World War Hulk: Frontline

Reading #4 (of 6). This is probably a series with which I could have done without, but now I'm in it for the completist factor.

I do like the John Watson cover art, though.

World War Hulk

World War Hulk #4 continues the solid, up/down ride of the series, and is, frankly, a better part of the series than the mainline Incredible Hulk book.

Greg Pak is writing some top-notch scenes, and John Romita, Jr. and Klaus Janson's art is pretty. Gritty pretty, but pretty.

And we get some more "sideline Sentry" moments (and a little more info as to why he's sidelining), and the last two-page spread is one of the better "to-be-continued" spreads I've seen in a while.

Marvel Comics Presents

Marvel just relaunched their Marvel Comics Presents series, and issue #1 has a potpourri of three too-short prologues, the first installment of a Hellcat (Patsy Walker) story by Kathryn Immonen (and art by Stuart Immonen), the first of a 12-part Weapon Omega story by Rich Koslowski (art by Andrea Di Vito), and Spider-Man (Stuart Moore / Clayton Henry) and Thing (Nelson / Dave Sharpe) one-shots.

It's a bit a slow re-start for the series, but I'll probably hang out to see if it picks up.

The prologues are, again, too short, with only prologue #2 piquing my interest (thanks to the last panel).

I like the Hellcat story -- I think Kathryn Immonen's feminine writer sensibilities come through in a cool way, and the Stuart Immonen art is sharp and poppy.

"Weapon Omega"? Mheh. I mean, the Omega Flight limited series just didn't get anything done, and this series doesn't seem to be doing any more on that front. And I really don't like U.S. Agent (the Guy Gardner of the Marvel U he's not, no matter how hard they try).

The Spider-Man story is fun, if a bit throw-away, and Henry's work is really slick, and the Sotocolors ... colors ... are well-done. Moore's dialogue is spot-on, too, and the whole story is playful enough.

The Thing story is well laid out, wtih good use of panels, framing, and flashback devices, with a good sentimental vibe. I think it would have been better served as an additional story in a Fantastic Four annual, though.

So, the series gets another couple of issues to grab me.

Captain America

I just finished Captain America #30, and Ed Brubaker continues to amaze. the book's become a serial pulp noir spy thriller with multiple layers without the titular character.

And Steve Etping's layouts, perspectives, and background detail keep getting better and better. Check out Dr. Benjamin's study; Stark's monitors; the photo of Captain America, Bucky, Fury, and Dugan. Nice stuff.

Thor

Ah, Thor #3.

What response should you get from a God of Thunder with new clarity of who he is and what that means when he runs into Tony Stark, the guy who fought a war while non-powered people suffered, who violated the brothers-in-arms code, and stole and cloned Thor's DNA?

Word-wise, you should get:

"You defiled my body, desecrated my trust, violated everything I am. Is this
how you define friendship? Is it? IS IT?"

Action-wise, I won't spoil it, but it is exactly the way I think a throwdown between Thor and Iron Man should go down.

J. Michael Stracynski, Olivier Coipel, and Mark Morales?

Thank you.

The New Warriors

I didn't see this title coming, and I certainly didn't expect to be taken in by it.

But I just finished issues three and four of The New Warriors, and the story, art, and vibe continue to be pretty compelling.

Kevin Grevioux keeps the plot and dialog pretty tight (though some of the training banter is a little stilted), and I like the clean art and layout of the panels and perspectives from Paco Medina (and inked by Juan Vlasco).

So I'm now four issues in and comfortably along for the ride.

Moon Knight

I just finished Moon Knight #12.

First, I really like the character. Up there with Beta Ray Bill and Deathlok, Moonie has been one of my favorites.

And I like Charlie Huston as writer, and he did a good job at the beginning of Moon Knight relaunch.

All that good stuff said, I think I'm giving this series one more issue to get past its red-herring covered, months-behind-the-Civil-War, convoluted, disjoint, nonsense, uninteresting presentation before I drop it. I do not like reading issue after issue of a series and getting that same "WTF + I-just-wasted-my-time-again" feeling.

Am I the only one feeling this way?

I dig Charlie and Moonie. I hope they fix stuff. Maybe issue #13, which switches artistic duties to Tom Coker (and theory, writing duties to Mike Benson, but Huston will still still be plotting), will fix stuff. Maybe there's just a disconnect between writer and artist currently. I just hope if they fall back on the whole we - need - an - Initiative - guy - who'll - do - our - dirty - wetworks thing, they make it interesting.

(And I realize maybe it's not Huston -- maybe its the art schedule or editing; all I know is I'm a year and a half and $35 bucks into the presentation of a favorite character that's pissing me off.)

UPDATED: It's not often that an author's response to one of my reviews makes me feel bad -- especially without trying.

Charlie Huston sent me a very professional, stand-up note where he didn't blame anyone, but walked through a bit of the additional factors that go into the whole "red-herring covered, months-behind-the-Civil-War, convoluted, disjoint, nonsense, uninteresting presentation". Honestly, he's just responsible for the last 4. ;-)

The fact is Huston doesn't marry the covers to the content, handle scheduling, or decide onto which books Marvel slaps "Civil War" and "The Initiative" marketing banners. (And, hey, I fell for it, and bought a few books with the banners that weren't related. Note to Marvel: Now I'm not buying anything but the core "World War Hulk" books, because your Civil War marketing bothered me, and had a reverse effect.)

And Huston copped to the "convoluted, disjoint, nonsense, uninteresting presentation" -- probably more than he needed to. He was trying something he knew might or might not work, and ishes 11 and 12 were meant to be read pretty much on the heels of each other. But publishing schedules caused things to lay out differently.

Oh, and the feeling bad part? Aside from Charlie being such a nice, professional, non-blaming (or defensive) guy in his response, his note reminded me that I was beating up on on his series for exactly what I took folks to task for when they unfairly blamed Steve McNiven for the Civil War delay. Hello Pot, meet Kettle.

And while I said in the first version of this post, "And I like Charlie Huston as writer", I didn't point to his well-done Ultimates Annual #2, and his excellent Legion of Monsters Man-Thing story as examples.

So, I wanted to address all of that. Glad I'm not guilt motivated, or this post would have been really maudlin. Or more maudlin. Whatever.

As it is, I'm grateful to have made Chuck's acquaintance (I have no idea whether he hates that nickname), and I now have an idea for a super team consisting of Moon Knight, Deathlok, Man-Thing, and Beta Ray Bill. And probably Dragon Man (let me know if you know where I can find the FF Series 2 toy). And maybe Machine Man. Hey, I kind of already started it.

The Incredible Hulk

I just read The Incredibly Hulk #110, the latest in the World War Hulk mainline.

Greg Pak's a good writer, and Carlo Pagulayan and Jeffrey Huet do good, clean art.

But this whole "Is he? Isn't he? Will he? Won't he?" back-and-forth is a bit tiresome. "He is" and "He will" are much more interesting choices.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 #6. Faith is back! Brian K. Vaugan is now writing! Georges Jeanty and Andy Owens doing art!

Good times ...

Captain America: The Chosen

Just read Captain America: The Chosen #1.

I was on board and enjoying right up until the end. Now I'm hoping they don't Chuck Austen this story.