We at WCBR all get more comics that we could possibly review in full every week. Rather than let them go unmentioned, we run though the remainder of our pile here.
Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #4 – This time hopping series continues and puts Logan and Spidey in yet another awesome situation: Logan is thrust into Spidey’s youth as his wrestling partner (i.e. after the spider bite, but before Uncle Ben’s death) whereas Spidey is sent to Logan’s youth. Of course, Logan was a nasty feral forest monster back then. Aaron writes both of these characters really, really well. I’m amazed at how well he writes a humorous Spidey considering the man also writes Scalped and PunisherMax. Kubert shows off about 3 different art styles in this book and they’re all pretty. Oh and we also learned the identity of the big-bad. Any old-time X-fan will be pleased. One thing that helps this comic is that although it is supposedly not in continuity, the fact that it is a time-jumping tale makes it feel like it could be. Grade: A- — Dean Stell
Incognito: Bad Influences #2 – Damn do I wish that Brubaker could sell enough copies of Incognito and Criminal that he could create a couple more series of this quality level and quit screwing around with normal Marvel properties to pay the bills. This is a really good series and you should be buying it. The set-up for this is that Zack Overkill (a former supervillain who had his witness protection spot ruined in the first Incognito), is being sent by the good guys back into the lions den: They need him to pretend to go back to being a supervillain. So, what we end up with here is very much a double-agent, espionage tale as you can see that Zack is sorely tempted to just go back to being bad…because being bad is fun. Meanwhile, the other supervillains trust Zack about as far as they can throw him. Sean Phillips and Val Staples (again) provide stellar art. Grade: B+ — Dean Stell
Echoes #1 – We need more horror comics. If you’re looking for a promising one to pick up, you could do a lot worse than the first issue of Echoes by Joshua Hale Fialkov. In this issue we meet a ~30-year-old man who is going through a big transition in his life: His wife is about to give birth just as his father is about to succumb to Alzheimer’s. While sitting with his father right before he dies, his non-lucid father jabbers something about how he must search the basement of their old home because that’s where he hid the bodies of all the little girls. Whoa! WHAT!?!? Chilling, huh? Rahsan Ekedal lends very atmospheric B&W art. The only thing holding it back from a higher grade is that they played up the young man’s stress a little much and it made parts of the comic confusing. Pretty sure that was intentional, but I think the basic story is good enough that you don’t need to screw around. Grade: B+ — Dean Stell
Osborn #2 – This is a very solid comic book detailing Osborn’s time in some off-the-grid prison where he is being held until someone decides what to do with him OR he rots… whichever comes first. Of course, Osborn is not one to stay locked up and as he breaks out he brings the other weirdoes of the prison with him. So, neat story by Kelly Sue DeConnick and great art by Emma Rios. The only fault with this series is that I don’t see the purpose of the Norah Winter’s story. I like Norah as a supporting character in ASM, but after two issues we haven’t seen why pages should be devoted to Norah yet. It seems like every bit of the story featuring Norah could be told via the more interesting Osborn story thread. Grade: B — Dean Stell
Elephantmen #29 – This issue is just what I needed. After getting a little spotty with the release schedule and featuring a story that I didn’t love, I was actually starting to fall out of love with Elephantmen. This issue isn’t an “A”, but it is the first issue in awhile where I wasn’t slightly confused about the story and it also focuses in on two of my favorite characters in the series: Vanity Case and Miki. I think this series is at its best when it is juxtaposing the nature of the Elephantmen against humans and that contrast works better when you have a beauty-and-the-beast kind of setting with a small, dainty woman with the huge, lumbering brute with the dark past. A bonus here is that we get Marian Chuchland art and that is always a good thing. Grade: B — Dean Stell
Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis #4 – For some reason, I’m having a much harder time following the plot of this comic than Astonishing Spidey-Wolvie that also came out this week. The story is very basic as the X-Men fight with cyborgs from another world who have used ghost box technology to chase a world-jumping mutant. Wolverine takes an all-time smashing/dismembering in this one. However, the biggest problem I had with this issue is that it feels completely out of continuity and I just don’t have a lot of time for that type of comic from Marvel these days. If I’m plunking down my $$$ for a Marvel comic, I want it to “matter” or else I’d rather spend that money on some weird indie comic that might show me something new. The one kudo I do want to toss out for this issue is regarding Armor. I love the relationship between Logan and her that has grown through the Astonishing X-Men line and wish we could have some of that in the normal X-titles. Logan is more interesting when he has a young, female mutant to contrast against. Grade: C — Dean Stell
X-23 #4 – I’ve really tried to like this comic and I want to like it because I enjoy the concept of X-23. [Oddly, I hate Daken, but…oh well.] Anyway, this comic just isn’t working for me. The thing that I enjoy about X-23 is that she is a cold-blooded killer in the body of a teenage girl. Kinda like Damian Wayne in the Bat-books, but without the sense of humor. But, we don’t get enough of that flavor and we don’t get enough action. Then, the final straw is that Gambit shows up. I guess when the X-writers have their fantasy draft, someone has to get stuck with Gambit. On the plus side, the comic looks pretty. I wish I could say that I’m dropping this title completely, but I’ll be back in a few months because Ryan Stegman is drawing an arc and I love his art. Grade: C- — Dean Stell
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Conclusion