happen did. They didn’t slow down one minute in giving us a fitting, action packed, post Fear event world. The battle between Thor and the Serpent was great, the battle between Cap and Sin was symbolic, the giant battle was just so amazing and gave us plenty of time between each Mighty versus Worthy. The various epilogues that are setting up the events of various books like the Fearless, Battle Scars, Incredible Hulk, and Defenders. This ending to the events leave us wanting to know what is to come and I’m excited to see what we are about to see. This is how Flashpoint should have ended, it should have been big and epic to make way for the new order.
Artwork: Hands down some of the best artwork around, Stuart Immomen was the best choice for drawing this event. The covers were never impressive, once again it features two images; Cap and Sin fighting, and Thor battling the Serpent. However the rest of the issue’s inner artwork doesn’t let up, we get some of the best splash pages and battle scenes I have ever seen.
Grade: A+
Other Comics: Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths #5- Written by John Layman and Artwork by Alberto Ponticellie
Abridged Story: The finale has arrived, Sato and his sons pilot Mecha-Godzilla into Tokyo to save the twins from being held hostage by the evil Takahashi. They briefly battle the Big G, and rescue the twins. However Takahashi has gone deranged as he sees himself becoming a true monster, and he immediately gets stomped on my Godzilla. The twins are freed and balance is restored, Japan rebuilds and Sato is claimed to be dead, but has become the human protector of the twins.
Review: I’m both happy and sad about this issue. I’m glad that this felt like a true Godzilla tale from the old school era mixed with some modern Yakuza culture added into it. Destroyer and I are huge Godzilla fans that we loved this mini-series rather than the main canon that Kingdom of Monsters has been trying to do. This series did one thing we wanted badly, likable characters, Sato is a great protagonist character, you feel sorry for him and want him to succeed in his goal, despite how he was trying to get to it but you knew he was a good character along with the great villain that was Takahashi, a deranged and psychotic Yakuza member that hope he ends up on the bottom foot of one of these giant monsters. Speaking of those, the big G and crew really shine in this issue, being great symbols of chaos without order, making them essentially part of nature that if tipped in their favor is a very bad thing to happen.
Artwork: This is just some of the most beautiful artwork that it’s nearly hard to describe. Alberto Ponticelli is hands down, the best artist when it comes to Godzilla and his monster friends. The cover, dear Godzilla is it such a glory to behold. I have cover A, which features Godzilla stomping through Tokyo with various fighter jets trying to stop him. The amount of attention to detail with the buildings, the look and angle of Godzilla, and the amount of destruction he is causing is just AMAZING, issues 4 and 5 are front runners for best covers. The Inner artwork is not slouching either, the monster designs as mentioned are hands down the best thing about this series. The big page with Mecha-Godzilla smashing into a building was just so amazing to see difference in size and scale that many comics just never seem to get right, there is also consistency, in Kingdom of Monsters, the designs of the monsters change nearly from page to page or issue to issue that it’s hard to tell if it’s the same artist doing it.
Grade: A+
Weakest of the Week: Captain Atom #2
Abridged Story: We get a brief origin of Captain Atom but they making it too Dr. Manhattan like.
Review: Not really getting a feeling for this series, I expected more but didn’t get what I hoped for. Sadly this is a dropped title.
Artwork: The artwork is pretty stylistic at least.
Grade: D-
Quick Reviews
Avengers#18: The team recovers from Fear Itself mixed in with a woman gathering samples of the super human population during various prior events and selling them to HAMMER. I liked this issue; I like the closure it brings to the event as well as setting up a core group, rather than having everyone being an Avenger. The new artwork by Acuna is nicely done, a slight step above JRJR. B-
Blue Beetle: Jaime attacks the people that attacked him and is seen as a threat to friends. A bit confusing issue, I didn’t feel connected to it at all, sad to say it’s another dropped title. Artwork is pretty good. C-
Catwoman #2: Catwoman causes a war between two rival gangs. A definite lock for my reading list, loved issue 1 and this issue doesn’t disappoint. Artwork by March is beautiful. A-
DCU Presents Deadman #2: Deadman infiltrates a mystical club and finds the book about his life. A fun but kinda meh issue, I loved Boston Brand more in Brightest Day than here…..another title dropped. Artwork was nice. C+
The Fearless #1: Essentially Marvels Brightest Day following Valkyrie and Sin on their quests to find the hammers of the Worthy. I was surprised by this issue, it was pretty good, I like Val’s character and she takes center stage in this post event series. The artwork is top notch. B+
Journey into Mystery #629: Loki and crew rewrite the story of the Serpent as he is about to be defeated by Thor. Loki witnesses his brother’s death and begins a new journey. A great issue if a bit confusing at first, it is a well done and top notch issue. The artwork continues to shine gloriously. A-
Invincible Iron Man #509: Before Fear Itself finale, Tony is in his new Destroyer style armor and says goodbye to his dwarf friends. Good issue but those cursing dwarves were so annoying, glad they are gone. Larroca’s artwork is great as usual. B+
Justice League #2: Superman fights off Green Lantern and Batman until Flash calms the situation down. They team up to see what the mystery boxes were until they bring out an army of monsters. Another great issue by two great forces with writing and artwork, Johns does great job writing and Jim Lee’s art is AMAZING. A+
Nightwing #2: Dick Grayson fights off the new threat, Saiko as he inherits the circus he grew up in. Fun action but again, not what I expected in issue two, another one bites the dust. Artwork is good. C+
Supergirl #2: Kara and Clark duke it out as she is lost and confused about where she is and who Clark really is. A great action filled issue with plenty of backstory and setting up whats to come. Its saved for another month. A-
Superior #6: Simon tells Maddie the truth of what has happened to him, she takes him to a place she was in and it makes himself differently. However the evil monkey uses the bully to make into Superiors greatest foe and attacks the city. A great and fantastic issue, a great non action filled issue setting up for a great ending. A
Wolverine #17: Logan returns to Chinatown in San Fransisco to collect things before starting up the school he wants to build and teach in. His place has been ransacked and goes after the enemies who took his stuff. This is another great issue with Aaron, almost tempting me to read Wolverine and the X-men and how Aaron will evolve Wolverine further. Artwork is great. A-
Phew….man these big weeks take a lot out of me. I’m glad that many things have ended and sadden that I must start dropping DC titles since many were lackluster this week. Next week is another big week, catch you all then.