The Continuing Saga

     Right now, the Old Man Logan arc in Wolverine is yet another view at a Marvel world gone wrong, an alternate future where everything is totally screwed up, and the survivors are all alone.  It’s something that’s been done over and over, especially in comics.  So what makes this one different?  The fact that Wolverine is not either dead or badass.  Something serious happened in the past to Wolverine, and this issue finally has him explaining it to Hawkeye.  And what’s the explanation?  He killed the X-Men.

     That’s right, he killed the X-Men.  Shocking, no?  Thanks to Mysterio, Wolverine killed every last one of the X-Men, thinking that they were villains coming in to kill him and everyone else.  Pause for a second there, and think about it.  Wolverine is badass.  Could he really kill all the X-Men?  No.  Even factoring in the fact that they would pause.  By the time he killed a few of them, they’d realize he’s serious, start pounding on him, and that would be the end.  So the central idea of this issue, and the main reason why Wolverine is the way he is now is a bit unbelievable.  Does it make this future any less cool?  For the most part, no.  And Steve McNiven’s pencils are still amazing.  Nonetheless, a ridiculous backstory takes a bit of this arc away.  We all know Wolverine is the most badass guy around.  But taking out a whole, massive team out by himself?  Mark Millar needs to be a bit more reasonable here.

Plot: 8.4      Art: 9.4      Dialogue: 9.4      Overall: 8.9

Borderline Pointless Violence

     To say the least, Sean McKeever’srun on Teen Titans has been slow and without a clear direction.  With Terror Titans, the spin-off miniseries highlighting the titular villainous team and Ravager, it’s just plain violent.  The Terror Titans managed to take out Miss Martian and Red (then Kid) Devil before Ravager blew up Titans Tower, and Robin, Wonder Girl, and Blue Beetle came to their hideout to fail at beating them up.  And now, the characters who nobody cares about get more face time.  Seriously, Disrupteris a nasty gal.  No doubt about that.  Bolt (that’s right, he’s the new Bolt) and Persuader are supposed to be somewhat relatable (which, according to this site’s dictionary, is not a word).  But they’re also jerks, so that doesn’t really work.  Nobody even knows who Constrictor is, and that’s supposed to be an appealing mystery.

     The two most interesting characters are the main characters of the series, Clock King and Ravager.  Clock King is deliciously evil in a way few characters are nowadays.  And Ravager is the female version of Wolverine.  All kick-ass, butt-whoopin’ action plus attitude.  One of my personal favorite characters in DC Comics at the moment.  Why did she leave the Teen Titans?  To hang out with another precog, who is acting even worse than her father?  The one whose drugs made her gouge her eyes out?  Er…  Honestly, Ravager’s presence in this story is tenuous at best.

     So, people keep getting killed in gruesome ways for no apparent reason than to provide gratuitous violence.  Why?  Why do we have to see people’s heads cut in two, and why does somebody need to get killed every issue?  Now, I am very excited to see Static show up in DC.  As a fan of Static Shock, I’m thrilled to see the Milestone Comics characters get integrated.  But all he does in this issue is beat up Ravager, get beaten up by Dark Side Club thugs, and then he’s gone.  So what’s the purpose of all this?  Clock King’s master plan?  Let’s be honest.  This should be an ongoing arc in Teen Titans, not its own story.  That’s the main problem.  It would be great as a part of a larger narrative in the series, but on its own, it wants to rely on blood to get your bucks.  Not the best strategy.  At least Joe Bennett’s art is nice.

Plot: 7.3      Art: 8.8      Dialogue: 7.9     Overall: 7.5

Truly Chilling

     As someone who loves Green Lantern, it was no shock for me to start reading Green Lantern Corps, especially due to its crucial role in the leadup to Blackest Night.  This storyline was the first storyline I bought, aside from Sinestro Corps War, and I must say, I am very impressed.  Few series so excellently complement their parent title as this one does.  It shows so much of what is going on with the Corps as a whole and juggles a massive supporting cast.  This current issue ties into the Faces of Evil semi-event going on in all the DC Comics right now.  Peter Tomasi has a lot to handle and a lot to live up to.

     This arc deals with two intersecting plotlines: the chase of and battle with Kryb, one of the most frightening ideas in comic book history, and the creation of the first of the Violet Lantern Corps, the Star Sapphires.  Let me make this clear: the whole idea of Kryb is AWESOME.  Then, we’ve got Amnee and Matoo Pree, plus Kyle Rayner, Soranik Natu, and unimportant Lantern #1 facing off against her.  And Amnee gets some awesome mother action of the same kind as a certain Harry Potter character.  To be honest, I’m not entirely sure why this arc’s title is what it is, because all it really does is set up the idea of the Star Sapphires.  Kryb and the new anti-romance law of the Guardians is more the key here.  But it’s still an amazing arc.  I’m not much of a fan of Patrick Gleason’s art, but it fits with Kryb so perfectly.  If this and the main title are any indication, Blackest Night is going to be one of the best comic book arcs EVER.

Plot: 9.2      Art: 8.7      Dialogue: 9.2      Overall: 9.0

An Unsatisfying Tribute

     As someone who yearns for the old, traditional days of the Avengers, I was very excited to hear about Dan Slott’s new plans for Mighty Avengers.  Also, as a fan of the Wasp, I knew that I had to pick up Secret Invasion: Requiem.  You would think that one of the founding members of the Avengers would get a more proper send-off.  But in all actuality, this comic, like Mighty Avengers #20,  boils down a highly complex character into a few things: Hank Pym’s wife, a 60’s glamor girl, and the woman who got slapped by an unstable husband.  That isn’t even the thing that is best about the character.  What was best was how she went from being someone so seemingly trivial to being the greatest leader of the Avengers, aside perhaps from Captain America himself.

     But that is relegated to the gallery of her old costumes (which doesn’t even include her appearance in the comics before Heroes Reborn), where it briefly shows some of her greatest moments, including her sad surrender of Earth to Kang the Conqueror in the Kang Dynasty, one of my favorite storylines in comic books.  That’s it.  I do like how the character of Jocasta is being used in a new and interesting way, despite the fact that we still don’t know how she got from being stuck in Antigone’s body, carrying Ultron’s head after he took over Iron Man’s armor back in the day to returning to her normal form, but maybe we’ll learn that soon.  Plus, the whole idea of Hank Pym becoming Wasp is kind of silly.  The man has had more identity crises than any character in Marvel.  I would actually have liked to see him die rather than her.  Anyway, I wish that there was more new story than just eight pages.  All in all, this was kind of disappointing.  Khoi Pham’s art was pretty cool, though it needs a little polish.

Plot: 5.5      Art: 8.2      Dialogue: 8.0      Overall: 7.1

Still Confusing, Yet Awesome

     So, despite the issue of the art team, Final Crisis continues on, and in a week or so, it’ll be over.  We’ve got all three of the major artists, J. G. Jones, Carlos Pacheco, and Doug Mahnke doing the work.  And a ton of plotlines suddenly ram together, and we’ve got a shocking ending.  So what’s going on?  Well, Darkseid seems to have made the populace of Earth a literal extension of himself.  They are all Darkseid.  Why?  Perhaps because he’s so badly injured, because Orion left him off so badly in Countdown to Final Crisis (yes, continuity!), and Dan Turpin can only be so good a host.  Anyway, it’s in this situation that we find ourselves.  There’s also two kick-ass fights, with Shazam, Black Adam, and Supergirl versus Mary Marvel, and Tawky Tawny versus Kalibak.  And somehow, the good guys win both.  Go Tawny!

     So, that all makes sense.  And Batman is the one to deal the final blow to Darkseid at the cost of, well… his life.  Or at the very least a lot of time until he can escape multiple crappy lives.  And Superman carrying his body is just shocking.  But then I look at the other plotlines, and I’m more confused.  What was the purpose of the Brainiac 5 and Superman scene?  What does that have to do with anything?  What is Mr. Miracle trying to do?  Isn’t there no purpose behind his actions now that Darkseid is dead?  Same with the Flashes.  What did the Anthro/Kamandi/Metron scenes at the beginning of the series have to do with anything?  And who is Mandrakk the Dark Monitor, and why is he the final villain instead of Darkseid?  I assume the Multiverse is still falling apart because of him.  Many questions, to be sure.  The whole idea of the Black Gambit is really cool, and Nix Uotan seems to be taking his role as the new guardian of the Multiverse, appointed by Metron, trying to put everything back in its place.  Cool, huh?  My only complaints at this point are that I wish that the art was more consistent and that the plot was a smidge less confusing.  Aside from those, this is how to right an event book.  It’s better than Secret Invasion, World War Hulk, and dozens of other events in the last few years.  Grant Morrison is earning his title as one of the best comic book writers ever with these pages.

Plot: 9.3      Art: 8.8      Dialogue: 9.0      Overall: 9.1