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  COMIC REVIEWS FOR THE MONTH OF: SEPTEMBER 2010
  STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES #1
Writer: Billy Tucci   Artists: Justiniano and Tom Derenick
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: DC Comics   Shipped On: 092910
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
DC'S SYNOPSIS:
There aren't many French Resistance soldiers more beautiful than Mademoiselle Marie - and there are none more deadly! When Marie is put in charge of some critical cargo, she'll have to keep her enemies very close, indeed. But she might not be keeping a close-enough eye on her friends!
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
War comics are just NOT my thing. I read them every so often, usually when one company or another puts out a glut of them at one time for some reason (it’s never abundantly clear to me). I always find one or two gems, a few run of the mill line-towers, and a couple spectacular pieces off crap. With my latest review I bring to you, “Mademoiselle Marie”, an entry in that last sub-category.

Billy Tucci, who should know good war comics since he’s done “SGT. Rock” before, as well as an independent short-film about WWII called “Some Trouble of a Serrious Nature”, produces a magnificent misfire with this exercise in banality. Marie is a SOE operative and member of the French Resistance, she’s dropped in to assist freedom-fighters attain explosives to destroy some railroads. Through a series of double and triple crosses, because there’s ALWAYS double and triple crosses, Mademoiselle Marie ends up killing almost as many of her countrymen as she does German soldiers. This doesn’t sit kindly with the young lady who finds military combat in fishnet stockings to be liberating, and soon she’s seeking sweet, bloody revenge on those who did her wrong. BOO-ring.

Tom Derenick and Justiniano do fantastic service to a hot mess of a comic book. There’s a lot of stuff blowing up, a fair amount of action, and even some scantily-clad women running about, but none of that means anything because readers are asked to put so little of themselves into the story. Without investment the characters are little more than cartoons running about blowing each other up. While these two capable artists drew their asses off, I feel as though the book sold them short. The whole experience left me with a feeling of contrition for ever bothering to pick it up.
  RADICAL PREMIERE MATA HARI
Writer: Rich Wilkes  Artist: Roy Allan Martinez
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: Radical Comics     Shipped On: 090110
MSRP: $1.00 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
RADICAL COMICS'S SYNOPSIS:
A look into the most notorious woman of her time, Mata Hari, presented in a special $1.00 Radical Premiere of the upcoming graphic novel. Dancer. Seductress. Spy. What is the secret story behind femme fatale Mata Hari, the most famous female spy in the world? Through the account of a humble eighteen-year-old girl, discover the secrets of the famous heroine, her covert missions and the love that made her lose everything.
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
The true story of Mata Hari is one shrouded in secrecy. The files surrounding her trial and subsequent execution were ruled sealed for one-hundred years, and won’t be available for public record until 2017. Now here’s the kicker, when I say: this is all being brought to you by the writer of “xXx” (starring Vin Diesel!), try not to run screaming for the door…hello?

Seriously though, Rich Wilkes may be one of my favorite writers I never knew I liked, and say what you want about “xXx” but this guys resume also includes “Airheads”, “The Jerky Boys” and “The Stoned Age”, all classics in their own right. But that doesn’t mean that I want a history lesson from a guy whose IMDB.com photograph features him with a green Mohawk. Alright, I’m getting ahead of myself; we’re not here to discuss his film career, but rather his blossoming comic book career, one that starts with a graphic novel about a stripper-turned-spy.

Mata Hari was an exotic dancer, but more so than that she was the biggest star in all of Europe. Because of her beauty and exotic looks she was sought after by some of the most powerful men from some of the most powerful nations in the world. She also happened to be a German double-agent, withdrawing information from her suitors through sex and manipulation and feeding it to the Axis nations. When she was caught she was tried, found guilty of war crimes, and ultimately executed.

What Wilkes attempts to do with the legendary historical figure is paint a picture of the potential build-up to her capture and trial. He postulates a love triangle, well at least the development of one, between Mata Hari, a French photographer, and high ranking military official; a possible chain of events that has its roots firmly planted in historical fact. This is only a preview of the larger story, available in graphic novel form from Radical Publishing, so I don’t really have a whole hell of a lot to go on here, but it was a fun little reading experience none the less.

The artwork is what it is, which is nothing to write home about, but nothing to slam outright either. I wasn’t moved by it for a majority of the piece, but I could see why it would appeal to others. For one, I didn’t care for the paintbrush-style effect that the pictures had, I thought that it made some of the images appear out-of-focus and distracted my eye with needless squiggles. The color selection also left me wanting, as I found that the overall saturation effects only added a murkiness that hindered my visual experience. Visually, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.
  TERMINATOR 1984 #1 of 3
Writer: Zack Whedon  Artist: Andy MacDonald
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics     Shipped On: 092910
MSRP: $3.50 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
DARK HORSE'S SYNOPSIS:
After the shocking events he witnessed in humanity's future, Kyle Reese has made the history-changing jump from the year 2029 to a world previously beyond his imagining-1984 Los Angeles. It's a time before the war, before Skynet, but not without danger, as Kyle begins his mission to find and protect Sarah Connor from time-traveling T-800s. Close behind is Kyle's friend Ben, with a crucial mission of his own. Hot off the critically-acclaimed Terminator: 2029, Zack Whedon and Andy MacDonald begin the next chapter of Kyle's journey toward destiny in their gripping reimaging of James Cameron's classic.
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
The creative team behind “Terminator: 2029” is back, and THIS TIME they’re rocking the PAST with more Terminator-fighting bad assery…but should they? This story takes place ALMOST at the same time as “The Terminator” the motion picture, with a few slight augmentations to allow for the shoehorning-in of a second story that finds Ben, the main character of ‘2029’, following Kyle Reese back in time in hopes of changing history. I don’t have a HUGE problem with that, as there was about 13 years of time that passed between the first and second films, but this BETTER be damn-good throughout or there’ll be hell to pay, I’m sure.

The story picks up the ball near the end of the famous film…Sarah Connor has just survived the Terminator attack, Reese is thought dead, and Cyberdine shows up at the factory to clean up the mess that they’re (sorta) responsible for. Ben, who’s followed Reese back in time, witnesses the clean-up crew attempting to hide the truth and makes a point of tracking down Sarah Connor after the fact. He explains where he’s from, what he’s doing in the past, and what he witnessed the Cyberdine people doing with Reese’s body; this, of course, gets Sarah all worked up and she starts stocking up munitions in preparation of a fire-fight.

Aside from rehashing the ending of the movie, and then taking it about a half-step forward, there’s not a WHOLE LOT to this book. I mean, it’s ALL set up and very little in the way of pay-out. There’s going to be a lot going on in the coming issues, but not a lot of that is previewed in the first issue. If you’ve NEVER seen Terminator than this might spark some interest in the source-material, but it’s not going to revolutionize the way you see the property if you’ve been a long-time fan. I’m kind of interested in where this is going, but at the same time the first two Terminator films seem almost untouchable to me. I’m not sure what Zack Whedon is planning doing to leave his mark on the legacy without screwing things up, and I’m not entirely sure that I’m going to care once we get there.

Andy MacDonald’s pencils tread a fine line between sketchy and clean. Certain panels are crisp and neat, while others exemplify the gritty, rough-around-the-edges time of the 1980s. It’s a perfect combination that really helps set the tone of the book; it doesn’t go against the imagery seen in the movie, and it establishes its own sense of self when dealing with the men behind Cyberdine, the main character Ben, and of course the dirty, dry Mexican desert where Sarah seems so at home. I thought that the art worked incredibly well for the story, although I’m not sure the story worked incredibly well.
  GI COMBAT #1
Writer: Matthew Sturges  Artist: Phil Winslade
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: DC Comics     Shipped On: 092210
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
DC'S SYNOPSIS:
Jeb Stuart's gotten used to his tank being haunted by the ghost of his Civil War ancestor, General J.E.B. Stuart, but when he and his crew are pinned down by German soldiers in a walled city, what will happen when he must take the helm of a tank haunted by a very different kind of dead man?
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
For what it’s worth, “The Haunted Tank” is a fantastic throw-back to the days when war comics were as prevalent as the superhero genre, and it retains ALL the sensibilities of similar books that preceded it while at the same time bringing a fresh take on an OLD idea. The concept is simple: There’s a tank, and it’s haunted by the ghost of a Confederate General. Sometimes this ghost helps out a soldier by offering vague advice and strategy. See, that wasn’t too hard, was it?

Alright, so it’s World War II, and the combat in France is at a high point as the Allied forces gain momentum in their mission to liberate the land from Nazi control. When The Haunted Tank comes across a group of fallen comrades it’s up to the soldiers manning the monster machine to take out a pair of German tanks and a hidden gunner, but can they do it all by themselves? It’s a rather classic example of the David VS Goliath story with a slight ghost-story twist, and it works rather splendidly by playing up the ‘haunted’ aspects of the tank and not so much the ‘tank’ stuff. What do I mean? Watching two tanks shoot back and forth at one another would probably be pretty boring, right? But reading about a ghost intervening in combat situations to the detriment of our enemies is pretty cool.

The fun comes towards the end when the big twist is revealed…I’m not going to give it away, but it wasn’t what I was expecting at all. I thought that Sturges did a great job establishing the environment that these guys faced, and while it wasn’t an overly dramatic, virtuous, or gory tale, it worked really well! Not all war stories have to be melodramatic morality tales, and not all of them have to be full of adult-style humor and violence. There’s something very mature about Sturges take, without coming off as a Mature-Readers title.

Phil Winslade really pulls out all the stops with his work on “The Haunted Tank”; his style really invokes the feel of a classic war comic, as opposed to the more stylized undertakings of current series. I really enjoyed the sketchy, almost dirty line-work as it added a great deal of grit and realism. His characters look like soldiers, not super-people, and as regular guys in intense combat situations Winslade really manages to get their emotions across to readers in facial expressions and body language. When the characters run for their lives, you the reader feel like you’re fleeing with them; when they share in a victory over German soldiers with odds stacked against them, I felt like part of the team. I had a lot of fun with this book, and though it’s not PERFECT (and really, what is?), we could definitely use more books like it on the shelves.
  VALKYRIE #1
Writer: Bryan J.L. Glass   Artist: Phil Winslade
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: Marvel Comics     Shipped On: 092910
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
From the pages of SECRET AVENGERS-the untold story of the rebirth of Valkyrie! In AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED, Ragnarok claimed the lives of the Asgardians, until they were reborn along with Thor himself...but when and how did the legendary shield maiden Brunhilde return? How does a murder mystery hold all the answers? And how can Valkyrie solve the riddle of her own death? Dare a glimpse into the soul of Marvel's most misunderstood heroine, and witness her transformation from myth to Defender to Avenger! Featuring the Marvel Universe writing debut of acclaimed writer Bryan J.L. Glass (The Mice Templar), and the stunning pencils of Phil Winslade (Wonder Woman)!
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
Let’s get this out of the way first: I’m a ‘new’ Avengers fan. I didn’t read the Avengers growing up, in fact “New Avengers” was my first regular Avengers-related purchase, and THAT is the version of the team that I’m likely to look back on most fondly as time goes on. At first I thought this one-shot was somehow tied to the soon-to-be-released “Thor” movie, but I was wrong, this is ACTUALLY an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the Ed Brubaker-penned “Secret Avengers”. While this attempt to make heads or tails of the character’s convoluted history is admirable, if for nothing more than the sheer amount nonsense one has to delve into, in the end the book just came off as a fluff piece that does NOTHING to advance the character, in my opinion.

So everyone wanted to know where Valkyrie had been since Thor awakened the Asgardian pantheon; Bryan J.L. Glass is trying to explain what went on with the character between Straczynski’s “Thor” #1 and “Secret Avengers” #1, unfortunately it’s not that good of a story. While all the Asgardians slept in human bodies after Ragnarok, Valkyrie was a hotel concierge. After she’s ‘killed’ by being thrown from a high-rise hotel she’s revived by a paramedic only to be re-revived by Thor as Brunnhilde, or Valkyrie, as she’s more commonly known as. This leads to a whole lot of silliness in which Valkyrie attempts to make sense of all the cluttered memories in her head, as well as figure out who killed her human counterpart while the Asgardian inside her was dormant. Seriously, just trying to explain it is giving me a headache.

There is, of course, a silly appearance by a third-rate villain who just so happens to be the one responsible for throwing Valerie, I mean Valkyrie, out of a window. They fight, Val wins (no duh!) and then readers are told they can follow the heroine’s adventures in “Secret Avengers”, but I don’t think ANYONE would be sold on THAT title by way of this one. I mean, there’s so much to absorb, so much in the way of convoluted past, present, and potential future with this character; even as the writer/artist team do their best to make her as interesting as possible it’s just way off the mark. I couldn’t find myself taken by the overly-complex material conveniently shoehorned into present continuity.

The art is tolerable, if not a little non-descript. Phil Winslade is a capable artist, but he’s not given a chance to illustrate anything with any personality. The whole book feels like it’s going through the motions instead of attempting to really captivate a reader’s attention. I thought the pictures were pretty, but I’d much rather see the guy draw something with some heart. I imagine this was some sort of editorially mandated story that they wanted to get out there in celebration of “Women of Marvel” month, but it just doesn’t do anyone involved any justice. Glass comes off looking like an amateur and Winslade kills some time before his next project. Valkyrie might be of some interest to older fans but THIS isn’t the way to spark a great deal of interest in the character with a new generation of readership.
  WETWORKS MUTATIONS #1
Writers: Kevin Grevioux & Christopher Long    Artist: Julius Gopez
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: DC/Wildstorm Comics     Shipped On: 092910
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
DC/WILDSTORM'S SYNOPSIS:
Roaming the post-Apocalyptic American landscape, it's Wetworks like you've never seen them before. With their symbiotes no longer reliably functioning, the team finds themselves running up against Lord Defile, intent upon remaking the ruined Earth in his own vision, which includes experimenting on human prisoners to create a hybrid species! Writer, actor and co-creator of the Underworld movie franchise Kevin Grevioux and co-writer Christopher Long bring their unique take to this classic WildStorm team, with incredibly detailed art by newcomer Julius Gopez.
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
THIS is what happens when perfectly viable and proven properties are forced to sit on the shelf for too long. Time passes them by and not-so-suddenly a great idea becomes a dated and frankly silly concept that we’ve seen played to death already. Do we need ANOTHER superheroes versus vampires story, even when you throw aliens in the mix it feels somewhat forced, unlike the gangster/alien/vampire epic unfolding in “Turf”. Oh, and there’s werewolves, too, so if it didn’t sound horribly convoluted BEFORE it probably does now.

The Wildstorm Universe is coming to an end, and to be honest, while it KINDA sucks, as far as I’m concerned THAT particular corner of the DCU has been riddled with problems for a while. I mean, what good is a superhero universe that’s gone through Armageddon, the end of the world, and has little in the way of society to protect or serve? The idea that destroying the Wildstorm Universe BEFORE it fades away into oblivion, leaving it to spasm like a dying fish on a pier, only adds insult to injury to a particular selection of titles that featured creators like Morrison, Moore, Lee, Ellis, Charest, Campbell, and so many more. These were MORE than just superhero comics for a while, but in the end they’re little more than lame ducks waiting to be picked off by the money men at DCE.

This book is a hot mess, and the sad part is it only serves to establish a new status-quo for the Wetworks team, right before the whole line gets shelved. Grevioux and Long try to build upon the years of established continuity, their first mistake, and end up making a big mess of things. The gold symbiotes that give the Wetworks team their powers start going haywire, which is to say that they conveniently stop working when it best suits the writers’ urges. Dane loses an arm, Dozer starts growing weird arm-barbs, or whatever, and ultimately after the deaths of a couple of teammates, one symbiote in particular becomes sentient. Who cares?

This is all ‘too little, too late’ as far as I’m concerned. The editorial team over at Wildstorm lost sight of what their characters had to offer the comic-reading public, and they started trying to establish a post-apocalyptic superhero universe, which was a HUGE ‘oopsie’. As opposed to ever reestablishing their position as a clever, boundary-pushing line of comics, Wildstorm cemented their own spot at the bottom of the creative pool…hopefully drowning any more bright ideas they may have until such a time that NEW and FRESH team of creators can approach these titles and restore them to greatness. Under the DC banner, that is, of course.
  SKULLKICKERS #1
Writer: Jim Zubkavich  Artists: Chris Stevens and Edwin Huang
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: Image Comics     Shipped On: 092210
MSRP: $2.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
IMAGE'S SYNOPSIS:
"One Thousand Opas and a Dead Body" -- No one knows where these two warriors came from. The only thing that's clear is that they're two of the most ornery trouble-making $%@# that have ever lived. Skullkickers is a fantasy action-comedy: Two mercenaries entangled in a high class assassination plot and nothing - werewolves, skeletons or black magic - will stop them from getting paid. If you love tabletop fantasy RPGs or movies like Army of Darkness, Skullkickers is waiting for you!
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
I wasn’t supposed to like this book; I was supposed to love it. Why? Because I wanted to; for so long after first seeing an online preview featuring little beyond a couple covers, a pitch, and the title (which is great), I was sold on the book, adding it to my pull list weeks before it came out (a rarity for me). When it came out this past Wednesday, I was really looking forward to getting home and cracking it open, eagerly anticipating whatever kind of adventure and tomfoolery awaited me inside. What I got instead was a fairly exciting, barely clever, and somewhat silly book about two unnamed men who I’m supposed to find hilariously BAD-ASS. Um, ok.

Chris Steven’s Jack Kirby-inspired cover is the MOST IMPRESSIVE thing about the whole book, and I thought it was going to be somewhat indicative of the art inside, but that isn’t so. Stevens shares the art duties, almost down the middle, with Edwin Huang, who also inks the entire issue. While the book has two different artists there is such a cohesive look to the whole thing that if they didn’t specifically tell you who drew what, there is no way you’d be able to distinguish between the two. Though that is an impressive feat to manage, I have to be honest in saying that the overall style of the art didn’t capture me the way I thought it would; it seems a bit too anime-inspired for my tastes these days.

The ‘story’, if that’s what you’d care to call it, begins with a fight, ends with a fight-about-to-start, and somewhere in between Jim Zubkavich manages the least amount of characterization possible. For a first issue I learned very little about our main characters other than, a) they like to fight, b) when they’re not fighting they like to drink beer, and c) they’re little more than hired thugs (‘mercenary’ being such an ‘in-word’ right now and all…). Do I CARE about the characters as they stumble headlong into danger time and time again, nope, and it doesn’t seem as though Zubkavich cares if you do or not, he just wants to show two visually arresting guys beating the crap out of stuff.

I’m disappointed that this wasn’t what I expected it to be, but then again I’m not exactly sure WHAT I expected it to be. I wanted something with a bit of an edge to it, yet still firmly rooted in a swords-and-sorcery world, but this seems a bit too heavy on the ‘edge’ and extremely light on the ‘world’ part. There’s no atmosphere, no environment, it’s just ‘punch, punch, stab, kick, run, jump, steal’, and that gets old REAL FAST. Some are proclaiming this to be “…the next big hit for Image!” Too bad it feels like the next big ‘whiff’, at least the first issue is only $2.99 so feel free to judge for yourself…if you dare!
  THOR #615
Writer: Matt Fraction  Artist: Pasqual Ferry
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: Marvel Comics     Shipped On: 092210
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
Fraction! Ferry! Heroic Age! The perfect jumping-on point as THOR's all-new creative team and all-new era kick off HERE! In the wake of SIEGE, Asgard must take its proper place as the Golden Realm, most glorious of the nine worlds of myth. But that means Thor's home isn't just a beacon...it's a target! And what happens to the Asgardians and the denizens of all nine worlds -- including Earth! -- when a dark, destructive force from another reality comes on the warpath?
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
With all the brew-ha-ha that’s, um, brewing around the God of Thunder’s big screen debut, Marvel Comics has brought in their latest ‘wonder-boy’, Matt Fraction, to give the old ‘spit/polish’ to everyone’s favorite Asgardian Avenger. This comes after a disappointing showing by Kieron Gillen and Billy Tan, and even slightly further down the line from the critically acclaimed J. Michael Straczynski, and the big question is: Can Fraction deliver the goods when combined with an artistic talent like Ferry, making the book as accessible and interesting as it’s EVER been?

The short answer is, “Yeah, sure.” The slightly longer answer is, “Yes, but not without a few minor stumbles along the way.” Since I have the room, and the time to kill, I guess I’ll elaborate further. The book is visually stunning; Ferry is truly a master of his craft, and even with some of the most imaginative page-layouts I’ve seen in quite a while, I’m not sure he was given enough to do. Sure there’s scope, and characterization, environment, even a peek at some baddies who seem a bit heavy on the ‘bad’, but all in all I still felt, well, kinda swindled.

I’m NOT a big Thunder God fan, so I wasn’t sure what I expected to find when I cracked the issue open, but let’s just say while I’m impressed with the attempt, I’m under whelmed with the issue as a whole. I wanted to find myself swept away in the mythology, but so much has been done to render Thor’s home asunder that there isn’t a ton to do with the character but to take him and his brethren in another direction. This is one of the issue’s strongest points; Fraction’s bizarre imagination has managed to dredge up a group of inter-dimensional warlords whose blood thirst is only outmatched by their brutality.

The evil-doers, whoever they are, interrupt a rather delightful bit about some Ice Elves of Alfheim, and just before the death, and the carnage, and the mayhem begin, I was wondering what the hell it had to do with anything. Fraction pulled a fast one on me, and I’ll be the first to admit that, and it was REALLY EXCITING, but immediately after that he puts the brakes on everything, bringing in his royal mopey-ness to brood, and pout, and lecture others more mopey, and pouty, and brooding. It really just became a pity party at the end, which lost my attention pretty quickly. Fraction does lob a little humor over the plate at the end, and nails it like a jacked-up DH. Nothing like a good fat-joke at Volstagg’s expense right, easy targets make the best targets.

SO all in all, I’m wishy-washy on the whole experience. I wanted to LOVE this book, thinking that Fraction, free from all the mutant baggage he’s been forced to carry for the last few years, was ready to go ape on a title that NEEDS to be on point for the next couple of years if it hopes to draw in new readers, and while he’s ALMOST there, in my opinion, he just didn’t knock it out like I thought he would. At least the pictures were pretty. And I mean PRETTY!
  POWER GIRL #16
Writer: Judd Winick   Artist: Sam Basri
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: DC Comics     Shipped On: 092210
MSRP: $2.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
DC'S SYNOPSIS:
Someone close to Karen Starr has figured out that she's the one and only Power Girl! An unusual alliance is born as this new team tries to uncover who ruined Power Girl's company and sent her life into a tailspin.
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
Ever have a friend from whom, over time, you grew apart? Ever catch up with that person down the line a bit and come to the bitter realization that things are NEVER going to be as good as they once were? That’s kind of how it felt as I read my way through the latest installment of “Power Girl”; it was awkward, uncomfortable, and ultimately disappointing overall.

While it’s probably one of the more visually dynamic books, in terms of character design at least, I just couldn’t muster the same sort of feeling that I felt when Palmiotti, Gray, and Connor were handling the creative chores. There was no chemistry anymore; sure it LOOKS good, but a lot of stuff LOOKS good and doesn’t have the substance, the depth that I’m looking for in a comic. Basri’s destined for bigger things, IF he can manage a few backgrounds beyond the simple stuff that he’s doing right now…his characters are wonderful looking, and his action is very kinetic, I’m just a sucker for ‘atmosphere.’

Aside from a plot device that was used barely half a year back, there’s the ever-clever early, semi-reveal of the villain’s identity which all leads to the ultimately disappointing finish, sans REAL reveal. Is it a tried and true way to tell a story, sure, but if you rearrange the letters in ‘tried’ you get ‘tired’, and that’s how this felt to me. I assume from the rest of the story that the bad guy is the same person who’s featured so heavily alongside Power Girl, but I could be wrong, the thing is I don’t care to stick around and find out.

It’s a shame that a book that really STOOD OUT amongst the crowd of ever-shrinking DC comics that don’t have “Bat” or “Green” in the title was turned on its ear and left to twist in the wind. I don’t care about creative changes in most titles; directions are bound to change over time, and it’s not as if PeeGee’s world is upside down and nothing makes sense, but the tonal shift, ever so slight though it may be, is enough to send me running to my long boxes to dig out my old issues and think back to how GOOD things USED TO BE.
  THOR FIRST THUNDER #1 of 5
Writer: Bryan J.L. Glass   Artist: Tan Eng Huat
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: Marvel Comics     Shipped On: 091510
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
Revealed for a new generation: the origin-and first year on Earth-of the God of Thunder! Who is the enigmatic Doctor Donald Blake? What is the secret that drives him to travel the world, seeking its challenges, and how does it connect him to the banished Prince of Asgard? Why has Thor been exiled to walk amongst mankind-and battle threats from beyond the stars? And before the entire saga is over, how will he react when confronted by the likes of Tony Stark, Reed Richards...and his devious brother Loki? Witness the legend reborn with a modern touch by Harvey Award-winning writer Bryan J.L. Glass (The Mice Templar) and acclaimed Eisner-winning artist Tan Eng Huat (SILVER SURFER: IN THY NAME)!
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
Have you ever read the first appearance of Thor, waaaaaaay back in “Journey into Mystery” #83? I haven’t, mainly because I wasn’t all that interested in Thor and I still ain’t. First, let me say that I don’t think it should take five issues (at $3.99) to retell a story that took maybe one issue and cost twelve-cents, but who the hell am I, you ask? Nobody, so my take on that doesn’t matter; my opinion on the contents does, I guess…so here goes nothing.

Are you a Thor fan? Then you MAY like this title, IF you can get past the sometimes-jarring visuals of Tan Eng Huat. This is a guy whose art is very distinct, and very weird at times, but he can really sell visual story telling when he tries. There are some seriously strange looking characters, at least anatomically speaking, but Huat does a good job expressing the emotional feeling of each scene, and that’s important for an origin story, even one that’s as stretched out and bloated as this one is.

Don Blake is hiking his handicapped self through the rugged terrain of Norway, when a storm forces him into a cave for shelter. Some nice Norwegians make some conversation, but when they’re about to go their separate ways a giant alien rock monster springs to life and attacks! This forces Don BACK into the cave where, while eluding the aliens, comes across the walking stick that transforms him into Thor. If I’ve just spoiled anything for you you’ve probably never read a comic in your life, Welcome!

Really, it’s that simple; the alien and Thor do a little bit of a throw-down, but it’s the God-of-Thunder all-the-way, so I wouldn’t exactly call it suspenseful. Some slightly weird and wonderfully rendered machinations are afoot with the God of Mischief, and Thor’s half-brother Loki, but I’m sure that’s what they’re planning to use to fill out the other four issues…no sense in releasing a mini-series if it can’t help sell some graphic novel, movie tie-ins, right? I smell cash-grab, but without a word like ‘Origin’ or ‘Prelude’ or whatever, how will anyone know that THIS is the book that’s got the definitive origin for the golden-haired, hammer-wielding, God of thunder and lightning? Hmmm?

I’m sorry if my opinion of meaningless fill-in books, meant not for fans of the comics but rather potential fans of the movie, overshadow my ability to be reasonable, or at least sensible, but I really think that this was as pointless as striking oneself about the head and neck with a claw-hammer for recreational purposes; bloody awful. But hey, if Thor is new to you, or you just like having your money taken from you in the least threatening of all forms of robbery, then please, shell out some moolah and tell Marvel Comics that you want more books just like this one.
  INCREDIBLE HULKS ENIGMA FORCE #1 of 3
Writer: Scott Reed   Artist: Miguel Munera
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: Marvel Comics     Shipped On: 091510
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
Commander Rann and his ENIGMA FORCE face their first mission as the protectors of the new MICROVERSE... But it might be over before it begins when they are forced to rely on the help of a horrifying enemy! But to stop HIRO-KALA, the sinister SON OF HULK, and the rampaging, world-shattering plans he has for Jarella's World, the Foce will go to any length! With old friends, Marionette, and Bug alongside some new faces, this Enigma is a force to be reckoned with!
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
Ever hear of the Micronauts? That’s okay, me neither, and that’s entirely reasonable, because the Micronauts haven’t been around in FOREVER. Marvel went around buying up toy licenses throughout the 70’s, and that’s when they came upon a little gem called “The Micronauts”. There wasn’t much of a mythos established within the toy-line itself so Marvel writers went about creating a world beyond the three main characters and their arch nemesis; fast forward to 2010 and Marvel no longer has license you utilize the name Micronauts, but they sure do have the right to use the characters they helped create, and that’s exactly what this is…the OTHER Micronauts…*sigh*.

Spinning out of “Dark Son”, which itself spins out of any number of previous Hulk events, meaning that I could care less, “Enigma Force” finds the Micro…eh…the team of the HMS Endeavor III in direct conflict with the villainous Hiro-Kala, dark son of the Hulk. The team has to travel through universes, from the Microverse to the um, our-verse, where the Son of the Hulk, not Skarr, seeks to wreak havoc and the end of all things, because, well, he’s a bit of a cry-baby. His actions send two survivors careening into the path of the HMS Endeavor, one a niece of Hulk’s previous love Jarella of the Microverse, and the other a Psyklop, from way back in the debut of "Jarella's World".

So there’s a big fight, resulting in the good guys winning, in a way, and that leads to some other shenanigans and characterization, and ultimately more fighting…what else is new? Not much. The inclusion of Bug, who’s recently been spotted in the sickeningly underrated “Guardians of the Galaxy”, adds a bit of personality to the typical White-Space-Hero story, which really only draws yawns from my direction right here. I can’t say a whole lot of good things about this book, because it’s just an excuse to attempt to cash in on the latest craze of retro-cool.

“Agents of Atlas” is a perfect example, as far as Marvel’s products are concerned. “T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents”, recently revived over at DC Comics is another, even though it hasn’t shipped yet, the buzz has been tremendous. Marvel is hoping that the buzz from those quirky, weird, action/space genre junkies will find themselves overwhelmed with nostalgia as soon as they catch sight of Arcturus Rann’s skin tight body-condom, or Princess Marionette’s tunic…or whatever.

The art is tolerable, but for the most part it has little personality. I know that Miguel Munera illustrated this book ONLY because the cover tells me so, other than that there is very little to grasp onto visually and identify as Munera’s. I need a bit of flair with my space opera, and this just doesn’t pack enough punch to fall under a ‘Hulk’ umbrella, if you ask me.
  CAPTAIN AMERICA PATRIOT #1 of 4
Writer: Karl Kesel   Artist: Mitch Breitweiser
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: Marvel Comics     Shipped On: 091510
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
What does it take to be the living symbol of America... the Sentinel of Liberty... the Super-Soldier of World War II? What does it take to be CAPTAIN AMERICA? 1941. Captain America puts on his mask and shield for the first time-- and instantly inspires an entire nation, including Jeff Mace-- a rough-and-tumble reporter- who quickly dons his own star-spangled suit and calls himself the PATRIOT! It's a decision that will take him from stopping stateside saboteurs to headlining the home front heroes known as the Liberty Legion to the most unexpected offer of all. When the Sentinel of Liberty dies and Jeff Mace is asked to be the NEXT CAPTAIN AMERICA!
This is the story of a man who was a great Patriot, and his determination to be something more. His attempt to be not just a hero, but a symbol. His struggle to show he has what it takes to be CAPTAIN AMERICA!
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
Captain America is SUPPOSED to inspire the average man; that was the point of draping the metaphorical flag over his shoulders and sending him into battle as our American champion. Karl Kesel, fresh off his “Captain America: The News Paper Strip” or whatever, has MORE Cap stories up his sleeve, and this time he’s brought the phenomenal art team of Mitch and Bettie Breitweiser along for the ride. Kesel is still very much grounded in the early part of Cap’s enduring career, but the focus is actually on an oft-forgotten character known as The Patriot.

It’s a charming story really, and very much golden-age in its approach to the character; if a more ‘classic’ take on crime-fighting is your thing then this is probably right up your alley. Jeff Mace is an on-the-scene reporter during the early struggle of World War II; an encounter between Captain America and some under-cover Krauts sees Mace getting a chance to throw an assist Cap’s way, and the star-spangled Invader is more than happy to give a good-natured citizen a solid handshake and a pat on the back. It’s THIS seemingly tiny interaction that plants the seed inside Jeff Mace’s head, and soon the costumed hero known as The Patriot is born.

The Patriot’s journey is not the glamorous, thrill ride that Captain America’s is and continues to be. Mace goes from domestic defender to leader of the Liberty Legion to ultimately stand-in Captain America, and it’s an arduous road for a guy with no super powers. That’s probably what I found so appealing about Jeff Mace, he wasn’t a wiener like Steve Rogers was BEFORE the Super Soldier Serum transformed him into Captain America; he’s just a guy with flat-feet. He grew up on Yancy Street and he works as a reporter for the Daily Bugle, he’s as tied to the Marvel Universe as anybody, and because of a few words from a guy he and everybody else looked up to he began to fight back.

Aside from a few choice words that are incredibly racist, the book is very much an all-encompassing everyman’s tale. It begins with a regular guy and ends with a regular guy trying to fit a super-man’s shoes. Karl Kesel really has a strong grasp of the time period and the way that people communicated, so the environment is a very vivid recreation. Everything is beautifully rendered, and really brought to life by the Breitweiser’s exceptional illustrations. I really enjoy everything the pair has done, and I’ll continue to support their work, because it’s that damn good.
  X-23 #1
Writer: Marjorie Liu   Artist: Will Conrad
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: Marvel Comics     Shipped On: 091510
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
After the events of Second Coming and the stunning conclusion to X-Force, X-23 strikes out on her own in this all-new ongoing series, written by best-selling author MARJORIE LIU, spinning out of the events of Wolverine #1! X-23 has never had an easy relationship with the rest of the X-Men, but when she learns someone has taken down Wolverine, she must step up to fill his shoes.
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
There isn’t a whole lot of ways for me to put it, so I’ll just come right out with it so’s to not drag this out any longer than I need to. I liked this book, and that’s because Marjorie Liu managed to add an unexpected layer of depth to a character that I found to be little more than a one-trick pony. The ex-hooker turned super-heroine, clone of Wolverine but she’s got foot-claws, raised as a killer only to be taken in by the X-Men and utilized on a wet-works team of killers called X-Force; despite ALL THAT baggage this character is forced to carry simply by being a part of the X-corner of the Marvel U, I still found this book both interesting and gorgeous. It’s truly more worthy of a recommendation than either of the other Wolverine-related series that shipped in the last two weeks.

So Wolverine’s body is on Earth, possessed by an evil demon who’s managed to trap his soul in Hell! Whoa, sounds like something the old guy can’t slice his way out of, so of course it spills over into every other Wolvie-related series that’s found their way to shelves in the last two weeks. Luckily, this both does and doesn’t fall in step with the other previously launched released: It doesn’t carry the “Wolverine Goes to Hell!” banner that “Daken: Dark Wolverine” does, but it does seem to come into play during the story, at least in part.

The book begins with Laura’s dreams, or day-dreams, in either case they’re creepy as hell and feature Wolverine goading Laura into joining him with pseudo-sexual undertones and stuff reminiscent of the Xavier/Onslaught/Jean Grey creepiness that bothered me as a young man. This incredibly eerie sequence isn’t immediately followed up by some cool action sequences with little point but to dress up a turd (the way “Daken: DW” did), but instead takes it’s title character in the other direction, giving us almost THE REST of the book for characterization before ending on a shocking cliffhanger.

That’s right folks; you read that correctly, almost the remainder of the issue is dedicated to establishing the world that Laura lives in post-“Second Coming”, and the people that she surrounds herself with are the ever-present X-Family, immediate and extended. I mean EVERYONE seems to be around, at least everyone that matters: Storm, The New X-Men, Cyclops, Emma Frost, “Wolverine”, and even elements of the back alley, street-walker lifestyle that Laura USED to call ‘home’. If this is a natural successor to books like “New X-Men”, then I’m all for it, but if it’s just some lame ploy to get more cash for less slash, well, only time will tell.

Will Conrad packed this book so full of illustration there’s barely an INCH that isn’t covered in some sort of detail. Panel layouts are a bit on the traditional (read: unimaginative) side, but every single one is chock to the gills full of drawings. I loved how reminiscent his style is to that of Don Kramer, an artist whom I’ve only recently begun to appreciate, most likely due to my own ignorance. As long as Conrad manages to keep up the pace that this sort of a book is likely to need to build its momentum, and he’s up to the task of getting dragged into every silly X-related crossover, I think they have a stellar creative team on this title. I just can’t slice it any other way than that.
  RED VICTORIA SPECIAL #1
Writer: Jon Hoeber   Artist: David Hahn
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: DC/Wildstorm Comics     Shipped On: 091510
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
DC/WILDSTORM'S SYNOPSIS:
Based on the upcoming film from Summit Entertainment! Victoria is a beautiful and vibrant 30-year-old woman in her prime - and MI6's top assassin. The commitment to become the best has left her personal life empty and cold...until, on a vacation following a particularly difficult mission, she meets the man of her dreams and falls head-over-heels in love! The only downside? He's the K.G.B.'s hottest agent, and he's her next target!
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
See this is the exact kind of thing that I loathe. Take one pre-existing property and let some movie studio purchase the rights to it, then they gut the work and reassemble the parts they want while patching the rest up with creative-duct tape, but just in case they think they’re losing the core audience for this sort of movie (the fans, duh!) they produce four bastardizations of the original product in comic-book form. They call them prequels; I usually call them cash-grabs, or last-ditch efforts at reeling in potential audience members. But what happens when the loathsome cash-grab, last-ditch effort really pays off resulting in a rather readable enjoyable comic experience?

Yep, it’s a good book; I don’t think I can make it any more clear than that, and even though it pains me to admit it, I’d probably read the rest of the one-shots based on the strength of this issue. While I don’t necessarily approve of the comic-to-film boom of the last decade or so, most specifically: the effect it’s had on the comic industry’s willingness to whore itself out to the highest bidder, I have to admit that the “RED: Retired. Extremely Dangerous” film seems true to form in concept. You take what you want, add a bit of a twist, in this case, the addition of so many characters, and take the tone in a different direction, the comedic turn, and hopefully it’s something that pays homage to the original property and still stands on its own; at least, that’s what they hope…

Victoria wasn’t a main-player in the original material, but her role in the movie, I’m assuming, is appropriately beefy for someone of Helen Mirren’s status. In this she’s the star of the show and since it’s a prequel you get to imagine young, nubile, “Caligula”-Helen Mirren, not…“The Queen”-Helen Mirren! There’s a great deal of heavy spy action and blood shed; people that aren’t main characters are targets and they’re dealt with quickly. At some point Victoria is offered a vacation by her superiors and she takes them up on it. Gallivanting off to some exotic locale where she meets a man, commencing a whirlwind romancing, and ultimately heartbreak, Victoria then indulges her blood-thirst with a bit more spy action.

It’s not THAT simple, but I don’t want to spoil any of the stuff that makes it a fun read. If you’re a fan of these kinds of stories, or movies-based-on-stories like these, or whatever, this is really a fun, well-illustrated book. The images are sometimes a bit graphic, but in such a beautifully clean way, very much in the spirit of Cully Hamner, “RED” co-creator. I can’t think of another instance where some hackney, half-arsed tie-in ever inspired this much enjoyment out of a grouch like me, but I’ll take it where I can get it.
  WEIRD WAR TALES #1
Writers: Darwyn Cooke, Jan Strnad, Ivan Brandon  
Artists: Darwyn Cooke, Nic Klein, Gabriel Hardman
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: DC Comics     Shipped On: 090910
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
DC'S SYNOPSIS:
Three sensational short stories from three exceptional creative teams! Whether it's soldiers risen from the grave, horror beneath the sea or battles among dinosaurs, war has never been weirder than this!
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
This is a perfect example of comics that you just don’t see enough of anymore. Anthology books always have SOMETHING to offer everyone; even if the WHOLE issue isn’t for you, there’s almost always a hidden gem just waiting to be discovered. In “Weird War Tales” there’s more than one, in fact, two of the three stories in here really captivated my attention, and even the one that didn’t really get me excited still looked phenomenal. It really begs the question, aside from poor sales, why aren’t more of these kinds of books being published?

Sure, war comics went the way of the dinosaur ages ago, at least in terms of popularity and the like. Just like western-themed books, or horror anthologies, which used to be quite popular, war comics just don’t seem to captivate the public like they once did. Maybe it’s the overload of violent, war-time imagery that bombards us on a daily basis, or maybe it’s just the glut of super-heroes that dominate funny-books like they always have, all I know is that because I haven’t read anything like this is SO long I really got into the short stories that are contained within its pages.

First up are Darwyn Cook and Dave Stewart with a funny little piece about the spirits of ALL the great war-mongers that are celebrated at first, then vilified in history books. It’s a fine line to tread as a war hero, constantly at war for what you believe in, but how about after you die and you discover that history remembers you as a monster? Cooke and Stewart have fun with the concept which sees skeletal reconstructions of Genghis Khan, Hannibal, General Robert E. Lee, Hitler (still a bad guy, no worries), and others meeting up and enjoying each other’s company.

My favorite piece of the entire issue came next; by Ivan Brandon and Nic Klein, it starts like a horror story, but by the end it’s so fantastic and imaginative that I had to go back and re-read it. I don’t want to spoil anything, but Submarines can be very deceptive in terms of setting and atmosphere, once you’re thrust from the dark depths of the ocean floor along with the story’s main character you aren’t ready for the twist Brandon throws at readers.

The last story is a bit of a downer, and that’s not what I had a problem with, because ultimately all stories of war are going to bring you down in one way or another. This was a storybook fantasy wrapped up in a war tale, and while it was optimistic and light-hearted in spirit, the dreary ending really kicked me in the sack. Not literally, of course, but after the first two shorts I was not expecting such a hardcore dose of reality. If anything Gabriel Hardman’s pencils really carried me through an otherwise depressing final segment.

All in all I hope that this book does well, as I’d really like to read more stuff like it. I love books that allow creators to cut loose with a theme and really have some fun. I can tell that each of the creators involved in this book had a labor of love on their hands, and it’s that sort of enthusiasm that really bursts off the page, capturing my attention. I don’t know if there’s a place for this in the hearts of today’s readers like there would be twenty, thirty years ago, but I know that there aren’t enough books like it on the shelves right now, and that’s a shame.
  DAKEN DARK WOLVERINE #1
Writers: Daniel Way and Marjorie Liu  Artist: Giuseppe Camuncoli
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: Marvel Comics     Shipped On: 090910
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
For decades, Daken, the son of Wolverine, remained hidden in the shadows of the Marvel Universe, methodically plotting how he would one day dominate the world around him. And now, with his father's soul hanging in the balance, that day has come. This is the beginning.
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
Remember all the way back to when “Dark Reign” first began, and “Wolverine’ became “Dark Wolverine”? I swore it wouldn’t last…but I guess I was wrong. Even as “Dark Wolverine” ends, resulting in the multiple new “Wolverine” titles as well as this, “Daken: Dark Wolverine”, which I think is as poor a name for a new series as anything, but whatever, I’m still not sure THIS is going to make it.

It’s one thing to introduce a character as the long-missing son/daughter of an established character, but to then allow this new character to replace the more established character only to THEN shoehorn the character into their OWN title as ‘established character-lite’ is just stupid. That said, I know there’s only so much you can do with the illegitimate offspring of Marvel’s most dangerous mutant, especially after introducing a female clone of said mutant to mixed results; why not up the ante a bit, make this new kid a BAD GUY, and then…do the SAME stuff you’ve been doing, over and over and over and over.

Alright, so Daken is the son of Wolverine and a Japanese woman named Itsu; he was born in 1946, although he appears to be in his late twenties. He’s got a serious mad-on for his old man, although it would seem as though he’d be pissed at whoever this Romulus cat turned out to be (seriously, what a load of horse $#!t…), because, after all, it was Romulus who’s been manipulating the pair for as long as time itself, blah blah blah. So what would the angry, ex-Dark Avenger do when he isn’t plotting the destruction of his father’s legacy? Bag as many models, male or female, that he can…guess he’s quite the flirt, huh?

So yeah, this is the over-sexed version of Wolverine who ultimately seeks to overtake Wolverine by plotting with some sort of shadow organization (similar to the one seen at the beginning of the new “Wolverine” #1) in order to kill his own father, messed up, right? Other than meeting with shady old people, with the apparent intention of sending his father to Hell (proper Hell, not a metaphorical ‘hell’), I’m not sure what THIS has to do with the storyline over in Jason Aaron’s book, but it’s got the banner hanging over the title, so it’s tied in some way.

Daken even stops wearing his old man’s duds in this issue, debuting instead his brand new look, which is surprisingly bland in my opinion. Maybe it’s the dark colors, over saturated in shadow for purposes of ‘mood’, but I can’t really tell what the hell it’s supposed to look like, what color it is, anything. I get that they’re trying to establish some sort of identity for the guy on his own, but how ‘bout letting us have a look-see, huh?

All in all, hindsight being twenty-twenty, I think that whole “Daken-thing” is looking more and more like a bad idea every day. Sure it worked in context with the whole “Dark Reign” thing, but this just feels like more of the same with a brand new wrapper, as if that’s going to fool us into expecting something different. Even with Giuseppe Camuncoli’s pencils looking better than they ever have before, I’m not sure that there’s any REAL substance here. I’d have loved to see them do something NEW or EXCITING with the character, but nope, it’s just ‘vendetta’ this, and ‘revenge’ that. No thanks, guys.
  AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #641
Writer: Joe Quesada   Artists: Joe Quesada and Paolo Rivera
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: Marvel Comics     Shipped On: 090910
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
This is it! The startling conclusion to ONE MOMENT IN TIME! How did the world REALLY forget Peter Parker was Spider-Man? And what does the future hold for Peter & Mary Jane? Every question is answered, the past laid to rest, and Spider-Man swings into a new direction for the future!
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
Oh, what a tangled web we weave when we attempt to make sense of an ill-received deception. It’s been a LOOOOOOOONG time since the events of J.M.S. and Joey Q’s reality-changing and controversial Spider-epic “One More Day”; despite all the time that’s passed since Mephisto’s magic did away with the marriage of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, questions remain unanswered, until now. Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada returns to the story that made him one of the most reviled villains in all of comics, and he’s bringing some long over-due plot points with him!

“One Moment In Time” seeks to answer SOME of the questions that fans have been getting into shouting matches over for a few years now: How, EXACTLY, did the wedding not take place? How did Peter reestablish his secret identity? Why does Joe Q. have such a serious hate-on for M.J., and is he going to be able to stick to his guns about cutting her out of Spidey’s life? Okay, that last one is more MY question than anyone else’s, and it’s only half serious (the second half, duh!), and the short answer is yes, Joey Q. is NOT bringing M.J. back into Spidey’s life as anything more than just a friend, so don’t go getting your hopes up!

How did the wedding not happen? It almost did, except for the fact that Peter is actually Spider-Man, and as Spider-Man he was in the middle of a fight with some armed criminals and became incapacitated. Hey, a cinder block to the head will do that to ya, even with the proportionate strength of a Spider. Anyway, they’ve gone over that in the last few issues, this is more about the second question than anything else, what was the second question again? Oh, here…How did peter reestablish his secret identity?

During the super-hero Civil War, chronicled in the way-too-obviously-titled “Civil War”, Spider-Man did the unthinkable…No, not make a deal with the devil, although it led to that; Spider-Man, keeping with the pro-registration side of the debate, unmasked on national television, revealing to the world that Peter Parker had been the friendly neighborhood wall-crawler since he was a teenaged kid. Yeah, remember? It was a plot device that was SUPPOSED to lead to a whole new era of Spider-stories in which Peter, having unmasked, would be forced to tackle NEW issues, NEW problems but ultimately went nowhere. It was one of those things that “One More Day” sought to ‘put back in the bottle’ along with the Spider-Marriage, and, much to fans’ chagrin, it’s been one of the story-points whose ‘how’ remained secret for a little over one hundred issues.

At the end of the last issue Pete was in the Sanctum Sanctorum of Dr. Strange begging the Doc to do some witchy-voodoo-magic, and the Doc was NOT enthused. He explained to Peter that he had to do some deep meditation, but what he really did was call together a meeting between himself, Reed Richards, and Tony Stark, held on the Astral Plane. They’ve done stuff like this before with the Sentry, but it had some pretty rough consequences; after some pretty serious debate the trio decides to help because it will take all three of them to blend science, magic, and Tony’s future-tech to ‘infect the world’ with forgetfulness. It’s an awesome scene, even though it piggy-backs another creator’s idea (Phil Jenkins), and it leads to some serious dramatic tension between Pete and M.J.

In fact, Quesada piggy-backs his own piggy-backing of Phil Jenkins’ Sentry concept in order to solidify his stance on the fate of the misbegotten pair’s relationship as M.J. is horrified that Peter would be so bold as to mess with the world on such a dramatic level. There’s also a twist that just goes to show that Pete, no matter what, has always been a screw-up, and while his heart may forever be in the right place his head may never be. It’s about as dramatic as any moment I’ve ever seen in “Amazing”, and it’s pretty solid in its desire to leave things the way they are, for now.

Quesada not only writes the issue but contributes to the art chores by continuing his framing sequence that he laid out when the arc began. Pete and M.J., both looking rather worse for wear, are sharing a bottle of wine and reminiscing about days gone by. This leads into the beautifully rendered segments by Paolo Rivera. Rivera’s style is like that of his contemporary Marcos Martin in that they both utilize a nu-retro look to their art. The more I see it, the more I enjoy the crap out of it. Oh, and Martin is also represented by the ongoing two-page adventure written by Stan Lee at the end of each issue, so I’m still enjoying that…visually.
  HEROIC AGE ONE MONTH TO LIVE #1 (OF 5)
Writer: Rick Remender   Artist: Andrea Mutti
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: Marvel Comics     Shipped On: 090110
MSRP: $2.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
An all-star creative roster brings you a weekly Marvel event! Featuring Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers! In a world of unlikely heroes, Dennis Sykes is about to become Marvel's unlikeliest. Banker by day, struggling parent by night - and unhappy about it all. But when a tragic turn of events gives Dennis a 30 day death sentence, he discovers his accident comes with super-powers. And as the weeks in Dennis' life tick down, he sets out to leave a mark one way or the other - - even if he has to go through Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers to do it. Everyone is the hero of their own story...but not every hero is a good guy.
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
Poignant’ isn’t a word that gets tossed around a lot when someone is talking about comics; it just isn’t. I mean, can you remember the last comic book series you read that really left you thinking, “Wow!”? I can, and while some of you are likely to disagree with my latest assessment, Marvel’s “1 Month 2 Live” may be the most likely to usurp Mark Millar’s “1985” as my favorite ‘real’ comic story. What’s a ‘real’ comic story? Well, for the most part it’s a book, in my opinion, that focuses on the day-to-day lives of citizens whose world is much more fantastic than they actually are.

Books like “Marvels” or “Kingdom Come”, more recently “1985” as I mentioned before, or go back and take a second look at “Watchmen” (truly about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances), some of the most celebrated Super-Hero comics actually focus on the little guys that always seem to be in the background, running for help or wailing in pain. “1 Month 2 Live” is just such a story, and from the very beginning readers are treated to an immense amount of characterization. Dennis hates his job, he takes care of his dead sister’s kid, his life is extremely unsatisfying, and on top of ALL of that he’s caught trying to foil a robbery and force-fed medical waste. Very “Troma”-like in origin, but it works.

There’re a great number of cameos, starting with The Thing who sees fit to take Dennis to Reed Richards in order to make sure all that medical waste didn’t do any serious damage. Well, it does do some pretty hardcore terrorizing of Dennis’ internal organs, and soon the guy has mutant cancer ripping his body apart from the inside. Reed, unfortunately, has to deliver to Dennis the news that he may only have as much as thirty days to live, and from there things start to happen. Dennis discovers an ability to manipulate matter, which he plans on using to right a wrong that his boss forced him to commit by reneging on a loan offer to a children’s hospital; Dennis’ solution? Rob the bank he used to work for…good plan!

I don’t want to get into too much more after this point, because it’s worth reading for your selves. There’s ANOTHER cameo, as well as the introduction of an antagonist looking for land-rights that just so happen to be occupied by the aforementioned Children’s Hospital. Dennis struggles with family, his new-found abilities, AND his looming death sentence, though still coming off as a regular guy just trying to get by. Rick Remender injected SO MUCH personality and realism into the character of Dennis that it’s impossible to NOT relate to him in some way or another. It’s on THIS strength that I recommend this series to everyone, even though I’m still skeptical about the rotating creative teams.

Rick Remender is quickly rising to the top of my must-read list. Other creators in line to finish this series up over the course of the next four weeks (yeah, it’s a weekly!) are: Stuart Moore and Shane White, John Ostrander and Graham Nolan, some other guy whose name I can’t figure out, and then Remender’s back for the final issue with Jamie Mckelvie. While I usually DETEST the idea of rotating the creative team with such frequency, I’ll admit my admiration for the testicular-fortitude of the concept will keep me coming back for more. Hindsight being 20/20, I imagine that we’ll either be talking about this series for a long, LONG time, or it will merely prove to be a fart-in-the-wind, only keeping our attention until the next hype-laden event comic is sprung on us. Until then, I’ll be reading this.
  FREEDOM FIGHTERS #1
Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray   Artist: Travis Moore
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: DC Comics     Shipped On: 090110
MSRP: $2.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
DC'S SYNOPSIS:
A new call to arms begins as Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters return in an all-new action packed ongoing series helmed by the writing team of Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti with art by Travis Moore and Trevor Scott!
A national mystery unfolds when the government learns of the existence of a Confederate super weapon intended to insure the South won the Civil War. Who built it and why wasn't it used? Find out when Uncle Sam leads the team on a quest through the hidden history of the United States! With new challenges and old threats returning to plague them, the stakes are higher than ever. Can even these stalwart heroes stand by their duty when their country calls?
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
Okay, the last time I saw the Freedom Fighters in action was when they were getting the crap kicked out of them during “Infinite Crisis”…which was, like, years ago, man. There have since been TWO mini-series chronicling the adventures of Uncle Sam and his posse of post-humans with names like Phantom Lady, Human Bomb, Dollman, Black Condor, The Ray, and so on, and apparently those two mini’s did well enough to encourage DC to let the writing team of Palmiotti and Gray get a shot at an on-going. While I’ve enjoyed P&G’s stuff in the past, and I’m always on the look-out for new comics, even when the characters in the ‘new’ comics are old, I’m not sure this is something that I’m going to be collecting.

The book takes a conventional approach, diving right into the action of everything as the Freedom Fighters take on The Aryan Brigade, or some such racist foolishness, and of course, the good guys win, which is to be expected, right? While I found the opening salvo to be somewhat appropriate, a fitting way to introduce NEW readership to old friends, the comic just goes balls-to-the-wall as soon as the fight’s over, barely giving anyone a chance to catch their breath. You get one fight, then two concurrent fights, THEN some mystery and intrigue as someone kidnaps the Vice President of the U.S.A., THEN the Freedom Fighters are talking to the President as they’re assigned to locate the missing Veep. Oh and then at the end they get into another fight, but you have to wait until the next issue to see what happens.

It’s almost as if P&G lost focus, or maybe it just seems that way, because the book is so ALL OVER THE PLACE that it doesn’t give me enough to hold on to, to care about, and that’s a cardinal sin when it comes to first issues. There has to be substance, and there IS some in this issue, but there’s also a whole LOT of extra stuff, stuff that takes away from the main idea which is to get people to want to read the book. If you have Attention Deficit Disorder this may be the title for you, because it just haphazardly jumps around from situation to situation with little rhyme or reason. If you like coherent, sensible tales of super-heroics and the like, well, maybe it’s time to move along.

I’ve loved the work of Palmiotti and Gray in the past, their “Power Girl” may NEVER be equaled in terms of fun and excitement, but this is just too unfocused to really maintain my attention. It’s not that I can’t figure out what’s going on, it’s that I just don’t care. I know that there’s a bit of a following, and who knows, with the $2.99 price tag (even for the first issue…what the heck?!) it may catch on, but I think they need to streamline their effort so that the book doesn’t come off as some sort of random series of fight sequences and Phantom Lady’s heaving bosom. Oh, it’s HEAVING alright, and nobody seems to even notice…ha, well I did.
  KODIAK #1
Writers: Joe Hill and Jason Ciaramella    Artist: Nat Jones
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: IDW Entertainment    Shipped On: 091510
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
IDW'S SYNOPSIS:
Joe Hill & Jason Ciaramella (w) o Nat Jones (a) o Jones (c) A young man is betrayed, and finds himself in a desperate battle of man versus beast. Is the love of a maiden enough to keep him alive? Co-writers Joe Hill and Jason Ciaramella, along with artist Nat Jones, weave a special tale filled with flame, fur, and ferocity in the upcoming one-shot, Kodiak.
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
I may have just discovered Joe Hill and his truly remarkable comic “Locke & Key”, but when I had a chance to jump into a BRAND-NEW book, co-written by Hill, and featuring strong illustrations by Nat Jones, I was all for it, and I didn’t regret it. It utilizes a rather typical device for One-Shot comic books, a story within a story, but it doesn’t come off as mediocre or empty like a lot of formulaic titles end up. I enjoyed quite a bit the escapism offered as readers put themselves in the place of two young boys scared witless by a man whose own origin is the set-piece for the rest of the book; the story he offers is both fascinating and misleading, or is it?

Before we get started allow me to off a modest warning: “Kodiak” is NOT the name of a new flaming-skull juggling super-hero as the title, and a limited imagination, would lead one to believe. Sorry to disappoint you, but the title is actually in reference to a bear, a Kodiak Bear (duh!), without which there would be no story.

Two boys in a rather mundane rural setting seek entertainment any way they can, and scariest thing they can think of is to sneak over to the local pub to peek at a horribly scarred man. Things don’t go as they planned and soon the boys are face to face with the man whose scarred face frightened them horribly from a distance, but the boys own up to what they were doing, and soon the man is relaying the story of his scar’s origins. The long and short of it is this, a traveling circus, a maiden’s folly, a jealous brother, oh, and a BIG, mean bear trained to fight in a ring for entertainment purposes.

I thought the book was a perfect escape, with little of the expectations that come with your typical 50-plus year running super-hero comic book. I didn’t know what I was going to get, but I put faith in the creators and came out smelling like a rose instead of bear $#!t. IF you got an extra $3.99, and even if you don’t, I’d very much like to recommend “Kodiak”, if for no other reason than to reconnect with a child-like sense of wonder and bewilderment.

That’s the beautiful thing about the ‘story-within-a-story’ plot device, there’s always a chance that everything you’ve just heard isn’t true. It’s not always revealed to readers at the time, and usually the better the story the more likely it is to lead to some sort of debate in readers’ circles. I like how Hill and co-writer Jason Ciaramella manage to undercut their own work in only a few short panels, leaving this reader wondering if any of it was true at all…or just a yarn spun to entangle two young and wide-eyed boys.
  SCIENCE DOG SPECIAL
Writer: Robert Kirkman   Artist: Cory Walker
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: Image/Skybound Comics     Shipped On: 090110
MSRP: $3.50 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
IMAGE/SKYBOUND'S SYNOPSIS:
Fight fire with fire. Fight evil with SCIENCE! Collecting the never before reprinted Science Dog back-up stories from INVINCIBLE #25 and 50, this story leads right into the senses-shattering back-up story contained within issue 75. If you're only reading INVINCIBLE in collected form - this is what you've been missing! Don't miss out a second time!
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
How can you NOT love a book called “Science Dog”? With his odd similarity in style of dress to Tom Strong and what not, AND he has a jet pack, AND he’s a dog who fights crime with science…I mean, C’MON! Robert Kirkman’s comics, and I know I’ve raved about the guy like some sort of teenage girl with an unhealthy infatuation, but the guy really ‘gets it’. He takes stuff that seems SO OBVIOUS, a post-zombie apocalypse, a teenaged super-hero, a dog that fights crime using science (!!!), and transforms it into an epic ‘must-have’ every time, and it’s THAT knack for consistency that brings me back time and again.

Originally this ran as a back-up in “Invincible”, so yes, this is NOT original “Science Dog” material but rather a re-print issue, giving those of us who didn’t get a shot at reading it the first time-round a chance to catch up before the latest installment hits in “Invincible” #75. Readers are treated to the tail-end (no pun intended) of a Science Dog adventure that we’ll never actually read about, which then is followed by ANOTHER Science Dog adventure, I guess heroes, no matter the species, never get any rest. There’s a bit of the character’s origin spliced in there somewhere, as the issue’s primary villain is actually a by-product of the same weird series of catastrophe’s that gave the world Science Dog, so the inter-connectedness of their stories makes for an interesting read.

Walker and Kirkman started this as a labor of love, and every 25 issues, or so, of “Invincible” comes the latest installment in the saga of the “Science Dog”. With issue 75 looming in our future (YAY! Rejoice!), it could only mean that the conclusion (?) of S.D.’s adventure is upon us. With the cliff-hanger ending that left reader’s hanging, either in this issue or in “Invincible” #50, I can’t imagine NOT finding out what happened. I’m so excited for it, but I’m also a little bit sad. For all of the good that Kirkman’s comics bring to the creative table, so to speak, there’s a great deal of his creativity that will never see the success that his primary books, “The Walking Dead” and “Invincible”, have achieved. Books like last week’s “Guarding the Globe” or “Science Dog”, or his soon to be completed “Astounding Wolf-Man”, don’t get a fair shake by the reading-public at large.

It’s not that they’re sub-par in quality or imagination, but because they’re not “Spider-Man” or “Wolverine”, or now, to a lesser extent “Deadpool”, it’s as if people glance right past these gems, never to discover the world of adventure that Kirkman has been organically gestating over for YEARS. I can only hope, if “Science Dog” doesn’t pick up a following, which let’s face it, probably ain’t gonna happen, that the meta-mental mongrel will find some sort of home alongside Kirkman’s other super-hero stuff over in “Guarding the Globe”. I‘d be so down for a rotating cast of “Invincible”, “Wolf-Man”, “Science Dog”, “Battle Pope” characters, keeping in line with the rest of the stuff that’s come before it; not a new continuity, just one central location to find all of this great stuff that (shamefully) doesn’t seem to be meant for it’s own title.
  TASKMASTER #1 (OF 4)
Writer: Fred Van Lente    Artist: Jefte Palo
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: Marvel Comics     Shipped On: 090110
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
The fan-favorite anti-hero from AVENGERS: INITIATIVE explodes into his own mini-series! Taskmaster has trained hench-thugs for every terrorist organization and criminal cartel in the Marvel Universe. So when the rumor starts that he's turned traitor and now works for STEVE ROGERS, a billion-dollar bounty is put on his head, and every cadre of costumed fanatics -- A.I.M., Hydra, Ultimatum, the Sons of the Serpent, everyone -- looks to collect. Now Taskmaster has to fight hordes upon hordes of his psychopathic students while at the same time figuring out who framed him -- which requires him figuring out who he really is! That's right, the man with the photographic reflexes has no memory of his true identity -- and you'll learn the unexpected truth along with him! The action-packed SECRET ORIGIN of Taskmaster begins here, courtesy of New York Times bestselling writer Fred Van Lente (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, INCREDIBLE HERCULES, MARVEL ZOMBIES) and acclaimed artist Jefte Paolo (DOCTOR VOODOO)!
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
Here’s an example of a comic that I really WANTED to enjoy, and for some reason it just left me feeling hollow. Comics about the villains, or at least those who ever so carefully tread the line between hero and villain, are some of my favorite, yet “Taskmaster”, which should have been a ‘sure thing’, comes off as a vain attempt at taking a likable character and giving him the b-movie treatment. It’s not that the issue isn’t chock-full of good ideas, because Van Lente just knows how to mine classic Marvel-lore for ideas that deserve to be dusted off and enjoyed by everyone as well as his uncanny ability to come up with enough off-the-wall stuff on his own, but it’s that nothing is given enough time to shine on its own, causing everything to fall flat.

Because of his polymath-like muscle-mimic abilities, Taskmaster (whose name doesn’t really roll off the tongue) isn’t able to remember anything that’s happened to him his whole life, nothing, not even a little bit. Forced to constantly live in-the-moment and react to situations rather than act on his own behalf, the issue opens with T.M. attempting to access his memory-palace (a sort of mental-mansion one can use to store important information and access through certain triggers like music or food) and retrace his long-forgotten footsteps. This couldn’t happen at a worse time, because as T.M. sits in some crumby looking diner trying to sort out his effed-up brain, evil forces are at work trying to smoke him out.

I guess I should elaborate here on what I mean by ‘evil forces’, because T.M. himself is a kind of evil force, right? Despite his being employed by the Initiative under the reign of Norman Osborne, T.M. is still a bad dude, and as such he’s crossed a great number of people, some of who work for ‘The Org’ (winner of Least-Imaginative-Name-for-an-Evil-Corporate-Entity award of 2010), the guys that network between all the different gun-for-hire crews in the Marvel U. Seriously, the book co-stars A.I.M., Hydra, Cyber-Ninjas, the Sons of the Serpent, Secret Empire, Ultimatum, the Lords of the Living Lightning, and those are just the groups that Van Lente didn’t create specifically for this book. Since he’s been tied to all of these organizations in the past, in one way or another, all of them have been sold a rumor that T.M. has flipped, and gone state’s evidence, and now there’s a lot of money on the table to bring him back, dead or alive.

Two factors went into my anticipation for this mini-series: Fred Van Lente, whose “Incredible Hercules” literally peeled my mind-grapes, and Jefte Palo, an unsung hero in my opinion, whose work with Rick Remender on “Doctor Voodoo” was cancelled WAY too early. I’ve enjoyed the work of BOTH of these creators in the past, and figured it was a no-brainer that the two of them together would be able to crank out a solid series. Unfortunately, I feel the effort is unfocused, and maybe that will change by the end of the fourth issue, but at $3.99 a pop for only twenty-two pages of story, and admittedly about eight-pages of Handbook-style extras, I’m not sure I’m on board with this title for the long-haul.
  JOHN MOORE PRESENTS DEAD SOLDIER #1 (OF 4)
Writer: Richie Smith   Artist: Dean Hyrapiet
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: Dynamite Comics     Shipped On: 090910
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
DYNAMITE'S SYNOPSIS:
From acclaimed filmmakers John Moore (Max Payne, Behind Enemy Lines and The Omen) and Richie Smyth, comes the story of Colonel John Donner, aka John Doe. It's the last days of World War One - the Great War. On an obscure patch of mud, a small company of American soldiers fights to the last man against a powerful German offensive. John Doe is the only American survivor of the attack. He wanders alone for days amongst the maze of trenches and blast holes. Shellshocked, badly wounded and without food or medicine, he is lost. Through a twist of events, Donner is transformed into a creature of unthinkable power, a monster that pledges he will avenge the deaths of his fallen comrades, not only on the muddy battlefields of WWI, but across the generations to the slaughter-fields of the "War on Terror." With abnormal strength and agility he hunts his enemies. But Donner's actions have not gone unnoticed - and he will soon face an enemy from a place he could never have contemplated.
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
Want to know what DOESN’T inspire confidence in me, as a reader, when I’m checking out a new comic? The words: “Presented by the acclaimed filmmaker of ‘Max Payne’…” Oh yeah, that’s a red flag right there. No, I haven’t seen “Max Payne”, but I don’t need to see it; I don’t need to step in dog-$#!t to know it stinks, do you?

Alright, ranting aside, I knew I had to approach this with an open mind…so I let it sit for a few days, trying unsuccessfully to forget about the whole ‘Max Payne’-thing, but nevertheless I got around to giving it a shot. To say that I was less-than-excited about the experience afterward would be an understatement. “Dead Soldier” is about a dead soldier, I guess. It’s not quite clear what’s going on, and when the book gets around to potentially serving up some answers it veers in a different direction, choosing instead to start tearing stuff apart for a pithy action sequence that doesn’t even get a chance to finish.

Most of this book is U.S. Military guys, stationed in Darfur at some secret facility, and all they seem to do, when not openly torturing prisoners, is talk tough to one another. If ever there was an overload of machismo dialogue it was in this comic book, right here. Foregoing actual characterization, opting instead to force characters to spout profanities hither and yon is a sign of unimpressive writing, in my opinion. The constant attempts at bad-assery may make the role more appealing for whatever Hollywood tool-box they’re trying to sell this crap to, but it gave me NOTHING to go on as far as whether or not I’m interested in these characters.

Oh yeah, the dead soldier, I should probably talk about him. In the beginning of the book a soldier is wandering around the decimated ruins of a World War I battlefield; he rips the heart from the chest of a dead soldier, vomits, and then is struck by lightning. This leads to a “mysterious transformation”, and then lots of talking in circles. Apparently the “Dead Soldier” showed up in the middle of the dessert and started kicking the crap out of the American soldiers; they incapacitated him, and then imprisoned him. While he’s being interrogated the Dead Soldier, and I really have nothing else to call him, suddenly breaks free from his restraints as if they weren’t there at all, which really begs the question: Why did he allow himself to be taken prisoner at all?

The artwork is primarily solid throughout. Dean Hyrapiet is a talented artist who made the most out of what he was given. His pencils at times recalled the work of Joe Kubert and Frank Miller, and also Sal Larocca and David Finch, and while that may seem like a varied list of influences it all seems to work quite well. The cover is simple gorgeous; illustrated by Romek Delimata, it depicts a WWI era soldier traipsing through the muck death as he sprays flames about, seemingly cleansing his surroundings.

Y’see, THAT’S what the book is supposedly about, if the synopsis on the back cover is any indication. The character of the “Dead Soldier” is supposed to be avenging the deaths of soldiers, but really he’s just muddled in confusion and poor writing. This could have easily been a well-delivered concept, but instead it went the big-budget, Hollywood route, replacing quality with excess and story with ‘FLASH-BANG!!!” Unfortunately neither one really does anything for me.
  TRANSFORMER'S DRIFT #1 of 4
Writer: Shane McCarthy    Artist: Alex Milne
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: IDW Comics     Shipped On: 090910
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
IDW'S SYNOPSIS:
What was it that caused one of the DECEPTICON's most ruthless soldiers to turn his back on them? And what ancient secret lies hidden deep within an alien planet? All this and more as the origin of the newest AUTOBOT, DRIFT, is finally revealed!
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
If the first issue of a comic starts with a “Story so far…” segment on the inside cover, I proclaim: Things don’t bode well! If said comic is a “Transformers” comic, well, you probably should have stopped reading long before you picked up THIS particular issue. Alright, it’s NO secret that I’m in the apparent minority of people that DON’T find the Transformers entertaining anymore. Did I, at one point, enjoy the silly adventures of the transforming robot-aliens fun and enjoyable? Sure did, still got the original animated movie amongst my collection…and it might be the only version of the Transformers that I’ll ever love again.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that Michael Bay’s FLASH-BANG attention deficit-fest of a film series spoiled me on a childhood favorite, so don’t think I’m squarely placing the blame on him. I mean, sure, they didn’t help, but I think I lost interest in this sort of $#!t when girls started finding me attractive enough to make out with. That’s not meant to come off as mean-spirited as it sounds, but seriously, “Transformers” never had enough personality to keep me interested beyond the surface level stuff that makes it cool to a pre-teen kid: robots, guns, explosions, fast cars, and fighting.

The book is a lot more similar to the Transformers of yesteryear than the ones kids are growing up with today, at least in terms of visuals, and that left me thinking that this reading experience wasn’t going to be as painful as I originally thought. However, things quickly descend into amateurish buffoonery and I saw robots talking about disease, drinking some sort of intoxicant, then to top it all off I was able to witness my first-ever Ninja-Transformer karate-fight another Transformer who looked exactly like him. That’s where things got a bit confusing.

What the hell am I talking about? Good question; There once was a Decepticon named Deadlock whose own passion for his race over those of the Autobots forced him to make some tough decisions. When his Decepticon superior, Turmoil (oooooooh!), attempts to execute him, Deadlock makes a break for it, displaying some fancy robo-karate and a will to survive above all else. He makes it to some backwater planet where he comes across some hooded/robed ninja guy, who just so happens to ALSO be Cybertronian (*sigh*), and together the pair attempts to free a bunch of enslaved aliens. Things don’t go as planned and Deadlock, who now calls himself Drift, gets the holy-hell pounded out of him.

Alright, so I didn’t spill ALL the beans just in case you were really looking forward to this book. Be warned, however, that there isn’t a lot of REAL substance, unless of course Drift has always been your favorite Transformer, and even then it’s way off the mark in terms of making the character relatable in any way. The art is inconsistent from panel to panel, and the characters, including Drift, are practically indistinguishable from one another. All in all I really wish I had left this on the shelf; my memories of my younger days as a Transformers fan are still kept close to my heart, but its clear to me now that there is no way to recapture that feeling I had when I first discovered the ‘robots in disguise.’ Let’s face it, these guys are NO Ninja Turtles.
  AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #642
Writer: Mark Waid    Artist: Paul Azaceta
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: Marvel Comics     Shipped On: 090910
MSRP: $2.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
A five part spider-odyssey begins in ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES! With Peter Parker's ONE MOMENT IN TIME behind him and Mary Jane back in his life, Spidey finds himself ready for a new start...but the various threads of his life since his BRAND NEW DAY are about to crash together violently. When Norman Osborn's baby is born... every villain on the planet wants the first ever strain of pure Goblin blood, leaving Spider-Man's friends and family exposed to a Sinister plan that threatens to bring down every strand or Peter's life that's been stitched together carefully over the past few years. It may be a cliché to say it...but after ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES absolutely nothing will be the same. Also this issue, we begin a series of covers by the brilliant Marko Djurdjevic that when all put together will form a giant wall-sized Spider poster featuring the people in Spider-Man's life! Plus...the Spidey Sunday feature continues breaking the 4th wall of Web-swinging Wonder by legends Stan Lee and Marcos Martin (well, Stan's a legend...Marcos is just a man who draws like one.)
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
Oh! The end of the “Brand New Day” is upon us! As the “Big Time”, a new banner ‘Amazing’ adopts after cutting back to two issues a month helmed by Dan Slott featuring rotating art-teams, looms in the future Mark Waid is going to get into some trouble with Lily Hollister and the illegitimate child of Norman Osborn. Featuring a gorgeous cover by Marco Djurdjevic and boasting a RARE, as of late, three-dollar price tag, I was more than excited to crack open this little ditty, anxious to leave the melodrama of “One Moment In Time” behind me. I’m not sure I was ready for all of this though.

I thought the Djurdjevic cover was just a pretty picture that Editorial had lying around, I didn’t think it was really any indication as to what to expect from the issue’s contents. It’s quite clear very early on that Doc Ock, the new, really creepy Doc Ock from ‘Amazing’ #600, is after something, because he’s hiring every gun in town to track it down for him. What is it that the Doc so seriously desires for himself? That would be Lily Hollister’s baby; that’s right, the illegitimate love-child of Norman Osborn and his own son’s fiancé.

Not many people are going to want to remember Menace, because, well, frankly it sucked. The whole thing was dragged out for too long and the pay-off was an epic failure of Hobgoblin-like proportions. The daughter of a would-be Mayor of New York City turns out to be huffin’ Goblin gas, transforming her into the OBVIOUSLY male character of Menace? No thanks, guys. Then to add insult to injury Norman, fresh from having illegitimate children with Gwen Stacy, another story I’d like very much to have stricken from the record, pops a little bun into Lily’s oven behind his own son’s back. Ouch.

Why does Doc Ock want Lily’s baby? No idea. It’s not even really alluded to other than some creepy rambling about it containing secrets of the universe, or some such nonsense. There is, however, a very sweet throw-down between Spidey and the Shocker and Tombstone! Remember those guys?! I do, and I love ‘em, so this was really sweet in my opinion, no pun intended! Paul Azaceta has a masterful handle of character, and his action is both Ditko-esque and Kirby-kinetic, yet oddly contemporary and fresh. It’s a part of the Nu-Retro look that I’ve finding myself appreciate lately. There’s nothing wrong with a throw-back to the old school, especially on a character with such rich history.

I’m not sure where this is going, and let’s face it...does it matter? If this is editorial’s way of apologizing for the whole Lily/Menace/Norman/(Let’s not forget the Stacy twins!) thing, well, fine. If this is some sort of pseudo-development that really isn’t going to go anywhere once Slott gets his hands all up in the mix, well, I have to thank ‘em for only charging $2.99. It’s Spidey doing Spidey-stuff, and it’s written by Waid, so you know it’s good; it’s illustrated by Azaceta, so you’ll either appreciate it or you won’t, which isn’t your fault. It just all seems like a bit much; especially arriving the same week as the conclusion to the latest ‘major development’…I’m not sure how much more I can take!
  WOLVERINE #1
Writer: Jason Aaron    Artist: Renato Guedes
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: Marvel Comics     Shipped On: 090110
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
Acclaimed author JASON AARON (ASTONISHING SPIDER-MAN AND WOLVERINE, WEAPON X) and superstar artist RENATO GUEDES (Action Comics, Adventures of Superman) launch an all-new ongoing Wolverine series as Wolverine goes to hell...literally! Someone's out to destroy Wolverine-permanently-and they may have succeeded. But if Wolverine's soul is in hell, how is his body terrorizing those closest to him?
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
There’ve been so many people who’ve cross paths with the man known as Wolverine, dastardly villains, terrorists, evil mutants, even cosmic demigods, but as of this very moment I can say that I’ve read the story where Wolverine goes to hell. That’s right folks, Ol’ Canucklehead seems to have jumped the creative shark, and as such he’s been cast down into the fire and brimstone-packed trenches of the underworld, where the devil or some demon-monster plans on utilizing Wolvie’s earthly-body for some havoc-wreaking. Yay!

The book starts off a little heavy-handed, okay, really heavy-handed. John Wraith is apparently no longer a blood-thirsty mercenary, selling his powers and services to the highest bidder and like most retired gunmen he’s dedicated the remainder of his life to the service of the Lord. Blah, blah, blah. Nothing we haven’t seen before any number of times. I think Cheech Marin plays a retired gunman-turned-preacher in this weekend’s schlock-cinema offering “Machete”, so that should illustrate just how saturated the genre-fiction community is chock-full of characters exactly like that. Oh and he lectures Logan on the difference between actual Hell and metaphorical “Hell”, and it’s all pretty patronizing if you ask me.

That’s the beautiful thing about scripture, as history has proven time and again, it can be interpreted and manipulated to suit whatever the person reading is trying to say. Look hard enough in that Bible of yours and you’ll probably find justification for any number of horrible acts of man against man. So when I see one killer preaching the word of the Lord to another killer, with talk of redemption and such, I have to just kind of laugh to myself and think “Is this all they got?”

Sure, Wolverine is gonna make it to where ever it is that bad people go when they die, I mean, if you buy into that sort of thing…and if you don’t then you can just chalk it up to a case of possession, or whatever. Truth is it’s hard to decipher what really IS going on because we’re treated to so much more flash and slash than actual story. Of course this is more a problem due to the trade-writing style, which pretty much makes FIRST issues obsolete…no longer can I tell if I’m going to enjoy a book from the first issue. Now I have to invest in the first ARC just to see if I like where the author is going. Luckily Marvel and Jason Aaron made this one easy one me: Religious overtones, ANOTHER Wolverine series, $3.99 cover price…I’ll pass, thanks.

Renato Guedes is a pretty obvious heir-apparent to Ron Garney’s clean & polished look. The styles aren’t OVERLY similar, so the book does have its own feel as opposed to mimicking the look of the preceding series, but I can see why they slid Guedes on AFTER Garney. The look isn’t jarring enough to throw someone off the title for good, but it’s similar enough in its line-work to draw positive comparisons, although it does little to salvage a story that’s uninteresting and dull…a perfect example of ‘too little, too late.’
  THOR FOR ASGARD #1
Writer: Robert Rodi    Artist: Simone Bianchi
Reviewer: "Sweet" Dan Sweet
Publisher: Marvel Comics     Shipped On: 090110
MSRP: $3.99 each (15% OFF during it's 1st Week of release only at Alternate Reality!)
MARVEL'S SYNOPSIS:
Beginning an epic adventure showcasing the God of Thunder as you've never seen him before! The vassals of Asgard are in armed revolt...Odin is missing...Balder is dead...and the entire continent is battered by a years-long winter. How can Thor put the empire back together - especially with his mighty hammer Mjolnir mysteriously denied him?
SWEET DAN'S REVIEW:
For the most part I enjoy books such as this one for a couple of reasons: I’ve never heard of Rob Rodi, so while I didn’t know what to expect from the author I was more than willing to give him a shot; and because I’m not REALLY a Thor fan, I mean, I am but not to the extent that I know ANYTHING about the character at all, so as a blank slate I was able to jump on board and learn as I went. Accessibility is key when releasing a book like this. Sure, you don’t want to disregard long-time fans of the character, but you also want to make sure that ANYONE who may have money to spend come next summer (when a little thing called the “Thor” movie comes out) has a chance to get into, and become a fan of the character.

I’ve described Simone Bianchi’s art as cluttered and clunky before, but thankfully I don’t get that feeling from his work here. It seems as if he was born to illustrate the BIG action, and HUGE cinematic happenings of Rodi’s “Thor”. His panel layouts and his characters are bursting with emotion, keeping the story moving at a steady clip even when there’s nothing but arguing going on. If you haven’t seen the cover, which is beautiful by the way, then you may not understand what I’m talking about, but once you catch a glimpse of it there’s no way you can deny Bianchi’s contribution. He’s an imaginative artist, and his strengths out weigh his weaknesses in this effort.

If you HAVE seen the gorgeous cover then you may already have some idea of what this series is really all about. Thor stands before the magic hammer, Mjolnir, seemingly powerless to retrieve it from its resting place, and for the most part this is a fairly accurate assessment of what to expect from the title. Thor wields a battle axe early on, as he and his soldiers of Asgard take out a renegade band of Frost Giants who are using the townsfolk of Jotunheim as human shields. Thor and his boys cut down EVERYONE, even the children, in the name of Asgard, and of course Thor spends a good deal of time brooding about it later on.

There’s controversy in Asgard as the all-father, Odin, has been out of commission for more than six months, and the reserves of pretty much everything are being depleted at an alarming rate, most notably, the golden apples which provide the Asgardians with immortality. With the threat of true-death looming larger than ever over their heads, Thor must decide whether he’s truly ready to step into his old man’s shoes, but if he’s ready why can’t he lift the hammer of Thor? It would probably help if he wasn’t so tired from doing the nasty with Lady Sif before trying to retrieve the hammer from its resting place.

I‘m excited for the Thor movie, if for no other reason than it gives me hope to see OTHER out-there properties given the big-screen treatment, and while I’m not a long-time fan of the golden-haired God of Thunder, this was an absolute treat to read. I’m not sure how they’re going to fill six whole issues with this kind of story, but I know that each one is probably going to be more beautiful than the last, thanks to Bianchi, and I’m sure that if Rodi managed to capture what I imagine to be the true voice of the characters in just one issue, then he’s more than capable of tackling the rest.

All Books/Characters pictured herein are © Copyright 2010 by their respective owners. No rights given or implied by Alternate Reality, Incorporated.

Reviews © 2010 Alternate Reality, Inc.

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