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STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES #1 |
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Writer:
Billy Tucci Artists:
Justiniano and Tom Derenick |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
DC Comics
Shipped On:
092910
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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DC'S SYNOPSIS:
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There aren't many French Resistance soldiers more beautiful than Mademoiselle
Marie - and there are none more deadly! When Marie is put in charge of some
critical cargo, she'll have to keep her enemies very close, indeed. But she
might not be keeping a close-enough eye on her friends! |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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War comics are just NOT my thing. I read them every
so often, usually when one company or another puts out a glut of them at one
time for some reason (it’s never abundantly clear to me). I always find one or
two gems, a few run of the mill line-towers, and a couple spectacular pieces off
crap. With my latest review I bring to you, “Mademoiselle Marie”, an entry in
that last sub-category.
Billy Tucci, who should know good war comics since he’s done “SGT. Rock” before,
as well as an independent short-film about WWII called “Some Trouble of a
Serrious Nature”, produces a magnificent misfire with this exercise in banality.
Marie is a SOE operative and member of the French Resistance, she’s dropped in
to assist freedom-fighters attain explosives to destroy some railroads. Through
a series of double and triple crosses, because there’s ALWAYS double and triple
crosses, Mademoiselle Marie ends up killing almost as many of her countrymen as
she does German soldiers. This doesn’t sit kindly with the young lady who finds
military combat in fishnet stockings to be liberating, and soon she’s seeking
sweet, bloody revenge on those who did her wrong. BOO-ring.
Tom Derenick and Justiniano do fantastic service to a hot mess of a comic book.
There’s a lot of stuff blowing up, a fair amount of action, and even some
scantily-clad women running about, but none of that means anything because
readers are asked to put so little of themselves into the story. Without
investment the characters are little more than cartoons running about blowing
each other up. While these two capable artists drew their asses off, I feel as
though the book sold them short. The whole experience left me with a feeling of
contrition for ever bothering to pick it up. |
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RADICAL PREMIERE MATA HARI |
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Writer:
Rich Wilkes
Artist:
Roy Allan Martinez |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
Radical
Comics
Shipped On:
090110
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MSRP:
$1.00 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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RADICAL COMICS'S SYNOPSIS:
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A look into the most notorious woman of her time, Mata Hari, presented in a
special $1.00 Radical Premiere of the upcoming graphic novel. Dancer.
Seductress. Spy. What is the secret story behind femme fatale Mata Hari, the
most famous female spy in the world? Through the account of a humble
eighteen-year-old girl, discover the secrets of the famous heroine, her covert
missions and the love that made her lose everything. |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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The true story of Mata Hari is one shrouded in
secrecy. The files surrounding her trial and subsequent execution were ruled
sealed for one-hundred years, and won’t be available for public record until
2017. Now here’s the kicker, when I say: this is all being brought to you by the
writer of “xXx” (starring Vin Diesel!), try not to run screaming for the
door…hello?
Seriously though, Rich Wilkes may be one of my favorite writers I never knew I
liked, and say what you want about “xXx” but this guys resume also includes
“Airheads”, “The Jerky Boys” and “The Stoned Age”, all classics in their own
right. But that doesn’t mean that I want a history lesson from a guy whose
IMDB.com photograph features him with a green Mohawk. Alright, I’m getting ahead
of myself; we’re not here to discuss his film career, but rather his blossoming
comic book career, one that starts with a graphic novel about a
stripper-turned-spy.
Mata Hari was an exotic dancer, but more so than that she was the biggest star
in all of Europe. Because of her beauty and exotic looks she was sought after by
some of the most powerful men from some of the most powerful nations in the
world. She also happened to be a German double-agent, withdrawing information
from her suitors through sex and manipulation and feeding it to the Axis
nations. When she was caught she was tried, found guilty of war crimes, and
ultimately executed.
What Wilkes attempts to do with the legendary historical figure is paint a
picture of the potential build-up to her capture and trial. He postulates a love
triangle, well at least the development of one, between Mata Hari, a French
photographer, and high ranking military official; a possible chain of events
that has its roots firmly planted in historical fact. This is only a preview of
the larger story, available in graphic novel form from Radical Publishing, so I
don’t really have a whole hell of a lot to go on here, but it was a fun little
reading experience none the less.
The artwork is what it is, which is nothing to write home about, but nothing to
slam outright either. I wasn’t moved by it for a majority of the piece, but I
could see why it would appeal to others. For one, I didn’t care for the
paintbrush-style effect that the pictures had, I thought that it made some of
the images appear out-of-focus and distracted my eye with needless squiggles.
The color selection also left me wanting, as I found that the overall saturation
effects only added a murkiness that hindered my visual experience. Visually, it
just wasn’t my cup of tea. |
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TERMINATOR 1984 #1 of 3 |
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Writer:
Zack Whedon
Artist:
Andy MacDonald |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
Dark Horse
Comics
Shipped On:
092910
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MSRP:
$3.50 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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DARK HORSE'S SYNOPSIS:
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After the shocking events he witnessed in humanity's future, Kyle Reese has made
the history-changing jump from the year 2029 to a world previously beyond his
imagining-1984 Los Angeles. It's a time before the war, before Skynet, but not
without danger, as Kyle begins his mission to find and protect Sarah Connor from
time-traveling T-800s. Close behind is Kyle's friend Ben, with a crucial mission
of his own. Hot off the critically-acclaimed Terminator: 2029, Zack Whedon and
Andy MacDonald begin the next chapter of Kyle's journey toward destiny in their
gripping reimaging of James Cameron's classic. |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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The creative team behind “Terminator: 2029” is back,
and THIS TIME they’re rocking the PAST with more Terminator-fighting bad assery…but
should they? This story takes place ALMOST at the same time as “The Terminator”
the motion picture, with a few slight augmentations to allow for the
shoehorning-in of a second story that finds Ben, the main character of ‘2029’,
following Kyle Reese back in time in hopes of changing history. I don’t have a
HUGE problem with that, as there was about 13 years of time that passed between
the first and second films, but this BETTER be damn-good throughout or there’ll
be hell to pay, I’m sure.
The story picks up the ball near the end of the famous film…Sarah Connor has
just survived the Terminator attack, Reese is thought dead, and Cyberdine shows
up at the factory to clean up the mess that they’re (sorta) responsible for.
Ben, who’s followed Reese back in time, witnesses the clean-up crew attempting
to hide the truth and makes a point of tracking down Sarah Connor after the
fact. He explains where he’s from, what he’s doing in the past, and what he
witnessed the Cyberdine people doing with Reese’s body; this, of course, gets
Sarah all worked up and she starts stocking up munitions in preparation of a
fire-fight.
Aside from rehashing the ending of the movie, and then taking it about a
half-step forward, there’s not a WHOLE LOT to this book. I mean, it’s ALL set up
and very little in the way of pay-out. There’s going to be a lot going on in the
coming issues, but not a lot of that is previewed in the first issue. If you’ve
NEVER seen Terminator than this might spark some interest in the
source-material, but it’s not going to revolutionize the way you see the
property if you’ve been a long-time fan. I’m kind of interested in where this is
going, but at the same time the first two Terminator films seem almost
untouchable to me. I’m not sure what Zack Whedon is planning doing to leave his
mark on the legacy without screwing things up, and I’m not entirely sure that
I’m going to care once we get there.
Andy MacDonald’s pencils tread a fine line between sketchy and clean. Certain
panels are crisp and neat, while others exemplify the gritty,
rough-around-the-edges time of the 1980s. It’s a perfect combination that really
helps set the tone of the book; it doesn’t go against the imagery seen in the
movie, and it establishes its own sense of self when dealing with the men behind
Cyberdine, the main character Ben, and of course the dirty, dry Mexican desert
where Sarah seems so at home. I thought that the art worked incredibly well for
the story, although I’m not sure the story worked incredibly well. |
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GI COMBAT #1
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Writer:
Matthew Sturges
Artist:
Phil Winslade |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
DC
Comics
Shipped On:
092210
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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DC'S SYNOPSIS:
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Jeb Stuart's gotten used to his tank being haunted by the ghost of his Civil War
ancestor, General J.E.B. Stuart, but when he and his crew are pinned down by
German soldiers in a walled city, what will happen when he must take the helm of
a tank haunted by a very different kind of dead man? |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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For what it’s worth, “The Haunted Tank” is a
fantastic throw-back to the days when war comics were as prevalent as the
superhero genre, and it retains ALL the sensibilities of similar books that
preceded it while at the same time bringing a fresh take on an OLD idea. The
concept is simple: There’s a tank, and it’s haunted by the ghost of a
Confederate General. Sometimes this ghost helps out a soldier by offering vague
advice and strategy. See, that wasn’t too hard, was it?
Alright, so it’s World War II, and the combat in France is at a high point as
the Allied forces gain momentum in their mission to liberate the land from Nazi
control. When The Haunted Tank comes across a group of fallen comrades it’s up
to the soldiers manning the monster machine to take out a pair of German tanks
and a hidden gunner, but can they do it all by themselves? It’s a rather classic
example of the David VS Goliath story with a slight ghost-story twist, and it
works rather splendidly by playing up the ‘haunted’ aspects of the tank and not
so much the ‘tank’ stuff. What do I mean? Watching two tanks shoot back and
forth at one another would probably be pretty boring, right? But reading about a
ghost intervening in combat situations to the detriment of our enemies is pretty
cool.
The fun comes towards the end when the big twist is revealed…I’m not going to
give it away, but it wasn’t what I was expecting at all. I thought that Sturges
did a great job establishing the environment that these guys faced, and while it
wasn’t an overly dramatic, virtuous, or gory tale, it worked really well! Not
all war stories have to be melodramatic morality tales, and not all of them have
to be full of adult-style humor and violence. There’s something very mature
about Sturges take, without coming off as a Mature-Readers title.
Phil Winslade really pulls out all the stops with his work on “The Haunted
Tank”; his style really invokes the feel of a classic war comic, as opposed to
the more stylized undertakings of current series. I really enjoyed the sketchy,
almost dirty line-work as it added a great deal of grit and realism. His
characters look like soldiers, not super-people, and as regular guys in intense
combat situations Winslade really manages to get their emotions across to
readers in facial expressions and body language. When the characters run for
their lives, you the reader feel like you’re fleeing with them; when they share
in a victory over German soldiers with odds stacked against them, I felt like
part of the team. I had a lot of fun with this book, and though it’s not PERFECT
(and really, what is?), we could definitely use more books like it on the
shelves. |
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VALKYRIE #1 |
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Writer:
Bryan J.L. Glass
Artist:
Phil Winslade |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
Marvel
Comics
Shipped On:
092910
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
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From the pages of SECRET AVENGERS-the untold story of the rebirth of Valkyrie!
In AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED, Ragnarok claimed the lives of the Asgardians, until
they were reborn along with Thor himself...but when and how did the legendary
shield maiden Brunhilde return? How does a murder mystery hold all the answers?
And how can Valkyrie solve the riddle of her own death? Dare a glimpse into the
soul of Marvel's most misunderstood heroine, and witness her transformation from
myth to Defender to Avenger! Featuring the Marvel Universe writing debut of
acclaimed writer Bryan J.L. Glass (The Mice Templar), and the stunning pencils
of Phil Winslade (Wonder Woman)! |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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Let’s get this out of the way first: I’m a ‘new’
Avengers fan. I didn’t read the Avengers growing up, in fact “New Avengers” was
my first regular Avengers-related purchase, and THAT is the version of the team
that I’m likely to look back on most fondly as time goes on. At first I thought
this one-shot was somehow tied to the soon-to-be-released “Thor” movie, but I
was wrong, this is ACTUALLY an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the Ed
Brubaker-penned “Secret Avengers”. While this attempt to make heads or tails of
the character’s convoluted history is admirable, if for nothing more than the
sheer amount nonsense one has to delve into, in the end the book just came off
as a fluff piece that does NOTHING to advance the character, in my opinion.
So everyone wanted to know where Valkyrie had been since Thor awakened the
Asgardian pantheon; Bryan J.L. Glass is trying to explain what went on with the
character between Straczynski’s “Thor” #1 and “Secret Avengers” #1,
unfortunately it’s not that good of a story. While all the Asgardians slept in
human bodies after Ragnarok, Valkyrie was a hotel concierge. After she’s
‘killed’ by being thrown from a high-rise hotel she’s revived by a paramedic
only to be re-revived by Thor as Brunnhilde, or Valkyrie, as she’s more commonly
known as. This leads to a whole lot of silliness in which Valkyrie attempts to
make sense of all the cluttered memories in her head, as well as figure out who
killed her human counterpart while the Asgardian inside her was dormant.
Seriously, just trying to explain it is giving me a headache.
There is, of course, a silly appearance by a third-rate villain who just so
happens to be the one responsible for throwing Valerie, I mean Valkyrie, out of
a window. They fight, Val wins (no duh!) and then readers are told they can
follow the heroine’s adventures in “Secret Avengers”, but I don’t think ANYONE
would be sold on THAT title by way of this one. I mean, there’s so much to
absorb, so much in the way of convoluted past, present, and potential future
with this character; even as the writer/artist team do their best to make her as
interesting as possible it’s just way off the mark. I couldn’t find myself taken
by the overly-complex material conveniently shoehorned into present continuity.
The art is tolerable, if not a little non-descript. Phil Winslade is a capable
artist, but he’s not given a chance to illustrate anything with any personality.
The whole book feels like it’s going through the motions instead of attempting
to really captivate a reader’s attention. I thought the pictures were pretty,
but I’d much rather see the guy draw something with some heart. I imagine this
was some sort of editorially mandated story that they wanted to get out there in
celebration of “Women of Marvel” month, but it just doesn’t do anyone involved
any justice. Glass comes off looking like an amateur and Winslade kills some
time before his next project. Valkyrie might be of some interest to older fans
but THIS isn’t the way to spark a great deal of interest in the character with a
new generation of readership. |
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WETWORKS MUTATIONS #1 |
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Writers:
Kevin Grevioux & Christopher Long
Artist:
Julius Gopez |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
DC/Wildstorm
Comics
Shipped On:
092910
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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DC/WILDSTORM'S SYNOPSIS:
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Roaming the post-Apocalyptic American landscape, it's Wetworks like you've never
seen them before. With their symbiotes no longer reliably functioning, the team
finds themselves running up against Lord Defile, intent upon remaking the ruined
Earth in his own vision, which includes experimenting on human prisoners to
create a hybrid species! Writer, actor and co-creator of the Underworld movie
franchise Kevin Grevioux and co-writer Christopher Long bring their unique take
to this classic WildStorm team, with incredibly detailed art by newcomer Julius
Gopez. |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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THIS is what happens when perfectly viable and
proven properties are forced to sit on the shelf for too long. Time passes them
by and not-so-suddenly a great idea becomes a dated and frankly silly concept
that we’ve seen played to death already. Do we need ANOTHER superheroes versus
vampires story, even when you throw aliens in the mix it feels somewhat forced,
unlike the gangster/alien/vampire epic unfolding in “Turf”. Oh, and there’s
werewolves, too, so if it didn’t sound horribly convoluted BEFORE it probably
does now.
The Wildstorm Universe is coming to an end, and to be honest, while it KINDA
sucks, as far as I’m concerned THAT particular corner of the DCU has been
riddled with problems for a while. I mean, what good is a superhero universe
that’s gone through Armageddon, the end of the world, and has little in the way
of society to protect or serve? The idea that destroying the Wildstorm Universe
BEFORE it fades away into oblivion, leaving it to spasm like a dying fish on a
pier, only adds insult to injury to a particular selection of titles that
featured creators like Morrison, Moore, Lee, Ellis, Charest, Campbell, and so
many more. These were MORE than just superhero comics for a while, but in the
end they’re little more than lame ducks waiting to be picked off by the money
men at DCE.
This book is a hot mess, and the sad part is it only serves to establish a new
status-quo for the Wetworks team, right before the whole line gets shelved.
Grevioux and Long try to build upon the years of established continuity, their
first mistake, and end up making a big mess of things. The gold symbiotes that
give the Wetworks team their powers start going haywire, which is to say that
they conveniently stop working when it best suits the writers’ urges. Dane loses
an arm, Dozer starts growing weird arm-barbs, or whatever, and ultimately after
the deaths of a couple of teammates, one symbiote in particular becomes
sentient. Who cares?
This is all ‘too little, too late’ as far as I’m concerned. The editorial team
over at Wildstorm lost sight of what their characters had to offer the
comic-reading public, and they started trying to establish a post-apocalyptic
superhero universe, which was a HUGE ‘oopsie’. As opposed to ever reestablishing
their position as a clever, boundary-pushing line of comics, Wildstorm cemented
their own spot at the bottom of the creative pool…hopefully drowning any more
bright ideas they may have until such a time that NEW and FRESH team of creators
can approach these titles and restore them to greatness. Under the DC banner,
that is, of course. |
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SKULLKICKERS #1 |
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Writer:
Jim Zubkavich
Artists:
Chris Stevens and Edwin Huang |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
Image Comics
Shipped On:
092210
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MSRP:
$2.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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IMAGE'S SYNOPSIS:
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"One Thousand Opas and a Dead Body" -- No one knows where these two warriors
came from. The only thing that's clear is that they're two of the most ornery
trouble-making $%@# that have ever lived. Skullkickers is a fantasy
action-comedy: Two mercenaries entangled in a high class assassination plot and
nothing - werewolves, skeletons or black magic - will stop them from getting
paid. If you love tabletop fantasy RPGs or movies like Army of Darkness,
Skullkickers is waiting for you! |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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I wasn’t supposed to like this book; I was supposed
to love it. Why? Because I wanted to; for so long after first seeing an online
preview featuring little beyond a couple covers, a pitch, and the title (which
is great), I was sold on the book, adding it to my pull list weeks before it
came out (a rarity for me). When it came out this past Wednesday, I was really
looking forward to getting home and cracking it open, eagerly anticipating
whatever kind of adventure and tomfoolery awaited me inside. What I got instead
was a fairly exciting, barely clever, and somewhat silly book about two unnamed
men who I’m supposed to find hilariously BAD-ASS. Um, ok.
Chris Steven’s Jack Kirby-inspired cover is the MOST IMPRESSIVE thing about the
whole book, and I thought it was going to be somewhat indicative of the art
inside, but that isn’t so. Stevens shares the art duties, almost down the
middle, with Edwin Huang, who also inks the entire issue. While the book has two
different artists there is such a cohesive look to the whole thing that if they
didn’t specifically tell you who drew what, there is no way you’d be able to
distinguish between the two. Though that is an impressive feat to manage, I have
to be honest in saying that the overall style of the art didn’t capture me the
way I thought it would; it seems a bit too anime-inspired for my tastes these
days.
The ‘story’, if that’s what you’d care to call it, begins with a fight, ends
with a fight-about-to-start, and somewhere in between Jim Zubkavich manages the
least amount of characterization possible. For a first issue I learned very
little about our main characters other than, a) they like to fight, b) when
they’re not fighting they like to drink beer, and c) they’re little more than
hired thugs (‘mercenary’ being such an ‘in-word’ right now and all…). Do I CARE
about the characters as they stumble headlong into danger time and time again,
nope, and it doesn’t seem as though Zubkavich cares if you do or not, he just
wants to show two visually arresting guys beating the crap out of stuff.
I’m disappointed that this wasn’t what I expected it to be, but then again I’m
not exactly sure WHAT I expected it to be. I wanted something with a bit of an
edge to it, yet still firmly rooted in a swords-and-sorcery world, but this
seems a bit too heavy on the ‘edge’ and extremely light on the ‘world’ part.
There’s no atmosphere, no environment, it’s just ‘punch, punch, stab, kick, run,
jump, steal’, and that gets old REAL FAST. Some are proclaiming this to be “…the
next big hit for Image!” Too bad it feels like the next big ‘whiff’, at least
the first issue is only $2.99 so feel free to judge for yourself…if you dare! |
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THOR #615 |
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Writer:
Matt Fraction
Artist:
Pasqual Ferry |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
Marvel Comics
Shipped On:
092210
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
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Fraction! Ferry! Heroic Age! The perfect jumping-on point as THOR's all-new
creative team and all-new era kick off HERE! In the wake of SIEGE, Asgard must
take its proper place as the Golden Realm, most glorious of the nine worlds of
myth. But that means Thor's home isn't just a beacon...it's a target! And what
happens to the Asgardians and the denizens of all nine worlds -- including
Earth! -- when a dark, destructive force from another reality comes on the
warpath? |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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With all the brew-ha-ha that’s, um, brewing around
the God of Thunder’s big screen debut, Marvel Comics has brought in their latest
‘wonder-boy’, Matt Fraction, to give the old ‘spit/polish’ to everyone’s
favorite Asgardian Avenger. This comes after a disappointing showing by Kieron
Gillen and Billy Tan, and even slightly further down the line from the
critically acclaimed J. Michael Straczynski, and the big question is: Can
Fraction deliver the goods when combined with an artistic talent like Ferry,
making the book as accessible and interesting as it’s EVER been?
The short answer is, “Yeah, sure.” The slightly longer answer is, “Yes, but not
without a few minor stumbles along the way.” Since I have the room, and the time
to kill, I guess I’ll elaborate further. The book is visually stunning; Ferry is
truly a master of his craft, and even with some of the most imaginative
page-layouts I’ve seen in quite a while, I’m not sure he was given enough to do.
Sure there’s scope, and characterization, environment, even a peek at some
baddies who seem a bit heavy on the ‘bad’, but all in all I still felt, well,
kinda swindled.
I’m NOT a big Thunder God fan, so I wasn’t sure what I expected to find when I
cracked the issue open, but let’s just say while I’m impressed with the attempt,
I’m under whelmed with the issue as a whole. I wanted to find myself swept away
in the mythology, but so much has been done to render Thor’s home asunder that
there isn’t a ton to do with the character but to take him and his brethren in
another direction. This is one of the issue’s strongest points; Fraction’s
bizarre imagination has managed to dredge up a group of inter-dimensional
warlords whose blood thirst is only outmatched by their brutality.
The evil-doers, whoever they are, interrupt a rather delightful bit about some
Ice Elves of Alfheim, and just before the death, and the carnage, and the mayhem
begin, I was wondering what the hell it had to do with anything. Fraction pulled
a fast one on me, and I’ll be the first to admit that, and it was REALLY
EXCITING, but immediately after that he puts the brakes on everything, bringing
in his royal mopey-ness to brood, and pout, and lecture others more mopey, and
pouty, and brooding. It really just became a pity party at the end, which lost
my attention pretty quickly. Fraction does lob a little humor over the plate at
the end, and nails it like a jacked-up DH. Nothing like a good fat-joke at
Volstagg’s expense right, easy targets make the best targets.
SO all in all, I’m wishy-washy on the whole experience. I wanted to LOVE this
book, thinking that Fraction, free from all the mutant baggage he’s been forced
to carry for the last few years, was ready to go ape on a title that NEEDS to be
on point for the next couple of years if it hopes to draw in new readers, and
while he’s ALMOST there, in my opinion, he just didn’t knock it out like I
thought he would. At least the pictures were pretty. And I mean PRETTY! |
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POWER GIRL #16 |
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Writer:
Judd Winick
Artist:
Sam Basri |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
DC Comics
Shipped On:
092210
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MSRP:
$2.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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DC'S SYNOPSIS:
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Someone close to Karen Starr has figured out that she's the one and only Power
Girl! An unusual alliance is born as this new team tries to uncover who ruined
Power Girl's company and sent her life into a tailspin. |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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Ever have a friend from whom, over time, you grew
apart? Ever catch up with that person down the line a bit and come to the bitter
realization that things are NEVER going to be as good as they once were? That’s
kind of how it felt as I read my way through the latest installment of “Power
Girl”; it was awkward, uncomfortable, and ultimately disappointing overall.
While it’s probably one of the more visually dynamic books, in terms of
character design at least, I just couldn’t muster the same sort of feeling that
I felt when Palmiotti, Gray, and Connor were handling the creative chores. There
was no chemistry anymore; sure it LOOKS good, but a lot of stuff LOOKS good and
doesn’t have the substance, the depth that I’m looking for in a comic. Basri’s
destined for bigger things, IF he can manage a few backgrounds beyond the simple
stuff that he’s doing right now…his characters are wonderful looking, and his
action is very kinetic, I’m just a sucker for ‘atmosphere.’
Aside from a plot device that was used barely half a year back, there’s the
ever-clever early, semi-reveal of the villain’s identity which all leads to the
ultimately disappointing finish, sans REAL reveal. Is it a tried and true way to
tell a story, sure, but if you rearrange the letters in ‘tried’ you get ‘tired’,
and that’s how this felt to me. I assume from the rest of the story that the bad
guy is the same person who’s featured so heavily alongside Power Girl, but I
could be wrong, the thing is I don’t care to stick around and find out.
It’s a shame that a book that really STOOD OUT amongst the crowd of
ever-shrinking DC comics that don’t have “Bat” or “Green” in the title was
turned on its ear and left to twist in the wind. I don’t care about creative
changes in most titles; directions are bound to change over time, and it’s not
as if PeeGee’s world is upside down and nothing makes sense, but the tonal
shift, ever so slight though it may be, is enough to send me running to my long
boxes to dig out my old issues and think back to how GOOD things USED TO BE. |
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THOR FIRST THUNDER #1 of 5 |
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Writer:
Bryan J.L. Glass
Artist:
Tan Eng Huat |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
Marvel Comics
Shipped On:
091510
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
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Revealed for a new generation: the origin-and first year on Earth-of the God of
Thunder! Who is the enigmatic Doctor Donald Blake? What is the secret that
drives him to travel the world, seeking its challenges, and how does it connect
him to the banished Prince of Asgard? Why has Thor been exiled to walk amongst
mankind-and battle threats from beyond the stars? And before the entire saga is
over, how will he react when confronted by the likes of Tony Stark, Reed
Richards...and his devious brother Loki? Witness the legend reborn with a modern
touch by Harvey Award-winning writer Bryan J.L. Glass (The Mice Templar) and
acclaimed Eisner-winning artist Tan Eng Huat (SILVER SURFER: IN THY NAME)! |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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Have you ever read the first appearance of Thor,
waaaaaaay back in “Journey into Mystery” #83? I haven’t, mainly because I wasn’t
all that interested in Thor and I still ain’t. First, let me say that I don’t
think it should take five issues (at $3.99) to retell a story that took maybe
one issue and cost twelve-cents, but who the hell am I, you ask? Nobody, so my
take on that doesn’t matter; my opinion on the contents does, I guess…so here
goes nothing.
Are you a Thor fan? Then you MAY like this title, IF you can get past the
sometimes-jarring visuals of Tan Eng Huat. This is a guy whose art is very
distinct, and very weird at times, but he can really sell visual story telling
when he tries. There are some seriously strange looking characters, at least
anatomically speaking, but Huat does a good job expressing the emotional feeling
of each scene, and that’s important for an origin story, even one that’s as
stretched out and bloated as this one is.
Don Blake is hiking his handicapped self through the rugged terrain of Norway,
when a storm forces him into a cave for shelter. Some nice Norwegians make some
conversation, but when they’re about to go their separate ways a giant alien
rock monster springs to life and attacks! This forces Don BACK into the cave
where, while eluding the aliens, comes across the walking stick that transforms
him into Thor. If I’ve just spoiled anything for you you’ve probably never read
a comic in your life, Welcome!
Really, it’s that simple; the alien and Thor do a little bit of a throw-down,
but it’s the God-of-Thunder all-the-way, so I wouldn’t exactly call it
suspenseful. Some slightly weird and wonderfully rendered machinations are afoot
with the God of Mischief, and Thor’s half-brother Loki, but I’m sure that’s what
they’re planning to use to fill out the other four issues…no sense in releasing
a mini-series if it can’t help sell some graphic novel, movie tie-ins, right? I
smell cash-grab, but without a word like ‘Origin’ or ‘Prelude’ or whatever, how
will anyone know that THIS is the book that’s got the definitive origin for the
golden-haired, hammer-wielding, God of thunder and lightning? Hmmm?
I’m sorry if my opinion of meaningless fill-in books, meant not for fans of the
comics but rather potential fans of the movie, overshadow my ability to be
reasonable, or at least sensible, but I really think that this was as pointless
as striking oneself about the head and neck with a claw-hammer for recreational
purposes; bloody awful. But hey, if Thor is new to you, or you just like having
your money taken from you in the least threatening of all forms of robbery, then
please, shell out some moolah and tell Marvel Comics that you want more books
just like this one. |
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INCREDIBLE HULKS ENIGMA FORCE #1 of 3 |
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Writer:
Scott Reed
Artist:
Miguel Munera |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
Marvel Comics
Shipped On:
091510
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
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Commander Rann and his ENIGMA FORCE face their first mission as the protectors
of the new MICROVERSE... But it might be over before it begins when they are
forced to rely on the help of a horrifying enemy! But to stop HIRO-KALA, the
sinister SON OF HULK, and the rampaging, world-shattering plans he has for
Jarella's World, the Foce will go to any length! With old friends, Marionette,
and Bug alongside some new faces, this Enigma is a force to be reckoned with! |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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Ever hear of the Micronauts? That’s okay, me
neither, and that’s entirely reasonable, because the Micronauts haven’t been
around in FOREVER. Marvel went around buying up toy licenses throughout the 70’s, and that’s when they came upon a little gem called “The Micronauts”. There wasn’t much of a mythos established
within the toy-line itself so Marvel writers went
about creating a world beyond the three main characters and their arch nemesis;
fast forward to 2010 and Marvel no longer has license you utilize the name Micronauts, but they sure do have the right to use the characters they helped
create, and that’s exactly what this is…the OTHER Micronauts…*sigh*.
Spinning out of “Dark Son”, which itself spins out of any number of previous
Hulk events, meaning that I could care less, “Enigma Force” finds the
Micro…eh…the team of the HMS Endeavor III in direct conflict with the villainous
Hiro-Kala, dark son of the Hulk. The team has to travel through universes, from
the Microverse to the um, our-verse, where the Son of the Hulk, not Skarr, seeks
to wreak havoc and the end of all things, because, well, he’s a bit of a
cry-baby. His actions send two survivors careening into the path of the HMS
Endeavor, one a niece of Hulk’s previous love Jarella of the Microverse, and the
other a Psyklop, from way back in the debut of "Jarella's World".
So there’s a big fight, resulting in the good guys winning, in a way, and that
leads to some other shenanigans and characterization, and ultimately more
fighting…what else is new? Not much. The inclusion of Bug, who’s recently been
spotted in the sickeningly underrated “Guardians of the Galaxy”, adds a bit of
personality to the typical White-Space-Hero story, which really only draws yawns
from my direction right here. I can’t say a whole lot of good things about this
book, because it’s just an excuse to attempt to cash in on the latest craze of
retro-cool.
“Agents of Atlas” is a perfect example, as far as Marvel’s products are
concerned. “T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents”, recently revived over at DC Comics is
another, even though it hasn’t shipped yet, the buzz has been tremendous. Marvel
is hoping that the buzz from those quirky, weird, action/space genre junkies
will find themselves overwhelmed with nostalgia as soon as they catch sight of
Arcturus Rann’s skin tight body-condom, or Princess Marionette’s tunic…or whatever.
The art is tolerable, but for the most part it has little personality. I know
that Miguel Munera illustrated this book ONLY because the cover tells me so,
other than that there is very little to grasp onto visually and identify as
Munera’s. I need a bit of flair with my space opera, and this just doesn’t pack
enough punch to fall under a ‘Hulk’ umbrella, if you ask me. |
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CAPTAIN AMERICA PATRIOT #1 of 4 |
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Writer:
Karl Kesel
Artist:
Mitch Breitweiser |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
Marvel Comics
Shipped On:
091510
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
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What does it take to be the living symbol of America... the Sentinel of
Liberty... the Super-Soldier of World War II? What does it take to be CAPTAIN
AMERICA? 1941. Captain America puts on his mask and shield for the first time--
and instantly inspires an entire nation, including Jeff Mace-- a
rough-and-tumble reporter- who quickly dons his own star-spangled suit and calls
himself the PATRIOT! It's a decision that will take him from stopping stateside
saboteurs to headlining the home front heroes known as the Liberty Legion to the
most unexpected offer of all. When the Sentinel of Liberty dies and Jeff Mace is
asked to be the NEXT CAPTAIN AMERICA!
This is the story of a man who was a great Patriot, and his determination to be
something more. His attempt to be not just a hero, but a symbol. His struggle to
show he has what it takes to be CAPTAIN AMERICA! |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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Captain America is SUPPOSED to inspire the average
man; that was the point of draping the metaphorical flag over his shoulders and
sending him into battle as our American champion. Karl Kesel, fresh off his
“Captain America: The News Paper Strip” or whatever, has MORE Cap stories up his
sleeve, and this time he’s brought the phenomenal art team of Mitch and Bettie
Breitweiser along for the ride. Kesel is still very much grounded in the early
part of Cap’s enduring career, but the focus is actually on an oft-forgotten
character known as The Patriot.
It’s a charming story really, and very much golden-age in its approach to the
character; if a more ‘classic’ take on crime-fighting is your thing then this is
probably right up your alley. Jeff Mace is an on-the-scene reporter during the
early struggle of World War II; an encounter between Captain America and some
under-cover Krauts sees Mace getting a chance to throw an assist Cap’s way, and
the star-spangled Invader is more than happy to give a good-natured citizen a
solid handshake and a pat on the back. It’s THIS seemingly tiny interaction that
plants the seed inside Jeff Mace’s head, and soon the costumed hero known as The
Patriot is born.
The Patriot’s journey is not the glamorous, thrill ride that Captain America’s
is and continues to be. Mace goes from domestic defender to leader of the
Liberty Legion to ultimately stand-in Captain America, and it’s an arduous road
for a guy with no super powers. That’s probably what I found so appealing about
Jeff Mace, he wasn’t a wiener like Steve Rogers was BEFORE the Super Soldier
Serum transformed him into Captain America; he’s just a guy with flat-feet. He
grew up on Yancy Street and he works as a reporter for the Daily Bugle, he’s as
tied to the Marvel Universe as anybody, and because of a few words from a guy he
and everybody else looked up to he began to fight back.
Aside from a few choice words that are incredibly racist, the book is very much
an all-encompassing everyman’s tale. It begins with a regular guy and ends with
a regular guy trying to fit a super-man’s shoes. Karl Kesel really has a strong
grasp of the time period and the way that people communicated, so the
environment is a very vivid recreation. Everything is beautifully rendered, and
really brought to life by the Breitweiser’s exceptional illustrations. I really
enjoy everything the pair has done, and I’ll continue to support their work,
because it’s that damn good. |
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X-23 #1
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Writer:
Marjorie Liu
Artist:
Will Conrad |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
Marvel Comics
Shipped On:
091510
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
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After the events of Second Coming and the stunning conclusion to X-Force, X-23
strikes out on her own in this all-new ongoing series, written by best-selling
author MARJORIE LIU, spinning out of the events of Wolverine #1! X-23 has never
had an easy relationship with the rest of the X-Men, but when she learns someone
has taken down Wolverine, she must step up to fill his shoes. |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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There isn’t a whole lot of ways for me to put it, so
I’ll just come right out with it so’s to not drag this out any longer than I
need to. I liked this book, and that’s because Marjorie Liu managed to add an
unexpected layer of depth to a character that I found to be little more than a
one-trick pony. The ex-hooker turned super-heroine, clone of Wolverine but she’s
got foot-claws, raised as a killer only to be taken in by the X-Men and utilized
on a wet-works team of killers called X-Force; despite ALL THAT baggage this
character is forced to carry simply by being a part of the X-corner of the
Marvel U, I still found this book both interesting and gorgeous. It’s truly more
worthy of a recommendation than either of the other Wolverine-related series
that shipped in the last two weeks.
So Wolverine’s body is on Earth, possessed by an evil demon who’s managed to
trap his soul in Hell! Whoa, sounds like something the old guy can’t slice his
way out of, so of course it spills over into every other Wolvie-related series
that’s found their way to shelves in the last two weeks. Luckily, this both does
and doesn’t fall in step with the other previously launched released: It doesn’t
carry the “Wolverine Goes to Hell!” banner that “Daken: Dark Wolverine” does,
but it does seem to come into play during the story, at least in part.
The book begins with Laura’s dreams, or day-dreams, in either case they’re
creepy as hell and feature Wolverine goading Laura into joining him with
pseudo-sexual undertones and stuff reminiscent of the Xavier/Onslaught/Jean Grey
creepiness that bothered me as a young man. This incredibly eerie sequence isn’t
immediately followed up by some cool action sequences with little point but to
dress up a turd (the way “Daken: DW” did), but instead takes it’s title
character in the other direction, giving us almost THE REST of the book for
characterization before ending on a shocking cliffhanger.
That’s right folks; you read that correctly, almost the remainder of the issue
is dedicated to establishing the world that Laura lives in post-“Second Coming”,
and the people that she surrounds herself with are the ever-present X-Family,
immediate and extended. I mean EVERYONE seems to be around, at least everyone
that matters: Storm, The New X-Men, Cyclops, Emma Frost, “Wolverine”, and even
elements of the back alley, street-walker lifestyle that Laura USED to call
‘home’. If this is a natural successor to books like “New X-Men”, then I’m all
for it, but if it’s just some lame ploy to get more cash for less slash, well,
only time will tell.
Will Conrad packed this book so full of illustration there’s barely an INCH that
isn’t covered in some sort of detail. Panel layouts are a bit on the traditional
(read: unimaginative) side, but every single one is chock to the gills full of
drawings. I loved how reminiscent his style is to that of Don Kramer, an artist
whom I’ve only recently begun to appreciate, most likely due to my own
ignorance. As long as Conrad manages to keep up the pace that this sort of a
book is likely to need to build its momentum, and he’s up to the task of getting
dragged into every silly X-related crossover, I think they have a stellar
creative team on this title. I just can’t slice it any other way than that. |
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RED VICTORIA SPECIAL #1
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Writer:
Jon Hoeber
Artist:
David Hahn |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
DC/Wildstorm Comics
Shipped On:
091510
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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DC/WILDSTORM'S SYNOPSIS:
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Based on the upcoming film from Summit Entertainment! Victoria is a beautiful
and vibrant 30-year-old woman in her prime - and MI6's top assassin. The
commitment to become the best has left her personal life empty and cold...until,
on a vacation following a particularly difficult mission, she meets the man of
her dreams and falls head-over-heels in love! The only downside? He's the
K.G.B.'s hottest agent, and he's her next target! |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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See this is the exact kind of thing that I loathe.
Take one pre-existing property and let some movie studio purchase the rights to
it, then they gut the work and reassemble the parts they want while patching the
rest up with creative-duct tape, but just in case they think they’re losing the
core audience for this sort of movie (the fans, duh!) they produce four
bastardizations of the original product in comic-book form. They call them
prequels; I usually call them cash-grabs, or last-ditch efforts at reeling in
potential audience members. But what happens when the loathsome cash-grab,
last-ditch effort really pays off resulting in a rather readable enjoyable comic
experience?
Yep, it’s a good book; I don’t think I can make it any more clear than that, and
even though it pains me to admit it, I’d probably read the rest of the one-shots
based on the strength of this issue. While I don’t necessarily approve of the
comic-to-film boom of the last decade or so, most specifically: the effect it’s
had on the comic industry’s willingness to whore itself out to the highest
bidder, I have to admit that the “RED: Retired. Extremely Dangerous” film seems
true to form in concept. You take what you want, add a bit of a twist, in this
case, the addition of so many characters, and take the tone in a different
direction, the comedic turn, and hopefully it’s something that pays homage to
the original property and still stands on its own; at least, that’s what they
hope…
Victoria wasn’t a main-player in the original material, but her role in the
movie, I’m assuming, is appropriately beefy for someone of Helen Mirren’s
status. In this she’s the star of the show and since it’s a prequel you get to
imagine young, nubile, “Caligula”-Helen Mirren, not…“The Queen”-Helen Mirren!
There’s a great deal of heavy spy action and blood shed; people that aren’t main
characters are targets and they’re dealt with quickly. At some point Victoria is
offered a vacation by her superiors and she takes them up on it. Gallivanting
off to some exotic locale where she meets a man, commencing a whirlwind
romancing, and ultimately heartbreak, Victoria then indulges her blood-thirst
with a bit more spy action.
It’s not THAT simple, but I don’t want to spoil any of the stuff that makes it a
fun read. If you’re a fan of these kinds of stories, or movies-based-on-stories
like these, or whatever, this is really a fun, well-illustrated book. The images
are sometimes a bit graphic, but in such a beautifully clean way, very much in
the spirit of Cully Hamner, “RED” co-creator. I can’t think of another instance
where some hackney, half-arsed tie-in ever inspired this much enjoyment out of a
grouch like me, but I’ll take it where I can get it. |
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WEIRD WAR TALES #1 |
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Writers:
Darwyn Cooke, Jan Strnad, Ivan Brandon
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Artists:
Darwyn Cooke, Nic Klein, Gabriel Hardman |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
DC Comics
Shipped On:
090910
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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DC'S SYNOPSIS:
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Three sensational short stories from three exceptional creative teams! Whether
it's soldiers risen from the grave, horror beneath the sea or battles among
dinosaurs, war has never been weirder than this! |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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This is a perfect example of comics that you just
don’t see enough of anymore. Anthology books always have SOMETHING to offer
everyone; even if the WHOLE issue isn’t for you, there’s almost always a hidden
gem just waiting to be discovered. In “Weird War Tales” there’s more than one,
in fact, two of the three stories in here really captivated my attention, and
even the one that didn’t really get me excited still looked phenomenal. It
really begs the question, aside from poor sales, why aren’t more of these kinds
of books being published?
Sure, war comics went the way of the dinosaur ages ago, at least in terms of
popularity and the like. Just like western-themed books, or horror anthologies,
which used to be quite popular, war comics just don’t seem to captivate the
public like they once did. Maybe it’s the overload of violent, war-time imagery
that bombards us on a daily basis, or maybe it’s just the glut of super-heroes
that dominate funny-books like they always have, all I know is that because I
haven’t read anything like this is SO long I really got into the short stories
that are contained within its pages.
First up are Darwyn Cook and Dave Stewart with a funny little piece about the
spirits of ALL the great war-mongers that are celebrated at first, then vilified
in history books. It’s a fine line to tread as a war hero, constantly at war for
what you believe in, but how about after you die and you discover that history
remembers you as a monster? Cooke and Stewart have fun with the concept which
sees skeletal reconstructions of Genghis Khan, Hannibal, General Robert E. Lee,
Hitler (still a bad guy, no worries), and others meeting up and enjoying each
other’s company.
My favorite piece of the entire issue came next; by Ivan Brandon and Nic Klein,
it starts like a horror story, but by the end it’s so fantastic and imaginative
that I had to go back and re-read it. I don’t want to spoil anything, but
Submarines can be very deceptive in terms of setting and atmosphere, once you’re
thrust from the dark depths of the ocean floor along with the story’s main
character you aren’t ready for the twist Brandon throws at readers.
The last story is a bit of a downer, and that’s not what I had a problem with,
because ultimately all stories of war are going to bring you down in one way or
another. This was a storybook fantasy wrapped up in a war tale, and while it was
optimistic and light-hearted in spirit, the dreary ending really kicked me in
the sack. Not literally, of course, but after the first two shorts I was not
expecting such a hardcore dose of reality. If anything Gabriel Hardman’s pencils
really carried me through an otherwise depressing final segment.
All in all I hope that this book does well, as I’d really like to read more
stuff like it. I love books that allow creators to cut loose with a theme and
really have some fun. I can tell that each of the creators involved in this book
had a labor of love on their hands, and it’s that sort of enthusiasm that really
bursts off the page, capturing my attention. I don’t know if there’s a place for
this in the hearts of today’s readers like there would be twenty, thirty years
ago, but I know that there aren’t enough books like it on the shelves right now,
and that’s a shame. |
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DAKEN DARK WOLVERINE #1 |
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Writers:
Daniel Way and Marjorie Liu
Artist:
Giuseppe Camuncoli |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
Marvel Comics
Shipped On:
090910
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
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For decades, Daken, the son of Wolverine, remained hidden in the shadows of the
Marvel Universe, methodically plotting how he would one day dominate the world
around him. And now, with his father's soul hanging in the balance, that day has
come. This is the beginning. |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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Remember all the way back to when “Dark Reign” first
began, and “Wolverine’ became “Dark Wolverine”? I swore it wouldn’t last…but I
guess I was wrong. Even as “Dark Wolverine” ends, resulting in the multiple new
“Wolverine” titles as well as this, “Daken: Dark Wolverine”, which I think is as
poor a name for a new series as anything, but whatever, I’m still not sure THIS
is going to make it.
It’s one thing to introduce a character as the long-missing son/daughter of an
established character, but to then allow this new character to replace the more
established character only to THEN shoehorn the character into their OWN title
as ‘established character-lite’ is just stupid. That said, I know there’s only
so much you can do with the illegitimate offspring of Marvel’s most dangerous
mutant, especially after introducing a female clone of said mutant to mixed
results; why not up the ante a bit, make this new kid a BAD GUY, and then…do the
SAME stuff you’ve been doing, over and over and over and over.
Alright, so Daken is the son of Wolverine and a Japanese woman named Itsu; he
was born in 1946, although he appears to be in his late twenties. He’s got a
serious mad-on for his old man, although it would seem as though he’d be pissed
at whoever this Romulus cat turned out to be (seriously, what a load of horse
$#!t…), because, after all, it was Romulus who’s been manipulating the pair for
as long as time itself, blah blah blah. So what would the angry, ex-Dark Avenger
do when he isn’t plotting the destruction of his father’s legacy? Bag as many
models, male or female, that he can…guess he’s quite the flirt, huh?
So yeah, this is the over-sexed version of Wolverine who ultimately seeks to
overtake Wolverine by plotting with some sort of shadow organization (similar to
the one seen at the beginning of the new “Wolverine” #1) in order to kill his
own father, messed up, right? Other than meeting with shady old people, with the
apparent intention of sending his father to Hell (proper Hell, not a
metaphorical ‘hell’), I’m not sure what THIS has to do with the storyline over
in Jason Aaron’s book, but it’s got the banner hanging over the title, so it’s
tied in some way.
Daken even stops wearing his old man’s duds in this issue, debuting instead his
brand new look, which is surprisingly bland in my opinion. Maybe it’s the dark
colors, over saturated in shadow for purposes of ‘mood’, but I can’t really tell
what the hell it’s supposed to look like, what color it is, anything. I get that
they’re trying to establish some sort of identity for the guy on his own, but
how ‘bout letting us have a look-see, huh?
All in all, hindsight being twenty-twenty, I think that whole “Daken-thing” is
looking more and more like a bad idea every day. Sure it worked in context with
the whole “Dark Reign” thing, but this just feels like more of the same with a
brand new wrapper, as if that’s going to fool us into expecting something
different. Even with Giuseppe Camuncoli’s pencils looking better than they ever
have before, I’m not sure that there’s any REAL substance here. I’d have loved
to see them do something NEW or EXCITING with the character, but nope, it’s just
‘vendetta’ this, and ‘revenge’ that. No thanks, guys. |
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AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #641 |
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Writer:
Joe Quesada
Artists:
Joe Quesada and Paolo Rivera |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
Marvel Comics
Shipped On:
090910
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
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This is it! The startling conclusion to ONE MOMENT IN TIME! How did the world
REALLY forget Peter Parker was Spider-Man? And what does the future hold for
Peter & Mary Jane? Every question is answered, the past laid to rest, and
Spider-Man swings into a new direction for the future! |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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Oh, what a tangled web we weave when we attempt to
make sense of an ill-received deception. It’s been a LOOOOOOOONG time since the
events of J.M.S. and Joey Q’s reality-changing and controversial Spider-epic
“One More Day”; despite all the time that’s passed since Mephisto’s magic did
away with the marriage of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, questions remain
unanswered, until now. Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada returns to the story
that made him one of the most reviled villains in all of comics, and he’s
bringing some long over-due plot points with him!
“One Moment In Time” seeks to answer SOME of the questions that fans have been
getting into shouting matches over for a few years now: How, EXACTLY, did the
wedding not take place? How did Peter reestablish his secret identity? Why does
Joe Q. have such a serious hate-on for M.J., and is he going to be able to stick
to his guns about cutting her out of Spidey’s life? Okay, that last one is more
MY question than anyone else’s, and it’s only half serious (the second half,
duh!), and the short answer is yes, Joey Q. is NOT bringing M.J. back into
Spidey’s life as anything more than just a friend, so don’t go getting your
hopes up!
How did the wedding not happen? It almost did, except for the fact that Peter is
actually Spider-Man, and as Spider-Man he was in the middle of a fight with some
armed criminals and became incapacitated. Hey, a cinder block to the head will
do that to ya, even with the proportionate strength of a Spider. Anyway, they’ve
gone over that in the last few issues, this is more about the second question
than anything else, what was the second question again? Oh, here…How did peter
reestablish his secret identity?
During the super-hero Civil War, chronicled in the way-too-obviously-titled
“Civil War”, Spider-Man did the unthinkable…No, not make a deal with the devil,
although it led to that; Spider-Man, keeping with the pro-registration side of
the debate, unmasked on national television, revealing to the world that Peter
Parker had been the friendly neighborhood wall-crawler since he was a teenaged
kid. Yeah, remember? It was a plot device that was SUPPOSED to lead to a whole
new era of Spider-stories in which Peter, having unmasked, would be forced to
tackle NEW issues, NEW problems but ultimately went nowhere. It was one of those
things that “One More Day” sought to ‘put back in the bottle’ along with the
Spider-Marriage, and, much to fans’ chagrin, it’s been one of the story-points
whose ‘how’ remained secret for a little over one hundred issues.
At the end of the last issue Pete was in the Sanctum Sanctorum of Dr. Strange
begging the Doc to do some witchy-voodoo-magic, and the Doc was NOT enthused. He
explained to Peter that he had to do some deep meditation, but what he really
did was call together a meeting between himself, Reed Richards, and Tony Stark,
held on the Astral Plane. They’ve done stuff like this before with the Sentry,
but it had some pretty rough consequences; after some pretty serious debate the
trio decides to help because it will take all three of them to blend science,
magic, and Tony’s future-tech to ‘infect the world’ with forgetfulness. It’s an
awesome scene, even though it piggy-backs another creator’s idea (Phil Jenkins),
and it leads to some serious dramatic tension between Pete and M.J.
In fact, Quesada piggy-backs his own piggy-backing of Phil Jenkins’ Sentry
concept in order to solidify his stance on the fate of the misbegotten pair’s
relationship as M.J. is horrified that Peter would be so bold as to mess with
the world on such a dramatic level. There’s also a twist that just goes to show
that Pete, no matter what, has always been a screw-up, and while his heart may
forever be in the right place his head may never be. It’s about as dramatic as
any moment I’ve ever seen in “Amazing”, and it’s pretty solid in its desire to
leave things the way they are, for now.
Quesada not only writes the issue but contributes to the art chores by
continuing his framing sequence that he laid out when the arc began. Pete and
M.J., both looking rather worse for wear, are sharing a bottle of wine and
reminiscing about days gone by. This leads into the beautifully rendered
segments by Paolo Rivera. Rivera’s style is like that of his contemporary Marcos
Martin in that they both utilize a nu-retro look to their art. The more I see
it, the more I enjoy the crap out of it. Oh, and Martin is also represented by
the ongoing two-page adventure written by Stan Lee at the end of each issue, so
I’m still enjoying that…visually. |
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HEROIC AGE ONE MONTH TO LIVE #1 (OF 5) |
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Writer:
Rick Remender
Artist:
Andrea Mutti |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
Marvel Comics
Shipped On:
090110
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MSRP:
$2.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
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An all-star creative roster brings you a weekly Marvel event! Featuring
Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers! In a world of unlikely heroes,
Dennis Sykes is about to become Marvel's unlikeliest. Banker by day, struggling
parent by night - and unhappy about it all. But when a tragic turn of events
gives Dennis a 30 day death sentence, he discovers his accident comes with
super-powers. And as the weeks in Dennis' life tick down, he sets out to leave a
mark one way or the other - - even if he has to go through Spider-Man, the
Fantastic Four and the Avengers to do it. Everyone is the hero of their own
story...but not every hero is a good guy. |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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Poignant’ isn’t a word that gets tossed around a lot
when someone is talking about comics; it just isn’t. I mean, can you remember
the last comic book series you read that really left you thinking, “Wow!”? I
can, and while some of you are likely to disagree with my latest assessment,
Marvel’s “1 Month 2 Live” may be the most likely to usurp Mark Millar’s “1985”
as my favorite ‘real’ comic story. What’s a ‘real’ comic story? Well, for the
most part it’s a book, in my opinion, that focuses on the day-to-day lives of
citizens whose world is much more fantastic than they actually are.
Books like “Marvels” or “Kingdom Come”, more recently “1985” as I mentioned
before, or go back and take a second look at “Watchmen” (truly about ordinary
people in extraordinary circumstances), some of the most celebrated Super-Hero
comics actually focus on the little guys that always seem to be in the
background, running for help or wailing in pain. “1 Month 2 Live” is just such a
story, and from the very beginning readers are treated to an immense amount of
characterization. Dennis hates his job, he takes care of his dead sister’s kid,
his life is extremely unsatisfying, and on top of ALL of that he’s caught trying
to foil a robbery and force-fed medical waste. Very “Troma”-like in origin, but
it works.
There’re a great number of cameos, starting with The Thing who sees fit to take
Dennis to Reed Richards in order to make sure all that medical waste didn’t do
any serious damage. Well, it does do some pretty hardcore terrorizing of Dennis’
internal organs, and soon the guy has mutant cancer ripping his body apart from
the inside. Reed, unfortunately, has to deliver to Dennis the news that he may
only have as much as thirty days to live, and from there things start to happen.
Dennis discovers an ability to manipulate matter, which he plans on using to
right a wrong that his boss forced him to commit by reneging on a loan offer to
a children’s hospital; Dennis’ solution? Rob the bank he used to work for…good
plan!
I don’t want to get into too much more after this point, because it’s worth
reading for your selves. There’s ANOTHER cameo, as well as the introduction of
an antagonist looking for land-rights that just so happen to be occupied by the
aforementioned Children’s Hospital. Dennis struggles with family, his new-found
abilities, AND his looming death sentence, though still coming off as a regular
guy just trying to get by. Rick Remender injected SO MUCH personality and
realism into the character of Dennis that it’s impossible to NOT relate to him
in some way or another. It’s on THIS strength that I recommend this series to
everyone, even though I’m still skeptical about the rotating creative teams.
Rick Remender is quickly rising to the top of my must-read list. Other creators
in line to finish this series up over the course of the next four weeks (yeah,
it’s a weekly!) are: Stuart Moore and Shane White, John Ostrander and Graham
Nolan, some other guy whose name I can’t figure out, and then Remender’s back
for the final issue with Jamie Mckelvie. While I usually DETEST the idea of
rotating the creative team with such frequency, I’ll admit my admiration for the
testicular-fortitude of the concept will keep me coming back for more. Hindsight
being 20/20, I imagine that we’ll either be talking about this series for a
long, LONG time, or it will merely prove to be a fart-in-the-wind, only keeping
our attention until the next hype-laden event comic is sprung on us. Until then,
I’ll be reading this. |
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FREEDOM FIGHTERS #1 |
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Writers:
Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray
Artist:
Travis Moore |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
DC Comics
Shipped On:
090110
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MSRP:
$2.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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DC'S SYNOPSIS:
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A new call to arms begins as Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters return in an
all-new action packed ongoing series helmed by the writing team of Justin Gray &
Jimmy Palmiotti with art by Travis Moore and Trevor Scott!
A national mystery unfolds when the government learns of the existence of a
Confederate super weapon intended to insure the South won the Civil War. Who
built it and why wasn't it used? Find out when Uncle Sam leads the team on a
quest through the hidden history of the United States! With new challenges and
old threats returning to plague them, the stakes are higher than ever. Can even
these stalwart heroes stand by their duty when their country calls? |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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Okay, the last time I saw the Freedom Fighters in
action was when they were getting the crap kicked out of them during “Infinite
Crisis”…which was, like, years ago, man. There have since been TWO mini-series
chronicling the adventures of Uncle Sam and his posse of post-humans with names
like Phantom Lady, Human Bomb, Dollman, Black Condor, The Ray, and so on, and
apparently those two mini’s did well enough to encourage DC to let the writing
team of Palmiotti and Gray get a shot at an on-going. While I’ve enjoyed P&G’s
stuff in the past, and I’m always on the look-out for new comics, even when the
characters in the ‘new’ comics are old, I’m not sure this is something that I’m
going to be collecting.
The book takes a conventional approach, diving right into the action of
everything as the Freedom Fighters take on The Aryan Brigade, or some such
racist foolishness, and of course, the good guys win, which is to be expected,
right? While I found the opening salvo to be somewhat appropriate, a fitting way
to introduce NEW readership to old friends, the comic just goes
balls-to-the-wall as soon as the fight’s over, barely giving anyone a chance to
catch their breath. You get one fight, then two concurrent fights, THEN some
mystery and intrigue as someone kidnaps the Vice President of the U.S.A., THEN
the Freedom Fighters are talking to the President as they’re assigned to locate
the missing Veep. Oh and then at the end they get into another fight, but you
have to wait until the next issue to see what happens.
It’s almost as if P&G lost focus, or maybe it just seems that way, because the
book is so ALL OVER THE PLACE that it doesn’t give me enough to hold on to, to
care about, and that’s a cardinal sin when it comes to first issues. There has
to be substance, and there IS some in this issue, but there’s also a whole LOT
of extra stuff, stuff that takes away from the main idea which is to get people
to want to read the book. If you have Attention Deficit Disorder this may be the
title for you, because it just haphazardly jumps around from situation to
situation with little rhyme or reason. If you like coherent, sensible tales of
super-heroics and the like, well, maybe it’s time to move along.
I’ve loved the work of Palmiotti and Gray in the past, their “Power Girl” may
NEVER be equaled in terms of fun and excitement, but this is just too unfocused
to really maintain my attention. It’s not that I can’t figure out what’s going
on, it’s that I just don’t care. I know that there’s a bit of a following, and
who knows, with the $2.99 price tag (even for the first issue…what the heck?!)
it may catch on, but I think they need to streamline their effort so that the
book doesn’t come off as some sort of random series of fight sequences and
Phantom Lady’s heaving bosom. Oh, it’s HEAVING alright, and nobody seems to even
notice…ha, well I did. |
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KODIAK #1 |
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Writers:
Joe Hill and Jason Ciaramella
Artist:
Nat Jones |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
IDW
Entertainment
Shipped On:
091510
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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IDW'S SYNOPSIS:
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Joe Hill & Jason Ciaramella (w) o Nat Jones (a) o Jones (c) A young man is
betrayed, and finds himself in a desperate battle of man versus beast. Is the
love of a maiden enough to keep him alive? Co-writers Joe Hill and Jason
Ciaramella, along with artist Nat Jones, weave a special tale filled with flame,
fur, and ferocity in the upcoming one-shot, Kodiak. |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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I may have just discovered Joe Hill and his truly
remarkable comic “Locke & Key”, but when I had a chance to jump into a BRAND-NEW
book, co-written by Hill, and featuring strong illustrations by Nat Jones, I was
all for it, and I didn’t regret it. It utilizes a rather typical device for
One-Shot comic books, a story within a story, but it doesn’t come off as
mediocre or empty like a lot of formulaic titles end up. I enjoyed quite a bit
the escapism offered as readers put themselves in the place of two young boys
scared witless by a man whose own origin is the set-piece for the rest of the
book; the story he offers is both fascinating and misleading, or is it?
Before we get started allow me to off a modest warning: “Kodiak” is NOT the name
of a new flaming-skull juggling super-hero as the title, and a limited
imagination, would lead one to believe. Sorry to disappoint you, but the title
is actually in reference to a bear, a Kodiak Bear (duh!), without which there
would be no story.
Two boys in a rather mundane rural setting seek entertainment any way they can,
and scariest thing they can think of is to sneak over to the local pub to peek
at a horribly scarred man. Things don’t go as they planned and soon the boys are
face to face with the man whose scarred face frightened them horribly from a
distance, but the boys own up to what they were doing, and soon the man is
relaying the story of his scar’s origins. The long and short of it is this, a
traveling circus, a maiden’s folly, a jealous brother, oh, and a BIG, mean bear
trained to fight in a ring for entertainment purposes.
I thought the book was a perfect escape, with little of the expectations that
come with your typical 50-plus year running super-hero comic book. I didn’t know
what I was going to get, but I put faith in the creators and came out smelling
like a rose instead of bear $#!t. IF you got an extra $3.99, and even if you
don’t, I’d very much like to recommend “Kodiak”, if for no other reason than to
reconnect with a child-like sense of wonder and bewilderment.
That’s the beautiful thing about the ‘story-within-a-story’ plot device, there’s
always a chance that everything you’ve just heard isn’t true. It’s not always
revealed to readers at the time, and usually the better the story the more
likely it is to lead to some sort of debate in readers’ circles. I like how Hill
and co-writer Jason Ciaramella manage to undercut their own work in only a few
short panels, leaving this reader wondering if any of it was true at all…or just
a yarn spun to entangle two young and wide-eyed boys. |
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SCIENCE DOG SPECIAL |
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Writer:
Robert Kirkman
Artist:
Cory Walker |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
Image/Skybound Comics
Shipped On:
090110
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MSRP:
$3.50 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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IMAGE/SKYBOUND'S SYNOPSIS:
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Fight fire with fire. Fight evil with SCIENCE! Collecting the never before
reprinted Science Dog back-up stories from INVINCIBLE #25 and 50, this story
leads right into the senses-shattering back-up story contained within issue 75.
If you're only reading INVINCIBLE in collected form - this is what you've been
missing! Don't miss out a second time! |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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How can you NOT love a book called “Science Dog”?
With his odd similarity in style of dress to Tom Strong and what not, AND he has
a jet pack, AND he’s a dog who fights crime with science…I mean, C’MON! Robert
Kirkman’s comics, and I know I’ve raved about the guy like some sort of teenage
girl with an unhealthy infatuation, but the guy really ‘gets it’. He takes stuff
that seems SO OBVIOUS, a post-zombie apocalypse, a teenaged super-hero, a dog
that fights crime using science (!!!), and transforms it into an epic
‘must-have’ every time, and it’s THAT knack for consistency that brings me back
time and again.
Originally this ran as a back-up in “Invincible”, so yes, this is NOT original
“Science Dog” material but rather a re-print issue, giving those of us who
didn’t get a shot at reading it the first time-round a chance to catch up before
the latest installment hits in “Invincible” #75. Readers are treated to the
tail-end (no pun intended) of a Science Dog adventure that we’ll never actually
read about, which then is followed by ANOTHER Science Dog adventure, I guess
heroes, no matter the species, never get any rest. There’s a bit of the
character’s origin spliced in there somewhere, as the issue’s primary villain is
actually a by-product of the same weird series of catastrophe’s that gave the
world Science Dog, so the inter-connectedness of their stories makes for an
interesting read.
Walker and Kirkman started this as a labor of love, and every 25 issues, or so,
of “Invincible” comes the latest installment in the saga of the “Science Dog”.
With issue 75 looming in our future (YAY! Rejoice!), it could only mean that the
conclusion (?) of S.D.’s adventure is upon us. With the cliff-hanger ending that
left reader’s hanging, either in this issue or in “Invincible” #50, I can’t
imagine NOT finding out what happened. I’m so excited for it, but I’m also a
little bit sad. For all of the good that Kirkman’s comics bring to the creative
table, so to speak, there’s a great deal of his creativity that will never see
the success that his primary books, “The Walking Dead” and “Invincible”, have
achieved. Books like last week’s “Guarding the Globe” or “Science Dog”, or his
soon to be completed “Astounding Wolf-Man”, don’t get a fair shake by the
reading-public at large.
It’s not that they’re sub-par in quality or imagination, but because they’re not
“Spider-Man” or “Wolverine”, or now, to a lesser extent “Deadpool”, it’s as if
people glance right past these gems, never to discover the world of adventure
that Kirkman has been organically gestating over for YEARS. I can only hope, if
“Science Dog” doesn’t pick up a following, which let’s face it, probably ain’t
gonna happen, that the meta-mental mongrel will find some sort of home alongside
Kirkman’s other super-hero stuff over in “Guarding the Globe”. I‘d be so down
for a rotating cast of “Invincible”, “Wolf-Man”, “Science Dog”, “Battle Pope”
characters, keeping in line with the rest of the stuff that’s come before it;
not a new continuity, just one central location to find all of this great stuff
that (shamefully) doesn’t seem to be meant for it’s own title. |
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TASKMASTER #1 (OF 4) |
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Writer:
Fred Van Lente
Artist:
Jefte Palo |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
Marvel Comics
Shipped On:
090110
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
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The fan-favorite anti-hero from AVENGERS: INITIATIVE explodes into his own
mini-series! Taskmaster has trained hench-thugs for every terrorist organization
and criminal cartel in the Marvel Universe. So when the rumor starts that he's
turned traitor and now works for STEVE ROGERS, a billion-dollar bounty is put on
his head, and every cadre of costumed fanatics -- A.I.M., Hydra, Ultimatum, the
Sons of the Serpent, everyone -- looks to collect. Now Taskmaster has to fight
hordes upon hordes of his psychopathic students while at the same time figuring
out who framed him -- which requires him figuring out who he really is! That's
right, the man with the photographic reflexes has no memory of his true identity
-- and you'll learn the unexpected truth along with him! The action-packed
SECRET ORIGIN of Taskmaster begins here, courtesy of New York Times bestselling
writer Fred Van Lente (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, INCREDIBLE HERCULES, MARVEL ZOMBIES)
and acclaimed artist Jefte Paolo (DOCTOR VOODOO)! |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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Here’s an example of a comic that I really WANTED to
enjoy, and for some reason it just left me feeling hollow. Comics about the
villains, or at least those who ever so carefully tread the line between hero
and villain, are some of my favorite, yet “Taskmaster”, which should have been a
‘sure thing’, comes off as a vain attempt at taking a likable character and
giving him the b-movie treatment. It’s not that the issue isn’t chock-full of
good ideas, because Van Lente just knows how to mine classic Marvel-lore for
ideas that deserve to be dusted off and enjoyed by everyone as well as his
uncanny ability to come up with enough off-the-wall stuff on his own, but it’s
that nothing is given enough time to shine on its own, causing everything to
fall flat.
Because of his polymath-like muscle-mimic abilities, Taskmaster (whose name
doesn’t really roll off the tongue) isn’t able to remember anything that’s
happened to him his whole life, nothing, not even a little bit. Forced to
constantly live in-the-moment and react to situations rather than act on his own
behalf, the issue opens with T.M. attempting to access his memory-palace (a sort
of mental-mansion one can use to store important information and access through
certain triggers like music or food) and retrace his long-forgotten footsteps.
This couldn’t happen at a worse time, because as T.M. sits in some crumby
looking diner trying to sort out his effed-up brain, evil forces are at work
trying to smoke him out.
I guess I should elaborate here on what I mean by ‘evil forces’, because T.M.
himself is a kind of evil force, right? Despite his being employed by the
Initiative under the reign of Norman Osborne, T.M. is still a bad dude, and as
such he’s crossed a great number of people, some of who work for ‘The Org’
(winner of Least-Imaginative-Name-for-an-Evil-Corporate-Entity award of 2010),
the guys that network between all the different gun-for-hire crews in the Marvel
U. Seriously, the book co-stars A.I.M., Hydra, Cyber-Ninjas, the Sons of the
Serpent, Secret Empire, Ultimatum, the Lords of the Living Lightning, and those
are just the groups that Van Lente didn’t create specifically for this book.
Since he’s been tied to all of these organizations in the past, in one way or
another, all of them have been sold a rumor that T.M. has flipped, and gone
state’s evidence, and now there’s a lot of money on the table to bring him back,
dead or alive.
Two factors went into my anticipation for this mini-series: Fred Van Lente,
whose “Incredible Hercules” literally peeled my mind-grapes, and Jefte Palo, an
unsung hero in my opinion, whose work with Rick Remender on “Doctor Voodoo” was
cancelled WAY too early. I’ve enjoyed the work of BOTH of these creators in the
past, and figured it was a no-brainer that the two of them together would be
able to crank out a solid series. Unfortunately, I feel the effort is unfocused,
and maybe that will change by the end of the fourth issue, but at $3.99 a pop
for only twenty-two pages of story, and admittedly about eight-pages of
Handbook-style extras, I’m not sure I’m on board with this title for the
long-haul. |
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JOHN MOORE PRESENTS DEAD SOLDIER #1 (OF 4) |
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Writer:
Richie Smith
Artist:
Dean Hyrapiet |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
Dynamite
Comics
Shipped On:
090910
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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DYNAMITE'S SYNOPSIS:
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From acclaimed filmmakers John Moore (Max Payne, Behind Enemy Lines and The
Omen) and Richie Smyth, comes the story of Colonel John Donner, aka John Doe.
It's the last days of World War One - the Great War. On an obscure patch of mud,
a small company of American soldiers fights to the last man against a powerful
German offensive. John Doe is the only American survivor of the attack. He
wanders alone for days amongst the maze of trenches and blast holes.
Shellshocked, badly wounded and without food or medicine, he is lost. Through a
twist of events, Donner is transformed into a creature of unthinkable power, a
monster that pledges he will avenge the deaths of his fallen comrades, not only
on the muddy battlefields of WWI, but across the generations to the
slaughter-fields of the "War on Terror." With abnormal strength and agility he
hunts his enemies. But Donner's actions have not gone unnoticed - and he will
soon face an enemy from a place he could never have contemplated. |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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Want to know what DOESN’T inspire confidence in me,
as a reader, when I’m checking out a new comic? The words: “Presented by the
acclaimed filmmaker of ‘Max Payne’…” Oh yeah, that’s a red flag right there. No,
I haven’t seen “Max Payne”, but I don’t need to see it; I don’t need to step in
dog-$#!t to know it stinks, do you?
Alright, ranting aside, I knew I had to approach this with an open mind…so I let
it sit for a few days, trying unsuccessfully to forget about the whole ‘Max
Payne’-thing, but nevertheless I got around to giving it a shot. To say that I
was less-than-excited about the experience afterward would be an understatement.
“Dead Soldier” is about a dead soldier, I guess. It’s not quite clear what’s
going on, and when the book gets around to potentially serving up some answers
it veers in a different direction, choosing instead to start tearing stuff apart
for a pithy action sequence that doesn’t even get a chance to finish.
Most of this book is U.S. Military guys, stationed in Darfur at some secret
facility, and all they seem to do, when not openly torturing prisoners, is talk
tough to one another. If ever there was an overload of machismo dialogue it was
in this comic book, right here. Foregoing actual characterization, opting
instead to force characters to spout profanities hither and yon is a sign of
unimpressive writing, in my opinion. The constant attempts at bad-assery may
make the role more appealing for whatever Hollywood tool-box they’re trying to
sell this crap to, but it gave me NOTHING to go on as far as whether or not I’m
interested in these characters.
Oh yeah, the dead soldier, I should probably talk about him. In the beginning of
the book a soldier is wandering around the decimated ruins of a World War I
battlefield; he rips the heart from the chest of a dead soldier, vomits, and
then is struck by lightning. This leads to a “mysterious transformation”, and
then lots of talking in circles. Apparently the “Dead Soldier” showed up in the
middle of the dessert and started kicking the crap out of the American soldiers;
they incapacitated him, and then imprisoned him. While he’s being interrogated
the Dead Soldier, and I really have nothing else to call him, suddenly breaks
free from his restraints as if they weren’t there at all, which really begs the
question: Why did he allow himself to be taken prisoner at all?
The artwork is primarily solid throughout. Dean Hyrapiet is a talented artist
who made the most out of what he was given. His pencils at times recalled the
work of Joe Kubert and Frank Miller, and also Sal Larocca and David Finch, and
while that may seem like a varied list of influences it all seems to work quite
well. The cover is simple gorgeous; illustrated by Romek Delimata, it depicts a
WWI era soldier traipsing through the muck death as he sprays flames about,
seemingly cleansing his surroundings.
Y’see, THAT’S what the book is supposedly about, if the synopsis on the back
cover is any indication. The character of the “Dead Soldier” is supposed to be
avenging the deaths of soldiers, but really he’s just muddled in confusion and
poor writing. This could have easily been a well-delivered concept, but instead
it went the big-budget, Hollywood route, replacing quality with excess and story
with ‘FLASH-BANG!!!” Unfortunately neither one really does anything for me. |
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TRANSFORMER'S DRIFT #1 of 4
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Writer:
Shane McCarthy
Artist:
Alex Milne |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
IDW
Comics
Shipped On:
090910
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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IDW'S SYNOPSIS:
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What was it that caused one of the DECEPTICON's most ruthless soldiers to turn
his back on them? And what ancient secret lies hidden deep within an alien
planet? All this and more as the origin of the newest AUTOBOT, DRIFT, is finally
revealed! |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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If the first issue of a comic starts with a “Story
so far…” segment on the inside cover, I proclaim: Things don’t bode well! If
said comic is a “Transformers” comic, well, you probably should have stopped
reading long before you picked up THIS particular issue. Alright, it’s NO secret
that I’m in the apparent minority of people that DON’T find the Transformers
entertaining anymore. Did I, at one point, enjoy the silly adventures of the
transforming robot-aliens fun and enjoyable? Sure did, still got the original
animated movie amongst my collection…and it might be the only version of the
Transformers that I’ll ever love again.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that Michael Bay’s FLASH-BANG attention
deficit-fest of a film series spoiled me on a childhood favorite, so don’t think
I’m squarely placing the blame on him. I mean, sure, they didn’t help, but I
think I lost interest in this sort of $#!t when girls started finding me
attractive enough to make out with. That’s not meant to come off as
mean-spirited as it sounds, but seriously, “Transformers” never had enough
personality to keep me interested beyond the surface level stuff that makes it
cool to a pre-teen kid: robots, guns, explosions, fast cars, and fighting.
The book is a lot more similar to the Transformers of yesteryear than the ones
kids are growing up with today, at least in terms of visuals, and that left me
thinking that this reading experience wasn’t going to be as painful as I
originally thought. However, things quickly descend into amateurish buffoonery
and I saw robots talking about disease, drinking some sort of intoxicant, then
to top it all off I was able to witness my first-ever Ninja-Transformer
karate-fight another Transformer who looked exactly like him. That’s where
things got a bit confusing.
What the hell am I talking about? Good question; There once was a Decepticon
named Deadlock whose own passion for his race over those of the Autobots forced
him to make some tough decisions. When his Decepticon superior, Turmoil (oooooooh!),
attempts to execute him, Deadlock makes a break for it, displaying some fancy
robo-karate and a will to survive above all else. He makes it to some backwater
planet where he comes across some hooded/robed ninja guy, who just so happens to
ALSO be Cybertronian (*sigh*), and together the pair attempts to free a bunch of
enslaved aliens. Things don’t go as planned and Deadlock, who now calls himself
Drift, gets the holy-hell pounded out of him.
Alright, so I didn’t spill ALL the beans just in case you were really looking
forward to this book. Be warned, however, that there isn’t a lot of REAL
substance, unless of course Drift has always been your favorite Transformer, and
even then it’s way off the mark in terms of making the character relatable in
any way. The art is inconsistent from panel to panel, and the characters,
including Drift, are practically indistinguishable from one another. All in all
I really wish I had left this on the shelf; my memories of my younger days as a
Transformers fan are still kept close to my heart, but its clear to me now that
there is no way to recapture that feeling I had when I first discovered the
‘robots in disguise.’ Let’s face it, these guys are NO Ninja Turtles. |
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AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #642 |
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Writer:
Mark Waid
Artist:
Paul Azaceta |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
Marvel Comics
Shipped On:
090910
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MSRP:
$2.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
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A five part spider-odyssey begins in ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES! With Peter Parker's
ONE MOMENT IN TIME behind him and Mary Jane back in his life, Spidey finds
himself ready for a new start...but the various threads of his life since his
BRAND NEW DAY are about to crash together violently. When Norman Osborn's baby
is born... every villain on the planet wants the first ever strain of pure
Goblin blood, leaving Spider-Man's friends and family exposed to a Sinister plan
that threatens to bring down every strand or Peter's life that's been stitched
together carefully over the past few years. It may be a cliché to say it...but
after ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES absolutely nothing will be the same. Also this
issue, we begin a series of covers by the brilliant Marko Djurdjevic that when
all put together will form a giant wall-sized Spider poster featuring the people
in Spider-Man's life! Plus...the Spidey Sunday feature continues breaking the
4th wall of Web-swinging Wonder by legends Stan Lee and Marcos Martin (well,
Stan's a legend...Marcos is just a man who draws like one.) |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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Oh! The end of the “Brand New Day” is upon us! As
the “Big Time”, a new banner ‘Amazing’ adopts after cutting back to two issues a
month helmed by Dan Slott featuring rotating art-teams, looms in the future Mark
Waid is going to get into some trouble with Lily Hollister and the illegitimate
child of Norman Osborn. Featuring a gorgeous cover by Marco Djurdjevic and
boasting a RARE, as of late, three-dollar price tag, I was more than excited to
crack open this little ditty, anxious to leave the melodrama of “One Moment In
Time” behind me. I’m not sure I was ready for all of this though.
I thought the Djurdjevic cover was just a pretty picture that Editorial had
lying around, I didn’t think it was really any indication as to what to expect
from the issue’s contents. It’s quite clear very early on that Doc Ock, the new,
really creepy Doc Ock from ‘Amazing’ #600, is after something, because he’s
hiring every gun in town to track it down for him. What is it that the Doc so
seriously desires for himself? That would be Lily Hollister’s baby; that’s
right, the illegitimate love-child of Norman Osborn and his own son’s fiancé.
Not many people are going to want to remember Menace, because, well, frankly it
sucked. The whole thing was dragged out for too long and the pay-off was an epic
failure of Hobgoblin-like proportions. The daughter of a would-be Mayor of New
York City turns out to be huffin’ Goblin gas, transforming her into the
OBVIOUSLY male character of Menace? No thanks, guys. Then to add insult to
injury Norman, fresh from having illegitimate children with Gwen Stacy, another
story I’d like very much to have stricken from the record, pops a little bun
into Lily’s oven behind his own son’s back. Ouch.
Why does Doc Ock want Lily’s baby? No idea. It’s not even really alluded to
other than some creepy rambling about it containing secrets of the universe, or
some such nonsense. There is, however, a very sweet throw-down between Spidey
and the Shocker and Tombstone! Remember those guys?! I do, and I love ‘em, so
this was really sweet in my opinion, no pun intended! Paul Azaceta has a
masterful handle of character, and his action is both Ditko-esque and
Kirby-kinetic, yet oddly contemporary and fresh. It’s a part of the Nu-Retro
look that I’ve finding myself appreciate lately. There’s nothing wrong with a
throw-back to the old school, especially on a character with such rich history.
I’m not sure where this is going, and let’s face it...does it matter? If this is
editorial’s way of apologizing for the whole Lily/Menace/Norman/(Let’s not
forget the Stacy twins!) thing, well, fine. If this is some sort of
pseudo-development that really isn’t going to go anywhere once Slott gets his
hands all up in the mix, well, I have to thank ‘em for only charging $2.99. It’s
Spidey doing Spidey-stuff, and it’s written by Waid, so you know it’s good; it’s
illustrated by Azaceta, so you’ll either appreciate it or you won’t, which isn’t
your fault. It just all seems like a bit much; especially arriving the same week
as the conclusion to the latest ‘major development’…I’m not sure how much more I
can take! |
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WOLVERINE #1
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Writer:
Jason Aaron
Artist:
Renato Guedes |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
Marvel Comics
Shipped On:
090110
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
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Acclaimed author JASON AARON (ASTONISHING SPIDER-MAN AND WOLVERINE, WEAPON X)
and superstar artist RENATO GUEDES (Action Comics, Adventures of Superman)
launch an all-new ongoing Wolverine series as Wolverine goes to
hell...literally! Someone's out to destroy Wolverine-permanently-and they may
have succeeded. But if Wolverine's soul is in hell, how is his body terrorizing
those closest to him? |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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There’ve been so many people who’ve cross paths with
the man known as Wolverine, dastardly villains, terrorists, evil mutants, even
cosmic demigods, but as of this very moment I can say that I’ve read the story
where Wolverine goes to hell. That’s right folks, Ol’ Canucklehead seems to have
jumped the creative shark, and as such he’s been cast down into the fire and
brimstone-packed trenches of the underworld, where the devil or some
demon-monster plans on utilizing Wolvie’s earthly-body for some havoc-wreaking.
Yay!
The book starts off a little heavy-handed, okay, really heavy-handed. John
Wraith is apparently no longer a blood-thirsty mercenary, selling his powers and
services to the highest bidder and like most retired gunmen he’s dedicated the
remainder of his life to the service of the Lord. Blah, blah, blah. Nothing we
haven’t seen before any number of times. I think Cheech Marin plays a retired
gunman-turned-preacher in this weekend’s schlock-cinema offering “Machete”, so
that should illustrate just how saturated the genre-fiction community is
chock-full of characters exactly like that. Oh and he lectures Logan on the
difference between actual Hell and metaphorical “Hell”, and it’s all pretty
patronizing if you ask me.
That’s the beautiful thing about scripture, as history has proven time and
again, it can be interpreted and manipulated to suit whatever the person reading
is trying to say. Look hard enough in that Bible of yours and you’ll probably
find justification for any number of horrible acts of man against man. So when I
see one killer preaching the word of the Lord to another killer, with talk of
redemption and such, I have to just kind of laugh to myself and think “Is this
all they got?”
Sure, Wolverine is gonna make it to where ever it is that bad people go when
they die, I mean, if you buy into that sort of thing…and if you don’t then you
can just chalk it up to a case of possession, or whatever. Truth is it’s hard to
decipher what really IS going on because we’re treated to so much more flash and
slash than actual story. Of course this is more a problem due to the
trade-writing style, which pretty much makes FIRST issues obsolete…no longer can
I tell if I’m going to enjoy a book from the first issue. Now I have to invest
in the first ARC just to see if I like where the author is going. Luckily Marvel
and Jason Aaron made this one easy one me: Religious overtones, ANOTHER
Wolverine series, $3.99 cover price…I’ll pass, thanks.
Renato Guedes is a pretty obvious heir-apparent to Ron Garney’s clean & polished
look. The styles aren’t OVERLY similar, so the book does have its own feel as
opposed to mimicking the look of the preceding series, but I can see why they
slid Guedes on AFTER Garney. The look isn’t jarring enough to throw someone off
the title for good, but it’s similar enough in its line-work to draw positive
comparisons, although it does little to salvage a story that’s uninteresting and
dull…a perfect example of ‘too little, too late.’ |
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THOR FOR ASGARD #1
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Writer:
Robert Rodi
Artist:
Simone Bianchi |
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Reviewer:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet
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Publisher:
Marvel Comics
Shipped On:
090110
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MSRP:
$3.99 each
(15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
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MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
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Beginning an epic adventure showcasing the God of Thunder as you've never seen
him before! The vassals of Asgard are in armed revolt...Odin is missing...Balder
is dead...and the entire continent is battered by a years-long winter. How can
Thor put the empire back together - especially with his mighty hammer Mjolnir
mysteriously denied him? |
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SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
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For the most part I enjoy books such as this one for
a couple of reasons: I’ve never heard of Rob Rodi, so while I didn’t know what
to expect from the author I was more than willing to give him a shot; and
because I’m not REALLY a Thor fan, I mean, I am but not to the extent that I
know ANYTHING about the character at all, so as a blank slate I was able to jump
on board and learn as I went. Accessibility is key when releasing a book like
this. Sure, you don’t want to disregard long-time fans of the character, but you
also want to make sure that ANYONE who may have money to spend come next summer
(when a little thing called the “Thor” movie comes out) has a chance to get
into, and become a fan of the character.
I’ve described Simone Bianchi’s art as cluttered and clunky before, but
thankfully I don’t get that feeling from his work here. It seems as if he was
born to illustrate the BIG action, and HUGE cinematic happenings of Rodi’s
“Thor”. His panel layouts and his characters are bursting with emotion, keeping
the story moving at a steady clip even when there’s nothing but arguing going
on. If you haven’t seen the cover, which is beautiful by the way, then you may
not understand what I’m talking about, but once you catch a glimpse of it
there’s no way you can deny Bianchi’s contribution. He’s an imaginative artist,
and his strengths out weigh his weaknesses in this effort.
If you HAVE seen the gorgeous cover then you may already have some idea of what
this series is really all about. Thor stands before the magic hammer, Mjolnir,
seemingly powerless to retrieve it from its resting place, and for the most part
this is a fairly accurate assessment of what to expect from the title. Thor
wields a battle axe early on, as he and his soldiers of Asgard take out a
renegade band of Frost Giants who are using the townsfolk of Jotunheim as human
shields. Thor and his boys cut down EVERYONE, even the children, in the name of
Asgard, and of course Thor spends a good deal of time brooding about it later
on.
There’s controversy in Asgard as the all-father, Odin, has been out of
commission for more than six months, and the reserves of pretty much everything
are being depleted at an alarming rate, most notably, the golden apples which
provide the Asgardians with immortality. With the threat of true-death looming
larger than ever over their heads, Thor must decide whether he’s truly ready to
step into his old man’s shoes, but if he’s ready why can’t he lift the hammer of
Thor? It would probably help if he wasn’t so tired from doing the nasty with
Lady Sif before trying to retrieve the hammer from its resting place.
I‘m excited for the Thor movie, if for no other reason than it gives me hope to
see OTHER out-there properties given the big-screen treatment, and while I’m not
a long-time fan of the golden-haired God of Thunder, this was an absolute treat
to read. I’m not sure how they’re going to fill six whole issues with this kind
of story, but I know that each one is probably going to be more beautiful than
the last, thanks to Bianchi, and I’m sure that if Rodi managed to capture what I
imagine to be the true voice of the characters in just one issue, then he’s more
than capable of tackling the rest. |
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All Books/Characters pictured herein are © Copyright 2010 by their respective
owners. No rights given or implied by Alternate Reality, Incorporated.
Reviews © 2010 Alternate Reality, Inc.
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"The opinions expressed in the reviews below are not necessarily those of Alternate Reality, Inc. Hey, I don't agree with all of them either!"
