Comic Book Reviews for the Week of Dec. 24, 2008 (Limited Series)

Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch #3

So Danny is a Ghost Rider again, but he’s not at full power. And I know I said I didn’t like the idea of a Spawn-like Ghost Rider, but I’m not minding it so much now that it’s been explained. Having GR be an instrument of Heaven makes his penance stare make more sense. I wouldn’t think Hell would care all that much about penance.

Greatest Hits #4

If I had the time and inclination, I’d take a look back at Vertigo and see how many writers and artists have been British and how many haven’t. I’m betting you’re looking at at least 65% British. Not a gripe, just an observation. I wouldn’t mind seeing this continued as a regular series if that were possible. The story we’re getting is very interesting, and we’re finally going to figure out what the mystery behind the Mates is. Great art and rock-solid story telling always make for a great comic.

Punisher: War Zone #3

Y’know, for the past two issue I’ve been saying that this book is a direct pick-up from Ennis and Dillon’s last Punisher mini, but it really isn’t. I had been waiting for the humor to come back, but it hasn’t, and I’m pretty positive that it won’t. Garth is taking the series a bit more serious, and that’s not a bad thing. While I’ve enjoyed almost all of his work that I’ve read, I think his best stuff has been the serious stuff. This book definitely has the feel of the old series, it’s just more bitter than humorous.

Rann-Thanagar Holy War #8

The last issue goes out with a bang. The heroes destroyed Rann after teleporting the population to Throneworld. A people who are now believed to be dead are living on a planet whose population was killed. Fitting. Bizarro is home, which makes me wonder how he appeared in one of the Superman titles in the last month or so. I was pretty ambivalent about this mini, but seeing Synar’s new form made me think there’s a good story waiting for the character.

Reign in Hell #6

I don’t know a whole helluva lot about the DCU spiritual stuff, so I don’t know if powerful demons can actually be killed, but it sure looks like Neron is dead. That leaves Blaze and Satanus as the new rulers of Hell rather than just Purgatory. I have no idea how that will affect things. Are we supposed to get some proactive Hell stories throughout the DCU in the future? Will this have anything to do with Blackest Night? Only time will tell.

Dark Tower: Treachery #4

It seemed there was a little more meat in this issue than in issues past, a bit more narrative. That’s a good thing since the issues seem to go by so fast (and I don’t read the prose in the back). Roland has finally given up the grapefruit, but is it too late for him? Well, we know it’s not since we’ve read the books. There wasn’t any mention of Cort’s niece, and I can’t remember where we left her last issue. I hope the Del Rey books are just as good as the Marvel ones when King switches over. I loved Lee’s portrayal of Farson. Other than mentions of him in the books, I never really formed a good picture of him in my mind. I’ll take Lee’s. It was beautiful.

Trinity #30

Okay, so the legends of the aliens’ God is starting to make sense. This whole damn thing is Krona’s fault. But the Trinity are energy beings now, or are they abstract concepts given form, forms that we as readers are familiar with? I think it would be pretty cool if DC were to market a couple of Tarot sets featuring the villains and the heroes that are in this comic. Didn’t Vertigo do that with Sandman? Get some popular artists to do the art, have Busiek write a manual, and make it a limited collectible. Well, I think it would be neat.

Ultimatum #2

Wow. Pretty powerful and disturbing issue. Let’s do a rundown. The Hulk is helping Spider-Man. Why isn’t he eating anyone? I guess that’ll be addressed in the next issue of Ultimate Spider-Man. Reed and Doom are going to the Squadron Supreme universe to get Fury back. I wonder how that will impact the Squadron Supreme book, and if any of this stuff will happen in that book. That’d be pretty neat. Cap is in Valhalla, so he’s dead. I wonder if he’ll stay that way or if Black Panther will take up the mantle since Steve did the opposite in Ultimates 3. Since when was Blob a cannibal? That was damn disturbing. So Wasp is another casualty. And then the big one at the end, the death of Professor X. I definitely didn’t see that coming. And how did HE not see it coming? This really is shaking up the Ultimate universe.

Unknown Soldier #3

Jesus Christ this is a brutal and uncompromising comic. Kidnapping girls from a Catholic school so the boy soldiers can have wives. That’s rough. And our hero has to kill those boy soldiers, boys who have had no choice but to do this, who have lived their entire lives in the shadow of this war. It hits you pretty hard.

Comic Book Reviews for the Week of Nov. 19, 2008 (Mini Series)

Avengers/Invaders #6

I never realized LMDs were so prevalent in Shield. I knew Fury used them and he convinced Maria Hill to use them, but ALL of the soldiers on the helicarrier were LMDs? I also thought LMDs were programmed to actually believe they were human, no matter what. Is this a new version with a sophisticated AI that allowed them to know that they were robots, or are we looking at some sloppy writing? I can almost buy the Torch leading this rebellion, but I honestly would have thought, with the version of LMD I was familiar with, the whole thing would have blown up in his face. And he’s powerful enough to take out the Sentry? He seems to be too easy lately. The Skrulls attack him with words, Torch gets him really hot...what good is he? Despite the problems I had with the story, I loved the art, from the cover to the interiors.

Ender’s Game: Battle School #2

I thought this issue did a great job of showcasing Ender’s brains, but less of a stellar job isolating him. I seem to remember more of that in the book, although it’s been about a decade since I last read the book, so I may be misremembering things. I think I’m going to have to reread the books once this mini is over...and I’m done with the book I’m currently reading...and I’m done with the books I’ve got next in line. But after all that, I’m all over these Ender books again, and I’ll hopefully be able to pick up the Shadow books.

Greatest Hits #3

This is a decent story, doing a sort of E! True Hollywood Story type of show around a group of superheroes. The group is set up like a British invasion rock group, and they’ve got their own reporter/cameraman. This issue shows the turmoil in the group, right before what would seem to be the break-up of the group. The son of the group’s reporter finds some never-before-seen footage of the group in space and learns of a cover-up of some kind. I guess we’ll learn what that is next issue. Tichman doesn’t really get you to connect with any of the characters, even Archie’s son. It’s just interesting to see what’s going on past what the public would have seen going on with these characters.

Rann-Thanagar Holy War #7

This penultimate issue is mostly talking heads, with a bit of battle at the end. It sets us up for next issue, which is sure to be a grand battle between the Aberrant Six, Lady Styx, and Synnar. Adam Strange has a couple of plans running, and everybody else just goes along with it. I guess that makes him the Batman of space. I wonder if this is going to have any sort of impact on Final Crisis, just as Rann-Thanagar War had an impact on Infinite Crisis.

Tangent: Superman’s Reign #9

I usually always enjoy alternate reality ideas more than the executions, but it’s often interesting when the "real" world meets and alternate. This has been pretty decent, even if Jurgens keeps up with Batman-is-God. I agree that he’s a master planner, but it would be refreshing to see him make a mistake or to have someone else step up as leader. I think I’ve been enjoying the back-up stories more since I never read the original Tangent stories. These get me caught up on everyone’s origin.

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Listening to: Guns N' Roses - There Was A Time
via FoxyTunes