MONDOmagazine

Amazing Spider-Man #636
Joe Kelly, Zeb Wells, J.M. DeMatteis, Stan Lee (w), Marco Checchetto, Michael Lark, Stefano Gaudiano, Emma Rios, Max Fiumara, Marcos Martin (a), Matt Hollingsworth, Fabio D’Auria, Muntsa Vicente (c). Marvel Comics.

It’s a little too “Straczynski” for my tastes, utilizing magical inter webs of life and what not, but that was obviously part of the premise from the get go. They reveal that it was indeed Kaine that died last issue, not Spider-Man, so, surprising no one. Most of the book is told following the newly resurrected Kraven, and he’s not happy to be back. This makes me happy, because otherwise he’d be out of character, and writing in character makes us ALL happy. So we’re all happy (except Kraven)! Kraven leaves Spider-Man a black suit and a Post-It note saying “Hunt Me”. Where do you reckon the Kravinoffs buy their stationary? A good book, but not a lot really happens. The second story, a prequel story involving Kaine and Kraven feels pretty tacked on for the sake of making Kaine’s sacrifice in the main story. Setting this up a year ago (with a better art team) would have made the story amazing, now it’s not. — Isaac Mills

Isaac’s rating: 3 out of 5

Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #1
Alan Heinberg (w), Jim Cheung (p), Mark Morales & Jim Cheung (i), Justin Ponsor (c), Marvel Comics.

It was awfully nice of Marvel to keep Heinberg’s characters warm for him while he was away for… several years. I’m glad he’s back, though, as this was one of my first titles when I started reading comics and I still have a soft spot for it. The dialogue is great, the stories are always interesting and it makes me happy to think of morons flipping out over a gay relationship in their comics. It’s just an intro issue, and I can’t say it starts out with a bang, but I loved every page of it, so I guess no complaints here. — Owen Craig

Owen’s rating: 4 out of 5

Batman and Robin #13
Grant Morrison (w), Frazer Irving (a). DC Comics.

I know I was worried about Frazer Irving working on Batman — but this stuff was great! I’m going to go ahead and suggest he just has to stop drawing comics set in pilgrim times (Klarion the Witchboy as well as Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #2 both had a pilgrim setting, the only books I’d seen Irving do.). The book opens three days in the future and was way too confusing, but once we get things in chronological order everything is amazing. The Joker tries to convince Robin that he is a victim, done in an excellently meta fashion — the Joker is certainly the victim of the writers whims, but Robin not only isn’t having any of it and from the folds of his cape he pulls out a crowbar… — Isaac Mills

Isaac’s rating: 4.5 out of 5

Brightest Day #5
Geoff Johns, Peter J. Tomasi (w), Ivan Reis, Ardian Syaf, Joe Prado (p), Vicente Cifuentes (i), Peter Steigerwald (c). DC Comics.

As ever, the Aquaman story is a blast. He’s decided to swim down into the Gulf of Mexico to close that oil leak before a bunch of bad guys bar the way with a battle and water swords. It’s epic until his wife tells Aquaman she first came to this dimension to kill him. It’d be fine, except you know the next time they deal with this Aquaman is going to be all “What? That’s horrible, I’m really angry right now, let’s have five plus pages devoted to this argument even though we’ve been together for years and you clearly have no intention of killing me!” Instead of having excellent adventures. Though I’m not nuts about the other stories, I’ve got to give my props to whoever designed the scary bird-bat-man combination alien Hawkman has to deal with. Really scary. — Isaac Mills

Isaac’s rating: 3 out of 5

Casanova #1
Matt Fraction (w), Gabriel Ba & Fabio Moon (a), Cris Peter (c). ICON.

I’d heard a lot of good things about Cassanova so I decided to pick up this re-mastered copy that launches a new series (or something like that). It’s a lot more balls-to-the-wall than I expected. Like, after reading Umbrella Academy I was expecting balls near the wall — these balls are all over the wall.  I’ll now stop with the balls. Anyway, yeah, manic and entertaining, I’ll definitely pick up the next issue. — Miles Baker

Miles’ rating: 4 out of 5

Demo #6
Brian Wood (w), Becky Cloonan (a). Vertigo.

Out on a high note. If it was an album, you’d say that “that last track is really good. Pretty. Might be my favourite.” And I think it would be totally appropriate. Demo has always been influence by music, I’d argue even based on a writing level (based on what I’ve read in the author notes). Wood’s talked about changing the order of the issues to strike the right balance. Well, they picked a great one to go out on. It’s a great second record, though more of an EP. — Miles Baker

Miles’ rating: 5 out of 5

Hawkeye & Mockingbird #2
Jim McCann (w), David Lopez (p), Alvaro Lopez (i), Nathan Fairbairn (c), Marvel Comics.

Jim McCann continues to rock this book. You can tell he loves writing it, and I sure do enjoy reading it. It’s a bit of a slower issue, with a fairly predictable ending but it’s still a lot of fun. I’m glad that McCann is devoting most of these early issues to exploring where Hawkeye and Mockingbird are in their newly resurrected (heh) relationship. Oh, and David Lopez is great on this title. — Owen Craig

Owen’s rating: 3.5 out of 5

I, Zombie #3
Chris Roberson (w), Michael Allred (a), Laura Allred (c), Vertigo Comics

This title is getting a little iffy for me. There wasn’t much going on this issue that stood out. I suppose there is a place for setup issues, but it’s making me wonder if I should be trade-waiting on this one (it worked beautifully for Sweet Tooth, I wasn’t too hot on that first issue but man did I love reading the first volume). I’ll give it until the end of the first story. I still think this book has a lot of potential. — Owen Craig

Owen’s rating: 3 out of 5

Red Robin #14
Fabian Nicieza (w), Marcus To (p), Ray McCarthy (i), Guy Major (c). DC Comics.

As much as I’ve grown to love Damian Wayne as Robin, it always was a sore point to have him do so well in a fight with old Tim Drake. Well, Grant Morrison or no Grant Morrison, that gets changed this issue. Tim owns in his fight with a ten year old boy. Ah, well, the alternative was for him to lose in a fight with a ten year old boy — I think Tim made the right move here. — Isaac Mills

Isaac’s rating: 3.5 out of 5

Scarlet #1
Brian Michael Bendis (w), Alex Maleev (a), Icon Comics.

Last night Miles sent me an email about this comic saying that he was excited to hear my thoughts. “I’m not sure if it’s totally brilliant or totally horseshit,” the email read. My thoughts? Yes. I agree. It is either totally brilliant or totally horseshit. There’s so much going on here that is going to be amazing or irritating depending on where it goes. Scarlet’s characterization could go either way. The cool, semi-dystopian environment could go either way. The weirdly evil police (or at least one) could go either way. And as for the book’s main gimmick (I won’t spoil it here, but it’s introduced in page two) could REALLY go either way. But let’s leave all of this “wait and see” stuff aside for now. Let’s leave the book’s future behind and just look at how I liked this issue as a read all on its own. I totally dug it. Maleev’s art is completely gorgeous (no surprise) and he did a great job of setting the scene, not to mention creating a compelling look for the character (although I really wish hot comic-book characters would stop talking about how not hot they are). Bendis is in his element here: character-based indie books. The device he has created allows for a full-issue expository chat-fest that doesn’t feel forced at all, and it was done in a compelling way. I know this review is longer than most we do, but I feel this book is worth talking about, and that already is a huge compliment. I had a great time reading this first issue and I’ll definitely be back for issue 2, but I really hope that all of this shakes out to be brilliant… rather than… you know… — Owen Craig

Owen’s rating: 4 out of 5

Secret Six #23
John Ostrander (w), RB Silva (p), Alexandre Palamaro (i), Jason Wright (c), DC Comics

Anyone bemoaning the lack of one-off issues should be picking this up. This is how you do a one-shot. Ostrander schools all the young whipper-snappers out there in one-shot writing! This was totally awesome. An island full of bored, rich assholes who pay a lot of money to hunt the deadliest game of all… MAN! (I never get tired of that.) But what happens when the game brought in is the Secret Six? I’ll tell you what happens, an awesome comic happens! — Owen Craig

Owen’s rating: 4 out of 5

Shadowland #1
Andy Diggle (w), Billy Tan (p) Matt Banning (i), Christina Strain (c). Marvel Comics.

Alriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. I’ve been worried about this Daredevil-led crossover. I feel it’s kind of rushed from a storytelling point of view. Diggle needed more than 7 or 8 issues to put his stamp on Daredevil before taking this on. That said, pretty good first issue. I really wish someone other than Billy Tan was working on the art. I think he’s one of the weakest artist working for Marvel (maybe even DC, but I can’t really judge that). He’s got some pretty terrible perspective issues going on in a few scenes — but I just plain don’t like it. And this I really hope this story doesn’t parallel the stuff I’ve been hearing about the Green Arrow books. Because what I hear is bad. — Miles Baker

Miles’ rating: 3.5 out of 5

Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #1
Christos Gage (w), Mario Alberti (a). Marvel Comics.

I got this because I’m fully expecting a Ben Reilly appearance in issue 3 similar to the Spider-Man/X-Men series, but it’s amazingly fantastic even if that doesn’t happen. It’s incredibly self contained, everything you need to know is given to you, and then it proceeds to be awesome and hilarious. After Johnny Storm has to apologize to Dr. Doom (politics, you know how it is) Doom says “Weak. But accepted. My recording of this moment shall lead Latveria’s evening newscast. Forever.” So, that’s without mentioning the leviathan sea creature and Namor, or random body switching. This is the start of a great four issues. — Isaac Mills

Isaac’s rating: 4.5 out of 5

Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier #1
Ed Brubaker (w), Dale Eaglesham (a), Andy Troy (c). Marvel Comics.

Hey, it’s Steve Rogers in a spy book! That’s great, except I just read Secret Avengers last week and that was Steve Rogers in a spy book. A better spy book. This isn’t working for me at all. For one, so far the story is distinctly side-quest from the Steve Rogers we’re getting in Secret Avengers and Captain America, understandable but disappointing. But more surprisingly is the art. I know a lot of my writers are Eaglesham fans but he’s not working for me here. I find his overly-rugged jaw style distracting and cliché (there’s also a short of emaciated Steve Rogers that look a lot like E.T.). But what’s really not working — it’s too bright. Brubaker spy books are supposed to be dark. That’s why you get Sean Phillips or Mike Deodado to draw them, artists who know how to work with lots and lots of shadows. Eaglesham is trying his best but is missing the mark by a mile. It’s just not his book. — Miles Baker

Miles rating: 2.5 out of 5

Sweet Tooth #11
Jeff Lemire (w + a), Jose Villarrubia (c). Vertigo.

This issue marks the end of the second storyline in Sweet Tooth and it was a good one. If you weren’t so sure about the first arc then you have to give this one a try. If you read this and don’t like it then I guess this series isn’t for you. If you read this and like it a lot then we should go out for some beers and talk about awesome comics. — Miles Baker

Miles’ rating: 4.5 out of 5

Thor: The Mighty Avenger #1
Roger Langridge (w), Chris Samnee (a), Matt Wilson (c). Marvel Comics.

I briefly met Roger Langridge at TCAF and he’s a really, really nice guy. An honest and interesting speaker too. But he’s not the reason I bought this book — that would be Chris Samnee. I think he’s a real talent and I will keep buy things with name on it. In this series he’s going for a more gestural style that reminds me of a cleaner, rounder Darwyn Cooke in The Hunter. It doesn’t look like that (partly because of the colouring) but it’s like Samnee doing that to his art. And it’s pretty great. Langridge also writes well for the younger demographic the book is supposed to be targeting. Worth a look of you’re looking for something light but quality. — Miles Baker

Miles’s rating: 4 out of 5

X-Force #28
Chris Yost and Kyle Craig (w), Mike Chio (p), Sonia Oback (c). Marvel Comics.

Climax! You know what? This was an exciting story.  I have a feeling the last issue will wrap up some loose ends, deal with some emotional fall-out and then spring board the next status quo for the X-Men.  And that will be whatever that is — but overall, this was an awesome crossover. High quality art, tight pacing, solid character moments and high stakes — in short, a really good X-Men period. One I think that will stand the test of time in very select circles. — Miles Baker

Miles’ rating: 5 out of 5