Comic Reviews: Week of Dec. 9th

MARVEL:

1. Amazing Spider-Man #614:

Mark Waid is one of my favorite writers, so usually I'm biased when it comes to reviewing a comic he wrote. Amazing Spider-Man is building up to something, and I'm glad Waid is the one behind the wheel. Spider-Man has a group of foes which occasionally band together to be known as the Sinister Six. This is a build up to a similar story (I think). So what we have here is Waid empowering Electro in a way that makes him seem extremely dangerous to the point where, when he was off panel at the end, I assumed he had escaped and I felt a tinge of disappointment that Spider-Man's efforts were for naught. The end of the comic is pretty shocking (no pun intended), and I'm glad Waid was the one that delivered. If you're a Spidey fan, I'd pick this up. I see an impressive storyline in the making. Paul Azaceta's art adds to the mess of the situation. He's good at maintaining the chaos that Waid is writing.

DC:

2. Action Comics #884: First off, Pere Perez and Bit do a fantastic job on the art here. They capture the agony of Nightwing, and the ache of Flamebird. Greg Rucka is a wiz when it comes to comic writing. The issues here are leading up to Superman #700, and Action Comics is only ten issues behind, so I feel like something big is on the horizon. I feel the weight of a convoluted storyline, however, and I wouldn't recommend this title unless you're interested in what's going on in the Superman universe right now.

3. Red Robin #7:

Okay. So, I started picking this up because, like most other comic fans, I was excited by seeing Red Robin back in action (last glimpsed in Mark Waid & Alex Ross' brilliant "Kingdom Come" series). Now, however, I'm getting ready to drop the series. Chris Yost is attempting to build a world for Tim Drake, but I really could care less. I got to the end, looked at the characters, realized I didn't know who some of them were, and realized I didn't care. I'm going to see this arc through to the end, but nothing much is going on here. While I like the idea of Tim Drake being the detective, and searching for Bruce Waye, I feel no urgency to keep up with this title.

4. Adventure Comics #5: Have you ever wanted a glimpse inside the DC Comics offices? This is your chance. Geoff Johns crosses the fourth wall (or is it the fifth?) by taking Superboy Prime into the REAL world where he encounters Dan DiDio and the rest of his staff. Since Johns is scripting "Blackest Night," glimpses of that story are found here. For the most part, however, this is a forgettable issue. Johns has been mostly covering the Conner Superboy. That story is interesting. This one? Not so much.


IDW:

5. Ghostbusters: Past Present and Future (one shot): I love IDW. They publish the greatest stuff! They have recently undertaken a Ghostbusters series that is . . . okay . . . and my problems with it are reflected in this issue. While I love the idea of a Ghostbusters comic book, Rob Williams writes Venkman as the consistent comic relief. It gets tiresome. Ray, Egon and Winston do little here to contribue to the story. While I got a chuckle out of some of the references penned in this issue, I feel that the strengths of the other characters is dropped in place of a few (not well done) cheap laughs. I do hope, however, that IDW continues to publish a Ghostbusters comic book because while I would love to see a Ghostbusters 3, I feel the comics can capture the best elements of the movies and condense them into interesting, one, two, or three part stories.

IMAGE:

6. The Walking Dead #68:

Robert Kirkman is a great writer, and The Walking Dead is a great series. I remember being bored with The Walking dead in the early 40's issues. But when I hit issue 48 through 52, and was able to see all that Kirkman had built up? I was floored. This is a similar issue. I will always recommend the Walking Dead, and if you haven't read an issue, I recommend collecting the trades and joining in. This is the beginning of something big. It has the same feel as the "Governor" arc (which, if you've read TWD, you know what I'm referencing; if you haven't, you're missing out). This issue has the same feel -- we're building to something. The newest character, Aaron, is creepy as hell. He's a little TOO perfect, and if you're a fan of TWD world, you know that anything that's too good to be true usually is. Pick this up and enjoy the hell out of it.

(If you like The Walking Dead be sure to check out the "Fear The Hunters" review/essay by Pete Lenz! Natch! -Terrif Tim!)

P.S. Some big comic book news came out this week as well: We heard that the Vulture may be the villain for Spider-Man 4, Bruce Wayne--much like Captain America--is lost in time and DC will explore his travels through history in a brand new series entitled "The Return of Bruce Wayne."

DC has also announced a new series called "Earth One" that will retell the origins of it's major characters 75 years after their creation. J. Michael Straczynski and Geoff Johns will pen the tales of Superman and Batman (respectively) and Shane Davis and Gary Frank (respectively) will illustrate. While I'm not familiar with Shane Davis' art, I know Gary Franks' art very well (he's one of my fav's) and you can Google his art for Bruce Wayne's Batman costume. Check it out. It's worth the price of admission.