NCBD 12-10-2008

My girlfriend’s 20 year old sister told me comic books are “popular now”. They might even be cool. So, geeks, rejoice! No longer are comic books something to enjoy in secret. You, in the bleach stained Giant Sized X-men t-shirt, STAND UP! You, the too-old-to-be-playing-Yu–Gi-Oh-guy at the comic book store, STAND UP! Even you, the guy who still thinks Rob Liefeld’s art is “decent”, STAAAAAAAND UP! We are officially part of the “in crowd”.  Man, I might finally get laid… or is it layed… maybe it’s lade – REVIEW TIME!

Quick re-run down on how I do this: I spend roughly twenty bucks on comics weekly. I review the comics I read. I’m no scientist just a guy who loves comics. If you don’t agree with me feel free to argue in a comment. I am very much poor at having grammar.  NCBD stands for New Comic Book Day. 

This Week: Dark Reign One-Shot, Final Crisis #5, Secret Six #4, the Amazing Spider-man #580, Action Comics #872

The Marvel pain lies mainly in the Reign – Dark Reign that is. Mwooohooohahahahah! Jokes aside this was a clever follow-up to Secret Invasion. This one-shot (stand alone) comic directly follows the end of Secret Invasion. Norman Osborn has called together the villains, and I use that word lighty, to a meeting. Dr. Doom, Loki, Namor, The Hood, and The White Queen all share the same conference table. 

I was under the misconception that Dark Reign was going to be a mini, just like Secret Invasion, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was only one issue.  The idea of Dark Reign – Norman Osborne (formerly the Green Goblin), who through hook and crook now handles the defense contracts for the US government, has banded the Marvel Universe’s villains together under a secret banner – will carry over into the monthly titles: Dark Avengers and New Avengers. 

I’m excited for the new direction Marvel is taking. It’s nice to be in the villain’s perspective.  Bendis takes a realistic approach to these characters.  His villains don’t live in a world of black and white. His villains have goals and aspirations. They don’t see themselves as evil. 

The art was great. Alex Maleev creates an original iteration for every character he draws (Doom looked especially menacing).  Is it me or do you get a weird feeling when you look at Lady Loki?  It’s a girl but too much HIStory there.

This issue – nay – this series feels like it’s being written by three different people. Sometimes it feels like an epic throw down told in classic fashion, other times it feels like a wacky satire poking fun at the DCU, and most of the time it feels like it’s poorly written and lacks focus and cohesion (like my articles).

Ish 5 opens huge.  Hal Jordan is being tried for Deicide (killing a god) when Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner show up and set the record straight.  A brawl ensues. GLs come out on top. “You have 24 hours to save the Universe Hal Jordan.” At this point I am really amped up then the story starts to cut around and everything gets convoluted. 

I understand Darksied is back. I understand the Darksied invasion. I don’t know what happened to Batman. I don’t know what happened to Superman. I don’t know what time period of the DCU we’re in. 

The art is solid but the visual storytelling is missing. I am often disoriented because panels jump to drastic changes in the action far too quickly. I really wanted to love this series but right now I’m too confused. I hope, once it’s all said and done, I can re-read in retrospect and better enjoy Final Crisis.  Oh, and the three month drout between issues didn’t help!

I’m done with this book. Done! It’s a shame because Lee Weeks’ art looks great, but, I am finished reading the regurgitated adventures of Spider-man.

Some face-less thug, he was litterally called the blank, dug up from fourteen years of Spider-man continuity comes back for this stand alone snooze-fest. He robs banks. He nearly kills Aunt May. Pete just happens to be at the right place at the right time, AGAIN! He out foxes Spidey in round one. Spidey figures out how to beat him by round 2.

Buy this book if you like spending money.

I looked at the cover of this issue and I started to worry. It featured the Creature Commandos. I hadn’t heard of them before but I recognized their visage: Dracula, Werewolf, Frankenstein, and Medusa in army fatigues – Hogan’s Nose! I immediately thought, “This is the issue where Johns ruins everything.” Rest assured I was wrong.

The Kryptonian’s of Kandor tried taking the law into their own hands by banishing Superman’s foes into The Phantom Zone. In the process they killed six security guards. Someone has to face the music. Superman is trying to handle the situation as calmly as possible but his alien bitch of an aunt – the one who gave the “kill if you must” order – will not relent.

The parallel action cuts to Lex Luther un-gruesomely dissecting the brain of Brainiac. The Kryptonians are trying to free all the people Braniac has enslaved, in his ship, over the millennia. The Creature Commandos happen to be some of the enslaved. Lex Luther gains control of Brainiac’s ship. You do the math. I’m sad that Johns’ run is coming to an end but woot for Superman Secret Origin. Finally a modern, definitive retelling of Kal El’s start.

What happens when you take six of the DCU’s premiere C-list mercs (Catman, Scandal Savage, Deadshot, Rag Doll, and Bane), throw them on a team, and have the A-list writer/artist combo of Simone and Scott handle their book? A sleeper hit.

I heard good things about Simone’s writing but never got a chance to read any of her work. Now I feel like I’ve been missing out. Her characters are witty without being obnoxious, tough without being unbelievable, and likable without being apologetic.

This mini-series has a great new villain, Junior. The guy is a creepy, murdering, freak, who has the DCU’s underworld shaking in their collective boots. He spends most of his time doing business from his crate – Literally, he drags victims into a crate that he lives in.

A series high-light, for me, has to be a throw down with Batman and Catman. It’s a very dynamic fight with a hard hitting back and forth; Catman’s raw fighting style vs Batman’s precision attacks. To add a bit of levity, the fight’s banter is about Batman’s dinner for the evening (a burrito).

Issue 4 opens right at the tail end of issues 3’s action as the Secret Six are trying to escape with their bounty. The bounty carries a “Get out of hell free” card (for rizzle). Junior wants that card at all cost. Now there’s a bounty out for each member of the Secret Six, 20 million dollars a head.

Scott’s art is pure candy. The pencils are clean and energetic. The coloring compliments the pencils well. To top it all off this series has some of the most dynamic covers of the year.

That’s it for this month but before I go I want to remind all of you: You are cool. On a more serious note I want to congratulate Jonathan London, and the whole Geekscape team, on there 100th episode. I’m proud to have been a guest and even prouder to now be a part of the site. Until next time, Catman isn’t a dumb name… Really it isn’t… who am I kidding… it is.

-Nick Gregorio