Venom #10
Writer: Rick Remender Art: Lan Medina [pencils], Nelson Decastro [inks] and Marte Gracia [colors]
Early on in this series, Jack O’Lantern was established as the arch enemy of the Flash Thompson incarnation of Venom. That rivalry was put on hold during the recent “Spider Island” event, but it picks back up in Venom #10 in a big way.
As far as I can remember from ’80s issues of Amazing Spider-Man to now, Jack O’Lantern has never been much more than a D-lister in the pantheon of Marvel villains — little more than a Goblin wannabe, at best — no matter who was under the pumpkin mask. In this issue of Venom, however, Remender builds on what he’s been doing with the character all year and pushes him to the next level.
The book opens with the funeral of Flash’s father, whose death was a focal point of the last few issues. Lurking in the background at the funeral is the current Jack O’Lantern, sans-costume. If you remember, Lantern discovered that Flash is Venom several issues ago, which obviously makes him a much more dangerous foe. Not only is he creeping at the funeral, Lantern (who was badly burned and disfigured at the hands of Venom) actually approaches Flash and his girlfriend Betty Brant after the service is over, introducing himself to Brant as a veteran that Flash saved during the war.
This is a fantastic, ominous plot point that I haven’t seen done to such great effect since J.M. DeMatteis’ classic Spectacular Spider-Man #200 where Harry Osborn had reverted back to being the Green Goblin and was stalking Pete around the city (FYI, that’s also the must-read issue where Harry originally “died” before being revealed as having never died at all a few years ago).
Anyways, Betty leaves to console Flash’s mother and sister and the Lantern takes Flash to see his boss, who says he has a job for Venom to do…and if he doesnt’ do it, of course, he’ll kill Betty, Flash’s family, and everyone Flash knows. Typical villainous stuff, right?
This of course, means Flash has to get his hands on the Venom symbiote, so he goes to the Project: Rebirth facility…only to find out that Captain America, now in the know about Venom’s use as a government weapon, has shown up to shut the facility down and take the symbiote into custody.
I think you can see where this going…Venom vs. Captain America!
Who isn’t fighting Captain America this month?!
Overall, this is a compelling beginning to this arc. Remender making Jack O’Lantern interesting is good enough alone, but the overall story throws in just enough classic plot devices to make it hard to put down and disappointing that it ends until next month. The artwork is breathtaking, as well, with some of the best panels being close-ups of Jack O’Lantern’s charred, twisted, toothless face.
Until Remender came along with this series, I was fairly sick of symbiotes and Venom. It’s safe to say now that I’m once again really into the Venom character.
Defenders issue one opens up with a bunch of people in Bucharest losing their minds, due to a raging black monster who may or may not be shattering reality, based on the dialogue. The rest of the issue sets up the premise of the book. Doctor Strange is having sexual relations with a comely grad student, who he regrets sleeping with, and Fraction shows him grappling with plenty of his other internal demons, until he is visited by the Banner-less Hulk, who has something to do with the black monster in Bucharest.
The rest of the issue has the two of them go on to recruit the rest of team, Namor, Silver Surfer, Red Hulk, and Iron Fist to take on the Rage monster, who is a left over out of Fear Itself. Fraction does a great job introducing each character and blending the different personalities. I’m particularly enjoying Namor’s scenes with the Silver Surfer, and Doctor Strange’s interplay particularly with Iron Fist. There isn’t a ton of action in the issue, but definitely am intrigued to see where this is headed. It really seems like this book is going to be a lot of fun, and that Fraction is having a blast writing it.
Terry Dodson’s art is dynamic and perfectly suited for a book like this. The characters are all larger than life personalities, and Dodson draws them like that. Also really impressed with Rachel Dodson’s inks, and Sonia Oback’s colors. Can’t wait to see what they are going to do in the coming issues.
Last thing, is on the bottom of nearly every page, there are messages from the editor(?), Fraction(?), Marvel HQ(?), Space(?) about everything from plot teases, to advertisements for other books (such as Avengers Academy), to notations for where the plots continues. Not sure if this is going to be a new trend for all Marvel books, or just this one, but I am not sure how I feel about it. If it is to add to the story, I say great. If it’s not, it has to go.
Deadpool #47
Writer: Daniel Way Art: Salva Espin [art] and Guru eFX [colors]
Over the past few months, Deadpool’s evil twin (composed of dismembered ‘Pool parts) has been running rampant through the pages of Deadpool, crashing a jet into the George Washington Bridge and blowing up several bombs in New Jersey [Like anyone cares about that place…], among other things.
Unfortunately for the real Deadpool, Captain America doesn’t know about Evilpool and pins the blame on the non-doppelganger Wade. Deadpool manages to get the better of Captain America and escape for now, but it’s no sooner than this that we find Evil Deadpool is trying to make a deal with Chinatown crimelord Mr. Negative. [Hey, I remember that guy from the Spidey books. Where’s he been?]
Negative wants Evilpool to kill a kid. Whose kid? I’ll just say it’s someone from a certain friendly neighborhood wall-crawler’s book and leave it at that.
[But…but…Spider-Man doesn’t have kids! I mean, he had one once, but Norman Osborn kidnapped it and nobody ever heard about it again, but then that got retconned so it never really happened…]
That’s enough from you, inner monologue!
Anyways, Deadpool eventually realizes that to clear his name and find Evilpool before he can sully it even more, he’ll need to think ahead of him and do something drastic, leading both his evil twin and Captain America to him at the same time so that Cap can see that he wasn’t lying about his evil twin committing all of those acts of terror.
Are you still following along?
This issue takes a more serious turn from the slapstick of the first two parts of ‘Evil Deadpool,’ and I love how Daniel Way found a way to incorporate characters from Spider-Man’s cast since the story takes place in New York City. I’m also not sure if I’ve ever pointed this out before, but Espin’s facial expressions are absolutely fantastic. His pissed off Captain America on page three and confused Mr. Negative near the center of the issue are both priceless.
Part three continues to maintain a steady pace. We’ll see if it holds into part four.
STORY: 8.5/10
ART: 9/10
[amazon_link id=”B006GHNMGA” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]BUY Deadpool #47 on Amazon[/amazon_link]
Amazing Spider-Man #675
Writer: Dan Slott
Art: Giuseppe Camuncoli [pencils], Klaus Janson [inks] and Frank D’Armata [colors]
Last issue saw the return of the Vulturions. If you can remember way back to the ’80s, they were those annoying little bastards that did all of the Vulture’s work for him.
Well, the new Vulturions are goofy-looking goth kids who nobody seems to want to refer to as Vulturions. They’re still causing trouble in this issue, at least until Spidey runs into them.
And even HE doesn’t make a Vulturion reference or wisecrack.
DAN SLOTT! WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?!?!
Anyways, I’ll overlook that…for now. In Amazing Spider-Man #675, Slott concludes his ‘return of the original Vulture’ story with a team-up in the mighty Marvel manner, as the Amazing Spider-Man teams up with…his recent ex-girlfriend Carlie Cooper.
It works, though. The dialogue between Peter Parker (as Spidey) and Carlie (who ditched Pete after figuring out he was Spider-Man) carries all of the tension present between recently split couples — although most couples don’t involve a CSI detective and a guy with the proportional strength, speed and agility of a spider. Even the facial expressions convey an uneasy air when the two are interacting, which is a testament to Giuseppe Camuncoli’s absolutely gorgeous art and made all the more better by Klaus Janson and Frank D’Armata’s inks and colors.
The Vulture looks absolutely creepy in this story, as he should. I’m wondering, however, what happened to his wings? I know they were pretty much just for aesthetic purposes since the harness he wore used magnetic fields to keep him defying gravity and in “flight,” but he just looks weird and even creepier floating there with no “wings” attached to his arms.
Anyhow, I digress. This two-parter does a solid job of reintroducing O.G. Vulture, Adrian Toomes, and establishing him once again as a credible threat to Spider-Man — which is saying a lot, considering Toomes has to be an octogenarian at this point. I’m still wondering, however, what happened to the more recent Vulture that had the red suit, Predator-like mouth, and acid spit.
It’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t cross paths with Toomes or his delinquent goth mini-mes while they were pulling heists, but that’s probably a story for another time.
Its issue four for both books and Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire continue to push the story of The Green , The Red and The Rot into a head on collision between Animal Man and Swamp Thing. This month both books show their hand a bit more as the plot begins to thicken and “flesh” out (pun intended). With out further adieu , lets begin the reviews.
Swamp Thing #4
Story by: Scott Snyder
Art by: Marco Rudy , Michel Lacombe , Sean Parsons
Review Score:9.5/10
After last issues introduction to The Rots new Avatar, William makes his way into the Rural town of Western Texas. Immediately Snyder shows us just how corrupted William has become from the Rot . All it takes is a Waiter to get the flavor of his Milkshake wrong and William goes all Damien from the Omen on the place. Snyder tells us exactly what Williams powers are now. Hes able to control and manipulate all forms of death and decay in this world. Which includes Tumors, abscess teeth, arthritis, you name it . Again Snyder doesn’t hesitate to amp up the gore while also managing to have fun in the process, showing the Diner in shambles and closing it out on a final panel that shows us that yes William did finish Milkshake before leaving . Scott Snyder creates a very morbid situation by giving a child this power , its small touches like this that add to the over all sense of macabre that he creates issue after issue .
We are then taken back to Alec Holland and Williams’ sister continuing their search for her disturbed brother. They end up discovering the carnage William left at the Diner and decide to get some rest before they continue their search for him in the morning. Alec starts to Dream and Snyder uses this opportunity to delve a bit deeper into the history of the Green and its continuous battle with The Rot. You get a sense that The Green may have some other motivations they are hiding from Alec . The Parliament of Trees continues to tell Alec that the girl he is with will be his undoing , but Alec’s former memories of her as Swampthing prevent him from taking her life. Page after page we are treated with amazing panels and splash pages showing us the war between both The Green and The Rot.
The art again continues to be one of the most amazing and consistent aspects of this comic. The shock here in this issue is that it is handled by three different artists this time around. Yannick Paquette is nowhere to be seen inside this issue but you wouldn’t be able to tell by how great these three artist are at emulating his style. Marco Rudy , Michel Lancombe , and Sean Parsons all put in amazing work and detail in issue 4. The dream sequences alone are nothing short of amazing and the use of plant foliage to break up the panels is back . Dino Zombies have never looked cooler. I especially was taken back by one page where both Alec and Williams’ sister are sleeping next to each other. His side full of foliage and vibrant colors and hers turning into barren land and ash. The most shocking thing here is that even with multiple artists in one issue , the art never suffers or severely changes from one style to another.
Alec chooses to follow his mystery woman towards William , however it seems William has found a perfect place to hide out at , Texas’s largest Meat processing plant aka Slaughter House. What this means for Alec , tons and tons of dead cattle heading his way next issue. What it means for us the readers , I’m willing to bet another great issue to Snyder’s already strong run.
Animal Man#4
Story By: Jeff Lemire
Art By: Travel Foreman
Review Score: 8.5 / 10
Who would have predicted that out of all of DC’s new 52 titles few would be as good as Animal Man has been over the last three issues . I’ve been consistently surprised with how fresh Jeff Lemire’s take on Animal Man has been.The Baker family are still split up during this issue, with both Maxine and Buddy inside of the Red and Buddy’s wife Ellen and son Cliff heading towards their safe house . The problem is the detective that’s driving them is actually one of the Hunter’s Three . Travel Foreman shows us as much by illustrating a peaceful drive down a scenic road while also showing us the whereabouts of the real Detective, who is stuffed in the trunk of said car.
Inside of the Red Buddy continues to battle the remaining hunters and is not doing so well . The Totems inside the Red tell Maxine she must step in to help and she does sending the Hunters out of the Red and healing her father from his wounds. We learn that the Hunters Three are former Animal Totems who were infected by The Rot and now are after Maxine who is the last remaining living Avatar. Lemire finally decides to bring Alec Holland into the mix and we are seeing the beginnings of the crossover both Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire have planned for Swampthing and Animal Man.
Travel Foremans art continues to impress me . He has a sick sense of pacing and being able to capture emotion panel after panel. This is a comic that lives and breathes of creative art and page layouts . You get a sense that Foreman truly pushes himself to create something different you haven’t seen before . All the while managing to keep us not confused with what is happening on any given page .
At the end of the issue Maxine , and Buddy along with their new cat Socks are heading towards the remaining family members . This issue feels a bit too small for my liking but that’s because it’s just so Damn good. Next issue looks like it will be the end of the first chapter to what I’m hoping is a series that will last for years to come.
Warning: Pretty much everything in this article is a spoiler.
Part 1 – Captain Swing and many another thing
“Each time society, through unemployment, frustrates the small man in his normal functioning and normal self-respect, it trains him for that last stage in which he will willingly undertake any function, even that of hangman.” – Hannah Arendt
Captain Swing and the Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island ([amazon_link id=”1592911366″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]A 4-issue mini-series out this Wednesday in a collected trade![/amazon_link]) W: Warren Ellis, A: Raulo Caceres, Col: Digikore. I’m not giving this one a rating. I think I don’t like giving grades out.
The Swing Riots of 1830 began with the destruction of threshing machines in the southeast of England, by laborers whose livelihoods were displaced by them. If your job can be done by a machine, well, bosses don’t have to pay machines.
What has this to do with Warren Ellis’s just-concluded series Captain Swing and the Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island? Everything. The series as a whole, for me, was not a very exciting narrative, despite the appearance within of this guy:
I'm thinking that he's probably a poor lover.
BUT, as for its subtextual meaning and present relevance, the series gains in excitement with analysis. Ahhhh, not really. Actually, my analysis reads like I’m repurposing a college paper or something, it sucks THAT MUCH. But what the heck, you’re already here, give it a scan, okay? I’ll try to spice it up somehow.
The conflict at the heart of this story is that of the titular Captain and his collective fighting against an empowered cabal over the use of energy itself. Here, I’ll let Swing’s first mate Hobbes explain it for me:
Dumbfuck! Pay attention! The REAL subtext is that Warren Ellis is trying to advocate for corporal punishment in schools.
On Cindery Island, there’s a voluntary collective – a commune, if you will – where the “pirates” work to produce the devices whereby the Captain and his men produce their electrical wonders. Those there, essentially, are each given what they need and each produce according to their abilities. [YAWN, right? It gets better, eventually.] This comic is a piece of agitprop intended to tweak the minds of the workers of the world right now, at this delicate moment when it appears that the cabal of the ultra-wealthy and ultra-powerful have achieved final victory. The “Occupy” movements now growing are all pirates in Captain Swing’s crew; As the pool of persons who feel in control of their destiny dwindles, so does the group of those willing to act outside of the confines of polite society grow.
In my dark moments, I have pessimistic and prophetic fever dreams about the future of the U.S.A. Some of these are inspired by President Barack Obama and his seemingly idiotic insistence on continuing to try to cooperate with the Republicans in Congress. I am especially mortified at his failure to roll back Dubya’s tax cuts for the wealthy, at a time when we continue to become a desperate debtor nation. Obama, for me, has been the tipping point that’s convinced me that institutional change in America will not come about through political means. Rather, I am convinced that the middle class will continue to be squeezed, salaries frozen as the cost of living continues to rise. Layoffs continue too. More and more of us will be desperately clawing at one another’s flesh just to cling to the few scraps left in our hands, until finally and inevitably there is a breaking point and French Revolution II: Guillotine Hootenanny comes to the land. Change will be instituted after billionaires are dragged from their mansions by angry mobs and murdered in the streets, along with their heirs. I sincerely believe that it would take measures that drastic to convince our owners that, hey, we’re all in this together, so they should maybe go back to paying their share. Occupy Wall Street is a seed. That seed may yet grow into a tree watered in the blood of our oppressors. Or maybe not, it’s all just speculation. As a lifelong comic-book reader, I’m convinced that violence is not the answer. Yeah.
Getting back to the boring part, Warren Ellis does a few other things in this series which so far confound my analysis. Why does Captain Swing have the same name – John Reinhardt – as another Ellis creation, Doktor Sleepless? Uh, maybe he’s a Tulpa that the Doktor sent back in time? Works for me! Is the story’s protagonist, our POV character Charlie Gravel, an ancestor of “combat magician” William Gravel, another Ellis hero? Ya got me. Maybe Ellis is trying to build some kind of connected universe that helps move the back-catalogue. Why is the masthead of Swing’s ship an image of a winged snake springing from a woman’s head?
No woman's head appears in this image, sorry.
Winged snakes are often meant as symbolic of Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec patron god of learning and knowledge (he also invented the calendar, and taught the Aztecs how to grow corn!), so that’s half the idea parsed, I guess. Quetzalcoatl is also the “white god” whose predicted return was (purportedly) the linchpin upon which Moctezuma took an ass-pounding when Cortez came. I suspect that that further ironic meaning is not intended here, but I hate to let Quetzalcoatl factoids go to waste. My only tattoo is a bust of Quetzalcoatl, is why. Or, hell, maybe it’s supposed to be Glycon, just because everybody likes to needle Alan Moore.
Part 2 – Hickman and me and Huitzlopochtli makes three!
The Red Wing ([amazon_link id=”1607064790″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]A 4-issue mini-series available in, uh, 3 weeks. 2 days AFTER Christmas. What’s the use of THAT?[/amazon_link])
Jonathan Hickman: Writer, Nick Pitarra: Artist, Rachelle Rosenberg: Colors. Nobody lettered it, but yet there are letters within! Spooky!
I bet they had to go to the store over and over to keep getting white ink.
This series’ plot: Humanity is waging a war fought via time travel against a mysterious, also-time-traveling enemy intent on strip-mining the entire planet. Our two main characters, Valin Redd and Dominic Dorne, both lost their fathers to this very war, and we begin as they enter the same military branch that took their fathers: the titular Red Wing. The weapons here knock out your ship’s time shielding, and the resultant “chronal shear” causes cool-looking deaths like this:
This shit gets old fast.
Near the beginning of issue #1 of this series, it says: “TIME IS NOT LINEAR” and then “THERE IS NO PARADOX”. Near the end our protagonist, Dom, flies off into the past and/or the future with his military commander, a man who is Dom’s son, or maybe Dom’s father, or maybe both. That sounds like a paradox, right? The way I figure it, Hickman put that there just to try to keep Harlan Ellison from suing for story credit. (If you get that joke, say so in the comments. This is a contest! Whoever posts the explanation first, I will declare them to be King Shit of Fuck Island! This honor is more coveted than the Pulitzer Prize among people who don’t know what money is.) The two male leads are given ironic names. Valin (like a dyslexic villain?) is brave and heroic, while Dom is meek and uncertain. The female lead is named “Maye,” a name loaded with possibility. The military head of command is named General Dadson Childefather. (Just kidding about that one. He’s actually unnamed in the story.) The color red is associated, as in Morrison’s run of Batman comics, with life – “Red shift or Blue shift, Dom,” says Maye, “… Life or Death.” Valin’s last name IS Redd. Dom’s last name, Dorne, has red in it, but it’s all mixed up. It’s also an anagram for “no red.” HEAVY.
In addition to the wordplay above, the series is positively loaded with circles. The military HQ of our heroes is “The Ring,” a space station in Earth orbit that literally encircles the entire planet, it seems. Planetside, the buildings have circles throughout their architecture. There are silos in the middle of the friggin’ military aircraft hangar of the Red Wing. There might not be a single page of this comic without a circle somewhere on it. Is time a straight line?
Um, blue is the color of death. Thanks loads, General Bummer!
Can you spot the hidden circles on this page? (I think the wall hanging is some sort of calendar. Wait, I just felt deja vu. Hm.)
War? They were the band with the songs "Low Rider," "The Cisco Kid," and "Spill the Wine." Don't tell me you haven't heard ANY of them...? Hey, that helmet looks a bit like a snake head.
And last but not least, the logo of the series is a snake eating its own tail – what we call an Ouroboros. Just like the bad-guy in Grant Morrison’s Batman run! Looky here:
Kinda looks like a dog's head, which makes total sense.
THIS particular Ouroboros (different cultures have different ones) looks to me to be Mayan or Aztec in style. That adds up, because Dom’s presumed-dead father, Robert Dorne, is actually the guy on the left in the picture above holding his finger up and teaching the native Mesoamerican about irrigation and war. Say, you know who the Mesoamerican Ouroboros is? Quetzalcoatl! Huh, that’s a coincidence. Two separate miniseries by different authors that ran and ended about the same time, each with a Quetzalcoatl connection, each reviewed by a guy with a picture of Quetzalcoatl tattooed on his back. Nutty. Well, I’m sure there’s nothing more to come on that subject… heh heh heh…
So, Robert Dorne is chilling with his buddy Itzamna up there, when suddenly, his beacon beeps! Awesome! So he checks it out…
Aw, dag! Blue shift equals death! ULTIMATE BUMMER!
… And gets captured by the mysterious enemy. The leader of the enemy? Dun dun DUN! His son, Dom! Now, we get to the meat of the series, with exchanges like this one:
By his knee is a circle. THAT circle is the important one, the one that reveals the secret of what this whole series is about. Come on, look harder! Aw, poo, my wife read this and says that I shouldn't lie just to eff with readers. Sorry. Again.
Science fiction is an ideal vehicle for allegory, because you can pile on names that are odd and are anagrams for other things and you can plop circles on top of circles and put the bad guys in crazy spiky space suits, and this stuff is all window dressing. It’s sleight-of-hand, where we’re looking in the hand with all of the circles in it but missing the hand with the moral. This story is about us. Humans, you and me, right now, are literally using up every resource in the world with only the most cursory gestures towards future generations. THAT is what this story is about. Hickman isn’t saying that the reader is Dom – the reader is Robert – and he’s giving us a much-deserved sock in the chops!
Now, I shouldn’t dismiss the devices in the story so readily. The Moebius strip construction is of value as entertainment – hey, if you’re planting subtext, it has to be under text, right? Although, actually, the subtext is the Quetzalcoatl stuff – I’d call the central allegory the sub-subtext, but I might just be too concerned with labeling.
BY INVENTING THE SPIKY HELMET!
Except… except, when Dom zapped his dad into his blue ship from the Mayans, a legend was created around Robert. A legend that the Aztecs appropriated from the Mayans as they assimilated Mayan culture. The legend of the White God whose return was foretold until Hernan Cortez came and was taken to be Quetzalcoatl, and he wiped the hell out of the Aztecs and made himself a mega-excellent symbol of the conquest of the Americas, homeland of the most wasteful, consumerist society in the history of the Earth – CANADA! Just kidding, actually it’s THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! So, really, Dom did some total self-fulfilling prophecy shit there. Nice going, numb-nuts!
All right, my cuckoo analysis has a few holes in it – Mexico and the USA are NOT, in fact, interchangeable for purposes of allegory. Also, the whole “Cortez is Quetzalcoatl” thing is a bunch of horseshit, originating at least 50 years after the Spaniards’ conquest of Central America. I didn’t know THAT when I got the frickin’ tattoo. Still, as Grant Morrison or Alan Moore might say, all stories are true, right? Jon Hickman, aided wonderfully by Nick Pitarra and Rachelle Rosenberg, has crafted a beautiful humdinger of a story here. Here’s hoping that THIS one grows in esteem as time goes by.
Note: This review contains a major spoiler, if you haven’t read the issue yet, you probably shouldn’t read this yet. Unless you don’t care about that sort of thing.
Last we left off in the Ultimates, Jonathan Hickman has been picking up the pieces of Jeph Loeb’s mess that he made of Ultimate Thor, in the pages of the Ultimates. Thor who had been left powerless was given a redesigned version of his super soldier armor so that he could go on a suicide mission to stop the rapidly expanding City the Children of Tomorrow had built.
The issue starts off with a bang as Thor teleports directly into the city and begins fighting the Children of Tomorrow as he discovers them doing experiments on Ultimate Captain Britain, who he manages to save. Thor than presses on fighting, and finds himself beaten, only to discover who is the leader of the Children of Tomorrow (Which doesn’t get revealed to us quite yet, but more on that later.) Thor and Captain Britain get beaten pretty badly, and then the man hallucinated Odin and then all of Valhalla. Where he is told that he actually is Valhalla now. It ends with Thor and Captain Britain getting out alive, and giving Nick Fury, Hawkeye, a debrief, where he reveals to them and us that the man who is the “Creator” of the Children of Tomorrow, Ultimate Reed Richards.
Hickman has been doing a brilliant job cleaning up this mess. I actually am finding myself caring about the Ultimates again. I also am really enjoying the focus on Thor. Sometimes, I feel in the 616 the Norse speaking gets to be too much, and I find myself opting out of the book. I am very intrigued to see what Hickman has up his sleeve, and also stoked to see that Ultimate Reed is back, and what kind of psychotic plans he has for the City and the Ultimates.
Esad Ribic’s art has also been outstanding, his reveal shot of Reed was great, also loved the splash of Thor seeing Valhalla. This one is a must read, for any fan of the Ultimates, Ultimate Thor, and Ultimate FF.
The Haunt comic has been re-birthed with this weeks issue; welcoming new creative team consisting of Joe Casey and Nathan Fox. Here’s a quick recap of who the Haunt is, no spoilers, promise:
The Haunt is a symbiotic entity that consists of a former priest, Kurt Kilgore and his deceased brothers ghost, Daniel Kilgore, an ex-agent of a mysterious military group known solely as, “The Agency”. The Haunt’s power is within his ectoplasmic/malleable body, which can create constructs that seem to fit whatever the Haunt can imagine. The Haunt, in previous issues, worked for “The Agency”; helping to bring down the current kingpin of crime, Mr. Hurg. Other than Kurt Kilgore being a ghost and the recent introduction of “The Apparition”, the book has taken a real world approach to the stories and it’s characters. But with this new creative team, we seem to be jumping head first into the Other-Wordly.
The first couple pages introduces us to an avatar of chaos, obviously on some hell-bent mission to bring on an apocalyptic scenario to our not-so-seasoned protagonist, Haunt. His motives are unclear, but we understand he’s powerful and has a taste for destruction. This foe seems quite overwhelming for the Haunt, basing his actions from past events; Kurt and Daniel Kilgore have a lot to learn, in a short amount of time. There’s also a new demonic tone that Joe Casey brings, one that I was expecting from issue one. Though the idea was seeded throughout previous issue, the build-up was incredibly slow. So, this issue may be jarring to the senses, much to do with new artist: Nathan Fox. But truly, I’m excited to finally get into the thick of it and find out what a Haunt, really is.
Insert from #19 Art by Nathan Fox
The art style has radically changed (as mentioned above) with the coming of artist, Nathan Fox and colorist, FCO Plascencia. Fox’s pencils are relaxed with thick lines, which works good with the nature of Haunt’s power. The action can get quite confusing, which is understandable when bodies are being shredded apart, with the blood and all. FCO’s colors are rich and vibrant, making Fox’s imagery less hectic and more defined; the duo works well together. One thing that I truly did miss, were Greg Capullo’s splash pages! Honestly, most of his old splash pages, which were many, I used to think were a waste of space. Pretty? Sure. But a waste of space. Here, almost every other page I was expecting/secretly hoping, to find a sexy splash page of Haunt flipping in the air or of him flying above the city using wings constructed from his suit.
The Haunt series has just turned over a new leaf. One that was unexpected and hard to process, but a necessary one for the series survival. Hopefully new readers were drawnto the bitchen’ cover and hopefully old readers didn’t feel too lost. I for one, will be here for the next issue, as I’m interested in the direction Mr. Casey is going with the Haunt mythology.
Also, why was Daniel such a prick in this issue? You better have answers coming my way Joe!
Wolverine #19
Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: Ron Garney, Jason Keith (Colors)
So last issue, Wolverine (who has been moonlighting as the Black Dragon) and Gorilla Man were joined by the Immortal Weapon Fat Cobra in their underground adventure to get Wolverine’s money back. If you remember way back to two issues ago, they ended up underground after Kung Fu Master Po informed Wolverine of an underground (deep underground) drug smuggling ring, operated by Jade Claw, that was using dragons to traffic opium.
Are you still with me?
It’s a lot to take in, and it’s hard to wrap your head around at times, so maybe you should just leave your head at the door for this one if you didn’t figure out in issue 17 that this arc requires that.
Anyhow, at the end of the last issue, the odd trio were pulling a Trojan Horse move by sneaking their way into the Jade Claw’s underground compound in the bellies of dragons. Wolverine #19 begins with the trio emerging from beneath the ground in front of a bar, carried by a dragon, with Wolverine’s money. The rest of the issue is a flashback of the story’s resolution.
To sum it all up, there’s more fun dialogue interplay between Wolverine, Gorilla Man and Fat Cobra, and Wolverine’s journalist girlfriend Melita Garner gets a job at New York’s finest newspaper. Oh, and one of the D-list villains from last issue (whose name I’ve already forgotten…Soul Striker or something, right?) lets things get out of hand.
This arc was a fun read overall, but I prefer a little less cartoonishness in subject matter with Wolverine. When things get a little too supernatural/magical, like this arc and last year’s “Wolverine Goes to Hell,” things start to wear on me a little bit — although “Goes to Hell” did have a rewarding payoff. By comparison, this arc is lighthearted filler.
To be fair, though, Aaron has had a lot on his plate with the stellar X-Men: Schism event book this past summer and the new Wolverine and the X-Men ongoing series launching last month. This story basically served as a transition to Logan’s return to New York, and the upcoming arc involving Kingpin and the Hand seems promising.
Walking Dead had its mid-season finale Sunday night. Fans of the comic book have enjoyed the show but non-comic book readers have complained that the show has been slow.
I have enjoyed the show even though the this first half could have been just a single episode. The mid-season finale was very powerful but it could have been just as powerful in one episode. The problem with dragging out the farm-house plot for this long is viewers just wanted it to be over. What makes the Walking Dead comics so good is that almost every issue has a cliff hanger or a WTF moment. This season the WTF moments were very weak till the last episode but by that time I just wanted something to happen.
Walking Dead will return to AMC on February 12, 2012.
What do you think?
“Slow at times, but ending was great!” @ElDuceBrown said Charles Brown via twitter.
“Intense. Great. Finally. The past few weeks have been kinda boring.” said Mark Meads via facebook.
“Finally. One more episode of “try and find Sophia” and I was going to blow MY brains out.” @XSarahCoreX
said Sarah With An H via twitter.
Early on in this series, Jack O’Lantern was established as the arch enemy of the Flash Thompson incarnation of Venom. That rivalry was put on hold during the recent “Spider Island” event, but it picks back up in Venom #10 in a big way.
