Comic Reviews for 6/1/06

THE BURTON AWARD (Best Of The Week).




INFINITE CRISIS SPECIAL: DAY OF VENGEANCE.

Writer - Bill Willingham.

Artist - Justiniano.


This will quickly become apparent but I am aaaaall aboard the Crisis bandwagon. Have picked up damn near everything to do with it. Of the four crisis mini's Day Of Vengeance was second only to Villains United as the pick of the bunch. Interesting characters (none of whom I had heard of prior to the series), genuine suspense and quality art abounded. The special continues in this vein but offers the one thing that the mini arguably lacked... a resolution. Not big on plot recaps so the gist is that the Spectre is still running around all vengeance-y and the now hostless Doctor Fate puts a plan in motion to deal with him. The plan involves the freshly-minted Shadowpact and just about magical character in the DCU - which leads to an awesome vertical splash page where Justiniano shows us every single one of them and Willingham helpfully tells those of us who are not Geoff Johns or Mark Waid who they all are. We can but hope that all of the Crisis specials are as good as this.

SEVEN SOLDIERS: FRANKENSTEIN #2.

Writer - Grant Morrison.

Artist - Doug Mahnke.

Speaking of bandwagons, I'm ridin'' shotgun on this one. Morrison is in perhaps the best form of his comic book writing career. In recent months he has hit us with WE3, Vinamarama and the sublime All Star Superman. And throughout it all he has been rattling off the Seven Soldiers mini's with an ease that, quite frankly, makes me want to puke buckets. While it remains to be seen how well they tie together, each title has been a compelling read in its own right and Frankenstein may well be the best of the lot. Part of the credit for this goes to the artist. Assuming both penciling and inking duties, as he did with the excellent The Man Who Laughs Batman one-shot, Mahnke excels - giving us a muscular and unique monster that references the classic Universal incarnation and adds some really cool modern touches. Plot-wise, the action has shifted from the suburban nightmare of last issue to the desolate plains of Mars where our (anti?) hero is hot on the trail of a villain that Seven Soldiers readers have seen before. Morrison tells much of the story here in Dante-esque narrative captions which, combined with Mahnke's gritty pencils, gives the issue an impressive sense of mood and foreboding. Plus, as the with the first issue, old Franky opens a righteous can of Shelly-shaped whoop-ass come the issues end that cancels out any threat of pretension with some top quality violence.

THE EXTERMINATORS

Writer - Simon Oliver

Artist - Tony Moore

Now this is interesting. An ongoing series about Rentokil rent-a-cops, from a first-time comic writer? That's a hard sell and no mistake. Luckily, The Exterminators, is more than good enough to outweigh the somewhat unappealing concept. First and foremost in its favour is the fantastic art from Tony Moore. While his replacements on Robert Kirkman's Walking Dead have done an admirable job there can be no doubt that the series lost something with Moore's departure. And the dead's loss is the Exterminator's gain. His detailed lines bring Oliver's off-kilter world to vivid life, contrasting the mundanity of the title character's normal existence with the grotesqueries that greet him when he clocks in. Meanwhile Oliver holds his end up with deft dialogue and some intriguing character work that suggests the workers of Bug-Bee-Gone are just as beastly as their insectiod opponents. Throw in a plot about some 'roided up roaches and I'm praying this sells enough so that we can find out where the hell it's going.

THE REST OF THE BEST

Supreme Power: Nighthawk #5. (Written by Daniel Way. Art by Steve Dillon).

Daniel Way is writing an awful lot of titles for Marvel right now. But while the jury (well, me) is still out on Wolverine until something actually happens and Punisher Vs Bullseye seems like Ennis-lite he is rocking the house with his balls out approach to Nighthawk. In this issue our cracker-hating hero goes toe-to-toe with the Supreme Power Joker analogue and it's bloody, brutal and brilliant. Throw in the sick/sublime pencils of the mighty Steve Dillon and what more could you ask for?

Y The Last Man #41. (Written by Brian K. Vaughn. Art by Goran Sudzuka).

The best Vertigo book on the stands continues to chug along. Y seems to be in that groove now that the really great books in this line always muster. This month we get an agent 355 origin tale, framed by our hardy band's encounter with some peckish cannibals. (Yorick: "Soylent Green! Soylent fucking Green!"). If your a fan then you'll enjoy the peek into 355's past. If your not picking this up.. WHY THE HELL NOT?!!

Marvel Zombies #2. (Written by Robert Kirkman. Art by Sean Phillips).

Speaking of cannibals... (How's that for a link?). If Robert Kirkman wants to be stereotyped as 'that zombie guy' he's going about it the right away. While the first issue was fun I did wonder how the premise of hungry, hungry heroes would sustain 5 issues. Now I have an answer. Marvel zombies Vs... Galactus! Eureka!! Bring It On!!!Special mention too for the excellent dessicated corpse tribute to famous covers of yesteryear.

The Punisher #29. (Written by Garth Ennis. Art by Leandro Fernandez).

Whether you prefer the comedy death Punisher (and who could forget death by Polar Bear?) or the Max, deadly serious Punisher, you now have to admit that Garth Ennis is THE great writer of the character. We are hurtling towards the conclusion of the Slavers arc and it seems these crazy Balkans have nearly pissed-off Frank as much as the pesky Mafia goombas that murdered his family. I predict... Pain! Plus, this issue contains possibly the most brutal dispatching of a villain I have ever seen. Kudos to you Mr Fernandez.

JSA #81. (Written by Geoff Johns. Art by Dale Eaglesham).

One of these days Geoff Johns is going to write a bad issue of a comic. This isn't it, but law of averages says he has to write one sometime. Now while Mr Johns has proved himself adept at this whole episodic superhero malarkey, it's his one-off issues (both on this title and on his genius Flash run) that really linger in the mind. This tales centres on the family life of the ever-perky Stargirl and once again he demonstrates his superhuman ability to accommodate and inform the newbie while rewarding the continuity geek. Even better, the Shade makes a brief appearance. Starman fans rejoice! Non-Starman fans face the corner.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #16. (Written by Robert Kirkman. Art by Paco Medina).

Warming up nicely thank you. While the initial issues of this series sputtered, the current League Of Losers arc is a much tastier proposition. Like Dan Slott on She-Hulk and The Thing, Kirkman is reminding readers that there are more than 5 characters in the Marvel Universe and benefiting muchly from it. The series is also reaping the rewards of a regular penciller of the caliber of Paco Medina.

NEW EXCALIBUR #3. (Written by Chris Claremont. Art by Michael Ryan)

The first arc of the New New New New Excalibur ends and for the first time in a while I can give something written by Chris Claremont a tentative thumbs-up. It's not great but compared to his recent work on Uncanny, the last Excalibur series and the jaw-slackening car crash that is X-Men:The End (more on that later)I'll settle for solid superheroics. Still not a 100% convinced by Ryan either but they've done enough to keep me aboard for the moment. One request please... No more S&M X-Men.

TEEN TITANS #31. (Written by Geoff Johns. Art by Tony Daniel).

Again we return to the ubiquitous Mr Johns. Not content with patching the continuity holes in Crisis and Green Lantern, he now provides an explanation for the return from the grave of so many DC heroes. And a decent one it is too. Not sure if Kid Eternity is a new character or not but he's cool as hell regardless. It's just a shame that the issue is dragged down by the Captain Carrot story crowbarred in for no reason whatsoever and, even worse, my most peeving of pet hates, the mid-issue fill-in artist. When Daniel's art is there it's fine but there's still a Mike McCone shaped hole in this title.

THE DOGS (As in ugly and miserable, not the bollocks, as in good).

OUTSIDERS #32. (Written by Jen Van Meter. Art by Matthew Clark & Dietrich Smith).

Now a mid-issue fill-in artist is annoying enough, but a mid-issue fill-in artist PLUS(!) a fill in writer, in the MIDDLE OF A STORYLINE. What in the name of holey moley is that? Oh, did I also mention that damn near nothing happens? I feel violated. And not in the good money on the mantelpiece when it's over kind of way. Furthermore, how long is it taking Donna Troy taking to get to the Rann-Thanagar war? The thing will be over by the time she gets there. I like these characters and I like this title but we all deserve better.

THE X-MEN 198 FILES. (Written by People. Art by Other People).

Stop laughing. STOP LAUGHING damn you! I know it's my own hopless x-geek fault for buying it but c'mon. Here's the Skinny. Thanks to the (crack-ish) Scarlet Witch there are now an arbitrary number of arbitrary mutants left. Being the mutant sycophant that I am I wanted to know who they are. Combine perfunctory, far from sufficient explanations of the mutants left, randomly reprinted art and god-awful in character chat and what do you get? £2.85 and 30 minutes of my life that I'm never getting back. Thank you Marvel. Excelsior!! (Sob!!!).

And there it is. There were other titles out but I didn't buy them. Should I have? This took way longer than I thought it would. I hope to Buggery (the god of Volkswagen) someone reads this.