DONE-IN-ONE REVIEWS FOR OCTOBER 24, 2009

[Blake Petit]

sHappy Saturday, friends. Kick back, take off your shoes, and let's dig some Done-In-One reviews! This week, Archie and Veronica are expecting, zombies overwhelm a tropical paradise, Edgar Allan Poe is seeing things, and Snake-Eyes is in a bit of a jam. What more can you ask for? We've got it all here in the Done-In-One Reviews!

Archie #602 (Archie Comics)
By Michael Uslan and Stan Goldberg

Archie and Veronica announce the impending birth of their child to a bevy of friends and family. Everyone's got their own reaction, from soon-to-be godmother Betty to substitute Lamaze partner Jughead, and when the little bundles of joy finally arrive, things couldn't be better for Archie Andrews. Or could they? At the beginning of this story, Michael Uslan set up what appeared to be the big mama-jama reset button of all time. At the end of this issue, it turns out that it wasn't a reset button, but a device that plays out here, in the middle of the story. I think Archie Comics may have jumped the gun on the publicity for this storyline, as we see here that the whole point of this was not to marry Archie off to Veronica, but to explore possible futures. I'm definitely interested to see what happens next, but I think that guy who sold off his Archie #1 out of protest may have acted a little too rashly.
Rating: 4/5 --Blake M. Petit

Chew #5 (Image Comics)
By John Layman & Rob Guillory

"Taster's Choice" comes to an excellent conclusion this issue, as Chu and Savoy close in on the suspect in Evan Pepper's murder -- the same man who kidnapped Tony's brother. But Tony's Cibiopathic powers bring about an unexpected reveal, and nothing will ever be the same. This was a near-flawless issue. The story was really exciting and engaging, the characters were relatable, and the twist was totally unexpected. We get a few small reveals about the nature of this world, and things are set up very well for the new status quo of this series. Guillory's artwork is fantastic, selling the gory moments as well as the goofier stuff, making us believe in a giant like Mason Savoy, and nailing a dirty little Mike Tyson moment like nobody's business. This is hands-down the best comic Image has debuted in a very long time, and is going to be a strong contender when the time comes to pick the best new comic of 2009.
Rating: 5/5 --Blake M. Petit

Farscape: Gone and Back #4 (Boom! Studios)
By Keith R.A. DeCandido, Tommy Patterson, Nick Schley, Juan Castro, & Zac Atkinson

This one ends like you probably expected it would, with John finally finding the parallel universe's Aeryn – surprisingly easy really, since they had to sneak aboard a Peacekeeper ship to find her. There John finds some answers, some other questions, and ... does he make it back to his “real” universe? Well, what do you think? Despite the fact that this seemed rushed in several respects (how easy it was to get on board the Peacekeeper ship, Aeryn's reaction to John), this still ends pretty well, and is probably the most enjoyable issue in the series. It helps that the artists seemed to have pulled it together and deliver consistently, and the coloring is nice and warm. Next time, though, maybe they could either expand the series for more issues, or trim down the plot, because this seemed a lot to cram in for such a brief ending.
Rating: 3.5/5 --Andrea Speed

G.I. Joe #10 (IDW Publishing)
By Chuck Dixon, S.L. Gallant & Howard Chaykin

Destro arrives at the new Cobra base that may just be his tomb, and is introduced to his new partner on the M.A.S.S. Device project -- Dr. Mindbender. The Joes, meanwhile, bid farewell to two of their own, and Snake-Eyes and Mainframe do whatever it takes to get the hell out of Springfield. This series has been parsing out the classic Joe elements a little at a time, and we get some more of that this issue, but the ending promises to bring Snake and Mainframe back into the fold, which is what I've been waiting for. The Destro-Dr. Mindbender collaboration promises to be interesting as well. As I've come to expect, this book is really succeeding and being respectful to the classic Joe properties, while still giving us new things to cling to. Things seem to finally be coming to a head, which is just what I've been hoping for.
Rating: 4/5 --Blake M. Petit

The Last Resort #3 (IDW Publishing)
By Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, Giancarlo Caracuzzo & Darwyn Cooke

After a second issue kind of late on the undead action, issue three makes up for it big-time. The plane crash survivors start to spread out across the island, only to run into the remnants of one zombie attack after another. That's the lucky ones. The unlucky ones run into the zombies themselves -- and not all of the zombies used to be human. Here's what we've been waiting for, and what this series has really promised us. There's a lot of nice action here, with some really satisfying character moments and some good, solid segments of gore. Caracuzzo's artwork, with the sort of soft color wash, works surprisingly well with the zombie attacks. I thought this miniseries was four issues, but I can't see how they'd wrap this up in just one more book. I hope there's more Last Resort on the horizon.
Rating: 4/5 --Blake M. Petit

Poe #4 (Boom! Studios)
By J. Barton Mitchell, Dean Kotz, & Digikore Studios

The end is here, as Edgar faces off with Usher and gets dosed with a hallucination powder. Can he fight off his own imagination and save Elaine and himself? This has been a fun series, a kind of mash up of steampunk, Gothic, and current supernatural action series, and the ending – while predictable – doesn't disappoint. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong, as Edgar must use his wits to outsmart the scheming Usher, and William must fight his way out of the dungeon. The artwork by Kotz is perfectly Gothic Victoriana, and also very true to Poe's work. Action packed and just a little bit odd, this was a fun series worth checking out in trade.
Rating: 4/5 --Andrea Speed

Scooby Doo #149 (DC Comics/Johnny DC)
By Paul Kupperberg, Fabio Laguna, Frank Storm, Robert Pope & Vincent Deporter

It's become something of a tradition for me to check in with the gang from Mystery, Inc. every October, and while this isn't strictly a Halloween issue, there's some good creepy stuff. In a clever reversal of the Scooby Doo formula, the gang is called upon to investigate an enormous worm creature that's destroying a ghost town that's slated to become an amusement park. There's the usual assortment of red herrings and old codgers to keep us guessing, and when the villain reveal comes, the outcome is actually pretty unique for these characters. In the back-up story, the crew heads down to "the old Louisiana bayou" to check into reports of a swamp monster, but the gang's investigative techniques are arrested when Velma gets sick and has to sit this one out. Again, I appreciate the effort to mix things up a bit and not just tell the same old Scooby Doo story for the 500th time, but as usual, the portrayal of "the Louisiana bayou" is pretty weak and terribly stereotypical. There's good stuff here, but always room to improve.
Rating: 3.5/5 --Blake M. Petit

The Stand: Soul Survivors #1 (Marvel Comics)
By Stephen King, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Mike Perkins & Laura Martin

As we head into the third movement of The Stand, the superflu has pretty much finished its work, and now we see the survivors starting to find each other. This issue, Nick Andros finds one of my favorite characters from the book, Tom Cullen. Tom is a sweet, simple soul that Nick immediately realizes needs someone to take care of him, and a bond is formed between the two men. The next survivor they meet turns out to be less gentle, and they also find themselves dealing with something that may or may not be a force of nature. As I've come to expect, the book is stilted a bit by Aguirre-Sacasa's insistence on overusing captions, but it's a little more palatable in chapters focusing on the mute Nick Andros. Perkins and Martin come through with more of the phenomenal artwork that keeps making the book worth reading. I'm wondering if this next book will be five individual stories, each issue looking at a different sets of characters -- there are certainly enough to do it that way, and I think that'd suit the story at this stage just fine.
Rating: 3.5/5 --Blake M. Petit

Sugarshock #1 (Dark Horse Comics)
By Joss Whedon & Fabio Moon

The next book in Dark Horse's "One-Shot Wonders" promotion reprints a three-part story from Myspace Dark Horse Presents. In his newest creation, Joss Whedon presents a girl band (well... three girls plus one robot) who get summoned to another planet to battle for the future of the human race, only to reveal some pretty bizarre things about themselves on the way. Although I've come to expect Whedon to come up with different sorts of stories, this one is way beyond his usual realm of kookiness. The characters, the situation, the dialogue, all feels like he dumped out all the different, unusual chunks of his imagination into one story. The result isn't bad -- he's created some unique characters and some very funny bits. It doesn't quite rise to the level of his better creations, but it's entertaining enough in its own right, certainly entertaining enough to read online for free. Fabio Moon's artwork fits the story very well. The layouts are good, the designs are great, and the execution is solid. It's a fun little book, and I'll be certain to look for more online if they do any more.
Rating: 3.5/5 --Blake M. Petit

Swordsmith Assasin #3 (Boom! Studios)
By Andrew Cosby, Michael Alan Nelson, Ayhan Hayrula, & Andres Lozano


Toshiro's quest for his final sword is complicated when he meets a woman named Akiko, his way inside the fortress, but of course he falls in love with her, even though she is betrothed to a cruel samurai. His quest grows more complicated due to shifting political tides, but as he winds up his story of his life to the General, he reveals his real reason for traveling so far. Oy. Once again, this is beautifully illustrated (seriously, the art is gorgeous) and slow as molasses. It doesn't help that this is all so predictable you could set your watch by it. And yet I hate saying anything bad about it, because I feel that people who like ancient samurai sagas will enjoy this, even though the plot is extremely cliché. They get bonus points for throwing in the complicated political structure of the times, but that detail just isn't enough to rescue a well worn plot.
Rating: 2.5/5 --Andrea Speed

Tiny Titans #21 (DC Comics/Johnny DC)
By Art Baltazar & Franco

It's an all-Pet Club issue of Tiny Titans! The kids get together with their assorted animal pals, and those without suc animal sidekicks head out to get some so they can join in the fun. As a result, we're introduced to several new animal characters, and the book gets a bit crowded. There are some really funny bits here -- Terra's pet being a big one, the identity of Freddie's pet being even better. Baltazar and Franco clearly have a lot of fun pulling out obscure bits of the DCU and lampooning the more well-known ones (such as Captain Marvel Jr.'s inability to say his own name). The book builds up to a nice punchline. The story is funny, the art is sharp, the book is great. Gotta love the Tiny Titans.
Rating: 4.5/5 --Blake M. Petit