Reviews in Brief (9/3 to 9/10 – 2014)

Captain Marvel vol.4, #7 (released 9/10)
Can I say I hate Rocket Raccoon? I hate Rocket Raccoon. I do like the sudden strangeness of Carol’s Earth cat laying alien cat eggs. but really everything in this issue could have worked in about two to three pages. I do like Takara’s pencils and the colors by Loughridge.

Death of Wolverine #1 & #2 (released 9/3 & 9/10)
Why did I buy these? Mostly out of morbid curiosity of how this story might play out. I mean, just because this kind of mini-series “event” sets off alarm swarning of the most hackneyed attempts to put spectacle before story-telling doesn’t mean that Charles Soule won’t succeed in telling a good story. . . Plus Rachel and Miles of Rachel & Miles X-Plain the X-Men made#1 the pick of the week for their weekly X-reviews, so that had to mean something. . . But I guess enjoying their podcast doesn’t mean I am always going to have the same taste in comics as they are, because I found this to be mostly terrible. Firstly, the first issue was hardly what you could call a comic. It was more like a scene from what could be full issue stretched out beyond reason and then padded with a bunch of extras, some of which were interesting (like the interview with Len Wein), but come on. . . none of that shit is going to be or even should be as remotely compelling as the story we are ostensibly buying the issue for. At this rate I imagine that by the time we get the final issue it might feel like it has about a giant-sized issue’s worth of material, except readers will have paid $20 for it. There were one or two good story beats and rewarding echoes in the dialogue and the art definitely had its moments, but mostly I feel cheated. It doesn’t help that in a story that should fulfill the promise of some well-choreographed and inventive fight scenes, given Wolverine’s history and you know, how he is the best at what he does, McNiven gives us just the suggestions of a classic superhero punch-up, but a more extended homage to the classics would have been welcome. Finally, when Kitty Pryde shows up at the end of issue #2 she is drawn unrecognizably. She is generic brown-haired young woman, who I can only identify because Logan calls her by name and she phases. Thumbs (unsurprisingly) down. I do love Skottie Young’s variant cover, though. . .

Hawkeye #20 (released 9/10)
Another Kate Bishop issue. The bloom is off the rose for me with the Hawkeye series. Wu’s art in this issue (and Aja’s art in the others) and Hollingsworth’s color always continue to delight, but the charm is mostly gone from this title, save for occasional gimmicks. Meh.

Ms. Marvel Vol. 3 #8 (released 9/10)
Who is my favorite Inhuman? Lockjaw. Who is guest-starring in this issue of Ms. Marvel? Lockjaw. What is my favorite comic right now? Ms. Marvel. It is written and paced like the comics I loved from my youth, while expanding the cultural possibilities of the superhero world in a meaningful way. Plus beautiful art. Thumb way up.

She-Hulk vol. 3, #8 (released 9/3)
The first issue of what promises to be an entertaining arc featuring She-Hulk defending a 90-year old Captain America against a wrongful death suit being brought on by a plaintiff represented by Matt Murdoch. I continue to love Pulido’s art. This series has a more subdued feel than Slott’s series, which I like, too. I just hope the court-based story remains the focus.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man #15 (released 9/3)
Two issues to go before this series ends and it seems to be coming to head as it just keeps on clicking. Actually makes you feel sympathy for the Shocker. . . Shocker!

Weird Love #3 (released 9/10)
IDW’s reprint anthology of strange romance comic story from the 50s and 60s is groan-worthy and great. Back when the pressure to conform need not be so encoded, these stories mostly serve to put young women in their place, by submitting to men or to their own humiliation. Here is the thing, in these stories reinforcing the norms of their time, they unscore how queer the normal really is, and I don’t mean queer in the empowered sense, but in the sense that they are so strange that only powerful social pressures can force us to submit to them. This series is definitely of interest to those who want to study non-superhero comics of the era, practice cultural criticism and/or who enjoy the lovely art.