DONE-IN-ONE REVIEWS: FEBRUARY 14, 2009

[Blake Petit]

I got the stuff right here, man. I got yer Done-In-One reviews. I got short, concise reviews about a bunch of comics that our regular review staff didn’t cover this week. And I got ‘em all in one place.

What you got?

Aspen Showcase: Ember #1 (Aspen Comics)
By David Schwartz & Randy Green

Spinning out of the recently-completed Shrugged series, this one-shot delves into the backstory of Ember, a woman of the otherworldly land of Perspecta whose half-Elysian, half-Nefarian heritage nearly derails her political ambitions. When she decides to create an enemy to frighten the people of Perspecta back onto her side, she finds out exactly what she's really capable of. The political allegories here are none-too-subtle, and are in fact so heavy handed that they take away from the enjoyment of the issue a bit. On the plus side, it is a pretty big story for Aspen to tackle, and they handle it in an intelligent fashion. The artwork, by Randy Green, is really good. The demons of the Nefarians look pretty good and balance well against the perfect little Elysians. It's nice to know that Aspen hasn't simply forgotten the Shrugged universe. I just hope there are more tales in that world planned for the future.
Rating: 3.5/5 --Blake M. Petit

Hexed #2 (Boom! Studios)
By Michael Alan Nelson, Emma Rios & Cris Peter

Lucifer gets the artifact for the Dietrich, the Carasinth, which we learn in the opening pages basically makes people's heads explode in a bloody mess. (Sign me up for that!) She manages to swim out of the dead body in one piece (yes, you read that right), but gets threatened by the demon she has just eluded. Not that she cares much – you'd think her long standing debt to the Harlot trumps everything else. She explains why she did it to her benefactor, who explains to her why it was a dumb thing to do, which is now a moot point. Lucifer still wants to discover why Dietrich wants it in the first place. (It blows up heads! I'd want it too.) So she lets him come to her to reclaim it, and after a thug gets his nose bitten off (again, seriously – this is a pretty hardcore book), he makes another demand of her: he wants to see the Harlot. Now. Ooh, can you say bad move? In the history of bad moves, this seems like one of the poorest. If you haven't guessed, there's a lot of violence in this issue, and it may be a bit much for some, but Rios's liquid style takes some of the hard edges off. Still, random teeth in a fountain of blood? I'm sorry, but that was awesomely grotesque. This may be the first splatterpunk horror comic I've read (with ties to the Cthulhu universe, which makes sense if you think about it), but it isn't violence for violence's sake, or strangeness just to be strange. There's a point to all of it, and I must admit, this issue impressed me even more than the first issue. New readers may be hard pressed to figure out what the hell is going on, but this is a must for horror fans.
Rating: 4/5 --Andrea Speed

Hotwire #1 (Radical Publishing)
By Warren Ellis & Steve Pugh

This is an interesting mix of supernatural horror and mystery, as we're introduced to Hotwire, a futuristic female cop who is actually a department exorcist. You see, this world is overrun by ghosts, called “blue lights”, and she's one of the few tasked to handle them. The problem is, they're getting stronger – weirdly so. Something strange is going on, and it's down to her to figure it out. Mainly because her fellow cops think she's the whistleblower who got a couple of cops suspended for a bit of crowd control gone wrong. She wasn't, but she's so anal retentive when it comes to following the rules that she keeps silent (see, they're not supposed to ask such a thing). There are a lot of tropes Ellis has dealt with before – a cop who's good but still runs into a variety of crap; cyberpunk touches; supernatural horror; dystopia – so there is a sense of familiarity, but it's still a compelling read, and the art by Pugh is gorgeous (even if I think Hotwire's figure is a little strange – her stomach/waist is so thin, she's almost an hourglass), photo-realistic but still with a digital painted look that isn't stiff. A solid read, and a good one for someone who wants a little futurism mixed in with their horror.
Rating: 4/5 --Andrea Speed

Masquerade #1 (Dynamite Entertainment)
By Alex Ross, Phil Hestor and Carlos Paul & Debora Carita.
Masquerade is hard boiled hero of the Golden Age. She packs twin forty-fives and makes up for her lack of super-powers by having a quick mind, a sharp tongue and plenty of moxie. In this issue she's fighting Nazis that are bit miffed that they lost the War and want to use a huge mechanical monstrosity to wreak a bit of havoc on the good Ol' US of A. Does she have what it takes to save the day? This issue marks my introduction to the character, but from what I've read so far this is pretty much up my alley. The tone is pure old-school, from the heroes to the villains and everything else in between. As for Masquerade herself, well, I'd be remiss if I didn't say she embodied everything I admire in lady heroes, just check out the cover. The art is clear, but it has a gritty edge to it, as well. I still don't know much about the character (though I did Wiki her just to get an overview) and the world she lives in, but this issue has certainly made me interested and of course having Alex Ross part of the creative process doesn't hurt either.
Rating: 3/5 --Terry Verticchio

The Phantom: Ghost Who Walks #0 (Moonstone Books)
By Mike Bullock & Silvestre Szilagyi

The reboot of The Phantom begins with this $1.99 zero issue. The creative team hasn't changed a bit from the previous series, so starting over seems a bit spurious, but as long as the title stays around I'll be fine. At least they gave the series a subtitle. Anyway, the zero issue is an origin story, telling the tale of how the first Phantom came to be and how he started to pass the legacy of the Ghost Who Walks down through centuries of his sons and their sons. If you've never been exposed to the character before, it's a decent enough introduction, but for long-term fans, it's all recap. Of a little more interest are the profile pages in the back of the book. We get some "Official Handbook"-style entries for the Phantom, Diana, some old friends, and some new characters we haven't been introduced to yet. It's a nice little glimpse of things to come. If you're curious as to what The Phantom is all about, this issue is worth picking up.
Rating: 3.5/5 --Blake M. Petit

Remnant #2 (Boom! Studios)
By Stephen Baldwin, Andrew Cosby, Caleb Monroe, Julian Totino Tedesco, & Andres Lozano

Well, I wasn't overly impressed with the first issue of this series, and that underwhelming sensation follows me here. One thing that stood out for me this time – some really awkward dialog. Who has ever insulted anyone by calling them a “frigging pencil”? That's up there with TBS's bizarre bad language overdub of “cheese 'n' crackers”. No one has ever said something like that in a serious manner, at least not on this planet. If it was meant to be humorous, that would be okay, but it's not. And that's just the best example of some really awkward phrasing; some of this dialog just doesn't scan. Then we have a young computer genius introduced this issue, who eats junk food and loves Star Wars and wears glasses, and there's this mysterious conspiracy that just may have supernatural overtones ...*sigh* The art is okay, not very memorable, serviceable but not special. This is an experiment that seems to have failed.
Rating: 2/5 --Andrea Speed

The Spirit #26 (DC Comics)
By Michael Uslan, F.J. DeSanto, Justiniano & Brian Bolland

A few months ago, I'm sure it made perfect sense to commission a couple of issues of The Spirit written by the movie producers and focusing on some of the characters who appear in the film. Of course, this was before the film actually came out and turned out to be a travesty that no one who loves The Spirit wants to be reminded of. Still, that didn't mean we couldn't get good stories with characters that just happened to be in the movie, right? Apparently it does. This issue relates the origin of Silken Floss, and it's presented in such a goofy fashion that it doesn't even seem to belong in the same universe as the sublime Darwyn Cooke issues of this title -- or even the really solid Sergio Aragones/Mark Evanier run. The jokes fall totally flat with the ring of a writer trying entirely too hard. Justiniano's artwork, while competent, doesn't feel like it fits the universe of the character either. The only thing that saves this book for a one-point rating is an awesome cover by Brian Bolland. Because even the worst comic can get at least one point with a cover by Bolland. The guy's fantastic.
Rating: 2/5 --Blake M. Petit

The Walking Dead #58 (Image Comics)
By Robert Kirkman & Charlie Adlard

After the nearly-Earth shattering events of last issue, Rick sits down with his escort to compare stories. We've seen a lot of terrible things over the past 57 issues, but somehow it's a lot more powerful to see them all laid out at once the way we do here. The reader is just left sitting there nodding as we remember each terrible thing that we've seen happen, then in understanding as we listen to events we didn't see, but have no trouble believing. An encounter with an old friend, similarly, is far more tragic than we would have anticipated. Kirkman's zombie drama is really a character peace. We've watched Rick transform from a stalwart cop into a ruthless survivor tormented by the very things he's had to do to keep himself and his son alive. The transformation hasn't been pleasant by any stretch of the imagination, but it has been undeniably compelling. This title is just plain awesome.
Rating: 4/5 --Blake M. Petit

Wolverine and Power Pack #4 (Marvel Comics)
By Marc Sumerak & Gurihiru

The Power kids are off to Japan when Alex is inadvertently entered in one of those wild Japanese game shows. As he debates the morality of using his powers to help him with the stunts in the game, the kids stumble across their old buddy Wolverine... fighting ninjas. Okay, now it's getting a little silly. I mean, the kids literally stumble into a random ninja attack. Okay, so they have to fit in the co-star every issue, but there's got to be a more credible way to do it. That said, this really is a fun issue. The Japanese game show angle leaves a lot of room for comedy, and the dynamic between Wolverine and the kids actually works very well. Gurihiru's artwork is as sharp and clean as always, and you can never, never go wrong with a Chris Giarusso Mini-Marvels back-up story. This issue we get Hawkeye inexplicably climbing a beanstalk and encountering the Silver Surfer and his boss, Galactus. Silly, goofy stuff that cracks me up every time. There's plenty of fun to be had here.
Rating: 4/5 --Blake M. Petit

Wolverine: First Class #11 (Marvel Comics)
By Fred Van Lente, Hugo Petrus, & Ulises Arreola

The two part crossover with Werewolf By Night ends here, and frankly what did the WBN cameo add to this story? Not much; just a little drama. Logan is still running with the werewolf pack, and a coincidence has the pack targeting Kitty's parents. Would Logan go along with that? Really, what do you think? I was curious at the start of this story of why Logan was infected – wouldn't his healing factor prevent it? - and that's answered here. There is a funny bit in the beginning (the “Oh, that's just not fair!” bit), but this tale seems a little anemic otherwise, and while WBN is a tragic figure, he just doesn't add much. Why is he here? The art is pretty good, but sometimes the werewolves in their wolf form and standing upright just look comical. Decent enough story, but not my favorite of this series.
Rating: 3.5/5 --Andrea Speed