Bryan’s Comic Book Reviews – Week 2

Welcome back to my weekly column of comic news and reviews. Obviously the big news of the week was the announcement by DC Entertainment of the appointment of Jim Lee as Co-Publisher of DC Comics and Geoff Johns as Chief Creative Officer.

Anyways, on to this week’s reviews:

DC Comics:

• Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #3 (of 3) – Written by Greg Rucka, Art by Nicola Scott – This is the last issue of the tie-in mini-series for Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman is in possession of a violet power ring and has become a Star Sapphire. Greg Rucka wrote a great run on Wonder Woman years ago that I highly recommend. This isn’t as good as that but it still is really good. Again, it’s not a major part of the crossover and is entirely skippable, but if you want a good 3-issue Wonder Woman story, it’s worth it. Rating : 3.5

• Superman: World of New Krypton #12 (of 12) – Written by James Robinson and Greg Rucka, Art by Pete Woods and Ron Randall – This is the final issue of this year long maxi-series detailing the story of Superman living on New Krypton and being a member of General Zod’s army. This series has been pretty good all year; the problem with this is it leads directly into another 2 issue mini and then the huge Superman crossover in April. It guest stars Adam Strange and deals with the mystery of a death on New Krypton. This is a real change of pace from Superman stories of years past. The problem is the Superman sales have dropped harshly, so I think the experiment of removing Superman for a year was a failure for DC. Still, it’s well written at least. Rating: 3.5

• The Question #37 (Blackest Night Tie-In) – Written by Denny O’Neil and Greg Rucka, Art by Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz – This is another one of the one shots of an old title from DC’s past brought back for a one time thing. I LOVE the character of the Question, so this was a big treat for me. The story deals with the return of the original Question coming back as a Black Lantern to confront the new Question (Renee Montoya). It’s a great done-in-one story and a real treat to see the original Question writer Denny O’Neil write him again. Although it has no real baring on the crossover, I highly recommend it for Question fans. Rating: 4.0
  

Dark Horse:

• Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season Eight #32 – Written by Joss Whedon, Art by Georges Jeanty. – This is the official continuation of the TV series and for Buffy fans, a real treat. It’s probably my favorite comic every month. Joss has slowly been pulling out all the stops. Lots of great witty Joss-y dialogue. Season Eight is coming to a close pretty soon with Season Nine to follow shortly thereafter. To anyone who misses the show, I recommend catching up on this with the trades that are out. Rating 5.0

Marvel Comics:

• Siege #2 (0f 4) – Written by Brian Michael Bendis, Art by Olivier Coipel – The second issue of Marvel’s huge game changing crossover. This was UNBELIEVABLE. That is not an exaggeration. There are shocks and deaths and returns in here that are crazy and moments that make you love being a comic fan. Bendis does an amazing job of making this event one to remember. The art by Coipel is great as well. The seeds of this story go all the way back to Avengers: Disassembled and Civil War. Book of the Week without a doubt. Rating: 5.0 (BOOK OF THE WEEK)

• Wolverine: Weapon X #10 – Written by Jason Aaron, Art by C.P. Smith – This is a one issue story dealing with Wolverine’s history of lovers and girlfriends. It’s a fascinating look into a side of Wolverine many writers never use, but nonetheless an important one. The only downside is the art which really hurts the book in my opinion. I was not a fan of it at all. It was dark, murky, and hard to follow. So that brings it down a bit for me. Story-wise it’s a 4…but the art brings it down to a 3. Rating: 3.0

• Ultimate X #1 – Written by Jeph Loeb, Art by Art Adams – This is a somewhat relaunch of Ultimate X-Men as after Ultimatum (the big Ultimate Universe crossover last year) Wolverine was killed. This is the story of Wolverine’s son. It’s an incredible story and is interesting as you have a Wolverine analogue as a teenager just discovering his powers and trying to live up to his dad’s memory. Also, the art by Art Adams is striking and detailed. I can see why this book will be bimonthly just for the art. Anyways, a great start and I’m intrigued to where this will go. Rating: 4.5
  

Sorry for the short column but it was a small week for comic releases. Next week will be a pretty big week, so come back next time for a sizable column.

Again, any feedback is welcome and appreciated.

See you next week!