Avengers: another Simonson issue but I enjoyed this one less because it feature the Red Hulk's solo mission to assassinate Cyclops in the interminable AVX crossover. Of course it's ironic that Gen. Thunderbolt Ross is a Hulk but I'd prefer to read about Bruce Banner. Also, the ad for Miraclewom- sorry, Captain Marvel- makes it look like she's giving us all an obscene, Italianate gesture. 2/5
Justice League: so frustrating that this book is almost working but feels so thin and slow. There's a senseless brawl between Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Superman; the grotesque Graves sits about being portentous and eeeevil; and, you know, Cyborg. The fact that I'd rather see that silly Firestorm tells you all you need to know.
The fifth episode of the Shazam backup sees Billy Batson taking that fateful subway journey (one of my favourite sequences in comics, ever.) I would probably have dropped Justice League if not for thus strip. 2/5
Earth-2 : after civilization did not collapse with the reintroduction of an out, gay Alan Scott, the fourth issue continues the conflict with zombie-fetishist Grundy. It also introduces a new Al Pratt. This one is still a short guy; an army captain who can grow, illogically, to giant-size and has glowing atomic hands. So, er, Captain Atom, then? James Robinson, the whole point of the JSA was its WWII legacy and the chance to see heroes who weren't counterparts of the JLA: Dr. Fate, Wildcat, Stargirl, etc. This group seem like Deviantart re-imaginings of Infinity Inc. 2/5
More on the Atom in future Materioptikon posts...
Avengers Assemble: another 90s-style comic, festooned with superheroes: twenty-five Avengers and six Guardians of the Galaxy. I'm not at all keen on this tribal incarnations of the Destroyer or Gamora but I like Bagley's Alan Davis-ish stylings. Oddly, this is a prequel to Marvel movies that are, probably, a couple of years away. An entertaining, if slight, vanilla comic.3/5
The First X-Men: Silver Age continuity freaks will probably implode over this Neal Adams miniseries written by Christos Gage. Wolverine and Sabretooth fight some sadistic Mandroid-types and a young Charles Xavier denies the feral mutants. We get a glimpse of newbies Holo and Bomb and, scarily, the Mullet of Magneto. I've been revisiting Adams 60s work this summer and really enjoyed his cinematic story-telling here. Imagine him drawing the Johns/Lee Justice League! 3/5
Action Comics: a sci-fi two-parter that feels like Grant Morrison's attempts to write Bronze Age comics from a 21st-century perspective. A messianic new version of Captain Comet comes to recruit Lois' niece Susie, who's also a mutant. We also have an ominous foretaste of fifth- dimensional pests, like Vyndktvx, who sounds "vindictive". The Metaleks make a cameo appearance- Morrison's alien invaders who evoke both Bob the Builder and, of course, the Daleks. 4/5
Eternity: a one-shot from National Comics, which feels like an old Vertigo comic. It's unusual to see a Golden-Age name revitalised by someone other than Grant Morrison. The new Kid Eternity/Christopher Freeman is a pathologist who can bring the dead back from Limbo for 24 hours to help solve their murders.
This detective story would make a good tv pitch. It seems odd to me that a 27-year-old is considered a kid nowadays. I also get the impression from the narration that this "kid" is maybe high-functioning Asperger's. I enjoyed this premiere but I think DC should adopt the old three-issue Showcase format to get a better sense of the marketability of new characters. 5/5
I think it's quite encouraging that there are some comics that I really enjoy from the Big Two. I would also include Batman Inc.and LSH, which I'm following in anticipation of Keith Giffen. In the autumn, I think I'll give Daredevil and Batwoman a second chance.
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I must be an 'age' thing, Dougie, but not one of those covers looks half as interesting to me as the ones in your previous post. Has the art of the cover 'grab' been lost, do you think?
ReplyDeleteThe Avengers cover is very 90s Perez to my eyes and that's the era modern comics evoke, I think.
ReplyDeleteThe decade-long trend for unmemorable, poster-style covers has meant that I've sometimes bought a comic twice by accident.