Comic Book Reviews for the Week of Dec. 17, 2008 (One-Shots)

Dark Reign: New Nation #1

This is a bit of a primer for some new books that are spinning out of Secret Invasion. We’ve got Nick Fury and his Secret Warriors, and Nick gets some inspiration from Captain America. The Agents of Atlas story threw me at first because last I saw them, they were good guys. It all makes sense now. I would imagine there will be some Namor appearances in this book. I’m not all that excited about the War Machine book. I probably won’t pick it up. I don’t see the draw, really. It’s Punisher with an Iron Man suit. The Skrull Kill Krew story was okay, I just hope the whole series isn’t spent killing cows. I’m not against it, it’ll just get boring. Mockingbird has really piqued my interest. Is she STILL a Skrull? Who’s she working for? We’ll have to see.

Thor: God-Size #1

I’m really loving these Thor specials by Matt Fraction. More than the regular series, actually. They’re really letting me understand a bunch of characters I’m not familiar with. This issue was dedicated to the memory of Skurge, who ended up dying during Walt Simonson’s legendary run. I guess since this issue was referencing current continuity, it’s safe to say that he stayed dead.

What If? Newer Fantastic Four #1

Not a bad issue. It didn’t try to cram too much story into a small issue, so that’s good. There was a definite ending, which doesn’t always happen in these What If books. I was also a fan of the New Fantastic Four, but a lot of that had to do with Art Adams and the great interplay between the characters. We didn’t get either of those in this book. I like how the story stayed very true to the original Infinity Gauntlet mini, but did anyone really think that Wolverine had turned traitor? Nah.

Comic Book Reviews for the Week of Dec. 10, 2008 (One-Shots)

Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1

Where Secret Invasion was, well, secret, Bendis went a different direction with Dark Reign by getting ALMOST everything out in the open. We still don’t know who his secret weapon is, and I think it’s great that Namor and Doom have their own thing going. It was great to see Maleev back with Bendis, but his Namor looked like crap. He looked like some creepy guy rather than a noble king. I was initially surprised that Emma Frost was there, but it was explained very well. I can hardly ever find fault with a Brian Michael Bendis story, and this is no exception. He IS Marvel Comics.

What If? House of M #1

While the story wasn’t all that bad, I thought the art work was extremely ugly. We’re given a great cover by Jimmy Cheung and Marko Djurdjevic, and what’s on the inside is semi-manga crap. Seeing Paolo Pantalena’s name on a book won’t necessarily keep me from buying it, but it will if I’m on the fence about something. It was like a cross between bad early ‘90s Image style and manga. I would have thought Tony would have created more Iron suits earlier than he did, or at least put people in his old suits. He’s done it before. The trouble with these What If books is that so much story has to packed into too little a space. If it were a mini series, I’m sure it would play out better.

What If? Fallen Son #1

I think this story played out better than the previous. There wasn’t as long a stretch of time that was condensed and/or glossed over to fit it into the issue. The art was better, but still not all that great. Trevor Goring seems to be a poor man’s Sean Phillips or Alex Maleev. I also like that the story wasn’t given a clean finish. It lets us mull over the ending, letting us form our own ultimate ending.

Wolverine: Flies to a Spider #1

All flash, no substance. This is just a chance to show Wolverine killing a lot of people. Sure, there’s a reason for it, but it definitely comes in second to the violence. It felt more like a Punisher book.






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