Comic Reviews
Getting this in before the Wednesday Comics rush.
Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #1-6 - Spider-Man and Wolverine get sent on an adventure jumping through time, spending most of the series not knowing what's going on. They show up in prehistoric times just before the asteroid killed the dinosaurs (Logan teaches the ape men to brew beer), slightly in the future post genocide (the ape men take over in the wake of destruction), use Cosmic Cubes and Pheonix Guns, end up in each other's pasts, and eventually find that the guys sending them through time are working for Mojo (of course). Decent action, high concept, funny. Pretty solid all around.
Ame-Comi: Power Girl #2-3 - In #2, Power Girl fights off the silver banshees and the big robot (we don't know who was behind it, strangely, but I'm assuming some version of Luthor), which is banished to the Phantom Zone ... for eight years after nearly destroying an entire city and endangering hundreds. #3 sees PG back at her farm where another ship from Krypton shows up carrying her cousin, Supergirl. They fight off some intergalactic police that wants them for illegal entry on the planet, only to be interrupted in the end by Brainiac.
The art is still sketchy, but completely inconsistent (with some coloring mistakes thrown in) and featuring ridiculous boobs. The story works okay, though with no real sense of an antagonist. It's also a shame that it doesn't connect to the other books (where are Steel and Flash?!) until the last page of the third issue.
Legends of the Dark Knight #10 - Not a lot of Batman in this one. We see a guy working with Batman holding Joker captive, though it turns out Joker is fucking with his mind and Batman is coming to the rescue. Pretty cerebral, focusing on Joker's ability to drive people mad. I liked the scratchy art. Decent short story all in all.
Punk Rock Jesus #2 - We get the doctor announcing that she's "pregnant" (I'm assuming she saved Chris' sister and is going to raise her as her own) and Chris' mom going a bit crazy from all the attention. The ex-IRA body guard takes her home, but they find he place empty before being mobbed by reporters. The issue explores more of the relationship between faith and entertainment, but I'm wonder how this ends up relating to the reincarnation of Jesus in a punk band (is that even where this is going?). I'm intrigued and the art is great, but I'm not sure where this is headed.
RASL #15 - So I reread the series before hitting this last issue. It's hard to admit, but I didn't care for it much. The art is generally great (there's a few funky layouts and faces here and there), but the story is really muddled. The jumps between dimensions are really confusing. They should start out this way, but once you start having characters worry about specific dimensions and refer to specific places/events, it'd be nice to keep everything straight. Throw in the (interesting but slightly fictionalized) look at Tesla cutting into the story from time to time and it's hard to follow along. Plus, I didn't really get a sense of danger for the multiverse until a couple of scenes near the end; show, don't tell would have gone a long way, here. Smith should have spent less time focusing on how RASL came up with the T-suits from Tesla's work and more on the problems at hand.
That said, the last issue does manage to wrap everything up nicely. It's extra long, so we get a nice, uninterupted action sequence and twist (Maya is alive and behind it all) that plays to some of the doubts and questions planted earlier. It works as a single issue, but I don't think the series worked great as a whole.
Wolverine 311 - This issue was kinda stupid. It starts with Wolverine fighting a bunch of Creeds, but while he talks about Creed being tough, he is able to escape them pretty easily. The Creeds swarm, but Wolverine crashes his jet, relying on his healing factor to save him (but doesn't Creed also have a healing factor?). He gets a tad overrun at the end, but a mysterious red head saves him. Turns out she's Romulus' sister and needs Wolverine to help kill her brother. They are tracking the real Creed, cause he's leading them to Romulus. Oh, and the reason Creed is still alive is that he never died: it was a convenient clone! The art is pretty awful, too. The character work is not too great, the backgrounds are non-backgrounds, and the coloring is overly shiny and Photoshopped. There's even a panel that's just digitally flipped from the one before. The lettering is pretty nice, at least.
Space Punisher 2 - This story is still ridiculous, but feels rushed in this issue. Just after Punisher gets the information that he needs, Sabretooth, Deadpool, and some dude with his brain in a jar show up to stop Punisher. They would have succeeded if not for the random appearance of Hulk, that Punisher escapes by just running away (Hulk is shown to be exceedingly deadly. Then, just as randomly, Punisher has captured and is torturing Doc Ock (turns out I've been misspelling his name...) and gets the info that he needs to find the rest of the bad guys, interestingly run by a group of Watchers. It feels like there is a chunk of story missing and the randomness of Hulk showing up put me off this issue.
Conan 7 - I think this was a very good Conan story. He and Belit have traveled to Cimmeria, seemingly to visit his homeland, but also because there is a Cimmerian out there pillaging villages in Conan's name. At Conan's village, both Conan and Belit have to deal with everyone treating Belit like nothing and the effects that has on their relationship. We end with both of them getting ready to go out and kick ass despite Belit being told to stay home like a good woman. I like what the story explores, I like the setup for the next issue, and I love that Cloonan is back on the artwork.
Before Watchmen: Ozymandias 2 - I still find it weird that Ozy is crazy pissed that his "true love" (again, someone he didn't seem to care about and actively ignored) is dead. Add in some weird "powers" (he can think at radical speeds ... kinda like Midnighter) that were never even hinted at before. The story is losing me. Jae Lee's art is pretty sweet, though, using inked geometric shapes and backgrounds and foregrounds.
Fantastic Four 609 - Kinda weird (and pointless) story showing what happened to the future Defenders and NuEarth (building a Galactus ship to shoot around a distant star to appear on Earth 1000 years in the future to ... not sure what exactly. Meh.
Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #1-6 - Spider-Man and Wolverine get sent on an adventure jumping through time, spending most of the series not knowing what's going on. They show up in prehistoric times just before the asteroid killed the dinosaurs (Logan teaches the ape men to brew beer), slightly in the future post genocide (the ape men take over in the wake of destruction), use Cosmic Cubes and Pheonix Guns, end up in each other's pasts, and eventually find that the guys sending them through time are working for Mojo (of course). Decent action, high concept, funny. Pretty solid all around.
Ame-Comi: Power Girl #2-3 - In #2, Power Girl fights off the silver banshees and the big robot (we don't know who was behind it, strangely, but I'm assuming some version of Luthor), which is banished to the Phantom Zone ... for eight years after nearly destroying an entire city and endangering hundreds. #3 sees PG back at her farm where another ship from Krypton shows up carrying her cousin, Supergirl. They fight off some intergalactic police that wants them for illegal entry on the planet, only to be interrupted in the end by Brainiac.
The art is still sketchy, but completely inconsistent (with some coloring mistakes thrown in) and featuring ridiculous boobs. The story works okay, though with no real sense of an antagonist. It's also a shame that it doesn't connect to the other books (where are Steel and Flash?!) until the last page of the third issue.
Legends of the Dark Knight #10 - Not a lot of Batman in this one. We see a guy working with Batman holding Joker captive, though it turns out Joker is fucking with his mind and Batman is coming to the rescue. Pretty cerebral, focusing on Joker's ability to drive people mad. I liked the scratchy art. Decent short story all in all.
Punk Rock Jesus #2 - We get the doctor announcing that she's "pregnant" (I'm assuming she saved Chris' sister and is going to raise her as her own) and Chris' mom going a bit crazy from all the attention. The ex-IRA body guard takes her home, but they find he place empty before being mobbed by reporters. The issue explores more of the relationship between faith and entertainment, but I'm wonder how this ends up relating to the reincarnation of Jesus in a punk band (is that even where this is going?). I'm intrigued and the art is great, but I'm not sure where this is headed.
RASL #15 - So I reread the series before hitting this last issue. It's hard to admit, but I didn't care for it much. The art is generally great (there's a few funky layouts and faces here and there), but the story is really muddled. The jumps between dimensions are really confusing. They should start out this way, but once you start having characters worry about specific dimensions and refer to specific places/events, it'd be nice to keep everything straight. Throw in the (interesting but slightly fictionalized) look at Tesla cutting into the story from time to time and it's hard to follow along. Plus, I didn't really get a sense of danger for the multiverse until a couple of scenes near the end; show, don't tell would have gone a long way, here. Smith should have spent less time focusing on how RASL came up with the T-suits from Tesla's work and more on the problems at hand.
That said, the last issue does manage to wrap everything up nicely. It's extra long, so we get a nice, uninterupted action sequence and twist (Maya is alive and behind it all) that plays to some of the doubts and questions planted earlier. It works as a single issue, but I don't think the series worked great as a whole.
Wolverine 311 - This issue was kinda stupid. It starts with Wolverine fighting a bunch of Creeds, but while he talks about Creed being tough, he is able to escape them pretty easily. The Creeds swarm, but Wolverine crashes his jet, relying on his healing factor to save him (but doesn't Creed also have a healing factor?). He gets a tad overrun at the end, but a mysterious red head saves him. Turns out she's Romulus' sister and needs Wolverine to help kill her brother. They are tracking the real Creed, cause he's leading them to Romulus. Oh, and the reason Creed is still alive is that he never died: it was a convenient clone! The art is pretty awful, too. The character work is not too great, the backgrounds are non-backgrounds, and the coloring is overly shiny and Photoshopped. There's even a panel that's just digitally flipped from the one before. The lettering is pretty nice, at least.
Space Punisher 2 - This story is still ridiculous, but feels rushed in this issue. Just after Punisher gets the information that he needs, Sabretooth, Deadpool, and some dude with his brain in a jar show up to stop Punisher. They would have succeeded if not for the random appearance of Hulk, that Punisher escapes by just running away (Hulk is shown to be exceedingly deadly. Then, just as randomly, Punisher has captured and is torturing Doc Ock (turns out I've been misspelling his name...) and gets the info that he needs to find the rest of the bad guys, interestingly run by a group of Watchers. It feels like there is a chunk of story missing and the randomness of Hulk showing up put me off this issue.
Conan 7 - I think this was a very good Conan story. He and Belit have traveled to Cimmeria, seemingly to visit his homeland, but also because there is a Cimmerian out there pillaging villages in Conan's name. At Conan's village, both Conan and Belit have to deal with everyone treating Belit like nothing and the effects that has on their relationship. We end with both of them getting ready to go out and kick ass despite Belit being told to stay home like a good woman. I like what the story explores, I like the setup for the next issue, and I love that Cloonan is back on the artwork.
Before Watchmen: Ozymandias 2 - I still find it weird that Ozy is crazy pissed that his "true love" (again, someone he didn't seem to care about and actively ignored) is dead. Add in some weird "powers" (he can think at radical speeds ... kinda like Midnighter) that were never even hinted at before. The story is losing me. Jae Lee's art is pretty sweet, though, using inked geometric shapes and backgrounds and foregrounds.
Fantastic Four 609 - Kinda weird (and pointless) story showing what happened to the future Defenders and NuEarth (building a Galactus ship to shoot around a distant star to appear on Earth 1000 years in the future to ... not sure what exactly. Meh.