Avengers (1963 Series) #221

February 4, 2012

Title: New Blood

Plot: Jim Shooter
Writer: David Michelinie
Pencils: Bob Hall
Inks: Brett Breeding
Letters: Janice Chiang
Colors: Christie Scheele
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Publisher: Marvel Comics

If there’s one thing I’m a sucker for, it’s an old-fashioned “Who’s going to join the Avengers?” issues, and this is a really fun one. Following some dastardly doings by Moondragon, the Avengers are down to four members. Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and the Wasp each set out to look for recruits to join the ranks of Earth’s mightiest heroes.

Shooter and Michelinie really used the personalities of the Avengers they had well here, picking the new members based largely on how the others would go about finding them. Cap and Iron Man attempting to bring back Hawkeye makes sense, as does the Wasp throwing a garden party of sorts to invite some super-powered femmes who may be ripe for membership. The only thing that feels a little off is Thor’s attempt to recruit Spider-Man, but even that is easily justified with a quick conversation with Jarvis, who inadvertently points Thor in that direction.

Bob Hall and Brett Breeding do distinctive 80s art – the textures on the floors of Avengers mansion, the decorations at the Wasp’s house, the clothing and hairstyles of the characters involved… it’s all the sort of thing that you only saw in comic books of this particular time period. The book is quite a nostalgia trip for me as a reader.

The resulting team isn’t necessarily one of the legendary line-ups, but all six of the Avengers we’ve got at the end of the issue are characters who really define the team. Each of them feels like a classic Avenger, and four of them are actually going to be in the upcoming movie. What’s really amusing to me, though, is the list of “potential” Avengers we see on the cover (many of whom don’t appear in the issue at all). Of these 15 characters, only two of whom had previously been members of the team, eleven of them have been Avengers at some point in the 30 years since this issue was published. Funny how the Marvel Universe works, isn’t it?

Rating: 8/10

Marvel Zombies 2 #2

November 26, 2007

Quick Rating: Very Good
Rating: Parental Advisory

The zombies return to Earth, where the Black Panther is going through some changes…

Writer: Robert Kirkman
Art: Sean Phillips
Colors: June Chung
Letters: Rus Wooton
Editor: Bill Rosemann
Cover Art: Arthur Suydam (After Frank L. Paul)
Publisher: Marvel Comics

In space, the Marvel Zombies continue their trek back to Earth, but Spider-Man’s incessant jokes finally begin getting the best of Giant-Man. Driven to madness from forty years of wandering the universe devouring every living thing they can find, the strain is showing on these once-heroes, and in the end, their alliance may not be as strong as it seemed. Back on Earth, after Malcolm tried to have the Black Panther assassinated, the Wasp turned him into a zombie to save him. Jan shares a secret with him – if the zombie can go long enough without feeding, the hunger that compels them fades away, and their minds again become their own.

This little twist, that of the hunger wearing off, has really given this book a whole new dimension. We now have a functionally immortal (and, for all appearances, safe) zombie Panther fighting to keep control of his country in a battle against the man that tried to kill him. In space, some of the zombies are beginning to free themselves from the hunger, while others are just going madder. The first miniseries was basically about overrunning the world and destroying it. This one, against all expectations, seems to be about a new fight for the future. Never saw it coming, but man, is it making for a good read.

Sean Phillips art isn’t quite as good as usual, but I’m not really sure how much of that is due to him and how much is because of story demands. Seeing the aged Reynolds and Forge in spandex is just kinda silly, and when you add that to Hawkeye’s disembodied head being attached to one of the Wasp’s spare – female – robot bodies, the art started to remind me of an episode of Futurama. This book has a dark humor to it, but some of the visuals are just too goofy to fit.

Very strong issue. This series has gone in a really unexpected direction.

Rating: 8/10

Somebody’s First Comic Book: Sensational She-Hulk #2

Wondering what Somebody’s First Comic Book is all about? The explanation is on this page!

TITLE: Attack of the Terrible Toad Men (or “Froggy Came Cavortin’”)

 

CREDITS:
Story & Pencils: John Byrne
Inking: Bob Wiacek
Lettering: John Workman
Coloring: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Publisher: Marvel Comics

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: A green girl called “She-Hulk?” And conveniently, the word balloon tells us she’s the Hulk’s cousin. She doesn’t seem to have his anger issues, though.

IMPRESSIONS: The She-Hulk is getting a loaner apartment from her friend Janet, who apparently is living out on the west coast now, which seems awfully nice of her. Meanwhile, a couple of truly bizarre-looking villains (including – no foolin’ – a girl called Ruby Thursday who has a red globe for her head) are plotting against her. Then she gets attacked by Frog Men and Mysterio, who is another bad guy with a funky thing on his head. There’s a theme here.

As this feature insists, this is a “first comic book” – but I can’t imagine standard comics are anything like this. Besides being wildly funny, the editor and writer have an argument via post-it notes about the action taking too long, and She-Hulk herself makes a few comments that make it very clear that she’s aware of the fact that she’s in a comic book. It’s a crazy, funky, fourth wall-breaking gag that carries throughout the issue and gives the comic a very unique, unusual flavor.

The villains are so strange, the writing is so funny, and the cliffhanger is so good that I really want to go out and get the next issue. This is a hellacool comic.

GRADE: A+

Mighty Avengers #3

May 15, 2007

Quick Rating: Good
Rating: A

The Sentry tries to match his mettle against Ultron.

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Art: Frank Cho
Colors: Jason Keith
Letters: Dave Lanphear
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Cover Art: Frank Cho
Publisher: Marvel Comics

As the Avengers’ most powerful member takes aim at the new Ultron, a couple of old members are called up to the front lines. As much as I liked the first issue of this series – for the first time since Geoff Johns left the book, it felt like I was actually reading The Avengers again – the story is starting to wear thin. Here we are, three issues in, and we’re still on the same fight scene as issue one. What’s more, I can’t really recall what happened in issue two – the first page of this issue could just as easily have followed the end of issue one.

The big selling point here is the Sentry’s fight with Ultron, which isn’t a bad fight. It still has that sense that the writer is trying to sell us on the Sentry being the big gun he (until now) has never actually proven himself to be, no matter how much the characters claim he is. The trick with the thought bubbles was fun at first, but it’s starting to wear thin too – it’s the same joke over and over again, and it’s not particularly enlightening.

Those of you who have been upset about Frank Cho’s cheesecake art… um… don’t get this issue. Ultron, the Wasp, Ms. Marvel and the Black Widow all get displayed this issue, and the addition of Tigra to the cast just elevates the situation. Still, if you’ve enjoyed the artwork, it’s as good as ever.

This book, for me, is really coasting on good artwork and what is definitely an interesting cliffhanger (although nobody will actually believe the announcement). It has promise, but it’s falling into some old traps.

Rating: 7/10