All comic book reviews by: Josh Rushinock and Paul McIntyre
Every week, Josh Rushinock and Paul McIntyre sit down with a combination of the week's comic releases, and one classic comic run, and attempt to sift the good from the bad. Effectively sifting through the trash to find the best work of the week, and the greatest runs of all time, every Friday these two writers come together to share their impressions on the comic book industry they both so thoroughly love.
Welcome to this week's edition of Sifting Through The Racks!
Every week, Josh Rushinock and Paul McIntyre sit down with a combination of the week's comic releases, and one classic comic run, and attempt to sift the good from the bad. Effectively sifting through the trash to find the best work of the week, and the greatest runs of all time, every Friday these two writers come together to share their impressions on the comic book industry they both so thoroughly love.
Welcome to this week's edition of Sifting Through The Racks!
Reviews for the week of 3/16/16
Dragon Age: Mage Killer #4
I mentioned this when last I reviewed this series, but I feel the need to mention it again; I really love these kinds of comics. The idea of taking a pre-established world like Dragon Age and expanding upon it, even in small amounts, has always appealed to me, and Dark Horse does it better than anybody else in the comic business.
When those expansions move to pre-established characters, however, sometimes it's a little bit of a shaky transition. A great example of this is Star Wars where Dark Horse added some of the most memorable ideas in the history of its franchise themselves, but, whenever they seemed to focus on characters from the movies and events surrounding them, it was always a bit of a mixed bag. When Marvel took it over again, they failed in the previous area and succeeded strongly in the latter.
Which isn't really a bad thing. Dark Horse knows where its best works lies. But cameos such as this issue presents do stumble into that issue, making the last story dropping our heroes into the middle of the Inquisition cause for a bit of an eyebrow raise.
I mentioned this when last I reviewed this series, but I feel the need to mention it again; I really love these kinds of comics. The idea of taking a pre-established world like Dragon Age and expanding upon it, even in small amounts, has always appealed to me, and Dark Horse does it better than anybody else in the comic business.
When those expansions move to pre-established characters, however, sometimes it's a little bit of a shaky transition. A great example of this is Star Wars where Dark Horse added some of the most memorable ideas in the history of its franchise themselves, but, whenever they seemed to focus on characters from the movies and events surrounding them, it was always a bit of a mixed bag. When Marvel took it over again, they failed in the previous area and succeeded strongly in the latter.
Which isn't really a bad thing. Dark Horse knows where its best works lies. But cameos such as this issue presents do stumble into that issue, making the last story dropping our heroes into the middle of the Inquisition cause for a bit of an eyebrow raise.
Allocated to working out of the hissing wastes, Tessa and Marius find themselves putting their Mage hunting skills to a very specific work in the sand-riddled wastes, and that is hunting Tevinter slavers out in the bowels of the desert. After being moved to a staging area where Marius stayed, hidden in the sand for several days, Tessa arrives and joins him, bringing him in to meet their new partners: Dorian Averus in charge of the Bull's Chargers.
Marius explains the situation, an encampment of Tevinter slavers numbering fifty, with double that in slaves and on a bit of shaky footing with one another they get to work. After Dorian assures Marius that he can trust him due to his background as a Slave in Tevinter and vice versa considering Dorian was a Tevinter from a family of high esteem, the operation gets under way with magic assisting the magic hunters in the save. Meanwhile, back at the Inquisition's home, a familiar face awaits them, with a personal request from the Inquisitor himself...
This was a really well handled issue. While the first two issues had a thousand things happen at once and that made the pace seem hectic, last issue was a bit more content, and this one was even more so. To its credit though, it had a great, if small scale, story to tell, and it did so well. Better yet, the writers managed to absolutely nail the characters from the game in the context of how they were used, and that added a bit of an enjoyable dynamic to the proceedings that felt nostalgic. I won't go as far as to say it's absolutely worth a pick-up, but I think fans will be especially satisfied with this issue, and newcomers might find a reason to go off and find the other issues and the games just based on what this issue hints at.
Rating: Buy it.
Marius explains the situation, an encampment of Tevinter slavers numbering fifty, with double that in slaves and on a bit of shaky footing with one another they get to work. After Dorian assures Marius that he can trust him due to his background as a Slave in Tevinter and vice versa considering Dorian was a Tevinter from a family of high esteem, the operation gets under way with magic assisting the magic hunters in the save. Meanwhile, back at the Inquisition's home, a familiar face awaits them, with a personal request from the Inquisitor himself...
This was a really well handled issue. While the first two issues had a thousand things happen at once and that made the pace seem hectic, last issue was a bit more content, and this one was even more so. To its credit though, it had a great, if small scale, story to tell, and it did so well. Better yet, the writers managed to absolutely nail the characters from the game in the context of how they were used, and that added a bit of an enjoyable dynamic to the proceedings that felt nostalgic. I won't go as far as to say it's absolutely worth a pick-up, but I think fans will be especially satisfied with this issue, and newcomers might find a reason to go off and find the other issues and the games just based on what this issue hints at.
Rating: Buy it.
I feel like the universe is punishing me for accidentally putting Batman vs Superman coming out on the 18th on my calendar.
Batman & Robin: Eternal #24
There are a lot of comics out there that focus on several points of view at any given turn and succeeds in doing so. When there are a bunch of moving objects to a plot, sometimes that can add to the experience and the chaos of that story, make it seem like the heroes are so outmatched and overstretched that they might not win the battle set in front of them. Most major event comics do this and fail, but series such as The Avengers and Justice League have made their marks on the industry by managing to keep you feeling for the characters despite how many plot threads and overwhelming odds are overexerting the story.
This is not one of those comics.
The world has broken out into pure pandemonium. The mind-controlled children of Mother are out to take the satellite towers and secure her control on them, and the Bat Family is spread thin with even Spyral's resources failing the city of Tokyo from being overrun. In the face of all of this, Dick Grayson makes his approach on Mother's Antarctic base, warning the others that reinforcements are on their way in the form of Mother's personally molded 'children'.
Meanwhile, Harper awakens to find Mother showing her how her friends are failing and dying and attempts to turn her to her side, revealing that Harper was her perfect soldier made for Batman but failed for him, giving her as normal a life as he could offer. As Azrael arrives to kill his leash holder, getting in Dick's way, and Mother's troops turn up the heat on the Bat-Family, Spoiler is sent to Tokyo to do what good she can, and Harper is given a choice to join Mother... by killing Cassandra, the girl, previously her friend, who had killed her family.
This wasn't an awful comic or anything but instead just a minor miss. There are so many plot threads and confusion going on in the lead-up to the supposed 'finale' of the series that it makes it really hard to care about anything that's going on. Each issue seems to make you care about one minute detail, and, in this issue, it's Harper but that's handled with such speed in order to adhere to the rest of the plot that it seems rushed. In the end, I don't think this will look as bad in a trade, but, as a singles issue, it's a pretty unimpressive mess.
Rating: Wait for the Trade.
There are a lot of comics out there that focus on several points of view at any given turn and succeeds in doing so. When there are a bunch of moving objects to a plot, sometimes that can add to the experience and the chaos of that story, make it seem like the heroes are so outmatched and overstretched that they might not win the battle set in front of them. Most major event comics do this and fail, but series such as The Avengers and Justice League have made their marks on the industry by managing to keep you feeling for the characters despite how many plot threads and overwhelming odds are overexerting the story.
This is not one of those comics.
The world has broken out into pure pandemonium. The mind-controlled children of Mother are out to take the satellite towers and secure her control on them, and the Bat Family is spread thin with even Spyral's resources failing the city of Tokyo from being overrun. In the face of all of this, Dick Grayson makes his approach on Mother's Antarctic base, warning the others that reinforcements are on their way in the form of Mother's personally molded 'children'.
Meanwhile, Harper awakens to find Mother showing her how her friends are failing and dying and attempts to turn her to her side, revealing that Harper was her perfect soldier made for Batman but failed for him, giving her as normal a life as he could offer. As Azrael arrives to kill his leash holder, getting in Dick's way, and Mother's troops turn up the heat on the Bat-Family, Spoiler is sent to Tokyo to do what good she can, and Harper is given a choice to join Mother... by killing Cassandra, the girl, previously her friend, who had killed her family.
This wasn't an awful comic or anything but instead just a minor miss. There are so many plot threads and confusion going on in the lead-up to the supposed 'finale' of the series that it makes it really hard to care about anything that's going on. Each issue seems to make you care about one minute detail, and, in this issue, it's Harper but that's handled with such speed in order to adhere to the rest of the plot that it seems rushed. In the end, I don't think this will look as bad in a trade, but, as a singles issue, it's a pretty unimpressive mess.
Rating: Wait for the Trade.
All-New X-Men #6
Now, on the opposite end of the spectrum... how do you make a series with multiple characters work in the chaos of multiple plot threads?
Well, the first thing that comes to mind is putting emphasis less on what the characters are talking about and more on what they're thinking or doing. Getting into the head of a character and all that they're going through in the middle of a fight usually helps you root for them a bit more, letting you know who they are, what their struggle is, and why we should care if they win or even survive any particular fight. But that, too, can be a bit of a problem because it forces you to slow down the pace of the story so that you can go between a handful of people and get through all their thoughts. A fight that might have been five minutes is suddenly a full twenty page issue that seems more like hours of fighting, and, if done wrong, it makes it seem like their heads aren't in the game and that the stakes aren't as large because they're thinking about life outside of surviving to see their problems.
This time, we open with Idie and her worries over her religion and how Blob's current path of destruction is leading directly to the Notre Dame which flairs up an almost unwanted need from the girl to protect the religion she's struggling with. Meanwhile, as Bobby attempts to stop the Blob in his tracks, he finds himself reflecting on how, while in a fight, he can let go of all of his worries and fears and just fight, but the mere fact that he's thinking about them at all puts him in danger of a knockout punch at the hands of this new and improved Blob. Idie manages to redirect Blob as Scott attempts to stand back and re-strategize in the face of this new Blob but finds himself hit by a car and carried off by a drunken kidnapper in Toad.
Hank, meanwhile, finds himself the man in the way of Blob's rage and quickly begins to realize that his older self's mutation might have been not a negative but a positive in terms of growth and experience. As Laura attempts to push Warren breaking up with her out of her mind, Idie finds herself unable to spark any elements and quite helpless against Blob, but Warren, angry and out to prove a point, flies directly into the fight and unleashes a beating so brutal that it bloodies Warren and takes one of Blob's eyes, putting him out of action. Laura and Warren depart, terrified of what the other has done and cold toward each other while Bobby asks about Idie's faith. Idie gets the chance to say that she's learning from God and that her faith might not be as strong as ever, but it's still there. A flaming angel saving her life had to be some sort of sign after all, right? As the team waits for the police, Evan arrives to warn the young X-Team that their lead is gone, taken by an angry and drunken Toad...
I'm not sure how to feel about this issue, in all honesty. While I like the idea of how they went about it, giving each character equal time and mindful character development until it crescendoed with the focal point of the plot that ends here, Warren and Laura, there was so little build to some of these thoughts that it didn't have an impact, and the muddled focus hurt that a bit. At the same time, the Laura and Warren stuff was brutal to a point where I'm not sure I'm comfortable with a young Angel becoming that violent, but it worked for what it did. The subplot with Toad seems to be a step down, and Idie's struggle through faith might've been better told here but still felt like treading water.
Largely, this is a mix of hits and misses, but none of the misses are so massive that I found myself with any major issues. The minor ones, however, keep it from a buy.
Rating: Wait for the Trade.
Now, on the opposite end of the spectrum... how do you make a series with multiple characters work in the chaos of multiple plot threads?
Well, the first thing that comes to mind is putting emphasis less on what the characters are talking about and more on what they're thinking or doing. Getting into the head of a character and all that they're going through in the middle of a fight usually helps you root for them a bit more, letting you know who they are, what their struggle is, and why we should care if they win or even survive any particular fight. But that, too, can be a bit of a problem because it forces you to slow down the pace of the story so that you can go between a handful of people and get through all their thoughts. A fight that might have been five minutes is suddenly a full twenty page issue that seems more like hours of fighting, and, if done wrong, it makes it seem like their heads aren't in the game and that the stakes aren't as large because they're thinking about life outside of surviving to see their problems.
This time, we open with Idie and her worries over her religion and how Blob's current path of destruction is leading directly to the Notre Dame which flairs up an almost unwanted need from the girl to protect the religion she's struggling with. Meanwhile, as Bobby attempts to stop the Blob in his tracks, he finds himself reflecting on how, while in a fight, he can let go of all of his worries and fears and just fight, but the mere fact that he's thinking about them at all puts him in danger of a knockout punch at the hands of this new and improved Blob. Idie manages to redirect Blob as Scott attempts to stand back and re-strategize in the face of this new Blob but finds himself hit by a car and carried off by a drunken kidnapper in Toad.
Hank, meanwhile, finds himself the man in the way of Blob's rage and quickly begins to realize that his older self's mutation might have been not a negative but a positive in terms of growth and experience. As Laura attempts to push Warren breaking up with her out of her mind, Idie finds herself unable to spark any elements and quite helpless against Blob, but Warren, angry and out to prove a point, flies directly into the fight and unleashes a beating so brutal that it bloodies Warren and takes one of Blob's eyes, putting him out of action. Laura and Warren depart, terrified of what the other has done and cold toward each other while Bobby asks about Idie's faith. Idie gets the chance to say that she's learning from God and that her faith might not be as strong as ever, but it's still there. A flaming angel saving her life had to be some sort of sign after all, right? As the team waits for the police, Evan arrives to warn the young X-Team that their lead is gone, taken by an angry and drunken Toad...
I'm not sure how to feel about this issue, in all honesty. While I like the idea of how they went about it, giving each character equal time and mindful character development until it crescendoed with the focal point of the plot that ends here, Warren and Laura, there was so little build to some of these thoughts that it didn't have an impact, and the muddled focus hurt that a bit. At the same time, the Laura and Warren stuff was brutal to a point where I'm not sure I'm comfortable with a young Angel becoming that violent, but it worked for what it did. The subplot with Toad seems to be a step down, and Idie's struggle through faith might've been better told here but still felt like treading water.
Largely, this is a mix of hits and misses, but none of the misses are so massive that I found myself with any major issues. The minor ones, however, keep it from a buy.
Rating: Wait for the Trade.
Extraordinary X-Men #8
For my money, Extraordinary X-Men is probably the best written X-Book on the market right now. While All-New can easily take that claim as well, I personally don't find quite as much interest in the younger versions of the characters as I do the normal, aged ones. While I'll admit the art has been highly suspect in Extraordinary thus far, the writing has been rather superb and it's managed to be a terrific way of calming my nerves in the face of Uncanny's terrible presence.
This issue picks up with Ororo worrying over the fate of the X-Men as a whole. While she now has a full team to mobilize around the world and help mutants escape the mists and X-Haven is growing by the day, there's no escaping that the mutants as a whole are once again an endangered species, and she can't help but feel that the X-Men aren't the saviors of their kind anymore but instead doomed to watch as their kind disappear.
Logan finds her in her office and confronts her about this as she's been brooding and he can tell as she admits her worries and how she could never quite hide it from Logan, let alone Old Man Logan. The two share a moment to show Ororo's previous relationship with the departed Wolverine, before being interrupted by Forge, a former lover of Ororo's. Quickly the moment parts as six hundred new signatures have popped up of new mutants. With most of the team mobilized, Piotr is tasked with bringing his new and young team into action.
Arriving in Tokyo, they quickly find all the signatures are coming from one specific place, and inside the Sugar Man is the source of it. As the brawl ensues, the other X-Men find themselves trapped, and Piotr tries to free them as Cerebra deals with the threat, but, as the rest of the team arrives, Piotr and his team are sent into the future. As Sugar Man is put out of action, Cerebra informs them that they were sent into the distant future. Making Illyana stay behind, despite her qualms about it, the team reworks the system and is sent into the future, but what they find, in both landscape and the team sent, are far from what they had suspected...
There is also a secondary story included in which Illyana takes young Sapna, who had been saved by the team earlier in the series and had opened the doors in Limbo, to see Doctor Strange to discover the details of her powers... and the threats that lie within.
This was a pretty solid issue, but it was very rushed. After the start with Logan, they rush through the entirety of the team disappearing, the rest of the team arriving, and the bits and the subduing of Sugar Man at such a pace that it passes in less than eight pages, making it seem like it's going at an unreasonable pace especially with the rest of the team having been deployed beforehand. That, combined with the series' biggest flaw, the all over the place art, really does sour this rather decent issue into just a wait until the next issue and therefore would require more in order to stand on its own.
Rating: Wait for the Trade.
For my money, Extraordinary X-Men is probably the best written X-Book on the market right now. While All-New can easily take that claim as well, I personally don't find quite as much interest in the younger versions of the characters as I do the normal, aged ones. While I'll admit the art has been highly suspect in Extraordinary thus far, the writing has been rather superb and it's managed to be a terrific way of calming my nerves in the face of Uncanny's terrible presence.
This issue picks up with Ororo worrying over the fate of the X-Men as a whole. While she now has a full team to mobilize around the world and help mutants escape the mists and X-Haven is growing by the day, there's no escaping that the mutants as a whole are once again an endangered species, and she can't help but feel that the X-Men aren't the saviors of their kind anymore but instead doomed to watch as their kind disappear.
Logan finds her in her office and confronts her about this as she's been brooding and he can tell as she admits her worries and how she could never quite hide it from Logan, let alone Old Man Logan. The two share a moment to show Ororo's previous relationship with the departed Wolverine, before being interrupted by Forge, a former lover of Ororo's. Quickly the moment parts as six hundred new signatures have popped up of new mutants. With most of the team mobilized, Piotr is tasked with bringing his new and young team into action.
Arriving in Tokyo, they quickly find all the signatures are coming from one specific place, and inside the Sugar Man is the source of it. As the brawl ensues, the other X-Men find themselves trapped, and Piotr tries to free them as Cerebra deals with the threat, but, as the rest of the team arrives, Piotr and his team are sent into the future. As Sugar Man is put out of action, Cerebra informs them that they were sent into the distant future. Making Illyana stay behind, despite her qualms about it, the team reworks the system and is sent into the future, but what they find, in both landscape and the team sent, are far from what they had suspected...
There is also a secondary story included in which Illyana takes young Sapna, who had been saved by the team earlier in the series and had opened the doors in Limbo, to see Doctor Strange to discover the details of her powers... and the threats that lie within.
This was a pretty solid issue, but it was very rushed. After the start with Logan, they rush through the entirety of the team disappearing, the rest of the team arriving, and the bits and the subduing of Sugar Man at such a pace that it passes in less than eight pages, making it seem like it's going at an unreasonable pace especially with the rest of the team having been deployed beforehand. That, combined with the series' biggest flaw, the all over the place art, really does sour this rather decent issue into just a wait until the next issue and therefore would require more in order to stand on its own.
Rating: Wait for the Trade.
Frank Castle was so unenthused to be on the cover of this comic that they had to take a picture of him pulling out of his parking lot at six in the morning and then photoshop the cover to have Daredevil on it in order to make this awful cover work.
Daredevil/Punisher: Seventh Circle #2
Daredevil and The Punisher is an interesting dynamic that writes itself. I mentioned that last issue, and most certainly still stand by it. With that said, however, last issue I praised the book for taking its format, which was spending sixty pages slowly adding panel after panel in a layered story, for using that format in such a way that made the story work.
I also said I am generally not a fan of the format, and this week, that may catch up with the story.
As the issue opens, Daredevil manages to just barely avoid the weapon that Punisher turned on within the van, managing to somersault and stay attached by the rear of the vehicle. Blindspot and the police transport double back, to Daredevil's annoyance, in order to attempt to 'save' him, and, while Murdoch wasn't happy that they'd endangered the prisoner by doing so, he jumped on board, leaving his billy club firmly planted in the exhaust pipe of Punisher's vehicle, causing it to veer off course and explode.
Quickly the police change their destination to get Antonov onto a plane somewhere more public and harder for Frank to hit while also dealing with the antagonistic insistence of the crime boss's 'innocence before guilt' by American law. It's at that moment, however, that the vehicle is hit broadside and knocked over. Antonov manages to escape, leaving the police to deal with his thugs who saved him. Daredevil quickly takes up the Cop's baton's and dispenses them, chasing Antonov into a factory with Blindspot. They manage to disarm the situation, but, as the chaos unfolds, a shot from off-panel kills one of the security guards, hailing the arrival of The Punisher.
This issue is everything I hate about the idea of taking a twenty page comic and extending it out in a 'cinematic' fashion so it unfolds like a flip book, with new dialogue but slowly added panels along the way. It prolongs the experience and doesn't actually add anything visually to the experience, unlike the first issue, instead proving to be a pain in the ass to flip through because of its length and lack of content.
The story presented is solid but once again falls prey to its format. It felt like this story could have been fully covered in twelve pages as there's not a lot of forward momentum, or unique content in general, to hype it up. Instead, it just feels like a complete filler comic that accomplishes only one plot point, and that's frustrating because these are two characters you need to see going at full speed or completely at a stand still, not a slow climb.
Rating: Skip it.
Daredevil and The Punisher is an interesting dynamic that writes itself. I mentioned that last issue, and most certainly still stand by it. With that said, however, last issue I praised the book for taking its format, which was spending sixty pages slowly adding panel after panel in a layered story, for using that format in such a way that made the story work.
I also said I am generally not a fan of the format, and this week, that may catch up with the story.
As the issue opens, Daredevil manages to just barely avoid the weapon that Punisher turned on within the van, managing to somersault and stay attached by the rear of the vehicle. Blindspot and the police transport double back, to Daredevil's annoyance, in order to attempt to 'save' him, and, while Murdoch wasn't happy that they'd endangered the prisoner by doing so, he jumped on board, leaving his billy club firmly planted in the exhaust pipe of Punisher's vehicle, causing it to veer off course and explode.
Quickly the police change their destination to get Antonov onto a plane somewhere more public and harder for Frank to hit while also dealing with the antagonistic insistence of the crime boss's 'innocence before guilt' by American law. It's at that moment, however, that the vehicle is hit broadside and knocked over. Antonov manages to escape, leaving the police to deal with his thugs who saved him. Daredevil quickly takes up the Cop's baton's and dispenses them, chasing Antonov into a factory with Blindspot. They manage to disarm the situation, but, as the chaos unfolds, a shot from off-panel kills one of the security guards, hailing the arrival of The Punisher.
This issue is everything I hate about the idea of taking a twenty page comic and extending it out in a 'cinematic' fashion so it unfolds like a flip book, with new dialogue but slowly added panels along the way. It prolongs the experience and doesn't actually add anything visually to the experience, unlike the first issue, instead proving to be a pain in the ass to flip through because of its length and lack of content.
The story presented is solid but once again falls prey to its format. It felt like this story could have been fully covered in twelve pages as there's not a lot of forward momentum, or unique content in general, to hype it up. Instead, it just feels like a complete filler comic that accomplishes only one plot point, and that's frustrating because these are two characters you need to see going at full speed or completely at a stand still, not a slow climb.
Rating: Skip it.
I, too, was confused by the practicality of the purely aesthetic bordering street signs.
Power Man and Iron Fist #2
I felt pretty terrible when the first issue of this series came out. It wasn't what I expected; I mentioned that several times, and I felt I hadn't given it a fair shake, in a way, just because of my expectations. I mentioned how Iron Fist and Luke Cage were gritty, street-wise characters, and, while there's a lot of truth in that, it's also true they've had their fill of humorous moments over the years.
After re-reading the review (as I often do before picking up an issue, so I can remember just what the fiddle-faddle is going on), however, I felt I gave it more of a fair shake than my memory told me I did. I think what it came down to was I had high hopes for the series going into it because of them being on the precipice of mainstream attention through Netflix, and this wasn't their best representation. But even as a humorous product, it very much failed in what it set out to do, and its terrible character representations were too much to look past.
With all that said, however, I still have a hope, a weak spot, that makes me want this series to rise from its relatively young ashes.
Issue two opens with the word of Power Man and Iron Fist's excursion with Tombstone spreading through the criminal underworld at a quick pace, mostly due to them acting oddly out of place in stealing the Soul Stone, something heroes wouldn't do... unless they were tricked. Completely unaware of all of this, Luke humors Danny in meeting with him, only to be berated with him trying to convince Luke, unsuccessfully, to reopen Heroes For Hire.
Their meal is interrupted, however, when Gorilla Man and Black Tarantula show up, looking to take the bounty and take back the stolen stone. A fight ensues that Luke Cage and Iron Fist win easy (while Spider-Gwen and Spider-Woman watch on for reasons outside of a good fight) and quickly are forced to reevaluate their favor for Jeannie as they discover that she tricked them into stealing the stone for her then disappeared, seemingly with a plan for vengeance after her five years in prison...
Okay.
Okay. This wasn't a great issue. The character work was all over the place as was the still not great art. It was silly to the point of stupidity, at points.
But as much as that is true, I... umm... for no particular reason... enjoyed it?
Okay, let's just be honest here. The character portrayal of Danny Rand is terrible. They take the opposite approach that event comics seem to take with him being ultra-serious and instead aim to make him so silly that he seems like a genuine, unlikable moron, and the truth of the character is somewhere in between those two points. The villain characters are weakly portrayed, save Jeannie, though she's certainly not the character she once was, somewhat understandably so. Hell, Spider-Gwen and Spider-Woman were treated like peaking perverts in this issue, and that annoyed me.
Luke Cage, however, is handled really well, I think. Yeah, him giving up cursing because of Jessica Jones, of all people, is stupid, but it's also slightly endearing. His treatment of Danny despite his obvious annoyance at his existence is also endearing. It's the job of Cage to make everyone in this series take a step down from annoying to bearable, and it's handled so well in this issue that it makes all of the character problems go from outcries of rage to a dull whisper. It's not a great issue, no, and it's likely skippable, but something clicked in here that I feel the need to mention, even if likely no-one else will agree with me.
Comics are supposed to be fun.
This issue was fun.
That's the long and short of it.
Rating: Wait for the Trade.
I felt pretty terrible when the first issue of this series came out. It wasn't what I expected; I mentioned that several times, and I felt I hadn't given it a fair shake, in a way, just because of my expectations. I mentioned how Iron Fist and Luke Cage were gritty, street-wise characters, and, while there's a lot of truth in that, it's also true they've had their fill of humorous moments over the years.
After re-reading the review (as I often do before picking up an issue, so I can remember just what the fiddle-faddle is going on), however, I felt I gave it more of a fair shake than my memory told me I did. I think what it came down to was I had high hopes for the series going into it because of them being on the precipice of mainstream attention through Netflix, and this wasn't their best representation. But even as a humorous product, it very much failed in what it set out to do, and its terrible character representations were too much to look past.
With all that said, however, I still have a hope, a weak spot, that makes me want this series to rise from its relatively young ashes.
Issue two opens with the word of Power Man and Iron Fist's excursion with Tombstone spreading through the criminal underworld at a quick pace, mostly due to them acting oddly out of place in stealing the Soul Stone, something heroes wouldn't do... unless they were tricked. Completely unaware of all of this, Luke humors Danny in meeting with him, only to be berated with him trying to convince Luke, unsuccessfully, to reopen Heroes For Hire.
Their meal is interrupted, however, when Gorilla Man and Black Tarantula show up, looking to take the bounty and take back the stolen stone. A fight ensues that Luke Cage and Iron Fist win easy (while Spider-Gwen and Spider-Woman watch on for reasons outside of a good fight) and quickly are forced to reevaluate their favor for Jeannie as they discover that she tricked them into stealing the stone for her then disappeared, seemingly with a plan for vengeance after her five years in prison...
Okay.
Okay. This wasn't a great issue. The character work was all over the place as was the still not great art. It was silly to the point of stupidity, at points.
But as much as that is true, I... umm... for no particular reason... enjoyed it?
Okay, let's just be honest here. The character portrayal of Danny Rand is terrible. They take the opposite approach that event comics seem to take with him being ultra-serious and instead aim to make him so silly that he seems like a genuine, unlikable moron, and the truth of the character is somewhere in between those two points. The villain characters are weakly portrayed, save Jeannie, though she's certainly not the character she once was, somewhat understandably so. Hell, Spider-Gwen and Spider-Woman were treated like peaking perverts in this issue, and that annoyed me.
Luke Cage, however, is handled really well, I think. Yeah, him giving up cursing because of Jessica Jones, of all people, is stupid, but it's also slightly endearing. His treatment of Danny despite his obvious annoyance at his existence is also endearing. It's the job of Cage to make everyone in this series take a step down from annoying to bearable, and it's handled so well in this issue that it makes all of the character problems go from outcries of rage to a dull whisper. It's not a great issue, no, and it's likely skippable, but something clicked in here that I feel the need to mention, even if likely no-one else will agree with me.
Comics are supposed to be fun.
This issue was fun.
That's the long and short of it.
Rating: Wait for the Trade.
This cover has now achieved the satan-like state of banner-ception.
Titan's Hunt #6
Titan's Hunt was created as what was seemingly an honest attempt to bring back the history of the Teen Titans to the New 52, and, while it's a genuine attempt that I appreciate after all of the scat that the brand has been dragged through in this new world, it's incredibly misguided.
While on one hand it does its absolute best to bring back that history, it focuses so heavily on one event that it makes it seem like that's the only time the Titans ever existed, for that exact mission to take down Mister Twister. It also has gone so far out of its way to make the events of that old Golden Age story seem innocent so that the current events seem darker and more harsh that it makes the story seem gritty for grit's sake while also making every discovery from their forgotten path color the original story into a needlessly dark era.
The last issue was fairly solid, I thought. It felt like the first time the series clicked with me, but I even said at the end of that review I didn't have faith that the change would be permanent. Now, we find out if I was being needlessly pessimistic.
As The Herald is tortured into calling the Titans forward, the original team of Dick, Donna, and Garth are momentarily knocked off their game by the overwhelming sound as they deal with a driven insane Mammoth. Meanwhile, the sound halts the battle between Gnnark and Roy against Hawk and Dove. As things calm, Lilith explains what she knows about what they've forgotten and what the dangers of Mister Twister is, revealing he's been whispering secrets to her for over a year now which colors her guidance of Roy in his attempts to get clean and that angers him especially after falling off the wagon last issue.
As Lilith explains that they can't take him on directly because that's what he's expecting, Nightwing, Tempest, and Donna Troy manage to topple Mammoth on their direct route to Tornado. Meanwhile, Mal's wife is taken aside by a man who claims to know the Titans' salvation, and he explains that Tornado is a moniker and nothing more for a dangerous demon that endangers the entire world. After being asked how long she's had powers and denying it, however, the stranger puts a team called Diablo into action, an act of attempting to kill all the Titans as chaos ensues.
This issue wasn't bad. It was a little scattered throughout, but all of the plot threads were easy to follow and simple enough as to not complicate things needlessly. The finish, however, is a huge issue.
This isn't a weekly series and is supposed to be a short series, but suddenly we find the book being expanded past its current story by getting a mysterious organization that hasn't even been hinted at until we're bluntly hit over the head with it at the end of this issue, and that's a problem. It's the moment where the product jumped the shark. After an issue intent on darkening up the story to a point of unmanageable proportions, the inclusion of a secret organization just dilutes the story so much that you know it's over-complicated itself, adding in a sixth plot thread, and, as little as it may seem in this issue, it's enough to ruin it completely when combined with the minor annoyances throughout.
Rating: Skip it.
Titan's Hunt was created as what was seemingly an honest attempt to bring back the history of the Teen Titans to the New 52, and, while it's a genuine attempt that I appreciate after all of the scat that the brand has been dragged through in this new world, it's incredibly misguided.
While on one hand it does its absolute best to bring back that history, it focuses so heavily on one event that it makes it seem like that's the only time the Titans ever existed, for that exact mission to take down Mister Twister. It also has gone so far out of its way to make the events of that old Golden Age story seem innocent so that the current events seem darker and more harsh that it makes the story seem gritty for grit's sake while also making every discovery from their forgotten path color the original story into a needlessly dark era.
The last issue was fairly solid, I thought. It felt like the first time the series clicked with me, but I even said at the end of that review I didn't have faith that the change would be permanent. Now, we find out if I was being needlessly pessimistic.
As The Herald is tortured into calling the Titans forward, the original team of Dick, Donna, and Garth are momentarily knocked off their game by the overwhelming sound as they deal with a driven insane Mammoth. Meanwhile, the sound halts the battle between Gnnark and Roy against Hawk and Dove. As things calm, Lilith explains what she knows about what they've forgotten and what the dangers of Mister Twister is, revealing he's been whispering secrets to her for over a year now which colors her guidance of Roy in his attempts to get clean and that angers him especially after falling off the wagon last issue.
As Lilith explains that they can't take him on directly because that's what he's expecting, Nightwing, Tempest, and Donna Troy manage to topple Mammoth on their direct route to Tornado. Meanwhile, Mal's wife is taken aside by a man who claims to know the Titans' salvation, and he explains that Tornado is a moniker and nothing more for a dangerous demon that endangers the entire world. After being asked how long she's had powers and denying it, however, the stranger puts a team called Diablo into action, an act of attempting to kill all the Titans as chaos ensues.
This issue wasn't bad. It was a little scattered throughout, but all of the plot threads were easy to follow and simple enough as to not complicate things needlessly. The finish, however, is a huge issue.
This isn't a weekly series and is supposed to be a short series, but suddenly we find the book being expanded past its current story by getting a mysterious organization that hasn't even been hinted at until we're bluntly hit over the head with it at the end of this issue, and that's a problem. It's the moment where the product jumped the shark. After an issue intent on darkening up the story to a point of unmanageable proportions, the inclusion of a secret organization just dilutes the story so much that you know it's over-complicated itself, adding in a sixth plot thread, and, as little as it may seem in this issue, it's enough to ruin it completely when combined with the minor annoyances throughout.
Rating: Skip it.
Ah, a Kill Bill reference. There isn't a chance that, like, this means Shiklah is going to bugger off, is it? No? Siiiiiiiiiiigh.
Deadpool & The Mercs For Money #2
Deadpool has never really been much of a team player, and, in many ways, you can blame his personality for that more than you can him. Sure, he's had his moments on teams, but it's always been teams like X-Force and those are the exceptions, not the rules, as they live with the act of the kill and almost seem to embrace it. Beyond that, not only are his methods usually outside of the team norm, but his random fighting style and lack of general direction for his own health, let alone anyone else's.
Which is why Deadpool joining the Avengers, and by extension forming his own team, was an idea I was a bit hesitant to see kick off. His state of being in the Avengers and how that works with his character might be up in the air to be judges, but Merc's For Money has largely worked, hence why this book exists. The idea of a bunch of money hungry men joining to fight the good fight, and sometimes the not so good fight, under Deadpool is appealing and funny, and some of the members of the team have become memorable in and of their own right.
The world is now aware that Deadpool and company has stumbled across a broken robot that every bad guy in the world is in desperate need of, a robot that seems to predict the future and all the statistics that go with it. As mercenaries across the world are hired to take out the Mercs For Money including Taskmaster, Deadpool sends envoys to gather offers for their hardware. Mephisto promises anything their hearts might desire while Le Fay offers large sums of money, and even a super-group attempting to take out Deadpool changes their mind after getting their asses kicked and makes a bid. Thus, Deadpool prepares an auction in which he intends to invite the worst of the worst to barter for the catch of a lifetime while a magnanimous shadow of mercenaries, including one especially close to Deadpool, follow his every move...
This was a really solid issue, allowing Deadpool to deal in the grey area of his personality that most of his most recent comics have been forced to avoid due to his attempts to start working straight as an Avenger, and that pays off majorly in its favor. The dealings with the hardened criminals are interesting and funny, and Deadpool walks the line between funny and serious about his new equipment. It's an atypical exploration of Deadpool's lack of heroism that's been missing for a bit while Marvel flirts with the idea of him being an actual superhero, and, while that stories worth telling if it's kept short, this is the kind of story that Wade does best in.
Rating: Buy it.
Deadpool has never really been much of a team player, and, in many ways, you can blame his personality for that more than you can him. Sure, he's had his moments on teams, but it's always been teams like X-Force and those are the exceptions, not the rules, as they live with the act of the kill and almost seem to embrace it. Beyond that, not only are his methods usually outside of the team norm, but his random fighting style and lack of general direction for his own health, let alone anyone else's.
Which is why Deadpool joining the Avengers, and by extension forming his own team, was an idea I was a bit hesitant to see kick off. His state of being in the Avengers and how that works with his character might be up in the air to be judges, but Merc's For Money has largely worked, hence why this book exists. The idea of a bunch of money hungry men joining to fight the good fight, and sometimes the not so good fight, under Deadpool is appealing and funny, and some of the members of the team have become memorable in and of their own right.
The world is now aware that Deadpool and company has stumbled across a broken robot that every bad guy in the world is in desperate need of, a robot that seems to predict the future and all the statistics that go with it. As mercenaries across the world are hired to take out the Mercs For Money including Taskmaster, Deadpool sends envoys to gather offers for their hardware. Mephisto promises anything their hearts might desire while Le Fay offers large sums of money, and even a super-group attempting to take out Deadpool changes their mind after getting their asses kicked and makes a bid. Thus, Deadpool prepares an auction in which he intends to invite the worst of the worst to barter for the catch of a lifetime while a magnanimous shadow of mercenaries, including one especially close to Deadpool, follow his every move...
This was a really solid issue, allowing Deadpool to deal in the grey area of his personality that most of his most recent comics have been forced to avoid due to his attempts to start working straight as an Avenger, and that pays off majorly in its favor. The dealings with the hardened criminals are interesting and funny, and Deadpool walks the line between funny and serious about his new equipment. It's an atypical exploration of Deadpool's lack of heroism that's been missing for a bit while Marvel flirts with the idea of him being an actual superhero, and, while that stories worth telling if it's kept short, this is the kind of story that Wade does best in.
Rating: Buy it.
Classic Comic Book Review of the Week:
Daredevil #183 - #184
In honour of today's momentous release, the second season of Netflix's Daredevil series, today we look at the first confrontation between Matt Murdock and Frank Castle. Daredevil vs. The Punisher.
It is their first confrontation, definitely not their last, and yet quite possibly their most gripping.
The dynamic between both men is well established. Unlike a Spider-Man, who reacts to crime, both these characters are proactive against it. They take the offensive.
What divides them is method. Daredevil incapacitates. The Punisher kills.
Which man is right? That depends on which comic book fan you ask. But whatever the answer, one indisputable fact is that when these men collide it is a tense, exciting and brutal physical confrontation.
It all started in these two issues as the suicide of a drug-addicted teenager leads to both vigilantes hunting down her supplier. Needless to say, their notions of what should be done to the dealer completely differ.
Despite an initial effort to team up, this leads to an inevitable clash and the resulting fight is both evidence of Punisher's toughness, Daredevil's skill, and the very real similarities in the personalities of both men.
Both issues are the product of Frank Miller and Klaus Janson during their legendary run on the Daredevil series.
The series' definitive team of creators and legitimately one of the most iconic combinations in comic book history, Miller and Janson produce a genuinely provocative, thrilling and gorgeously realised two-issue arc.
Also, how cool is that issue cover!
(Watch Daredevil Season 2)
In honour of today's momentous release, the second season of Netflix's Daredevil series, today we look at the first confrontation between Matt Murdock and Frank Castle. Daredevil vs. The Punisher.
It is their first confrontation, definitely not their last, and yet quite possibly their most gripping.
The dynamic between both men is well established. Unlike a Spider-Man, who reacts to crime, both these characters are proactive against it. They take the offensive.
What divides them is method. Daredevil incapacitates. The Punisher kills.
Which man is right? That depends on which comic book fan you ask. But whatever the answer, one indisputable fact is that when these men collide it is a tense, exciting and brutal physical confrontation.
It all started in these two issues as the suicide of a drug-addicted teenager leads to both vigilantes hunting down her supplier. Needless to say, their notions of what should be done to the dealer completely differ.
Despite an initial effort to team up, this leads to an inevitable clash and the resulting fight is both evidence of Punisher's toughness, Daredevil's skill, and the very real similarities in the personalities of both men.
Both issues are the product of Frank Miller and Klaus Janson during their legendary run on the Daredevil series.
The series' definitive team of creators and legitimately one of the most iconic combinations in comic book history, Miller and Janson produce a genuinely provocative, thrilling and gorgeously realised two-issue arc.
Also, how cool is that issue cover!
(Watch Daredevil Season 2)