This Week’s Reviews: 3rd wk April 2009

Like I’m going to take a week and not read my comics. Heck, I still have comics up there thanks to my back problems from three weeks ago up there waiting for me. We just keep getting a lot of comics in every week. Next week is only listing one comic thus far, but that might change by Monday. However, I have five comics read and ready to review, so the vacation’s over. Back to work.

Spoiler free at ComiXology, spoiler filled below.

Transformers: All Hail Megatron #10

PUBLISHER: IDW Publishing (April 2009)

WRITER: Shane McCarthy

ARTISTS: Guido Guidi & Emiliano Santalucia

COLORISTS: Josh Burcham & James Brown

LETTERER: Neil Uyetake

EDITORS: Andy Schmidt & Denton J. Tipton

Back to the Decepticons this issue. Megatron has constructed his “Space Bridge”, which when completed will allow him to established a network with all the planets they’ve conquered. Then the moment he’s really been waiting for begins: Starscream’s uprising. This version of Starscream claims to have looked up to Megatron, but the leader has lost his path, and Starscream wants to get the cause back on track. He’s not alone, as a number of other Decepticons seem to see things from Starscream’s perspective. Megatron finds himself tackling Devastator, but the humans are launching their attack. Meanwhile, on Cybertron, The Autobots prepare their last defense against the Swarm, when Omega Supreme drops in and helps take the rest out. Now the Autobots are on their way to Earth as well.

What they got right: Shane McCarthy has finally given me the Starscream I’ve waited years for! Ignoring his namesakes in spin-off shows like the so-called “Unicron Trilogy”, cartoon Starscream has always been a coward who declares himself the new Decepticon leader every time he shoot a spitball at Megatron or the latter sneezes. Marvel Starscream under Budiansky was a sneaky coward, who easily manipulated everyone to gain ultimate power. Under Furman, he had the worst aspects of both version during the Marvel run, a sadistic psycho during the Dreamwave run (“it’s all about pain” my foot), and fared little better during his previous IDW run. Shane’s Starscream, however, takes the best of Budiansky’s version, and throws in a bit more charisma. He convinces certain Decepticons to start a revolt Toon-Starscream could only dream of, and (if his argument towards Megatron is legit) actually cares about the Decepticon cause, feeling Megatron has lost his way in pursuit of his own power. (Sidebar: I want Movie Starscream to give a similar speech to Megatron, who abandoned the Decepticons to gain the All-Spark’s power for himself.) The art between the artists match up better than the other series, but we don’t see any humans this issue, and it’s good art.

What they got wrong: Either a future issue or the next “clean-up” miniseries, Coda, needs to clean the Combiner situation. Here we have the Constructicons forming Devastator, but it’s already been established that the technology was unstable, and only used on one group, not the Constructicons. So how can they form up now? Otherwise, everything works just right.

Recommendation: The AHM staff are finally beginning to find a balance between story and action. Still needs some tweaking, but it’s still my favorite Transformer story in a long time.

DC Super Friends #14

PUBLISHER: DC Comics/Johnny DC (June 2009)

WRITER: Sholly Fisch

PENCILERS: Scott Shaw with Mike Kazaleh

INKER: Terry Beatty

COLORS: Heroic Age

LETTERER: Sal Cipriano

EDITOR: Rachel Gluckstern

When Kanjar Ro uses a gong to freeze all humans on Earth, Green Lantern calls Ch’p, the chimpmunk-esque Lantern from planet K’lven, to bring together the Super Pets Krypto, Streaky and Beppo, as well as Ace the Bathound, Wonder Woman’s favorite Kanga, Jumpa, and Aquaman’s pet octopus, Topo. When Ro calls in his army of ants, Beppo uses a device taken from Grodd in an earlier issue to change the humans into apes. Together the ape-ified Super Friends and their pets defeat Ro and his ants.

What they got right: It’s the little touches that make this comic. Although Krypto, Streaky, and Ace don’t necessarily have to match their counterparts from the Krypto the Superdog cartoon, Ace does get the same costume and glider. Despite the cover, Jumpa didn’t get her own tiara, but just the fact that they used a Kanga, the Paradise Island answer for horses since the early issues, is nice, although most of the target audience won’t get the reference. I admit no knowledge of Topo, and I only know Beppo existed but otherwise I wouldn’t have missed him. I also know nothing about Ch’p, but he’s well used.

What they got wrong: Considering the demographic, nothing I can note. Personally, I don’t think Beppo was needed, but that’s a personal preference issue.

Recommendation: Great for kids, and not bad for the kid-at-heart.

The Phantom: Generations #1

STORY: Ben Raab

ARTIST:Pat Quinn

COLORIST: Renato Guerra

PHANTOM GROUP EDITOR: Mike Bullock

PHANTOM CONSULTANT: Ed Rhoades

COVER ART: Doug Klauba

COVER COLORS: Jason Millet

COVER DESIGN AND LOGOS: Anthony Schiavino

PREPRESS AND LAYOUT: Erik Enervold

Written as if photocopied from the Chronicles themselves, we get a tale from the first Phantom, who is now a father. This happy news (and the sleepless nights to follow) is interrupted months later by Christina’s (the Phantom’s wife) Norse cousin, who informs her that her parents have been murdered, leaving her as the only heiress. Then her son is kidnapped as the Phantom is drawn away by a conflict…a conflict started by her cousin’s bodyguard. Nils was responsible for it all, to get his hand on their estate. Now he plans to kill Christina and use her son to control the family fortune. The Phantom is forced to kill both the cousin and bodyguard, only to learn that Nils was part of the Singh Brotherhood.

What they got right: We don’t get to hear about the original Phantom enough, so it’s nice to see them again return to the legend that started it all. The story is written as if by Christopher Standish’s hand, with the text in handwriting and dialog of the time period. At first the King’s English made it difficult to wrap my head around, but as the story goes on it drew me in and kept me for the length of the story. “Christopher” sets the scene nicely, including during the fights with Nils and Audun. We also get an origin for the old saying “he who sees the true face of the Phantom will die horribly”. (Luckily his wife is a woman. 🙂 ) The art is also the usual excellence.

What they got wrong: This is…what, the third time we visit the Phantom I in Moonstone’s comics, and we still only get an illustrated text story rather than a full-fledged comic book? It was neat before, but the next First Phantom story should be a “normal” comic, so we can actually see him in action. Also, why connect Nils to the Singh Brotherhood, unless it’s part of a connecting narrative to this maxi-series?

Recommendation: I hope the entire series, which is supposed to focus on a different early Phantom, isn’t a bunch of text stories. I would probably read a novel based on the Phantom Chronicles, but I paid for a comic book.

Transformers: Maximum Dinobots #5 (of 5)

PUBLISHER: IDW (April 2009)

WRITER: Simon Furman

ARTISTS: Nick Roche and James Raiz

COLORIST: Joana Lafuente

LETTERER :Neil Uyetake

EDITORS: Denton J. Tipton

After failing to bring Sludge around, Grimlock decides to take responsibility for he mess ups thus far, and goes to finish off whomever’s left between Scorponok and Shockwave. He’s later joined by the other Dinobots, including Sludge, who isn’t so dead after all. Skywatch is forced to send the signal that keeps Shockwave from exploding, and after Soundwave uses it to permanently shut down the destruct, Shockwave tells him how to reboot and free himself from the transformation lock, as well as free the Cassettecons. Hunter leads Hot Rod and the other Dinos to Scorponok’s Headmaster control, which Swoop severs. Then Ultra Magnus arrives to take both Scorponok and Grimlock into custody. (Grimlock goes as long as the other Dynobots have their records cleaned, thus taking all the responsibility unto himself.) The Dynobots begin reparing their old ship, the Monsterbots’ offer is turned down, and Hunter is seperated from Sunstreaker, who is still in repair status. (For those of you who don’t know what a CR Chamber is.)

What they got right: They tied most of the loose threads together, setting Coda up for the finisher, I guess. Otherwise, not a whole lot to put here.

What they got wrong: I actually had to go back and read it again to remind myself what happened. Granted, I’m tired because I went to a stag last night (don’t bother asking for details, or I’ll whop you), but I just read the darn thing yesterday! The story really couldn’t have been that remarkable. I wanted to say Grimlock finally getting punished for something he did wrong would be a plus after other depictions in Furman stories, but this IS a Furman story, and somehow his favorite Autobot never seems to do any wrong that isn’t ignored while giving him more responsibility. So I don’t think this is going to end up any different by the time all this is over.

I have to make a separate paragraph just to complain about the art, however. Once again, Nick Roche’s more cartoon style and James Raiz overdetailed style clash like peanut butter and WD-40. They just look so far different from each other as to drive you nuts, although I think the coloring may have saved it from going too far out of control compared to last issue. However, the reappearance of Verity and Jimmy after a very long absence from the IDW universe is another error, under Roche. He really should have looked back at the earlier appearance. Verity looks a bit too happy for Verity, her hairstyle is changed (I can understand not being able to get a decent haircut running around with the Autobots, but it still looks like she found a stylist), and although it’s been a while for me as well, I’m pretty sure Jimmy was dark-haired. I also wonder when they picked up t-shirts with the Autobot symbol on the sleeve.

Recommendation: Serviceable, but hardly worth getting if you haven’t been getting the rest thus far.

Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes #10

Featuring Ant-Man

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics (June 2009)

WRITER: Todd Dezaco

ARTISTS: Derec Donovan, Scott Koblish, & Vicente Cifuentes

COLORIST: Sotocolor

LETTERER: Dave Sharpe

COVER: Nery & Guru

PRODUCTION: Irene Lee

CONSULTING: Ralph Macchio

EDITOR: Nathan Cosby

At Van Dyne Technologies, Hank is applying to work the loading dock (partly to get a way “in” but mostly because he needs the money). Joining him are Flint Marko, who is looking to start a new life, and a scrawny kid who happens to be the manager’s nephew. Guess who gets the job. Hank ends up getting a ride home from Janet (who lets it slip that she’s interested in Hank), and sees on TV that the same loading dock has been broken into. As Ant-Man, he learns the culprit is Marko, alias Sandman. Unable to beat him on his own, Ant-Man calls a group of ants to literally take him apart.

What they got right: It’s actually a pretty average story. It’s not so much that they did it right as what they did wrong doesn’t completely take away from the story. I do like the ant allies/comic relief, so I hope they make a comeback. Interesting that he names them after musicians. Dave and Matthew are obvious, but you young whippersnappers may not have heard of 80’s New Wave artist Adam Ant, or his more famous song, “Goody-Goody Two Shoes“. Sandman was used rather well, and Ant-Man’s solution to the problem is rare if not unique. I’ve never heard of it happening to Flint before, but I don’t know if he ever faced Ant-Man in 616.

What they got wrong: Only the second Ant-Man story in this anthology and we already have Janet stating that she’s “falling for it’s inventor” (that would be Hank), and not being all that subtle about it. I think Todd moved that a little too fast. Granted, it was a fun little scene, but a little early. Also, shouldn’t Ant-Man know who Sandman is, even if he doesn’t make the connection to the name Flint Marco? It’s not like Sandman’s battles with Spider-Man didn’t make the papers, and Janet does find a newspaper on his desk, which I assume is supposed to indicate Hank’s been trying to keep up on the crime reports now that he’s a super hero.

Recommendation: Not as crazed as the last story, but Todd Dezaco is no Paul Tobin, if you’ve noticed from his MA: Spider-Man work. Still, a serviceable story, and uses the characters well. Worth getting.

Best Scene of the Week

Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes #10

This won for 80's nostalgia points.

And that does it for my vacation reading. Now it’s back to work on my happy little blog.