Julian Hazeldine on 
MisterSmith on 
Ian Symes on 
Noriko Takaya on The Sunday Pages #34
by Comics Daily Team ~ November 9th, 2008
This week: Reviews of Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #1, Invincible Iron Man #7, Iron Man: The End and Wolverine: Chop Shop.
Review: Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #1
“I am not an editor. I do not have an editorial mind. Protocol dictated an accompaniment to the first arc. The same protocol dictated a limited series. This was not my decision. My preference for a Backmatter format is on record. A hypothetical scenario was the most appropriate way of expounding on the concept behind the arc. The brief franchise indoctrination I had received held that Alan Davis would be the more capable artist. My instincts, however, will always be those of a writer. Those instincts told me that Davis would be hamstrung by the need for consistency with the core book, and that Adi Granov would deliver the superior work. The delay of one week in the publication reaching the UK was unfortunate, but not without precedent. There was no culpability on my part.”
“Do you know the cover price?”
“You reviewer people kill me, you know that? There is no final price. Resentment of paying four dollars for two eight page What If stories will continue to build in the comics community, outweighing any financial gain to Marvel. Not my problem. I’m just a writer.” [JHa]
Review: Invincible Iron Man #7
… in which Matt Fraction auditions to get the Amazing Spider-Man gig, and - much like just about everything else he’s turned his hand to in the last year or so - does a bloody good job. It’s a strong, done-in-one character piece that explores what could have been an intriguing relationship between Peter and Tony back in the Iron Spidey days if Straczynski had been as good a writer, and if the plot’s a bit irrelevant, it’s one of those situations where it doesn’t really matter. What does matter rather more, though, is the way it’s compromised by One More Day - having Tony not know Peter’s secret identity really messes with the way the story was clearly meant to go, and makes for an awkward correlation between the opening scenes (if Tony doesn’t know who Peter is, and so if Iron Spidey essentially didn’t “happen” for him, then in what other possible context would Peter have been working for him?) and those that follow. It really does make you wonder why they couldn’t have left a handful of people (see also: Norman Osborn) in on the secret. Perhaps the other stumbling block is in having too many narrators (do we really need the sole page that Urich narrates at the beginning?), but quibbles aside, this is top notch stuff. [SP]
Review: Iron Man: The End
Written as the “definitive end” for Michelinie and Layton’s version of the character, this one-shot does, at least, manage to follow the concept to its conclusion - something that other “The End” books haven’t always remembered to do. The underlying ideas are sound, as the writers show how Tony Stark can no longer function as Iron Man once he becomes unable to keep up with the technology around him, defeated by superior weapons he can’t figure out and eventually, definitively replaced by someone smarter. The idea of Stark’s body failing him is perhaps given undue emphasis, though - after all, the whole point of the “Iron Man” concept is that Stark can defy physical failings with technology, but not psychological ones. Even so, it’s a strong theme. Unfortunately, the scripting, plotting and art are straight out of the 80s, so if that’s not your thing then you probably won’t be entertained by the ideas present, but even so, it’s not as bad as some reviewers would have you think. [JHu]
Review: Wolverine: Chop Shop
The number of Wolverine one-shots Marvel have shoved out would be almost impressive, were it not laughable how over-exposed the character has become. At this point, the sole motivations seems to be nothing less than an attempt to figure out how many Wolverine comics they can actually publish before people stop buying them. Mike Benson’s story of Wolverine Vs. The Organ Thieves is above-average for these one-shots, with a clear idea of how Wolverine fits into the story more than any generic hero, and a narrative that comes nicely full circle to say something about the character. Unfortunately, amidst a seemingly never-ending stream of similar, done-in-one high concept Wolverine stories, one can only wonder how anyone’s expected to notice whether it’s any good or not. [JHu]
Plug: Marvel Annuals: Hit or Miss?
My comics column on Den of Geek last week asked whether Marvel’s annuals are fulfilling the criteria under which they were brought back following Quesada’s company-wide boycott of the format early in his reign as EIC.
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