All FLash #1, Black Canary #1 (yes, it's late for me), Annihilation Conquest Quasar #1, Mystic Arcana Black Knight #1, Super Villain Team Up MODOK's 11 #1, The Order #1, and Thunderbolts Desperate Measures #1. That's a lot's of #1's this week. Anyway...
SPOILER ALERT!!!
DC COMICS
Action Comics #852 (Countdown): 3 out of 5
Written by Kurt Busiek
Art by Brad Walker
Featuring Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, this story spins out of Countdown (and apparently Lois's hair is much shorter her for some reason). The Kryptonite Man appeals to be allowed to continue his research, under supervision, but when the judge denies his request, he goes postal. Superman takes him down with one punch with the aid of a lead glove before Jimmy can power-up. Also, a flashback tells the origin of his signal watch. Olsen then decides to help out with a liquor store robbery, sporting a makeshift mask and his Elastic Lad powers, but unfortunately the book ends before we can see him in action. Somewhat interesting, but like Countdown, is slow and Jimmy Olsen does little but observe events.
All Flash #1: 4 out of 5
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Karl Kerchl, Ian Churchill, Norm Rapmund, Manuel Garcia, Joe Bennet, Ruy Jose, and Daniel Acuna (that's a lot of artists).
Note to self: do not piss off the Flash. Following the events of Flash The Fastest Man Alive #13 and Justice League #10, Wally leans of Bart's death and takes off after Inertia. In spite of his future knowledge, Inertia is surprised by this turn of events (no doubt due to the Legions involvement in Wally's return). Anyway, Wally turns Inertia into a freaking statue at the Flash museum, a move that would have even Batman going "Dude, cheer up." The remaing rogues are taken out by Deadshot (Secret Six/Suicide Squad), Count Vertigo (Checkmate), Kid Boomerang (Outsiders), and some Puma-like guy I don't recognize leaving only Piper and Trickster still on the run. Isis gives a glimpse at what's to come, include Wally's superpowered kids and a Bat-suit in a flash ring. Tease.
Amazons Attack #4: 3 out of 5
Written by Will Pfeifer
Art by Pete Woods
Superman swoops in to rescue Wonder Woman in her confrontation with her mother. After Wonder Girl and Supergirl corner the president, amazons arive to kill the man. Realizing they've been played, the two defend the president until Superman arives and gives a "can't we all be friends" speach before the military arives to take down the amazons. Also, Batman learns that the attacks outside of DC are by a group called the Bana, and heads off to pages of Catwoman to recruit her as a double agent. And Circe is revealed to be very much alive.
Birds of Prey #108: 5 out of 5
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Nicola Scott
Gail's last issue of the Birds of Prey, she caps it off with a superb issue that makes you wish she wasn't leaving this book. The Secret Six limp off, with Catman getting a love note from Huntress. Harley decides to quit the team (and head off for the pages of Countdown). A mysterious voice, who may or may not be Amanda Waller, hacks their radio and reveals that they have footage of Deadshot murdering General Kerimov, which may or may not have to do with his recruitment into the Suicide Squad. Anyway, back to the Birds. Oracle challenges Spy Smasher to combat over leadership of her team, and after the former Batgirl hands Spy Smasher her buttocks, a four page spread of Barbara's friends back up her leadership claim. One wonders why Barbara didn't do this earlier if that was all that was needed to oust Spy Smasher. Then we get some girl time between Barbara, Helena, Dinah, and Zinda before Oracle and Lady Blackhawk headout to find Misfit. In the highlight of an excellent final issue for Gail Simone, Misfit's tragic origin story is revealed, and Orcale takes her in. As much as I'm looking forward to Sean McKeever coming on board, I still wish that this was the one title Gail Simone was keeping after her move to Wonder Woman. Tear tear, I promised myself...etc., etc.
Black Canary #1 and #2: 4 out of 5
Written by Tony Bedard
Art by Paulo Siqueira
Merlyn, obsessed with all things Green Arrow, makes a play on Sin to (re)recruit her into the League of Assassins. He tricks Dinah, through her ex-husband, to enroll Sin in a private school for trouble children to get her away from the protection of Black Canary. After Sin takes out a squad of League ninjas, Merlyn, disguised as Ollie, tricks her into his car and puts her to sleep with a trick arrow. This isn't going to make Dinah happy. Also, we are treated to the occasional flash back of the Ollie/Dinah relationship.
Catwoman #69: 4 out of 5
Written by Will Pfeifer
Art by David Lopez
Spinning out of Amazons Attack, Batman recuits Selena to infiltrate te Bana (whom makes me think of that guy from the tragically bad Hulk movie every time I hear their name). But first, we are treated to the most shocking panel in the history of DC comics that you'll have to see to believe.
Checkmate #16: 4 out of 5
Written by Greg Rucka
Art by Bennett and Prado
A Lost style flashback treats to an excellently written then-and-now tale of the romance between Mr. Terrific and Sasha Bordeaux. Fire reunites with Ice (who recently returned from the dead in the pages of Birds of Prey) in an instance of DC cohesiveness at its finest. And the new Black King's Bishop arives: August General in Iron, or whatever his name is. Oh, and Mirror Master, somewhere between killing the Bart Allen and getting taken out by Deadshot (or perhaps afterwards if he joined the Suidice Squad), gets a poparatzi (sp?) gig photographic Terrific/Bordeux in bed.
Countdown 41: 3 out of 5
Written by Paul Dini and Adam Beechen
Art by Dennis Calereo
Piper grabs a bag containing their gear, and with Trickster's "boots of levitation", they manage to slow their fall enough to make a water landing before setting off to the Penguin's Iceberg Lounge. Jimmy Olsen investigages the pitfalls of having a secret identity. Mary Marvel ponders. Donna Troy and Jason Todd (well, mostly Jason) christen the "good" Monitor with the moniker "Bob" before arriving in the Palmerverse to a not-so-friendly reception. Holly Robinson has to bail Harley Quinn out of trouble when she confronts protesters outside the Athenian Woman's Shelter. Karate Kid learns that his work in the past is not finished, and is joined by 1/3 of Triplicate girl. In other words, not a whole lot happens in this issue as Countdown continues to crawl. The backup contains a cliff-notes version of 52.
Justice League of America #11: 5 out of 5
Written by Brad Meltzer
Art by Gene Ha
After a rescue gone awry, Red Arrow and Vixen findthemselves trapped in a collapsed and sinking building. Vixen reveals that she has lost her animal powers and has been mouching off her fellow leaguers. That leaves things up to Red Arrow to save them with only his trick arrows. This issue his superbly written with only two characters in a claustrophobia (sp?) tale of survival.
MARVEL COMICS
Annihilation Conquest Quasar #1: 4 out of 5
Written by Christos N. Gage
Art by Mike Lilly
Or as I like to call it, SPACE LESBIANS OF THE 21ST CENTURY! Anyway, Phyla-Vell, perhaps the best thing to come out of Peter David's Captain Marvel (and that's saying something), starts her quest to find the savior of the Kree, with her lover, Moondragon. Unfortunately, they must first beat the latest Phalanx Select, the Super-Adaptoid, who has the combined powers of Hawkeye, Hercules, Quicksilver, Vision, and the original Captain Mar-Vell. We also get to see Phyla's introspective over her disfunctional family, and some nice scenes where she canoodles with Moondragon.
Avengers the Initiative #4 (World War Hulk): 4 out of 5
Written by Dan Slott
Art by Stefano Caselli
The deadly secret of why Iron Man's nanoprobes didn't depower the Hulk is revealed! I really hope they follow up on this. The Initiative heads to New York to help with the evacuation, but Triathalon soon looses control of the recruits (save for a subdued Komodo) when they rush to the front lines after seeing Iron Man boldly stand up to the Hulk. They arive just in time to see the Hulk and the Warbound standing victoriously over a combined Avengers team featuring such powerhouses like Ares, Luke Cage, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Doc Sampson, She-Hulk, and Wonder Man. That would take the wind out of anyone's sails. Also, the mystery that is MVP deepens.
Captain America #28 (Civil War Initiative): 5 out of 5
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Steve Epting and Mike Perkins
Sin leads the Serpent Squad on an attack on SHIELD to free her boytoy, Crossbones. There's just something about a red-haired, freckled vixin that looks so innocent but in truth is as evil as her namesake. Nick Fury, Falcon, and Sharon Carter continue to look for the Winter Soldier. And Tony Stark gets a mysterious letter from Cap to be delivered to him and only him in case of his death. I'm starting to think Ed Brubaker had the Shi-ar arc in Unncanny ghost-written.
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #22: 4 out of 5
Written by Peter David
Art by Todd Nauck
Robbie Roberson informs his wife and kid of his being let go from the Bugle, much to his wife's relief as she felt his job (read Jonah) was overly stressful to him. His son doesn't take the news so well, and blames Peter naturally. Betty Brant with a shotgun arives to turn the tide against Ero, and the all-new, all-deadly Spider-Man echoes the Flash in creepiness this week. After a wounded Ero makes a threatening speach to Betty, Peter tracks her down and lures her to the Bronx zoo, where she gets eaten piecemeal by a flock of birds before Peter personally steps on one of her spiders. Flash and Betty patch things up and Peter learns of Robbie's firing, and heads off to confront J. Jonah Jameson.
Mystic Arcana Black Knight: 3 out of 5
Written by Roy Thomas
Art by Tom Grummet and Scott Hanna
A step down from the Magik issue, this story features not Dane Whtman but rather Sir Percy, the Black Knight from the days of King Arthur. Percy has to make a deadly choice about whether to save Camelot by killing Mordred or the save the future by letting Mordred kill him. Percy chooses the later, of course, and then becomes the mysterious Gwynn, who has previously been a guide and mentor throughout his life. The backup story bu David Sexton featureing Morgan Le Fay outshines the feature story and examines Le Fay in all her tragic villain glory.
New X-Men #40: 3 out of 5
Written by Christopher Yost and Craig Kyle
Art by Skottie Young
Sando, Anole, and Pixie all go through shocking transformations, with Anole taking a page from Hellboy by growing an extra-large right arm. Illyana continues to walk the line bewteen hero (or rather anti-hero) and villain, which leaves you guessing which side she is on, and spreads more confusion over her return as she apparently was never deaged after Inferno, and was separated from her soul (which was the deaged Illyana?). And how does House of M fit in here? Belasco brings Laura back to life, only to kill her again for kicks. And Amada Sefton brings Hellion and Surge (and a Sentinel) to Limbo. In the Endangerd Species backup, Beast visits Kavita Roa, who turns over her mutant research, which includes former mutant samples that are no longer x-gene positive. This seems to surprise the Beast as he apparently didn't have any samples himself (I guess since most of the X-Men were unaffected by M-day).
Super Villain Team Up MODOKs 11 #1: 5 out of 5
Written by Fred Van Lente
Art by Francis Protela
MODOK recruits D-list villains Armadillo, Puma, Mentallo, Rocket Racer, the Chameleon, Deadly Nightshade, Living Laser, and the Spot (yes, the Spot) for a heist job. This is only nine, including MODOK, which leaves two surprise members yet to come. Mentallo detects that MODOK has a hidden agenda, and MODOK brings him into the loop (but unfortunately) not the reader. Also, we are treated to a retelling of MODOK's origin story, where he volunteered only to impress his "girlfriend." This series is a tongue-in-cheek romp, amusing but not laugh-out-loud hysterical, that is nonetheless not to be missed, and is...
The Order #1 (Civil War Initiative): 4 out of 5
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Barry Kitson
Featuring Anthem, who played Iron Man on TV and shares Tony Stark's alcoholism, stars in the start of this new series remaniscent of the first issue X-Force/X-Statix, where most of the team doesn't survive to the end. Only instead of getting killed, they are fired for getting drunk in public. That leaves only weather-wizard Anthem, speedster Calamity, and powerhouse Heavy (who is conspicously absent from the cover, so we probably shouldn't get too close to him) on the team, so four new members are recruited: Mulholland Black (street punk with a big hammer and a "pscyho-kinetic connection with LA"), Veda (self-absorbed animator), Becky Ryan (shapeshifter), and Supernaut (crippled mecha pilot). Other than Anthem, we don't learn much about the team, but there seems to be a lot of potential here.
Thunderbolts Desperate Measures: 3 out of 5
Written by Paul Jenkis
Art by Steve Lieber
Featuring Penace and Bullseye, the unlikely duo are sent to take down the unbalanced antihero Americop. Bullseye uses Penace as a weapon against him, and Penace stands up to Osborn by saving some of his power to wreck a irreplacable gizmo that personally cost him 17 million dollars. This only serves to impress the certifiable Osborn. Overall, a lackluster fill-in issue that leaves you missing Ellis (words I thought I'd never hear myself say).
World War Hulk #2: 5 out of 5
Written by Greg Pak
Art by John Romita Jr.
Hulk takes on the aforementioned combined Avengers team, including his cousin She-Hulk who attempts to reason with him, only to be bitched slap for not standing with him. The Hulk then makes short work of the Avengers before heading off to face the Fantastic Four. As Storm holds off the Warbound, Hulk takes out first the Human Torch and then the Thing. He then sees through Reed's ruse at pretending to be Hulk's friend, the Sentry, before breaking through Sue's force field before giving Reed a beatdown. Sue then attempts to enlist the real Sentry, who is watching from the sidelines. Rick Jones then reachs through to the Hulk, revealing to him the events of Civil War and the death of Captain America. Just when he breaks through the Hulk's anger, Dr. Stange attempts tow ork his magic against the Hulk, which only spurs him back to anger. Hulk then faces down Hercules, Angel, and Namorita, and General Ross arives to cleanup the mess since apparently he thinks he can suceed where Iron Man, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four have failed. This action-packed issue is thus...
World War Hulk Front Line #2: 3 out of 5
Written by Paul Jenkins
Art by Ramon Bachs
The feature story is mostly a retelling of events of World War Hulk #2 from the sidelines. The Daredevil scene, where a poor kid points out the heroes powerlesness prevents this issue from earner a lower rating, and is really the only part taht's worthwhile here. The first backup is a decent body cop story featuring the unlikely paiuring of Detective Danny Granville and Warbound Korg. The second backup is not even worth mentioning.
World War Hulk X-Men #2: 4 out of 5
Written by Chris Gage
Art by Andrea Divito
Inspite Xavier wanting to surrender, the Astonishing X-Men put themselves between him and the Hulk. They let loose with everthing they've got: Cyclops goes full blast, Wolverine goes for the Hulk's eyes, and Shadowcat phases the hulk into the ground. Even with the combined musscle of Emma Frost, Colossus, and the Beast, this isn't nearly enough to shop the Hulk, so the Stepford Cuckoos call in X-Factor, Uncanny X-Men, and New Excalibur for reinforcements (but surprising not the adjectiveless X-Men). New Excalibur, being on the "other-side-of-the-pond," have to sit this one out, but Juggernaut uses the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak to teleport there, in spite there never being an indication that it has this type of power. The Hulk makes short work of the Juggernaut, however, and his final words "Wuh--wait...this ain't right...I'm the J...." can only be finished with the infamous "Juggernaut bitch!" Pardon my French. Then in a surprising display of synchonicity, Uncanny X-Men and X-Factor then both arive on the scene. Chris Gage is a superb writer, who somehow manages to capture the essence of each character even when they only have a single line of dialog. This is a great, action-packed issue, but is not essential to the overall World War Hulk storyline.
Whew! That wraps things up this week.
Next Week: Annihilation Conquest Star Lord #1, Countdown 40, Mighty Avengers #4, X-Men #201, and more!
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