How were they? ver. 2 SPOILERS

[zuludelta]

I checked it out and got a real "Usual Suspects" vive to it. You make it sound much more....well, Chinese folk tale.  Does that vive I got go away early on in the story?

I actually had the same feeling... the first two chapters where Rachel Kai assembles the seven brothers together and informs them of their legacy definitely put me in mind of films like "The Usual Suspects" and "Ocean's Eleven" but it goes downhill (and decidedly more fantastical in terms of genre) from there. Ennis does a great job of setting up the story but the climax and ensuing d'enoument feel underwhelming and a bit rushed. Even the surprise twist (I won't spoil it for you) that occurs about halfway through the mini-series isn't much of a surprise to anyone familiar with the original folktale (which I am), although I imagine it'll elicit at least a "what the hell?" from the casual reader.

Like I said in my review, it's decent, if ultimately disposable, fare, the comic book equivalent of a convenience store burrito (but without the accompanying flatulence). I guess my negative reaction to the book was at least partially magnified by the expectations I had with the names attached to the project... you'd think a book with John Woo and Garth Ennis working on it would be all-out, bálls-to-the-wall, eye-melting action... I was expecting guys in dapper black suits double-wielding guns that shoot out smaller guns, topless dancers making love to a nuclear missile, reckless car chases that wind through playgrounds, midget cannibals, transsexual ninja assassins who crap grenades, exploding cyborg hummingbirds... I mean, we're talking about a director who's had critics call his films "gun porn" and the writer who wrote a story where the morbidly obese "secret" head of the Catholic Church falls on and kills the inbred cretin descendant of Jesus. In retrospect, take away Seven Brothers' graphic portrayals of violence and decidedly adult language and you come away with a fairly standard superhero team debut story in terms of structure.

[Silver Shocker]

topless dancers making love to a nuclear missile

Snicker....that is one of the silliest things I've ever heard.

reckless car chases that wind through playgrounds

I hear that. Woo's not the only one to do a unlikley but stylistically exciting car chase scene where anything from an motorcycle engine to an alluminum barrell blows up if shot at though (arn't they, like, a contractual obligation in any action film these days?)

[Talavar]

Well, a couple of things I've been waiting a long time for finally happened...
[spoiler]
Wolverine seems to have actually killed Sabretooth, and someone with powers (Spider-man) beat the poop out of Kingpin.  I mean, the Kingpin vs. Daredevil, maybe that's a fair fight, but Kingpin vs. someone who can actually dodge bullets and lift a car?  I mean, he's just big and strong for a normal guy.  I've always hated times that they made him a challenge somehow for Spider-man.
[/spoiler]

[GhostMachine]

I didn't have much in this week:

Batman #666 - A future story with Damien Wayne as Batman in a world where the Anti-Christ is loose and, borrowing from Batman Beyond, Barbara Gordon is the police commissioner. Won't give anything away regarding the plot, but I don't like the fact that Damien is still more than willing to kill.

Captain America #28 - Looks like there's a new Serpent Society in the works, as Cobra, the Eel and a new male Viper with a really ugly costume are working with the Red Skull's daughter Sin. Bucky (there's no sense in calling him the Winter Soldier, if you think about it) invades an A.I.M. base looking for information and an attorney delivers a letter written by Cap in case of his death to Tony Stark. (The contents of the letter aren't revealed in the comic)

Wonder Woman #11 - Continuing the Amazon Attacks storyline, the issue picks up where the previous issue left off with a lame resolution to that issue's cliffhanger. The heroes have to deal with a nuclear missile being launched through the portal to Themyscira, and there's yet another cliffhanger ending.

[Midnite]

Hey did anyone notice in Transformers: Megatron Origins #2, in the first few pages. Megatron was pounding on some other bot that looked like the villian leader of the Gobots. That motocycle bot.

[zuludelta]

Ultimates 2 Vol.2: Grand Theft America TPB

written by: Mark Millar
pencils by: Bryan Hitch
inks by: Paul Neary and Bryan Hitch
colours by: Laura Martin
letters by: Chris Eliopoulos

note: collects issues #7-13 of the Ultimates 2 mini-series

So here we are, after 5 years, to the conclusion of Millar and Hitch's premiere Marvel work as a writer-artist duo. It's almost hard to believe that it took them half a decade to put out 25 issues but it did. It will be difficult to review this portion of their work without referring to the larger over-arching themes of the first Ultimates series and the first half of the second series, so keep that in mind when reading this review. I'll be viewing the work as it relates to the whole Ultimates saga, and how well it succeeds as a bookend to one of Marvel's highest profile projects.

Grand Theft America tackles some weighty themes for a superhero comic much more renowned for its emphasis on "widescreen" action and topical banter, and Millar makes no effort to disguise his commentary on the United States' recent spate of military adventurism in the Middle East. What makes this book more than just another thinly-veiled popular culture examination of real-world politics is the fact that it's a solid, enjoyable superhero read within the context of the Ultimates story, regardless of where you stand on the Iraq Invasion debate.

Millar does an excellent job of fleshing out character motivations, and he finally succeeds in writing Captain America as a sympathetic character, by focusing on the fact that he's an anachronism in the modern world and showing that he's as emotionally vulnerable and fallible as his teammates. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are also given much bigger roles this time around, and I enjoyed seeing how powerful these two could be when they finally let loose with their formidable mutant powers. There's also a surpisingly graphic amount of violence in this book (more than usual, at least), although none of it seems gratuitous. The biggest disappointment I had in terms of character motivations is in the case of Thor: Having him turn out to be the honest-to-goodness Norse god of myth somehow felt less interesting to me, when compared to the times when readers were left guessing as to his true origins.

And what of the villains? As with most superhero books, the story is only as interesting as the antagonists, and Millar delivers here as well. There aren't any one-dimensional "heroes" and "villains" here (apart from Thor and Loki), only people on opposing sides convinced that they're doing what's best for the world. The Liberators are convinced that they're saving the rest of the world and the common American people from an increasingly imperialistic United States government emboldened by SHIELD and its "people of mass destruction". The similarities (and the significant differences) between Colonel Al-Rahman and Captain America are well played by Millar. Still, Millar makes no bones about which side has the moral high ground in the struggle (and I'll leave it to the astute comic book reader to appreciate the delicious irony of the whole thing).

It's no secret that the reason for the delayed shipping schedule for the Ultimates was Hitch taking longer than usual on the art. Hitch's attention to detail is excellent, but I couldn't help but feel that the storytelling wasn't up to par with his previous Ultimates work. The figure-packed panels are almost overwhelming to read through at times, the progression of the action in the fight scenes doesn't seem to flow as smoothly as before. Those minor complaints aside, this is career-defining art, much like Alex Ross' on Kingdom Come or Frank Miller's Sin City.

So, with all that being said, how does it stand up to the rest of the series, and as a modern take on Marvel's Avengers? I think it's perhaps the strongest story-arc since the inaugural one, and it succeeds both as a straight-up superhero story and a pop culture commentary on current events. Highly recommended for any comic book fan, but again, I have to stress that it reads best as part of the whole Ultimates saga, since the character progression (a true rarity in superhero comics) really becomes evident in that context.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5

[Silver Shocker]

I'm actually quite frustrated by the varying rates that Marvel puts out thier tradepaperbacks. The last issue of Ultimates just came out a couple of months ago and yet the trade is out almost immediately after. Meanwhile a trade paperback of the first arc of Mike Carey's X-Men has yet to come out, the TPBs for the various Civil War tie-ins and miniseries have been coming out ridiculously slow (I think the New Avengers and Ms. Marvel TPBs are just about to come out this week or so) and the Annihilation TPBS have also been coming out really slowly too. I don't really understand Marvel's marketing strategys regarding this.

[Ajax]

And the Solo series of Deadpool will never see trade format, not even the Joe Kelly run! They should be ashamed >.<

[zuludelta]

I'm actually quite frustrated by the varying rates that Marvel puts out thier tradepaperbacks. The last issue of Ultimates just came out a couple of months ago and yet the trade is out almost immediately after.

I think it has to do with trying to make up for the shipping delays with the monthly Ultimates title. It had gotten so that a lot of readers dropped buying the monthly in favour of waiting for the TPB (it's what I ended up doing). They also seem to put out TPBs earlier for titles that skew towards an older readership (the Punisher MAX, for instance), since a good number of people who would be interested in a mature readers title would be more likely to be in a bookstore (where TPBs and graphic novels are sold) than in a comic book shop.

[zuludelta]

Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. Vol 2 TPB: I Kick Your Face

written by: Warren Ellis
pencils by: Stuart Immonen
inks by: Wade Van Grawbadger
colours by: Dave McCaig with Paul Mounts
letters by: Virtual Calligraphy's Joe Caramagna

note: collects issues #7-12 of the Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. mini-series

It's unfortunate that Nextwave got cancelled. Sure, it's yet another meta-textual superhero parody rife with inside jokes and potshots at popular spandex tropes but a far as superhero parodies go, Nextwave is actually funny most of the time, and doesn't often commit the common mistake in send-ups of mistaking meanness for humour. There's a threadbare plot that's tenuously connected to the first six issues of the series, but as in the first story-arc, the plot merely serves to string together Ellis' outrageous quips and bizarre scenarios. The art by Stuart Immonen is just a joy to behold, his ability to convey emotion and facial expression is a perfect match for Ellis' flair for over-the-top dialogue. Immonen also continues with the "Hong Kong action movie" storytelling feel that he established in the first TPB, going with dynamic figures and panel placement, but never at the cost of clarity.

There's a lot here to like (and laugh at), Ellis pokes fun at Civil War-style hero vs. hero conflict, the tired zombie comics craze, the Mindless Ones (Dr. Strange villains, if you're unfamiliar with them), a Dread Dormammu knock-off with a Suicide Girls obsession, and even makes allusions to MODOK sex and dinosaur abuse by adolescent apes. All that, and Ellis manages to end the series on a perfectly reasonable note, no unresolved plot threads or funny business like that. Highly recommended.   

My Rating: 4 out of 5

[Silver Shocker]

And the Solo series of Deadpool will never see trade format, not even the Joe Kelly run! They should be ashamed >.<

Damn right, boy.  And don't tell me there isn't a market for em. If they can push an "Essential Dazzler" on us (due out next week, if I'm not mistaken) then they make some blasted Deadpool trade.

[thanoson]

Wolverine: The Initiative- Wolvie vs Namor should be a forgone conclusion. Namor for the win. But, Namor vs Venom? Hmm...

[B A D]

Depends on how alien boy can handle sound underwater.

[thanoson]

Well, he has an advantage; A nanotech gun that drains water?

[zuludelta]

The Immortal Iron Fist Vol. 1 TPB: The Last Iron Fist Story

written by: Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction
art by: David Aja (with Travel Foreman, Derek Fridolfs, Russ Heath, John Severin, Sal Buscema, and Tom Palmer)
colours by: Matt Hollingsworth with Dean White and Laura Martin
letters by: Dave Lanphear

note: collects issues #1-6 of the Immortal Iron Fist series

Even before I saw the previews, I knew I couldn't pass on a book written by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction. Brubaker, of course, was the writer on the critically-acclaimed Gotham Central for DC and Sleeper for their Wildstorm imprint, and he's also done a great job following up on Brian Bendis' seminal run on Marvel's Daredevil. Fraction has a slightly more sparse, but nonetheless impressive record, authoring offbeat small-press books like The Five Fists of Science and the excellent Image Comics tech-noir title Casanova.

In this, the inaugural arc of the new Iron Fist series, Brubaker and Fraction take the titular character back to his roots, examining the heretofore unexplored history of the K'un L'un legacy, and it makes for surprisingly engaging material. I'd always been a little indifferent, even disdainful of the Iron Fist character in his earlier interpretations, as I considered him as nothing more than an attempt to cash in on the martial arts movie craze of the 1970s, a martial arts expert sufficiently "caucasianized" (intentionally or not) to appeal to a wider reader base. There's actually a somewhat controversial tradition-of-sorts in Western fiction wherein a white protagonist immerses himself (either by design or accident) in a foreign culture, and then improbably proceeds to best the indigenous people at their own traditions and practices (Fenimore Cooper's Hawkeye in the Leatherstocking Tales for instance, or even the more recent Last Samurai film starring Tom Cruise), but all that's grist for another mill that I won't write about in-depth here. Suffice to say that I always thought of Iron Fist as a shallow and somewhat exploitative creation, much in the same way I view a good number of the earlier token minority characters in comics.     

Anyway, I digress.

The story finds Danny Rand in a bit of a predicament. His company is being aggressively taken over by a rival corporation. If that's not bad enough, he soon discovers that the corporation is a front for the international terrorist organization known as Hydra. To make matters worse, he senses that somebody else has been wielding the Iron Fist power besides himself, weakening him, something that shouldn't be possible (since there can only be one Iron Fist per generation). All this leads Rand to search for answers by looking inward and into the K'un L'un legacy. Like I said earlier, Brubaker and Fraction have managed to make me care about the Iron Fist power's history, all the while crafting a neat little tale of superpowered corporate espionage.

The art by David Aja is reminiscent of Alex Maleev's work on Daredevil, he relies on heavy inks to set the mood and setting perhaps not as expertly, although I think he composes fight scenes better than Maleev. The flashback sequences showing the history of the Iron Fist were drawn by guest pencilers/inkers (including Marvel lifers like Sal Buscema and John Severin), and they provide a nice change of pace and texture to the art.

One of the things that also stood out for me was how "authentic" the story feels. The book utilizes familiar Chinese martial-arts tropes in both the writing and the art, but at the same time, it doesn't seem like it's pandering to stereotypes or devolving to camp. I like campy, "chop-socky" kung-fu action as much as the next guy, but it's great to see somebody doing it seriously and not embarrassing themselves with their efforts.

My Rating: 4 out of 5

[detourne_me]

well put zulu.   iron fist and dd are my top two books right now.
if you havent been reading the single issues of iron fist i imagine you'll really like the next installment.  issue 7 was particularily great imo.

[zuludelta]

well put zulu.   iron fist and dd are my top two books right now.
if you havent been reading the single issues of iron fist i imagine you'll really like the next installment.  issue 7 was particularily great imo.

I've sort of gotten a gist of what the second story-arc is about just from the clues and implications dropped in the first book (it's going to be a martial arts tournament against the other six Immortal Weapons representing the Heavenly Cities, right?). I'll be waiting for the trade, but with internet previews and whatnot, it's pretty much impossible not to get things spoiled (but I don't really mind these things getting spoiled for me, I mean, what are you gonna do, you know?).

[zuludelta]

The Punisher: Widowmaker (Marvel MAX imprint TPB Vol.8)

Written by: Garth Ennis
Penciled by: Lan Medina
Inks by: Bill Reinhold

notes:
- Mature readers rating for language, explicit violence and sexual content
- collects Punisher (Max imprint), vol.1, #43-49
- several minor spoilers (and one huge one) ahead!

This story-arc revolves around the widows of the mafia capos the Punisher has killed over the course of the series and their attempt to get back at him. As per Ennis' usual, a monkeywrench gets thrown in the works and what should be a straightforward revenge tale develops a layer or two of added characterization.

I enjoyed Ennis' portrayal of the mafia wives. While still hewing to the mafia wife stereotypes popularized by films like Goodfellas and countless A&E documentaries, he manages to create the impression that they are strong, driven, and resourceful in ways that their criminal husbands weren't. As I've said over and over in my Punisher reviews, Punisher stories are only as interesting as the main villain, since the title character is still, despite Ennis' attempts at plumbing his characterization depths, very much a cipher. And these antagonists are definitely given distinct personalities.

Ennis also uses this opportunity to again show the similarities and differences between the Punisher and those who are sometimes called upon to kill for "the greater good" and those who are motivated to kill purely for revenge. It's pretty clear by now that Ennis' take on the Punisher's crusade is that it is much more than a simple vengeance-fueled vendetta against crime. His methods border on sadism and a pathological desire to see others suffer which he seems to rationalize and justify with a genuine desire to punish evildoers. If there's one thing that felt off and contrived in the whole story, it's the murder-suicide scene involving one of the main characters in the final chapter. Not so much the fairly gratuitious nature of the scene, since any Punisher MAX reader should be inured to it by now (I stopped doing double-takes with the outrageous death scenes by the second trade paperback or so) but there's a particular element to it that feels tacked on and forced (you'll know what I'm talking about when you read it).

As for the art, I'm at once awed and disappointed. Lan Medina is a Filipino komiks legend in the same mold as industry pillars like Alfredo Alcala, Tony DeZuñiga, and Nestor Redondo, having earned his stripes in the local comic book industry on titles like Holiday, in contrast to younger guys like Lienil Francis Yu and Whilce Portacio, whose reputations were built on the strength of their American comics work (not making any judgments regarding Yu and Portacio, just glad that the struggling Philippine comics industry continues to produce stellar artists). Anyway, I was slightly disappointed in the art because it doesn't have the level of detail I've come to expect from Medina, although that's probably also due to the heavy and dominant inking by Bill Reinhold. Still, it's probably the best interior art that the book has seen since Lewis Laroca's work on the opening story-arc. (click here,  here, and here for a look at Medina's Filipino komiks work)

Rating: 4 out of 5         

[Silver Shocker]

JLA Wedding Special

Although I was keeping in kind that Mcduffie was somewhat treading water already treaded in the JLU itself (which he wrote for), I'm still stoked for his run. Some strong characterizations, a few good lines, and a Batman moment I'm sure got fanboys all over the world getting out of thier chair and saying "YES!" (it sure did it for me), in which Batman answers the question "How could you possibly know that?" with "I'm Batman."

One of the more plausable scenarios in which Batman can get knocked out by a villain, some nice pacing and a rather cute spoof of the begining of Meltzer's run made this JLA the most fun I've gotten out of the series since John's and Heinberg's short arc.

Overall I give it 7/10. I wasn't a huge fan of the art, so it lost some points.

[BentonGrey]

Hmm.....McDuffie writing JLA?  That actually makes me want to pick it up...I won't, but it tempts me.

Anyroad, I picked up my only two current continuity DCU books today (I get JLU, but that doesn't really count, and it always annoys me because they never bring the maturity to it that it deserves.  Instead of walking the line like they did in the actual show, they just jump feet first into the shallow end.)  So, I got The Atom and Aquaman.  I started picking up the new Atom based on all the really fantastic stuff I've been reading about it, and for the most part it hasn't disappointed me.  Aquaman.....well...it continues to be a mixed bag.  I'll talk about the great melancholy that grips me anytime I pick up this book, but not right now.

The All New Atom #15:

This book has been crazy fun, it really is quite a great read most days, especially in this issue where the Atom is literally jerked by his collar out of the continuity mess that's going on.  I kind of like the fact that the search for Ray Palmer is important in all of this, but at the same time, I am not following the rest of DC, so I would rather have stories that I can enjoy alone.  The threat in this one is two giant monsters tearing through Ivy Town.  The Atom uses his brains to defeat them, which is sorta' cool, but I feel like the whole thing was just a bit too much of a throw away plot, and we didn't really ever have the 'why' of it all answered by anything other than a throw away explanation.  I enjoy the power-up the Atom has gotten through the addition of the Bangstick, and I think it was something that the original Atom could have used.

Now, all of that aside, this issue was worth it to see the giant disembodied "Head" flying between the monsters, shower curtain-cape and all, crying "Have heroism or death!"  Oh my gosh, heaven help me but I can't get enough of the big floating head.  If I didn't know that the end result would be me locked away in an asylum, I would seriously start quoting him in every day society.  Over all, this comic has brought back the one liner, and I always get a chuckle reading it.

"Have good trip or death!  Have safety or submission!"

[lugaru]

Zulu: wow, I cant believe how fast they released widowmaker in trade. I totally agree about the ending though. While I would of been so-so with the notion of seeing this character run around and play 'female punisher' what she ended up doing didint quite sit right. I dunno, I like playing devils advocate and I can easily justify the motives but I'm saying there was something off in the execution of it. Still despite the 200 layers of mysogenistic tragedy she was a cool character and I hope to keep seing tough male and female supporting cast in the series.

[zuludelta]

Zulu: wow, I cant believe how fast they released widowmaker in trade.

That's the one thing I like about Marvel's TPB publishing policy, they don't penalize readers for their choice of reading format. I might not be reading Punisher MAX for too long, though. Ennis is leaving the title soon (no firm announcement on his last issue) to work on other assignments, which is just as well, since I think Ennis has probably told all the Punisher stories he has in him for a while (and he is starting to repeat himself, I find) and he does have a quasi-final issue in the Last Punisher Story one-shot he did with Richard Corben. I've never really cared for the Punisher as a character until I read Ennis' take on him, and I think I was reading the book more for Ennis' writing than for the main character anyway. 

[zuludelta]

The Punisher: From First To Last (Marvel MAX imprint Prestige Hardcover collection)

Written by: Garth Ennis
Penciled by: John Severin (The Tyger), Lewis Larosa (The Cell), and Richard Corben (The End)

notes:
- Mature readers rating for language, explicit violence
- collects the following Punisher (Max imprint) one shots: The Tyger, The Cell, Punisher: The End
- minor spoilers ahead

I don't think it's hyperbole to say that Garth Ennis' run on the Punisher will be regarded as the defining work on the character, pretty much on par with Claremont's nearly 200-issue run on Uncanny X-Men, Miller's take on Daredevil, and Peter David's stretch on Incredible Hulk. He took what was basically a tired, overexposed, one-dimensional and not all that interesting character and turned him into a relevant property for Marvel, popular enough to spawn a major studio motion picture and a critically-acclaimed (if controversial) video game. Before Ennis took the reins of the character in 2001, the Punisher was pretty much reduced to a joke, ridiculously revamped and cast as a supernatural avenging angel armed with mystic uzis and all sorts of nonsense.

From First To Last collects three one-shots into a nice oversized package (although it will look a little out-of-place to those of you obsessed with having your comics, graphic novels, and TPBs all the same height and width). The story in each one-shot takes place at a turning point in the Punisher's life.

In The Tyger, a ten-year old Frank Castle gets his first glimpse of the cruelty and evil all men are capable of doing. It also provides some neat insight as to why the Punisher has always had a special burning hatred for those who harm women and children (well, apart from the obvious connection with his murdered family, of course) and particularly, rapists. This also reinforces Ennis' assertion that Frank Castle's Punisher persona wasn't simply a byproduct of his family's death at the hands of the mob, but rather was a result of a lifetime of accumulated experiences (Ennis' expounds on the impact of the Vietnam War on Castle's psyche in a separate mini-series which has also been collected in TPB form, the excellent Punisher: Born). A well-written period piece set mostly in the New York of Castle's youth, with excellent, detailed art by Mad Magazine co-founder and EC Comics and Marvel Comics legend John Severin (probably best known for his work on EC's Two-Fisted Tales and Marvel's Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos).

One interesting thing to note about the Punisher's heretofore history is that he's never been able to get back at those personally involved in the deaths of his family. The Cell is the story that shows Castle finally catching up with those responsible. Set in Ryker's Island Prison, the story revolves around Castle intentionally getting caught and jailed so that he can get close to his family's killers. It's a straight-up revenge tale, and while satisfying, I also feel that it's the weakest of the three stories, since the reader pretty much knows what's going to happen, and the main draw of the story is to see how Castle extracts his pound of flesh (and I have to say, when he finally gets to them, it's not nearly as creatively cruel as some of the methods he's used on other criminals in the on-going Punisher series). Lewis Larosa's art is thoroughly detailed, an excellent feat when it could have been all sorts of muddy due to the drab setting.

The third and final story in the hardcover collection is Punisher: The End, illustrated by Heavy Metal and underground comix vet Richard Corben. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic, near future setting, a world that has finally gone to hell in a hail of nuclear warheads.  The Punisher, of course, has improbably survived (barely) and has now taken it upon himself to find those who "made puppets of presidents and started wars for profit." Ennis makes a powerful political statement in this story but doesn't go overboard into soapboxing, this is still a Punisher story at its core. Castle's final acts of violence, essentially dooming the remaining human population of the planet, provides a chilling insight into the character: a man who has lost all sense of compassion and hope for the future, living only because of a burning, single-minded desire to punish those he considers guilty of inflicting harm upon others. A dark, almost depressing, but ultimately powerful character portrait.   

Very highly recommended for fans of the character and Ennis' writing. Even if you're not normally a fan of either, give it a read anyway, it's real good comics.

Rating: 5 out of 5         

[zuludelta]

Fury (Marvel MAX imprint TPB)

Written by: Garth Ennis
Penciled by: Darick Robertson

notes:
- Mature readers rating for language, explicit violence and sexual content
- collects the Fury (Max imprint) limited series, issues #1-6
- minor spoilers ahead

This mini-series sees Ennis once again collaborating with Punisher: Born and The Boys penciler Darick Robertson. The plot, in broad strokes, is a dark-humoured look at Nick Fury in something of a midlife crisis (or at least, as much as an un-aging superspy holdover from the Second World War can be said to have a "mid-life"), while also working in a few jabs at US foreign policy.

Fury is at a crossroads in his career. SHIELD has become a bureaucrat's paradise, one, apparently, that has no need for Cold War cloak and dagger types like Fury. All his friends are either dead, or are happily retired and domesticated, and his only family; an awkward, attention-starved high school loser entrusted to his care by a dying soldier, is someone he'd much rather feed alive to tigers. So what does a Cold Warrior do when there are no more Cold Wars to fight?

It turns out that Fury is not alone in his plight, as his opposite number in the terrorist organization HYDRA is itching for some old-school war-mongering himself. Along with the expected fireworks, Ennis manages to insert some contemporary socio-political commentary (as he occasionally does), and uses Fury to advance the argument as to why an independent, international, third-party military arbitrator like the UN's SHIELD is a better alternative to having individual nations enforce their own ideas of "international law." I imagine this  might very well influence a reader's enjoyment of the story depending on where they stand on the debate concerning nations violating other countries' sovereignty in the name of pre-emptive defense. Ennis also tries to create some sense of conflict within Fury, a man who is dedicated to promulgating international peace but at the same time is attracted to the raw, visceral excitement and challenges provided by a life of combat, although I found I wasn't all that interested in Fury's internal dialogue (he's just not a very sympathetic character, I think).

Robertson's art is what it is, ultimately capable, clear, energetic, and expressive but it's never really struck a chord in me either. The individual issue covers are by Bill Siencewicz, by the way, and they're almost worth the price of the TPB by themselves (although Jim Steranko, in my mind, would have been the perfect cover artist for this mini-series).

Rating: 3.75 out of 5         

[Jakew]

Being a huge Ennis fan, I was really disappointed with Fury... it felt like he was going through the motions. It's weird considering how Darick Robertson and Ennis are kicking so much butt together on The Boys, which is similarly OTT.

[zuludelta]

Being a huge Ennis fan, I was really disappointed with Fury... it felt like he was going through the motions. It's weird considering how Darick Robertson and Ennis are kicking so much butt together on The Boys, which is similarly OTT.

Funny you should post that. I'm the same way but I feel like it's with The Boys that he's retreading material he's already covered. I like his work as much as the next guy but he does have a habit of recycling concepts from other titles he's worked on. I think I actually reviewed the first The Boys TPB in this thread, you might want to look for it. Of course, the book that gets the "generic Ennis writing" stamp from me is his work on Virgin Press' Seven Brothers (which I think I also covered in this thread), he even re-uses a plot device that he used in the story for the Ghost Rider video game (the bit about heroes inscribing a mystical glyph across the planet's surface).

[lugaru]

Yeah, same here with not being able to get into the boys. It just feels like a not so great version of "the pro" and other prior bits of his work.

[Midnite]

DC Previews for Oct 3

I'm digging the Jokester.  :thumbup:

[Silver Shocker]

Hmm.....McDuffie writing JLA?  That actually makes me want to pick it up...I won't, but it tempts me.

I'd say it depends on your tastes. If you like to see groundbreaking, status quo-shaking, trend-setting, turn-the-world-on-its-ear, everything-you-thought-you-knew-is-wrong kinda stuff, you won't find it in McDuffie's run (or at least this arc, the next one is apparently about the characters from DC's old Tangent and Amalgam lines  :blink: +  :thumbup: ). He's VERY much writing the JLU stuff all over again, more than I even expected him to do. He's even pushing the JLU-exclusive elements in the book. Such as some small subtle John Stewart/Hawkgirl shipping (ironic, since Meltzer played her up with Roy) and a mentioning of the Javelin (unless I'm wrong and the Javelins existed in the comics already) and little things like that. Still, it's the kind of thing people who miss good old-fashioned good guy vs bad guy slugfests, and "fun" storylines that don't take a year and a half or more to tell. Me, I think it's quite enjoyable. It's sure better than Meltzer's run (which I dropped after the first arc).

That's the one thing I like about Marvel's TPB publishing policy, they don't penalize readers for their choice of reading format.

I'm going to have to massively disagree with you there. I think both Marvel and DC completely do exactly that. FOr one thing, I know for a fact that the TPBs don't keep the recap pages for the issues, even if they mention stuff that happened before the issues collected. They don't always keep the backup stories, even if they're related to the main story (anyone want to bet all the "Endangered Species" backups will be taken out of the X-Men trades?) and they don't always keep the covers as full pages preceding the stories. I remember the cover gallery for the Avengers: Kang Dynasty really frustrated me because it was done in a way that made it very difficult to tell which cover went for which issue. I just started reading a Morrison New X-Men trade and some of the covers are done a similar way, with a single page showing multiple covers, after the issue that that cover was for.

One the other hand,  I looked through the TPB for the Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways TPB when it first came out dispite having bought the mini originally, because solicits promised bonus material. The TPB contained handbook entries for every member of both teams, none of which were in the original issues. I would have loved those but am not willing to buy the trade just to have them along with the book. Actually a couple of the Civil War TBPs had handbook entries for characters who appeared in the book, and some had concept sketchs and cover sketches. I personally think everything that was in one version should be in the other, with the exception of letters pages, ads and other things that wouldn't be practical in the TBP. I also hate it when they take the opening credits out, especially when the art team changes from issue to issue, and I don't like them taking the footnotes out of the older material.

[zuludelta]

That's the one thing I like about Marvel's TPB publishing policy, they don't penalize readers for their choice of reading format.

I'm going to have to massively disagree with you there. I think both Marvel and DC completely do exactly that.

I should have clarified my comment further... I only meant that Marvel has a quicker turnaround in releasing TPB collections of their on-goings, mini-series, and classic titles and I wasn't trying to compare DC and Marvel in terms of TPB quality and content. On books like Immortal Iron Fist and Punisher (MAX), the TPB that collects a particular 6-issue arc is usually out within 3 to 4 months of the last issue of said arc being published (compared to DC, who seem to have an inconsistent TPB publishing schedule and apparently haven't totally bought into the business idea of using the single-issues as loss-leaders for TPB sales for their less popular titles) and Marvel has done a good job of mining their archives for fairly decent and reasonably-priced Essentials (covering everything from popular titles like X-Men, Spider-Man, Hulk, etc. to less popular fare like Killraven, Howard The Duck, Godzilla, and Tomb of Dracula) while much of the collected classic DC reprints (at least the ones I've seen available in my local comic book shop) still skew too heavily towards Superman, Batman, and the Justice League (and it's almost impossible to find the Jonah Hex TPBs they put out a couple of years ago).