Comic Mini-Reviews Week of June 6th, 2012

This week: Trey is incredibly late.

Action Comics #10 – Through fifteen years of reading Grant Morrison, there have been many times where I was uncertain where his auteur leanings were taking him. Action Comics, while good, is probably the most difficult off his Superhero works to pin down. I'm not sure if it's an issue with the art or writing but issue-to-issue the book has felt very disjointed. Action Comics #10 is a strong issue but, after last month's stellar issue, it feels out of place. The series may have been planned that way, but it might be because of Rags Morales' slow pencils. Regardless, it makes it hard to review individual issues. However, I have little doubt that Morrison will bring it all together in the end.

Animal Man #10 – The epic battle against the Rot continues as a disembodied Buddy Baker travels across the Red in search of the totems that can return him to life. Jeff Lemire shows why he is such an up-and-comer by perfectly utilizing a former goat that was the Red's avatar and flying dog warriors to perfect effect. Despite spending much of the New 52 neck-and-neck with Scott Snyder's Swamp Thing, Animal Man has slowly taken a solid lead creatively.

Defenders #7 – Matt Fraction's Defenders has been a bit of a mystery to me for the last few issues. Everything seemed tangentially related to the over-arching plot but they all felt like some sort of high quality filler. Perhaps this is a purposeful move on the creators part, but it mostly just felt frustrating to not be getting into the meat of the story. Issue seven seems to get the book back on track. The Defenders travel to Wakanda and Black Cat is tasked with stealing the device the team found waaaaay back in issue one. Overall, a nice issue, but the story is still not moving along with any real speed. The Dodsons' art was, as always, very strong.

Dial H #2 – After a very good debut issue, Dial H comes back down to earth...mostly. Issue two is a bit wonky, and things don't seem quite as well thought out as the first issue. Yet, there are still a ton of fun ideas being played with. For example, the first few pages are filled with images of insanely random heroes that the main character can turn into...like Pelican Army and Shamanticore. I hope China Mieville will find his footing and settle into a nice groove because this book has a TON of potential.

Earth 2 #2 – This issue is a bit of a mess, but that could be blamed on the issues' pacing. It's not the quickest book I've read recently but it moves pretty briskly. Aside from the already well publicized change in one character's sexual orientation, the issue features a pretty drastic character origin overhaul. Aside from feeling a little familiar in it's construction, the change is, at least, interesting. Nicola and Trevor Scott's art continues to be strong.

Swamp Thing #10 – Scott Snyder's Swamp Thing remains one of the best books in the of the New 52. It hasn't been perfect, but it moves quickly and plenty of interesting stuff happens. There's nothing profound going on in this series but it's a solid tale about a swamp monster and his princess of decay. Issue ten, illustrated by Francesco Francavilla, takes the series into it's next phase. The issue is essentially a transitional piece that ends with a cliffhanger, but it sets the stage for a monster (heh...heh) showdown.

Winter Soldier #6 - Formerly dead, formerly Captain America, currently thought to be dead, secret agent Bucky Barnes attempts to track down a rogue Russian sleeper agent in Ed Brubaker's espionage heavy Winter Soldier.  A good issue with good art by Michael Lark, the issue features the actions of the sleeper agent after his abrupt reactivation. Since its inception, Winter Soldier has not grabbed me as much as I had hoped it would, but it continues to be a good, but not great book.  It's worth your money, but it's not anything amazing.