Super-Josh

FANTASTIC FOUR  #2
James Robinson – Writer
Leonard Kirk – Art

I said I’d give this comic a go as I was on the fence with the first issue but now I’m pretty sure I’m done.  We start with more of Sue’s melodramatic diary left for her children that is so thick with ham you could carve it.  This is a problem I have with Robinson’s writing (at least his modern work, I haven’t really read any of his older stuff) I find it really stilted and clamy, people don’t talk like this in real life.  Anyway, New York is overrun by monsters that Franklin climes have come from his universe (you know...the one he created in the 90’s Heroes Reborn story arc...sure you do) and the Avengers and almost all the heroes of New York turn up to help.  Because that’s what you need in the second issue of your new ongoing series – completely overshadow your main characters with other heroes.  Reed creates a thing to kill the monsters, because he’s super smart, and Johnny has to fly it up into the atmosphere to activate it.  But there’s a side-effect and, oh no, The Human Torch has lost his powers!  (I guess that just makes him “The Human”).  This comic isn’t awful it just isn’t very good and  that’s no good for the Fantastic Four.  They’re characters of their time, like Superman, and they work best a certain way and I don’t think this is it...Besides I want to read the Fantastic Four not the Fantastic Three.  I’ll be dropping this one.


WINTER SOLDIER: THE BITTER MARCH  #2
Rick Remender – Writer
Roland Boschi – Art

Part two of this mini-series that isn’t really about the Winter Soldier.  Set in 1966 it’s the story of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Ran Shen who is trying to get two former Nazi scientists out of Germany and to America all the time trying to avoid Hydra and the aforementioned Winter Soldier who is playing the antagonist in this story.  Shen (as anyone who is reading Captain America will know) will one day become the villain, the Iron Nail and we even see a young Professor Mindbubble here as well so this really feels more like a prequel to the current Cap storyline than anything else.  But that doesn’t mean Bucky is forgotten.  There’s a great moment where Winter Soldier has a flash back to his training with Captain America during the Second World War.  The rest of the comic is filed with talk of communism and politics but it’s far from boring and all the espionage on the train puts me in mind of one of my favourite Bond films, From Russia with Love.  An interesting story.


BATGIRL  #29
Gail Simone – Writer
Fernando Pasarin – Art

I love this comic.  Carrying on the story from last time where Barbara Gordon and Strix go up against, Silver the mad “vampire” hunter to find the missing girl he’s kidnapped.  Babs keeps up her uneasy temporary alliance with Knightfall, throw in some great dialog between Silver and his henchwoman, Miss Targa plus lovely art and ... dat ending!  I won’t spoil it.  Go buy this comic!  Why aren’t you reading it?!


BATMAN AND AQUAMAN  #29
Peter J. Tomasi – Writer
Patrick Gleason – Art

Bet you never expected to see that in a title of a comic book.  The start of The Hunt for Robin story sees the Dark Knight partner up with the King of the Sea to storm Ra’s Al Ghul’s island stronghold looking for the bodies of Damian and Talia.  The heroes discover Ra’s has been trying to clone new Damians from the wombs of sperm whales and in a very creepy page end up running into an army of deformed clones of Bruce’s son.  Gleason certainly knows how to draw squishy, nasty looking things.  His attention to detail is what does it.  There’s a lot of action, a lot of ninjas, a lot of whales eating people and Damian’s dog Titus comes along for the ride so it’s like an adventure with Ace the Bat-Hound! – even though he doesn’t do anything.  Scott Snyder gets a lot of praise for his Batman run (which he rightly deserves) but Tomasi’s work on this comic has been just as fun and consistent.  Next team up...Wonder Woman!


STARLIGHT  #1
Mark Millar – Writer
Goran Parlov – Art

There are two Mark Millar’s – The Mark Millar who writes things like Kick-Ass and the Mark Millar who writes things like this...I like the Mark Millar who writes things like this better.  Starlight is the story of earthman Duke McQueen, once the hero of an alien world now in his 60’s and alone after the death of his wife of thirty eight years with only his memories.  Avoided by his kids and their families and mocked by everyone who doesn’t believe his tales of space adventure - imagine a fat, old Flash Gordon who gets picked on by kids at the supermarket: “Is it true they put a probe in Uranus?”.  I don’t know why but I really like stories about grumpy old heroes who come out of retirement to save the day one last time.  The contrast between his days of high adventure and his humdrum activities on Earth is captured wonderfully thanks to Parlov’s art and Millar’s writing brings the heart to this story that looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun.


VEIL  #1
Greg Rucka – Writer
Toni Fejzula – Art

An interesting start to this story about a young woman who wakes up naked in the subway surrounded by rats.  She doesn’t seemed phased by any of this and simply talks in rhymes to herself as she looks for a way out.  After ripping open a padlocked gate with her bare hands she finds herself on the streets and being leered at by a gang and men but she just starts copying them.  After being looked after by a friendly guy called, Dante the girl reveals her name as, Veil.  The mystery of this smiling girl gets serious when she starts using her powers to kill three men the her and Dante make a run for it.  I’m really intrigued by this comic.  Fejzula’s art is lovely, all the characters look distinct and different and his work on Veil makes her look both innocent and slightly creepy.  He also does a great work with the shadows keeping her relatively modest despite her being nude for about 85% of the issue.  This is one to pick up, can’t wait to see where it’s going.


MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC  #17
Katie Cook – Writer
Andy Price – Art

After Princess Celestia disappears through a magic mirror Princess Luna enlists the mane 6 to go looking for clues to her whereabouts in the secret underground library of Star Swirl the Bearded.  Interplayed with the girls exploration we get to see flashbacks to the adventures of young Celestis and Star Swirl as they explore parallel universes (including dinosaur universe!) and their eventual falling out.  And then...oh no...surprise villain!  Writing wise this issue is lots of fun, really expanding Celestia’s past and reviling more about Star Swirl than we’ve seen before and adding more dramatic tension then we could see in the show.  There’s a nice moment where Twilight contemplates her future as a princess and wonders if it’s really what she wants to do with her life – it’s all quite deep for a comic about ponies.  Price’s art is always fun, full of sight gags and references.  I particularly like the bit where Luna dresses up like her sister.  That being said, the art does look a bit rushed in places with some panels missing backgrounds and characters going off model once or twice.  But it’s still lots of fun...you know...for a comic about ponies.