wednesdayINreview: 11/17/09
Ever since the dawn of four-color heroics, some books each week have risen above all the others. With spoilers now lessened due to 24 hours 1 week, the gaijINside staff have decided to tell you what they liked. It’s time for another wednesdayINreview.
Ian Perez
Tales of the TMNT #64: For the past 2 years or so, Tristan Huw Jones has been attempting to give the Turtles-verse a measure of coherence that it has lacked since Peter Laird stopped writing regularly. To that purpose, he has been establishing a semi-persistent rogues’ gallery and supporting cast, with characters like Hun (brought in from the recently-ended cartoon) and new ones like crime lord King Cobra. While most of his previous issues have treated the turtles mostly as observers in other people’s plots, this one focuses squarely on Michelangelo, as he narrates the circumstances behind a disastrous and very public fight with a man made out of fire.
Of the four turtles, Michelangelo is the one who tends to shift the most based on the writer, with some favoring the relatively sober Mikey established in the early comics, and some portraying him more like his screen incarnations. Jones’ interpretation of the character is firmly in the latter side, complete with “cartoon” panels of the world seen through Mikey’s eyes, which makes good use of Jim Lawson’s particular art style. All in all, while the art could be better, and while I wish the overall story moved at a faster pace instead of just setting stuff up, this is one of the better recent issues of the books.
Azrael #2: Until this issue, I hadn’t quite been sold on the revived Azrael concept. While it’s still not on the list of properties that I needed to see again, the comic, at least, seems to be on its way to becoming a good read. This issue features a twist on the old “you can only save one of two people in peril” trope, which does a good job of showing the differences between this new Azrael and any other pseudo-Batman. Along with clearer art, it’s a good sophomore issue for the fledging series.
Sonic Universe #10: Knuckles’ search for Dr. Finitevus, the echidna mad scientist responsible for his father’s death, comes to a head, as the good doctor makes his appearance. All in all, this has been a fun arc, shining some much needed focus on a bunch of characters who, due to space considerations, spend most of their time in the backgrounds. It’s got fun moments (Super Ray!); a good, tantalizing mystery; interesting heroes; interesting villains, and great art—what more could one want?
Supergirl #47: While the Superman books have been losing steam recently, this is a nice little issue, focusing on Supergirl’s mother, Alura, as she handles Reactron, the man who killed her husband, who awaits trial in New Krypton. Writer Sterling Gates does a good job here of making Alura sympathetic, as she tries to juggle her conflicting feelings—her sense of justice, her grief, her logic—to come to a solution that she feels satisfied with.
Seth Talley
Adventure Comics #4: Another one of DC’s “Ring Books” one of the higher echelon where retailers had to order 50 copies in order to receive a bag of rings. In this issue Geoff Johns returns to a character that he has changed a lot: Superboy-Prime. Superboy-Prime in this issue currently still on Earth-3 (The Earth most reminiscent of our own, and the old Earth-Prime) reading the comic that is currently in your hands. Within the issue, Johns’ shows off his ability to manage multiple realities within the same universe. The issue has its strong points at the very beginning, when Geoff shows everyone how the world around Superboy-Prime has changed since his return in Final Crisis: Legion of the Three Worlds; how his parents fear him, and how they don’t want anything to do with their own son. The fact that they do not want anything to do with him kills Superboy-Prime on the inside, which is perfectly shown on his face by Jerry Ordway.
Dr. Horrible: This issue is technically a prequel to Joss Whedon’s immensely popular Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog. It takes the reader to the beginning of Dr. Horrible’s life before he had even become evil, showing that he is just a normal kid who likes to be smart and is picked on for it. Zack Whedon is the writer for the comic and conveys every character just the way they were in the movie. The issue mainly deals with Dr. Horrible’s first attempt at defeating his nemesis, Captain Hammer. Because of this being a prequel, Zack show’s us a glimpse of Penny and the longing first start. The reader needs to know nothing more about Dr. Horrible to enjoy this wonderfully written book.
Flash Rebirth #5: Geoff Johns’ writes one of his favorite villains at a pace in which as the book progresses so do Professor Zoom’s speech bubbles. At the end of the last part, Zoom was being confronted by the entire “Flash Corps”, and when we return we see them standing against Zoom. On the other side of the city at this point and time we see the Flash twins, after recently being messed with by Zoom, struggling to stay alive because the Speed Force is ripping them apart. But before they can die, Iris figures out that because her and Jai are twins they are sharing the Speed Force. To try to help, Iris takes all of the Speed Force from Jai and puts it into herself, infusing her with super speed, where she rushes to join the fight. At this point we see where the next few years of Flash stories are going to pan out; with help from Wally’s direction, each Flash thinks of a new costume and the Speed Force makes them, so we see an older Jesse Quick, a new Impulse (Iris West II), and Wally’s new costume. At this point Geoff reveals his hidden gun, that everything bad in Barry’s life has been caused by Zoom including the death of his mother. After this revelation Geoff quickly sends the reader on another, that Zoom wants to kill Iris West before her and Barry ever meet. Taking something from the character that makes them even know they had it. Geoff is constructing a new continuity for all the Flashes just like he did for the Green Lanterns. It is an encumbering task but he seems to be holding himself well.
Invincible #68: After the slight break from Invincible himself the reader is shown Mark still cleaning up the mess left over from Conquest and the Invincible War, when he is attacked by Dinosaurus. A character that beckons back to the nineties much like the entire book, but at a crucial point in the battle Dinosaurus reverts back to a human form. In this form he begs for help, and tells Invincible that the other form makes him kill people and it scares him and he wants out. Invincible looks at the man and thinks about killing him just as the Guardians of the Globe come and take Dinosaurus away. In that one panel, Kirkman shows how much Invincible has changed over the course of these past few issues. In the past, Mark would never think to kill someone, but now he was looking to kill an innocent in order to prevent the greater evil. His character is constantly changing into a more mature hero every issue and becoming more and more like a Viltrumite ruler.
Irredeemable #8: Charybdis revealed last issue that he was the one out of the twins with all the power and never showed anyone his true potential. Charybdis then shows the Plutonian that, just because he is the strongest, doesn’t mean he is the best fighter. In fact, it hurts him in the long run because he never really learned how to fight. Mark Waid’s Irredeemable has taken the Superhero and examined it in a way that few have: what would happen if the strongest hero in the world was insecure to a fault. The reader finds out that the reason The Plutonian has gone on this rampage is the plague that he had accidentally help to spread was traced back to him by some of Earth’s lead scientist. When the scientist found out, they alerted his sidekick Samsara, and it crushed him. So, The Plutonian flies to the scientist to ask them that this one bad thing that he has ever done, outweighs every time he has saved the people of Earth. Waid does a fantastic job at showing the reader how when public opinion changes so rapidly what it can do to the people in power.
These are the books that the gaijINside staff felt noteworthy. While these may not be all the best books out there, and are likely not all they read that week, these are the books we consider worth checking out. Want to let us know what you read? Post in the comments, or as always, use the tag #medi8 to tell us on Twitter.
This article was co-written by Ian Perez and Seth Talley.
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