X-Men: Emperor Vulcan

Collects X-Men: Emperor Vulcan #1-5 by Christopher Yost and Paco Diaz Luque.

Uhm well, yes. Obviously this book is the direct continuation of Uncanny X-Men: Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire. For some reason it was published as a mini-series, maybe so that Brubaker didn't have to it, I don't know. The main plot is about Vulcan and the X-Men momentarily joining forces to kick the collective asses of some alien race that calls themselves "Death to the Shi'ar". Yes that's right, "Death to the Shi'ar" is their name, so you can probably guess what is their game. When they don't kick alien ass, the X-Men discuss the moral implications of actually killing your enemy, and if I remember correctly, the conclusion is that if you hate him enough it's ok. Or something like that. The story has a slightly surprising ending, but it wasn't interesting enough to keep me from yawning violently.

I don't remember reading anything by the two gentleman Yost and Luque before, and I can't really say that I was impressed by this book. This is one of those books that sometimes comes out when you have a franchise as popular as the X-Men. It can't all be good, and sometimes books must be handed over to less-than-stellar writers and artists to get the books to print. I think most Marvel (and DC) readers have become used to this over the years...

So does that mean I can 't recommend this book to anyone? Not really, to some extent the world needs mediocre comic books as well. (But really, "Death to the Shi'ar", pfhh...) If you liked the Vulcan/Rise & Fall... storyline you'll probably want to read this one as well, so why not...

3/10

Criminal: Lawless

Collects Criminal #6-10 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.

This is the second story in Brubakers and Phillips' hit crime series Criminal, and in tone and style it closely resembles the first story, Coward. This is a very good thing.

The story centers around the veteran Tracy Lawless who joins a gang of robbers to get to the bottom of his brother's death. His brother was in the same gang when he was killed, and Tracy is convinced the murderer is to be found within that tightly knit group of people. Of course, the truth turns out not to be so simple, and before the story is over, Tracy must on several occasions release that dark, violent part of his soul that is constantly lurking under the surface.

This is Brubaker when he is best. This book has a thrilling plot, an evasive atmosphere and excellent characterisation. It would have been easy to write Tracy as just another troubled punk that the world does not understand, but Brubaker does not stop there. At the center of his cynicism lies buried a father/elder brother/smaller brother-relationship, and it this that ultimately makes him a tragic character, and which makes him interesting as a literary character.

Phillips delivers some of the best and moodiest art I have seen from his hand. I remember reading his Hellblazer way back, thinking "This guy would be great on a crime book", and now here we are. Shadows are everywhere in this book, and it is in the shadows that the secrets are hidden. In the cold streets of the city and the dark faces of the people. Phillips' art is perfect for this kind of book, I get the feeling that he is really enjoying himself drawing this, so lets hope he gets to do it for a long while!

I recommend this book to anybody who wants to read a good comic book. There may be no men in tights, but there is everything else, and it's delivered as a powerful, moving comic book experience. Highly recommended!

9/10

Uncanny X-Men: The Extremists

Collects Uncanny X-Men #487-491 by Ed Brubaker and Salvador Larroca.

The X-Men are back from chasing Vulcan through space and having mass bar room brawls in Shi'ar land, and are forced to face much more mundane matters such as post-9/11 Morlock terrorists and... well, that's about it.

It seems to me that Marvel's editorial line over the last few years has been working hard to make their books more relevant and to even have stories relate to real world current affairs. Civil War is the main example of that, and this story is another example of it, although of a somewhat smaller scale. This is a great direction, and something I think the Marvel Universe, which for me always was about the human side of super heroes, is well suited for.

This is a sort of lo-fi X-Men story, it doesn't have anything of the epic scale or mass battles that X-fans are used too. The mood of the story suits the subject matter, which, yes, is terrorism, and the subject is not handled in a black and white way. There is actually made room for opinion, something which is sorely missing in many other media regarding the subject.

And yet this book doesn't really fulfill the potential of the combination of Brubaker and Larroca. Yes, it is well written and the art is good. But I somehow feel it could be better. Maybe it's just that I'm a little tired of terrorism as THE subject matter of all things highly relevant (why can't they go fight pollution?). Or maybe the characters in the book are not that interesting. I'm not sure, but I will keep reading, because I think these guys have great potential.

5/10

Spider-Man: Reign

Collects Spider-Man: Reign #1-4 by Kaare Andrews.

I like The Dark Knight Returns. It was my favorite comic book, favorite book period in fact, for a long time. I even have a signed hard cover collector's edition of it on my shelf. I also like the works of Kaare Andrews. I really enjoyed his and Zeb Wells' Spiderman/Doctor Octopus: Year One, it's one of the best Spider-Man books I've read in recent times. And of course, Spider-Man is my all time favorite super hero, I still sometimes think of what I would say if I found myself in the same room with him (no really!).

So why is it that this book does not make me dance half-naked around in my living room, while letting out short yelps of pleasure and satisfaction while reading out loud from its pages? Because this is really the Spider-Man version of Dark Knight Returns (DKR) written and drawn by Kaare Andrews, and it is not being shy about it. There are so many DKR-homages in this book that I am sure some people would go so far as to use the P-word, although I would like to make clear that I wouldn't go that far, mainly beacuse I think that it is still a pretty good comic book.

The basic plot of a super hero who has been gone for years and comes back as an old man when his city needs him, to fight not only the demons of his city but also his own inner demons, is taken directly out of DKR. The dystopic future setting, the old arch villains, the rebirth, it's all there, even down to the tv commentators! Even the art, the line work and the colors especially, reminds me a lot of DKR.

But Kaare Andrews is not the comic book artist that Miller was when he did The Dark Knight Returns. And therefore Spider-Man: Reign is not as good The Dark Knight Returns. And the question remains, do we really need another The Dark Knight Returns? Personally, I don't think so.

When that is said, I still think this is good comic book and I would recommend fans of Kaare Andrews and/or Spider-Man to read it. But if you want to read The Dark Knight Returns, read that, because it is much better.

7/10

Uncanny X-Men: Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire

Collects Uncanny X-Men #475-486, written by Ed Brubaker with art by Billy Tan and Clayton Henry.

This book takes over right where X-Men: Genesis ends. Professor X, feeling slightly responsible for the whole Genesis/Vulcan debacle, convinces a bunch of X-Men to go with him into space to stop Vulcan before he does something bad to the Shi'ar. Meanwhile, a coup against Lilandra involving none other than Deathbird is being planned in Shi'ar-land, and the Vulcan and the X-Men pretty much stumble their way into this. The story is an action packed race against time with several sides aiming for their own agendas. As is usually the case with these kinds of stories, the whole thing ends with a big shebang involving all the players, and when the dust settles everything is back to normal, except in this story that is not the case, but nothing has happened that will make your eyes pop out.

This is an epic story with focus aimed straight at surprising turns of events and keeping the action flowing. Attention to dialogue and characterization is lacking, but that just goes to show that Brubaker can do action as well. The plot is split up into two parallel story lines drawn by two different artists. The main story line follows the X-Men while the other story line follows Vulcan, and in the end the two story lines become one, as all participants get together and start fighting This is a great way to keep a long story interesting and keep the story moving.

I guess it's a matter of taste, but I can't get myself to like Billy Tan's art. He's obviously out of the gritty Image school of comic artists, and all those angry faces and dark lines makes my head hurt a little. He does action scenes pretty well, though, and those do play a big role in this book, so it's not all bad. But before doing X-Men again he should at least learn how to draw bald guys...

Tan handles the art of the main story line, while the art on the other story line is handled by Clayton Henry, whose art I like a lot better, although he should hire someone to do backgrounds for him, because he doesn't seem to bother doing them himself. His characters, however, are excellent and give the feel of classic superheroics without seeming dated.

Criminal, Captain America or Daredevil this is not, but sometimes a 200+ pg. brawl in space is just what the doctor ordered. If you're in the mood for something like this you are pretty sure to be entertained, if not, go read something else. The art is a matter of taste, but it does kind of suit the story. I recommend this book for those who are looking for a long drawn out action story that won't make their brains spin too hard.

6/10

Sub-Mariner: Revolution

Collects Sub-Mariner #1-6, written by Matt Cherniss and Peter Johnson and drawn by Phil Briones.

Ok, this book is slightly more contemporary than the other books I've been reviewing so far, but don't worry, I still have a bunch of old ones I want to go through before I forget about them. After that I expect to write reviews of newer books as they come out. But remember, one of the good things about trade paperbacks is that they never grow old. Except the ones from the 90s.

The reason I bought this book is not that I'm a huge Sub-Mariner fan. The reason is that when reading my way through Civil War, one of the few subplots that stuck in my memory was the one detailing the progressive deterioration of the relationship between humans (well, Americans...) and Atlanteans. I guess it starts in The Road to Civil War where Namor gets pissed at Tony Stark for sending Hulk out into space. The Sleeper Cell story included in Civil War: Front Line then depicts the emergence of Atlantean sleeper cells on American Ground and how this strains diplomatic relations between the US and Atlantis. Relations are further strained when an Atlantean diplomatic mission is assaulted on US ground. In Civil War: Wolverine, Wolverine is chasing Nitro, but ends up fighting a group of Atlanteans also chasing Nitro, because one of the casualties of the Stamford incident (caused by Nitro, remember?) was Namor's sorta-cousin (well, it's complicated and involves clones...) Namorita, and being the kinda guy he is, Namor wants revenge. That story ends up with Nitro being imprisoned in Atlantis, assumably while Namor attempts to come up with a punishment painful enough to satisfy himself. Eventually, in the Civil War main story line, Namor shows up at the end with his gang of merry Atlanteans to support the nay-sayers in the final battle. So this is a subplot that crawls it way through a number of books, and Sub-Mariner: Revolution can be thought of as the next step in this subplot.

The book starts off with a second Stamford incident, this time caused by a group of rogue Atlanteans. The American government, not knowing the group was rogue, naturally sees this as an attack on America and promptly sends off Tony Stark and a fleet of Shield submarines (of course they have that!) to deal with the fish-men. Namor, apparently not realizing that half the American army is tied up in Iraq and Afghanistan, wants to avoid any conflict, and therefore goes off in search of the rogue Atlanteans in order to convince the Americans that he really had nothing to do with the whole thing. Along the way it turns out that a plot to seize the thrown is really behind it all, and we even get a small armed rebellion near the end. The story ends in a rather surprising plot twist, one that I assume will have repercussions for some time to come.

I like the basic plot of this story, the whole sleeper cell plot, the America vs. Atlantis plot and so on, but there are some things regarding the execution of the story that I don't like. First, I don't think it was necessary to introduce a second Stamford in order to bring US-Atlantis tensions to a high. It's a little weird that the first incident has such a massive significance in the MU, whereas this one is only mentioned in this one story, and it also devalues the significance of the first incident. In order to give this story some of the feel of Civil War, Namor meets with several MU characters along the way, among them Wolverine and Professor X, Sue Richards and Venom. I think involving more characters to the story is a great idea, but they don't really add anything to the story and thus it seems like an only half-thought through idea at best. Especially the fight with Venom, which takes place on a grass field somewhere, seems particularly unnecessary. I think it was introduced just because the writers forgot to include a fight scene in the script for that issue.

One thing I do like about the story is the characterization of Namor himself. In this story the idea of Namor as monarch is taken to the extreme. On several occasions he justifies his actions by stating that Atlantis is not a democracy, and when he catches the rebels, one of whom turns out to be his son, he decides they should all be punished by having their right hand cut off, invoking associations of certain real-life nations with a less than overwhelming concern for human rights etc. The final plot twist, which is caused by Namor's strong wish to protect his nation, really questions the definition of what's wrong and what's right (again, a bit like Civil War) and it certainly will put Namor in an awkward position the next time he has to deal with his superhero friends in the future.

The art in this book leaves a little to be desired. It actually starts out pretty good, in some places reminding me of classic Barry Windsor-Smith and in other places late John Byrne from when he was still good. The characters are sometimes a little stiff and the fight scenes are rather boring. The art does not really convey the aura of Namor as a monarch, but this fault may also lie with the way the story is written.

All in all I enjoyed this book, although I think the execution, both story-wise and art-wise, leaves something to be desired. It doesn't feel like a book where everything just works together, and results in something more than the sum of its parts, which I think really should be the goal for any comic book. I do however, like the overall plot of the book, and the way it connects to events in Civil War and the consequences the story has for the MU as a whole. With a book that is so clearly a part of a bigger picture, I feel this can compensate for a lacking execution to some extent, and in this case it does. I also really enjoyed the way Namor is portrayed, I hope future writers will stick to this version of Namor, King of Atlantis, and I will give props for introducing plots of a heavy geopolitical nature, I don't recall that being done like this in the Mu before.

5/10

Peter Parker, Spider-Man: Back in Black

Collects Sensational Spider-Man #35-40 and Annual #1, Spider-Man Family #1-2, Marvel Spotlight: Spider-Man and Spider-Man Black in Black Handbook.

Most of this book is written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and drawn by various artists, most notably Angel Medina, Clayton Crain, Lee Weeks and Salvador Larroca.

This is the second half of the Back in Black event, the first of which you can read about here. Just like the first book, this is a mixed bag of loosely connected stories which share a common theme, dark Spidey, more than they share an actual storyline.

In the first story, written by Aguirre-Sacasa with art by Medina and Ramon Bachs, Spider-Man impostors with similar powers begin popping up on the streets, but it turns out that their bodies start deteriorating after a while, so of course the original Spider-Man goes to investigate. In the end it turns out that Mr. Hyde is behind it all for reasons I never really understood. Aguirre-Sacasa usually writes dark stories with hints of horror in them, and I have to admit that I really don't think that Spider-Man and horror stories match up too well. Maybe he wants to do something like McFarlane's run from the beginning of the 90's, but hey, this ain't the 90's no more!

Although Medina only did one issue in this book I have to comment on how badly he draws. He draws really badly, ugh! Why he keeps showing up as artist on the Spider-Man titles I don't know, can't they get rid of him? He's a copy of an artist that was interesting 15 (fifteen!) years ago. Spider-Man looks all wriggly when drawn by Medina, and the characters look just awful. Yet Marvel considers him a hotshot artist and therefore had him draw the covers to both Back in Black books. Wtf!!! What did Spidey do to deserve this!?!

The other artist on the first story, Ramon Bachs, has a much more down to earth style of drawing, and I think he could be really good on hard boiled crime books or books like Vertigo's Hellblazer, but unfortunately his way of drawing seems to be a little out of place in a Spider-Man book. He's still a hell of a lot better than Medina though...

Where the first story is rather uninteresting, the second story, also written by Aguirre-Sacasa with art by art by Lee Weeks and Rick Hoberg, shines as one of the best Spider-Man stories I've read in recent times. This story is really about Eddie Brock who is dying from cancer and who is beginning to display symptoms of schizophrenia. Brock has gotten rid of Venom, but Venom still lingers in his mind, and it is the graphical depiction of this mental illness that really makes me like this story. Not only is the art great, it also lifts the story, which is actually pretty good as it is, to a higher level. If you buy this book, I recommend skipping the first story and going straight to this one!

The book contains four more short stories writen by Aguirre-Sacasa, Matt Fraction and Sean McKeever and drawn by different artists, among them Clayton Crain and Salvador Larroca. They're drawn in very different styles, but they are all very well drawn in their own way. Each story is self-contained, so they give the book the feel of an annual more than a regular issue. The Spider-Man Family stories are pretty dark in tone, which surprised me, because I thought that was supposed to be a kiddies mag, but maybe that was just from seeing the cover of the first issue.

This book also contains Marvel Spotlight: Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Back in Black Handbook. The Spotlight issue features some pretty interesting interviews and the handbook has a bunch of profiles, very few of which are even remotely connected to Back in Black, but I will commend Marvel for including stuff like this in the trades. Please continue to do this!

All in all this book is a tad better than the first Back in Black, but the first story really drags the overall impression down. Also, the stories are not really connected, so as a Spider-Man event Back in Black is disappointing. The book does give a good impression of the diversity of stories and styles of expression that suits the Spider-Man character, although in general the stories are rather dark, as this seems to be the theme of Back in Black. If you're looking for a bunch of short disconnected Spidey-stories to read on rainy summer nights, this is the book for you, but this doesn't really seem to be what todays comic book readers crave, now does it?

5/10