Wild Storm, New Comics

New comics!

Rorschach 3

Again, a solid one-issue story that doesn’t do much to explain the overall course of the series.  

Taskmaster 2

Not as funny as the first issue, it’s mostly a protracted fight between Taskmaster and Hyperion.  Eh.

Solid Blood 17

My LCS threw this in for free.  It’s a gag issue from Robert Kirkman, playing as if Walking Dead never hit it big, and this is what he did next.  It’s a high concept that failed to amuse me, but apparently its rareness makes it worth something for now, so it won’t get thrown into the cut bin for now.

Doctor Doom 1-5

I’ve been hearing a lot about writer Christopher Cantwell and this title, so I thought I’d give the first trade a try.  It starts off strong, where Doom has just the right mix of arrogance, intelligence, snark, and power.  But I don’t like Doom on the run, the role of the underdog doesn’t suit him.  I’ve already ordered the second trade, so I’m committed for at least another five issues.

Heh, the meta 2099 dig.

Wild Storm 13-24

Man, am I glad that I followed through with this series after the re-read.  It gets better and better as it progresses, building up at a rapid pace into a breathtaking final issue.  It definitely reads best in one sitting, instead of spread out over two years.  

Ellis manages to mix in so many callbacks to the original Wildstorm universe, many of which went completely over my head for far too long.  (I can’t believe it took me until the very last issue to realize that Jackie King was Battalion.  Ingrained sexism?)  I would have loved to see what Ellis was going to do with Gen13, the Authority, WildCATS, and all the rest, but it looks like that’s never going to happen.  (The spinoff that did get published, Michael Cray, wasn’t all that.)

Great setup for the page turn reveal...

Stunning work by Jon Davis-Hunt and Steve Buccellato

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good

Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, Wild Storm

Wild Storm 4-12

I liked the first three issues well enough on the re-read to pick up the first two trades used.  The first two trades are good enough that I’ve purchased the next (and last) two.  This is basically the Ultimate version of the original Wildstorm universe; Everyone is just far enough from their original incarnations to be uncanny and fun to figure out.  Pretty art by Jon Davis-Hunt:

Nice body language here.

Sublime colors by Steve Buccalleto

Stunning.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Uncanny X-Men 308-311

The last John Romita Jr issues on Uncanny.  These are flat out good, mostly eschewing action to focus on the interpersonal relationships within the team.  Scott Lobdell does a wonderful job of making the characters feel like family with a long, storied history.  (And he throws in a great fight between Bishop and Sabretooth in 311.)  Lobdell is underrated at writing humor, by the way.  Tons of moments in these issues made me smile:

Bishop's brand of fish out of water works for me.

He's right about the football...

I've added "It's the same answer" to my own lexicon.

Heh, Jubilee.

This feels real.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

X-Men 30

Scott and Jean get married.  For some reasons, this issue plus Uncanny 308 and 310 were missing from my collection, and I’m positive I owned them at some point.  I tracked down the back issues last week because I remembered them as good enough to merit rebuying.  I wasn’t wrong.  This isn’t as good as the Uncanny issues, but it’s still a milestone that I enjoy reading.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

X-Men 31-35

On re-read, this is where I’m starting to realize that writer Fabian Nicieza isn’t that good.  X-Men just isn’t as fun to read as Uncanny, and it’s not close.  Nicieza tries to imitate Claremont with his catchphrases and florid prose, but his stories fail to stand out in any way.  (The Psylocke/Revanche disaster continues to bore and confuse.  At least he cleans it up.)

Psychic knife 11

Early Andy Kubert art doesn’t help - it looks muddy and messy, and that feeling doesn’t help Nicieza’s scripts.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Doesn’t suck

Uncanny X-Men 312-314

Woots, Joe Madureira shows up to start his epic run (with a ton of fill-in help; this guy was never the fastest of pencillers…).  Plus, Emma Frost possesses Iceman’s body for an issue, starting the process of a major level up for his powers.  Pretty cool. 

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Uncanny X-Men 315 

Horrible fill in issue that tries to justify Colossus ditching the X-Men for Magneto.  A trainwreck with depressing Jim Lee-clone art by Roger Cruz.  Only keeping to maintain the run.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Boring

Uncanny X-Men 316-317

X-Men 36-37

The Phalanx Covenant crossover, setting up the launch of Generation X.  The Phalanx are a blatantly obvious rip off of the Borg from Star Trek, and completely uninteresting as villains.  This arc is notable for the introductions of Skin, Monet, Synch, and best of all, Blink.  She dies in this story, but will come back better than ever (this version was a sad sack anyway) when Age of Apocalypse comes around in a few issues.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good.  (Fine for X-Men, the difference between Joe Mad and Kubert’s art is that stark.)

Wolverine 85

Cable 16

The Phalanx Covenant issues that actually detail their defeat.  While the bad guys are fairly generic, Larry Hama writes a great adventure for Wolverine, Cable, Cyclops, and Jean Grey.  Their teamwork, interpersonal conflicts, and methods of overcoming obstacles is really fun to read.  The art by Adam Kubert and Steve Skroce is great as well.  Super fun.

Yes, that's really a shoulder mounted gun.

That swivels up when not in use.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Uncanny X-Men 318-321

X-Men 38-41

Cable 20

Legion Quest and the issues leading up to it.  Adam X shows up again, and I still wish the original plans to make him the third Summers brother came through.  Something about his 90’s-ness reminds me of Gambit; I just think he’s really cool.  I may have to get his original appearance in X-Force Annual 2, I no longer have it in my collection.  

Legion Quest is a fine setup to Age of Apocalypse.  Surprisingly, it’s Cable that does the best job of selling the finality of it all, that the universe for these X-Men is really ending.  I don’t think, even as a high schooler, that I ever thought this was a permanent thing, but the writers did a good job of making me second guess myself.

A sweet moment as Jubilee leaves to join Gen X.

Psychic knife 12.

Another cool Storm costume.

I'd forgotten...

...about the "time travel to rape your mother before you were conceived" part.

Nice illustration of despondency.

Finally.

A sentimental but nice bit of writing by Jeph Loeb these last three pages.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice.  (Pretty good for Cable)

Age of Apocalypse: The Chosen 1

One of those Who’s Who comics, for AoA.  It’s fine for what it’s trying to be.  Some nice pinup art by Ian Churchill, Tim Sale, and some others.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

WildCATs, Wildstorm Rising, Wild Storm, Wonderlost

WildCATs 1

A title restart by Grant Morrison and Jim Lee.  It hits all the right beats, with the original team scattered across the universe and slowly getting back together.  But there’s no clear mandate for the group, only a disparate set of stories. It doesn’t help that it’s part of a Wildstorm-wide crossover, something called Worldstorm that I never read more of.  (At least, I’m assuming it’s a crossover. Maybe it’s just the name of the first arc. I never read more of this series, either. Oh, hah. I just looked it up, a second issue never came out...)

Keeping it for the Jim Lee art, even though there’s nothing really stand out about it.

Any reason for the psychedelic colors aside from the sex?

Callback to the Emp trash scene in WildCATs 1?

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Fine

Wildstorm Rising 1-2, WildCATs 20, Union 4, Gen13 2, Grifter 1, Deathblow 16, Wetworks 8, Backlash 8, Stormwatch 22

Ah, the massive company-wide crossover.  A ten-issue extravaganza spanning eight regular titles.  It sounds epic enough, but at the end of the day, it’s nothing more than a “gather all the pieces that power the MacGuffin” story.  Of course it has to do with an item that Team 7 encountered in the past, which conveniently allows the plot to weave its way through Gen13, Grifter, Deathblow, Wetworks, and Backlash.  

It’s clear that Gen 13 was only marginally involved with the planning of the story, as it’s a) the only issue not written by James Robinson, Ron Marz, or Steven Seagle (who each wrote three issues of the crossover) and b) only tangentially related to the main story.  It isn’t necessary for the crossover and it doesn’t interrupt the flow of Gen 13.  It’s also the most fun, a breezy romp that doesn’t take on the grim, serious mein of the rest of the event.  It’s also, importantly, the issue where Sarah Rainmaker comes out as a lesbian. Pretty enlightened for the mid-90s, though Roxy’s reaction is anything but.

I can’t tell if the decision to make Sarah gay was a thoughtful attempt at inclusion or a blatant attempt to attract horny male teenagers.  (It is a comic driven almost entirely by J Scott Campbell’s ability to draw hot women, after all.)  

Some other thoughts about the crossover:

Grifter 1 - It sucks to have your first issue come smack in the middle of the crossover.  There’s no way for it to effectively communicate what it’s all about. I suppose it succeeded in getting my money, but there was zero chance that I was going to come back for the next one.  

Deathblow 16 - This has got a line that makes the list of awesomeness.  After his comrades have fallen into a camouflaged spike hole, a surviving henchmen marvels, “How can that be?  No one arbitrarily surrounds his home with spear-filled pits.” Let us all join him in his thoughtful bewilderment.  

Stormwatch 22 - Renato Arlem is not the caliber of penciller that Stormwatch deserves.  

So many problems with posing and anatomy.

Of course, as good as he was at Marvel, Barry Windsor-Smith’s style doesn’t fit with the Wildstorm style either.  His thick line weights and blurry colors feel sloppy when viewed amidst the other artists’ issues.

Smith has some unpleasant anatomy going on too.

I’m not saying Brett Booth’s a better artist than Smith, just that he better suits the art expectations I have for this crossover:   

This crossover reminded me of the eight piece cover image Whilce Portacio did in 1994.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine (Nice for Gen 13 and WildCATs because of the art)

Wild Storm 1-3

Warren Ellis completely reboots the Wildstorm universe.  He cuts down on the brightly-colored superheroics and amps up the government machinations.  It’s right in his wheelhouse (which isn’t to say that Ellis hasn’t nailed superheroes in the past).  It’s also very clinical and dispassionate, which is probably why I stopped buying it after three issues.  

But it reads a lot better in one go, instead of monthly installments.  I’m interested in reading the rest at some point, and can see myself being convinced to buy it.  (I want to be convinced, because I want to like Ellis.)

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Wonderlost 1-2

CB Cebulski writes vignettes about his high school and college years.  They’re all centered around girls, sex, alcohol, and drugs. That sounds far more shallow than it really is.  While a number of the stories do indeed reflect the stupidity and unthinkingly insensitive behavior that is the male teenage mind, just as many accurately reflect the magic of teenage love and the pure wonder of a perfect shared moment with someone you care about.  

The art is surprisingly consistent in its high quality.  I particularly liked Alina Urusov’s art. What else has she done?  Not very much, from what I can tell. That’s a total shame,

This never happened to me in college.

I'd love to see more of this art.

This reminds me of Copybook Tales with more sex and booze.  Both are welcome additions to my bookshelf.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good