Time to dig in and sort through the good the bad and the ugly of the last couple of weeks in The Checklist!

Since I missed last week, and this week seems to be somewhat of a big week, today’s edition will be the first of three Checklists this week.

In Part 1, Avengers/Invaders, Ultimate Origins, and Final Crisis all have new issues on the stands, and hopefully they are all worth your hard-earned cash.

Final Crisis #3 (of 7)
So, Barry Allen is back, Earth’s heroes have been drafted into an Army, and Mary Marvel is officially a Dominatrix. Oh, and in the future everyone’s a beast. Why, you ask? I have no idea. With the exception of the new Question’s ability to be literally everywhere at once, this issue did more to confuse than it did to further the story. Credit where credit is due though, the idea of a bullet shot back through time to kill Orion is pretty cool. Based on the choppiness of this story though, and the current Batman R.I.P. story, I think I’m beginning to worry about Grant Morrison’s sanity.

Final Crisis: Revelations #1 (of 5)
This story focuses on Crispus Allen, the new Spectre, and his dolling out of God’s Vengeance to the DCU. Now, for some reason, all talk of The Spectre lately has been about his beard. I don’t care about the beard. The new Spectre is merciless and hardcore, and I dig that. In this issue Dr. Light gets what he deserves, and we finally see Libra doing something other than buying new uniforms for C-List villains. It also features the Question doing her “everywhere at once” thing again, but it was a good enough book that I can let that go.

Avengers/Invaders #4 (of 12)
The last part of the first Act of Alex Ross’ time-spanning epic rocks from the opening pages as Cap’s shield falls from the heavens and is picked up by… well, Cap. This issue was action-packed and continued being a great story. What’s nice is that while the story follows Marvel U continuity, it’s leaving Secret Invasion out of it. So two teams of Avengers trying to reign in Invaders who think they are Nazi spies. Fantastic. Also, the last page was a predictable one, but an awesome one. That says something about how good this book is.

Ultimate Origins #3 (of 5)
Ultimate Origins continues here with the telling of how Professor X, Magneto, and Wolverine all fit together. With the exception of the fact that apparently Magneto is Canadian, this story was just like the other stories in this series; Exactly the same as the one that was told in regular Marvel continuity. Oh, wait, that’s not right, there’s a box with an eye in it that’s “watching” everything. Ultimate Watcher is a box? Whatever. I would say that I am disappointed in Bendis for this boring series, but given the superb stuff he usually turns out, I can let this slide.

The Boys #21
The Boys is a critical darling, and one of my favourite books on the stands today, and Ennis and Robertson deliver once again. The Legend takes Wee Hughie through the events of Boys-Universe 9/11, and the truth behind how Superheroes not only botched the situation, but made it worse. I thought it would be hard to make the Supes of this book into bigger jerks, but here we are. Witty, bloody, and full of twists and turns, The Boys is Ennis’ greatest creation since Preacher, and Robertson’s best work since Transmet.

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane: Season 2 #1
Given our Spectacular Special a couple of weeks ago, there was no way I could ignore this title. Terry Moore and Craig Rousseau pick up the ball here, and though it starts off at a bit of a trot, it’s a full out run by the end of this issue. If there is one thing Moore does well in his writing, it’s taking stories that are set in a light world, and painting them with slightly darker undertones. The scene in the High School Theatre comes to mind. Rousseau’s pencils are great, giving MJ and her pals a stylized look that pays homage to the previous incarnations of this title, but sets it apart at the same time. Remember, comics don’t always have to be about guys in costumes facing dire consequences. They can be fun, and that’s exactly what this book is; a lot of fun.

Related posts

• No related posts.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 12:01 am and is filed under Reviews, The Checklist. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.