One-paragraph reviews

Amazing Spider-Man #658
Written by Dan Slott; art by Javier Pulido; Marvel.

This issue’s mostly about Spidey joining the Fantastic Four, who are now called the Future Foundation and have stylish new black-and-white uniforms. I’m really enjoying Dan Slott’s writing on this series. He finds the perfect balance between Spider-Man’s adventures and Peter Parker’s personal life. He also keeps the tone light and fun. I don’t even mind that they keep changing artist after a few issues, because that seems inevitable on a book that comes out twice a month. I’d much rather have rotating but strong art teams than rushed fill-ins from mediocre hacks brought in at the last minute to meet deadlines. I could do without the back-up stories, but whatever.

GOOD

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Batgirl #20
Written by Bryan Q. Miller; art by Ramon Bachs; DC.

This two-part mini-arc within the larger “Lesson” arc wasn’t that interesting to me, but this remains a solid title. Miller’s scripts are always punchy and often laugh-out-loud funny. The solicits for the last issue, this one and the next all list Dustin Nguyen as the penciller, but he wasn’t on the last two issues and I’m assuming won’t be on the next. Ramon Bachs is all right, but because he’s filling in for Nguyen, it’s hard not to feel disappointed. Creative teams listed in DC’s solicits seem to be completely unreliable these days. Really makes you wonder what the hell the editors are up to that they can’t get any commitment from their artists or writers.

OKAY

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Birds of Prey #11
Written by Gail Simone; art by Pere Perez; DC.

Speaking of inconsistent art, Birds of Prey is the ultimate example of how to fuck this up completely. If DC had tried to sabotage this book and ensure that it fails, they couldn’t have done a better job. In this issue, we get a long overdue break from the terrible art that has plagued the title for the past few months, and it’s like a breath of fresh air. It’s just astonishing how much better Gail Simone’s scripts flow when they are serviced by a competent artist, which Pere Perez definitely is. (And, by the way, he seems to be moving to Batgirl in a few issues. But then again, why even bother checking the solicits?) This is a done-in-one story focusing on Huntress and guest starring Catman (from Secret Six).

GOOD

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Hellboy: Buster Oakley Gets His Wish (one-shot)
Written by Mike Mignola; art by Kevin Nowlan; Dark Horse.

There’s no colourist mentioned in the credits, so I’m guessing that means Nowlan is doing his own colours, and that, more than the art style itself, is what gives this book a different feel from most of the other Hellboy stories I’ve read, which usually featured Dave Stewart’s colours. Stewart is amazing, but this is nice, too. More vibrant, and very appropriate for the semi-sci-fi feel of this one-shot. I kind of wish I hadn’t read the solicits for this story (and if you haven’t, maybe you should skip the rest of this paragraph to avoid spoilers), because it starts out misleadingly as a Satanist thing but turns into an alien abduction thing, which is a nice twist.

GOOD

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Superboy #6
Written by Jeff Lemire; art by Marco Rudy; DC.

This fucking sucks. It should be a rule that new series have to reach issue #12 (one full year) before they get involved in any editorially mandated crossover. Aside from the nice art by guest artist Marco Rudy, this issue has absolutely zero redeeming value. If you’re following the story that Jeff Lemire is carefully crafting since issue #1, this is nothing but an interruption. If you’re following the “Reign of Doomsday” crossover, then all you’re getting here is the exact same thing you already saw in the Steel one-shot that launched this idiotic mini-event, except this time it’s Superboy getting beat up and noticing that Doomsday seems to have new powers. This is the very definition of pointless.

SKIP

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The Flash #10
Written by Geoff Johns; art by Francis Manapul; DC.

And here’s another book by DC that couldn’t go a year before getting disrupted by a crossover event. In this case, at least, it’s clear that it was planned this way from the start. But I can’t help but feel that this book went in exactly the opposite direction that I was hoping it would go. Wouldn’t it have been nice to get a good two years of straightforward Flash adventures set in Keystone City, with beautiful art by Francis Manapul, focussing on establishing characters, balancing Barry Allen’s private and professional life with his super-hero stories (similar to what we’re getting in Amazing Spider-Man) and featuring occasional guest appearance by the other speedsters in the DCU? The police procedural feel that was established in the first arc seemed ripe with potential for storytelling. This could have been something unique. But instead, it quickly turned into an extended prologue for the next big event, Flashpoint, until this current story arc, which is basically all set-up and no story. And I intend to read some of Flashpoint, so this is interesting and I’m still onboard. But a year ago when I bought the first issue, I was really hoping for a different kind of book. A kind of book that, perhaps, is no longer even possible, because of the way DC (and Marvel) market their books.

OKAY

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Journey into Mystery #622
Written by Kieron Gillen; art by Dougie Braithwaite; Marvel.

I was kind of annoyed with Matt Fraction’s decompressed arc on Thor. The art was amazing, but the story turned out to be pretty empty and basically just killing time before Fear Itself. So when the series changed its title to Journey into Mystery and Kieron Gillen took over, I was ready to drop it. However, I think young Loki is cute, so when I realized he’d be starring in this book, I decided to give it a shot. Turns out it’s much better than I expected it to be. Loki’s conversation with his older, former self at the end of the issue is a bit confusing to me, in part because I’m not very familiar with everything that happened in Siege. But I like the idea that this reincarnation is all somehow part of Loki’s plan to fuck things up by being unpredictable, and it makes the new, younger Loki a really fascinating and complicated character. I’m sold. (Nice art, too.)

GOOD

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Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #5
Written by Allan Heinberg; art by Jim Cheung, Mark Morales and others; Marvel.

I’ll be honest. I don’t have the slightest clue what the hell is going on in this book. No idea whatsoever. None of it really makes any sense to me and the only reason I keep buying it is that I’m hoping at some point we’ll see Billy and Teddy making out. Seriously, they better fucking kiss on panel in the last issue, or I will be pissed.

I DON’T KNOW