Another day, another lot of reviews
people!
Till next week fellow comic fiends! In the meantime - here's something special, a preview of an in-the-works article coming soon about the stupidest heroes you've never heard off:
This has been a big week and so we had
not only a bunch of review yesterday, we've got some more today too –
and today we stick to some fan-favourites for you as well as a
promising new-comer. So dive in and enjoy folks!
Action Comics #7
(DC)
Story: Grant Morrison / Sholly Fisch
(backup)
Art: Rags Morales / Brad Walker
(backup)
(Review by Akshay Dhar)
This series started off with a bang and
really made me care about reading a purely Superman story again, for
the first time in years – seven issues in and that joy and simple
pleasure when reading this latest instalment remain just as strong.
Morales continues his streak of excellent artwork on pretty much
every single page here, his faces, the layouts and the flow through
the comic is very beautifully put together and really makes it all
the more enjoyable – plus the colouring choice adds to the slightly
more retro feel of it all which works great.
Quick recap – Superman has been
shoving back and forth with the law, the army (and a predictably
anti-alien and super-egotistical Lex Luthor) and pushing to be a hero
of the people. He's had good days, bad days and some in between, but
so far so good. Ok, now on to this issue.
The last issue ended with a
manhattan-like island part of Metropolis called 'New Troy' being
simply vanishing in front of everyone's eyes as Superman, General
Lane (Lois' father and somewhat a DC version of 'Thunderbolt' Ross,
the Hulk's one-time nemesis), Steel (a.k.a John Henry Irons) and the
whole of Metropolis.
Well this issue kicks off with Superman being
left alone by the General who seems to, for the moment, have realised
that he needs Supes' help. So super-speed running, launching himself
into the sky and then bouncing Mario-style on satellites to keep
going, our hero reaches the alien spaceship floating above Earth that
appears to be the source of this mysterious vanishing. Within the
ship he finds what he's looking for and much, much more!
Dammit, I want to tell you more but for
anyone not familiar with Superman mythology beyond the basics, this
issue is loaded with stuff that would make my giving anymore away
being like a spoiler-fest! So go read it darn it, because in the
future I'm not going to be so considerate!
If you are an old-hand then you should
be able to make some guesses at where Grant is going with all this,
if you still don't – be ashamed!!
The main story is followed by a small
backup (as in recent issues) starring the new hero: Steel. Most of
you should be familiar with him but in case you're not, he's
something of a genius and has a wicked-tough armour and a BIG hammer.
It's that simple. DC has really had a hard time with him because of
some bad and inconsistent stuff from pre-reboot, but this new version
shows a lot of promise if they handle it well from hereon. Its the
only slightly weak point in general of the Action Comics
issues, but this instalment is definitely better than the last two
and that gives me some hope for a character that can be so much more
than he has thus far. The art here is pretty good and between it and
the script we get a nice little glimpse into Metropolis in the
immediate aftermath of whats happening in the main issue while Supes
is off in space – but this backups colouring could do with a little
tweaking so it doesn't look quite so dull at times.
SCORE : 9 / 10
Age Of Apocalypse #1
(Marvel)
Story: David Lapham
Art: Roberto De La Torre
(Review by Anant Sagar)
A world where nothing seems the
same. Where people once heroes, are now tyrants.
Where we humans are on the verge of extinction. Where mankind’s
last hope seemingly lies in the hands of one William Stryker.
Confused? You shouldn’t be. Welcome
to an extension of the acclaimed Age of Apocalypse (AoA).
Now I know many of you, if not all, are familiar with the original Age of Apocalypse saga. This one will
make you want more. The story so far says that though
Apocalypse is dead, his hatred and his mission live on. The humans
are losing. All hope lies in the hands of an unlikely team called The
X-terminated.
The Good:
The story so far is intriguing. It
makes me want to go back and read it again. Gripping, exciting and
left me wanting more and more and more. The artwork is fantastic, the colouring
style gives it the perfect feel of a world in chaos and disarray.
The fact that the story is being
narrated by a human reporter from the main Marvel Universe (a.k.a Universe 616) adds a nice touch. He is transported to the AoA by Dark Beast, a resident of this world who somehow got pushed to the 616 universe when Apocalypse was killed - as were a few others - and has been a thorn in many sides since.
And the big-bad carried over from the (re)introduction of AoA recently in Uncanny X-Force is actually Wolverine, once a great
hero called Weapon X, now a tyrant known as Weapon Omega who is carrying on the mission of Apocalypse.
The Bad:
The members of The X-terminated are a
strange choice for me. I mean that their counter parts are, well,
characters we’ve come to know and hate. BUT, they are different
here. It would be nice I suppose to see a new evolution for them.
The status of Jean Grey and Sabretooth - changing who they are so much was and still is bold.
It’s just little things like this
which make me think twice. Let’s see what the future may hold for
all of them.
The Funny:
Even in a dark, devastated world, life has a way of throwing you a funny bone.
Our team of the X-terminated - William
Stryker as Prophet. Graydon Creed as Horror Show (who’s costume
looks straight out of the Army of Two video game).
Stryker knocking the s**t out of
Sabretooth.
Graydon Creed screaming for lots of
Coffee in a bar.
Graydon telling someone to “See the Shiny knife”
in the middle of a fight.
SCORE : 8.5 / 10.
Avengers : The Children’s
Crusade #9 (Marvel)
Story: Allan Heinberg
Art: Jim Cheung
(Review by Anubhav DasGupta)
Talk about an anti-climax. After two
years of following the painfully irregular bi-monthly follow up to
Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung’s original Young Avengers mini
series, the final issue basically gives us all the involved parties talking
each other to death and all their debate essentially leading to "let
the Scarlet Witch go". Not only that, people looking forward to seeing
more of the Young Avengers would be sorely disappointed, because the
second half of the issue essentially oversees each of the characters
giving up on super-heroics one by one.
The most disappointing part of
the book to me personally has to be the completely uncharacteristic
behavior of Iron Lad, who finally gets set on the path of embracing
his future as Kang the conqueror. Jim Cheung, gives us his trademark
beautiful widescreen panels, but at the end of the day, does not have
much to work with.
SCORE : 3.4 / 10
The Manhattan Projects #1
(Image)
Story: Jonathan Hickman
Art: Nick Pitarra
(Review by Anubhav DasGupta)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it
again. No one takes a crazy sci-fi concept and packages it for the
MTV-generational masses like Jonathan Hickman. This being his latest
creator owned project, Hickman delves into conspiracy theory
territory, showing the inception of the Manhattan Projects as an
advanced scientific research initiative under the cover of making the
world’s first atomic bomb. A major part of the issue involves a
conversation between General Groves and Dr. Oppenheimer, who
represent the military and civil leadership of the initiative, as the
former briefs the latter regarding the initiative, which is followed
by an attack by Japanese Kamikaze Killing Machines (allegedly built
by Honda before they invented the Civic). There is a major twist
towards the ending, which is very well built up throughout the rest
of the issue, which is big enough to make one want to get his hands
on the second issue as soon as possible.
Nick Pitara’s art style
differs a little bit from his previous collaboration with Hickman,
The Red Wing, which complements the script in a big way. Also, the
work on human figures and expressions is realistic enough to be
believable, and abstract enough to be relatable.
SCORE : 10 / 10
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