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Snapshots for 2/18
There's no way that Don and I can cover all of the material we have for review in full reviews, so these capsule reviews will offer some brief comments on other recent releases.
BATMAN: ROOM FULL OF STRANGERS
by Scott Morse (DC Comics)
 Maybe it was a mistake to reread Soulwind on the same week that this came out, because while I always enjoy Morse's work, his stories of the characters of the Big Two always pale next to his more imaginative and esoteric work at Oni Press, Dark Horse, Top Shelf and other smaller publishers. Then again, his work at the Big Two, like Room Full of Strangers, tends to be in gorgeous full color, and Morse's fully-painted artwork is always a joy to behold and well worth the price of admission all by itself. Morse's story here is a little bit on the familiar side, a mystery/character study that sees retired police commissioner Jim Gordon investigating a murder or two at a seaside vacation resort. The mystery part of the plot is given away deliberately early on so that Morse can instead focus on Gordon's relationship to a special young boy, but while the ending of that tale was certainly not what I expected, the general way that the relationship played out pretty much to expectations. Room Full of Strangers is full of interesting characters and beautiful artwork, but it lacks that element of the strange and magical that tends to raise Morse's work above the norm. I was also a bit annoyed to see that DC is once again doing away with the prestige format and not the prestige price, and while Room Full of Strangers is a substantial book, six bucks seemed a bit beyond the pale for a book without a spine. Still, Morse fans won't want to miss this one for the gorgeous artwork, and Bat-fans might want to check in for a pretty big status quo change for Jim Gordon. 8/10
BIRDS OF PREY #64
by Gail Simone, Ed Benes & Alex Lei (DC Comics)
 To be honest, I've always sort of seen this as Oracle's book. Sure, Black Canary is the lead and gets to do all the action, but Oracle was the brains and the character I had more fondness for. Simone is reversing that expectation with this "Sensei & Student" story, pairing Canary with two of the deadliest (and most interesting) female characters in the DCU and showing that she can hold her own. Simone can't resist a touch of wit in the banter between these women, but she also knows to keep things legitimately dangerous, whether it's an action-packed fight on a boat with an Asian gang or the realization that Cheshire has slipped one of her "teammates" some poison. Meanwhile, Oracle is confronting a corrupt government official and his goons, and I confess that I'm interested to see her handle this solo as well. As always, I'm not the fan of Ed Benes that many others are, but I will grudgingly admit that his work is growing on me, and he does some particularly nice work on the action scenes this issue. Birds of Prey is a buzz book again, and the mixture of good characters, great action and intriguing plots are making it very much worthy of the buzz. 8/10
DAREDEVIL #57
by Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev (Marvel Comics/Marvel Knights)
 This issue highlights one of the main flaws in the Bendis/Maleev run, as it features a big fight between Daredevil and a hundred armed men which is stiff, boring and mostly detailed through the narration of Ben Urich instead of through kickass art sequences. Fortunately, the failings of this creative team when it comes to action can't really do much to drag down the considerable strengths they bring to the book, namely a sense of an ever-changing status quo (how about that last page reveal?) and the sense that Daredevil is more than just a second-rate Spider-Man or overly mopey martial artist. I would have rather had a spectacularly choreographed fight scene that was clear as well as moody instead of a rain-soaked montage of somewhat static shots, but I was still very much engaged by the storytelling going on. This issue doesn't really play to the strengths of the creative team, but it's hardly indicative of how good this book has been on a regular basis. 7/10
KISS KISS BANG BANG #2
by Tony Bedard, Mike Perkins & Andrew Hennessy (Crossgen Entertainment)
 The second issue of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang has much the same to offer as the first, including an explosive opener, plenty more evidence of Sir Basildon being a complete bastard and Stephanie unfortunately forced to pretty much endure his advances and play dupe at this point. Fortunately, there are indications of an even keel ahead, with a slightly forced but nonetheless vicariously satisfying tale of Stephanie evening the score with an authority figure rapist in her past and a nice nod to the first issue where we see that Stephanie won't easily go the way of Basildon's other partners. Then there's the villain, who has just enough campy Bond appeal (for example, he claims to come from Atlantis) to really keep my attention, and the artwork, by Perkins, Hennessy and colorist Laura Villari, which is drop dead gorgeous. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is definitely Crossgen's edgiest book, and it's another example of them verging into rich genres that are left mostly untapped in the comic-book market. 8/10
NEW X-MEN #153
by Grant Morrison & Marc Silvestri (Marvel Comics)
 OK, I'm getting a little worried. We're three parts into "Here Comes Tomorrow" and roughly half the story doesn't make any sense. Morrison has filled the story with weird sounding new continents and future X-Men, and come up with a truly wicked master villain, but I'm finding it kind of hard to care. This is an imaginary future story with a bunch of new X-Men I don't know, and my hopes that it was going to somehow tie into loose ends of the New X-Men plotline are mostly dashed, aside from some dodgy half-revelations that Ernst was in fact Cassandra Nova or hopes that the Wolverine/Phoenix conflict will have some sort of aftershocks back in the present. That said, there's still a lot of pure imaginative fun and action to be had in this issue, and though Silvestri wouldn't have been my first choice as final artist for Morrison's run, I can't deny that he does a pretty good job on the action-centric story. For the most part, "Here Comes Tomorrow" has been a disappointment when compared to the rest of Morrison's run, but... I still can't wait to see what happens, so his hooks are still in me. 5/10
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