Also this week...

AMERICAN SPLENDOR #2 - Hum.  I rather enjoyed the first issue of this miniseries, in which Harvey Pekar had some nice, minutely detailed observations to spice up his accounts of mundane events.  Issue #2 doesn't reach the same standards, unfortunately.  There are several strips which really make no point at all, and the opening story - not so bad in its own right - is tragically undercut by a cover that makes the same point just as effectively in a seventh of the space.  I suppose if you're in the right frame of mind you might be interested to know that Harvey has found a street in Cleveland with slightly unconventional house numbering, but for the most part this issue just doesn't have the resonance of the first one.  C+

THE BOYS #3 - Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson continue their opening arc by wheeling on the Seven - less-than-subtle analogues of the Justice League of America.  Our anti-heroes will presumably be killing them shortly.  In fact, "less-than-subtle" pretty much sums up the whole exercise.  Ennis and Robertson are always going to be at least okay, on the strength of their storytelling skill alone, but it's hard to deny that this book is struggling under a weight of bitterness and puerility, and hasn't yet shown enough heart to really get away with it.  I know they can do better, even with this concept.  B-

DOCTOR STRANGE: THE OATH #1 - It's been two years, so it's time once again to revive Doctor Strange.  Last time, it was an ill-advised attempt to retcon his origin story (and it didn't take).  This time, Brian K Vaughan is just doing the character straight - some adventure, some gentle comedy, a strong relationship with Wong.  Nobody is trying to reinvent the wheel.  It's just an entertaining Doctor Strange story, humanising the character just enough to make him work, but no further.  I'd happily buy an ongoing series if it was like this.  On art, Marcos Martin is simple, direct and clean, with some beautifully imaginative layouts that always make sure to serve the story instead of distracting from it.  Absolutely excellent.  A+

THE OTHER SIDE #1 - I believe this is a five-issue miniseries, although the cover doesn't say.  Anyway, Jason Aaron and Cameron Stewart tell a story about the Vietnam War from the perspective of two soldiers - the conscript American reluctantly going to war, and the Vietnamese volunteer signing up for the cause.  Both are unified by a wildly inaccurate view of the other side.  It's a simple idea, but mostly well done.  The boot camp scenes in America are overblown - for all I know, they may be accurate, but the abusive drill instructor is a hoary cliche and this book never gets around that.  That aside, pretty decent.  B+

X-MEN: PHOENIX - WARSONG #2 - The title isn't a complete misdescription.  The X-Men are in this book, and Phoenix is mentioned, ooh, at least twice.  But in reality, this turns out to be the origin story of the Stepford Cuckoos.  Pleasingly, Greg Pak is actually aiming for consistency with the hints dropped by Grant Morrison, which means a visit back to Weapon Plus.  It's a functional story enlivened by Pak's attention to detail in matters of character and continuity.  Tyler Kirkham's art conveys the action adequately, but lacks drama or soul.  I dread to think what people will make of it if they bought this expecting a Phoenix story, though.  B-

Y: THE LAST MAN #50 - Brian Vaughan and Pia Guerra reach the half-century with this book that initially sounded like a dodgy B-movie but turned out to be an awful lot better.  It has to be said, though, that this is not the strongest issue of the series.  Like most readers of my generation, I instinctively recoil and vomit at the mention of the word "clone" - oh, and for the record, Ultimate Spider-Man #100?  Ludicrous.  Still, they can work in the right context.  But this is a book that works by taking a basically real-world setting and hitting it with one big event.  And now we've got stories about clones?  Sure, the survivors have got an excellent motivation to explore cloning if they don't want to be the final generation of humanity.  But it feels like we've just taken a rollercoaster lurch into the B-movie territory that this book has largely managed to skirt.  And when that turns out to be a major plot point... well, I worry.  I'll give the creators the benefit of the doubt to an extent, but this really doesn't seem like a good direction.  B-

There's more from me at If Destroyed, and if you're desperate for more Article 10 columns, you can always hunt through the archives on Ninth Art.

Next week, New X-Men #31 completes the first year under the current creative team, so hopefully the long-running "let's kill everybody" arc finally ends.  Ultimate X-Men reaches issue #75 and celebrates by introducing Cable.  Uncanny X-Men #479 continues the Shi'ar arc, and Wolverine fights Omega Red in Wolverine: Origins #7.

back | continue