How were they? ver. 2 SPOILERS

[Silver Shocker]

Fair enough. I thought what you meant specifically in the most recent years. But I also thought you may have been referring to the fact that certain books come out fast enough that "waiting for the trade" as they call it, isn't such a frustrating or time consuming task. But as I said earlier in the thread (you yourself responded to it) Marvel makes you wait forever and a day for CERTAIN books (well, not Marvel alone, but I'm more a Marvel reader than anything else).

I do agree with you about their variety of Essential lines, though none of those more obscure and eclectic choices interest me. But it always bothered me that there are no New Mutants Essentials, as I would have bought them and read them years ago along with Uncanny if they'd simply put them out. In addition, they've really been taking thier sweet time with Amazing Spider-Man and Uncanny X-Men, as well as Avengers, I have to wonder if they're doing that because all of those have 5 or more volumes out already. They're putting out X-Men vol. 8 this year, and it's been at least a year since I read Vol. 7 two summers ago  (I'm pretty sure I waited to get that one on sale during a holiday, so I didn't buy it immediately)

[zuludelta]

Fair enough. I thought what you meant specifically in the most recent years. But I also thought you may have been referring to the fact that certain books come out fast enough that "waiting for the trade" as they call it, isn't such a frustrating or time consuming task. But as I said earlier in the thread (you yourself responded to it) Marvel makes you wait forever and a day for CERTAIN books (well, not Marvel alone, but I'm more a Marvel reader than anything else).

I just wish there was a cut-and-dried policy about which current books get eventually collected into TPBs (from either company, although Marvel seems to be more consistent in their practices). I'm almost exclusively a TPB buyer and reader, but if there's a comic book out there that I like, I'd be willing to buy the single issues if it's certain that they'll never be collected in trade in a timely manner (like within a couple of years).   

I do agree with you about their variety of Essential lines, though none of those more obscure and eclectic choices interest me. But it always bothered me that there are no New Mutants Essentials, as I would have bought them and read them years ago along with Uncanny if they'd simply put them out.

I wish they'd make New Mutants Essentials as well. Never really liked the characters themselves, but I'm a huge fan of Bret Blevins' art, and the black-and-white format is actually something I'd prefer in this case.

[Sword]

Let's talk about this week, which seems to be a menu of awesome.
Black Adam 3 Despite everything that has happened, I'm finding Adam to still be a good character on a quest. But even if he does find Isis' amulet, I doubt that Faust is going to grant his wish.
Booster Gold 3 Any comic that involves time travel, the long distant Kent family, a drinking contest with Jonah Hex and an accidental collision with Barry and Bart Allen in hyperspace is gold in my book.
Captain Carrot and the Final Ark Understandably, I don't know much about the Zoo Crew, but this was a fantastic look at that world. Lots of great moments.
Fantastic Four 550 There must be some kind of pantheon of comic book gods that have inducted Dwayne Mcduffie into their ranks. It's a true to the spirit style story of saving the universe, that features Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Gravity and Uata the Watcher alongside the current cast of six. Downloading the essence of Eternity itself into Storm while Gravity performs surgery on the body to stave off rogue universal antibodies from destroying reality as we know it.
Green Arrow-Black Canary 1 Ha! It wasn't Ollie after all! Fortunately, that's the last we'll see of Everyman. Unfortunately, it had to tie back into Amazons Attack.
New Avengers 35 The good: A superunified B and C list villain group. The bad, symbiotes everywhere. The really good: Only one page is devoted to the symbiote attack. The really bad: Most likely, the next issue will be all about how the villains use the symbiote attack.
New Warriors 5 A lot is happening here, but I for one enjoy it. I like the Newer Warriors, and Sofia. Since this is six issues at least, the ultimatum on the final page probably won't stick.
Nova 7 Reading this book gives me the second biggest Oh Yeah! moment after Fantastic Four. Rider's the first one to have fought through the Transmode virus and flies through a neutron star to wormhole out of occupied kree space. And that little inner monologue of "Why aren't you screaming?" is awesome
Punisher War Journal 12 So let's recap for a moment. Frank Castle has come back to NYC in the middle of Hulk's War, dual-wielding chainsaws. He has a supergenius sidekick inventing new tech for him("It's a gun, Frank. A gun that shoots swords" and "Venomech synthiote smart armor") and he just gutted, dismembered and lobotomized Mung the Monster. This is so awesome.
Superman 668 Also a good story, and finally some closure on that hint about the third kryptonian.

[USAgent]

New Avengers 35:   I agree wit sword, it was great to only have one page worth of the Symbiotes attacking (I'm dreading and storyline involving the symbiots).  I loved to see all the obscure villains getting togeather to start up a new supervillain (program?) I kinda thought "masters of evil" but the Red Hood seems to have some good villany ideas.  I can't believe he took out Tigra so easily.  Hopefully we'll see these "B" villains get sum evil justice they always wanted in these next issues.
One thing I hate about this book is the art work, its horrendously bad.  The artist must not like drawing faces becase 99% of the faces are all shadowed out, the artwork is just all "scratchy" looking and every page is just so loaded with shadows everywhere its hard to look at it. 

[GhostMachine]

Captain Carrot and the Final Ark was pretty good, and I hope this somehow leads to more Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew minis, but I doubt it will. Highly recommend it.

Wonder Woman #13 deals with some of the aftermath of Amazon Attacks, but isn't anything special.

[Sword]

I just realized something else about the Nova book: Drax and Gamora were pulled through the wormhole with Nova. They are all now millions or billions of lightyears away from kree space and thus separated from the phalanx hive mind. How much longer will the connection last before these two shake off the transmode as well?

[the_ultimate_evil]

see i have to disagree, if you put the symbiote attack on the cover bloody show it. i dont mind creating a new group of villain its interesting though over done but come on. the whole single page thing was a load of crap. you want to do a story about the b and c list villains show them on the cover, its like picking up a spider-man book and most of the pages being shown to cable

also to ever designed this book go back to graphics school the layout was so bloody confusing i had to re-read a few pages just to see who was actually speaking

[thanoson]

I actually liked the Avengers this week. It's good to see the c-team get a few every once in awhile. I agree, the cover is a bit misleading, but, how many people were set against the overuse of symbiotes anyways? I remember the groans when it was announced. The expression on Jigsaw's face when ghe was filming that scene was awesome.

[Talavar]

I didn't like New Avengers this week but for a different reason: that it's got to be yet another female character who's the victim of a home invasion and assault in a vaguely-sexualized manner.

[Silver Shocker]

Let's talk about this week, which seems to be a menu of awesome.

It's sure a menu of variety. You buy more books at a time than I ever have at one time in my years of buying comics. That's not a bad thing, really. I only buy what I like enough to spend money on and want to read every month.

Booster Gold 3 Any comic that involves time travel, the long distant Kent family, a drinking contest with Jonah Hex and an accidental collision with Barry and Bart Allen in hyperspace is gold in my book.

I'm lovin' the "All-New" Booster Gold (as DC's website constantly calls it). The first issue impressed me. The newest issue REALLY impressed me. And that's saying something because I'm naturally geared to dislike any story set in a western corner of a pridominently non-western fictional universe. Gold and Skeets were at thier best, I really enjoyed the Smallville-inspired alternate Superman timeline snippit, and the art (which has been hit/miss for me) really shined here. I can't wait for the next two issues, with Barry and Wally, and a re-visiting of "The Killing Joke". How can that NOT be good? Johns, you've done it again!

Green Arrow-Black Canary 1 Ha! It wasn't Ollie after all! Fortunately, that's the last we'll see of Everyman. Unfortunately, it had to tie back into Amazons Attack.

Thank the maker. I loves me the Ollie. I figured that wouldn't stick.

New Warriors 5 A lot is happening here, but I for one enjoy it. I like the Newer Warriors, and Sofia. Since this is six issues at least, the ultimatum on the final page probably won't stick.

It's a good book. It's Madina's best work yet in my opinion, and I think the costume designs are sharp, though I don't know most of the characters (having not read the entireity of Morrison's New X-Men) my favourite member of the team is Phaser, who reminds me a great deal of my own Silver Shocker avatar.

Nova 7 Reading this book gives me the second biggest Oh Yeah! moment after Fantastic Four. Rider's the first one to have fought through the Transmode virus and flies through a neutron star to wormhole out of occupied kree space. And that little inner monologue of "Why aren't you screaming?" is awesome

I agree, the monologue was great. The art in the book has gotten really good, and I was really chompin' at the bit waiting to see how Richard Rider was gonna get out of this one.

Punisher War Journal 12 So let's recap for a moment. Frank Castle has come back to NYC in the middle of Hulk's War, dual-wielding chainsaws. He has a supergenius sidekick inventing new tech for him("It's a gun, Frank. A gun that shoots swords" and "Venomech synthiote smart armor") and he just gutted, dismembered and lobotomized Mung the Monster. This is so awesome.

I've heard mixed reviews about this issue, but what little of PWJ I've read gave me the impression it's awesome. I'd like to try it out sometime in the future.

[thanoson]

JLA 14- Wow, Supes gets owned. Awesome.

Marvel Zombies 2. 40 years later and the entire universe has been eaten. Only took them 40 years.

[tommyboy]

Despite my unease with the central premise, Death of the New Gods was very, very good. I trust Starlin to actually do this justice, and even if the story sucks, the art is stunning, both in its own right, and as a Kirby tribute in many many ways. I wouldn't say that I love the New Gods, but I'm fond of them, they've been in my life longer than lots of real people, and I'm not at all keen to see them go. But if they have to go, then let it be like this.
JLA 14 was good. I prefer Meltzers run, but this is Good Comics, and could be Great Comics. The gratuitous 2-page T+A heroes for hire style tentacle violation tribute spread of Diana, Vixen and Canary I could have lived without. It was blatant, offensive and a waste of 2 pages, in my opinion. Other than that, I liked the issue.
Marvel Zombies was OK. I'm really getting the law of diminishing returns kicking in more and more, despite some genuinely interesting twists. I suppose I just see the series in the same way I see The Sentry, as a mildly amusing, well executed, one-joke, one-idea miniseries that can only get worse the more its mercilessly stretched thin by a "Bullpen" who seem really short of ideas.
Cap 31 was good, but I am starting to wish things would move along a bit now. Six issues on from Caps death and it feels to me like we are drifting. I know Brubaker has a plot, and a story, and its probably carefully paced. But I need a big reveal. A big pointer to where its all going.   

 

[thanoson]

Yeah, I can only imagine what's going through Dr. Light's mind as the 3 of them are helpless.

[Silver Shocker]

Indeed. I'm really enjoying McDuffie's JLA.  My only really big qualms are the pace and the difficulty McD's clearly having juggling all the differant characters. As shown in pt 1, the Injustice Gang has dozens of members, but in the newest chapters only about 4 or 5 are ever shown at a time. The pace of this issue was a bit dissapointing, the issue was maybe 10, 15 minutes long. And the splash page was unfortunate (the Hall of Doom splash was cool, but you gotta figure there'd be more story if they didn't do TWO DOUBLE EDGE SPLASHES WITH NO WORDS!) Regardless, I really enjoyed the issue. It was for the most part, a Supes/Black Lightning team up, and thanks to some nice character moments between the two, I now officially don't mind Black Lightning. McDuffie writes a great Luthor (no suprise there, Luthor was at his best in JLU) and Benes, IMO, draws a truly awesome Luthor and Supes. His Joker sucked bigtime though. And I agree, Supes totally went down like a sucka. But it wouldn't be very exciting if it was easy, would it?  And if Supes and Black Lightning could take down the whole team, who needs the JLA? I'm just wondering how they're going to finish this story line in a single issue, especially when we still don't have any real clue what Luthor's plan is. The way this issue was paced, you'd think you'd need about 3 or four more parts. At least.

[Midnite]

After reading Booster Gold #1

Beware the Red Lanterns???

Now DC is bring in Red Lanterns??!?! Are they going for all the colours?  :huh:
You guys think four is enough? Green, Yellow, Pink, and Red?
I just hope they don't go for one more colour, your thoughts people?

[thanoson]

Blue and black?

[detourne_me]

Justice Society of America #3
five stars!
Finally a perfect characterization for a parallel earth Superman 

[thanoson]

Annihilation Conquest- I like the idea of the Phalanx. However, is this the same Phalanx that the X-men fought years ago? And, the big bad guy at the end is...... Wow, that was unexpected. Not going to ruin it as I don't use the spoiler tags well, but it's someone already involved in another story arc.

And why didn't anyone tell me Rocket Raccoon was back? Along with a micronaught AND Captain Universe? Would have been cool if the bad guy was Baron Karza.

[Zippo]

Astonishing X-men 23:
[spoiler]Wow, I'm not sure I've ever enjoyed an X-book as much as I have this current arc (granted, I don't read all that much of them). I've never liked Cyclops, but I love him in astonishing. The gun incident earlier on, his plan that's come together this issue, it's all just downright badassery that ~I~ think is everything his character should be. Cyke is FINALLY interesting to me. In any other book, if he'd been horribly killed I wouldn't have even blinked twice, but last issue when he was adrift in space I found myself genuinely worried.[/spoiler]

Overall: This book rocks my socks.

[Sword]

All new Atom 14
This is simultaneously cool and disturbing. Ryan Choi was( emphasis on was) dating Giganta and trying to make her go straight. Who the two new villains are is a mystery to me and the reason the issue is disturbing along with Ryan's comment to WOnder WOman about knowing Giganta. But it's a Gail Simone book, so it continues to be awesome.
Annihilation: Starlord 4
The Power of Bill Mantlo compels you! Compels you to read this book, which is seven hundred shades of awesome. The team continues to rock and the fact the even possessed Kree recognize Starlord and shoot to stun works wonders. Of course putting Bug and Rocket Raccoon together is a recipe for greatness.
Annihilation: Conquest 1
Holy... Warlock's working for him? Ultron is the source and controller of the phalanx? Wraith,Superskrull and Ronin working together? And that cover image of Quasar, Moondragon, Wraith, Starlord, and all the others Is fantastic. As I've said before, anything tied to Annihilation is pure awesome and this continuation of the series is no excpetion.
Fantastic Four 551
Fact: If the rulers of Atlantis, Wakanda and Latveria from thirty years in the future come back in time to warn me off, I'd sure as seven hells listen to them.
Great Issue, Bizarre Twist.
Messiah CompleX
It's an interesting story, but I hope it picks up soon.

[the_ultimate_evil]

anyone else disappointed with the whole red rain issue. its my fav elseworld and i know it was only a one off but it just seemed lacking

[thanoson]

Anybody checking out that DC Villains project? Something about all the villains they could find being put on a planet. Sounds pretty cool.

[GhostMachine]

Captain America 32 - first of all, Iron Man is featured predominantly on the cover for no good reason; he is in the comic as Tony Stark, but not as IM. Black Widow and Falcon mount an assault to rescue the captured Sharon Carter (who is brainwashed and working with Dr. Faust) and Winter Soldier (who Faustus unsuccessfully tried to brainwash last issue)

Captain Carrot and the Final Ark 2 - really disappointed that this is only a 3-issue mini. The original Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew series was one of my favorite comics, and I'd love to see more done with them in the future. This mini is supposed to wrap things up, but I hope it sells well enough to justify more minis down the road. (I can't see it coming back as a regular series in this day and age) The heroes battle Frogzilla and its finally revealed what the deal was with Alley-Kat-Abra murdering Little Cheese and framing CC for it.

Wonder Woman 14 - all you need to know is that Gail Simone is now writing it and things kick off with part 1 of a four parter involving a secret Hippolyta has been keeping from Diana, Grodd (who isn't actually in the comic) sending a group of elite Gorilla Commandos after Wonder Woman, and the Society trying to take control of the now pretty much empty Themyscira. If you haven't been reading Wonder Woman, I advise you to pick this up ASAP!

[zuludelta]

Jungle Girl #s 0-3

Published by: Dynamite Entertainment
Plot and Cover by: Frank Cho
Script by: Doug Murray
Interior Art by: Adriano Batista

Obviously inspired by the Golden Age "jungle girl" serials and pulp stories, Frank Cho's Jana the Jungle Girl is a light-hearted, fun read. Anyone who's suffering from "event burnout" from the Big Two or anybody's who's tired of choosing between "adolescent power fantasy superheroics" or "dour, self-obsessed, semi-autobiographical indie comics" week in and week out would do well to pick up this comic (although Jungle Girl sports her own "big two" as well... thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week, try the veal!). The story isn't meant to be anything deep... if you find your enjoyment of the book to be lessened because of questions like "Why does Jungle Girl speak English if she's been living in a prehistoric jungle all this time?" or "Why does she have a perfectly fitted leather-and-fur bikini?", I suggest you slowly put the book down and un-knot your tie, grab a beer or three, listen to some AC/DC, and loosen up a little.

Although fan favourite writer Doug (The 'Nam) Murray is handling the scripting chores (and he does a good job of helping usher the flimsy plot along), the real star of the book is artist Adriano Batista. He obviously takes after Frank Cho (who supplies the book's "plots" and covers), and does a great job of highlighting and exaggerating the female form without making it look grotesquely disproportioned (I'm looking at you Mike Turner!). His Jungle Girl, while equipped with the standard T&A endowments, is also a well-muscled creation that suggests more than just typical cheescake art. There are more than a couple of storytelling hiccups in his panel-to-panel work, but nothing that breaks any individual issue.         

Anyway, not an essential read by any means, but if you've got some spare comics-spending money and feel like reading a comic book with solid art and a fun, if disposable, story that won't require a degree in comic-ology to appreciate, give it a try.

My Rating: 3 out of 5

[zuludelta]

Marvel Legacy: The 1960s-1990s Handbook

Published by: Marvel Comics
Written by: Various writers, head writer Jeff Christiansen
Interior Art by: Various artists, including Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber, Don Heck, and others

Marvel Legacy: The 1960s-1990s Handbook collects notable entries from the various Marvel Handbooks released over the years into a compact trade paperback. Given how little space there is to cover such a wide breadth of time in Marvel's publishing history, glaring omissions are inevitable. In many cases, obscure, goofy, one-off characters are given precedence over more popular characters who are covered better and with more depth elsewhere. What this Handbook attempts to do is give the reader a sampling of the "creative flavour" predominant in each decade of Marvel's existence as the preeminent superhero comic book publisher. To give you an idea of what you'll find in the TPB, here's a random listing of the character profiles, by decade:

1960s - Fantastic Four, Painter of 1000 Perils, Silver Surfer, Patsy Walker, Infant Terrible
1970s - Black Brother (ha ha ha), Hellcow, Wolverine, Manphibian, Hypno-Hustler, Mahkizmo
1980s - Hercules of the 24th Century, Crystar, Dakota North, Nightmask, Captain Hero
1990s - BlackWulf, Century, Ghost Rider 2099, Exodus, Lynn Michaels, Slapstick, Stunner, X-Treme

While a number of the profiles are written in a serious vein, many others (especially those for the more obscure characters) are written with tongue firmly in-cheek with pretty funny results. The classic art used for some of the older characters is a big plus (it's amazing how much Kirby influenced the Marvel "house style" back then). This book isn't for everybody, but it's reasonably-priced piece of nostalgia for the old-school Marvel fan and it's great for anybody interested in tracing the history of character design throughout the years.   

My Rating: 4 out of 5


G.I.Joe: The Data Desk Handbook (A-M)

Published by: Devil's Due Publishing
Written by: Sam Wells, Mike O'Sullivan
Interior Pencils by: Robert Atkins, Mike Bear, Nelson Blake II, Jeremy Freeman, Mike Getty, Jeremy Haun, Tim Seeley

This is the first part of a two-part handbook mini-series on the current G.I.Joe comics being published by Devil's Due. Styled after the original G.I.Joe: Order of Battle published by Marvel two decades ago, this good-sized comic book gives relatively comprehensive one-page profiles of classic toy-based characters such as Duke, Cobra Commander, Clutch, Destro, and Beach Head along with more recent additions to Joe lore such as Barrel Roll, Mistress Armada, and Kamakura.

The write-ups do an adequate job of summarizing each character's history, but come off as fairly dry and uninteresting to anyone who hasn't actually read any of the recent DDP G.I.Joe comics. Granted, they're supposed to read like military profiles, but I really couldn't get a sense of each character's personality. There are also a good number of grammatical and spelling errors in the text (including one of my biggest pet peeves, the mis-use of it's in place of its), but something like that is bound to happen when one of the writers (Mike O'Sullivan) is also the book's editor.

The book fares a bit better on the art side of things, although I have to admit that the fairly uniform style employed by the artists isn't really my cup of tea when it comes to a military-themed book like G.I.Joe (I grew up reading G.I.Joe as illustrated by Ron Wagner, who tended to draw in a more classic style reminiscent of guys like Gene Colan and Val Mayerik).

I don't know if I would recommend this book to anybody unless they're already fans of Devil's Due Publishing's take on G.I.Joe. Maybe my opinion of the mini will change once the second volume covering the N-Z characters (I'm interested to see how they'll handle the circuitous histories of Larry Hama's favourite ninjas, Snake-Eyes and Storm-Shadow) comes out, but I'm not really counting on it.

My Rating: 2 out of 5


Omega Flight: Alpha To Omega TPB

Published by: Marvel Comics
Written by: Mike Avon Oeming
Interior Art by: Scott Kolins

*note: collects issues 1-5 of the Omega Flight mini-series

Any premature celebrating by Alpha Flight fans after the announcement that fan-favourite scribe Mike Oeming was working on an Omega Flight book was probably cut short when it was later announced that Omega Flight would not be an on-going series, but a five-issue mini due to concerns that the book would not sell through. Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The series starts off some time after the unceremonious death of the original Alpha Flight team at the hands of The Collective (inhabiting the body of a certain Michael Pointer) in the pages of New Avengers, with sole survivor Walter Langkowski, a.k.a. Sasquatch, being tasked by the Canadian government to form a new superhero team to defend Canada from American supervillains crossing the border to escape Tony Stark's Registration Act. An interesting premise, to be sure, but what follows is a largely by-the-numbers affair. In short order, Langkowski is joined by former Alpha Flight member Talisman, horse-faced alien Thor analogue Beta-Ray Bill, American liaisons Arachne (the former Spider-Woman Julia Carpenter), USAgent (who surprisingly became my favourite character in the mini as I kept reading), and, of all people, a repentant Michael Pointer (now wearing the Guardian suit worn by the original leader of Alpha Flight). Maybe it's just me, but I find it odd that a federally-funded Canadian superhero team would have more Americans in it than Canadians.

I feel really ambivalent about Kolin's art in this book, partially because I've seen what great work he can do when he's paired with a competent inker or if he's inking himself. Here, however, he tries a new technique and dispenses with inks altogether and the art is shot straight from the pencils. The result is a muddy mess that is almost unreadable at certain points (although the colourist is probably to blame as much as Kolins). His tendency to resort to two-page splash spreads further adds to the confusion. I do like his subtle re-designs of the Wrecking Crew (the book's main baddies for most of the series), but other than that, I have to say that this is the weakest I've seen his art since his early days at Malibu Comics, although an off-form Scott Kolins is still an above average artist in many respects. 

My Rating: 2.75 out of 5

[bat1987]

Detective comics 840

Awesome issue, it`s the epilogue of the rather disappointing Ressurection of Ras story.

This one is a must read, it`s Paul Dini at his best! This is how Batman should be written.
There`s also an interesting silver age-ish villain called The Globe, but the real highlight is Batman`s dialogue with Ras during their battle and the ending. I couldn`t recommend this more!

[thanoson]

Onslaught Reborn # Whatever. Thank god that is over. Nothing to say here that hasn't been said before. The hero of the book? Not gonna spoil it but it's super lame. Probably someone with goggles.

Wolverine- Not sure who is drawing the new book, but he is awful. Almost Liefeld awful. Chausnic I think. He's doing Blade too. Seriously, There where times I thought Liefeld was using an alias.

Avengers Secret Invasion. Looks good on paper. Some people think skrulls exist on various teams. Gonna say this now, Jarvis is a Skrull. He has access to most things Avengers and can keep tabs on all of them. He's also least likely to be suspected. Not sure I like how they portray the inner dialog of Ares. He seems very creepy. Like borderline sociapath/rapist/serial killer. Not digging that at all. Also, others I think may be skrulls. Black Widow. Eh, why not?

Messiah Complex 11. Hoowee! Wolverine knows something about Bishop. Like something isn't kosher. In 10, they kept making it a point that Logan was in the scene when Bishop was telling his lies. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Logan can smell if you're lying. Lucas is going to have some splainin to do. And, ouch to a former member of the x-men. That shot at the end is going to leave a mark.

[zuludelta]

oggles.
Wolverine- Not sure who is drawing the new book, but he is awful. Almost Liefeld awful. Chausnic I think. He's doing Blade too. Seriously, There where times I thought Liefeld was using an alias.

The artist in question is Howard Chaykin. The guy's practically a legend in comics illustration and comics writing (mostly non-superhero material), here are some samples of his older work:

 

Along with Frank Miller, P. Craig Russell, Alan Moore, The Brothers Hernandez, and others, Chaykin spearheaded the late 1970s/early 1980s movement towards mainstream American comics that dealt with more mature themes (and consonant with that approach, Chaykin pretty much steered clear of superheroes for the most part and worked mostly on sci-fi and crime comics). I will admit, though, that his latest work on Wolverine, Blade, and Hawkwoman are the worst of his illustrious career... I don't know if he's trying to prove a point with the style he's been using with the superhero books, but it's a shame that younger comic book readers come away from it thinking that he's a hack.

[zuludelta]

Midnighter: Killing Machine TPB (collects issues #1-6 of the Midnighter series)

Published by: Wildstorm Productions (a DC Comics imprint)
Written by: Garth Ennis
Penciled by: Chris Sprouse (issues #1-3, 5); Joe Phillips (pencil assist in issue #3); Peter Snejbjerg (issue #4); and Glenn Fabry (pencils in the stand-alone story "Flowers For The Sun")

I was avoiding Ennis' Midnighter run primarily because I wasn't that much of a fan of his The Authority work (the Kev minis), and also because I wasn't sure if he could shift gears on this title and do anything distinct from his work on The Boys and the The Punisher, both of which have elements common to Midnighter's premise (the darkly humourous look at superheroing, over-the-top sex and violence). Another reason I was a little unsure of how the work would turn out is tied in with how any writer might potentially handle the protagonist himself. As most of you already know, Midnighter is an openly homosexual superhero, Wildstorm's gay Batman (or Wolverine, if you like your analogues in Marvel terms), as it were. From my (albeit limited) experience, most writers have a hard time writing stories featuring homosexual characters without falling into the trap of turning it into a soapbox for their own views on issues of sexual orientation and its associated politics (like a lot of Judd Winnick's superhero work) or alternatively, turning it into a parade of over-the-top but ultimately shallow homosexual stereotypes (2003's Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather, some of Frank Miller's work, parts of Mark Millar's run on The Authority, among others).   

It turns out my apprehension was mostly unfounded.

The basic premise of the 6-issue story is that Midnighter, the world's greatest fighter and ultimate killing machine, is coerced into traveling back in time to kill Hitler and prevent the Holocaust. Of course, not everything is as it seems, and Midnighter finds himself beset by problems (both physical and philosophical) from all sides soon enough. The premise allows Ennis to ply a more science-fiction lined route and he neatly avoids repeating his superhero antics on The Boys or the noir of The Punisher. As to my second concern, Ennis does a good job of bringing up the aspect of Midnighter's homosexuality, but he does so in a way that makes it an incidental feature of the protagonist (the way heterosexuality is an incidental feature of most other superheroes), and it doesn't at all hijack the dialogue or the plot in any way.

Of course, this wouldn't be a Garth Ennis book if it didn't have the potential to offend somebody out there and get them to calling their congressman and complaining about it. The ridiculously over-the-top violence is a trademark of Ennis' by now but it's probably his oddly humanizing take on Hitler and the National Socialists that is sure to raise some hackles (and then some). Now don't get me wrong... Hitler and the Nazis are still very much the villains in this story, but Ennis doesn't depend on the usual tactic of portraying them as monsters made of pure, unadulterated evil. Instead, he depicts a number of the Nazis as individuals caught up in a larger conflict not really under their control and pretty much beyond their understanding (such as the pre-teen Hitler Youth squad Midnighter encounters in issue #4). Ennis doesn't absolve the Nazis of any of their crimes against humanity, of course, but he does suggest that the solution to preventing something like the Holocaust is much more complicated than just killing one man (Hitler) or stopping a group of individuals (the Nazis).

As for the art, Chris Sprouse's work is eminently readable and easy-to-follow, if slightly underwhelming. The action is clear, and he has a talent for portraying facial expressions and conveying emotion. Solid work overall, although Snejbjerg's fill-in issue (#4) looks more dynamic in comparison.

There's also a bonus story entitled "Flowers For The Sun," an Elseworlds-styled story featuring Midnighter and Apollo in feudal Japan. It's a decent short that would fit in well in Métal Hurlant or the old EC comics. Good stuff, with sequential art by Glenn Fabry (of Preacher cover and 2000AD fame). 

A solid read overall, worth at least a borrow from the library.

My Rating: 4 out of 5

[thanoson]

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.