This week's comics
A fine week, indeed.
We3 #3: OMG! MOST HEARTBREAKING COMIC EVER! Well, it's not quite as heartbreaking as I originally thought it was going to be, but it's still damn heartbreaking. Quite simply, this has been one of the best comic books I have ever seen. Morrison and Quitely have, in three short issues, created a work which has emotionally wrung me out more than the last several years of any given superhero title. It's a perfect synergy between story and art. This is what comics are capable of, people. Brilliant. A+
Planetary #22: It's always a good week when there's a new issue of Planetary! This issue focuses on the backstory of William Leather, Planetary's equivalent of the Fantastic Four's Human Torch. Under interrogation by Elijah Snow, Leather reveals his lineage, which includes pastiches of The Lone Ranger and The Shadow. I'm always glad when flashbacks reveal more about Axel Brass's "League of Gentlemen" that we saw way back in issue one, and we learn a great deal more about The Spider (the Shadow equivalent) and how he relates to Leather's feelings of inadequacy and inferiority that led him to join the Four. There's also a rather chilling final sequence which suggests that Snow has not taken Melanctha's suggestion last issue to heart. Another solid issue as the series gears up for its big climax. A
Ultimate Fantastic Four #15: Ellis picks up the pace after last issue's glacial proceedings, as we get some insights into the "N-Zone" as well as amusing banter from our heroes. Ellis' best contribution to this book so far has been the dialogue, with each character's personality being clearly defined, as well as their collective youthful exuberance. This issue is no exception, as Johnny and Ben snark their way through Reed and Sue's explanations of what's going on around them. And hey, is that Ultimate Annihilus? It certainly looks that way! While the story's strong, the art is pretty sketchy. I don't know if it's the inker or what, but Adam Kubert's pencils look pretty rough this issue, with some panels actually looking pretty ugly, certainly a rare thing for one of the Kubert brothers. I'm uncertain why Kubert was brought back to pencil this storyline, rather than Ultimate X-Men. Stuart Immonen did such a stellar job on the "Doom" arc that I was hoping he'd do more FF. Kubert's pencils, even when they're at their best, seem a bit too dynamic for what's so far been a pretty low-key story. B
Ultimate X-Men #55: Speaking of Stuart Immonen, here he is penciling a straightforward action story while his talents would probably be better used elsewhere. Don't get me wrong, Immonen is a fantastic artist, but I don't think he's suited for the X-Men. His Dazzler, for instance, appears to be wearing a fright wig, rather than just having spiky hair. The layouts and acting are strong, though, just as you'd expect them to be. As far as the story goes, I'm of two minds about Brian K. Vaughn's run on this book. On the one hand, he's produced consistently good stories, doing some nice soap opera character work in the background (the Iceman/Kitty Pryde/Rogue romantic triangle has worked well), but on the other hand he seems too caught up in "Ultimatizing" every character he can get his hands on. So we get needless cameos from Ultimate Sunspot in his first arc, and Ultimate Wolfsbane in the second, and now in this arc we've got a bit villain part for Ultimate Arcade. It just seems unnecessary to throw these characters into a book that's pretty crowded to begin with. However, Vaughn has made his primary "Ultimizations" work very well. His new Mr. Sinister completely scrapped the original character concept and replaced it with something that wasn't spectacularly original, but was still superior to the Marvel Universe version. He also planted the seeds of the intriguing concept that Ultimate Apocalypse might be real, or maybe he's just a figment of Ult. Sinister's imagination. This most recent story arc, however, introduces Ultimate Longshot and Mojo. These characters have always been dodgy in current continuity, since Chris Claremont took an intriguing premise for those characters set up in the Longshot miniseries, and watered it down to a one-joke media-frenzy parody. Vaughn retains the media angle, but fortunately scraps all the "freedom fighter from another dimension" nonsense and makes Longshot a normal mutant and Mojo a bloated albino. Longshot's been framed for killing a politician in the mutant-hating country of Genosha, and Mojo hosts a Running Man-esque reality series where various assassins try to kill Longshot on a deserted island. Again, not the most original concept, but certainly one that's more sound than its Marvel universe equivalent. This issue has some nice fights and good dialogue, but the real treat for me personally is that the last page teases the introduction of Ultimate Spiral. And I don't care how nerdy this sounds, but I am so, so looking forward to Ultimate Spiral. B+
We3 #3: OMG! MOST HEARTBREAKING COMIC EVER! Well, it's not quite as heartbreaking as I originally thought it was going to be, but it's still damn heartbreaking. Quite simply, this has been one of the best comic books I have ever seen. Morrison and Quitely have, in three short issues, created a work which has emotionally wrung me out more than the last several years of any given superhero title. It's a perfect synergy between story and art. This is what comics are capable of, people. Brilliant. A+
Planetary #22: It's always a good week when there's a new issue of Planetary! This issue focuses on the backstory of William Leather, Planetary's equivalent of the Fantastic Four's Human Torch. Under interrogation by Elijah Snow, Leather reveals his lineage, which includes pastiches of The Lone Ranger and The Shadow. I'm always glad when flashbacks reveal more about Axel Brass's "League of Gentlemen" that we saw way back in issue one, and we learn a great deal more about The Spider (the Shadow equivalent) and how he relates to Leather's feelings of inadequacy and inferiority that led him to join the Four. There's also a rather chilling final sequence which suggests that Snow has not taken Melanctha's suggestion last issue to heart. Another solid issue as the series gears up for its big climax. A
Ultimate Fantastic Four #15: Ellis picks up the pace after last issue's glacial proceedings, as we get some insights into the "N-Zone" as well as amusing banter from our heroes. Ellis' best contribution to this book so far has been the dialogue, with each character's personality being clearly defined, as well as their collective youthful exuberance. This issue is no exception, as Johnny and Ben snark their way through Reed and Sue's explanations of what's going on around them. And hey, is that Ultimate Annihilus? It certainly looks that way! While the story's strong, the art is pretty sketchy. I don't know if it's the inker or what, but Adam Kubert's pencils look pretty rough this issue, with some panels actually looking pretty ugly, certainly a rare thing for one of the Kubert brothers. I'm uncertain why Kubert was brought back to pencil this storyline, rather than Ultimate X-Men. Stuart Immonen did such a stellar job on the "Doom" arc that I was hoping he'd do more FF. Kubert's pencils, even when they're at their best, seem a bit too dynamic for what's so far been a pretty low-key story. B
Ultimate X-Men #55: Speaking of Stuart Immonen, here he is penciling a straightforward action story while his talents would probably be better used elsewhere. Don't get me wrong, Immonen is a fantastic artist, but I don't think he's suited for the X-Men. His Dazzler, for instance, appears to be wearing a fright wig, rather than just having spiky hair. The layouts and acting are strong, though, just as you'd expect them to be. As far as the story goes, I'm of two minds about Brian K. Vaughn's run on this book. On the one hand, he's produced consistently good stories, doing some nice soap opera character work in the background (the Iceman/Kitty Pryde/Rogue romantic triangle has worked well), but on the other hand he seems too caught up in "Ultimatizing" every character he can get his hands on. So we get needless cameos from Ultimate Sunspot in his first arc, and Ultimate Wolfsbane in the second, and now in this arc we've got a bit villain part for Ultimate Arcade. It just seems unnecessary to throw these characters into a book that's pretty crowded to begin with. However, Vaughn has made his primary "Ultimizations" work very well. His new Mr. Sinister completely scrapped the original character concept and replaced it with something that wasn't spectacularly original, but was still superior to the Marvel Universe version. He also planted the seeds of the intriguing concept that Ultimate Apocalypse might be real, or maybe he's just a figment of Ult. Sinister's imagination. This most recent story arc, however, introduces Ultimate Longshot and Mojo. These characters have always been dodgy in current continuity, since Chris Claremont took an intriguing premise for those characters set up in the Longshot miniseries, and watered it down to a one-joke media-frenzy parody. Vaughn retains the media angle, but fortunately scraps all the "freedom fighter from another dimension" nonsense and makes Longshot a normal mutant and Mojo a bloated albino. Longshot's been framed for killing a politician in the mutant-hating country of Genosha, and Mojo hosts a Running Man-esque reality series where various assassins try to kill Longshot on a deserted island. Again, not the most original concept, but certainly one that's more sound than its Marvel universe equivalent. This issue has some nice fights and good dialogue, but the real treat for me personally is that the last page teases the introduction of Ultimate Spiral. And I don't care how nerdy this sounds, but I am so, so looking forward to Ultimate Spiral. B+
posted by Jeff at 11:27 PM
2 Comments:
You're forgetting to review Junk Science #2...
Alex, perhaps you're not listening. I said ULTIMATE SPIRAL. She has six arms! And swords!
Also, I had not read Junk Science yet when I posted that last night. Now I have! And now I'll post about it!
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