Age of Heroes #1: The first of Marvel's four issue anthology focusing on a number of character across in the world as the Heroic Age begins. The first thing that caught my attention was the talent on hand: Kurt Busiek, Rick Remender, Chris Samnee, Paul Cornell, Leonard Kirk, Dan Slott and Blog-Favorite Marko Djurdjevic all feature in this issue, putting together four stories featuring J. Jonah Jameson, Doctor Voodoo, Captain Britain and Spider-Man. The second thing that came to mind was how underwhelming this issue is. The biggest story is the most uneventful but also provides an interesting perspective into the conclusion of Dark Reign. JJJ strolls through the city, internally complaining to himself that heroes are really terrorists and failing to see why the common people cannot grip that. While this isn't unusual behavior for JJJ, Busiek handles the dialogue realistically enough that it is easy for the reader to understand why and how people may have turned to Norman Osborn and what lies they are willing to tell themselves in the face of his outing. The real surprise of the story is Marko D on art and how mediocre it looked. I personally thought that Marko absolutely killed on Dark Reign: The List, and it may be the coloring and lack of inking here but his art just looks ugly and undetailed, I found it be to very disappointing. The Doctor Voodoo story could have potentially been something good with some more room, instead Remender is forced to cut down the conflict to illustrate how Jericho Drumm is forced to navigate his real life and the duties of Sorcerer Supreme. A nice little snippet and I'm always glad to see Remender on Voodoo again, but this story doesn't do much to celebrate "The Heroic Age." Dan Slott's Spider-Man feature made for an ok-one and done page comic, but I'm so tired of "x state of mind" riffs. The Captain Britain story is the biggest victim here, the team has been missing in action for almost a year now, and was definitely one of the major draws for picking this issue up. While the two pages of Steve Rogers and the Mi3 cast interacting is fun, it only serves as little more than a painful reminder the book probably isn't coming back any time soon and to remind you to go back and read the run again. At 2.99, Age of Heroes may have been a worthwhile pick up, but at 3.99 I cannot justify picking up another issue. C
Enter the Heroic Age: Where Age of Heroes is about telling stories that aren't worth a full issue, Enter the Heroic Age is the equivalent of watching four or five versions of the bank robbery trailer from The Dark Knight. The big promo issue for the new Heroic Age titles, I must admit it served its purpose well. Each one of these stories was entertaining but tantalizing on its own and may actually inspire me to pick up a few of the titles. The big draw for me was the Kelly Sue Deconnick / Jamie McKelvie Black Widow joint, I love Jamie's art and have two more Deconnick penned issues on my stack so I was very excited to see what they'd come up with and I was not disappointed. Natasha is perfectly characterized, strong, in control and possessing that flexible spy mentality that seems to make James Bond so appealing. I must admit that I was also drawn in by the Hawkeye & Mockingbird story, I'm not a fan of either character, but the pages were entertaining enough that I'll at least pick up the first issue. Overall, I think Marvel learned its lesson from the Dark Reign: New Nation one-shot where they quickly re-printed all the stories in the appropriate #1s so there may be some small appeal in collecting material they may not be available elsewhere. I recommend this if you're on the fence about Atlas, Black Widow, Thunderbolts, Hawkeye & Mockingbird or Avengers Academy, but if you're certain you'll buy them, you can more than likely skip these. B+
Avengers #1: So here it is, everything the Heroic Age is all about, in one consolidated form, today is Avengers day and the new Avengers book is.. alright. Like Siege #4, I don't think there was a way this title was going to live up to the hype, it certainly tries hard, but just doesn't get there. The biggest reason is that the current Marvel status quo needs a lot more world building than it has received so far. Steve Rogers is still referred to in title as "Top Cop," with no real explanation yet as to what kind of institution he is putting together or what his plans for the future are. Instead, he basically re-assembles the New Avengers, swapping Ms. Marvel and Luke Cage for Thor and Iron Man, tells them they're all great guys and the adventure begins. What should have been an introduction to the new world order and a relaxed issue full of character moments, something Bendis is normally excellent at, is instead quickly pushed through to begin the latest Avengers Adventure. The always great art team of JRjr, White and Jansen does what it does and puts together some fantastic panels, some alright panels and some downright ugly panels but in all turns in a great issue. In the end I don't think there are or should have been any surprises with this issue. It is Bendis writing the Avengers as he has been writing the Avengers for years now, some parts of it are great, some parts of it fall flat. It sacrifices some quality for accessibility but that is to be anticipated for a new number one issue. B-
X-Men Legacy #236: Continuing my trend of reviewing each chapter of Second Coming each week, I have to say I'm a bit disappointed. For a story that started off fairly quickly with huge potential, it has quickly degenerated into a formula where one big thing happens each issue and the characters respond to it. Things still appear to be dire for the X-Men, although they don't feel that way. Bastion has degenerated from a calculating mastermind to a standard mustache twirling, "our finest hour," type of villain and much of the threat has left with it. Greg Land again finds the fortitude to at least the art decent while Mike Carey does a suitable job with the script. At eight chapters in however, a lot more needs to be going on than what is. This is a story that has been in the works for a long, long time now, so why does it feel like it is dragging? I wish I had an answer. C+
Brightest Day #2: One thing is for certain, this book will definitely not be the next 52. I almost didn't want to review this book because while I find it entertaining, I have to agree with a large number of people that it is mindlessly so. Each week continues to be a spectacle of murders, revenge, and poorly written characters that seem pasted together by an occasionally solid character moment. All I can really say is that at one point, a hero threatens to transmute a vault door into jello shots and then asks his floating head companion, what flavor he likes. At least Peter Tomasi wrote a nice Manhunter moment compared to the absolutely bizarre Thor moment that Paul Jenkins wrote last week in Fallen Sun. D
Legion of Super-Heroes #1: I almost didn't buy this book because quite frankly, the Legion terrifies me. There are like 9000 of these dudes across multiple iterations and I got about three different nosebleeds trying to read Johns/Perez's Legion of 3 Worlds. I gambled however, and I'm really glad I did. Paul Levitz launches this series with a story that is both incredibly accessible but also appears to be fairly respectful to recent Legion stories. With excellent pace control and the incredibly solid pencils of Yildray Cinar, each character becomes quickly recognizable and memorable. Exposition is carefully planned to be both informative and sound realistic and the plot flows quite fluidly. Levitz's dialogue needs a bit of work, but I'm confident that will return with time. The Legion is definitely one of the most continuity heavy franchises I have ever encountered, if not in comics, but this issue is a fantastic jumping on point and I highly recommend it, potentially my issue of the week. A
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