A new hero arrives in the DC Universe? The rage virus continues its spread across England? Dynamo 5 captured by their most bloodthirsty enemy? Archie Andrews
leaving Riverdale? If you can find all of this in one place, it’s gotta be the Comixtreme.com
Done-In-One Reviews!
28 Days Later #1 (Boom! Studios)
By Michael Alan Nelson, Declan Shalvey, & Nick Filardi
This miniseries takes place after the first film, where we find Selena alone in a refugee camp in Norway, still haunted by all the deaths in Britain. She's approached by a war journalist with a plan to go into London and find out what actually happened, since no one knows, and with the military clamped down tightly on this thing, truthful information is hard to come by. She balks at first, but then decides to do it (I actually wasn't convinced about her turn around), and as soon as they get over Scotland, things go wrong. Will the hard boys have to lean on Selena for survival? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say yes. The art is solid and at its best in the bloody scenes, and I do like the blood splatter color work. A decent start, but I hope it ups the ante soon.
Rating: 3.5/5 --Andrea Speed
Archie's Double Digest #201 (Archie Comics)
By Melanie J. Morgan, Norm Breyfogle, and others
Word begins to spread across Riverdale that Archie's father has been transferred and the Andrews clan will soon be moving away. In this second part of the story, we see how Archie's friends react to the news that he'll be gone forever. In most cases, the reaction is just what you expect, although Morgan throws us a nice little curve ball with Reggie. Meanwhile, a subplot begins involving Archie, Betty and Jughead discovering that one of their childhood picnic spots has become a polluted dumping ground, prompting them to begin considering cleanup options. I'm not entirely sure where this subplot is headed -- in a story of this nature, it pretty much has to link to the main plot, but I'm not really sure how that's going to work. Norm Breyfogle's artwork is surprisingly well-suited to the Archie kids. They're all recognizable without being beholden to the classic house style of the comics. The rest of the Double Digest is filled with a wealth of comics from the past several decades, including some nice Little Archie stories, a gender-swapped Tarzan riff, and a look at the Archie crew in the year 2085 (no doubt 100 years from the original publication of that story). Some of the stories, as always, are better than others. The main tale is pretty good, though.
Rating: 3.5/5 --Blake M. Petit
Batman: The Brave and the Bold #8 (DC Comics/Johnny DC)
By J. Torres, Carlo Barberi & Scott Jeralds
After an adventure in Japan, Batman takes a side trip through Tibet, where people have reported being terrified by a Yeti. Batman's investigations quickly bring him into contact with the beast, but before he can be drawn into combat he discovers his adversary isn't a monster at all, but rather one of the members of the Chinese superhero team, the Great Ten. I really like the way Torres is using this comic to bring in DC characters who probably aren't that well known to the general public, especially a new group like the Great Ten. The interaction is good here too -- the stoic August General in Iron is a nice contrast to the more flippant Batman we see in this comic, whereas in the mainstream DCU they're really a bit too similar in mood to be effective foils for one another. Barberi does nice work here with the "cartoon" versions of the Great Ten, and although most of the team does not appear in this book, we definitely get a feeling that there's a larger DC Universe out there beyond the boundaries of the United States. It's an effective story that I think accomplishes its goals quite well.
Rating: 4/5 --Blake M. Petit
Batman: The Widening Gyre #1 (DC Comics)
By Kevin Smith, Walt Flanagan & Bill Sienkiewicz
Having already introduced a new villain into the DC Universe, Kevin Smith re-teams with his Batman: Cacaphony partner Walt Flanagan for the first of two six-issue miniseries intended to introduce a new hero. A battle with a two-big loser who swiped Baron Blitzkrieg's armor leads Batman and Nightwing to investigate the dealings of Poison Ivy, currently locked up in Arkham Asylum. Batman arrives to find the institution overrun with Ivy's vines, and another monstrous character roaming the grounds. It will take the sudden appearance of a new player to the game to help Batman out this time. This book has some hits and misses. The introduction of the new character is pretty good, and the basic set-up is fine. Poison Ivy feels a little off -- not as off as the Joker was in Cacaphony, but more like Smith has hyper-accentuated one aspect of her personality. Flanagan's art isn't bad, although except for the new hero's rather bizarre helmet, we don't get a good look at him. That, no doubt, is by design. Overall, I'm not blown away by this issue, but I like it.
Rating: 3.5/5 --Blake M. Petit
Dynamo 5 #24 (Image Comics)
By Jay Faerber & Mahmud A. Asrar
The truth about Father Gideon comes out, and with it, the biggest secret of Maddie's past is revealed as well. Synergy and Gideon team up to collect the members of Dynamo 5 and Maddie herself, bent on revenge. Faerber doesn't go with nothing but action, though. Most of the characters do get a moment or two to develop their personal plotlines, such as Gage trying to wrap his brain around Spencer's long-term double identity of the female superhero Vigil. Faerber is taking an interesting tack here -- while there has been enough of a proliferation of gay characters that such a thing can hardly be called "daring" anymore, he's using Spencer's alien background as a way to explore that aspect of the character in a new way. Can he actually be gay or straight? Is he even really male, female, or neuter? I won't say such things have never been examined before in comics, but such explorations have been rare at least. Asrar's art has gotten better over the past 23 issues. You can see that he's gotten sharper and clearer in his storytelling, and he's really doing some of his best work these days. Strong issue, and I'm looking forward to next month's big #25.
Rating: 4/5 --Blake M. Petit
The Last Days of Animal Man #4 (DC Comics)
By Gerry Conway, Chris Batista & Brian Bolland
Before Animal Man can come to grips with the mistake he's made, he finds himself facing the new double-team of Prismatik and Bloodrage. The two villains prove particularly troublesome for the nearly-powerless hero, and even with Starfire's help, his life is on the line. I was pretty disturbed when last issue ended with Buddy planting a kiss on Starfire -- it seemed then and seems now utterly out of character for Buddy -- but this issue helped a little with an explanation. Still not happy, mind you, but willing to see where this goes. Anyway, most of the issue is one big fight scene, with the two heroes versus two villains and Buddy trying desperately to hold his own. The action is good -- Chris Batista does some really good fight choreography here, making the book look good and nicely distinguishing between the "real" sequences and the "dream" sequences when they approach. The issue ends on a cliffhanger that's pretty intense in its own right. I'm still kind of thrown for a loop here -- I was enjoying this book until the end of last issue, and I don't know that it's recovered yet. But at least it's trying to.
Rating: 3.5/5 --Blake M. Petit
Unknown #4 (Boom! Studios)
By Mark Waid, Minck Oosterveer, Fellipe Martins, Renato Faccini, & Andres Lozano
This miniseries comes to a close with lots of action, and some questions answered. I did like that this issue moved, and there wasn't a whole lot of exposition. Stuff happens, not all clear, and then we have an end which could be construed as happy in its way – life goes on, although Cat actually doesn't have that long to live. The art is good, especially in the opening sequence behind the door. But you know what mystery Cat should solve next? Why she can't seem to buy a shirt that fits her. Ha ha! See, 'cause her boobs are always threatening to spill out ... good night, tip your waitress, I'll be here all week. (Who am I kidding? I'm always here! *sobs pitifully*)
Rating: 3.5/5 --Andrea Speed
August 29th 2009, 12:58 PM
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