Comic Book Wednesday

World War Hulk #4. Hulk smash! Or actually, Hulk make everybody he hates smash each other. Personally, the high of the first two issues has slowly faded into the realization that nothing is really going to change at the end of this. Maybe it's the fact that (because of scheduling) the war is long over in the rest of Marvel continuity, and there seems to be no lingering after-effects. (No mention of the Hulk, either. Hmm.) Or maybe I'm getting bored to death with "nothing will ever be the same again" crossovers which either go nowhere or set up the next crossover. Color me jade, for jaded.

Green Arrow Black Canary Wedding Special #1. Besides asking and answering the question "Why doesn't Amanda Conner draw a regular DC title?" (because her artwork is Kevin Maguire/Adam Hughes good, and along with membership in the JLI, that's the kiss of death in today's DCVerse), this comic delivers a light-hearted wedding-crasher battle royale which is completely undone by a sucker-punch epilogue that left a sour taste in my mouth. I can just imagine the cackles of glee in DC Editorial when this one was pitched. No glee here, though.

Captain America #30. Brubaker closes out the first half of his year-long Death of Captain America arc with another bar-setting high. Tony Stark gets a clue, Sharon Carter gets a test result, The Winter Soldier gets sputniked, and Cap's letter (remember that?) gets revealed, in yet another of Brubaker's perfectly-paced can't-wait-for-the-next-one issues. The first thing I'm going to do when I get home tonight is re-read everything from #1 on up to this one, because it's building like a novel and it deserves to be read like one.

Seven Types of Continuity: Part Two

Casanova #9. Continuing the craziness in this delirious mash-up of Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius with Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD, the foxy blonde with the six arms at the end of last issue is revealed to be Sasa Lisi, the Girl from M.O.T.T. and she's looking for the answer to the question "When is Casanova Quinn?" Meanwhile, Cass' sister Zephyr gets a new potential love interest and a new assignment: eliminate everyone who knows anything about the H-Element Project, including (dum dum du-u-u-u-u-um) Daddy Cornelius, head of E.M.P.I.R.E. As usual, the five-page text epilogue by author Matt Fraction boogaloos all over the place as it delivers sources, references, and (cough) are you listening, DC (cough) footnotes. Also as usual, I finish reading this and feel like I need to re-read issues 1-8 again because I'm a little lost.

Welcome to Tranquility #10. Things do not look good for Wildstorm's home of ex-heroes. The dead are popping up all over the place, Satan's talk-show host is gathering the two sidekicks he needs to make up the three that all the zuvembies have been nattering about for three issues, and it turns out that the Greatest Story Ever Told is actually a Bronze Age funnybook. This will all make sense if you've been buying the title, which would not be the case if this was written by anyone else but Gail Simone. There's a bright Alan Moore ABC glow to this title; it's like Planetary crossed with Carl Barks. Unlike a lot of stuff I read, I have no frigging idea where Ms. Simone is going with this story or how she's going to resolve it, but it sure is a fun ride.


Justice Society of America #9. He's ba-a-a-ack. As usual if you're new to DC, you will have no idea who I'm talking about. But since this character's appearance was previewed on the last page of issue #1, it's no surprise to anyone who's been picking up the title. A definite prologue issue, with the Leaguers banding together to combat a low-key disaster (a building fire) that turns out to be a lot less mundane than arson. And (spoiler alert) here's Kal-L with his weird-shaped S, wondering where he is. He's not the only one. Doesn't anybody stay dead in the DCVerse besides Bruce Wayne's parents? (I'm waiting for the Judd Winick retcon on that one.) If anybody else but Geoff Johns was writing this I'd be worried. And since this is probably going to turn into a Countdown tie-in, I'm prepared to be totally ticked off.

More comic reviews: Seven Types of Continuity, Part One

Daredevil #100. I'm trying to figure out when Matt Murdock became a substitute for all the male comic book fans who can't get a date to save their lives, because it's turned into the Marvel version of Pass Go, Collect $200: Date Daredevil, Collect A Dirt Nap. (How many times has Elektra died now?) But if you're going to do a milestone book, this is the way to do it, with former artists for the flashbacks and a reprint which makes the current issue feel like a homage. A prime example of Marvel continuity porn (which is at heart softcore).

Booster Gold #2. A series which would not exist without continuity, the second issue is both a done-in-one and an extension of a mystery which began in issue #1. Think time travel through potential or real alternate universes, sort of like DC's answer to Exiles. Because Geoff johns is writing it, you don't need footnotes to understand the references, and the in-jokes (bwah-ha-ha) are actually in-jokes and not necessary plot or character points. Plus it's fun! Isn't it great when comics are fun? Whatever happened to fun?

Stormwatch #11. Speaking of curses, here's evidence of the Make Matthew Happy, Get Cancelled After Issue 12 curse. Stormwatch in its current incarnation is about to go the way of NextWave and Irredeemable Ant-Man as part of this year's entry in WildStorm's never-ending series of reboots. Which is too bad, because this is a smart character-driven series where black and white constantly shade into gray (with, currently, meh art) . Judging by the last panel, there's a major house-cleaning (and butt-kicking) coming up. After that, who knows? I'll probably pick up the next incarnation out of respect for all the others I've followed since the days when Warren Ellis was writing it, so we'll see . . .


Parade (with fireworks) #1. A based-on-a-true-story comic by artist/writer Mike Cavallaro, with whom I'm totally unfamiliar. The light, cartoony style of the artwork belies the seriousness of the story, which is a flashback from a prison cell to the days of pre-Mussolini Italy, when fascism and socialism were on a collision course. I'm just guessing, but I get the feeling from the final page that this all-too-real version of the Tybalt-Mercutio duel is going to result in this story's Romeo picking up a gun and blasting away like a Chicago gangster.

This week's comic book reviews

So how did this week's comics stack up?


Thor #3. The great: the Olivier Coipel artwork. Majestic is an understatement. The good: Iron Man gets his tin-can ass handed to him. Plus another Norse god shows up, and Asgard is now the Norse version of Latveria, complete with diplomatically-immune leader. The annoying: Marvel's contractually-required real world referencing sticks out like a sore thumb. Setting this issue in New Orleans and having Thor confronted with the unanswerable question "Where were you superheroes when this real world disaster happened?" (a) jolts you out of the story big time by (b) reminding you that the real world has no thunder gods. This is escapist literature, people. In the Marvel Universe, the twin towers are still standing and New Orleans was protected by a force field.

Justice League of America Wedding Special. Didio's Law states that continuity porn is to DC as current events referencing is to Marvel, and this issue is nothing if not law-abiding. I pity the new reader because [s]he won't get the visual echo to Meltzer's Justice League of America #0 opening, the Infinite Crisis throwaway about Luthor, and a dozen other non-footnoted references. Which means that this comic is aimed squarely at DC's continuity-obsessed-fanboy base, patting them on the back for "getting" the in-joke references. It's also a prelude to the next Justice League arc, as well as a continuation of Green Arrow, the Black Canary miniseries, and the Black Canary Wedding Planner. So is it any good? Yes, but only if you can rattle off all the different people who've been Firestorm. Would I recommend it as a jump-on point for new readers? Hell to the no. DC is many things, but in its current incarnation it is so definitely NOT new-reader-friendly.

More as I read 'em . . .