Trinity # 2
Written by Kurt Busiek & Fabian Nicieza
Art by Mark Bagley, Art Thibert, Pete Pantazis, Tom Derenick, Wayne Faucher & Allen Passalaqua
Published by DC Comics
So, if DC keeps on the track they are on with these weekly comics, then by 2012 you'll be paying three dollars each week so that you can buy a comic book that consist of blank pages and advertisements for a book called "Batmobile: Owners Manual." Each week, you'll pick up the latest issue, in hopes that there will be finally be a panel that features something besides empty white space, even though that blank white space will be about a thousand times more interesting than anything in Trinity. Everyone involved in this comic should be ashamed of themselves, although they, of course, will not be.
Gotham Underground # 9
Written by Frank Tieri
Art by J. Calafiore, Jack Purcell & Brian Reber
Published by DC Comics
If your goal with reading bad super-hero titles is to desperately find the "good" and leave the "bad" then Gotham Underground, of which this is the final issue, has probably been one of the more difficult projects since Jeph Loeb's Ultimate Power miniseries. That being said, it's nice to know that the project of reforming Batman's longest running villains into grudging, franchised sidekicks in the fight for justice is continuing--from now on, the Penguin joins the Riddler, and Batman's yearly thanksgiving throw-down will need an extra chair. After all, it's not like Gotham Underground didn't introduce somewhere around three thousand new bad guys.
Red Mass For Mars # 1
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Ryan Bodenheim, Mary Shelley & Jonathan Hickman
Published by Image Comics
Science fiction isn't a genre that really goes over well at the Factual Opinion's office, and with the exception of Nightly News, not much of Hickman's work has gone over that well either. After paging all the interns and getting each one of them to come back with their own description of what this comic is about, the agreement has been that it's a lot like one of those terrible science fiction paperbacks that people seem to like, that it's a hell of a lot more pretentious than it has any right to be, and that it is not entertaining, by any estimation, including a coked up one. But hey, if you like your comics to rest alongside your autographed pics of the stars of Babylon 5, this is probably something you'd really enjoy. For everyone else, you can continue to snicker from afar. (Because, you know, you read Green Lantern, and that's way better.)
Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust?
Written by Brian Reed, Mike Carey, Christos Gage, Zeb Wells & Jeff Parker
Art by Lee Weeks, Matt Milla, Timothy Green III, Mike Perkins, Steve Kurth, Raul Trevino, Drew Hennessey, Steve Kurth, Michelle Madsen, Karl Kesel & Leonard Kirk
Published by Marvel Comics
It's an anthology, so we'll keep this brief: The Captain Marvel story is awful. The Agent Brand story is awful. The Wonder Man & The Beast story would've been far better if they'd had less pillow talk and more straight up fucking, as that's obviously where that little relationship is heading. The Marvel Boy story is confusing, and therefore awful. The Agents of Atlas story has a gorilla with one of those machine guns the Punisher calls a "pig." So, yeah, gorilla with a machine gun. We're unaware of what can make gorillas with machine guns a bad thing, although DC could probably come up with something.
Captain Britain & MI13 # 2
Written by Paul Cornell
Art by Leonard Kirk, Jesse Delperdang & Brian Reber
Published by Marvel Comics
The other thing the Factual has a hard time finding love for is straight up magic bullshit, which Marvel feels the need to combine with spandex clad super-heroes, because...well, fuck it, why not? If you can't dress like a Stormtrooper while guiding an Elf through a maze your buddy Dave came up with, then what the hell did we fight the goddamn war for? So people could find manga more entertaining? Relevancy is for dipshits with masters degrees who go to museums. So yeah, MI-13, magic, a dude who looks like John Lennon, the sword in the stone, it's all here, and it's tied in with the Secret Invasion cross-over. Comics for people who want to have sex with their mother, line one.
The Last Defenders # 4
Written by Joe Casey
Art by Jim Muniz, Cam Smith & Antonio Fabela
Published by Marvel Comics
In a lot of ways, this is an entire storyline that expands upon a minor aspect of that DC comic where Blue Beetle wandered around the DC universe, getting treated like an unimportant second-stringer (which Blue Beetle, of course, is) until finally getting shot in the head, just like that Japanese businessman in the first Die Hard movie. Last Defenders is all about second-string losers, their ugly costumes, and what it looks like when Iron Prick treats them like second-stringers with ugly costumes. There's an oddness to it, and according to Nina Stone, pretty art, but not much else. Still, it is a Marvel comic that ignores Secret Invasion and makes a big point of treating Tony Stark like an asshole. Also, it has that Son of Satan character, and the idea that more comics are coming that have text bubbles like "Chinatown: The Son of Satan takes a shot in the dark" isn't something that should be treated lightly.
Punisher: Little Black Book
Written by Victor Gischler
Art by Jefte Palo & Lee Loughridge
Published by Marvel MAX
If this is a hint of what's to come after Garth Ennis leaves the Punisher MAX title, then the next thing to come will be the Punisher MAX title getting canceled, because this is just more of the same rambling down in one stories that got Punisher titles canceled multiple times before. None of what makes Garth's version of the title is here--Gischler's take on the character lacks any depth or relevance, the violence is far too unrealistic, and the sentimental "hooker giving it up for a real man" ending is so moronic that it reads more believably as a joke. The art, an altogether decent attempt to deal with an almost completely unimaginative script, suffers itself from an incompetent coloring process near the end of the book, as Frank's outfit fails to match itself from panel to panel. It's unfathomable why Marvel has chosen this route to deal with a character whose only success in the last ten years has been under the direction of one writer, and unless Mr. Ennis changes his mind, it looks like the book will be closed for Frank Castle for another long while.
Young Liars # 4
By David Lapham
Published by Vertigo/DC Comics
Young Liars keeps wanting to be a lot like a song by the Pogues or the Pixies, and it keeps ending up more like Seal's "Kiss From A Rose," only it's a cover version by a Mighty Mighty Bosstones tribute band. It will probably read a lot better in trade, but on the installment plan, it's a comic that is just trying to hard without the something that it is trying to hard to be. It makes itself vague on background, and direction, but only because it doesn't have the gaps filled in yet, and it reads less like something that has planning and purpose (which Lapham's Stray Bullets had in spades) and more like something that was created to fill that gap in the comics market where "trendy shit" lives. There's a lot of leeway given to talented creators these days, but it's less and less from the reader, and more and more from the editors who decide what gets published.
100 Bullets # 92
Written by Brian Azzarello
Art by Eduardo Risso
Published by Vertigo/DC Comics
As with recent issues of 100 Bullets, it would be a cruel disservice to cut loose on any of the specific plot developments as the close of the series nears: safely put, if you want a comic where death is final, and shocking developments occur, you can't do much better than the last few issues of this series. That being said, it's also not like you could jump on board without some kind of background knowledge of what's occurred in this series and expect to fully enjoy everything it contains. There's no doubt that this is a series that will eventually become a perennial seller for the Vertigo trade market, and to tell the truth, most of the stories it has told are better served there--but if you want to keep up with the series and avoid having any of the shocks and twists robbed of their surprise, then you'd do well to keep up the monthly fix. Neither Azzarello or Risso have lost a step, and as the doors are beginning to slam shut for many of the longest running characters, the conceit of the book hasn't lost one either. On a week like this, where everything else was a crushing bore, 100 Bullets makes the Wednesday trip the kid gets sent on worth it.
-Tucker Stone, 2008
Last weeks Comixology column was all about Matt Fraction's Invincible Iron Man. Check it out here.
Your review of Young Liars was *perfect*. It just perfectly captures the problems I have with the book - no purpose; seemingly random events; and characters I can't empathize with in any way. It's like someone doing a reinterpretation of Stray Bullets without ever having read an issue.
I disagree on Red Mass for Mars, though. I liked it. Red Mass isn't a perfect book, but at least it wasn't the millionth rehash of the Authority. If American comics are determined to choke us with superheroes, I'd rather read stories like Red Mass for Mars.
Posted by: Kenny | 2008.06.16 at 10:54
About your Trinity review: How about slitting your wrist you Emo/Indie bastard?
Posted by: asasas | 2008.06.16 at 13:52
Just wanted to mention, that comixology piece was fantastic. Really good stuff.
Posted by: hugh stewart | 2008.06.18 at 20:18
I really WANT to like Young Liars, but...sigh...that Amy Racecar color special from ten years ago was so much more fun.
Posted by: frank santoro | 2008.06.19 at 21:34