wednesdayINreview: Youth, adult, and the dark

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.

Chad Bonin

Darkstalkers Tribute:
UDON has continued to work their beautiful magic and respect to the Capcom franchises with another Tribute book; this time, The Night Warriors get fans from around the world to art them up in style. Everyone from J. Axer to modelers get to show off their love of, well, primarily Morrigan, but all the Darkstalkers get their due.

Ian Perez

Tiny Titans #21:
One of the many memorable things about the late great sitcom Arrested Development was the way it’s jokes would develop and evolve over several episodes. The same quality can be seen here, in an issue dedicated to the Titans’ Pet Club, a concept which was introduced forever ago and has become one of the books many recurring gags. This time, every Titan and their uncle has a pet: Cyborg has pet robots, Starfire has Silkie (a cute little silkworm larva taken from the Teen Titans cartoon), Terra has a pet rock…you get the drill. It’s as adorable as you’d expect, and a great respite from all the regular DCU angst.

Sonic Universe #9:
With this new arc, the book returns to the present day, this time focusing on Knuckles and his search for Finitevus, the genocidal echidna responsible for his father’s death a couple of years back. After an uneven previous arc, the change is much appreciated.

One of Ian Flynn’s many strengths as a writer is his very pragmatic use of continuity. He acknowledges how it has shaped the characters, and uses it enough so that older fans can go “I my gosh, I remember that!” at seeing a reference to an old moment, without making fan service the point. In this issue, for example, we get an appearance by Harry, a Dingo cabdriver last seen somewhere around issue 140 of the main series more than four years ago. In three pages, we get his history, and we manage to catch up what he’s been up to since then. However, it’s integrated seamlessly into the story, making perfect sense, and enriching the story by helping develop one of the story’s stars. And that’s just one example.

However, it’s all not just continuity erotica; that aside, the fact is that this is just a darn good book. There’s some very nice character interactions, humor, and some nice bits of action. All in all, a good start for the story, and a great return to the spotlight for Knuckles.

Seth Talley

Chew #5:
The first story arc on Chew comes to its conclusion and all I can think about is “why do I have to wait one more month to get more of Chew.” In this issue, they finally reveal to you who killed the senator and it is completely out of left field. However, it makes the reader realize that in this series, like has been implied before, that there is more than what is seen going on around here. The climax of the issue leaves on to think of the repercussions that will surely echo throughout the title. Tony’s world is rocked and we get a cameo from his brother (the ill fated TV host), but it is awfully short lived.

Cowboy Ninja Viking #1:
The book that could. Much like Chew came out of left field to critics praise so has the wonderfully titled Cowboy Ninja Viking. Before the first issue even hit store shelves, it was upgraded from a four issue mini series to a full fledged ongoing series. The story plays out like many stories in recent memory with a bit of the ending at the beginning. A little background on the main character Duncan, he is completely insane i.e. he thinks that he is a cowboy, a ninja, and a viking. Each one possessing its own individual personality and voice in Duncan’s head. The art in the book is fantastic the way that when one personality is dominate that is how the character of Duncan is portrayed. We see a little of how he was trained and what it is he exactly does. We also see the potential villain of the series.

Invincible #67:
Part two of the story arc with not a single panel with Invincible actually in it. We see more of Nolan and Allen the Alien going out into the wild black yonder to retrieve certain species and weapons to defeat the dreaded Viltrumite Empire. The issue also has a humorous take on Nolan crashing at Allen’s home. We see more of Nolan talking with the head of the Coalition of Planets revealing their ultimate weapon the plague that devastated the Viltrumite Empire has been refined so that no Viltrumite can survive not even the chairman, Nolan, or Mark, the ultimate doomsday weapon in the Invincible universe.

Justice League of America #38:
James D. Robinson’s first issue in Justice League proper starts off a little slow with a death of a minor C or maybe even D list character. We are then shown where the current members of the Justice League (Vixen, Plastic Man, Doctor Light 2, and Red Tornado) and they all are talking about the beat down they received via Prometheus in Justice League- Cry for Justice. They are all complaining about how no one is showing up when someone finally comes letting them known of the eminent destruction of the DC universe (Blackest Night), when suddenly they are attacked by Despero. They easily defeat him, and we are shown hopes of the League to come.

Power Girl #6:
Jimmy Palmiotti has just finished his second arc on this book. Palmiotti has brought back more of what makes Power Girl great; not that she is just a major power house, but she also has a heart, cares about her friends, and is really hilarious. We are treated to Amanda Palmer’s amazing artwork throughout this issue and the previous five. We see Power Girl track down the three party girls from the previous two issues, while trying to balance here new company, moving into her new apartment, and having the trouble of someone finding out her secret identity.