Booster Gold #4 (reviewed by Heather) ~Okay, my one quibble on this series: the art. It just really seems all over the place, and this issue is no exception. Sometimes it's great, sometimes characters are aging or getting younger by the minute. But, with that out of the way:
That was awesome! Despite the face that the two Flashes played almost no part in the story, and mostly stood around talking, seeing them erased from history was fun. And watching Rip unleash a few thousand years of martial arts knowledge on his evil ex-partner was tremendous fun - he kicks good butt for an old guy! And now, of course we've solved the "who is Supernova?" question - it was Booster's dad! I'd forgotten about the "has to be of the Carter family" stipulation of the suit. The battle between him and Booster was fun, even if he did slip away at the end, as was Skeets' reaction to his future self - "aw, crap." I think the series is going to get very interesting from here on out, now that Booster's demanding Rip live up to his earlier promise - it's time to rescue Ted Kord. But even more interesting than that, this series seems to be fixing some points of DC mythology - are they really going to save Batgirl and keep her from becoming Oracle? How does that change the Batman mythos? I cannot wait for next issue!
Booster is, I think, the most solid series DC has going for them right now, bar none.
Wonder Woman #14 ~ Gail Simone is here at last, and... it's okay. Don't get me wrong, this is a solid, entertaining issue, and in fact the first twelve pages are better Wonder Woman than the majority of the first twelve issues were. Diana is powerful and magnetic as a hero, and most promisingly, in a way entirely her own - Superman isn't like this, Batman isn't like this, no-one is like this but Wonder Woman. She's a tough, relentless warrior, a fighter without equal, and she's nobility personified, intelligent and insightful, forceful of personality but tempered by wisdom and compassion - Princess Diana, not just a hero but a leader. Meanwhile the set-up portion of the issue, focusing on Hippolyta and a secret from the time of Diana's birth, is riveting and has a sense of grandeur and myth that's very appropriate for Wonder Woman.
And then there's the next ten pages, in which she's Agent Diana Prince, and they're kind of boring. Of all the dumb things Alan Heinberg did in his opening arc, the worst was making Diana's secret identity a secret agent - it's just so pointless and useless to the story. Simone does her best to use this angle as a way to explore Diana as a person, showing her on the receiving end of an office birthday party, which is a nice human thing for her to experience, but there's only so many 'human' touches you can get into the Department of Metahuman Affairs, and a lot of those ten pages are let down by the simple fact that Diana's secret identity consists of being a James Bond knock-off, chasing supervillains without using her powers, taking orders from people she's way above in terms of credibility, and being partnered with another secret agent, equally unrelateable, whose "Stay behind me, little lady," shtick has never been anything but irritating. No matter how much talent you bring to the table to try to tart the Agent Diana Prince thing up, there's no escaping the fact that it's a sow's ear, and even if you can make a silk purse of it, it won't be as good as a silk purse made from silk.
It's far too early to be judging Simone's run, of course - even if she did intend to get rid of the DMA angle, she'd probably approach it more tactfully than to wipe them away in her first issue, so for all I know she may indeed intend to dump it, and if Diana is to have a secret identity, to create a new one for her that's less childish. On the strength of this issue, those first twelve pages, it is definitely worth sticking around for the next three issues, to see where Simone's opening storyline goes - to do less would be a great disservice to a wonderful character, and a promising debut for her new writer.
World War Hulk #5 ~ So, that's that then. My feelings on WWH seem divided by what kind of story I'm thinking of it as, so I'll separate them out accordingly. As a story about the Hulk, I was satisfied - Hulk was no mindless brawler, but a smart, motivated character acting according to his own moral judgement. He came across rather successfully, I thought, as a kind of mythic figure, the kind who'd be more at home in some ancient epic saga, full of demigods and violence and harsh justice. In that light, there's an almost touching sense that he's a character out of time - not that he ever had a time, really - someone who never really had a chance, because the world wasn't made for him, and he was too powerful, and too proud, to bend to the world's will. The final revelation of who blew up the shuttle didn't feel very important to me - I saw it coming, but not having read Planet Hulk the character didn't carry any weight for me, so perhaps regular readers would have found it more fulfilling. The flip side is that, as a story regardless of the Hulk, I was left a bit unsatisfied - as someone who only read Hulk in the lead-up to this event, and won't really be following the story as it moves away from its moment on the Marvel centre stage, I found elements of the story that I'd rather have seen addressed here. Is Rick Jones dead? What happened to the Sentry? What about the Illuminati? Son of Hulk? As an 'event', I thought there could have been a greater sense of resolution - an epilogue, like Civil War had, would have been appreciated. I was left unsure of what WWH's impact on the Marvel world truly was, what the fallout is and what it means - perhaps that's something that'll be Aftersmash one-shot. I hope so - I think an epilogue like that is necessary for this to really work as part of the 'event backbone' of Marvel, to give a sense of a moving, living world behind all the individual titles. That's a structure I like, and I'd like to see WWH play into it, as a stepping stone between Civil War and Secret Invasion.
Atomic Robo #2 ~ Brian Clevinger (of 8-Bit Theater, a webcomic that's all kinds of hilarious) once again proves that he's got what it takes to produce a comic that goes right to the top of the Damn Good Fun chart and stay there. As with the first issue, Clevinger's writing is witty, smart-arsed (in a good way) and very charismatic, Scott Wegener's art is clean and lively with an edge that keeps it out of looking like a Disney cartoon, and Ronda Pattison's colours are bright but real. This issue also brings to the table a healthy dose of heart, with interleaved storylines that show the human side, if you will, to Robo's long lifespan - and in spite of juggling storylines, the issue feels much meatier than the fast-paced debut, with dialogue running through many of the action panels giving more value to each page. In short, Atomic Robo is firing on all cylinders, and you need to go out and buy it.
Avengers: The Initiative #7 ~ First up, I guessed who the Scarlet Spiders were - at least, I figured that's who one of them would be. That's not really key to the issue - it's not about who they are so much as what they do, and what others do because of them - but I just wanted to mention it, since my guesses on mysteries are usually wildly inaccurate (two from two this week, with WWH). This title has an interesting structure - it doesn't quite feel like a regular ongoing title, so much as a series of interlocking one-shot stories, all growing out of the same situation, and with running subplots behind the story-of-the-month. As usual, Dan Slott handles all the balls he's put in the air like the professinal juggler he is, and the only disappointment is that there aren't more pages in the issue, or that it'll be a whole month before the next issue arrives and we find out what happens next. That said, Slott - as he did with She-Hulk - uses the monthly format in a way a lot of writers don't, such that reading one issue per month actually helps the book - the compartmentalisation of the grand story of The Initiative into the semi-stand-alone monthly pieces gives each piece the chance to shine without being overwhelmed by the steamroller of subplots being built up in the background. It's good to see Caselli back on art duties - if he has a tendency to exaggerate facial expressions, it's not unwelcome in a title where everyone seems permanently on edge.
Marvel Comics Presents #3 ~ I want to like this book, I really do - the idea of an anthology, skipping from one corner of the endlessly varied Marvel universe to the other and dipping in wherever it pleases, is one that's immediately enticing. But the way it's 'packaged' is really starting to wear out its welcome. For starters, the price is wrong - US$3.99 is a dollar too much, and that's all there is to it. There may be more pages of story than a regular comic, but not every segment is going to appeal to every reader - for me, it's Weapon Omega that's falling flat, so I'm essentially in the position of paying that extra dollar for a story I don't want. There's only seven ads in the comic, not counting inside covers, which is less than in a standard 32-page comic - for heaven's sake, sell more ads to get the price down. Secondly, there's the timing - this should be bi-weekly, a month is just too long to wait for eight more pages of the ongoing stories. I'm loving Vanguard, but having to wait a whole year to get the whole story, doled out in snack-sized portions, makes it feel like nothing's really happening - judging by the first three segments, I think Vanguard will rocket along like a great crime thriller if it's all read at once, but all that pace is being completely squandered, and the same goes for the other ongoing stories. I'm committed for twelve issues, to get Vanguard - but right now, my feeling is more that I'm looking forward to that commitment being over, rather than anticipating what'll come next.
And finally, a little something I thought of after last week's Annihilation: Conquest #1:
