Also this week:

GLOBAL FREQUENCY #12 - My god, I thought this had finished months ago.  Evidently not.  Anyway, this is the big finale - insofar as a series of twelve completely free-standing issues can have a finale, anyway.  Appalling things are about to happen, and the whole of the Global Frequency membership join forces to stop it.  The high concept for this issue is okay, but the real star is Gene Ha's artwork.  Ha has a fantastic time with Aleph's control room, and clearly enjoys himself enormously giving all the individual characters enough background details to seem like more than walk-on parts.  The TV show is apparently going ahead, and it's easy to see the concept working in that format, even if the scale will presumably have to be trimmed back a bit.  A fun series, albeit one that's been more than a little throwaway at times and might have been better served with a shorter run.  A-

IDENTITY DISC #1 - Ooh, a petulant attempt at a spoiler book!  Nobody's fooled, guys.  To be fair, it seems like this book must have been in the works anyway, and only the title has been changed to take advantage of the happy coincidence.  It's supervillain team-up time, notwithstanding that neither the Juggernaut nor Deadpool is actually a villain these days.  Come to think of it, I'm not sure about the Sandman either.  And doesn't Bullseye have some sort of history with Deadpool that we're all meant to be forgetting here?  And why isn't the Juggernaut in the right costume?  You get the idea - it's the sort of assembly of individually trivial questions that start to nag at you if you know broadly what the characters are up to.  And isn't that the sort of reader this book is aimed at?  Every other reviewer has already mentioned The Usual Suspects, but that's not going to stop me from doing so as well, because the comparison is so blindingly obvious that it's unavoidable.  Let's hope they've just cribbed from the set-up, because it's going to be a little embarrassing if large chunks of the plot came with it.  Higgins' art is solid but a little rough for my tastes, and it's difficult to see quite what the point of the whole exercise is meant to be.  It's alright, but it's certainly nothing to go out of your way for.  B-

STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES #23 - The final issue.  Not that it was meant to be the final issue or anything - that was supposed to be issue #24.  And you can't blame DC for axing it, given the absolutely diabolical sales figures.  But this is a Micah Wright comic, and Micah Wright's career these days is a byword for "fucked."  So DC are pulling the plug one month early, leaving the book to end on a cliffhanger.  Thanks a bunch.  It's hard to imagine this being a purely economical decision so much as a determination to get Wright out of the door as quickly as humanly possible.  Up to a point, that's entirely understandable.  His bizarre CV fabrication may have no direct bearing on his writing talent, but it does reveal him to be the sort of person who lies to his publishers, which would seem reason enough for publishers not to want to deal with him.  Nonetheless, the actual comic is pretty good, it does have several thousand readers who would presumably have liked to see the ending, and axing books mid-story is a dangerous precedent to set - it discourages people from even trying low-selling books because it erodes faith that they'll ever see the ending.  If the sales alone didn't preclude the final issue from seeing print, it does seem a touch petulant not to publish issue #24 before loading Wright into a cannon and firing him into the Hudson River.  B+, but don't buy it, because there's no ending.

STREET ANGEL #2 - Issue #1 was fantastic.  Issue #2 is even better.  Featuring time travelling pirates, ninjas and a homeless skateboarding heroine.  Oh, and CosMick, Ireland's first astronaut.  And Inti, the bling-bling Inca god.  While the first issue was just gloriously insane, this issue actually has a plot.  And is still gloriously insane as well.  Made me laugh out loud many times.  Unmissable.  A+

WITCHES #1 - Another of those occasional miniseries that Marvel commission and then shove to the back of a drawer for ages before waking up one morning and exclaiming "By gosh!  We could publish that and recoup some of the production costs!"  Dr Strange recruits three babes -- sorry, expert magicians -- to go on missions for him.  It's just like Charlie's Angels.  In case you're incredibly slow, they explain that halfway through.  At least it tries to explain something.  The book also features Jennifer Kale, and doesn't explain who she is.  It features Satana, and doesn't explain who she is.  And it features Topaz, and doesn't explain who she is.  Hell, I've been reading Marvel books for over 15 years, and even I don't have any more than a vague recollection of who Topaz is.  Generally, tries far too hard to impersonate Joss Whedon.  On the plus side, nice art from Mike Deodato, allowing for the remit.  C+

Last week's Article 10 is still up at Ninth Art.

Next week, Cable/Deadpool #4 continues the opening storyline.  New X-Men #2 divides the cast into even more teams.  Wolverine #16 has Sabretooth, and X-Men #158 has Xorn.  Of sorts.  Plus, Wolverine: The End #4 finally limps out, over a month late.

back | continue