The Amazing Spider-Man #671 – Written by Dan Slott, Penciled by Humberto Ramos and Inked by Carlos Cuevas & Victor Olazaba. Spider-Island is roaring towards a grand conclusion and this issue does not disappoint. So far, the Spider-Island story has been really good and a ton of fun. This issue has more action and surprises then you can shake a stick at. It plays out like a good movie should and leaves you cheering on the heroes as they frantically try and stop the Queen of Spiders and Jackal from taking control of New York City. In fact, it was so good, you would be hard pressed to find a better Spider-Man issue in the past five years. Slott has really amped this up as we build towards the conclusion. I would try to describe what happens in this issue, but there’s constant surprises and I don’t want to ruin it for anybody who’s interested in it. Ramos’ artwork starts off a tad weak but gets better later in the issue. Spidey seems far too blocky early on, but like I said, later in the issue it irons itself out. Might have something to do with the two inkers they have working on it, not sure there. However, I highly recommend this issue as it is absolutely (no pun intended as Mister Fantastic and the Thing are in this) FANTASTIC!
Resurrection Man #2 – Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning with Art by Fernando Dagnino. Ok, so the second issue involves the main character finding out his father is dead, but uncovering some of the past he’s forgotten. Then there’s two “hot lesbians” armed to the teeth with guns. Ok, well, that part really just seemed gratuitous for absolutely no reason. I had high expectations for the second issue since the first one was so good. However, there seemed to be very little that happened besides the confrontation at the end of the issue. It just seemed like there wasn’t much here in this issue, you really end up wishing it had been a tad longer so you could figure out a few things. Part of the fun of the series will be uncovering the mysteries, but this issue just wasn’t up to par. Maybe it isn’t fair to compare it to the original series, but the original seemed to have a tad more depth there. But I still think it was ok, Dagnino’s art work was fine, just nothing special. There were a few clever moments, but just not enough for me to recommend this one. If you skip this issue, you probably won’t miss a whole heck of a lot.
FF #10 – Written by Jonathan Hickman and Art by Barry Kitson. I haven’t been too high on this series lately, but this one really had a decent Fantastic Four-ish feel to it. Doom is plotting something but we aren’t sure what. The alternate universe Reed Richards is plotting something too. We get the FF going to where this door the Inhumans have sends them and we’ve got some stuff tying in from all the recent Inhumans – Kree stuff that was going on. Ronan is back in charge of the Kree and off he goes with Crystal making an important decision. A lot of stuff going on here, but easy to understand for once. Hickman does just enough explanation that a new reader shouldn’t be too confused. The art by Kitson is great, he helps things not be confusing. It is clear that what the actions of the characters are and everything is well detailed. The issue finally just works. I love Nathaniel Richards’ interaction with his son from another universe. It ends up being very entertaining. Overall, a pretty solid issue and it’s about darned time. I really enjoyed this one and it is a good catching up issue that has some heart to it!
Punisher #4 – Written by Greg Rucka and Art by Marco Checchetto. Punisher hasn’t really changed so much, but he seems to be a bit of a mystery to people in this one. Norah Winters helps him escape after a severe ass whuppin by the new Vulture. The whole story seems to center around more the people he’s affected than anything else, which is a refreshing change from the old Punisher stories that just grow old after awhile. Rucka is more about the essence of the character. That being said, there wasn’t a whole lot accomplished in this issue. Norah Winters sure talks a lot about her encounter and that’s pretty much most of the issue. It wasn’t bad, it was pretty entertaining overall. Don’t expect a ton of action in this issue though. Checchetto does a great job of giving us a nice dark ambience to the whole environment that the Punisher lives in. The blood gives us, at times, the only color in another dreary and drab world. We still don’t get much from the Punisher himself, he’s barely said anything since the series began. Like I said, it isn’t as much about Punisher as it is about the people he’s affected and I like that take. Pretty good issue, don’t go into it expecting a crazy action filled romp and you won’t be disappointed. I like it, not sure it’s for everybody though.
Mister Terrific #2 – Written by Eric Wallace, Penciled by Gianluca Gugliotta and Inked by Wayne Faucher. There’s nothing like following up a boring first issue with an even more boring second issue. There’s a lot of “blah blah blah” in this issue that I can’t make sense of. Anyway, the main character Michael Holt has his brain invaded and now he’s after the villain that almost causes a major incident. I don’t care about this character, we’ve got NO connection with yet ANOTHER Billionaire in the DC Universe. Maybe in the DC Universe it’s the 2% instead of the 1%. Maybe we need to set-up an “Occupy Metropolis”? There’s just so much not to like here. The art doesn’t match the mood/theme, it feels too hokey, there’s a lot of (apparently) scientific terms that don’t mean shit to your average reader. I could go on and on about why this comic sucks. Wallace hasn’t done much for me with any of his recent work. His Titans comics only got interesting in the last 3 issues after a year of build-up. You just can’t do that if you’re going to obtain new readers. They don’t get the premise of basic storytelling, trying to set-up a grand stage for us all, they leave out those little things that are important. Jim Shooter always told his people that every comic is somebody’s first. Well, why do I feel like the second issue was designed for somebody who’s only read the first issue? That’s a mistake. Just a truly terrible comic that you should pass on.
Deathstroke #2 – Written by Kyle Higgins, Pencils by Joe Bennett and Inked by Art Thibert. To say I was expecting more of this issue would be an understatement. Last issue it seemed somebody had set-up Deathstroke. We don’t know what’s in the brief case, but it was supposed to be part of a nuclear device from what I understand. Nothing is revealed in this issue. We got a prolonged over-the-top fight sequence and then BAM, the issue is over. I thought the art was ok, but a tad hard to follow exactly what was happening in spots. A lot of it was blood for the sake of blood. I’ve really told you about everything that happens in this issue. Oh yeah, and there’s some big dumb bad guy called “Road Rage” who is totally laughably stupid at best. Last issue’s premise devolves this issue and makes for a totally bad follow-up. I absolutely hate what they did with this issue and wish they had gone a different route. It started out well enough and then just went all downhill from there. Not a good issue at all, a total disappointment, and sadly a comic that you should not be wasting your money on.Technorati Tags: deathstroke,kyle higgins,joe bennett,art thibert,mister terrific,eric wallace,gianluca gugliotta,wayne faucher,punisher,greg rucka,marco checchetto,ff,fantastic four,future foundation,jonathan hickman,barry kitson,resurrection man,dan abnett,andy lanning,fernando dagnino,amazing spider-man,dan slott,humberto ramos,carlos cuevas,victor olazaba,spider island
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