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Snapshots for 5/7
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: NEVERMORE #2
by Len Wein & Guy Davis (DC Comics/Elseworlds imprint)
 The second issue of Batman: Nevermore is every bit as entertaining as the first, and DC seems to be on something of a winning streak with their recent Elseworlds. Wein's narration, done from Edgar Allen Poe's point-of-view, isn't overly flowery but does capture the general cadence and mode of writing of Poe, and Guy Davis's artwork is as atmospheric and beautiful as always. His gothic redesign of the Batman costume is a highlight of the art, but there's also some beautiful work on a hypnosis-induced hallucination, the sweeping look of the House of Usher or Wayne Manor and some eerie work on misty graveyards or Baltimore after dark. Wein's story is a mystery that wears its heart on its sleeve, as it's fairly easy for any reader of the Bat-titles to guess at identities behind masks and murders, but with the inclusion of numerous elements of Poe's story and Poe's presence as narrator, it all feels more fresh and interesting. 8/10
CAPTAIN MARVEL #9
by Peter David & Ivan Reis (Marvel Comics)
 While I applaud Peter David for being gutsy enough to make such a major change to the status quo and style of Captain Marvel, I find that the novelty has worn off for me and I no longer actually like the main character. To contrast his new cosmic serial killer personality, David introduces a new serial killer in this issue who happens to also be an alien and who happens to have murdered people with Rick Jones as a witness three years ago. I found the introduction of this element into Jones's past a little hard to swallow given that he's been on-panel in comics for most of his recorded time, but more to the point I'm just tired of the general nastiness of this book. I was one of those who found Rick Jones to be the most entertaining part of the original Captain Marvel, and while the shift in tone and added complexity of the lead character may make it more accessible to the casual reader, it makes it less interesting to me. Matters aren't helped by the change in artist, because while Ivan Reis is solid, he's not as impressive as Chriscross, and the digital coloring by Chris Sotomayor looks washed out and clumsy over his pencils, much like the early issues of X-Treme X-Men and not at all like the spectacular visuals that Cross and Sotomayor treated us to. 4/10
CLOCKMAKER #3
by Jim Krueger, Zach Howard & Michael Halbleib (Image Comics)
 Now that the novelty of the format has worn off on me to some degree, I can look at the story of Clockmaker with a little more of a critical eye, and I have to admit, I'm finding it wanting. The really, really cool format does show off the beautiful artwork (and Brett Weldele has a great deal to be proud of with his painted color), but it also gives the series a potentially crippling flaw, which is about half the space to tell the story, and even at that, the story seems to be moving pretty slowly. The concept and characters were actually introduced relatively succintly in issues one and two, so I was a little disappointed that issue three is still basically about Astrid rejecting her destiny while others try to force it on her. We've seen that element of the story, and if that's to be the theme of the issue, at the very least I would have liked it to have taken place in a location a little more exotic than at lunch with her dear old addled mom. I remain intrigued by where Krueger and company are taking this series, especially having seen the long-view of his Foot Soldiers and knowing ahead of time that this is a 12-issue finite series, but this issue seemed to mostly tell me a lot of stuff I already knew or had sussed out. 6/10
HAWKMAN #15
by Geoff Johns, Rags Morales & Michael Bair (DC Comics)
 Given how messed up Hawkman's continuity is, the last place this series should be looking to is the past. Unfortunately, fully a third of this book is given over to continuity exposition, and the rest of the story is focused pretty solidly on the same type of material. I'm somewhat glad to see Shayera Thal, my favorite part of Hawkworld, back in action, but given the continuity baggage she carries with her, I think she would have been better left in character limbo, and the story here doesn't really do anything to prove differently. However, the aerial fight scenes are certainly spectacular, courtesy of Morales and Bair, and the book is fulfilling its role as an action book, it's just that the characters seem pretty sketchy and the plots aimed in the wrong direction. There's plenty of talent at work on this book, which makes all the wheel-spinning and backward-looking stories all the more frustrating. 5/10
MR. GUM
by Mike Allred & J. Bone (Oni Press)
 I can't help thinking that I would have enjoyed most of these Atomics-related one-shots if The Atomics had been republished in an affordable trade format instead of just the limited edition, pricey but gorgeous hardcover. While there's certainly an interesting enough story here even to those who have never seen the character, it feels a little slight if you don't already have an investment in the character, a problem that also informed It Girl and, to a tiny degree, Spaceman as well. That said, this is what you'd expect from these occasional AAA Pop/Oni collaborations, which is to say it's got beautiful art and eye-popping color (by J. Bone and Han Allred, respectively) and a fun, slightly off-beat take on super-heroes that seems to have the strange ability to appeal equally to the cynical X-Statix crowd and the upbeat retro super-hero crowd all at once. 7/10
MYTHSTALKERS #2
by Douglass Barre & Jiro (Image Comics)
 Mythstalkers has the misfortune of shipping the same week as the next excellent installment of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which is the most obvious comparison in comics for the title. And it falls short of League, to be quite honest. However, for those who are jazzed by a more action-based version of the League and less interested in the literary minutia, like I expect 90% of the film audience will be, I think Mythstalkers might be just the ticket. Barre doesn't have obscure literature on his side, but he does have a cast of interesting characters and a clear love of monster hunting stories that carries through, at least to this reader. He also has the artwork of Jiro, colored in fine style by Robert Chong and Quantum FX, and the work has a manga sensibility of a toned-down Kia Asamiya with the straightforward iconic storytelling style of a Tim Levins or J. Bone. Mythstalkers is a good old-fashioned adventure story with monsters, an interesting and unusual setting, gripping characters and solid artwork. 7/10
RELOAD #2
by Warren Ellis, Paul Gulacy & Jimmy Palmiotti (DC Comics/Homage imprint)
 It's another variation on a familiar Ellis theme with Reload, conspiracy fiction with a crime/action bent, but I find that I'm enjoying Reload quite a bit, thanks in no small part to Ellis's usual flair for dialogue and some truly beautiful artwork by Gulacy, Palmiotti and colorist Guy Major. This strikes me as the kind of story perfect for the "three issues and out" format that Ellis has championed recently, and the middle issue therefore becomes the explanation of what the hell is going on issue. The reader is spoonfed the exposition in the latter part of the book, which is an interesting spin on political conspiracy, but the former half of the book is a tightly-paced computer investigation scene of the kind that is hard to pull off in an exciting visual manner and a martial arts fight sequence that is easier but by no means guaranteed. And that's where Gulacy and Palmiotti come in, using small panels to focus on details and heighten the suspense of the hacking sequence and slowing down the martial arts sequence enough to make it exciting. Ellis's experiments with pacing, slowing down and speeding up the comic, seem to have paid off in Reload, and his artists are more than capable of hitting the pace that he's aiming for. 8/10
WOLVERINE: SNIKT! #1
by Tsutomu Nihei (Marvel Comics/Tsunami imprint)
 To be honest, I expected to hate this. Wolverine as a character is a bit of a hard-sell for me these days, especially solo, and the all-action and weird manga vibe I was getting lead me to believe this would be very much not my cup of tea. While the book is light on story, though, it delivers what it aims for, which is an exciting and visually lush action book that will delight those who want to see Wolverine using his claws and rage to their fullest. Nihei's artwork, with GuruEFX's colors, is breathtaking, whether it's the barren landscape of the other-dimensional world that he finds himself in or the Giger-esque techno-organic nightmares he finds himself facing there. I also quite like Nihei's take on Wolverine, which is true to the character but gives him a young punk appearance out of something like G.T.O. This isn't the kind of thing I would want to become the standard for the character, but as a brief diversion, it's surprisingly light and fun. 7/10
X-TREME X-MEN #25
by Chris Claremont, Igor Kordey & Scott Hanna (Marvel Comics)
 This issue begins the sequel to God Loves, Man Kills, or, as I've taken to calling it, X-TREME GOD LOVES, MAN KILLS... 2. It's harder to tell in print, but that's mocking, by the way. If ever there was a story that didn't need a sequel, it was God Loves, Man Kills, and while normally the fact that the original writer was writing the sequel would make me happy, in this case, the original writer's work has descended into a parody of itself. This issue is pretty much a mess, a muddled attempt at reconciling past and current continuity with currently-hot movie trends, a nightmare scenario for those who fear the "Hollywood-ization" that's been happening at Marvel lately. Claremont can't even keep continuity within the issue straight... do people think Stryker is dead, as Kitty and her therapist believe, or is he known to be alive, as must be the case if he's being flown around the country ministering to death-row inmates while the X-Men look on? That's ignoring the larger issues, including a reference that Illyana fought Stryker (she didn't) and a strangely familiar relationship between Deathstrike and Stryker, which makes little sense since the two have never met in Marvel continuity. I'm only sorry to see that Igor Kordey has been saddled with this title, as I'm a fan of the artist but have no interest in this title. His work here is solid as always, with a particularly impressive aerial sabotage by Deathstrike and flight sequence with Storm and Cannonball, although a lot of the unique flair of his artwork has been softened by inker Scott Hanna, who makes him look more like what the readership at large probably wants. X-Treme X-Men clearly has an audience, but I'm not in it, and this ill-considered sequel story once again confirms that. 2/10
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