Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus#1

“The Last Best Hope for Earth”

Writer:  Ethan Sacks

Artist:  Diogenes Neves

Cover Art:  Skan

Marvel Comics has continued the “Weapon” storyline that they have run for years.  I believe I already knew that Wolverine’s Weapon X was just an offshoot of the Super Soldier program (I think… at least I am pretty sure).  It was not an uncommon theme as in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the program that created the Hulk was also trying to recreate the Super Soldier Serum.

The hook in Weapon Plus is that Captain America not only inspired the heroic, good deeds of people, but also inspired bad people to move forward with their experimentation and in their attempts to create a new Captain America.

We meet an especially unsteady young man named Billy Junger, who was desperately trying to become a new Captain America and was influential to the continuation of the program.

We find much of the information from a hologram of the deceased Fantomex, who serves as a basic exposition dump.  Wolverine finds Cap and the pair head off to take care of the problem.  They come across some horrendous experiments that were still viable.

The art is decent, but I would not say it stood out.  The story was okay, but nothing too great.  I am not sure exactly what here was new information and what was retread from past history.  I do like the counter balance of Cap and Wolvie together as they make a diametrically opposed partnership, but there was not that much of that between them in this issue.

I am interested enough to continue reading this series, as much because of the interesting possibilities that could come from the story as for anything that I actually saw in issue number one.  Hopefully the bombshells become more explosive to justify the mini series.

Wolverine vs. Blade #1

Writer:  Marc Guggenheim

Artist:  Dave Wilkins

Cover Art:  Dave Wilkins

A special one shot featuring everyone’s favorite Canadian mutant with claws and everyone’s favorite killer of vampires who is also a vampire was released today matching up the Avenger and the X-Man.

Blade and Wolverine fight is a small section of the story and the rest is your typical team-up.

Despite the fact that the comic is larger than a normal comic, the story of the book felt very rushed.  With everything that the comic tried to set up, bringing together these two iconic figures from Marvel was just too crammed.

The book is listed as “Mature Content” which meant that there were graphic ways that the two heroes would kill these vampires.  There was no language, but the violence quota was off the charts.  Some of that was fun, but it turned out to be at the expense of a comprehensive story.

The art, however, is really well done.  It was dark and violent, fitting perfectly in with what the story was going for.  Unfortunately, there was very little depth to the tale.  It was basically an excuse to draw Wolverine cutting a vampire’s head in three with his claws.  If that is enough for you, then this book will be right up your alley.

For me, I wanted more.  It was a passable comic, especially for the art, but there was little else to it.

Invisible Woman #1

Writer: Mark Waid

Artist: Mattia De Iulis

Cover Art:  Adam Hughes

For the first time ever, Susan Storm Richards stars in her won solo series at Marvel Comics and, I have to say, it caught me off guard.  It revealed something of the character of Sue Storm that I did not know or did not expect.

Apparently, Sue has been, I guess in her spare time, been working on and off as a spy, first for SHIELD and more recently for the government.  We start with a bit where she is working for our original Nick Fury and later on, new Nick Fury arrives too.

The idea makes a lot of sense.  What wouldn’t be more effective as a spy than someone who can turn themselves invisible?  It seemed Sue had been involved for years (as the book shows a scene from “ten years ago”).

The twist of the book worked really well for me and I found myself intrigued immediately.  When the government came back to Sue to ask her what she knew about the disappearance of a former partner, Aiden, she wanted to go into the field to find him.  The government seemed to be unwilling to agree, but they did not know Sue very well.

The art is beautifully rendered by Mattia DeIulis.  The story itself is mainly set up, but it reads quickly and does a great job of constructing the story and finishes with an awesome cameo at the end.

Honestly, I am excited to see what happens next.  I love the fact that they are able to throw a new wrinkle into the world of the Invisible Woman and make it feel organic.  I believe this is a mini series, and I hope the level of quality remains this high.

Fantastic Four: The Prodigal Sun #1

Writer:  Peter David

Artist:  Francesco Manna

Cover Art:  Mico Suayan & Rain Beredo

We are introduced to a brand new hero in the Marvel Universe and he goes by the name Prodigal.  We learn very little about him in this issue as he lands in the Savage Land and draws the attention of Ka-Zar and Shanna, who contact the Fantastic Four for help.

We do learn that his real name is Prah’dGul and he claims to be the greatest warrior in the five galaxies.

Prodigal meets up with Rojash and the Swamp People in the Savage Land and they are trying to get some weapons found inside the High Evolutionary’s old lab.

Honestly, my first opinion on Prodigy is a bit lackluster.  He was very arrogant without any reason, or at least none that we have been given.  There is little else that we have found out about him.  The dialogue of the character was not a strength, as he used a lot of snippy remarks that are intended to be funny, but seem to fall flat for me.

Honestly, I was much more interested in the meeting of Ka-Zar and Shanna’s son Matt Plunder, who has apparently fallen into some kind of time portal in Lemuria and aged to a teenager, and Valeria Richards, daughter of Reed and Sue.  I would want more of this.

It appears as if the character of Prodigal is being introduced across several one-shot issues like this one, with the next issue being a Silver Surfer crossover.  Not sure how I feel about this character yet as we really get very little about him.  He is very powerful and knows it and he wants to find a spaceship to get off the planet earth.

I’d really like more Ka-Zar and more Matt and Valeria.  Other than that, Prodigal is a we’ll see.

Aero#1

“Protector of the City”

Writer:  Zhou Liefen

Artist: Keng

Cover Art: Keng

“Aero & Wave: Origins & Destinies” Part One

Writer:  Greg Pak

Artist:  Pop Mhan

Aero debuted in the recent limited series The New Agents of Atlas which debuted during The War of the Realms crossover event.  That was one of the few favorites of mine during the event, so I was excited to read the new book with Aero.

Admittedly, the characterization was not top priority in The New Agents of Atlas and I did not learn a ton about Aero or any of the other new characters introduced in that series.  However, that means that there is some room for this series to give me more about this character and I did like what was here.

In fact, the set up of the first story of the book was intriguing with a building that was coming to life in Aero’s city, Shanghai.  I really liked the way that first story ended too because I did not expect it and I found it interesting.

I also got to see a little bit about who this character is, though I would like even more as this series goes on.  The book uses Aero’s voice as the narrator and it is able to reveal to us some of her thoughts as it progresses, which I liked.

The art is beautiful and uses lots of large imagery to tell the story.  I really enjoyed Keng and his artistry.

The second story is used to introduce to us further another of the characters we met in The New Agents of Atlas in Wave.  It is a basic origin story, but I was engaged with it.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and I expect that I will give it a chance moving forward.  I hope we learn more about Aero as we move on and continue to see such beautiful art work that has a manga feel to it.

The War of the Realms #6

“Chapter Six:  The Storm of Thors”

Writer:  Jason Aaron

Artist:  Russell Dauterman

Cover Art:  Arthur Adams & Matthew Wilson

I have been fairly disappointed with the ongoing The War of the Realms story that has spanned across much of the Marvel Comics line for the last few months.  There has been tons of crossovers and most of them have been lesser than what one might expect.  I have not been a huge fan of the main series.  So I was looking forward to the series ending and it does so with number six.

It turned out that The War of the Realms #6 was not bad.  It was probably my favorite of the six issues.

I am not sure what the purpose of the series was meant to be.  It seemed as if the entire run was basically to make adjustments to the character of Thor.  Jason Aaron brought back some of the characters he created back in his awesome run on Thor from a few years ago and they were fun. It just does not seem to be enough to give a huge crossover event.  This could have been done in Thor (or maybe the Avengers).  Most of the rest of the Marvel Universe was just there as cameos and it did not feel needed.

It looks as if there is a bunch of new Thor or Thor-type comics coming out of this.  I am not sure what those books will be like.

The War of the Realms are over.  It ended with more of a punch than most of the series.  However, the entire series was not good enough.

Superman Year One, Book One

Writer: Frank Miller

Artist: John Romita Jr.

Cover Art: Frank Miller

Yes I mostly read Marvel Comics, but I do keep my eyes open for those event type issues from DC Comics.  At least, some of the time, and a book created by Frank Miller and John Romita Jr about Superman’s early days would have to be considered a event.  Because of that, I picked up the over-sized number one.

This year one book focuses on Kal-El, the baby in the last days of Krypton to his childhood in Smallville, Kansas with Ma and Pa Kent.  The problem with this is that there really is no plot in the book.  There is a story arc involving a group of bullies that takes a darker path than I expected.  The book jumps from scene to scene without too much of a new thought or anything new to add.

The way the story is presented is one of the ways that felt uncomfortable for me.  The narrator explained a lot to the readers and felt as if the story was so full of exposition.  The dialogue was weak and uniformed and there were many times when I thought to myself that people did not talk that way.  I know it sounds weird, but one of the problems was the story written by Frank Miller.  Miller, who is a great writer who has written some of the greatest comic issues of all time, just never feels right with Clark Kent.  There is an awkwardness to the prose of the book.

I also like John Romita Jr and his art work in this issue, with the exception of his artistic renditions of the kids.  Why are their heads so big?  It really became distracting.

There really is nothing new here.  We all know the background of Clark Kent and his childhood in Smallville, and this issue gives us nothing that changes or adapts or adds anything to what we already knew.

The Immortal Hulk #19

“Butterfly”

Writer: Al Ewing

Artist:  Joe Bennett

Cover Art: Alex Ross

Holy crap.

The Immortal Hulk has become a sensation at Marvel Comics.  Why has it done so well?  I believe it is the approach of writer Al Ewing, who has taken the character of the Hulk and placed him into the genre of horror.  It has been a great success as there have been some shockingly scary moments through the first 18 issues.

However, issue 19 takes it to another level.

Wow.  I cannot believe some of the things that I have seen.  The comic is remarkably compelling and shockingly graphic at times.  The artwork fits beautifully into the tone and feel of the presentations.

And the last five or six pages are just brilliantly gore-tastic that I’m amazed that I saw it in a comic book from Marvel.  I also have a hard time believing that what I saw happen, just happened.  Those final pages are set up throughout the entire issue, though you do not realize it until it is too late.

I can’t wait to find out what happens next.

The Immortal Hulk has been the best non-mini-series Marvel Comic of the year so far (and it has been great for its entire run) and you are missing some of the best work anywhere if you are not reading it.

Silver Surfer: Black #1

“Black”

Writer:  Donny Cates

Artist:  Tradd Moore

Cover Art:  Tradd Moore

The Silver Surfer returns in a five-issue series written by Donny Cates and drawn by his longtime friend Tradd Moore.

I have always been a Silver Surfer fan, but I have never really loved any of the Silver Surfer solo books.  The last one with Dan Slott writing never tripped my trigger, so I approached Silver Surfer: Black with a question in my heart.

However, I found this book to be very good.

While I would not go as far as to say that it was great, Silver Surfer: Black #1 was a solid start to the series and I am looking forward to continuing it.  My one problem was that there was nothing that really happened that was new.  Basically, the status quo was maintained in the book.  It may set up the character the story to move ahead, kind of like a decent TV pilot.

Not sure what happened with Surfer’s hand.  I will reserve judgment on this once I understand exactly what is going on.

As for the art.  I typically do not like this type of artistic style, but I have to say that the galactic style it brought to the Silver Surfer felt so very right.  The art help to pop the story in an almost psychedelic style.  I have to say that I dug it.  It really worked for Silver Surfer and his space travels.

Then the final panel is strong, leading toward the arc of the story.  So as everything is set up in this issue, I think Silver Surfer” Black’s best days are yet to come.

Addendum:  There is a wonderful letter written in the letter’s column from the writer, Donny Cates about Stan Lee that is worth the read too.  It is touching.

Black Cat #1

“Thieves Like Us”

Writer:  Jed Mackay

Artist: Travel Foreman

Cover Art:  J. Scott Campbell & Sabine Rich

“The Ongoing Adventures of The Black Cat and Her Purrfect Purrloiners”

Writer:  Nao Fuji

Artist:  Nao Fuji

“Leaving Miami”

Writer:  Jed Mackay

Artist:  Mike Dowling

One of my favorite secondary Spider-Man characters is Felicia Hardy, aka the Black Cat, so I was excited to see the first issue of the new series featuring our feline thief.

I am not sure I would have split this into the three shorter stories that are inside this issue.  I think I would have rather had a full first issue story and not have the two backup stories.  The first back up story is simply two pages and I am not sure how necessary it is.  The second back up story deals with the Black Fox and seems to feature Dracula.  That immediately made me wonder where this falls in Marvel continuity, because the last time I saw Dracula, he was in a Russian gulag and in really bad shape.

As for the main story here, I like the way Felicia is shown, but the comparisons to Catwoman is impossible to avoid.  I do like how the security guards at this museum know who Felicia is and her very presence causes chaos.  I like the two supporting cast members introduced here.

The comic makes a reference to Felicia’s super hero heist, which was used in Amazing Spider-man recently, so the Thieves Guild is still a problem for her.  This will most likely continue to expand as the series continues.

I would say that I liked this book fairly well and that I see some potentially strong stories that could be told.  I hope that the book continues to improve because I tend to pick up Spider-man related books (Silk, Scarlet Spider, Venom etc) only to fall behind reading them.  This, of ocurse, leads to me stopping buying them.  I would like to keep Black Cat going.

The War of the Realms Strikeforce: The Land of Giants#1

Writer:  Tom Taylor

Artist:  Jorge Molina

Cover Art:  Jorge Molina

The War of the Realms has been a mixed bag for me so far, but it does seem that the issues that I have really enjoyed have been the ones featuring Spider-Man.

Writer Ton Taylor does a great job giving us Spider-Man in this story, as the Web-Head is giving us the narration of the story as if he were a soldier writing a letter home to MJ.  There are some great emotional beats in this issue, including a strange, but somehow compelling relationship between Spidey and his winged horse he named “Buttercup.”

Now, the issue also features Logan, Captain America, Iron Fist and Luke Cage, as the group goes into Jotunheim to attempt to retrieve Thor, but honestly, they do not feel as if they are the significant parts of the story.  This is a Spider-Man story, looking at how Spidey was out of his element and needed to adjust to his new surroundings.

The biggest problem I had with this issue is that all of this happened already several weeks ago. We know that this group ( The Four Who’ve All Punch Apocalypse etc.) had already brought Thor out of his berserker rage and got him out of Jotunheim.  It felt like a flashback and, since we know everything that happened, it lost much of its stakes.  The book tried to make up for that with “Buttercup” but that was only somewhat successful.

As a one shot, this was a good story with a great bit of character work with Spider-Man.  This issue should have come out earlier to avoid the feeling that it is not an important story.  Otherwise, I enjoyed the issue well enough.

Tony Stark: Iron Man #11

Stark Realities: Part Six                                                                                                                  “End of Service”

Writer:  Dan Slott & Jim Sub

Artist:  Valerio Schiti

Cover Art:  Alexander Lozano

This is the conclusion of the eScape arc of the Tony Stark: Iron Man book and it opened some definite questions.  What exactly is Tony Stark?  What is Arno Stark’s plan for 2020 and Tony’s (and his own) parents?  Will we see the Godkiller armor again?  What will happen with Jocasta?  Will Tony fall off the wagon?

The final battle with the Controller was strong and the use of the Champions was nicely done.  I find the plans of Arno Stark, who of course was introduced years ago as the Iron Man of 2020, to be the most fascinating of what was touched on here.

I do have to say that I am not sure how I feel about the relationship between Tony Stark and Janet Van Dyne.

Everything in this issue felt like a restart as characters were moved around and Tony was thrown for a bit of a loop.  Looks like next issue is a War of the Realms tie-in so we’ll see when we get these new storylines started.

Spider-Man and the League of Realms #1

“Why We Fight”

Writer:  Sean Ryan

Artist:  Nico Leon

Cover Art:  Ken Lashley & Brian Reber

I have to say, I have not been a huge fan of The War of the Realms crossover event so far.  I have found the main story to be fairly underwhelming and too disjointed to be interesting.

However, I really did enjoy the first issue of the three-issue series Spider-Man & the League of Realms.

This was one of the better renditions of Spider-Man we have seen for a bit.

Sure, I was not overly fond of the League of Realms because they were basically just side characters whom I know nothing about, but the contrast that they all have with Spider-Man was good, and I really enjoyed the final conflict between Spidey and the renegade angel Fernande.

Spider-Man is a hero and this issue shines the light on that character trait quite clearly.  I also love the scene where Thor puts Spidey in charge of this group despite everyone’s doubts, including Spidey’s.

Spider-Man’s humor is on display here too as he struggled to learn these names of these characters he has suddenly found fighting beside him.  Elf-Man, Giant Lady, Troll Guy seems to be a nod to the audience that some of these names are difficult to remember and even Spidey has had his troubles.

I was ready to not read this book, but then the writer Sean Ryan gave me a Spider-Man book and he seemed to know what Spidey should be like.  Because of that, I am on board.

The War of the Realms #4

“Chapter Four:  The Stand at the Black Bridge”

Writer: Jason Aaron

Artist: Russell Dauterman

Cover Art:  Arthur Adams & Matthew Wilson

There have been a lot of positive word of mouth over The War of the Realms, Marvel’s big crossover event  written by Jason Aaron.  Unfortunately, it just has not been hitting the beats for me.

Not even mentioning the fact that there are a ton of crossover issues or new short series that only tangentially connect to the main story, but the main story itself feels too all over the place to truly enjoy.  It also feels as if the story is just a series of shock value scenes that may or may not be fixed in six months.

And honestly, SPOILERS— I just about laughed my head off at Iron Odin.  Especially an Iron Odin that lasts, literally, three pages.  What the hell is going on?

The Asgardian cast is really being decimated which does make me wonder what the future holds for them.  Of course, I don’t for one minute believe that Loki is dead, from issue #1 (I think), but Brunhilde last issue is a way to bring Jane Foster back to the forefront (for some reason).

The book looks great and I like the prestige format of it, but I have not found it worthy so far.  I hope it picks up.  I am a fan of Jason Aaron so I plan on continuing to read it for however long it takes, but this has been a downer so far.

The Incredible Hulk #17

“Abomination”

Writer:  Al Ewing

Artist:  Joe Bennett

Cover Art:  Alex Ross

My goodness.

I have to tell you.  There is a double page splash page in the middle of this issue that was just shocking and awesome.

The Immortal Hulk has been consistently brilliant since the series started.  We now see something we have never seen before.

It appears that Bruce Banner may not be in charge of his body any longer.  Add to that that the fact that the Devil Hulk is currently being kept at bay, and suddenly something weird is going on.

The man who looks like Banner called himself Joe.  Is that Joe Fixit?  The comic implies that but I am not sure.  Still, it is clearly not Bruce Banner.  Or at least, the personality is not Bruce Banner.

The Immortal Hulk continues to be one of the best reads every month.  Al Ewing has kept the story moving quickly with surprises and mood.  The art is great and the cover by the amazing Alex Ross continues to be fantastic.