This week Uncanny X-men is boring, Batman fights back, and Daredevil descends into the underground.
Batman #6 – After spending all of
last issue and most of this issue being kicked around by the Talon,
Bruce Wayne finally fights back. It is kind of funny to think back
to the first four issues of Batman and realize just how much the
series has developed. The very good but traditional start to Scott
Snyder's Bat-epic has given way to a psychedelic trip of Gotham size
proportions. Last months issue played with the readers perception of
reality as Batman stumbled through the Court of Owl's maze-of-death.
This issue keeps things a bit more straight forward. Perhaps thanks
to the drugged water, an anthropomorphic group of bird-men make an
appearance as a literal Court of Owls, judging Bruce's fate. In an
issue filled with great imagery, perhaps the best came late in the
book. As Batman and the Talon smash their way through the maze, the
enter a room with a tiny model of Gotham where the two combatants do
their best Godzilla/Mothra impression. As usual Snyder's Batman is
an ever thinking warrior. He not only figures out where in Gotham he
is being held from the way the water in the fountain tastes but
devises an escape using objects from the maze. Greg Capullo continues
to impress me with his pencils. If he continues such solid work over
a long period of time, he has a chance of becoming one of the
legendary Bat-artists.
Birds of Prey #6 – I feel like I say
this every month, but Birds of Prey is just plain solid. I would
willingly trade the bottom half of the New 52 for just two more books
as strong as BoP. Javier Pina fills in for Jesus Saiz on art and
does a great job capturing the books look. On a related note, I will
be interested to see how the book feels in a few months when Travel
Foreman picks up the artistic duties. For now, Birds remains one of
my favorite B-level books, easily the equal of a book like The Flash.
Daredevil #9 – After the Spider-man
crossover/Black Cat hookup from last month, Matt Murdoch investigates
the disappearance of his father's coffin. In doing so, Mark Waid,
Paolo Rivera and Daredevil descend into the underworld in search of
grave-robbers! Somewhat predictably, he encounters the Fantastic Four
villain Mole Man, which leads, also predictably, into an altercation.
Daredevil is still the best comic book coming out month-to-month and
I eagerly await each issue's arrival. Rivera's art fits the tone of
the book perfectly and Waid has that rare ability to capture the
essence of a character in just a few lines of dialogue.
Green Lantern Corps #6 – I kid you
not, in this issue Guy Gardener and the Green Lantern Commandos
defeat the Lantern keepers with more guns than a 1990s Rob Liefeld
comic and by blowing up two Sinestro Corps members. For the life of
me, I have no idea what to make of this comic. It is not devoid of
interesting ideas or characters. Over the last five or so years, Guy
Gardener has become a completely serviceable character to read about
monthly. Plus, the idea of a group of tough-as-nails, old salt Green
Lantern Commando type characters is a fun one. I just can't help but
think that there are very few stories where the need for “more
guns” is a good development. Maybe I am biased, but even the idea
of a group of Lanterns conjuring guns using their power rings seems a
little dated to me, so the idea of them using ACTUAL guns is really
strange to me. I am hoping the second storyline of GLC will level the
series out a bit.
Star Trek/Legion #5 – After four
issues of hovering around interesting, issue five finally dives right
in to intriguing. No seriously. The fifth issue finally takes an
enjoyable novelty mini-series and transforms it by introducing
parallel universe logic and an unexpected character. I am really
impressed. It is not a great series but, in the space of just one
issue, my interest level roughly tripled.
Uncanny X-men #7 – The Tabular Rasa
adventure rather predictably devolves into fisticuffs and traditional
super-heroics. I can't say that there is anything specifically wrong
with Uncanny X, but it's just not terribly interesting. It's a book
filled with ideas that have potential, but the characters aren't
compelling. The members of the X-men's so-called Extinction Team are
boring and wooden, though this might be an effect caused by Land's
boring, wooden art.
Winter Soldier #2 – One of the
brilliant things about the genre of super-heroics is that it is able
to encompass the elements of almost any other genre into its
structure. Winter Soldier is a perfect example of this. Ed Brubaker
and Butch Guice are crafting a spy thriller using the Marvel Universe
as their backdrop and doing a pretty effective job. So far, the
story isn't particularly groundbreaking, but Brubaker has a talent
for infusing his characters and stories with gravity. I still am not
a huge fan of Guice's art, the snow effect that was inserted on top
of most of the pages was pretty distracting.
Wonder Woman #6 – Wonder Woman and
her motley crew of gods, demi-gods and traveling companions trick
pull off the impossible—tricking not one, but three, gods. Brian
Azzarello's revamping of the Greek Pantheon continues to be
fascinating. The character design and personalities are so distinct
that, even though the gods may not always go by their classic names,
that there is no question as to who they are meant to be. Tony
Akins' second issue filling in but I am looking forward to Cliff
Chiang's return.
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