Fallen Son: The Death Of Captain America

Collects Fallen Son: Wolverine, Fallen Son: Avengers, Fallen Son: Captain America, Fallen Son: Spider-Man and Fallen Son: Iron Man, all written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Leinil Yu, Ed McGuinness, John Romita Jr., David Finch and John Cassaday (in that order).

The Civil War is over, and as the dust settles each side count their dead. Among those is Steve Rogers aka. Captain America. This came as a shock, not only to the denizens of the MU, but to comic book fans and news-starved journalists alike. This book chronicles how the Marvel heroes collectively deal with the loss of their spiritual mentor, while at the same time hinting at what came before and what will come after.

There's not much of an an actual plot here, instead each chapter is based on one of the phases of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance). I think this a great idea with lots of potential, but unfortunately that potential isn't realized very well. For a story that is supposed to be about deep emotions, it reads surprisingly much like a normal super hero comic book, that is with lots of heroes and villains duking it out while posing and slugging one-liners at each other. In fact, only the last chapter isn't built around a big fight.

Although I do recognize that an attempt has been made to have each chapter treat one phase, I just don't think this has been done very succesfully. For example, in the chapter titled Anger, the New Avengers sit around a table playing poker all the time (while the Mighty Avengers take on Tiger Shark, yes, Tiger Shark...). And in the chapter titled bargaining, the only bargaining done is Iron Man trying to talk Hawkeye into becoming the new Captain America (and I don't buy into Iron Man doing this to make the grief go away, that's just silly). The last two chapters are somewhat better, in fact the very last chapter is pretty good, although it gets a little too Hollywood emotional for my taste.

I think what I'm really missing here is mood. In a story that at it's core is about emotions, hitting the right mood is essential. And part of the problem with that stems from the art. Marvel has gathered five of it's top artists to do this book, and at first glance the art looks great. There are pages that will blow you away, and since each chapter features different characters, the cohesiveness of the book isn't really affected by the many different artists. But somehow the pairing of artists and phases of grief seems to be a little skewed at times. E.g. why have McGuinness, who is otherwise a great artist, do the anger chapter, when he is known for a rather clean and slick drawing style? Wouldn't e.g. Finch be more suited for an angry story? And why have Finch, also a great artist, do the depression chapter, when his strength lies more in the veins of action and posing?

It's not that this book is bad, it's just that it's not very good. And with a star lineup like this, it should have been better. If what you're looking for is a string of stories featuring major Marvel heroes and drawn by some of the best artists Marvel can dig up, you might like this. But if you're looking for something more daring, a story about emotions of loss and a proper farewell to Steve Rogers, this one falls a little short.

4/10

October picks

The leaves are falling off the trees outside my window, so what better way to kill time than to sit down and look through tpb solicitations for October!

Marvel has finally decided to reprint Marvel Zombies vol. 1 which has been impossible to get for a long while now. As everyone has been talking about this one, and I don't like not to be in the know, this is pretty high on my pull list. I managed to dig out an old CBR interview with Kirkman and Phillips.

Also from Marvel is Daredevil: Crual and Unusual. I haven't been reading Daredevil lately, but I do mean to start doing it, so I might try to figure out a good jumping on point. This could be it.

Only a couple of months after One More Day, Spider-Man fans are treated with the first Brand New Day tpb. I've heard lots of good stuff about this one, so I'm definitely getting this. I managed to find a CBR interview with Guggenheim from around the time this was originally published.

The good times don't stop here, however, as Marvel is also releasing X-Men: Messiah Complex and Mighty Avengers vol. 2: Venom Bomb in October! It's a big month for Marvel, and my wallet will be that much lighter for it... I'm still pretty angry with Marvel for releasing the tpb version of Messiah Complex after Divided We Stand, but both Brand New Day and Mighty Avengers: Venom Bomb are released quite shortly after the latest books of those series, so I consider that a small compensation. I can live with delays due to artisis taking their time, but I don't want to hear about delays caused by consideratins of sales of HC versions!

These days I mainly read Marvel, but I also keep an eye on what's coming out from other publishers. DC is releasing Ex Machina vol. 7: Ex Cathedra, Hellblazer: The Family Man, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier (TPB) and Northlanders vol. 1: Sven the Returned.

I haven't read Ex Machina myself, but I've been told it's pretty good, so I'll probably give it a try some day. I remember Harris from when he was drawing Starman (written by James Robinson). That's a great series, and I was very impressed with Harris' artwork.

I used to buy the Hellblazer monthlies and when I was reading it, it was an excellent series. I definitely recommend trying it out, although the art work can be a little so-so in the early issues.

The two League... books that's been published are excellent comic books, highly recommended. Black Dossier is supposed to be a sort of Official Handbook for the series. I heard it's pretty heavy on text, so if lots of characters makes your head hurt you should be careful with this.

Northlanders has been gathering some attention, and since it's the first book of the series I'll try this one. Also, it's about vikings so it can't be totally bad. Here's an interview with the writer of the series, Brian Wood.

That's what I've put on my list of books to look out for in October. If you agree or disagree or you feel I missed out on something, please feel free to drop a comment. Thanks to Collected Comics Library for compiling the solicitations list!

Astonishing X-Men Vol. 4: Unstoppable

Collects Astonishing X-Men #19-24 and Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1 written by Josh Whedon and drawn by John Cassaday.

The X-Men find themselves on the way to the Breakworld, the alien world about which it has been prophesied that it will be destroyed by Colossus. They've been hijacked by the mysterious agent Brand to thwart the Breakworldian's plan of destroying the Earth to save their own planet. On Breakworld the X-Men get caught up in a civil war between the totalitarian establishment and an underground group of rebels, and they must race against time to save not just one but two worlds. Along the way the reader gets heart pounding action, warm emotions and a story that at it's core is about human nature taken to the extreme. This book draws together all the plot threads that Whedon and Cassaday has been sprinkling throughout their run, and it all ends with a magnificent finale.

Whedon and Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men has been receiving tons of praise, and even a couple of awards, so I may just be piling more on top of that by saying that this is a damn good book. It won't just leave you gasping for more, you'll be, yes, i believe the expression is 'flabbergasted'.

When Whedon writes dialogue, it reads like real super heroes talking. When Cassaday draws characters they don't just pose and flex their muscles, they stand and move like real super heroes. The cast is mostly made up of characters from the X-Men's golden age (think Claremont/Byrne) and they even feel as if they were taken straight out of those stories. Each character has an important role to play in the story, and they all get panel space enough to play their part. Even Cyclops is pretty cool here, and doesn't feel as if he were just put in there to whine and argue with Wolverine.

On top of handling the characters perfectly, Whedon also delivers something which I think is rare in super hero comics: a really good story. Mind you, once in a while a good story pops up, but really good stories are rare. Whedon actually has something interesting to say here, and his story will make you think if you're receptive to such impulses. But that doesn't stop the two creators from packaging the story in a blast of an action packed and thrilling tale, and thus the book, as well as the whole run, serves as a perfect example of how great super hero comics can be. Whedon and Cassaday give here a powerful display of that rare and miraculous skill it is to be able to combine a magnificent story with subtle characterization. This is as good as Millar and Hitch's Ultimates, maybe even up there with classics like the Phoenix Saga.

When the chapters in this book came out as single issues, the book was criticized for it's massive delays. With this book as my exhibit A, I will argue that it was all worth it. And if people are tired of delays between single issues, they should just wait for the trades... I will recommend this book to anyone, just remember that you should read the three books that come before it. But don't worry, they're just as good. If you want to read X-Men, this is the best book you can get. In fact, it's probably the best book that Marvel has put in a long while. The only bad thing about it is that it's also the end of Whedon and Cassaday's run on Astonishing X-Men...

10/10

Spider-Man: One More Day

Collects Amazing Spider-Man #544-545, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #24 and Sensational Spider-Man #41 written by J. Michael Straczynski and drawn by Joe Quesada. Also contains interviews with Straczynski and Quesada taken from Marvel Spotlight: Spider-Man - One More Day/Brand New Day.

This book could also have been called Spider-Man: The Retconning. Or maybe Spider-Man: Continuity Kills. Or how about Spider-Man: Spidey's Life Sure Has Become A Mess Lately, But Now We're Gonna Start All Over And Also, MJ Has To Go. After six years of Straczynski, it's time to start all over for our arachnic friend, and it all starts here. This is not so much a Spider-Man story as it is a meta story, a story between stories, or continuities if you will. It hints at the beginning of a new age of Spider-Man, a simpler Spider-Man that is closer to what originally made him great. It's also a farewell to a character that readers of Spider-Man have grown to love (or hate, depends on whether you're an MJ-guy or a Gwen-guy...) and a farewell to a writer who will be remembered for revitalizing the series but also for a couple of stories that made fans cry for all the wrong reasons. I know this story received a lot of criticism when it originally came out, so I'm probably going to catch some flak when I say that I actually quite enjoyed it.

This book highlights what I consider the strength and weakness of the American style of comics, namely the heavy focus on continuity. Continuity has given us great story lines and magnificent runs and Spider-Man is a prime example of this. To this day people are still discussing whether Gwen Stacy was or was not the right girl for Peter Parker, and at a certain level that is great. But at the same time continuity makes a book more and more complex while at the same time restraining the writers. And sometimes the best thing to do is to start all over. Marvel's Ultimate line is proof of this, and I don't think it's a coincidence that Marvel's original universe is beginning to look more and more like the Ultimate universe.

Considering the consequences of what is going on here, whether the story itself is well told or not becomes a minor issue. But it just so happens that Straczynski does deliver on this, his final Spider-Man story. The plot itself is not important, what is important is the words, the feelings and the emotions. Peter and MJ know that this is the end, even though they don't want it. And Straczynski and Quesada actually succeed in conveying the sadness of the situation very well. The story is very emotional, and old time Spidey readers will have a hard time not felling a tear or two. A lot of effort has gone into making a story where the pictures talk as loud as the words, and it seems that Straczynski and Quesada have had a good understanding of each other when working on this book.

I have to admit I was surprised at the relatively high quality of the art in this book. It's been a while since Quesada did something like this, but apparently he hasn't lost the touch. Danny Miki is credited as inking part of the book, and I suspect this is the latter half, because that half does look a lot better than the first, which is a little rough in places. This book certainly leaves me wanting for Quesada to do more artwork, but I understand he's pretty busy doing other stuff, so it probably isn't going to happen anytime soon.

Whether you will like this story or not is going to depend on several things. First, do you want Spider-Man to start all over? Second, do you want to see MJ go? If the answer to any of these questions is no, you might want to find something else to read. If you're open for change, I suggest you give it a try.

7/10

X-Men: Blinded By The Light

Collects X-Men #200-204 written by Mike Carey with art by Humberto Ramos, Chris Bachalo and Mike Choi.

This book starts pretty much where X-Men: Supernovas ended. The X-Men, led by Rogue who is still suffering from being the unfortunate host of some 8 billion alien minds, is investigating a series of mysterious murders, which leads them into an ambush set up by the Marauders. To make matters worse, the Marauders have planted traitors in the X-Men's midst, and the X-Men face defeat at the hands of their enemies. Only Iceman and Cannonball manage to escape, and they must try to find out what the Marauder's true goal is. This leads them back to the X Mansion, where more mayhem ensues, again with the defeat of the X-Men as the end result. Meanwhile, New X-Woman Blindfold is having disturbing visions of the future, and the book ends with her setting up the stage for the next big X-event, Messiah Complex.

As usual with Carey, a lot of stuff is going on here, and the reader better pay attention, or important details might go lost. Also, this book is not for the uninitiated, and solid knowledge of most matters X is an advantage. Old fans will cheer (or grind their teeth, it depends I guess...) at the return of Gambit, and although a Gambit/Rogue subplot is not taken to it's end, there is certainly one set up here. There are a couple of surprises here, namely the traitors (no names given here...) and the return of Gambit, and this, combined with a good dose of well executed action, makes for a very entertaining read. One thing that I particularly enjoyed was that the X-Men really get their behinds handed to them in this book without actually accomplishing anything, something which we rarely see to this degree.

The focus in this book is on minor X-characters, mostly Iceman and Cannonball and the New X-Men is also given a good deal of space. Iceman and Cannonball are both interesting characters. They compliment each other well, and turn out to be good vehicles for keeping the story moving. Given the number of characters and the amount of pages dedicated to action scenes, however, character moments can seem rushed, but I guess this isn't really what the fans crave anyway...

The story is divided into four chapters and an epilogue, and the idea is obviously that it will lead up to Messiah Complex. How this flows together with Endangered Species, another lead-up to Messiah Complex, I don't know, but the stories ran in the same issues, so I guess it all works out.

The art is all very good, with Ramos handling most of it and doing a good job. Whether you like Ramos' distinct style is a matter of taste, I personally think it suits the X-Men well, and I particularly enjoy the action scenes. The combination of Iceman and Cannonball make for some quite spectacular visuals at times, and the sheer number of different characters being put on the pages here is quite mind numbing. The only complaint I have here is that the art of the main story and the art of the epilogue are so different in style, that the visual cohesiveness of the book is degraded some, but one might argue that Choi's style actually suits the epilogue better than Ramos's would. Although Choi is obviously an accomplished artist, I don't really fancy the way he makes the eyes look as if they were air brushed on the page, I think it looks a little girlie...

This was in many ways a very satisfying read, but you should be warned that it's pretty complex due to the dense plot and large number of characters appearing. Of course, many, including myself, see this as a good thing, and it is one of the reasons the X-Men have such a strong fan base. The book continues in the same vein as X-Men: Supernovas, but overall it's more focused, and this provides for a slightly better read. It's hard to set them apart, though, and they could just as well have been collected as one book. X-Men: Blinded... doesn't really stand on it's own storywise, so if you decide to get it, you should be prepared to also make shelf space for at least X-Men: Messiah Complex and probably also X-Men: Supernovas.

7/10

World War Hulk Event

This is a review of the WWH event as a whole, not just the main WWH book. For a review of the book go here. This is also the final review of my World War Hulk Review Marathon, and I must say I've been looking forward to getting here. The event hasn't been all shiny pearls and now I'm looking forward to reading some non-Hulk books!

The quality of an event like WWH is naturally very dependent on the quality of the main book, and although this is certainly a decent read, it is by no means top of the pops. My main fault with this book is that although it constantly attempts to convince the reader that this is pretty much the greatest crisis to ever happen in the MU, I was far from convinced that this was really the case. I read about Galactus in FF. I read about Dark Phoenix. And I read about a thousand other Marvel stories where the fate of the world was hanging by a thread. And this story just does not give me the same feeling of impending doom that many of those other stories did. In essence, the main book fails to set the atmosphere for the event as a whole.

The spin-off titles of the event are a varied bunch. The best ones are the Marvel event mainstays: Front Line and Damage Control, but the WWH: X-Men book also has some pretty good stories in it, specifically Avengers: The Initiative and Iron Man. I would recommend people to not buy the Gamma Corps and Warbound books. They are both of outrageously low quality and actually detract from the overall enjoyment of the event. The rest of the books I recommend to those who actually want to read the whole thing.

Except for Front Line and Damage Control and maybe Inredible Herc, however, the spin-offs don't really add a lot to the event. It's as if there's been little or no editorial work done here to give the stories a sense of unity, and this is a shame because that could potentially have made reading the whole event that much more rewarding.

I also find it strange that there are stories with characters that are completely unrelated to the main story, such as the X-Men and Ghost Rider, but no stories with some of the characters that are most affected by it, such as the Inhumans, the Fantastic Four and Dr. Strange. These are of course touched upon in the main book, but wouldn't it be obvious to go deeper with each character in their own series?

World War Hulk should probably be thought of as a fill-in event between Civil War and Secret Invasion. You won't see the MU in a different light after reading this, and the staus quo is pretty much the same as before. If anything, it does tell a story where major Marvel characters do questionable things, although the whole sending the Hulk into outer space thing actually happened before WWH...

I recommend getting the main book to those who like to read major Marvel events, just don't expect to be rolling around on the floor with joy. If you get the main book, I also recommend getting the Front Line and Damage Control books. The other books I recommend to those who get the main book, and who also have an interest in the characters featured or who want to get a glimpse of some Marvel books they otherwise wouldn't read. Just stay away from the Gamma Corps and Warbound books!

5/10

Mighty Avengers Vol. 1: The Ultron Initiative

Collects Mighty Avengers #1-6 written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Frank Cho.

The Avengers are back! Not the new beat working-in-the-shadows New Avengers, ooh no. This is the Avengers as we know them, facing off against the best villains the MU has to offer with the stature of a real powerhouse team. Iron Man, newly appointed leader of Shield, decides to build a new team of pro-registration Avengers and chooses Ms. Marvel as their leader. Together they assemble a team of old and new faces and immediately they're thrown into battle against a new version of Ultron, this time appearing in female form (and nakkid!).

Pretty much the whole book is about the Avengers fighting Ultron, and I probably won't reveal too much by saying that they do win in the end. But this book is not so much about Ultron, although the story is pretty good, this is about the characters - what they think, what they say and how they interact. In a stroke of genius, Bendis reintroduces the thought bubble, and uses this to reveal to us what each of the characters actually think of the others, and it's not all nice! My favorite example is Hank Pym's conversations with Ares, whom he obviously thinks of as very intellectually challenged and refers to as Thor-Lite.

In spite of all the big muscles and great action, this book is really about the characters. Before reading the book I was sceptical about the new roster, but Bendis makes it work to perfection with great characterization. Not using classic Avengers characters, such as Thor and Cap, gives Bendis the freedom to do whatever he wants with the team, and to create an as of yet unseen team dynamic for the Avengers.

So the Avengers are back and they are the powerhouse of the MU, as they should be, but they are different. I remember reading The Ultimates and thinking "Wow, wouldn't it be cool if MU Avengers was like this!". Bendis manages to give Mighty Avengers the same kind of coolness factor, while still infusing the book with it's own voice.

Cho is an excellent choice as the artist for this book. His clean line work and detailed panels make the Mighty Avengers seem that much more mighty, while at the same time showing the darker side of the characters just as well. Cho's action scenes are epic and his conversation scenes are filled with atmosphere. When leafing through the book you really notice the attention to facial expressions that Cho is putting into his work.

I'll recommend this book to anyone with a taste for super heroes. Not only does this book re-establish the Avengers right in the center of the MU, Bendis and Cho also re-restablish the Avengers as one of the Marvel books you just need to read. So go get it now!

9/10

World War Hulk: Damage Control

Collects the World War Hulk: Aftersmash one-shot written by Greg Pak and drawn by Rafa Sandoval and World War Hulk Aftersmash: Damage Control #1-3 written by Dwayne McDuffie and drawn by Salva Espin.

The Aftersmash one-shot deals with the situation in NY as the dust settles from the WWH brawl. Although the Hulk is gone, his soldiers are still left and they're not giving up so easily. Without a leader to show them the way, however, the different races start fighting among themselves, and the resident heroes have to step in to avoid further damage to the city. Besides leading into the Warbound and Damage Control stories, this story deals with what happens to some of the major characters of the WWH spin offs, such as Hercules, Amadeus Cho and Tom Foster (Goliath's nephew) right after WWH has ended. The story is a bit confusing as it attempts to wire up almost every remaining plot line from WWH, but the result is not all bad. The art is ok, nothing spectacular although some of the pages are very nicely composed.

The main piece of the book, however, is definitely the Damage Control story. As far as I know there hasn't been a Damage Control story since Civil War, so it seems to have become a title that is brought out of the closet after each major event. What I really liked about this story was the characters. They're not super heroes but they each come out very distinct and very funny. From mrs. Hoag who shows Tony Stark that being the director of Shield doesn't mean he can just commandeer everyone around to the construction foreman who has to keep a straight face while negotiating with a talking Chrysler building. Also, Tom Foster aka. (Black) Goliath, plays a major role in the series.

There isn't really any plot to speak of here, it's more like three stand alone stories, but the humor and the far out situations more than make up for that. The art is excellent and the coloring does it's share to make it even better. Espin's style is perfect for a humor book like this. I suspect a lot of time was put into the art, so we probably shouldn't expect this kind of art in a monthly book any time soon.

This book contains one so-so story and one really good story. It is by no means required reading, but if you've picked up WWH and are up for more, I recommend getting this one. If nothing else, then just for the Damage Control stories.

6/10

World War Hulk: Warbound

Collects World War Hulk: Warbound #1-5 written by Greg Pak with art by Lenoard Kirk and Rafa Sandoval.

This book is actually an Aftersmash title, and takes place right after the Aftersmash oneshot that is included in WWH: Damage Control. After Hulk has been subdued, the Warbound, the Hulk's merry band of alien sword fellows, escapes capture but then find themselves facing the Leader, who has created a giant radiactive dome, Gammaworld, where he keeps a lot of people captured and transforms them into monsters by using gamma rays. The US Army also shows up and endless fighting ensues. In fact, as the book ends the fighting is still not finished, and I'm not sure what that means for the Warbound. The high point of the book is where it's revealed that Korg, the rock man, is actually gay.

I have to admit that from the moment they were formed in Planet Hulk, I didn't like the Warbound. They just don't appeal to me. I don't find any of them interesting in any way, and, even though they were prisoners together, I find it unlikely that creatures with such different backgrounds would form such a strong bond as seems to be the case with these, uhm... fellows. Actually I still don't understand how they communicate, but that might have been explained at some point. There's a lot of science fiction in super hero literature, but this is more like science fiction with a bit of super heroics and it just doesn't work very well.

The story is standard super hero fare of the dime-a-dozen kind, the focus is on the Warbound, and this is the main weakness of the book. Each chapter is accompanied by a shorter story about one of the Warbound. Although these are generally of a higher quality than the main story, it is not enough to save the book, and knowing more about the individual characters does not improve the credibility of the group.

The art of the main story, drawn by Kirk, is boring and void of any kind of atmosphere. The coloring does not help on this, in fact, the coloring is very bad. The art of the shorter stories, by Sandoval, is actually pretty good, and it's just about the only nice thing I have to say about this book.

I would argue that this book was doomed to failure from the beginning. The idea of the book is obviously to tell a story about the Warbound, but they're just not interesting enough to build a story on, and coming up with such a bland plot to tell this story does not help either. If you've read Planet Hulk and/or WWH and thought that the Warbound were pretty cool, you might find this semi-interesting. Otherwise, I would stay way clear of it.

2/10

World War Hulk: X-Men

Collects World War Hulk: X-Men #1-3 (Christos Gage/Andrea Divito), Avengers: The Iniative #4-5 (Dan Slott/Stefano Castelli), The Irredeemable Ant-Man #10 (Robert Kirkman/Phil Hester), Ghost Rider #12-13 (Daniel Way/Javier Saltares) and Iron Man #19-20 (Christos Gage/Butch Guice).

This is a potpourri of stories from various series that is connected to WWH in smaller or larger degree. None of the stories are related except that they all concern WWH somehow, so it reads pretty much like a collection of short stories.

Let's start with the main event, the X-Men story. It sucks. In fact, calling it a story is a bit of a stretch, as it's pretty much just a drawn out slugfest going through all three issues and featuring different X-teams getting beaten silly by the Hulk, until he finally realizes that his fight is not really with the X-Men, and then walks away. This is obviously just a bad excuse for slapping the X-logo on a cover knowing that it'll sell.

The Avengers Initiative story is this books nice surprise. I didn't expect much from this, as I tend to prefer stories involving classic Marvel characters (I'm pretty conservative on that point...), but this story was both well written and well drawn, so I'll definitely be trying out the tpb's for this series. The story works very well within the greater context of WWH, without feeling tagged on or unnecessary, which is the case with some of the other tie-ins.

The Irredeemable Ant-Man is a fun little story. It's nice to see a Marvel series with a focus on comedy for a change. Phil Hester's art is excellent, so I might try out the digests of this series.

The Iron Man story is also pretty good. I quite like the direction Iron Man has taken after Civil War, and this story focuses heavily on his Shield responsibilities. The atmosphere of the story is moody, and the art augments this perfectly. This story also features the fight between Iron Man and the Hulk, which is a pivotal scene in the main WWH book, from a different view, namely that of Iron Man.

The Ghost Rider story manages to beat out the X-Men story in the 'The Story of this Book that Sucks the Most'-competition by a fair margin. There's just no reason for this story.

So as is usually the case with this kind of book, it's a mixed bag of hits and misses. It works pretty well as a collection of samples of various series, giving the reader interest in trying out books he otherwise would not and warning him about books he should stay miles away from. There really is no excuse for WWH: X-Men, however. As a limited series featuring a major team and tying in to a major event, it should have been better.

5/10

Thor

Collects Thor #1-6 written by J. Michael Straczynski with art by Olivier Coipel.

We interrupt the World War Hulk review marathon with a review of a book I've been waiting to read for a long time! Thor has not been seen publicly since a sub-plot in Avengers: Disassembled (well, it was barely a sub-plot, more like a stand-alone story, really) that left Valhalla, well... disassembled, and Thor sleeping the Slumber of Gods. Mjolnir reappeared during Civil War, but what people for a moment thought was the return of the God of Thunder, turned out to be a clone.

This time he's back and so is Donald Blake, his original alter ego, who actually had a cameo in Civil War. The first thing Thor decides to do is rebuild Valhalla and bring back the Asgardians. Apparently, he's a little tired of the snowy mountains of Asgard, however, because he decides to rebuild Valhalla in the middle of the Oklahoma desert. Yes, Oklahoma. And the Asgardians are spread out all over the world reincarnated as humans, so he has a bit of work to do...

One of the better issues concerns Thor's meeting with Iron Man. As director of Shield, Iron Man cannot ignore when someone occupies a large portion of the Oklahoma desert, so he goes to talk to his old friend Thor, but Thor has already been told of the Thor clone incident, and so is in less than a good mood. In fact, he kicks Iron Man's shiny butt all over the place, and tells him that if he comes back he'll do it again. So Iron Man decides to stay away...

Other than that, life is slow in Oklahoma, even for Norse gods. Very slow indeed. For example, the gods have to attend town meetings regarding town sanitation. And go hunt boars in Texas. In fact, some times the story slows down so much that it's a little difficult to see exactly where Straczynki wants it to go. Does he want Thor to be a story about what it would be like if gods lived among men? Because, frankly, I think that's a little boring. I mean, yes, the book does have it's funny moments, but for a series like Thor I would expect there to be some cracking of troll skulls and crunching of ice giant ribs. And dragons and demons and wizards and so on. But that is not to say that I didn't enjoy the story, I just felt it was missing something...Thorish. The story does start to take some shape when Thor starts thinking about whom of the gods he does not want to come back, but that plot line never really materalizes fully here. Maybe next time...

Those who have read the excellent Loki book and are hoping that the new Loki will be portrayed just a little bit as in that book, are going to be very disappointed. Straczynski has different plans for Loki, and personally I think that's a bit of a shame.

The art in this book is excellent. The line work is very crisp, and Coipel does splash pages, action scenes, talking heads etc. with equal skill. I also want to point out the very fine coloring in this book. It reallly infuses each location with a special atmosphere, and helps lift the book up a notch.

It's evident that Marvel considers this a high profile book considering the people doing it. And the art is really good here, but I feel that Straczynski has yet to show his worth on this book. I hope he has some mind blowing plots up his sleeve, because it could really use something like that. I do recommend giving this book a try. I liked many parts of it myself, and I will be getting the next book. But if you're an old time Thor reader, don't expect the Thor you're used to!

6/10

Old Articles for New Trades, September 2008

Looking at the list of trades that are coming out in September, I have to say there's not a whole lot of books that's making it to my pull list. In fact, I can only see two. Mind you, I do have a bunch of books on my to-read shelf, so it's no big problem, I'm covered. Also, keep in mind that I'm having a self-imposed Marvel-only policy right now. I'm perfectly aware that Marvel does not necessarily publish the best books, I just have a well-defined target of 'back-issues' I want to acquire before venturing into unknown territory.

The books I'm pulling this month is Ultimate Power and X-Men: Divided We Stand. The only other Ultimate title I've read so far is Ultimates, which I consider a must-have for anyone slightly interested in modern Marvel, and if Ultimate Power is anything like that, I'm game. X-Men is X-Men and I have actually enjoyed most of the X-Men I've been reading lately. It's not revolutionary in any way (except for Amazing X-Men of course!), but it's pretty solid super hero comics. As discussed in an earlier blog entry, the Messiah Complex book, which takes place before Divided We Stand, doesn't come out until October, so this book will have to take it's place on the to-read shelf until that. Stupid Marvel tpb scheduling policies...

I also thought about getting the Incredible Hercules tpb coming out, to see what happens after WWH, but then I realized that I don't really care about it, so I'm skipping it. If you think that I'm missing out on anything, please post a note!

The internet seems to be completely void of any articles regarding Ultimate Power, so again, if you know of any, please post them in the notes. Here's some articles about X-Men: Divided We Stand:

X-POSITION: Divided We Stand Book One
X-POSITION: X-Editors United

World War Hulk: Incredible Herc

Collects Incredible Hulk #106-111 written by Greg Pak with art by Gary Frank, Leonard Kirk and Carlo Pagulayan.

This book rolls along in pretty much exactly the same time frame as the main WWH book, and, although it does have a story of it's own, it serves as more of a complimentary story to that book. Super genius and annoying teenager, Amadeus Cho, wants to repay the Hulk for saving him a while back by helping him in his battle against everyone else in the MU. Joining him in his quest are the new selfproclaimed Defenders, consisting of Hercules, Angel and Namorra, and standing in their way is the evermore ubiquitous post-Civil War Shield. She-Hulk, Doc Samson and Rick Jones also have minor appearances, and, as expected, the Green Goliath himself shows up a couple of times! Many of the events of WWH are portrayed from a different view in this book, and in some cases, e.g. the ending, some minor details are also added. None of this, however, is so interesting or radical as to make the book a must-buy...

The book is written with more humor than the WWH main book, and this does feel refreshing, considering WWH's dark tone. Considering the characters banding together here, this book would probably have read pretty strangely had it not been spiced up with high doses of humor.

I have to say that the Amadeus Cho character does not work for me. Ok, he may be super smart, so much so that he can quickly calculate the trajectory required to throw a small piece of adamantium shrapnel so that it will take out an incoming missile. But that shouldn't give him the ability to actually throw the piece of shrapnel with the required precision. I know, it's nitpicking but still, people pay good money for this, godammit! The part where he hacks Iron Man's armor with a Game Boy is kind of a nice touch, however...

The art is pretty good in some places, but having three artists over six issues does leave a negative impact on the overall impression. Gary Frank delivers the best art here, but the book would have been better had the art been more consistent.

I recommend this book as a decent companion piece to those who haven't had enough of WWH yet. If you're not into WWH, you should probably avoid it. The story doesn't read very well on it's own, and the characters are, well, really not that interesting. I know that Hulk was restarted after WWH, so if you want to read Hulk, wait for that.

5/10