quick takes: september 12

It felt like it took forever to get through these TWENTY-SEVEN books, but it was worth it, as there was some good stuff. Today could be catch-up day, with a couple of weeks of reactions. Hopefully.

book of the week:

100 BULLETS #85

(w. Brian Azzarello, a. Eduardo Risso)

EXTRA SPOILER WARNING. Without a doubt, the most entertaining 22 pages of the week. It is of course one of my favorite comics and Eduardo Risso is in my personal Hall of Fame, but this was the only issue this week (and in some weeks) that I was emotionally involved in. Azzarello has created a comic, that I no longer know who is going to make it through the series and my favorite character, Lono, is the one tested here. A victim of his makes a surprise return to the series and enacts revenge in her own, very appropriate way. I read the last few pages thinking Lono was a dead man. As it turns out, he wasn't. The relief I felt was an interesting one, because she deserved her revenge (and she got it), but the most unpredictable character in an unpredictable series still lives. And I'm happy about that. How cool and perfect did the cover turn out to be?

other real good comics:

POTTER'S FIELD #1: No secret that I'm a big crime comic fan, as 100 Bullets (above), Criminal and The Killer are all amongst my favorite comics. Although I can't with good conscious throw this in with them yet, it is only because there is only one issue out. This is probably the best thing I've read from Mark Waid in a long time. Who knew he had it in him to do this kind of genre. The John Doe character was great, and seeing how he peices his web of information together was pretty damn cool. The art was good, but more importantly, appropriate. This kind of series would be a huge hit on TV I would think.

DMZ #23: A really good done-in-one, concentrating on a character other than Matty. Showing that Wood could do stories here for a long time if he wanted to.

X-FACTOR #23: Holy shit! The Isolationist is a bad guy! Okay, its not that much of a surprise. Although it was pretty cool when he finally revealed himself. How weird is the whole Pietro storyline becoming?

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #113: With respects to the rock solid punctual work of Bagley, Stuart Immonen kicks all sorts of ass. I'm really happy that he is here, and the escape of the Green Goblin and the ensuing battle is a strong example of why. Good issue.

NEW AVENGERS #24: Another good issue, in a series I'm enjoying. I don't want to spend every issue with the paranoia, but it makes sense. Some fun moments (Strange with Night Nurse, Wolverine vs. The Hood, and Jessica Jones) and some cutesy moments (the Strange spell showing the true self) all makes me a happy camper with this series.

LONE RANGER #8: This series is settling into "good every month" territory. I'm really enjoying this series.

FABLES #65: Another month, another good issue. this time we return to the "The Good Prince" storyline. The only thing that is bugging me right now, is the return of Blue Beard and Kahn. Not that I dislike the characters, but I thought their individual stories were done. Silly me I guess, consdering I'm reading a book about immortals.

CASANOVA #9: The bad news: Gabrial Ba > Fabio Moon. Green tones > Blue tones. Good news: Storyline #2 > Storyline #1. Still some of the coolest covers in comics.

PARADE (WITH FIREWORKS) #1: This was my impulse buy this week, and I'm glad I did. Some cute, cartoony art, but in this case, it does not distract from the story. A pretty serious story about brothers during turbulent 1923 Italy. Nice to see Image publishing a book that is normally left to smaller "artier" publishers.

THOR #3: I'm sorry to people looking to hate on Strazynski, but I'm really enjoying this series so far. Yes, even though its moving reaaaally slow. Thor whooping Iron Man's ass was sweet, and the Copiel art really helped show the sheer power of Thor. Heimdall looked cool as hell too.

three-star comics:

DAREDEVIL #100: The was a pretty good, with Mr. Fear driving Matt batshit crazy with his new and improved fear gas. To use different artists in this way, has been done before of course, but it's affective. Only problem is, Milla accidently killing a man is the more interesting part of this storyline, and this issue, necessarily so delayed it a month. Now that Matt knows, that storyline can continue in earnest. The backup reprints were fun, but it was a bit nauseating to see that Black Widow, although still portrayed tough, was still being a "damsel in distress," crying in Matt's arms. It was a product of its time, I guess, but it just seemed out of character compared to the hard-as-nails Russian spy she is now.

JLA WEDDING SPECIAL #1: Although the rest of the online comics community seems to be in love with McDuffie, I've felt his Fantastic Four run has been laugh-at bad. So what to do with him taking over the JLA? So far he shows why he was succesful with the cartoon, because in all honesty, he's really quite good with these characters. His first issue is a Wedding tie-in, so he is allowed to have some fun and he definitely does. Its a bit light-hearted, with some bits of the cartoon brought in, but it works. Its at the very least, more accesible than Brad Meltzer's run was, and that's after only one issue. Mike McKone was really good on art too.

WALKING DEAD #42: It has been a good couple of issues now that the series has slowed down to show us what all the characters at the prison are up to. Some of the choices have been a bit odd, but it was good to re-focus I think, because based on the last page, this series is about to be spun completely on its head.

PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #11: A pretty good War Journal issue, focusing mainly on two conversations. One between Winter Soldier and Punisher, and the other between Bridge and Iron Man. And what appears to be Jigsaw's kid in-between. The respect Punisher has for Bucky ("If we fight, you'd kill me."), as well as the cool little altercation they have was pretty awesome.

STORMWATCH PHD #11: Although I'm still whining internally about the HOOORRIBLE two parter where Gage and Co. smacked Christine's character around, this was another solid go for Christos. Too bad that there is only one more issue, as I thought he really had a good thing going here. It will be interesting to see how, where and if these characters pop again.

FEAR AGENT: THE LAST GOODBYE #3: Another good issue, with some fine Tony Moore art. I'll say it again: I'm a bit bummed that this whole war flashback is only going to be 4 issues, as I think it had legs for a bit more.

G.I. JOE: AMERICA'S ELITE #27: Good issue, with some pretty decent fill-in art by Mike Shoyket. The only real problem I had, was the lame internal excuse they had to come up with for Skull Buster not to kill Shipwreck and Cover Girl immediately. I mean, otherwise there wouldn't have been an issue, but without a doubt, Skull Buster would have ended their lives before they even awoke.

JACK OF FABLES #14: Pretty solid Jack of Fables issue. Still not sure what I think of characters called Revise and what not, and whether or not this title really needs to exist. But since the Fables universe is so damn popular, this book will probably exist as long as Willingham wants it to.

FALLEN ANGEL #20: Well, it gets big points for being past the Shi storyline. Blah. And more points for concentrating on Jude, who I think has been one of the more interesting bits from the new volume. Good issue.

GEN 13 #12: I'm not altogether sure that wicked smart kid-Grunge meshes with adult-Grunge, but the Grunge with tits was pretty damn hilarious.

comics with problems:

ULTIMATE POWER #7: This just feels like a lame duck series at this point. Although the appearance of the "real" Squadron Supreme was a genuine surprise. Just not one I cared about too much.

X-MEN: EMPEROR VULCAN #1: Kind of a ho-hum start to this mini-series. So far, the whole Vulcan idea just hasn't led to anything that interesting. I'm also not sure what I think of giving Vulcan/Shiar and Starjammers/Resistance a common enemy to fight. I think each other might have been enough.

LONERS #5: A lot of late teen/early 20's romance, culminating in the reveal of Phil Urich as evil Darkhawk. Just kind of eh, although I know this has its audience out there. Once again, fun cover!

WELCOME TO TRANQUILITY #10: For some reason this book felt all-over the place to me, and I had a bit of trouble keeping everything in line. The Scooby Doo backup didn't work for me either. Good Googe art on the main part however.

um, just no:

ULTIMATE X-MEN #86: I'm a skipping record at this point, but I'm just bored by this series. Some of the action okay I guess. Oh here's something positive: The visual design for Pyro here is WAY cooler than his 616 counterpart.

MOON KNIGHT #12: I have been so patient with this title, but really, at this point, what the fuck was this!? Something tells me that this book might (read: miiiiiight) be better if all 12 issues were read in one sitting, but what I got from reading it in single issue leaves me kind of uninterested in ever picking up these comics again, so I guess I will never know. A title that started out interesting, failed to quite get anywhere. This was my final issue.