Fear Itself #7 of 7As I've mentioned before, this Marvel crossover event just hasn't held the weight that previous stories have carried. It should be a big deal that Odin's big brother has come back to take what's his with the Earth being their boxing ring, but it somehow rings hollow to me.
In this issue: The Serpent and his forces converge on Asgard in Oklahoma (if you don't know about this by now it's your own darn fault) as Captain America attempts to hold them back long enough for help to arrive. Help does arrive in the form of Thor and Iron Man, the latter bringing with him Asgardian-made weapons to amp-up the Avengers. There are a bunch of cool fight scenes, the main one being between The Serpent, who becomes a dragon, and Thor. Thor was destined to fall in battle with his evil uncle and sure enough, that's what happens. Thor seems to slice and dice the Serpent for most of the fight and at the end they both fall and Thor crawls to his friends with his last strength only to collapse having sacrificed himself for mankind. WHAT?!? Thor's DEAD? Because of THIS story?!? Bah. That's just dumb.
My take: This story was just a bunch of cool fight scenes tacked on top of a meh-level story and they end it with Thor dying even though he never seemed to take any mortal wounds in the fight. Why is he dead? It's all so vague! I wanted to like this series. I LOVED the art. I liked some of the imagery and there were some cool moments. Overall feeling about it...LAME. There's no way Thor's really dead because of this joke of a story. I don't believe it.
- Great art. Meh story.
Justice League #2 Here's another disappointment. In the "New 52" relaunch the Justice League is DC's flagship title, starring all of their biggest characters. The 2 biggest names in DC (Geoff Johns & Jim Lee) and working together so what could go wrong? How about taking all of your most iconic characters and taking away all the aspects of their personality that made them likable? That might do it.
In this issue: In the first story Green Lantern and Batman teamed up for the first time and went looking for Superman. They found him and, of course, they all started trying to punch each other. Here that fight continues until the obvious misunderstandings are finally explained. The Flash is brought in to this story via Green Lantern calling for backup. They all bicker at each other and each character gets to be a bit of a d-bag in their own way. In the end the artifact that Batman and GL took from their attacker in issue 1 starts beeping and a bunch of Parademons from Apokolips jump out. The same thing happens at S.T.A.R. labs and the hero who will be Cyborg gets half his body burned up by the event. At the end it is promised that Wonder Woman will be joining the book in issue 3.
My take: I pretty much said it all in the intro. This story and it's characters have no heart. The art looks great. Some of the subtle changes to the characters are very nicely done, such as Superman clearly not having an alter ego yet. I just feel like they traded in decades of wonder character building for a bunch of shallow, crabby losers. I'll keep reading for a while to see how the team comes together and to see if they can get their heads out of their...well, you know.
- Great art. Meh story.
Superior #6 of...6? This issue was supposed to be the last of the story. Every promotion I've seen for this comic has said it was a 6-issue mini series. Now that we get the 6th issue, it ends without a conclusion and the last page shows the cover of the next issue, which looks to be the final fight we all thought we were getting in this issue. Weird.
Quick synopsis: Superior is the story of a middle-school aged boy named Simon with Multiple Sclerosis. One night a space monkey comes to visit him and tells him he will give Simon unlimited power for 7 days. Suddenly, Simon has become Superior, a Superman-type character straight out of Simon's comic books. Simon takes a few days learning his new powers then flies into action right all of the world's wrongs in the span of a week. For a detailed retelling of these events, see my reviews for issues 4 and 5. In the last issue the monkey comes back and tells Simon that his 7 days are up, and he becomes a crippled boy once more. The monkey goes on to tell Simon that unless he ever wants to feel the power of Superior again he must sign over his soul! Yup, the monkey is a demon from Hell! It was all an elaborate ploy to win over a little boy's soul!
In this issue: This whole issue revolves around Simon grappling with his decision. He's on the verge of making the deal, but the Lois Lane-type reporter that has been trying to get Superior's story talk him out of it. In a surprisingly touching turn, the seemingly selfish reporter tells Simon how she used to have Leukemia and had to live in a recovery center for a few years as a child. She takes Simon to that same center to meet with the kids currently living there and helps him to see that he really is blessed to have what health he does have and to have a family that loves him. In the end, she drops him off at his worried parents' house (a scene right out of BIG) and the family is reunited. Unfortunately the space monkey isn't giving up that easily. He comes to the school bully who Simon taught a lesson to once he had Superior's powers, and he offers to make the bully into Superior's arch nemesis, Abraxsis...a killer robot monster! As Simon sits at home watching tv with his parents, Abraxsis comes on the news as he knocks over a skyscraper with an oil tanker. He's calling Simon out and now our little hero has to rethink his options.
My take: This was not the battle royale that I had hoped for when I picked it up, but that battle is still coming and this was a really good setup issue. I appreciate the Millar took to the time to write this issue, giving appropriate weight to the scenario of a character pondering selling their soul. I also appreciate him stretching the book past the planned # of issues to tell the story right...assuming that is why it didn't end with issue 6.
Fun Fact: I just read that there is a Superior movie in the works. Sweet! I'd totally go see that!
5 Stars - Solid story-telling and fantastic artwork from Lenil Yu.
Wonder Woman #2This revamped WW story finds Diana (Wonder Woman) in the midst of god drama. Zeus has been going around sewing his wild oats, and his wife, Hera, has been going around behind him cursing his offspring. Now Wonder Woman is stuck in the middle trying to protect the human woman.
In the last issue: Hera sent some vicious centaur warriors to kill Zues's latest pregnant conquest. The woman would have been destroyed, but Hermes (the god of speed) shows up and teleports her to Diana's apartment, just as he takes an arrow to the gut. Diana gets the scoop from the woman, then uses the teleportation key to appear back at the woman's farm and proceeds to kick some centaur tail Xena style. After chasing off the attackers, WW gathers the woman and Hermes, and goes for help.
This issue: Diana takes Hermes and the pregnant woman to her Amazon home of Paradise Island. The women there despise men, but Diana protects the injured god from them and gets him the aid he needs. Afterwards we get to see some of WW's home as she watches, and eventually participates, in the Amazon gladiator-style training matches. As she discusses the pregnant woman's situation with her mother, Queen Hippolyta, Hera's daughter Strife appears on the island, causing confusion among the Amazon's and tricking them into attacking each other. Diana sees through the ploy and takes the fight directly to the goddess. The scene ends with Strife saying she just wanted to come talk to her sister...Diana. Whoa! Zeus is Wonder Woman's dad too! Dang, he gets around!
My take: This comic book is SO cool and SO not what we have come to expect from Wonder Woman. For years she has basically been a star-spangled, girl-version of Superman. This book takes her in a totally different direction. This is much more of a fantasy/mythic story than a superhero story. When Diana fights she if vicious and brutal. Like a patriotically-dressed Xena on crack. On top of the fun storytelling, the artwork is super cool and fits this character perfectly. I have never cared much for this character and only picked up this book for the cool artwork. I have a feeling Wonder Woman is going up a few notches in my book with this series.
I had a hard time deciding which was the better book of the week between this and Superior, but I'm going to give a slight edge to WW, just because the whole take on book is so fun.
- Book of the week!
