ChiSai ~ The last of the PSDs that Approbation Comics sent me to look at, and it's pretty neat. Picture a woman who's equal doses smart-ass and zen, and then have her throw down kung-fu style with various other martial artists in interesting and unique fight scenes, and you're in the right place. The art is monochrome - but this is good monochrome, with strong use of light and dark - and stands up well against any other realistic comic art you may care to compare it to. I was went ChiSai Preview #0, which is a pinup gallery, Preview #1-3 (#1 and #2 contain excerpts from Duality, #3 is more pinups, and all three have editorial pages), and ChiSai: Duality #1, which I gather is the next story coming up. There was a previous story, which is recounted well - the exposition is efficient and elegant, no plot dumps here - so you're fully up to speed to understand everything going on now, when the aftermath of her previous exploit comes back to bite protagonist Shy on the butt. It's all about the fight scenes really, and the good news is that they're not just there to fill up pages - there's storytelling in them, with moves and tactics driven by the personalities of the characters fighting, and each sequence contains something that makes it individual from the others. Bottom line, if you like your heroines with a dose of modern kung fu, and don't mind the lack of colour (I'm a colour lover by nature, but even to me this is appealing art), this is definitely worth your time to take a look at.
Of all the issues Approbation sent me - for which I'm very grateful - I just want to mention Chaos Campus again (check back a couple of weeks for the full review). It's riotously funny, very smart, nicely sexy, and obviously carefully crafted by creators who know their subject - "sorority girls vs zombies" - and love it enough to have serious fun. That goes right onto my reading list.
The Last Defenders #1 ~ I've really enjoyed the post-Civil War landscape in Marvel - the books that have actively engaged with the Initiative idea and used it, like Avengers: The Initiative and The Order, have been some of my favourites of late, so this miniseries, promising to spotlight a 50 State Initiative team, had my interest. And it's got She-Hulk, so I'm in. I must say, I wasn't instantly blown out of the water by it - the introduction of the characters is solid, but their mission is a bit more hazy, and so far the villains of the piece (Sons of the Serpent, or something) just seem like generic costumed thugs; other villainous characters are briefly focused on, presumably for later use in the story, but I didn't know them from Jack, and none of their introductions struck me as instantly cool. On the plus side, when I say the character work is solid, I mean very good - Blazing Skull steals the show with some great lines ("If I hear the words 'monitor duty', I'm gonna walk."), Colossus is reasonably engaging - seems the slow, steady type, so you wouldn't expect him to be instantly awesome - She-Hulk has a decent rationale for being there, which doesn't seem to step on the toes of what's happening in her own book (and suggests that the writer may have had a quick word with Peter David to get more info), and Nighthawk makes for an interesting leader, a mix of capability and learning curve. In fact, he reminds me a bit of Captain Atom in the old Justice League Europe comics, and I loved them (until they got tinkered with beyond recognition, of course). I think what will be key for this book is the villain(s) - if he, or they, or whatever they are, turn out to be cool and interesting, it'll be a strong story. This issue was enjoyable enough that I'm in for the rest of the miniseries.
Wonder Woman #18 ~ Odd issue this - very enjoyable, but odd. We catch up with Wonder Woman as she visits Nemesis in hospital, and makes it plain that she's interested in getting to know him better. Now I know I've been down on the whole notion of a Diana/Nemesis romance, but there's no denying Gail Simone's touch makes the idea a lot more palatable than Allan Heinberg's heavy-handedness, or the up-and-down confusion that followed with Amazons Attack. For starters, it's Princess Diana doing this, not 'Diana Prince' - the real person, not the fictional identity. Secondly, it comes from Diana, and feels genuine - I never liked the idea that seemed to be in the works earlier, of Nemesis's charm (or whatever it was supposed to be) winning over a previously-uninterested Diana, but handling it this way, with Diana taking the lead - with dignity and sincerity - feels much more in character, and promises a more interesting story wherever it goes from here. It's only a few pages, and here I've rambled on about it for a whole paragraph, but who'd have ever thought the Diana/Nemesis thing would seem like a good idea?
The meat of the issue is the Khund, who I personally don't recall seeing before (then again, I'm fairly new to all this), but who get a good introduction that gives the reader a solid working knowledge of them as a species, in terms of what they're good at (fighting) and what it is that drives them. There's a mystery at work, and this issue we only really get clues dangled in front of us, with little in the way of answers - but it's done well, so I don't mind not knowing half of what's going on. Etta shows up again, and from being sceptical of her when she first appeared (which turned out to be a bait and switch) she's really starting to grow on me. Bernard Chang's pencils/inks are a bit different to what's come before, especially with Wonder Woman's face - she's kind of Wonder Jennifer Beals (not that there's anything wrong with that) - but after a few pages I'd gotten used to it, and with strong support from the colours the art puts on a good show all 'round.
Avengers: The Initiative #10 ~ The KIA arc keeps moving along, and with the conclusion still to come there's not a lot that can be said about this issue in itself that wouldn't be either speculation or a spoiler. I will say that Cloud 9 gets to shine - she's taken a bit of a back seat these past couple of issues, but this one has her back as one of the main characters, and she and Hardball and Komodo finally get to team up again. I still regard those three as the heart of this book, so any time they're in the thick of the action it's a satisfying read. Most everyone on the base (and a few off) get something to do, with Dan Slott's usual juggling of characters to keep everyone moving, and Gage's addition to the writing team continues to run as smoothly as could be. My only complaint is the 'one will die!' claim on the cover - yes, someone on the cover died, but (I don't feel this is much of a spoiler) it's exactly who you'd expect, and doesn't really rock the boat that much.
Annihilation: Conquest #5 ~ The life and times of Ultron get a showing this issue, with the High Evolutionary catching up on the history of his new ally. This issue is really all about revealing how Ultron and the Phalanx got to this point (including the Mighty Avengers appearance, so it does all tie together nicely) and putting in place the pieces that are presumably going to kick their butts next issue - the good news is that the plot is still nice and complicated, with no clear outcome and plenty of room for last minute surprises, which is how a space opera like this should look at this stage. The bad is that there's nothing especially revolutionary revealed about Ultron - there's a big Ultron-related twist in this issue, but it doesn't really address Ultron's character, so it honestly doesn't feel that important. The gorgeous cover portrait of Ultron made me think there'd be something deep revealed about him and the Phalanx's purpose, but - without giving anything away - he's just up to another standard Supervillain Plan. Still, with Kree Sentries charging about, the remains of Starlord's dirty half-dozen being all awesome, and Phyla down but certainly not out, it looks like it'll be an exciting conclusion next issue.
Atomic Robo #6 ~ The final issue of this miniseries - and as good as the issue is, it's the back cover that's the best: "volume two coming 2008." According to writer Brian Clevinger's Nuklear Power site (which includes the hilarious 8-Bit Theater web comic, go read it now) there'll also be an Atomic Robo Free Comic Book Day issue, so that's one of my FCBD picks decided on already. Back to the issue at hand (ha ha... oh never mind), Robo faces off against the brain-in-jar-driven robot dreadnought Helsingard, and it's all kinds of exciting. Clevinger and/or Wegener - whoever laid out the fight sequence with who hits who where and how - provide genuinely entertaining combat between the two robots, with snappy dialogue and interesting physical action, and the climax of the whole thing makes a credible pitch at a kind of epic feel - you know, the moment when the humour takes a break, and there's the slightly chilling sense that it's not just a fun adventure at the moment (the finale of any Indiana Jones movie is a good example). The four-page backup story with Nic Klein art is surreal and darkly funny, with Robo venturing into the 'vampire dimension' (I love the vampire clutching his head, futilely trying to bite him) and meeting Jenkins - there's not a great deal of plot to it, but it's a nice mood piece.
All in all, Atomic Robo gets the Heroine Addict seal of approval - it's about as good as a comic can be when the main character isn't a woman. (If Tesla from Clockwork Girl were to grow up and take to adventuring around the world with a team of possibly insane heavily armed scientists, you may just have the best comic in the world right there.)
Mighty Avengers #10 ~ Retro is the word - at the end of the previous issue we saw that the recent past was depicted in glorious newsprint-style art, with the dotted colours and all that jazz (I'm no artist, don't ask me what it's called), and if that were all, it would have been a cute touch. But Bendis doesn't do things by half measures - the whole issue is retro, with little text lines promoting other Marvel books of the time (when is this, the late 70s? Early 80s? Doesn't matter) at the bottom of pages, as well as 'continued after next page' whenever there's an ad page, the title layout done in the old style with all the creators given kooky nicknames, even Stan Lee style captions on the first page, which tie in beautifully to Sentry's thought bubbles - we're back in an age when thought bubbles were the norm, after all. This is a beautifully-made issue, done by people who didn't want to miss the chance to recreate the style they loved as kids. And it's not just style, there's genuine substance to the story - Sentry's past is addressed, and utilised in a very clever manner, to help resolve the time travel thing. Doctor Doom is treated well, and his scenes with Iron Man are quite satisfying - All round, a great, fun issue, which is what Mighty Avengers delivers pretty much consistently.
