How were they? ver. 2 SPOILERS

[zuludelta]

The Chemist #1

Published by: Image Comics
Written by: Jay Boose
Art by: Jay Boose

My brother lent me this issue, the debut comic book work of Pixar animator Jay Boose. I tried looking for later issues (issue #1 is dated July 2007) but it seems like he's yet to put out the second issue (understandable, considering how busy animators can be and the fact that he's doing everything, from writing, illustrating, and lettering). It's a shame really, judging by the quality of the storytelling, Boose could teach many of today's "hot" artists a thing or two about managing the flow of a story with the use of sequential panel art.

The story, as far as I can tell, is of the crime/heist thriller genre. The "chemist" in this story, is Vance Larroche, a French-Canadian drug dealer and pharmaceutical expert who makes his living by making and selling prescription drugs to the mob, who in turn sell the meds to an American public who can't afford to get their medicine from pharmacies. The idea that the high price of prescription medication in the States provides a fertile breeding ground for a medical black market run by organized crime isn't exactly novel, but it's the first time I've seen it tackled in a comic book, and Boose deserves kudos for using the somewhat unconventional topic in his book. The protagonist soon finds himself caught in a double-cross (fairly standard with crime thrillers) which is complicated by the involvement of a novice dealer working for the mob (who is obviously being set up as Vance's future romantic interest).

The writing is solid. there's a certain lack of flair and polish to the dialogue, but I'd rather have a straightforward presentation rather than a forced attempt to sound intelligent or snappy.

The art, on the other hand, is just great. Boose's background as an animator really shines through, as evidenced by his consistent and on-model depictions of the main characters. His faces are expressive, and the action leads the eye and just flows naturally... no fancy gimmicks or splashy (but distracting) techniques, just solid framing and storytelling all the way through. There's certainly a European feel to his art, reminiscent of XIII's William Vance (the name of the protagonist might even be a nod to the Belgian artist). 

Here are some sample pages to demonstrate what I mean.

It's a shame that the series seems to be on indefinite hiatus, but I'll definitely be the first in line if issue #2 (or a graphic novel) ever sees the light of day.
   
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5

[Previsionary]

So, anybody catch the new Initiative? Umm.... wow! Not trying to spoil, but it's a bad day for Yellowjacket. Player of the comic for me was Taskmaster. He is awesome. Witty banter? Check. Can beat most super powered heroes? check.

New Avengers Annual- Not quite as good as the Masters of Evil storming the mansion, but good enough. The Red Hood I believe is working with Loki. There, I said it. Eh, I have nothing to base that on. Just making a guess.

JLA- So, how powerful is Vixen? She could theoretically be the most powerful of the lot.

I dunno about the hood working with Loki. She's (Yes, I meant she) currently working with Doom to trick Thor into releasing the more evil gods/asgardians.

[zuludelta]

The Punisher #50-#54

Published by: Marvel Comics (MAX imprint)
Written by: Garth Ennis
Penciled by: Howard Chaykin (#50), Goran Parlov (#51-#54)
Note: Major Spoilers ahead!

I normally trade-wait the excellent Punisher MAX series (because the stories are designed to work in 6 chapter segments anyway) but as luck would have it, somebody lent me their copies of the floppies (which is just as well, it seems like the TPB schedule is a little late).

Issues 50-54 cover the "Long, Cold, Dark" storyline. There's a very radical (but not totally unexpected) reveal in this story. Frank Castle has an infant daughter that he doesn't know about. Apparently, he managed to knock up O'Brien back when they did the horizontal tango in the "Up Is Down, Black Is White" story a year and a half back. For a guy who's all about being prepared and protected, Castle sure dropped the ball on that one  :lol:

The storyline's baddy is Barracuda, who survived his seeming demise in the jaws of a shark (the details of his survival, and how he eventually got back to the States to extract his vengeance on the Punisher is shown in detail in the Barracuda mini-series that came out last year). He finds out about Castle's daughter, and decides that the best way to hurt a man seemingly impervious to physical hardship is to get at him through to his only remaining family (O'Brien died in Afghanistan, but she managed to get her sister to take care of the baby in the States).

When Castle finds out that he has a daughter and that Barracuda has her hostage, he goes on a cross-country manhunt to get her back. You get the standard Ennis treatment here, lots of firefights, inventive and painful-looking fight scenes, and the standard gruff Castle narration. Chaykin draws the double-sized issue #50, and while it's better than his recent work on Wolverine and Hawkwoman, it's still a far cry from his American Flagg! work. Goran Parlov returns to illustrate the rest of the storyline's issues (he also penciled the Barracuda mini-series), and he's quickly becoming one of my favourite comic book artists. He draws with a lot of energy and emotion, and there's a definite sense of weight and movement to his characters... in a way, he reminds me of a cross between Bret Blevins and Joe Kubert.

This storyline is also Ennis' penultimate for the series. I would so love it if he could end the series on his own terms (his last issue is scheduled to be #60). If you ask me, the direction of the last couple of story-arcs (this one, particularly) seems like we're heading towards Castle's demise... don't ask me why, it's just a gut feeling and I would actually like that. What else can any writer do with the character that Ennis hasn't already done? He's plumbed the depths of the character and rescued the property from being a one-note joke, might as well give him the right to end this particular incarnation of the Punisher for good and let a new writer develop and flesh out their own version of the psychotically single-minded gun-toting vigilante.

My Rating: 3.75 out of 5

[zuludelta]

Casanova Book One: Luxuria

Published by: Image Comics
Written by: Matt Fraction
Art by: Gabriel Ba
Note: This TPB collects issue #s 1-7 of the Casanova series

It seems like as I get older, I find myself complaining more and more about how there's a lack of innovation in the North American comics scene. It seems like today's superhero comics are simply content to retread ground covered before, but dressed up as "relevant," "post-modern," "mature" or "edgy" but derivative nonetheless. At the other end of the spandex spectrum, the revivalist movement to make superhero comics "fun again" simply puts out fare whose main appeal is nostalgia, with little to no substance behind it. The alternative press/indie scene is similarly mired in creative complacency, it seems like every other "indie" book is a glorified illustrated diary.

There's nothing wrong with publishers putting out the same-old same-old, of course, and there are all manner of surprises out there if one is willing to put the time and effort into digging through solicitations and online reviews. But there are days when it seems like everything on the racks looks and reads the same.

And then I discovered Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba's Casanova.   

Matt Fraction has been getting a lot of good press lately for his work on Marvel's Immortal Iron Fist and Punisher War Journal, but he's actually been working in comics for quite some time now, his first Image Comics book being the vastly underrated Five Fists Of Science. I can best describe Casanova as a tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek science fiction book. I know that doesn't sound too exciting, but you'll have to take my word for it when I say that you've probably never read a comic book like Fraction's Casanova before. There's a certain rhythm and pacing to his dialogue, each page is just so saturated with information, character development, and story progression, but I never felt overwhelmed by it all. He covers more ground in 3 pages than most current writers do in a full 22 pages, but I never got the feeling that he was force-feeding me exposition. I know it sounds like I'm all over Fraction's nuts when I say this but Casanova is the first comic book I read that reads like it was written in the 21st century (Joe Casey's Intimates came close, but the execution fell well short of that comic's ambition). Casanova is the New Comics. 

Gabriel Ba's art is a revelation as well. I realize that his style is something of an acquired taste for many readers, but for me, the energy and dynamism of his sequential art overshadows any complaints I might have with his minimalist rendering technique (think Mike Mignola-meets-Eric Canete). I've actually been inspired by his work to revise my own approach to comic book drawing.

Of course, Casanova isn't perfect... the throwaway over-arching plot has enough twists in it so as to be impenetrable at times and the transition from issue-to-issue is occasionally clumsy, but this is one instance where the parts are more than their overall sum. I can't recommend this TPB enough to long-time comic book readers who've grown tired of the cyclical nature of superhero stories and the increasingly repetitive methods used to relate them.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5

[GhostMachine]

Star Trek Alien Spotlight: Romulans

Published by IDW
Written and Drawn by John Byrne

If you see this on the stands and happen to notice the photo cover, you'll know right away what this issue is about; it ties into the ST TOS episode "Balance Of Terror", which is one of my favorite episodes. I happen to be a John Byrne fan, but I am also a Star Trek fan, so I was going into this with a critical eye. I knew this was coming for months, because I'm a member of Byrne Robotics, and JB posted some preview pages in the Star Trek section over there.

Regardless of your feelings about Byrne - he's alienated (pardon the pun) a lot of fans with his attitude and ego - if you're a fan of Star Trek, and "Balance of Terror" is one of your favorite episodes, I definitely recommend picking up this comic, which is a prequel strictly from the Romulans' side (the ENTERPRISE does appear in a few panels, but this is way before the confrontation between the two ships) and gives you a bit of background on Mark Lenard's character.

(Its rumored there will be a TPB coming from IDW collecting all the Alien Spotlight one shots, if you want to wait and read them all)

Byrne is also doing an Assignment: Earth mini for IDW, and the big news is that Gary Seven will look like Robert Lansing. However, he can't use Teri Garr's likeness.

Justice Society of America #13

Story by Geoff Johns and Alex Ross
Written by Geoff Johns
Pencilled by Fernando Pasarin
Inked by Richard Friend

The JSA has gotten bigger as of last issue, but only three of the new members (well, two new and one returning) are in this issue. The Kingdom Come tie-in story, which has been pretty good so far, continues. The KC Superman finally meets "our" Superman, and the identity of the villain who has been killing false gods has been revealed, and its a doozy...

Gog is back, and a possible theory about part of his origin is posited by the KC Superman.

Worth picking up just to see Hercules almost break his fist on the KC Superman's chin and KC Superman's reaction when he goes to Metropolis to find "our" Superman and hears and sees Lois with his super-senses.

Batman #617

Written by Grant Morrison
Pencilled by Tony Daniel
Inked by Sandu Florea

All I am going to say is, I can't wait for the current storyline to end.

Regarding the upcoming "Batman R.I.P." storyarc that's supposed to begin in 676, I think the current storyline is a set-up for it and that Batman will fake his death and quit fighting crime temporarily.

I also picked up Wonder Woman #17 and Captain America #35, but don't feel like posting long reviews. Cap #35 is good, but has a cliffhanger ending I don't think I'm going to like the resolution of, and Wonder Woman #17 is the end of the Society on Themiscyra\renegade Amazons who wanted Diana dead arc. The resolution is decent, but they really didn't answer whether or not Hippolyta is dead or alive. If you've ever wanted to see Diana fight other Amazons, I definitely recommend it.

[Previsionary]

Did anyone read the Justice League: New Frontier Special? I found it to be fairly enjoyable and it was easily accessible to new readers and people who aren't continuity heavy. Features 3 fun little stories and some background info on the new film. I'd recommend it, but then again, I don't read many DC books. :P

[zuludelta]

The Chemist #2
Published by: Image Comics
Written by: Jay Boose
Art by: Jay Boose

The second issue of Pixar animator Jay Boose's comic book finally came out, almost six months after the inaugural issue. Still, I can't really rag on Boose for the book's tardiness, he does everything on the book and has to juggle those responsibilities with his day job.

The story picks up immediately after the events of the first issue, with black-market pharmacist Vance Larroche and novice drug dealer Alex on the run from a mysterious cadre of heavily-armed pursuers (are they the mob? government agents working for the FDA? the DEA? the FBI?). Much like the prior issue, the art and storytelling is fantastic, Boose's background as an animator really shines through. Unfortunately, my criticism of the writing in the first issue still stands here... there's nothing about it that grabs the attention of the reader (although the voice Boose gives to Alex is disarmingly cute in a Goldie-Hawn-in-Bird-On-A-Wire kind of way) and most of it is purely functional, serving to usher the plot along and keep things going in the intervals between the action scenes.

Great art, an intriguing plot, and dialogue that doesn't induce eye-rolling and cringing... a solid read on all fronts. Here's to hoping we don't have to wait another six months for the next issue.

My Rating: 3 out of 5


Girls (TPBs #1-#4)
Published by: Image Comics
Written by: Joshua Luna
Art by: Jonathan Luna

note: the four trade paperbacks reviewed here collect all 24 issues of the Girls maxi-series published by Image Comics.

Oh boy... where to start with this thing. I'm having a hard time describing my reaction after reading this comic book series in its entirety. There was a feeling of pleasurable satisfaction of course, similar to the one you get after reading a particularly enjoyable book or watching a good film. But beneath that glowing feeling was also an acrid aftertaste stemming from how the experience of reading the Luna brothers' Girls has again pointed out the ridiculously insular and static state of comics in North America (not because Girls exemplifies the rampant creative incest, but because it stands in such stark contrast from many of the comics on the racks).

Girls is still something of an oddity in the North American comic book marketplace, an "independent," non-superhero comic book that has "Big Two" production values. I've been a little burnt out on comics lately... it seems like the choice, for the most part,  has generally come down to reading the same tired adolescent power fantasies featured in superhero comics or the navel-gazing, self-important, and usually poorly-drawn and poorly-edited "indie" comics, with very little variety in-between.

At its core, Girls is a classic horror/science-fiction story that sets out to re-contextualize certain social issues (much like Romero's Living Dead films). Protagonist Ethan Daniels lives an unremarkable life in a small town in the Midwest, but all that changes when he stumbles upon a seemingly mute, naked woman outside a cornfield. Things really take a bizarre turn when the woman starts laying eggs, a giant sperm cell appears in the cornfield, and an impenetrable forcefield envelops the town.

Over the course of 24 issues, the Luna brothers tackle the tricky topics of sex and relationships, the stigma attached to being a single adult male in today's society, women's body image and self-esteem issues, failed marriages, religion, family, homosexuality, and basically the on-going power struggle between the sexes (I have a feeling Joshua Luna was heavily influenced by Woody Allen's films).

The metaphors in the book are very thinly disguised though, there's nothing subtle in here, unless your idea of subtlety is being smacked upside the head repeatedly with a particular theme. There's also a lot of amateur psychology and issue-simplification in the writing, and I imagine it won't exactly win any awards with feminists (not because there's anything that can be construed as misogynistic in the book mind you... but a lot of it reads like a typical twentysomething's rant about the pitfalls of dating and relationships), but the Lunas should be lauded for trying to do something that's unique in the current comics landscape.

Jonathan Luna's art is very crisp and clean, and he has a talent for keeping things visually interesting despite the fact a lot of the comic simply consists of people in various conversations. Any closet artist with a pencil and a Burne Hogarth textbook can draw page after page of obscenely muscular freaks in their underwear slugging it out in space, but it takes some skill to keep 4 pages of a couple arguing about breaking up visually engaging.

Very highly recommended.

My Rating: 4 out of 5       

[zuludelta]

Logan #1
Published by: Marvel Comics (Marvel Knights imprint)
Written by: Brian K. Vaughan
Art by: Eduardo Risso

It's been years since I've been interested in a Wolverine comic book: the whole "bone claws" reveal during the late 1990s pretty much ruined the character for me, as I felt it undid a lot of the work Chris Claremont, Larry Hama, and Barry Windsor-Smith put in to define the character. In my mind, Wolverine's artificially implanted claws defined the struggle between his humanity and his more animalistic, berserker nature. By revealing (or rather "retconning") that there were bone claws all along underneath the adamantium, it made Logan look absolutely ridiculous in retrospect, spending all those years whining and crying about how the claws made him more killing machine than man. And don't even get me started on the limply executed Origin mini-series from 2001 and the outstanding-in-its-mediocrity Wolverine: Origins on-going series. But that's all in the past, and I'm always willing to give a potentially good comic book story a chance, no matter if it features a character that I think has been editorially and creatively mishandled for the past decade.

When you think about it, a MAX imprint Wolverine comic book seems like a no-brainer (EDIT: just double-checked, it's a Marvel Knights book, which is a step more mature than "mainstream" Marvel but is not a mature readers line like the MAX imprint). The extra leeway for graphic sex and violence and strong language afforded by Marvel's "mature readers" line seems custom made for The House of Ideas' premier rough-and-tumble hero. That it took so long for one to be published seems like an editorial oversight, but no matter, Marvel might have made up for all those missed opportunities by putting a stellar creative team on this three-issue mini-series. Marvel put two Vertigo comics veterans on this project: Lauded scribe Brian K. Vaughan, fresh from his critically-acclaimed Vertigo book Y: The Last Man (more familiar to the non-comic book fan as one of the screenwriters for TV show Lost, I imagine) handles the writing chores and Argentinian illustrator Eduardo Risso, perhaps best known for his excellent art on Vertigo's 100 Bullets.

On the surface, this starts out like many other Wolverine tales. We're thrown into a World War II flashback episode set in Japan (I swear, half of all the Wolverine stories I've read have involved a flashback... they can almost change the character's code-name to "Highlander" at this point), accompanied by Logan's oh-so-helpful first-person narration (another Wolverine comic book staple). While Vaughan and Risso handle the somewhat by-the-numbers proceedings extremely well, nothing really grabs the reader (we only see Logan explicitly use his claws in combat once despite an extended 4-page fight sequence), especially nothing that would seem like it would merit publishing the book under the MAX imprint (and thus limiting its potential reader demographic), which struck me as a good thing creatively in a roundabout way. At this point, at least, it seems that Vaughan isn't simply using the MAX imprint as an excuse to ratchet up the gore and cheesecake factor, and might be reserving the extra latitude to tackle some weightier "mature" themes.

But much like a Lost episode, a good portion of the issue's impact lies in the cliffhanger ending, and let me tell you, this issue's got a doozy of a cliffhanger ending, and I'll definitely be back for the second issue just to see how it plays out (although I already have a vague idea of how it'll all unfold). Without the impact factor of the final page though, much of the rest of the comic book is Act I-type set-up material... I can't really fault the creative team for that (the decision to space it out is probably as much an editorial decision as a creative one), but I can imagine this reading much better in the eventual trade than as a stand-alone issue.

Highly recommended (especially for lapsed Wolverine fans who've grown tired of the character).

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5       

[Previsionary]

Zulu, you and I both gave the Logan issue the same rating. You know what this means, right? You're a skrull. :o

[thanoson]

Ok, is it me or is the Ultimate universe very busy? I mean, Thanos attacks, magneto, Apacolypse? And everybody is in everyone else' book. BTW, Thor got punked by Thanos.

X-men Legacy- That conversation between Magneto and Charles after Chargills attack was kinda funny.

[Jakew]

I picked up a new TPB today.

Sandman Mystery Theatre: The Hourman & The Python.

I totally missed this Vertigo series but I'm glad DC is (slowly) collecting it in trade paperback form. Extremely well-written pulp mystery stuff. I originally picked up the series because the character was the subject of an Eisner-award winning story arc in James Robinson's "Starman", my favourite superhero comic of all time.

This particular TPB deals with The Sandman's first encounter with a hero with actual super powers, Hourman, and his first "superhero" team-up. It's a novel premise, since The Sandman (Wesley Dodds) is just a normal guy who knows judo, has a sleeping-gas gun and superior detective skills.

The second story has The Sandman hunting down a serial strangler. dubbed "The Python", which is what The Sandman usually does ... inspired by his dreams/nightmares (referencing Neil Gaiman's own Sandman series), Dodds tracks really odd, unique killers through Depression-era America.

[DrMike2000]

All Star Superman #10

Its hardly a dangerous fringe opinion.
I've never made a secret of loving Glasgow's Finest ™ - Morrison and Quitely.
But please excuse me while I gush....

This is the best comic I've read in absolutely ages!
A few months back I was complaining to my girlfriend that all the good comics seemed to have dried up. More specifically, the core of my complaint was that Grant Morrison had sort of dried up. Seven Soldiers had its moments, sure, but his Batman run had been pretty lacklustre. All Star Superman was nice, and I liked every issue, maybe even loved issue 6, but it felt a bit lacking nd maybe carried by Quitely's artwork too much?

Anyway, this one puts all these fears to bed. Its dense, and it packs in the concepts along with the simple touching scenes and the out-there references. It follows in the tradition of the creator's first collaboration, Flex Mentallo, in making a rather shocking revleation about our own world that seems kind of believable from the point of view of the fictional reality you've just immersed yourself in. So I love this comic as an obsessive scholar of all things superheroic and Morrisonian.

Superman's compassion continues to shine through, in the scene with Regan, the attempted suicide, very simple but touching. More obscurely, we have the panel where he releases the swarm of microscopic Kryptonians from his hand, with a calm benevolent look on his face. Morrison stated in an interview that one of his favourite Superman stories ever had him exposed to Red Kryptonite, and developed a tiny Superman who he could fire from his palm. In the story, Supes get jealous of his new miniature rival. This panel in All-Star has to be a homage, but its an emotionally mature Superman saving lives without worrying about his ego. The miniature Kryptonians have in fact just failed to save his life, but he looks at peace.

This really brings home whats brilliant about this series. In a world of anti-heroes and morally grey figures, we're being presented with an out-and-out GOOD role model hero. Despite the sophistication of some of the ideas, I'd happily give these comics to a six year old to read.
Morrison showed more than a few signs of this with his take on Supes back in the Justice League, and I think gets the character as much as any writer ever has done.

My faith is restored. Faith in Morrison, faith in comics. :)
Alan Moore's "Whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow" has just become the second best Superman story ever told...

[Jakew]

It's funny ... I lurve All Star Superman, the majority of Seven Soldiers and a ton of Morrion's other work. But his Batman AND (dum, dum, dum) Justice League of America is so boring and bland to me.

I get the feeling he doesn't work well within the constraints of DC continuinity, but when he can go jimmies out, its genius.

[stumpy]

This reminded me to pick up #10 and it was well worth it.

I also got the threads of "Whatever happened..." and the classic Superman-Red, Superman-Blue tales running through it. I don't know that I think it outshines Moore's story (of course, it isn't done yet), but it is definitely playing at that level. Just excellent.

If DC could put out this level of work all the time, I would spend $100 a month on comics. And, I'd have no unread comics instead of stacks of them that I can't quite motivate to read.

[zuludelta]

I get the feeling he doesn't work well within the constraints of DC continuinity, but when he can go jimmies out, its genius.

I don't think it's so much a weakness in Morrison's writing as it is an indictment of how strict adherence to continuity hampers creativity. Unfortunately, these days, most of the best-selling on-going books published by Marvel and DC come with a "don't change the status quo/make any major changes unless we tell you to" clause for writers, because any major changes can and do interfere with long-range editorial goals and licensing plans. I thought Grant Morrison's earlier work on X-Men was the most interesting take on Marvel's merry mutants since Claremont's prime, but it was too bad that it ran counter to editorial's own plans for the title so there was a lot of creative haggling involved (and it shows in the later story-arcs), and that era of the X-Men is now just generally regarded as an interesting and unconventional, but not a particularly well-received period.

[Jakew]

I agree, Morrison's New X-Men was great (although I don't think he handled the Xorn / Magneto storyline particularly well) .... the only other writer who's really picked up the threads and characterisations from Morrison's run on the title has been Joss Whedon in Astonishing X-Men.

[DrMike2000]

It's funny ... I lurve All Star Superman, the majority of Seven Soldiers and a ton of Morrion's other work. But his Batman AND (dum, dum, dum) Justice League of America is so boring and bland to me.

I get the feeling he doesn't work well within the constraints of DC continuinity, but when he can go jimmies out, its genius.

Yeah, I'd disagree with you on the JLA there, Jake.
I thought Justice League was some of his better stuff, and that Grant is a master of the ancient British art of "rummaging" first pioneered by Moore, ie taking old characters and breathing new life into them.
e.g. The "Crisis Times Five" storyline pulled in Johnny Thunder, Mr Mxyzptlk, WildCat and the JSA, Aquaman's Mxyzptlk knock-off enemy Qwsp, Triumph and the Detroit League and gave them all ten times more pizzazz and dignity than they'd had for years.

I dont think that adherence to continuity or a company editorial policy need always hamper you, in many cases it can provide a challenege and a structure to build on.

Pete Milligan... now, HE's the classic "doesnt work well in established continuity" writer.
He can write the most amazing stuff with his own creations, but tends to fall a wee bit flat when he has to tow the company line.

And Stumpy, I'd also happily spend $100 a month on comics like this :)

[Silver Shocker]

I liked Morrison's JLA as well. I read his World War 3 storyline last summer and really liked it. A couple of years back I read Preist's run on Justice League Task Force from way back when, so I was able to appreciate the throwback to that in Morrison's Triumph storyline.
I've actually really liked his Batman run. It's basically been the first time I've been able to enjoy Batman's own title, being a Johnny-come-lately into comics, I think the Loeb run was just starting up around the time I started buying comics, and everything turned to crap after that.

[tommyboy]

I've actually been quite happy to read the various Superman titles by Busiek, Johns and Morrison. This speaks well of them to me, because I generally avoid the Big Licensing Flagship Titles (Batman, Superman, Spider-man, Wolverine etc) because they are plagued by being tied down to a consistency beyond mere continuity. Theirs is a commercial consistency that means few, if any, meaningful changes can be made.
But really, an unchanging central protagonist is no bar to great storytelling, and never has been. Eisner's The Spirit springs to mind as a prime example, but there are many others.
Morrison's All Star Superman has been very much in the mold of a love-letter to comics in general, and Superman comics in particular. Being mentioned alongside Moore's 'Whatever happened to..' story is very apposite, as between them, they capture and continue the imaginative, fun spirit of the Superman books. No, they aren't 'realistic', or 'believable' or 'street-level'. But they have a sense of wonder, of awe, of the enjoyment of ideas at play that appeal to me very much. Every few issues Morrison and Quitely really hit it out of the proverbial park, (and the in-between issues are still generally head-and-shoulders above the majority of comics), and I think this issue is one of the best to date.
When it feels like he's trying and not just churning it out, Morrison still earns a seat at comic's top table.
Issues like All Star Superman#10 are why I still read the darn things.

[bredon7777]

Love Morrison, especially his JLA (The scene where Wonder Woman leads the population of Earth in to space with the captions "They said he'd saved them often enough. They said it was their turn.  They wouldn't take no for an answer" still moves me to tears nearly a decade after it was written).

Hate, Hate, HATE Quietly's artowrk. His people are lumpy! :(

[Silver Shocker]

Yeah, I don't like Quitely's work either for pretty much the same reason.

[Jakew]

I like Quitely's work ... insane detail, a real sense of movement and kineticism, and the guy knows how to stage action sequences. However, I agree that he has a distinctive Cupid-looking facial style.

[DrMike2000]

This week's mixed bag:

The Twelve #4
The gimmick of this series is simple - 12 characters who were actually published by Marvel/Timely back in the 40s are unearthed after being in suspended animation since 1945 to awake in our world, and culture shock ensues. This premise seemed kind of old hat, we've been re-interpreting old characters since Watchmen over 20 years ago, but I bought it anyway for the Chris Weston art, and was pleasantly surprised by the first two issues.
Since then, the series has kind of dragged along. What happened this month? Ummm... Laughing Mask is seen in action, the police take his guns down the station for ID-ing, The main character whose name I forget continues to fail to get together with the one female member of the Twelve...  We discover that The Witness is a Jew? Ok... and?
Weston is on fine form. Laughing Mask is a spectacularly ordinary and slightly ugly man of the kind you dont normally see in comics. But the story just feels like its failing to develop.

Metal Men #7
I really want to like this series. I love the Metal Men and Doc Magnus in their hokey pop-culture glory, and Writer/Artists Duncan Rouleau has a really individual touch that's made this series fun. Top that off with concepts and ideas from the Big G himself (Grant Morrison) and this should be an ultra-hard alloy of incredible colour, tightness and pizzazz.
It is, and yet it isnt. I couldn't honestly summarise what happens in this issue despite having read it a few days ago, and having my brain cells intact. I felt kind of tired when I picked it up, its visually dense, uses multiple tracks of dialog at once often and the overall effect is that its a bit too much hard work for what you get out of it. All the most successful sequences seem to be between Helen, Magnus and David, ie the human characters.
Im going to buy the last issue. Not because I want to know what happens next, in fact I dont know why at all. Probably an emotional barb placed in my head during Invisibles #23 or something...

Kick arse #2
Mark Millar and John Romita's self published tale of a wannabe superhero in the real world.
Once again, this sounds like its doing what Watchmen did 20 years ago - superheroes in the real world. Except the real world has changed, this is superheroes in the reality TV world. The artwork is lovely, I really like how Romita has turned out. Good simple storytelling, very visceral. This is both Millar and Romita doing what they do best, and setting out to achieve their aims.

Infinity Inc #8
Another spin off from 52 (like Metal Men), and written by the incomparable Pete Milligan.
If you want to read about emotionally troubled teenagers, look no further than this man, he is one of the under-rated greats out there!
I've persevered with this series, the first five issues had a totally unsuitable muddy art style on them, but the last three have seen a shift under two separate artists to a clean line style that really suits the book. The art is in fact beautiful in an understated non-flashy kind of way. Milligans often been lucky with artists in his career - he started off with McCarthy and Ewins, he got Allred for X-Statix, it was kind of painful to see him struggle with an unsuitable one here.
Nothing intensely new from the man here. A group of mutants Luthor experiment hero rejects helping others of their kind to come to terms with their powers? Check! (Sort of, X-Statix) A red haired young man who physically manifests in two places at once, and has his wilder side running around as a person? Check! (Remember Shade anyone?)
But it really feeels like its starting to gel together. Last issue hooked me with the opening page - a young man sits at a bank of TV screens with dialog like "Lots of anal retention in the Financial District" and "Im picking up some daddy-daughter issues in the West End". I wont tell you what was actually going on, suffice to say it was some classic characteristic Milligan madness.
If you dont mind your superheroes a bit wierd, clever or post-modern, go buy this book!

[Jakew]

I just picked up the Punisher MAX: Long Cold Dark TPB by Garth Ennis.

I'm not a huge fan of Howard Chaykin's art on the first half of this, but it's actually quite a creepy read towards the end. The violence is pretty disturbing, even for Punisher MAX.

I think Punisher MAX is probably my favourite Ennis work ever, even more so than Preacher.

[Midnite]

Ok, I read DC Universe #0

Batman mention Joker came back from the dead. When did this happen? Last thing I remember was Joker stuck on a planet with the rest of the super villians.

[Silver Shocker]

Huh, good point, I never even thought of that. He also recently was in JLA as part of an incarnation of the Injustice League.  Regardless, his death happened early on in Morrison's Batman run.

[bredon7777]

Uh, no, it really didn't.  The Joker got badly injured in Morrison's run, but didn't die.

[spoiler]
I thought the Joker died in Salvation Run, but I gave up on that ages ago
[/spoiler]

[bat1987]

Batman mention Joker came back from the dead. When did this happen? Last thing I remember was Joker stuck on a planet with the rest of the super villians.

He was shot in the face by impostor Batman during the Batman and son story arc. As a result he has a permanent smile on his face because of the surgery. But this is apparently ignored in Salvation Run, DC currently has a lot of continuity problems.

[GhostMachine]

Batman mention Joker came back from the dead. When did this happen? Last thing I remember was Joker stuck on a planet with the rest of the super villians.

He was shot in the face by impostor Batman during the Batman and son story arc. As a result he has a permanent smile on his face because of the surgery. But this is apparently ignored in Salvation Run, DC currently has a lot of continuity problems.

Actually, he was shot right before the Batman and Son story arc, if I remember right. I picked up the Batman series with the start of that particular story arc, and the Joker was either shot prior to that or in another comic, and I'm pretty sure that the Batman and Son arc only ran through the Batman title. Now, the Joker did pop up in an issue of Batman a bit after that arc....

[bat1987]

He was shot in Batman 655. I have that one in Batman and Son TPB.

After that he resurfaced in Batman 663, which was done as a prose issue where he was revealed to be having a permanent smile attached to his face.