"BOCEPHEUS" |
"These reviews are based on the Sneak
Peek titles sent out by Marvel & Image (DC no longer sends them out). It's not
everything that's shipping for the week, but it is a real good cross-section of
this weeks releases. Check the bottom of the page (after you read my reviews)
for a link to some SNEAKY PEEKIES of future titles" |
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 COMIC
EVENT REVIEW
7 SOLDIERS OF VICTORY
Comic Review by:
Larry "Bocepheus" Evans
Writer: Grant Morrison, Artists: Various
Well, the book never really changed the world but Seven
Soldiers finally ended this week. The Grant Morrison created
event began somewhere about the dawn of time (April 2005)
and due to Grant being stretched too thin and JH Williams
passing deadlines like children unwanted by Madonna the
whole thing kind of fizzled out. Things started with a one
shot that led into a series of limited series involving;
Zatanna (drawn by Ryan Sook), The Manhattan Guardian (by
Other Side’s Cameron Stewart and the lamest of all the
books), Frankenstein (art by Doug Mahnke), the Bulleteer
(art from Yanick Paquette), Shining Knight (Simone Bianchi
working his way to a Marvel exclusive), Klarion (Brit Frazer
Irving) and Mister Miracle (drawn by anyone they could get).
None of the characters ever interacted, none of the
characters seen in the #0 issue lived past the last page and
none of these limited series made huge splashes. The art
issues on Miracle made the series uninteresting even though
Morrison had a great feel for the character. I have no idea
what he was striving for with Guardian and deep down I don’t
think he did either. The remainder were pretty cool (and
yes, even Klarion) with my favorites being Shining Knight
and Frankenstein. The delayed finale (and the fact that the
book cost more than the #0 issue shows you how delayed)
takes us on a tour of the DCU and shows us every harrowing
that the Earth as gone thru (how many times the Earth has
ended or changed). This allows Williams to play with his art
styles and Grant to trip us out with dialogue (in more ways
than one because the narrator bears close resemblance to
Grant) before some of the survivors actually meet one
another and defeat the evil villain. This suggests multiple
readings to see if it all ties together so if you don’t
figure out what is going on and where this all ties together
it’s cool. If you remember there were many rumors
surrounding the project including one that suggested that
the Soldiers universe was the real DC universe but nothing I
saw here had any clue to that. We are promised an appearance
of some of the Soldiers in 52 so who knows? Most projects
this ambitious end very badly but aside from some missteps
Morrison did fine.
AVERAGE MSRP: $2.99,
Alternate Reality Average Price: $2.54 (That's 15% OFF, All
This Week!) |
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MARVEL ROUND UP…
Avengers Next #1 (of 5) is based in the world of
Spider-Girl and revisits the team that at one point had their own book when
Marvel had an idea in their head that a line featuring the ‘future’ of a Marvel
Universe would sell. Here the book is from the team of Tom Defalco and Ron Lim
and it’s a pleasant little romp that should make older fans happy while
attracting younger ones who may have noticed that Spider-Girl just restarted a
few weeks ago…Spider-Man/Power Pack #1 (of 4) is more fun for the kids involving
the Power family and Spidey…Red Prophet #3 is another Dabel Bros. project based
on a character created by Ultimate Iron Man’s Orson Scott Card. It’s nicely
drawn by Roland Brown and should appeal to all the fans of the novels. I wasn’t
incredibly worked up over this but I didn’t hate it…She-Hulk #13 is another fun
romp involving Bruce Banner’s cousin and the marital situation she has found
herself in with Man-Wolf John Jameson. Here we are out among the cosmos finding
out whether Eros really made her fall in love or not while seeing what Thanos is
up to. Reality is bent from time to time but when the issue is over we are left
at a crossroads that should be resolved before Jen gets involved in Civil
War…Beyond #5 (of 6) begins with our heroes stuck in limbo thanks to the Space
Phantom. The Hank Pym/Janet Van Dyne relationship is the focus for much of the
issue (and that leads us to the cover image of another hook up) but the rest of
the issue shows us how good a writer Dwayne McDuffie is because he has the
diverse characters interacting even with all their differences. As the issue
ends we end up in the presence of the Watcher and see something that no one
could have seen coming…Incredible Hulk #100 is oversized (due to reprints
included that have a connection with the base of the entire arc) and sets up the
home stretch for the massive Greg Pak arc. The first tale sets up the huge
battle that will end all this but the second sets up the follow up. That tale is
drawn by Gary Frank and involves Mastermind Excello (seen in Amazing Fantasy).
The boy genius is a friend of the Hulk’s and he is the one who tells Reed
Richards that the Hulk isn’t where they thought they sent him. The tale also
ties into Civil War and shows Reed working on the Thor clone while being
reminded that he may not be as smart as he thinks he is…X-Men Phoenix: Warsong
#3 (of 5) reveals more about the Cuckoos (such as where they came from and who
their mother is) before bringing back the title character. The book flows well
and keeps your interest…Uncanny X-Men #480 shows us what Vulcan can do in a
fight. The book is drawn by Clayton Henry and shows us just how mixed up he can
be before Ed Brubaker drops a shocker ending on us...Irredeemable Ant-Man #2 is
as tightly packed as last issue if you can believe that. We begin with Eric
O’Grady on his date before going back six months to show how Chris McCarthy is
dealing with wearing the new Ant-Man armor. When we last saw him he was stuck
inside the SHIELD Helicarrier (in the vent system) trying to figure out how the
suit worked. Robert Kirkman shows us here that Eric isn’t a good person at all
but happens to be the one ending up in the suit. We see who will be after him on
the last page and at this point in time this is a damn good book…Criminal #2
takes place four days after the last issue and before we finish the issue we see
what the job really was all about as Leo sets things up. You can sense that
things are not going to end well but you just can’t stop reading the book. In
the end everything goes to hell and we see that the next three installments are
going to have our title character even worse off than he was when the series
started two months ago. This issue’s bonus material has Ed Brubaker tell you why
Out of the Past is one of the greatest noir films of all time. If you have never
seen the Robert Mitchum/Kirk Douglas film (or the remake with Jeff Bridges and
James Woods called Against All Odds which isn’t as good but a fine film in its
own right) go out and rent it or pick up the latest version of the DVD. It also
happens to be one of the smokiest films of all time because everyone is lighting
up.
IMAGE ROUND UP…
Image didn’t ship any early titles so the only things to review were the three
Spawn titles from last week. There was a big manga Spawn book the size of a
shrunken phone book that some may care for. Spawn #161 has Al Simmons brought
back to life after dying last issue (oh sure, you thought he was never coming
back) with more power and an actual purpose. And we finally got to see Spawn;
Godslayer from Brian Holguin and Aria’s Jay Anacleto. The book is naturally
attractive and the story is much better than the character sometimes deserves.
We get a sketchbook showing us what Anacleto’s work looks like in black and
white also. |
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"See, I told you I'd be
down here. We've got a bunch of SNEAKY PEEKIES of future
MARVEL, DC and IMAGE titles right
HERE" |
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All
Books/Characters pictured herein are © Copyright 2006
by their respective owners. No rights given or implied
by Alternate Reality, Incorporated.
Reviews © 2006 Alternate Reality, Inc. |
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