Comic Reviews Week of 6/3/09

Oh Lord, please have mercy on my Xbox 360, which may or may not be on its last legs.

As an offering, I humbly present this week's poorly-written reviews.



Black Panther (v5) #5
Written By Reginald "Bringer of Sorrow" Hudlin
Art By Ken Lashley

Okay, so at the end of this issue, after five issues of waiting, the new Black Panther finally appears in costume. Awesome. Also, it's exactly who you'd expect.

Next issue promises a showdown between not only the Black Pantherette and Morlun (who has become basically the Superboy-Prime of the Marvel universe), but also between Storm and Death. Seeing as Storm is one of the most prominent X-Men, the chances of her actually dying in a non X-book are approximately -10%.



Captain Britain & MI-13 Annual #1 (And Only)
Written By Paul Cornell
Art By Matt Collins & Adrian Alphonia

I can only assume that this annual was written before this title was cancelled, and then Marvel decided that it might as well release it anyway, because most of the time you don't produce special issues of doomed comics.

That said, it's a fine comic that makes me wish it weren't cancelled. But let's be honest, when your headliner is Captain Britain, you're living on borrowed time unless you have a high-profile creative team, and Paul Cornell, talented though he is, is not that. At least in America, I seem to recall he's probably more well-known in Britain.

Oddly enough, both the main story and the back-up are essentially callbacks to Chris Claremont's run on X-Books during the '80s. Which is great if you care about characters like Meggan, and fondly remember Claremont's obssession with the X-Men playing baseball. Now I am not one of those people, but I still found the issue perfectly enjoyable.


Batman and Robin #1
Written By Grant Morrison
Art By Frank Quitely

You know what, I whole-heartedly endorse what Morrison's doing. For too long the Batman books have been mired in the overly grim version of Batman made popular by Frank Miller. Oh, there have been attempts to fix the problem, most notably a reasonably concerted effort made right after Infinite Crisis, but this is probably the best approach; making a clean break with the past.

Now I know that Bruce Wayne will be back in some crossover or another in the not-too-distant future, but at the moment, Morrison is offering a fresh take on the character in the most profound way in the last forty years. It might not work, but it beats just doing the same stories over and over again.

Plus, you can't go wrong with Quitely's art. All in all, it's a good idea that's also well-executed. Hopefully it won't become a historical sidenote...but in all honesty, it's apt to become the Knightfall of this decade, although this book is way better.



Ultimatum #4 (of 5)
Written By Jeph Loeb
Art By David Finch

Well, if you've ever wanted to see Dr. Strange's head explode, you are going to love this comic. Otherwise you will almost certainly feel a sense of loss and a deep depression that persists for days. This has been a disturbingly violent miniseries. I mean, in one sequence, Angel's wing gets bitten off by Sabretooth, who is then shot in eye by Hawkeye, and right after that, Magneto's arm gets cut off by a sword. Now I don't usually mind graphic violence, but even I think that is a bit much.

I can understand why Marvel would want to clean house, but I'm not sure that butchering as many characters as possible in as short a time as possible is wise. Actually, it seems like a rather desperate manuever. Of course, they're also constrained by the fact that the Ultimate Universe is apparently going to continue after the end of this mini-series, meaning that they really can't afford to kill important characters, leading to one of the most extensive cullings of second-tier characters in recent history.

Whoever thought that Jeph Loeb's writing was going to save the Ultimate Universe has made a rather regrettable mistake.

Okay, that'll do for today.