Remember how Grant Morrison’s X-Men run initially seemed like a rambling set of unconnected stories, with moments of brilliance but just as many apparent non-sequiturs, only to turn out shortly before the end, as the layers of plot were peeled away, to have been an intricately-constructed masterpiece where every single little detail mattered to the overall structure?

Well, encore.

If you’re planning on reading Batman #674, it’s only fair to tell you now – before you start, go and dig out all the issues of the Morrison run to this point. Even the inconsequential ones that you can barely remember, because they felt weak and unimportant at the time (you can skip the Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul tie ins, but get the Club of Heroes story, not least because it was fantastic). You’re going to need them, because the “Oh, so that’s what that was all about!” moments in this issue will demand a re-read of the lot. And, in fact, when you do, you’ll find that – stripped of all the crippling delays, fill-in arcs, changes of artist and so on, the run is rather better than it’s seemed to be at any other point up until now.

Not that every part of the Bald One’s master plan is unravelled here, of course – but we’re clearly entering the endgame, setting the stage for the climactic storyline, and for that reason, all that gubbins about psychotic cops dressed up as Batman (in what was, let’s face it, quite an underwhelming story at the time) is finally given an answer. Just as many new questions are raised, of course, but even that strange standalone issue set in the future is given some vital context. As an issue in and of itself, this is solid rather than spectacular – and the story in general is still going to have to ramp up a few notches to make the run an all-time classic rather than a curiosity – but if you’ve managed to persevere up to this point, you’ll feel rewarded by the fact that those classically Morrison seeds are starting to pay off.

The last few pages of the issue offer a clear indication that something big is coming – which we kind of know already, given that the next (and last?) storyline is titled “Batman RIP”. Anyone with half a brain must suspect that it’s not going to be as straightforward as a simple killing-off (in the year The Dark Knight comes out? I think not) – but I’ve already got a half-theory, which I’ll share in this week’s Sunday Pages. Certainly, though, despite a succession of issues and stories that have seemed underwhelming in isolation, there’s every chance that this could still turn out to be an era-defining take – and it’s further proof that you simply cannot write off Grant Morrison, a man who approaches everything from angles we mere mortals didn’t even realise existed, until you’ve got the full picture in front of you.

Kick-Ass is one of those comics that paints itself as a realistic depiction of superheroes. It’s a trend that many will argue began, and should’ve ended, with Watchmen. Still, even Watchmen’s premise was fairly forgiving – it was a realistic take on a superhero universe as much as superhero characters. Kick-Ass goes one step further, asking what happens when someone in OUR universe – the real world – tries to be a superhero.

As you can imagine, the answers are fairly simple, and they involve some poorly thought-out violence, a lot of swearing, and a teenager with too much time on his hands. It’s gloriously, painfully bleak stuff. The main character cuts a familiar figure – a comic-obsessed teenager who spends his time jacking off to internet porn and praising Joss Whedon to his friends. I feel lampooned already.

Issue #1 is, naturally, an origin story: David Lizewski is a nobody. After his mother dies of a brain aneurysm, he lives alone with his father, playing video games and reading comics. There’s nothing special about him, no unreasonable trauma in his upbringing, he just can’t understand (and if you ask me, quite reasonably so) why people want to be Paris Hilton and not Spider-Man. The thing that separates him from all of us is that he’s got exactly the right combination of time, boredom and stupidity to take it to the next level. Putting on a wetsuit with a facemask, he goes out looking for crime. For a while, he’s enjoying it, even if he finds nothing. When he eventually tackles a gang of grafitti artists, things go south pretty as fast as you’d expect – he’s beaten up, shivved and left for dead.

And let me tell you this: it’s all hilarious. Seeing Romita really go to town on the violence levels is, in itself, worth the price of entry. He’s been drawing castrated super-hero books for so long that you can practically feel the glee dripping off the page like the blood he’s drawing when David smacks a gang member in the face with his bat. Millar has his flaws as a writer, but he’s definitely managed to rein in his wilder tendencies – in David, he’s created a character who, far more than someone like Peter Parker, represents the everyman. I’m sympathetic with his directionless, entertainment-obsessed plight. The script, though, is where Millar really shines, and the last line of the book is what sells me on the next issue. I hesitate to spoil, but if you’re undecided it sums up the tone of the book perfectly: ”Two broken legs, my spine crushed, and dressed like a fucking pervert. My dad was going to kill me.”

Every Wednesday we take turns to delve into our trusty longboxes, pluck out a dusty back issue at random, and give you our thoughts. We’ll also try and place it in the context of the time it was originally published. 

Oh, now this is a good one. Back in the mid-90s, when comics were comics and Marvel were financially (and, some might say, creatively) bankrupt, this was the sort of diamond in the rough that reminded people why they gave comics a chance at all. Good characterisation, consistant premise, fairly high quality work from all involved.

Of course, at age 14, all I knew was that this was the comic where Venom finally makes good on his promise to eat people’s brains, and was therefore definitely worth a look.

Between 1993 and 1997, Venom essentially had his own regular series, though it was told in back-to-back minis. They were largely set during the period where Brock had become a Punisher-esque anti-hero, calling himself the “lethal protector” and pledged not to harm innocents. In return, he and Spidey negotiated a truce. It was admittedly a fairly dodgy take on a character who works best as an outright villain, but luckily this series largely ignores it. Not that it contradicts it, of course, but the story isn’t so much about Venom taking down a villain as it is about Brock attempting to recapture the symbiote.

Here’s the scene: Venom/Brock is sick. He’s not sleeping, he’s hallucinating, and he finds himself craving… something. In his agitated state, a routine bar-fight with some criminals ends badly when he finds himself taking his threat to eat his enemies’ brains to its natural conclusion. Horrified at what the symbiote has driven him to, he gets angry and the two argue. At the climax of the first issue, Brock’s symbiote deserts him and slithers off in search of more brains.

In subsequent issues, it’s revealed that the symbiote is eating brains because it’s suffering from a deficiency of the neurotransmitter phenethylamine that Brock’s brain no longer contains enough. The series villain, Dr. Paine captures Brock and uses him to track the symbiote, which is out there killing people. Brock escapes and finds the symbiote, at which point Paine captures it. Eventually they defeat Paine together, and Brock discovers that phenethylamine is found in chocolate, which he ensures to feed himself. Venom, for now, is re-united.

It sounds fairly cheesy, I admit, but there’s a certain B-Movie charm to it all that the book embraces (”Oh God! He’s eating Frankie’s BRAINS!”)  without letting it go anywhere near parody. Paine is a genuinely creepy villain, a nazi-esque mad scientist with razor sharp metal hands, and his eventual fate is - excuse the pun - delicious. The writing is by Len Kaminski, and the art from Ted Halsted is nice and moody, if slightly dated visually - not largely so, but it’s certainly noticeable that Brock appears to be going through his “Bon Jovi” phase.

Is it essential? Well, probably not - but it’s an enjoyable Venom story that makes the most of the material and character. If solo Venom is what you’re after, I’d hesitate to recommend any other comic.

I’ve lost touch with Ex Machina a bit lately. Not that I haven’t been reading it, just that as each new issue has come out, I’ve found myself failing to remember what happened in the previous part, or even if there was a story arc currently ongoing. My buying habits over the past few months have been so erratic that I honestly can’t tell you if there have been delays on it or not – but it certainly feels like there have been. Just as it feels like Brian K Vaughan hasn’t really been firing in top gear on it since the harrowing “March to War” storyline, presumably focusing most of his energy on finishing Y : The Last Man and writing for Lost.

But I’ve got a lot of residual affection for what was once my absolute favourite title on the shelves, and I’m also aware that unlike, say, Powers (with which there are a lot of parallels, actually), there is a genuine conclusion being aimed towards. It’s easy to forget, but the very first issue of Ex Machina began with a post-Mayoral Mitchell Hundred telling us his story in flashback. And I still want to know how he gets there.

It might be slightly unfair to draw the comparison, since flashbacks have been an integral part of the series since day one, but it’s hard not to see similarities to BKV’s telly work – this being a standalone issue that rattles through flashbacks of a supporting character’s life in order to round them out a bit. In the case of Police Commissioner Angiotti, it’s long overdue – and while her life story (wanted to be a cop as a child, became a bloody good one, and married a guy who worked in the WTC, was saved by Mitchell on 9/11, and cheated on her) isn’t particularly interesting, it at least humanises her somewhat, her role in proceedings up until now being little more than “by-the-book top cop and frequent clashing point for Hundred both as superhero and as mayor”.

Marketed by Wildstorm as an “ideal jumping-on point” (which strikes me as strange – Ex Machina is a beginning, middle and end story which is well into its second half, and the only real jumping on point is the first issue), it’s a nice change of pace, at least – largely inconsequential, but with a very neat last couple of pages that redraw the lines of Angiotti and Hundred’s relationship, with an excellent bit of comics pop culture referencing to boot. I get the impression a big storyline is on the way soon, and the series is building to a climax – and so issues like this one (and the next, which is also apparently self-contained) make for something of a breather. Although when issues are coming out so slowly, you start to wonder how necessary that is. Ex Machina remains a superb series, despite the recent stuttering, but I suspect it’s one that reads far better in trade than waiting for it every month or two.

Okay, we’ve gone on about it enough. Time for that one last push to make you read Ultimate Human.

Ellis is the kind of writer who’s very polarising. There’s a lot of personality about him, and he’s undoubtedly often more interested in hanging a story off his futurist concepts than the other way around. That said, this seems to be the best way to deal with his quirks – give him a series that’s free to play them out.

In Ultimate Human, Ellis brings together the ultimate technological and biological expressions of humanity – Tony Stark as Iron Man, and Bruce Banner as the Hulk – and allows them to bounce off one another in a spectacular fashion. The examination of how the Hulk’s biology adapts to hostile environments is particularly entertaining, and something that fits into the Ultimate universe beautifully.

Even as Bruce and Tony appear to have finally found a cure for the Hulk, the Ultimate Leader hatches a plan and attacks their base. Or rather, he gets someone else to, he largely sits around ranting. It’s a typically Ellis take on the character, but certainly an entertaining one. Presumably, the next two issues will follow the usual path of Hulk “cures” and it’ll fail just in time for Banner to save everyone and thunder off into the distance.

That said – we can’t be sure. There is absolutely no doubt that this is the true sequel to The Ultimates – it’s the only place where the characters and themes are preserved. More importantly, it’s a story that you can only really tell in the Ultimate universe, which is still young enough that Banner and Stark can realistically be attempting this for the first time, and we genuinely can’t be sure of their success or failure.

Cary Nord brings to the table some great comedic timing and a flair for action, proving with this series that he’s more than ready to become the next superstar artist – his work is starting to shows all the good elements of the Kubert brothers who were also helping to define the Ultimate universe shortly before they were snapped up by DC, so let’s hope Marvel have the good sense to keep him around. With Ultimates 3 dying on it’s arse, the whole imprint needs to make sure it clings to anything good that comes along – Ultimate Human would be a good start.

Whew. Lots of traffic and positive response to that Ultimates v3 “review” we posted earlier this week – hope some of you are choosing to stick around! Just in case, I thought I’d give a brief overview of the site’s raison d’etre for anyone new: The goal is to have one comic reviewed every weekday for either discussion or perusal. On Wednesdays, we review a back-issue in a feature we call “Dusting Off.” On Thursdays, we review the first of the current week’s new comics, and on Saturday we rest. On Sunday, we post this column. We call it “The Sunday Pages”, and the idea is we use it to talk about the industry news and rumours which have shown up over the previous week.

This week, we’re thinking about JMS canning his exclusive deal with Marvel and what he might do at DC, the new Secret Invasion teaser images, the Foo Fighters’ fight with Marvel and the news released regarding a few of the various comics movies. Enjoy! (continue reading…)