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Snapshots for 4/20/05
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.
100 BULLETS #60
by Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso (DC Comics/Vertigo imprint)
 I have no idea who half of these characters are, but I'm still loving this book. Azzarello and Risso kick off another story in 100 Bullets with "Staring at the Sun" as a variety of characters, some familiar and some not so much, come together in what looks like a meeting of the mysterious Trust at a posh Miami hotel. This being Azzarello, the story isn't just about a gathering of the big baddies, but of the various dueling agendas and rough pasts coming into conflict, as well as a compelling side story of a relatively innocent bell boy who gets pulled back into his own personal drama in trying to hook up one of the mysterious big players of the larger story. Azzarello and Risso are really effective in evoking the feeling of place, with great settings and little bits of flavor like a horse race or the perfect vision of a deluxe hotel, along with Azzarello's sometimes obtuse but always engaging dialogue. With five years under its belt, it's almost pointless to jump onto 100 Bullets in issues at this point, better to get into the trades, but the story is still going strong, and the overall series remains a strong bet for those looking for a bit of crime and conspiracy with a flashy, sexy (and maybe a little dirty) vibe to it. 8/10
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #519
by J. Michael Straczynski, Mike Deodato Jr. & Joe Pimentel (Marvel Comics)
 There are any number of things I dislike about New Avengers, but the idea of Spidey and his family moving into Avengers tower isn't one of them. If Spidey's going to become a group guy, then this is a natural part of that evolution, and there are all sorts of dramatic and comedic possibilities in the story. Straczynski hits on most of them in this issue, with Aunt May taking a surprisingly big role in the new locale and Mary Jane's reaction to being let into her husband's larger world two of the standout moments. Straczynski still writes overly melodramatic and cheesy relationship stuff between Peter and Mary Jane, but I can't deny being somewhat taken with their more affectionate and less beleagured relationship in general, and seeing Mary Jane shore up Peter in one of his weaker moments is legitimately touching. I'm less sold on Straczynski's choice of villain for the piece, if only because there's already been confusion as this group had two big plots going on in the pages of Wolverine and New Thunderbolts, but that's more a complaint about Marvel's editorial practices than Straczynski's writing. It does hurt the book considerably, though, because while the interaction between Peter and his supporting cast and the members of the New Avengers is generally pretty good, the latter half of the book is given over to a story most likely to elicit the reaction of "What, again? Aren't there any other villains in the Marvel Universe?" 6/10
BIRDS OF PREY #81
by Gail Simone, Joe Bennett & Jack Jadson (DC Comics)
 I'm getting a good vibe off the first chapter of "The Battle Within." Not only does Simone do some great stuff with the father-daughter style relationship between Wildcat and Black Canary, but the foreign setting and adversaries in the form of legendary assassins reminds me pleasantly of "Sensei & Student," the best arc in Simone's Birds of Prey run so far. There's also a really cool follow-up on Huntress storming out, and there are any number of ways this story could play out, from the unlikely "good guy gone bad" version to "Huntress trying to operate on her own" to "Oracle and Huntress running an op that Canary doesn't know about, and the whole storm-out was a fake-out." Plenty of potential, and I've got plenty of trust in Simone to pull it off. The big upshot for me this issue is the addition of new regular art team Joe Bennett and Jack Jadson, who tone down the T&A considerably (although not entirely, Canary is still sexy as hell, but that's sort of her cover so it fits the story) and provide excellent action sequences and strong storytelling throughout. Throw in little bits of spice like Simone describing the food in certain scenes so well that it made me hungry or Lady Blackhawk's amused reaction to Wildcat's machismo and Birds of Prey remains one of the must-reads of the DC Universe. 8/10
EX MACHINA #10
by Brian K. Vaughan, Tony Harris & Tom Feister (DC Comics/Wildstorm)
 The finale of "Tag" brings with it several shockers, and only one of them is the revelation of who the murderer in the subway has been. The battle between Mitchell Hundred and that murderer is fast and brutal, more like real violence than superhero violence, and I like that approach for this book, especially when Harris, Feister and JD Mettler make sure and show off the blood, the fire and the other messy after-effects of a fight like this. However, while the fight is good, the best parts of the book for me were the conclusion of the political story, which brings Vaughan's analysis of politics by way of "too good to be true" politician Mitchell Hundred again. In these days of too many spineless, power-drunk or just plain selfish politicians, it's nice to see a politician with some principles and the balls to stand up for them, even if he knows it's a fight he might not ultimately win. The best moment, though, was the last few pages between Mitchell and Suzanne Padilla, adding fuel to a fire I hadn't even seriously considered before now, wondering if Mitchell Hundred is in fact the first gay mayor of New York. As always, Ex Machina expertly blends science-fiction, politics and excellent characterization and dialogue into a very readable package. 9/10
FANTASTIC FOUR #525
by Karl Kesel, Tom Grummett & Lary Stucker (Marvel Comics)
 With a brief delay between Mark Waid's Fantastic Four run (which petered out for me at the end) and J Michael Straczynski's Fantastic Four run (which I'm not looking forward to), we get a fill-in by Karl Kesel, who writes a pretty good little fill-in tale. It seems that whenever Kesel gets his shot at the Fantastic Four, I'm mostly left wondering why Marvel can't put him on for a longer stint, just as I did when they gave him an annual to write and he blew the Lobdell and Claremont issues out of the water. At any rate, this is a pretty nifty fill-in featuring a classic Fantastic Four foe, some good character insight into the various members of the team and even some nice subplot continuity from Waid's run, the kind you don't get with the "bold new direction" method most writers use at the big two these days when taking over a title. Grummett's work looks good as well, as all his recent work has, although Stucker's inks are looser and not as good as the ones that Gary Erskine is providing on New Thunderbolts, and the Thing in particular looks good on some panels and weaker and less defined on others. While the lead story about the FF facing off a classic foe is interesting, it's the secondary story about dreams that provides some very interesting insight into the characters and the cliffhanger that the book goes out on. If you're looking for a dose of old school FF, you could probably do worse than to check out this team's all-too-short fill-in run on the book. 7/10
LIVEWIRES #3
by Adam Warren, Rick Mays & Jason Martin (Marvel Comics)
 This might just be my favorite issue of Livewires yet, and given how much I'm loving this series, that's saying something. But now that Warren and company have cleared the exposition and setup for the most part, and they can put a full issue into one of the team's operations, and the result is like one of the best episodes of Alias set in the Marvel Universe and filtered through an anime filter. Warren's mixture of futuristic psuedoscience and wacky humor results in a really fun sequence wherein Social Butterfly puts the moves on a scientist while Hollowpoint Ninja takes on her physical backup, not to mention a laugh-out-loud final sequence that shows the after-effects of the team's missions. It's a great standalone read, but that doesn't mean there isn't more going on, as the "white whale" and the adaptation of Stem Cell to her new role hint at a larger story under the surface, and I keep getting the feeling that there's a big twist coming as to who these guys really work for and what their job is. Livewires is fun, fresh and fast-paced, and it's one of the best books Marvel is producing right now. 10/10
NEW X-MEN #12
by Christina Weir, Nunzio DeFilippis, Michael Ryan & Rick Ketcham (Marvel Comics)
 It's been a while since I checked in on New X-Men (actually not since it was called New Mutants), but I've been hearing good things so I thought I'd check out this jumping-on point. "X-Posed" features a lot of stories, and it's actually a little too jam-packed, as some of these stories could have used a little more room to breathe, but if the alternative is the "six issues to get somewhere" pacing that is de rigueur at Marvel these days, I'll take a little too packed anyday. Weir and DeFilippis have come a long way in distinguishing their new New Mutants from one another, and I was surprised to find an interesting mix of romantic entanglements, ethical issues (Rahne dated one of her students?) and friendly inter-school rivalries taking place in these pages. It's still a little too talky and lacks in superhero action when compared to the original New Mutants, but this is a pretty likable group of characters and it seems a pretty good fit with the teen angst melodrama for fans of stuff like DeGrassi Jr. High or other school-related stories in other media. In addition, Michael Ryan, with Ketcham on inks, really does some nice stuff here. It'd be nice if the characters had slightly more distinctive faces so that they were easier to tell apart without the cheat of differentiating by hairstyle, but there are moments of storytelling that remind me of Takeshi Miyazawa's art on Mary Jane, and that's the vibe I'm getting from New X-Men in general, a high school story that happens to be set in a world of superpowers. 7/10
RUNAWAYS #3
by Brian K. Vaughan, Adrian Alphona & Craig Yeung (Marvel Comics)
 The faceoff between "reformed young heroes" Excelsior and current young heroes Runaways brings with a number of memorable and fun moments, notably Chase's gleeful discovery of a new capability of the Leapfrog and some really funny inside jokes on the second- and third-tier nature of the Excelsior lineup. I'm still not entirely buying these ex-heroes suiting up to do exactly the opposite of their stated goals, and Darkhawk's angsty moments this issue didn't completely click with me either, but there are so many good moments that the shaky ones are minor points at best. There are also any number of those great dialogue moments that Vaughan writes in all of his books, including Chase's line to Victor about what his superpower is, Ricochet's reaction to Victor's unintentional dis and Victor's correction of Gert about her dinosaur. Come to think of it, new character Victor La Mancha is at the heart of many of the best sequences in this issue, and that's appropriate, given that his story, and the mystery of who his father is, remains a compelling hook on which to hang the first story arc. The issue ends on a great little teaser/cliffhanger tantalizing readers with a couple more visual clues about Victor's father, although they're mostly just clues enough to tease the readers rather than reveal anything, leaving me once again anxious for the next issue of Runaways. 9/10
STAR WARS: GENERAL GRIEVOUS #1
by Chuck Dixon, Rick Leonardi & Mark Pennington (Dark Horse Comics)
 This is a story that really shouldn't work for me. Dixon plays up everything I hated about the Jedi Council in the movie, the use of their moral codes to make them little more than bureaucrats rather than warriors, and he's telling a story about a villain whom I find sort of ludicrous rather than threatening. However, thanks in part to Genndy Tartakovsky's work on the villain and in part to Dixon's own portrayal of the moral conflict of the Jedi in this issue, I found myself drawn into the tale. General Grievous is presented as a deadly threat, the precursor to Darth Vader, wiping out the Jedi faster than they can rebuild their ranks, and some of the Jedi question whether or not they must adopt unpleasant tactics in order to serve the greater good. It's a personal conflict, one that doesn't really involve the foregone conclusion of the Clone Wars, and that makes it interesting and tense. My only disappointment comes from the artwork by Leonardi and Pennington, which is sketchy and rough and compares badly to Leonardi's previous work as well as to the high standards currently set on the regular Star Wars comics. 6/10
TOZZER 2 #3
by Rob Dunlop & Peter Lumby (Ablaze Media)
 When it comes to Tozzer, it turns out that a little bit is just enough, as the Tozzer 2 sequel is coming off as a bit tired and even formulaic as compared to the original graphic novel. The formula I liked in the first one, mixing pop cultural elements together with a deliberately sophomoric sense of humor, seems to have worn out its welcome, and Dunlop and Lumby too often resort to just having a parody of a pop culture figure show up as a punchline, or resorting to jokes that revolve around doofy names, which is funny at sort of a Cracked magazine level, but doesn't hit the sensibilities of the adults they're clearly aiming at with the f-bombs dropping every few pages. That said, Dunlop's eye for pop culture targets is keen, and I did get something of a kick out of turning Kiefer Sutherland's obsessed sniper from Phone Booth into a guy obsessed with pizza, as well as a lot of laughs out of the "live action" Tomb Raider sequence pointing up the built-in craziness of "do-overs" that come with videogames. Bottom line, if you dig pop culture references from guys who clearly have indulged in more than their fair share of trash culture, and you're not too finicky about plot and character, you could definitely do worse than Tozzer 2. If you get tired of the pop culture references in work by Brian Vaughan and Brian Bendis, the constant riffing of Tozzer 2 might just make your head explode. 5/10
THE WALKING DEAD #18
by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard & Cliff Rathburn (Image Comics)
 In the always-entertaining letter column, Kirkman starts off by calling this issue "the one that got away from me." To which I would respond, "Jesus, I guess!" There are plenty of shocks and twists in this issue, and if the arrival at the prison gave the sense that there might be a status quo of sorts for these characters, this issue throws a few spanners into those particular works. While the shocks (from the last page cliffhanger to the fate of Thomas to a breakdown by Hershel) are good, though, the heart of the book still remains in the character moments. A bit of reconciliation for Lori and Rick goes a long way toward mollifying my concerns that she was being unbelievably unrealistic about the death penalty in a post-zombie world, and the interaction between Rick and Dexter is perfectly tense and believable on the parts of both men. The role of Patricia raises a couple problems, though, one being that I don't believe anyone could be as naive as she is toward Thomas, and the other that I had no idea who she was until I read the much-appreciated character guide in the back of the book. The cast might be getting a little bit too big, but if things keep up at this rate and the pressure brought to bear in this issue explodes like I expect it to, that might be a complaint that isn't valid in an issue or two. At any rate, this issue has the same blend of shocking plot twists and solid characterization that has made The Walking Dead a must-read for me since the beginning. 9/10
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