By: Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn (Writers), Mike Hawthorne (Artist), Val Staples (Colorist)

The Story: Deadpool tries to kill another person on Vetis list, who is a shapeshifter. While he does so, he encounters other super beings from New York, mainly from Daredevil’s corner.

The Review: Well, this escalated quickly. As the last issue was unfortunately lacking in the charm that had been established in the series so far by giving us less focus on the story, both writers did so once more in this issue. This time, however, a lot of the humor fall a little flat as the writers just don’t really take full advantage of each situation they are in, trying to rush through many characters and jokes possible without letting the reader settle into the humor or the situation.

That’s not to say all the jokes are bad here, as there are some comedy gems, like how Daredevil perceives Deadpool in a way that parodies Mark Waid take on the blind superhero or how Deadpool has to fight a man that misunderstand how the merc with a mouth interpret who he is chasing. There are some moments that genuinely made me laugh and that were both referential to other works or to the general spirit of today.

What didn’t work really well here is that this issue retake the concept of Wade Wilson interacting with the wider Marvel universe, this time doing so with Daredevil and Jessica Jones with varied results. As the story unfolds, we see Deadpool preparing himself to take down another person on Vetis list as he gets nearer to completing his task. As soon as he finds him, there begins a chase scene that take most of the comic with Deadpool being stopped in his pursuit by someone else. This give the comic the routine of him telling a joke, running, encountering a difficulty, telling a joke, beating down the person, telling a joke, running and so on in a cycle.

This, unfortunately, gets old a bit fast after the second time it happens, as the humor seems to take a lot of precedence over the story. Call me an idealist, but the very best stories featuring Deadpool always managed to mix humor and plot progression in a way that felt natural, with both completing each other to give us the perfect Deadpool comic. Here, the story grinds to a halt each time he encounters someone else, with the victim always near when Deadpool is done just to cement that fact. The duo of writers valorizes the humor far more here than action or plot, which can be nice sometimes, but not in a repeated fashion. Still, the plot does progress in a way that may give us yet a satisfying conclusion as the pieces are moved for a final confrontation between Vetis and Deadpool.

However, as the pacing can be a tad slow and the balance between humor and plot is unbalanced, there’s not a lot of bad that can be said about Mike Hawthorne here. Since a lot of the comic is a chase scene with some action thrown in, it needs to be energetic and it needs to move fast, which Hawthorne can do. His characters are always in movement, reacting either to what happens around them in a way that makes it interesting to see or in a believable way in reaction to the action of others. His poses are nice and varied, his backgrounds are clear and detailed and his action scenes are evocative, which makes this a winner in my book in terms of visual storytelling.

Another winner here is Val Staples, who replicates the night feel of a lot of the older Daredevil stories with their luminosity and can make us see the fiery pit of Hell in a way that matches up to our collective imagined version of it. The colors work well in tandem to Mike Hawthorne energy on the book, which is what colorists do quite well and Val Staples is no different.

The Conclusion: While the unbalance between humor and plot and the repetitiveness of its scenes hurt the book, the art and some of its humor saves it from being an unreadable mess. Hopefully, the conclusion will be much stronger.

Grade: C+

Hugo Robberts Larivière

By: Ales Kot (story), Patrick Zircher (art), Jason Keith (colors)

The Story: It takes a crazy to know a crazy.

The Review: It’s a confusing time to be a DC fan right around now.  In the last few months, we’ve seen a multitude of creative changes to its line of titles.*  Some of them have caused me to slap my forehead wearily in the manner of a parent experiencing his child’s latest screw-up (e.g., Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps).  Others have left me disappointed by failing to live up to their potential (e.g., Justice League Dark and Green Arrow).

Only a few have so thoroughly impressed me that I’m willing to overlook the failings of the rest as the hazards of trying something new (as opposed to change for its own sake).  Charles Soule on Swamp Thing is one; Kot on Suicide Squad is another.  In a short time, both writers have clearly established their voices and visions for their respective titles, showing that their thought processes go far beyond a good pitch meeting.

For Kot’s part, he seems to see the subtleties in the Squad’s brain patterns better than anyone who’s come before him.  It’s easy enough to write a sadistic nut, but to write a sadistic nut with a fully-rounded character?  I’d say it’s much more of a challenge, but Kot makes it look pretty easy.  His Squad is effortlessly menacing, each in his or her special way, and none more so than our triumvirate of masterminds: Waller, James Gordon, Jr., and Harley.

The inclusion of Harley in that list is something of an early achievement for Kot.  Even though she’s grown into her own character over time, her adoration for the Joker often overshadows everything else about her, including the intellect she’s supposed to have.  Here, Kot sets her brilliance in the forefront, with her humor (now with fifty percent more irony and self-awareness: “Lookit mah gangsta skeelz.”) an understated way of revealing her competence.

Kot sprinkles this black comedy tastefully throughout the issue, never once inserting it where it might inappropriately defeat the tension of a scene.  As someone who still dabbles in comedy writing every now and again, I appreciate that Kot never resorts to broad gags or puns in his humor.  Some jokes are obvious (Harley, escaping from her cell: “Waller!  I put on my hunting suit!”); others take a moment to sink in (“Trust me.  I’m a doctor,” says Deadshot, killing three guards with several precisely thrown blades); and at least one or two are subtle enough to take a couple reads to grasp (when asked if he’s at least a reasonable loon, Gordon replies, deadpan, “Yes.  I swear.  On my sister’s grave.”).

While the character work is top-notch, the plotting remains a bit too mysterious to make any judgment calls as of yet.  Kot purposely withholds a great deal of information, namely the particulars of the deal Harley, Gordon, and Waller negotiate between them, as well as the identity of the person who hacked into Belle Reve’s computer systems.  Some writers do this and you can quickly sense they’re just trying to hide a bad hand.  With Kot, it’s a bluff so good you feel that the wisest course is to just fold and trust that he’s got a full house ready to play.

Having a strong unknown writer come out of a series creative change is remarkable enough, but to get an effective artist out of it, too, is almost too serendipitous to believe.  Zircher has an art style that can capture the over-the-top scale that befits a superhero comic, but it has enough roughness to sell the idea that this isn’t your typical superhero comic.  He has nearly as much subtlety as Kot as well.  If you look at Harley and Gordon’s showdown, her expression barely changes in each panel, yet her mindset is still so apparent each time.  And I should mention that Suicide Squad also boasts a talented, heretofore unknown (at least to me) colorist.  Keith adds flair and punch to Zircher’s grounded lines, bringing sexy back to the barrel of a gun.

Conclusion: Kot and Zircher have seized control of this title with the deftness of master puppeteers, matching their cast of characters as manipulators of the highest degree.

Grade: A-

- Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: * And that’s not even talking about the spate of cancellations and newly announced books.  The idea of losing Dial H and gaining Superman/Wonder Woman (even though I’m pretty sure I’ll be checking the latter out) in its stead just makes me sick to my stomach.

By: Robert Venditti & Van Jensen (story), Bernard Chang (art), Marcelo Maiolo (colors)

The Story: Nothing like dating the lone survivor of the planet you murdered to add some spice to the romance.

The Review: I must admit, the discovery that Venditti has his name on both of the biggest titles in the Green Lantern franchise filled me with no small amount of consternation.  Green Lantern #21 was a pedestrian read by most standards, despite its attempts to shake-up the status quo and hit the ground running.  To think that issue’s writer will get to plot this series as well (admittedly with Jensen’s help on scripting) is discouraging, to say the least.

I hoped this issue would prove me dead wrong, but instead it only proves me sick-but-rapidly-recovering wrong.  If it functions at all better than GL #21, it’s probably because the choice of ensemble, and what Venditti-Jensen do with them, is slightly more interesting than whatever’s going on with Hal in his starring title.  I applaud the decision to make John Stewart the central figure of the series, with Salaak and Soranik Natu as features; these guys (and especially this girl) have not had much love since the DCU relaunched.

At the very least, the romantic entanglement between John and Yrra has more potential to go someplace new than the overdone Hal and Carol thing.  Yes, the relationship was hastily formed and even now feels inexplicable and creepy—I mean, how does a couple get over the hump of where he’s indirectly responsible for the death of her planet?—but it does have some interesting dramatic possibilities and it forces the usually stoic John to show a little heart.  You just have your doubts whether Yrra is really as enlivening a partner as Guy Gardner once was.

It’s also very interesting to think of Salaak in a more hands-on sort of role within the Corps, now that he’s resigned from his administrative duties.  But the idea of Salaak blaming himself for not catching the Guardians at their dirty work is just excessively martyred; he got entombed for his suspicions, for crying out loud.  So to have him engage in this kind of angst and then pile the scorn and suspicion of his fellow Lanterns on top of that just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.  It doesn’t help that these scenes just sound like Venditti-Jensen ground them out of the drama factory.  “You got some nerve, showing your face,” remarks one Lantern to Salaak.

Salaak, naturally, pleads for understanding.  “I swear I didn’t know the Guardians had turned against us.  How long have we been friends, Shorm?”

“Long enough to know that Salaak sees all, hears all, and knows all,” hisses Shorm before twisting the knife.  “And there is no ‘us,’ Salaak.”

Story-wise, Venditti-Jensen may be on to something, especially if these new recruits from various troubled sectors work out.  What I find inexcusable, though, is Venditti using the luxury of writing both Green Lantern and GLC to cut down on his narrative responsibilities for both.  I had a major complaint about GL #21 just shoving Salaak’s resignation and Kilowog’s placement on us without any explanation, and I definitely have a problem with this issue underplaying Larfleeze’s arrival on Oa simply because Venditti already went big with it in GL.

Chang isn’t the most inventive of artists, but he’s always proven a solid performer for DC, providing a nice balance of both expression and all-out action.  Green Lantern is a franchise that calls for spectacle, which allows Chang to stretch his wings and take some uncharacteristic flights of fancy, like the title splash, with John slamming a construct of a steel beam through the ranks of his enemies while Yrra shields herself from attack with floral constructs.  Maiolo is a kind of rising star among DC colorists, and he’s an old hand at working with Chang’s distinctive art style, so even if this issue doesn’t occupy your mind, it dazzles your eyes.

Conclusion: A slightly better outing than its companion series, but still dampened by an uninspired plot and some questionable storytelling choices.

Grade: C+

- Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: - You know, I really miss the Lanterns Pete Tomasi introduced at the start of the new volume of this series.  Whatever happened to Isamot and Sheriff Mardin or Hannu?  For that matter, I haven’t seen Arisia and Sodam Yat in a while, either.

By: Keith Giffen (Writer), Phil Winslade, Tom Raney, Timothy Green II (Artists), Andrew Dalhouse, Hi-Fi (Colorists)

The Story: Jediah Caul gets in serious lantern mode as some key players in The Hunted gather together. In the backup, Star Hawkins gets hired to find the elusive legend of the longest living Hunted player.

The Review: It’s always a nice thing to see a series get a bit better after a while, seeing just where some of its characters might go and the author get more comfortable with its setting. Progress in both the quality and the plot is something most readers are searching for and it’s good to witness such a thing occurring on a title that needed it so desperately.

It’s a shame though that this title is cancelled, leaving Keith Giffen two more issues after this one to close all his plot points and to give us a conclusion that might make this series worthwhile as an ensemble, as the single issue formats wasn’t exactly kind to this series. It was kind of big, needing a lot of space to explain a lot of its concepts, which were arguably very interesting to see unfold, especially in the way that Giffen illustrated them as pieces of media that the denizens of Tolerance saw each day.

One of its flaws, however, which made it somewhat wobbly in terms of quality, was its large cast, with most of the characters not being defined or at least sympathetic enough. Sure, we had Captain K’rot as a comic relief, Jaime Reyes as the under-utilized human point-of-view to the event or Stealth as the veteran and survivor. However, there was no hero or even a protagonist that the readers could actually root for or follow more than the others to grab their interest. Jediah Caul seemed to be the one to fill that role, yet we never knew enough of his character and morality to actually develop some kind of empathy for him.

This all change here as we discover just how he became a green lantern, which is actually a very nice twist on the typical lantern story. Knowing just how he got the job of protecting a whole space sector, it makes it all the nobler for him to actually use his power for good, which does deepen his character considerably. With some short scenes and some development, Giffen managed to give us a lead that is actually interesting to follow now in Jediah Caul as we see him try to save those people trapped in Brainiac clutches.

It’s also Jediah Caul who gives us the most development this series has seen in a while, as his new grasp on his lantern role and his battle against Brainiac (which is well made) form some kind of catalyst for what might turn out to be a pretty action-filled climax. Players move as they see what Jediah has done and it is fun to see the book try to find some kind of unity after this many issues.

Unfortunately, those moments of unity aren’t the most interesting, as we see some of the other characters in the background react in various ways to the news and some interacting with each other to get the ball rolling. A lot of these moments are rife with heavy exposition, to get us to the point when it comes to where these characters are and what they do. Giffen might pepper things up with a joke or two in their dialogue, but these moments are much less interesting than the new focus on Jediah Caul.

As much as the story and some characters progressed, we unfortunately have the very same problem when it comes to the art, as Phil Winslade and Tom Raney don’t match up very well with each other. While the Brainiac scenes are done well by Winslade, mainly because his backgrounds are more lively and his machines are pretty, the way he draws the characters is a tad too rough-looking, which clash with Raney and his slicker figures. The coloring by Andrew Dalhouse and Hi-Fi is top notch however, as the green energy and the various techno babbles are colored in a light hue that gives a sci-fi and cosmic feel that suits the book.

However, there is also a backup feature in this book, which used to be occupied by Larfleeze. Now, the story is a bit more connected to The Hunted storyline as it deals with Star Hawkins and Ilda, the robot programmed with the personality of his ex-wife. Right there, the tone change as it gives us a mix of humor and mystery, as the character of Star Hawkins is a private investigator that is prone to some of the cliché of the profession. Right there, the story is told in a non-linear way that manages to bring some action, a direction and a sense of the relation between Star Hawkins and Ilda, which is a fairly humorous one. Many of what we see here is setup, yet it is effective anyway in telling us what we need to know about where it’s going and why we should be interested in whom these characters are.

The art, however, for this backup is very solid, as it is done by Timothy Green II. While he isn’t really good at making a diverse number of facial expressions for his characters, making them look a bit cold, he is pretty thorough with the rest. His panels are full of details in a way that does not overwhelm the readers and liven things up. He is capable to render action and to work well with the visual design that Tom Raney did for the world Keith Giffen imagined. Hi-Fi also does help to bring this lively vision with a subtler touch, not giving us bombastic colors, yet some that are satisfactory to the eyes.

The Conclusion: With a fun little backup and a new focus on Jediah Caul in term of plot progression and catalyst to the events in the story, this title has become a bit better. Even though there is still an uneven division and a clash with the art styles of Raney and Winslade, it is still an enjoyable comic nonetheless.

Grade: B-

Hugo Robberts Larivière

By: Joshua Dysart, Duane Swierczynski (Writers), Clayton Henry (Artist), Brian Reber (Colorist)

The Story: Bloodshot heals from his encounter with Toyo Harada, while the Renegades arrive in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, so does H.A.R.D corps…

The Review: I am a bit torn with this issue. In many ways, it does a lot of things really well, which does bode good things for the Valiant universe in terms of quality, yet it also does some mistakes that bring some scenes down in term of pure enjoyment.

Beginning with the good stuff, I can fairly say that Joshua Dysart brings his great characterization from Harbinger here. With the issue heavily featuring the Renegades, each of them brings with them their unique voice that makes them fun to follow, with Peter being always so torn with what he should do or Faith always being the optimistic and cheerful one. He even brings some good characterization to the new characters introduced that are parts of the H.A.R.D corps, which makes them a lot more interesting to follow.

A lot of these characterization pass through the dialogue, which is excellent. There is a good balance between humor, exposition and character depth that show the seriousness of the plot, yet without making it too dark. Whether it’s the new character Shakespeare throwing existential and poetic lines or Bloodshot reacting sarcastically to the chaos happening around him with the psiot children, both Swierczinsky and Dysart makes this easy and fun to follow.

As fun some of the scenes are, a lot of what makes this issue good is the action and the gravitas around it. When H.A.R.D corps arrives in Vegas, you can see quite quickly why they had been called to solve this situation and how they will deal with those out-of-control kids with superpowers. It’s a rather harsh scene, yet it does drive home the fact that what is happening is not just a silly little conflict without any repercussions and that this is how it would perhaps happen in a more realistic setting.

The pseudo-realism of the Valiant universe is also brought home in several scenes as well, whether when Bloodshot needs to ingest proteins to activate his nanites, how it hurts when the H.A.R.D corps members reactivates their machinery in their brain or how a military operation would react to such dangerous children. We also get some more explanation about how the various powers work in scientific terms, which really reinforce one of the key differences of the Valiant universe. While realism can sometime be seen as a burden rather than strength in some stories, it does help here by bringing a certain sense of dread and importance in some key moments. It is that very importance that makes this crossover successful so far as I do believe that events here will actually alter how both the series involved won’t be the same after the last issue of Harbinger Wars.

However, the big weakness of this issue would be the pacing, as it takes a good number of pages before we reach the actually interesting parts of the issue, where these aforementioned parts really shine. There are a lot of pages attributed to connecting several of the plot points and some of the characters together without bringing any excitement or any entertaining or important point for the reader to latch onto. In short, there’s a lot of build-up to these big scenes that move us away from the interesting concepts and characters. It makes sense for them to be here, yet they feel obligatory rather than fun, which is not exactly the best way to go when trying to give some exposition to the readers.

Still, as much as the pacing may be off, we have to be thankful for Clayton Henry’s work here. What he does is help a lot of the characterization of Dysart and Swierczynski thanks to his large repertory of facial expressions. Thanks to the poses, the faces and many other elements, he is able to bring home many of the emotional inputs the script is trying to bring across. The action also benefits from this talent, as the impact of several key happenings in this issue is quite high thanks to his choice of panelling and his artistic pacing.

As good as an artist he is, a lot of the tone is achieved by Brian Reber, thanks to his colorization. Using a lot of somber tones and degradation toward that particular effect, he does convince us that this is not exactly a light type of story. Working in tandem with everyone, he brings the weirder aspect of some of these powers and the repercussions of several of the action with his palette.

The Conclusion: While it may have some severe pacing issues, this issue nonetheless brings some great characterization, dialogue and a good art team with Henry and Reber doing their stuff quite well in accordance to the tone set by Dysart and Swierczynski.

Grade: B

Hugo Robberts Larivière

By: Scott Snyder & Rafael Albuquerque (story), Albuquerque (script & art), Dave McCaig (colors) and Jared K. Fletcher (letters)

The Story: American Vampire returns with an extra-length one-shot about a young couple who run into some vampires.

Review (with SPOILERS): This was a really good issue.  Given that AV has been away for a few months and isn’t quite ready to return as a regular, monthly comic series, it’s really smart to give readers this appetizer to remind us (a) what a special series this is and (b) of some of the general themes of the series.  This issue is also a great sampler if you haven’t been reading AV and want to give it a try.  No previous knowledge of the series is needed.  Read it, and – if you like it – I’m sure when the series restarts in a couple months, it will be pretty new-reader friendly.

The story itself is really sharp.  It follows a young couple in love, who are trying to raise enough money to get married.  Mostly they seem to raise money via minor pickpocketing and through this, they run into a next of nasty vampires.  Along the way, they run into a young, abused boy who has a knack for pointing out wicked people, so they are able to satisfy their blood lust Dexter-style.  But, eventually they realize what monsters they have become and come up with a clever – and heartbreaking – plan to end things.

Also featuring in this story is the 1950s-era vampire hunter, Travis Kidd.  We met Travis back during the Death Race story arc (issues #22 through #25) and he’s just as cool and capable now as he was then.  Although Travis isn’t the main actor in this issue, it’s nice to see that there are plans to keep him as part of the ongoing story.  The only “new” character in this issue who might become part of the cannon is the little boy.  I’m not sure what use the 1950s-era vampire story would have for a little boy, but knowing the way the Snyder & Albuquerque have enjoyed arcing all these various AV stories together, perhaps this boy will have a role to play once the story reaches the 70s or 80s.  I mean, at some point, the world has to run out of descendants of John Book, right?

At a deeper level, I appreciated that this particular story explored how horrible it would be for a good person to be turned into a vampire.  Much of the history of AV has revolved around the lovers Henry and Pearl and how Pearl has stayed young (and vampiric) as Henry has aged.  I always wondered, “Why not just turn Henry into a vampire?  Then he and Pearl could both spend forever with the person they love.  That sounds great, right?”  Well, this issue explores that a little bit.  At first, you might think you can only eat bad people who deserve it, but there will come a day when it doesn’t work out that way and you’ll be forced to eat a true innocent.  I guess I’m not wholly convinced that a vampire couldn’t plan ahead a little bit better, but I see the point.

This issue is also interesting because it gives artist Rafael Albuquerque a chance to script an issue.  It’s always a little weird when readers act like a series such as AV is wholly conceived by the writer and the artist is just presented some scripts: “DRAW IT MONKEY BOY!”  Often the artist has input on the story too, so it’s nice to see Albuquerque get to stretch his legs a little and get formal credit for a script.  He does a really nice job and – honestly – this is probably the best conceivable environment for an artist to take a first step into scripting since he’s being backed up by capable editors and a co-creator who teaches creative writing at Columbia.  We’ve all see series from less-edited publishers (i.e. Image) where a long-time artist takes a turn as a writer and we think, “He could have used an editor….”  What really makes Albuquerque’s writing function is that he keeps it simple and succinct.  And this isn’t even his native language–bravo!

And the art is glorious–but we expected that.  The thing that always stands out to me about Albquerque’s art is how much emotion he captures.  I’ve always given him a lot of credit for drawing vicious and primal-looking vampires.  And he is great at that.  But he is just as adept at showing us two people in love.  It’s a subtle thing, but consider the two main characters: We meet them when they’re dancing in a club and you can just kinda tell that they’re in love.  There are subtle things about the way they stand and the way they look at each other that tell you they are a real couple who wants to get married and not two people who just met each other and want to fool around in the parking lot.  It’s a delicate difference in the art, but it makes all the difference to the story.  The story just wouldn’t work if the protagonists are two randy kids.

Conclusion: A wonderful issue.  Whether you are a longtime AV reader who needs to wet your whistle OR someone who hasn’t ever read a page of AV, there is a lot to recommend this issue.

Grade: A

- Dean Stell

By: Brian Wood (Writer), Carlos D’Anda (Artist), Gabe Eltaeb (Colorist)

The Story: Luke goes to save Leia and gets much more involved in the mission that Leia is involved in.

The Review: Did you ever read something that you know is crafted well, yet you could never truly get into for some reason? A novel or a comic that you can definitely see the qualities and the hard work put into, yet did absolutely nothing for you? This is what Star Wars by Brian Wood is doing for me right now.

There are several qualities to this book, like the willingness to stick to the mythos as much as possible, without being redundant. By incorporating some newer characters and giving us a plotline that can be easily placed between the first two films (the original ones, mind you), Brian Wood show inventiveness that does him credit. It can be hard to write in such a revered era while adding new stuff in it without sounding sacrilegious, which I do believe he manage fairly well.

Another thing that he does well is writing down the voice of those characters while respecting who they are in the movies. He may takes some liberties with some of these characters, like Leia, but he does so in a way that make senses, with Leia having a strong sense of duty that grew out of her desire to fight against the Empire, or Luke’s inability to do nothing while others may be in danger, even though it means disobeying orders. He writes them with the voices they should have and that’s an excellent point in favor of this comic.

However, what makes this rather boring, as blunt as it sounds, is the inconstant quality with the character scenes. Let’s just say that Han Solo or Dath Vader’s scenes are much more entertaining thanks to several factors, the first of them being their general direction and their pacing. As Leia’s overall mission is to uncover who the spy is in the rebellion, which is a nice direction, giving us intrigue and a general spy vibe that mesh itself well with the universe. The problem, however, is that we haven’t seen one iota of progress on that particular mission since the first issue, as the mystery only deepens itself. Meanwhile, the Han Solo and Darth Vader already did advance by introducing new characters and giving us a new direction for their stories.

This issue, unfortunately, majorly deal with Leia’s side of the story, easily the weakest of the bunch as we see just how her raid and her tactics to find the traitor has failed. Being wounded severely, most of the action gravitates around the escape of her squadron and Luke’s attempt at saving the situation. While they do give us a bit of action and show some connection between some of the characters, it also slows down the pacing and the progression of the story considerably. While there are one or two events that occurs in this issue, they do not feel very significant or even that interesting, as they are handed to us during some heavy exposition.

Considering some of the weaknesses of this issue, I feel rather sorry for Carlos D’Anda, who I can see is a talented artist. Drawing such a venerated universe like Star Wars must be a huge thing, yet the script does give him the opportunity to show us what he can do, as most of the panels and each page looks a lot alike. Sure, the panelling is different each time, yet they show a lot of the same stuff: talking faces with matching uniforms, spaceships that are replicas of each other and the depth of space. Sure, he does tries to pepper things up by showing us different angles and to show us smaller details, but in the end a lot of what we isn’t very visually diverse, making for a rather dull experience for art enthusiast. Of course, he draws the Star Wars designs to perfection and his characters are rather expressive, yet he seems to be much better when dealing with the other characters and their scenes than with Leia and her plotline.

Gabe Eltaeb is unfortunately stuck with the same bad luck, as he can do some terrific stuff as seen in previous issues, yet here he seems to be obligated to repeat the same coloring tricks over and over. In a scene featuring people talking to each other in the same room for several pages, there is not much room for diversity in colors, especially with a heavy focus on the depth of space.

The Conclusion: While this issue does some good things in its characterization and in its respect toward the universe it emulates, it is also visually repetitive and slow in story progression, which makes for a rather unimpressive reading experience. Dropped.

Grade: C

Hugo Robberts Larivière

By: Christopher Yost (Writer), David Lopez (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: Mysterio is loose in New York as he has gathered the attention of both Spider-Ock and the Punisher. Yet, is everything all that it seems?

The Review: Avenging Spider-Man is a dead title, as it will soon be replaced by another one, called Superior Spider-Man Team-Up (a book I shall review). As the title concludes, Christopher Yost gives us what he did best on this title: single issues story that had a beginning, middle and a conclusion. Here, we see Spider-Ock dealing with a new Mysterio, as per the whole ‘’Sinister Six’’ deal his story had while he also deals with Frank Castle. However, does this single story make for a good ending point toward the renumbering and the newer title this series will get?

The short answer would be no, as the story itself does not really deal clearly with a new status quo or even with new methods until the last page and it’s not exactly something naturally added to the story. However, this does not make this issue bad in any way, as the story itself is still fairly enjoyable with some twists and turns and some good interactions from Spider-Ock with other characters from the Marvel universe.

The character this month is a pretty popular one: the Punisher. Here, Chris Yost makes Otto tackles this vigilante as he show us how this newer Spider-Man envision Frank Castle, creating a few parallels in the story. It is smartly done, as the two characters are rather brutal in their methods, yet they do differentiate in key ways. Using what happened in Superior Spider-Man, Yost show us a side of Punisher that isn’t always shown in most of his apparitions, considering most writers tend to make sure he doesn’t interact with the Marvel universe and its cast of characters. His vision that he has of Spider-Man, has seen by Frank Castle, is rather fascinating, as it is not outright said, but subtly referenced during their encounters in the issue. While it is not the most important aspect of the issue, it is well-handled and it does show that Yost has a handle on Frank Castle.

What is perhaps a tad weaker would be the story itself, who tries to do too many stuff at once, presenting us the mystery of the newer Mysterio, the clash with the Punisher and the identity of who is giving away old villains identity. Yost tries to connect everything together, with the result that not everything connects organically, giving us a story that moves perhaps a bit too fast for us to appreciate the better aspects it has. Many scenes with the Punisher feel like they slow the enigma behind Mysterion to a crawl, as if Yost had to include him in order to still make this a team-up book of some sort. While they are entertaining, they do not particularly contribute to the plot at hand, which is a shame.

What’s not a shame at all, though, would be the artist for this issue, David Lopez, who draws with a good deal of energy the adventure and the action related to the adventure of this superior Spider-Man. Replacing Marco Checchetto, he proves to be very different, yet equally effectice when it comes to the more kinetic action of Otto and the Spider-Man corner of the Marvel universe, with the many poses he gives to Spider-Man. Angry, acrobatic, ponderous, he can draw them all quite well, giving us the lack of facial features the mask unfortunately give to the character sometimes. He also has a good design sense with panels, giving us inventive pages like the way Otto sees with his mask on or his emphasis on the position Spider-Man has during some of the action scenes.

Rachelle Rosenberg, however, is a bit weaker here, with a much more subdued palette this time around. While it is decent enough and does not bring the story down in any way, the colorization is never rich enough to elevate it to new heights. Perhaps it’s the script itself that does not leave much to the imagination, yet she can do much better.

The Conclusion: Having some problem juggling with several of the elements of the plots and with weaker colorization than usual, the issue nonetheless has some quality with the art of David Lopez and Chris Yost handle on the Punisher.

Grade: C+

Hugo Robberts Larivière

By: Gail Simone (story), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Jonathan Glapion (inks), Blond (colors)

The Story: Babs proves that you don’t need a Bat on your chest to be a hero in Gotham.

The Review: Together again.  Though it happens rarely, it’s not unprecedented for me to pick up a title again after it’s been Dropped.  Simone and I went through a pretty tragic parting of the ways on Batgirl, but my recent pick-up of The Movement made me curious as to the state of by far her most popular series.  We may have had our differences, but the fact remains that I still respect Simone, enough to give Batgirl another shot.

I confess I was also heartened by the issue’s opening conversation between Babs and Dick.  It’s natural and familiar and full of warmth and heart, qualities that Batgirl has been missing for a long time.  Granted, Simone’s not really the most effusive of writers—if her works say anything about her outlook on life, it’s that she may need some therapy—and even here, there’s a bittersweetness to the exchange that’s a little bit stronger on the bitter than the sweet.

Although she rejects it in the end, Babs is not unaffected by Dick’s absolute encouragement and support.*  She might say that “no one can help me right now,” but the moment she hangs up the phone, there’s new energy in her determination to do the right thing, even if she doesn’t wear the Bat anymore.  Or maybe it’s just the discovery of other talents besides pure hand-to-hand combat.  Oracle fans may never get their favorite wheelchair-bound heroine back, but it’s good to see echoes of her still survive:

“Dad changes his access codes routinely.  Took me all of ten minutes to crack the database.  I might actually be getting good at this stuff.  Huh.”

It’s this combination of both her technical and natural skills* that makes her special within the Bat-family and allows her to save a singer from the new Ventriloquist, who is accurately described as one of the “creepiest kidnappers I’ve ever met.”  There’s an instinctive fear we have for puppets, and Simone becomes a puppet-master herself as she plays expertly with that fear.  It’s not just “Ferdie’s” independent movement begging the question of his nature (“Telekinesis?  Magic?  Possession?”); it’s also Shauna Belzer’s disturbing relationship with him, blurring the lines as to who’s in control of whom.

For all that, along with the nightmare buildup in Shauna’s house, the actual confrontation with the Ventriloquist is a bit anticlimactic.  While Batgirl’s struggle with the animated corpses of Shauna’s parents is both intense and horrifying (“We just love her so much.  You’ll love her, too.”  “Once you get to know her!”), it only takes a well-chosen Batarang and punch to triumph over the real villains.  It’s too bad, too, that we don’t get a better understanding as to how the Ventriloquist ticks before Batgirl unceremoniously takes her down.

Simone does make up for it by exploring other interesting avenues.  With Scott Snyder’s conception of James, Jr. and Simone’s own work of Babs’ mother, the Gordons are now one of the most complete and developed families in the DCU.  The thing I find most compelling is how despite the fact that they’re all alive (as far as one of them knows, anyway) and deeply attached to each other, they’re as broken and lonely as the other members of the Bat-family.  There’s a special kind of tragedy surrounding them that again distinguishes Babs from, say, Bruce or Dick.  But lest you think this issue’s all woe, I can reassure you that you get, if not the “fairy tale ending” Mrs. Gordon thinks is out of reach, a promisingly amusing one.

Another reason to have more confidence in the series now is having Pasarin on artistic duties.  After all his time drawing cosmic adventures in Green Lantern Corps, it’s a nice change of pace to see him working on something more down to Earth, especially since he’s such a human sort of artist anyway.  Besides a great attention to detail (I love how Alysia holds Bab’s fresh snickerdoodles with both sets of fingertips), Pasarin brings complex emotion to the characters in a way that Ardian Syaf rarely did: Gordon attempting stoicism while dealing with the grief of his wife leaving a second time, Babs scrunching up her face as she tries not to let Dick’s love break her down, Shauna’s insane jealousy when Ferdie remarks on other women.

Conclusion: An issue that reads like Simone has finally figured out how to write Batgirl without trying too hard, boosted by strong, grounded artwork from Pasarin.

Grade: B

- Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: * His line about how he doesn’t take offense to being called a ballerina because the “[t]oughest chick I know is a ballerina,” is probably one of the best lines Simone’s written on this series thus far.

* It’s been so long since anyone used Babs’ photographic memory that I almost forgot it exists.

By: Zeb Wells (Writer), Joe Madureira (Artist), Peter Steigerwald (Colorist)

The Story: Elektra is elusive, Wolverine might have anger issues and Kingpin is shady. Also includes ninjas.

The Review: I had my doubts about continuing this series. After the last disappointing issue, I wasn’t sure if this title could keep my interest. However, I was quickly reminded that this title had kind of become some kind of home for writers and artists to do original stories featuring the ol’ canucklehead when I saw that it was both Zeb Wells and Joe Madureira that took hold of the title as a follow-up to Frank Cho’s tenure. Does this duo make a better argument for such a title when Frank Cho didn’t do so well in retrospective?

Surprisingly, they do give us a story that focuses a bit more on Wolverine, connecting a bit more with whom the character and what he does. The story starts with Wolverine being angry, out of his mind as we’re thrown to the end of a conflict where he took some big hits. As the story goes from here, we see a bit how he interacts with some of his Avengers team-up and with one of his always entertaining team-up partner: Spider-Man. Considering the lack of importance of continuity for this story, we are given the real Peter Parker version here, which could be considered a nice bonus for those not on board with the whole Spider-Ock thing, as we see his usual uncomfortable shenanigans and interactions with Wolverine, which are always entertaining.

What is also entertaining is the whole ninja/Asian aspect of the story, which always works quite well with Wolverine ever since the Chris Claremont/Frank Miller classic story. A team-up with Elektra later and we see a promise of action as we get some small little twists in the plot, while it sets itself quite well for what will soon follow.

However, there are some very small faults in this comic, the first of them being a complete lack in subtlety. Sure, it is no big deal when we are set up for a big action comic, yet a lot of what we see here is setup to said big action that will no doubt come in the next issue at least. It is interesting setup, yet it is done in a rather hammy way, with some scenes featuring characters basically saying ‘’I am an evil being’’ or ‘’we are so going to be traitors in the next issues’’. There’s nothing wrong with being a tad predictable if it’s handled in an entertaining way, yet it’s not exactly something that builds up a compelling mystery. Accepting that it’s probably gonna end up being a big dumb action book; it could have done much worse.

It could also have done much worse in its choice of artist, as we see Joe Madureira return here, which is arguably the big draw of this arc. While I am not the most familiar with his style, I do know that it was most popular in the 90’s as he used to draw the X-Men during that period (though I’m perhaps mistaken in that aspect). His style seems a lot like Ed McGuiness as in a lot of the traits from each character are a tad exaggerated, most notably the muscles, albeit Madureira seems a tad more manga-inspired. Nonetheless, it is pretty expressive and it is a perfect match for such an unsubtle, yet Asian-themed story. The more muscular characters are very distinctive in comparison to the slimmer character, with Wolverine being a lot bulkier than Spider-Man and Elektra, but each characters are very expressive thanks to the body language and the facial features. The poses of each characters in each situation are clear, thanks to the precise work of Madureira and his designs for the original characters from the script are pretty interesting, especially those in the last page. Clearly, this script was suited just for him.

As great as Madureira is, I believe he would be close to nothing without Peter Steigerwald, who provides the colors for this issue. The shadows, the night-effect, the sunset and all those light effects are perfectly captured in the background and on the characters in such a way that it is almost impossible to properly describe. His large selection of warm colors when dealing with the Hands and the more Asian inspired scenes works quite well in setting the tone of aggression, but also of the tone of danger, which suits the characters and the circumstances in a great fashion.

The Conclusion: While it is by no mean subtle in its plot or in its art, there’s a lot of energy given in the right place. With Joe Madureira and Steigerwald rocking the art, it is worth the time to see if you like where this action-oriented storyline might go.

Grade: B

Hugo Robberts Larivière