No Bendis or X-Men this week! Taste it Second Coming!
Dark Wolverine #88: One of the best things to come out of Marvel's Dark Reign event was putting Daniel Way's character, Daken, in the Bendis-written Dark Avengers, and letting Way push a Dark Wolverine book. As the son of Wolverine, the character continues the Snikkiting and invincibility of his Old Man, but has a much more devious and self-centered attitude, as well as pheromone powers. During Dark Reign's "The List" mini-event, Osborn used Daken to kill the Punisher, kicking off the Frankencastle storyline and now it is time for Round 2. In terms of plot, the comic is straightforward. Way and Liu set up a great bit that ties into their current long-form story and giving current DW fans some scenes to enjoy that do an excellent job of introducing Daken in a more personal way for Remender readers. After that, Frank hits the pages and it is pure action. Nothing visually crazy, but a very enjoyable beat-em up with some decent dialogue as the two banter back and forth now that the field is a little more even. I wish there was a bit more plot here, but I honestly wasn't expecting much more than 4 issues of violence from this story. At this point, the potential to surprise is there but I'll continue to enjoy this story the way I enjoy Michael Bay flicks, from a purely popcorn and entertainment perspective. B-
Brightest Day #6: Last week I threatened to drop the book after this week and clearly someone listened to me. Or maybe the quality of the book is just inverted to the amount of pages that the Hawkpeople get. It also helped that the issue primarily spotlighted my two favorite characters, Martian Manhunter and Firestorm. The evidence continues to build for my theory that the revived people are still Black Lanterns and that their quest will be to complete some task to purge them, and apparently we'll find out in two weeks. The book remains gorgeous, as it should with all the talent on it but I, like everyone else, am totally over the amount of pointless murder in this series. Johns and Tomasi need to find some ways of generating cliffhangers that don't rely on violence and maybe start interacting with the wider DC universe. This book has the potential to go great places, but I honestly don't know if it will. What I can definitively say is, I will be dropping this for sure after the next issue as that will be where the first trade ends, unless it absolutely blows me away. B
Heroic Age: Prince of Power #3: This continues to be one of the best books on the stands and with the team on it, how could it not? Man, that is almost verbatim from the quote on the cover, but it is so true. Pak and Van Lente continue to shine, producing a comic that crackles with wit, sparks with action and remains full of plot and forward progress to a story that is closing in on 50 issues. Cho and Thor continue their search for the Book of Thoth, battling their way through Mythology to a semi-predictable end, meanwhile Athena and Cho's Gorgon-girlfriend work to escape from the Olympus Group prison. These stories are so well researched and enjoyable that it almost makes me wonder if College Mythology courses are going to start teaching with them and what kind of progress could be made. My only qualm with this book is how often it taps into pop-culture and current trends, I saw a quote somewhere that said, "As soon as you refer to something real, you've dated your book." and I can't disagree. And yet, how can you not love a comic that refers to Indiana Jones, Terminator 3, and Lolcats in an original and hilarious fashion? The art team continues to kill it on this book as well, the characters look great, the action is crisp and the layouts and storytelling are top notch. This book is a classic case of one that I always find drifting to the middle of my stack, but as soon as I read it I realize it has made a very, very solid case for potential book of the week. A must-read series. A+
Deadpool #25: At long last, another Deadpool anniversary issue. While Way hasn't recaptured the magic of Deadpool vs Bullseye from last year, he continues to write enjoyable, zany adventures for DP to embark on. The stories aren't anything particularly special, but the biggest credit I can give them is that they're fun, fairly witty and do an excellent job of balancing Deadpool's insanity with his skills and plotting of a trained mercenary. This month resolves Wade's pitstop in Las Vegas on his journey to become a hero with the expected results. Carlo Barberi has really surprised me with his pencils, for the longest time I had considered Paco Medina to be my "definitive" Deadpool artist, but I may rescind that if Barberi continues on the book. The biggest surprise was the bonus story, by personal favorite Duane Swierczynski and features art from Phillip Bond. The 10 page quickie also features "3-D glasses" that help you simulate DP's vision in the tale, which just happens to be non-existent. A fun extra where a blind Wade faces off against some villains, the plot is barely present and really just let's these two creators have some fun. Swierczynski continues to be my favorite Deadpool writer, having produced a great story in Deadpool #900 last fall, a mini called Wade Wilson's War that is on-going at the moment, and a fabulous Origin story that came out last week. The way he handles Wilson's inner dialogue continues to improve with each issue and his imagination for crazy situations is a perfect fit. If Way ever gives up the book, I really hope they'll consider bringing him in. Until then, I'll take it where I can get it. As I told Mr. Bond earlier in the day, him and Duane plus + "3-D glasses" = A+
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