Matt’s Monday Mini Reviews

These are going to be mega mini reviews of some of last weeks comics that I’ve read. The rest of my stack will receive the mini review treatment tomorrow.

X-Factor #46 – Peter David is the man. This is just a great read every time. This issue included; time travel, cyborgs, Sentinels, men still kissing & women fighting (but no kissing). Another solid issue for X-Factor fans.

Dark Avengers #7 – Written by Matt Fraction, continues the Utopia story in good, if unremarkable fashion. One point of note though (Spoilers on!) – Beast possibly losing his blue fur!?!?!?!. Not sure how I feel about that. He has been the blue fur-ball for as long as I can remember, maybe he needs a change back. Guess we’ll find out next issue. Oh and Luke Ross is in on art unfortunately.

Blackest Night #1 – Awesome horror tale featuring all your fav DC characters back from the dead as super villain zombies! Hunting for flesh and all those capes who have escaped death’s clutches! Beautiful art by Ivan Ries (the coolest Elongated Man has ever looked!) and classic Geoff Johns goodness. Get it; this series is going to be huge!

Batman: Streets of Gotham # 2 – Best ‘Batman Reborn’ title so far (along with Detective Comics). Features a great cast of villains; Firefly (setting the city ablaze), Black Mask (new crime boss of Gotham) and Hush, who in this issue escapes from Batman’s prison and decides to give all of Bruce’s money away! This creative team is making exactly the type of Bat book I love. Highly recommended.

Wednesday Comics # 2 – Loving this series. Reads a bit quick but the huge newspaper format is so fun and every story is drawn beautifully. Highlights were; Kamandi, Strange Adventures & Hawkman. It is pricey at $3.99 but it’s def worth a look.

Action Comics # 879 – I’m still picking this up every month but it’s just ok. I decided to keep at it as I have faith in Rucka to produce the goods (and this issue was better) and I wanted to check out the Captain Atom back up feature which was strange but good. Basically it was Atom sent to take out load of Lord of the Rings extras! I’m intrigued. As for Nightwing & Flamebird they went up against General Lane’s goons in another action packed story. I’ll be back next month.

X-Factor # 45 - Review

X-Factor # 45

WRITER: Peter David PENCILS: Valentine De Landro & Marco Santucci

4.5 out of 5

We get some answers in this issue, and as usual the answers only fuel more questions. Spoilers on.

The issue starts with Madrox and his companions in the future (Ruby & Layla) seeking out the advice of Victor Von Doom himself. How are these people still alive? First Scott Summers and now Doom still alive 80 years in the future! They must’ve been taking their vitamins or something. Anyway, even though Doom is still alive he is completely delusional. He is confined to a wheel chair and full of tubes and we are told his brain is virtually mush, believing he is still the great monarch he once was. Having said that, as we are told, a very insane Doom is till smarter than your average muppet like you, me or Madrox. So the three are there to seek his advice on the recent disappearance & re-appearance of members of the Summers Rebellion.

The main action is back in the present where the cliffhanger ending from issue 43 (the return of Shatterstar) is continued. He is basically in full on attack mode against Rictor & Strong Guy as he is possessed by the strange and villainous Cortex, who is watching from the distance. Now here is where the questions are raised as Cortex seems to be from the future that Madrox is currently located in as he is in communication with some sneaky looking dudes who are also spying on Madrox & Doom in the future. Confused? I know I am. Man.... time travel can be a bitch. What’s the connection with X-Factor & Cortex? Why was he in possession of Shatterstar? So many questions.

The ending Shows Cortex being told to return to the future buy the sneaky dudes which means he must release his grip on Shatterstar just as he is about to deliver a kill blow to Strong Guy. Shatterstar is stopped in his path and comes around, sees Rictor, they both pucker up and they embrace. Now a lot of people on boards were either ‘Yay! Go Marvel!’ or, ‘it was so over the top!’ I personally didn’t even really register it, when I saw people posting on boards about this ‘shock ending’, I had to go back and check the issue because I couldn’t work out what people were talking about. This is not the first time gay characters have been used in comics, is it the first gay kiss? I don’t know, probably not, but really who cares either way, this is 2009, some people being gay is not exactly new news.

Overall another solid issue as usual, I expect nothing more from this title now. The dialogue from Peter David is smart and funny and he gives us enough of an interesting story to keep this reader happy. The art by Valentine De Landro & Marco Santucci is nice and clean and the action is portrayed well. Plus the full page shot of an old and decrepit Doom was killer. Every month this book is at the top of my read pile. The only thing I will say is that this is not the ideal jumping on point for this book. You really need to start from issue 39 onwards to understand the whole story, but if you are a X-Factor reader every month, this is another great chapter.

Monday Mini Reviews

Really good week for comics. Here are the first titles I read and what I thought of them:

Amazing Spider-Man # 597 – 5 out of 5

Best Spider-Man book I have read since……… I can’t remember when. I was a bit disappointed with the last issue but this really steps it up a gear. Spidey throws down with Daken who works out he is not Venom, and basically the fight is awesome. Harry shocks readers by proving he will do anything to get on his fathers good side (we presume to later stab in the back to steal the Goblin serum cure for girlfriend Menace) and there is a nice shocking and violent ending, where the game is pretty much up for Peter and the next issue I hope we will see how evil Norman can really be. I could not fault this issue in any way; both writing and art were fantastic. Loved it.

X-Factor # 44 – 4 out of 5

Again this book continues to impress month after month. Another great ending another and another great twist in this amazing story. Peter David I think writes to best dialogue of any comic book writer today. His characters are smart and funny, and you fall in love with every single one of them. They are characters of today, modern and young and relatable (in a mind space sort of sense), but put in extraordinary circumstances. My only problem was that the story of Jamie in the future has not really moved on much in the last few issues, and apart from Jamie and Layla’s relationship, not much is explored further here. Also the story from last issue with the cliffhanger ending dealing with Rictor & Strong Guy and Jamie’s Dupe was not touched on at all. I was looking forward to seeing where that went. Guess I’ll have to wait and see until next month. Overall though another fantastic issue.

Batman # 687 – 2.5 out of 5

Hated the cover to this issue, the JG Jones variant I wanted was too expensive for me too, but on with the story. This issue pretty much pointed out that Battle for the Cowl was totally unnecessary; I mean I thought Battle for the Cowl was okay and a fun ride, but this is the issue that actually deals with Dick deciding to take up the mantle of the Bat. Not much really happens accept for Dick contemplating continuing Bruce’s legacy, and deciding that if he does it has to be in his own way. The artwork by Benes is decent and the emotional moments where Alfred expresses his feeling about the loss of his ‘son’ to Superman were written and drawn beautifully. Winick did a good job overall with the characters. The reason I can’t give this more than 2.5 mark, as it was a pretty good issue, is that I am pissed at the way DC have handled this issue and Battle for the Cowl as a mini. DC could have easily put out one oversized issue compacting both stories and saving the readers money. Having said that I am looking forward to the next issue and where Winick takes this story.

Deadpool # 11 – 5 out of 5

I just really enjoyed this as it was just so much fun. The jokes were laugh out loud and even though sometimes corny and obvious Deadpool as a character gets away with it. This issue pretty is much a continuation of the Bullseye vs. Deadpool dust up with a psychotic butcher thrown into the mix for Deadpool to deal with in a rather gruesome way. There are also some very funny flashbacks of the two main characters as children at school which were hilarious. Paco Medina’s pencils are just great and so much fun, I think he is just really suited to this book. Lots of action+ lots of laughs = great issue. Next issue will see the conclusion to this arc and the way this book is written by Daniel Way I wouldn’t be so sure that Deadpool will come out the victor. Can’t wait.

Newsarama talks to Peter David about X-Factor - See Link

X-Factor's X-Factor: Talking to Peter David - http://www.newsarama.com/comics/060901-PAD-Xfactor.html

One of my favourite comics every month since that great and already classic issue 39. After another cliff hanger ending on issue 43 (SPOILERS!) - with the return of Shatterstar, what the fuck is gonna happen next?!! Who or what the fuck is Cortex!?!?! Looking forward to more on the future Summers Rebellion too. Issue 44 is out 10th June. If you are not buying this title already try and get the back issues from issue 39 onwards. Its only a few issues ago and a great jumping on point.

Hex