Well, if nicking an existing comic’s numbering for a newly-titled enterprise is good enough for The Incredible Hercules… anyway, this will be rather short-lived, simply a one-off at the end of this strange Week Of No Comics, as I go over in capsule form some more of the comics picked up in what was actually a quite busy pre-Christmas week. Hopefully tomorrow, weather permitting, we’ll actually have something new to talk about.

Beasts of Burden #4
A slightly odd one this, as this “trial run” miniseries comes to an end – but feels rather more like the lead-in to further issues of an ongoing, setting up the beginning of an apparent new storyarc rather than keeping the four issues as relatively self-contained. But despite the lack of a fully satisfying resolution, it’s still superbly-crafted stuff – I’m not quite sure how a comic manages to be so delightful while also being somewhat dark and occasionally downright bleak, but this does – perhaps down to the sheer beauty of Jill Thompson’s art, although Dorkin’s deftness of touch can’t be understated. I thoroughly hope we’ll see more of it later this year.

Blackest Night #6
I still don’t think this is sparking in the way that an event of its size should – too much needless padding between the big moments and neat ideas, and too much fragmentation across other books and away from the core mini in the way the story’s being told – but it’s hard to deny that some of those occasional big moments and neat ideas are definitely… well, neat. I mean, it’s daft, but the idea of a bunch of well-known DCU characters suddenly becoming members of the Assorted Pick ‘n’ Mix Corps is inherently amusing, particularly when you’ve got Lex Luthor as an Orange Lantern and the Scarecrow joining the Sinestro Corps (a couple of the others are… reaching a bit, though. Ray Palmer “showing great compassion”?) It’s only a shame the idea isn’t extended further, I’d quite like to see how a wider assortment of characters get divvied up among the various Corps. Anyway, without being either particularly special or any worse than “decent”, this is still marching on towards the inevitable conclusion where Hal Jordan absorbs the power of all the Corps and White Lanternzzzzzzzzzz.

Dark Avengers: Ares #3
I’d probably call this series Gillen’s strongest Marvel work to date, although this closing issue is rather less explosively fun and light-hearted than the first two parts, which saw the gleeful videogames journalist side of the writer’s character emerge. Here, things round off in a rather unexpected direction – although of course, as the closing dialogue makes clear, it was sort of telegraphed the moment Osborn gave Ares his task. Very strong stuff, and as also demonstrated over in Thor, there’s probably nobody better at writing Gods on Marvel’s books at the moment.

Detective Comics #860
In which the closing part of Kate’s origin – the training, the suiting up, the involvement of her father – plays out almost exactly as you’d expect it to based on everything that’s happened up to this point, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work well. In direct contrast to the way she suddenly showed up in 52, it feels like the Batwoman character has earned her status with this arc, and if anything, it’s almost going to be a disappointment when Bruce Wayne makes his comeback and (one would assume) boots her back out of his title. A self-titled ongoing, preferably with the same creative team, certainly wouldn’t go amiss after all of this. And while I’ve been less than enthralled with the story in the Question backups, it’s easy to ignore – with the shadow of JH Williams’ brilliance cast over it – the fact that Cully Hamner’s turning in some great art there, too.

Fall of the Hulks : Gamma
Well, you know, it’s kind of worth checking in with all this stuff every once in a while, just to see if Loeb’s finally gotten round to telling us who Red Hulk is yet (answer: no, he hasn’t. Sigh.). And actually, by the standards set by his comics in recent years, this isn’t dreadful. John Romita Jr art can redeem almost anything (particularly when it contains an absolutely gorgeous and very Kirby-looking two-page splash of the Hulk – the proper one – fighting the Fantastic Four), and the fact that it opens with the fact that General Ross has been killed is a neat and surprising twist. But the funeral falls subject to the awkward overwroughtness that has become Loeb’s trademark, and I can’t help but wonder how Carol Danvers and Bucky Barnes – wanted fugitives, lest we forget – get away with hanging out with the military in Washington, unless some serious spoilers for Siege are being given away here...

This week: Capsule reviews of Blackest Night #5, Detective Comics #859, Hulk #17, Ms. Marvel #47 and Ultimate Comics Avengers #4! Read the rest of this entry »

And so DC’s Next Big Event Crossover Thing begins, having morphed in the couple of years since it was first teased from being a Green Lantern story into being a general DC Universe story. So even though, in a rather nice scene in the early pages, the focus is on both Hal Jordan and the core GL Corps cast, events quickly expand to take in a variety of DCU characters – with a large hint that, once again, Bruce Wayne’s fate is going to be pretty integral to proceedings. And this despite the fact that… well, look, I’d never accuse Geoff Johns of not knowing his DC stuff (in fact, as we trawl through yet another set of flashback panels, it’s clear that he thoroughly enjoys playing the game of “Look at me! I know the entire history of the DCU! Let’s have a look at some of it!”), but given that there was more than a hint of ambiguity over whether the charred corpse carried forth by Superman at the end of Final Crisis and subsequently buried at Wayne Manor was actually Bruce Wayne (what with that whole “being transported back in time” deely), then making said corpse an immediate plot macguffin seems a risky strategy to say the least.

Incidentally, it’s not as if first-issue repetitive scenes with various characters handwringing about things that have happened in the last year or so is the only Johns trope employed here – the defining characteristic of the book, as with just about every other Johns-related event, and the “Prelude” issue that I capsule-reviewed last week, is that it’s quite deliberately unpleasant while still trying to remain within the boundaries of what you can get away with in a mainstream superhero book. Alright, so it’s not Ultimatum, but still – this is essentially a superhero zombie story, so ickiness abounds almost from the word go. The body count (or, at least, the “characters being killed so they can immediately come back as Black Lanterns” count) is kicked off in earnest, although I question the wisdom of deciding to kill two particular characters as the first marker of intent when they’ve already suffered such high-profile recent confusion over whether they died in the last big event.

Still, the issue builds a decent sense of ominous foreboding – the wider sequence of the Black Lantern rings streaming across the universe seeking out their new owners is played in nicely cinematic fashion, weaving in and out of smaller-scale scenes of impending darkness like the attack of rogue Guardian Scar, or the appearance of none other than Black Lantern J’onn J’onnz. I think I’ve said before that I generally approve of building a story around the very idea of “comic book death”, so there’s also a strong resonance in one of the better ideas Johns employs here, of DC’s world having a specific day on which people remember fallen superheroes (and rogues). On the flipside, mind, I question whether having a supervillain morgue in JLA headquarters is really an idea that anyone can swallow the entire League as having been morally okay with (if anything, it simply feels like a massive bit of plot telegraphing for when they inevitably pop out and attack en masse).

Visually it’s all as competent as you’d expect, Reis is always solid and reliable rather than particularly spectacular. There’s some memorable imagery, particularly the double-page spread of former Green Lanterns rising as one, but I just wonder how long he can sustain the grislier tone – he’s clearly far more at home drawing the living heroes than the dead ones – and whether Doug Mahnke, who turned in some genuinely unsettling work in the Black Hand Prelude, might have been a better choice to carry this. Still, it’s a decent start – I’m not sure yet if it’s going to be anything like the epoch-making event that the really quite ludicrously long build-up would suggest, nor indeed if it’s worthy of finally putting a story to Alan Moore’s vague decades-old notions of an “end of it all” event for the Corps; but for the moment, it’s at least refreshing to see a big company-wide event that’s honest about its obsession with needless death.

For something a bit different this Bank Holiday Monday, we thought we’d take a look at some of the books put out by Marvel and DC for this year’s Free Comic Book Day…

Blackest Night #0
Hey, you know what? This is actually pretty good. “Blackest Night” hasn’t actually started yet, but I’m already deathly sick of it due to the roughly six months-worth of “Prelude” we’ve had to put up with in the Green Lantern books, which have only served to overwhelm and confuse with sheer volume of concepts and characters, rather than inspiring excitement for the event. But this #0 issue, designed as a primer for readers not following recent DC history, actually lays out far better the basics behind the storyline, and in having Hal Jordan and Barry Allen discuss death and rebirth at Bruce Wayne’s graveside, provides a nice meditation on the way the subject tends to get covered in comics. After all, given that the resurrection of dead (or thought-dead) heroes has been a tradition of the genre all the way back to Captain America, it actually kind of makes sense to build an entire event around the concept. There are decent moments as Johns shows yet again that his knowledge of DC characters and history is second to none (even if his ability to come up with decent new ideas for ‘em is sometimes lacking), and Ivan Reis’ art is no rush job, particularly when covering various flashbacks. Profile pages that explain the nature of each of the different Corps in the Lantern spectrum do little to convince that the concept isn’t inherently ludicrous, but at least negate the need to have read the last year’s worth of Lantern books. If you’re interested in reading the upcoming event (or, indeed, still considering whether or not to), then this is a heartily-recommended primer. [SP]

FCBD: Avengers #1
Marvel’s FCBD books of the last two years have been pretty agenda-setting, both in the case of their Spider-Man issue (which was the first “Brand New Day” book some 8 months before that continuity officially arrived) and their Uncanny X-Men freebie, which was set after Messiah Complex despite being when the crossover hadn’t even been solicited. By contrast, this Avengers book is fairly current – though perhaps the fact that the title is simply “Avengers” will bear fruit in the future? There’s a certain perverse joy in having the Dark and New Avengers team up before they’ve actually even fought one another, while Spider-Man’s narration gives readers a clear “in” to the story (even if the Dark Avengers’ introduction is ridiculously wordy.) It’s a fun issue, suffers slightly from having a lot of characters to cram into one issue, but Bendis is at his quippy best, which Cheung’s art is as stunning as ever. Definitely worth buying when the inevitable “Director’s Cut” gets released. [JHu]

FCBD: Wolverine #1
In stark contrast to the character-packed and complex FCBD Avengers, Marvel is also offering this all-ages Wolverine solo title by Fred Van Lente. Set literally minutes before Wolverine was sent to fight the Hulk in his first appearance (because god knows that particular moment in continuity hasn’t been repeatedly mined before…) this is essentially an issue of Wolverine: First Class, and is clearly aimed at younger readers. While one must applaud Marvel’s attempt to reach younger readers, one can’t help but wonder if it’s not a little misguided. In comics, “all ages” is practically synonymous with “patronisingly simplistic” and such comics rarely seem to be the entry point for new readers anyway. Even worse, with a Wolverine movie on screens, the comic seems more likely to end up in the hands of freebie-seeking Wolverine fans far older than the comic’s true audience, and in that case, it isn’t going to help dispell any of the popular myths about comics being for kids. Well-intentioned, soundly-crafted, but ultimately it’s a case of “wrong place, wrong time.” [JHu]