Monday, October 8, 2007

What I Read This Week

JLA Classified #43 -- Our favorite Martian flashes back to the formation of the Justice League as well as a quieter moment with Green Arrow before the purpose of this arc -- other than getting Martian Manhunter fans like me to purchase it -- is revealed. Pretty neat little side JLA story.

Iron Man #22 -- The Graviton mystery deepens as Tony Stark continues to be haunted by spectral images of those he has let down. We also see some interesting nuts-and-bolts details of the workings of The Initiative, and Mandarin schemes schemingly. Solid issue with a nice twist at the close.

Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin #2 -- Iron Man faces the might of the Mandarin, and finds his technlogy no match for his foe's mix of martial arts and alien artifice. Add another Tales of Suspense era baddie and some classic Tony-Happy interaction into the mix and you have a nice throwback Iron Man yarn.

The Phantom #19 -- The Ghost Who Walks enacts his final justice on the "divine" warlord named Him, freeing the jungle from his tyranny. This entire arc (along with the prologue back in #16) has been really a standout piece of work, and a good showcase not only of the talent on the title but the method of showcasing as real world problem in the 4 Color format.

Futurama Comics #33 -- When Amy Wong starts to get too big for her britches -- literally -- can Kif come to grips with his gigantic girlfriend? Containing one of the greatest sight gags ever to involve the painting The Nighthawks, fans of the show can't go wrong here.

Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes #34 -- On Lallor, the team of Timber Wolf, Atom Girl, and Shadow Lass wind up smack dab in the middle of a civil war, and must try to stave off an assassination attempt by E.R.G.-1 -- AKA the one time Legionraire Wildfire. Continues Bedard's set of mini-arcs, this is an action story with an engaging villain -- mostly because Wildfire really is a hero. Anyway, pretty cool.

Annihilation: Conquest: Star Lord #3 -- Down two members, Star Lord's crew is running out of time to take out their target. And this are only getting worse on Hala. The situation the team ends up in at the end is pretty dire, but I think we knew that going in, yes? The old school Avengers mark in me is in love with how Mantis is portrayed.

Captain America: The Chosen #2 -- The fighting continues in Afghanistan, while Captain America is laid up in a medical facility. What is the connection? Primarily a war story from Morrell, with a little Cap here and there, but it's interesting nonetheless.

The Pick of the Pile is Enter The Mandarin. Canete's linework is pleasingly retro with a sort of art deco filter, and Casey's handling of the characters makes this Iron Fan smile. Definitely a good read and a good pick up.

So what did you read this week?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i really enjoyed the chosen and legion, and great art on both!

rob! said...

ive actually been enjoying Waid's return gig on The Flash--its classic fun superhero family adventures.

somewhere, Gardner Fox and Jon Broome are smiling.

Luke said...

The Legion series is well-served to focus on these smaller teams and smaller missions for right now... yeah, things are going to go "Big Time" when Shooter comes back, but the main hurdle with the LOSH (to me) has always been the number of characters... I can focus on 3 new (again, to me) characters, not 20.

Mitch Breitweiser's art on The Chosen is insane. I'm only familiar with his work from Drax and now this, but dang, that's hot. I'd really dig him working on a full out War book.

About the only (and I do mean only) complaint I have about Waid's Flash is the complete lack of any mention of Bart in the first issue. But I suspect that was an editorial thing. I started reading the title under Waid, so it's super-fun to have him back. The fact that Wally can have compelling adventures because of his family and not despite his family also demonstrates a certain maturity of his character which DC has embraced, but Marvel seems unable or unwilling to do with some of their properties, which is disappointing.

Anonymous said...

Legions art during the "holdover" arc has been so SICKLY good that I hurt thinking about another artist taking over. It reminds me of the old Star Wars adaptations marvel used to do back in the day.