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Also this week...
ALIAS #18 - I love the opening scene
of this book. I'm so easily manipulated. Anyhow,
Jessica manages to track down John Byrne's Spider-Woman, and
no doubt Byrne is typing a strongly worded article at this
very moment. As usual, it's great dialogue driving a
strong story. A
CAPTAIN MARVEL #4 - Well, this is
increasingly strange. Rick Jones is kept occupied in the
Microverse by anthropomorphic cosmic entities who wear towels,
while Captain Marvel continues to change into a complete
bastard. I much prefer him as a complete bastard.
He has a personality now, which he never really had before.
If nothing else, the relaunch has breathed new life into the
book. And it's actually about the title character for
once - even if Rick Jones is still the hero. B+
DAREDEVIL #40 - No, I don't know why
the cover shows Daredevil climbing a ladder to a water tower
either. Fill-in art this month, from Terry and Rachel
Dodson - not exactly the book's regular style, but I suppose
they've got to do something to fill in the long and tiresome
hours waiting for Kevin Smith to get around to writing another
issue of Spider-Man/Black Cat. It's good
storytelling, though, with an excellent ending that neatly
inverts a lot of what we saw last issue. Good stuff.
A
HELLBLAZER SPECIAL: LADY CONSTANTINE #2
- Well, the wreck is raised with magic, but in a rather
cleverer way than I'd anticipated. Neat misdirection
about the level of Johanna's powers - as with John
Constantine, there's deliberate uncertainty as to whether
she's powerful but low-key, or just low-powered and bluffing
like hell. The latter works for me, and that seems to be
the way things are heading. Nice little story.
B+
MARVEL DOUBLE-SHOT #3 - Mr Fantastic
lectures Franklin on the interrelationship between science and
religion and the way in which love forms a barrier between the
two. Despite nice art, it's just a lecture. Plus,
it reads suspiciously like the writer putting his own opinions
into Reed's mouth rather than working out what the character
would think. In the back-up strip by Sean McKeever and
Darwyn Cooke, Ant-Man gets paranoid about his daughter dating.
Quite good, although it does make the character look like a
bit of a prat. B-
PARADIGM #4 - Hey, I almost
understood this one. They're slipping. Okay, I
don't really get what's going on, but it's a nice
hallucination and paranoia piece, and keeping it largely to
one room with one character and his visitors gives it a focus
that some earlier issues haven't had. Sufficiently close
to comprehensibility that I'm sticking with the title for a
little longer. B+
PUNISHER #20 - A shift away from
comedy, as the Punisher investigates two police officers who
he suspects of corruption. And in at least one case,
he's right. Garth Ennis normally plays this book as
deadpan over-the-top violence, but it's nice to get these
stories from time to time, in order to break things up.
And it's a pleasant antidote for those looking for a more
realistic depiction of police officers than the flawless
saints we've been given of late - even Ennis' corrupt
policemen remain human here. A-
QUEEN & COUNTRY #2 - Paul Crocker
attempts to carry out his mission, only to find that the local
branch of the SIS have completely buggered it up for him.
Of course, they'll be coming to sort things out. Won't
they? Another great espionage story from Greg Rucka,
needless to say. A-
THOR #58 - Thor enters a PG version
of a very nasty country indeed, in order to liberate his
worshippers. Iron Man is sent to give him a stiff
talking to, and explain that if he wants to behave like that,
he can join the Authority. First part of a crossover
with Iron Man and Avengers, and this seems to be
hitting most of the obvious points without adding anything
particularly new. It's alright, in its way. B-
ULTIMATE DAREDEVIL & ELEKTRA #3 -
More from Greg Rucka, which always makes me happy. Matt
gets to do some investigative work for a change, and
immediately puts his relationship with Elektra under strain.
Lovely sequence of Matt using his powers by trying to listen
to every conversation in New York simultaneously, and gorgeous
artwork from Larroca and Miki. A-
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #34 - Ah, I was
thinking we were going to jump straight to Venom. But
no, it seems we're getting some sort of variation on the black
costume instead. I'm surprised how well Bendis has
managed to make this rather silly idea fit into his universe,
keeping the elements of Venom which worked while dumping all
that nonsense about alien symbiotes from Battleworld.
B+
On Monday, Article 10 looks at price rises,
over at
Ninth Art.
Next week, the Hulk/Wolverine: 6 Hours
miniseries begins. Plus, Ultimate X-Men, X-Treme
X-Men and Mekanix.
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