She-Hulk (2004 Series) #6

August 20, 2004

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Minor Complications (The Big Picture Part Two)

When a squad of shrunken supervillains stage a jailbreak on She-Hulk’s hand, will she and Yellowjacket be able to take them all on?

Writer: Dan Slott
Pencils: Paul Pelletier
Inks: Roland Paris
Colors: Avalon Studios
Letters: Dave Sharpe
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Cover Art: Mike Mayhew
Publisher: Marvel Comics

I was amused by the announcement that a new Marvel Team-Up series in the works, since that title could just as easily serve every other issue of this title. Six issues in and we’ve already had guest-spots by Dr. Strange, the Thing, Spider-Man and now Yellowjacket.

I want to stress, though, that this is not a complaint. Far to the contrary, I think the device Dan Slott has found to allow She-Hulk to interact with virtually any character in the Marvel Universe is logical and devilishly clever, and used to its maximum potential in this issue. After paying a visit to a prison where supervillains are shrunk down to maximize space, She-Hulk is unaware that several of the villains have stowed away on her hand. When they cut loose in her law office, she and Yellowjacket, with the unlikely help of the Awesome Android, have to reign them in.

This issue brings back some of the trademark comedy that I thought last issue was lacking, particularly in use of the Android, or “Andy” to his friends. Including him in this series as an employee of the law office was a stroke of genius in the first place, and the chance to see him face off against his creator, the Mad Thinker was wonderfully done – so much, in fact, that he almost relegates She-Hulk to a supporting role in this issue. Slott does find time to play with her, though, first showing her revulsion at her boss essentially using her to keep his supervillain granddaughter out of jail, then showing how a number of factors come together to affect her.

Paul Pelletier is welcome to draw any comic in my pull folder any time he wants. I’ve been a fan since his days on Flash and through his tragically-short run on Negation. He’s really a wonderful superhero artist, managing to draw the most preposterous costumes or goofy sci-fi concepts and never making them seem hokey or hamfisted. He knows when to go for the visual gag and when to pull back and let the look on a character’s face tell the story. It all comes together. The only artwork criticism one could have for the book is the cover – a fine painting by Mike Mayhew of Shulkie smashing her own logo, and a helpful blurb informing us that Wizard named this title book of the month… none of which has anything to do with the story. Yep – it’s a case of Irrelevant Cover Syndrome.

In just six months, this has become a favorite title of mine. Any week it appears in my folder is a good one, and when I close an issue, I find I can’t wait for the next one.

Rating: 8/10

Justice League: Generation Lost #21

March 16, 2011

Title: The Dark of Morning’s Light

Writer: Judd Winick
Pencils: Fernando Dagnino
Inks: Raul Fernandez
Colorist: Hi-FI
Letterer: Steve Wands
Cover: Dustin Ngyuen
Editor: Rex Ogle & Brian Cunningham
Publisher: DC Comics

Jaime Reyes, the Blue Beetle, lies dead on a slab. As Booster Gold mourns the young hero – the second Blue Beetle to fall in recent memory, the rest of the team tries to pull it all together.

This issue the title went from solid to fantastic. Aside from a few very powerful scenes of Booster by Jaime’s side, we see the rest of the team struggling with recent events as well. Captain Atom, the man who the world believes is responsible for Magog’s death and the deaths of over 1000 people in a blast in Chicago, sits brooding over the course his life has taken, and Ice has to try to snap him out of it. Of particular surprise, Fire and Rocket Red share a tender moment that shakes things up in a very unexpected but surprisingly welcome fashion. This all rolls into a final sequence where one of our heroes faces a destiny that, in hindsight, has been coming since this series started, and one hell of a last issue that – I admit it – made me cheer.

Fernando Dagnino gives us good interior art – he tells the story and he backs raw feeling into the characters. Gavril, half-in and half-out of his armor, looks a little weird, but that’s not a really big problem. And the cover, by Dustin Nguyen, is the sort of thing that grabs you from the comic book shelf and demands you open the issue and read on.

In the past, Judd Winick’s superhero comics have had a tendency to peter out at the end. This book not only isn’t falling victim to that, it’s ramping up. It’s getting better. If the final three issues of this title live up to the last few, when it’s over Generation Lost may well stand as the greatest mainstream work the creator has ever done.

Rating: 9/10

Invincible Presents Atom Eve and Rex Splode #3

February 13, 2010
Invincible Presents Atom Eve & Rex Splode #3 (Image Comics)
By Bentio Cereno, Nate Bellegarde & Bill Crabtree

The origin of Rex Splode concludes as he and Eve take aim at a government instillation with secrets they don’t want falling into the wrong hands. This is a high-action issue, and Bellegarde handles it pretty well. While he still has a tendency to have Eve’s back arch at some pretty improbable angles, he does big action and big explosions pretty well. I even like Rex’s short-lived original costume, which has a sort of old-fashioned cheesy flavor to it. The story, of course, is mainly Rex’s, but as he’s dead, the reason the story matters for for the way it puts Eve’s pre-Invincible life into context. Again, it succeeds on that level. Between this and the previous miniseries, we’ve really gotten a good feel for the girl Eve was in the beginning and how she’s evolved into the woman she is today. I like these peeks into the different corners of Robert Kirkman‘s universe, and I hope we’ll see more of them.
Rating: 8/10