The hardest part of these reviews still remains the opening. Today, I don’t even feel like trying. Rainy days must have that effect on me.

I feel I’ve let someone down, if only myself. However, I think I may have a solution to my opener problem. But I’m going to make you wait until the end of the reviews.

Spoiler-blocked versions of these reviews seem to be making their way to ComiXology, so odds are good.

Doctor Who (ongoing) #4

IDW Publishing (October 2009)

WRITER: Tony Lee

ARTIST: Matthew Dow Smith

COLORIST: Charlie Kirchoff

LETTERER: Robbie Robbins

EDITOR: Denton J. Tipton

Trapped on a prison ship with representatives of three races he has faced before (Ogron, Draconian, and Sontaran), the Doctor convinces them that the Judoon aboard the ship are if fact working for the Krillitanes, and they take over the ship. Lassar sends a force out to destroy the ship, but they are only able to shoot them down, leaving the Doctor and the others marooned on an unknown world.

What they got right: I do like when Lee reaches back to the “forgotten” aliens. It’s nice to see the Ogrons again. Unlike last issue, the “continuity porn” works. The prison ship design also looks familiar to me. Watching the Doctor work with guys he usually opposes…OK, that kind of story has been done before, somehow it feels fresh here. The best part is that the Doctor here isn’t the totally infallible hero he usually is. Stripped of the magic Sonic Screwdriver that he usually does everything with, the Doctor is forced to rely on his reluctant allies and his other skills.

What they got wrong: On the other hand, using the “suggestibility paper” gimmick hidden in his sock just comes off as a plot device. I’m betting we don’t see it again. Also, I don’t think the Draconians really get along as poorly with the Doctor as the other two, although the motivations of the others make perfect sense, including the Sontarans wanting to create a truce with the others worlds so they can focus on the Rutans (who might make for an interesting foe in a future comic–hint, hint). I’d also like to see Lee come up with an original race in a future story instead of always using the same old ones.

Recommendation: Still a great addition to a Time Lord’s comic collection.

Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes #16

Marvel Comics (December 2009)

WRITER: Paul Tobin

ARTIST: Denis Medri

COLORS: Sotocolor

LETTERER: Dave Sharpe

COVER: Sean Galloway

PRODUCTION: Anthony Dial

EDITOR: Nathan Cosby

When Hercules crashes in the middle of the city, Spider-Woman and Giant Girl (who now can shrink herself as well, allowing her to double as “the Wasp”, decide to investigate. Their investigation takes them to Hydra, who the Beast is already dealing with, as they learn that Hercules uncovered a plot by the terrorist group to create their own “super soldier”, a battle with took the demigod to the Moon. The trio are able to finish off Hydra’s operation.

What they got right: This is maybe the third time I’ve seen Tobin write Hercules, and every time I enjoy his version. His womanizing makes me want to hurt him (impossible as it is) from the standpoint of a lonely single guy, but he’s a lot of fun to read. It’s also nice to see Giant Girl again (since the cancellation of MA: Avengers, I kind of missed her) and I haven’t seen Spider-Woman outside of her guest appearance in MA: Iron Man (speaking of things I miss). The art isn’t all that great, but it isn’t bad, and at least the layouts are good. It’s mostly the character models that don’t always work for me.

What they got wrong: What was the point of the Beast in this story? He really doesn’t do anything, and I’m not a fan of the way he looks these days Marvel-wide. And back to Herc, why doesn’t Tobin ever do a full Hercules story? I’m sure it would be as fun as everything else he does here. Also, why does the costume change when she becomes the Wasp, and why have her be both? Having her as “Giant Girl” sets Janet apart from her now dead 616 counterpart (as well as the Ultimate one–they really screwed her up there).

Recommendation: Not a very strong story, but still a lot of fun. It’s at least worth a look.

Marvel Super Hero Squad #2

Marvel Comics (December 2009)

WRITERS: Cort Lan & Todd Dezago

ARTIST: Marcelo Diciara

COLOR: Sotocolor

LETTERER: Dave Sharpe

PRODUCTION: Irene Y. Lee

EDITOR: Nathan Cosby

Captain America learns of a new super hero in Super Hero City (fancy that). Humberto Lopez finds a crystal that gives him the ability to adopt the body parts of various dinosaurs. Taking the name Reptil, the teen decides to fight Doom’s forces. He’s not so good at it, so Cap brings him into the squad and assigns him to Wolverine. At this point the story folds into Reptil’s debut episode (but it’s not an adaptation).

Afterward, there are more one-shot strips.

What they got right: Reptil is a creation of the Super Hero Squad figurine designers, so they want him promoted. Tying this comic’s story into his television debut (featuring the origin story, while the cartoon shows his first day in the Squad) was a good idea, and the art matches both the show style and figurine designs nicely.

What they got wrong: Why did the toy creators decide they had to create an original character? Like IDW’s Shane McCarthy creating the character “Drift” for the Transformers comic, there are plenty of already existing characters. Why not save him for a property they fully own?

Recommendation: Like the show? Then you’ll like the comic. Otherwise, you probably won’t if your too invested in all Marvel media keeping the characters exactly like their 616 counterparts. It’s nice Marvel can have a little fun with their characters here, since they’re failing miserably in the fun department in most of their regular titles.

Transformers: All Hail Megatron #16 (FINAL ISSUE)

IDW Publishing  (October 2009)

WRITERS: Mike Costa (1) and Zander Cannon (2)

ARTISTS: Guido Guidi (1) and Chee (2)

COLORISTS: Josh Burcham (1) and Moose Baumann (2)

LETTERER: Chris Mowry

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Carlos Guzman

ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Denton J. Tipton

EDITOR: Andy Schmidt

Cover “A” by team 1 and Cover “B” (shown) by team 2; incentive cover by Trevor Hutchinson and a Long Beach Comic Con cover by E.J. Su

In the first story, Spike tells a couple of generals about how he ended up in the hospital while his team was tracking down the Decepticon Ravage. The generals then tell him that he’s been selected for a reformed version of Skywatch, with his father in charge. In the second story, Bumblebee is on the run from another group of robot hunters, this one a bunch of angry jerks. He risks his own safety to rescue a group of humans endangered by the wildcards before being rescued by his fellow Autobots.

What they got right: Ending this series. While I loved Shane McCarthy’s original “All Hail Megatron”, most of the “Coda” finisher stories have been just awful. Starscream undid all the characterization he had at the end of the main story. Most of the stories had little to nothing to do with actually filling in the gaps caused by turning this story into the new direction for the IDW Transformers Universe. The art was pretty good in this issue’s first story, and I wouldn’t mind seeing the original black and white version of story 2 to see if the coloring is to blame (Baumann just colors too dark for my taste), but there’s not much to say positive about this issue.

What they got wrong: Spike’s story doesn’t really do anything. Humans hunting Decepticons using version of Shockwave’s arm cannon. So? The second story could have done the same thing easily. Sure it sets up the return of Skywatch as a UN organization to monitor Transformers (because “obviously” the US can’t be trusted, even though only the US was attacked if I recall correctly), but that’s it. Bumblebee’s story is a blatant set-up for the upcoming miniseries that Cannon is going to be writing, and I really wanted to see those soldiers put into their place by the brass. Or are we going to have the military treating both sides as the enemy again? Marvel overplayed that one, and there should be at least some evidence that the Autobots are on our side to create something closer to NEST from the Movieverse. Please don’t leave us with RAAT 2.0. That was the OLD Skywatch (although they were more like Sector 7 from the first movie).

Recommendation: I really hope what was horrible about the “Coda” comics are missing from the ongoing. Look to the good stuff of the original 12 “All Hail Megatron”, strip out what won’t work in an ongoing, and build off of that. Please, IDW?

G-Man: Cape Crisis #3

Image Comics (October 2009)

WRITER/ARTIST/CREATOR: Chris Giarruso

SAVAGE DRAGON CAMEO ART: Erik Larsen

COLOR ASSISTS: Dave Giarrusso

When Great Man refuses to stop selling the flight bands and doesn’t believe anything is wrong with spreading the magic out, G-Man and his friends sneak off with them. However, Dave has one band left, and uses the threads from that band to turn ordinary bands into flight bands. When those run out, he demands Mikey give him a piece of his cape (why not use your belt, you jerk!) and when the cape rips, the magic explodes, sending G-Man flying capeless, destroying all the blanket pieces, and leaving Great Man apparently dead!

Misery Loves Sherman, Patrick the Wolf Boy, and the next chapter of the Pix story make up the co-features.

What they got right: Oh, who am I kidding here? It’s not like I’m even going to bother with the “wrong” category. I really don’t have any complaints, but could spend too much time complimenting this comic. I really liked the Savage Dragon cameo. Even the ad on the back is a fun parody, and one that doesn’t seem to get old. (Also, one of Chris G’s usual punching bags, if Mini-Marvels are an indication.

Recommendation: Take a guess.

I agree, Billy Demon. That’s why it won…

Best Scene of the Week

G-Man: Cape Crisis #3

Seriously, I can’t even do a caption joke that matches up to this comic. And somehow, me having something nice to say about an Image comic 3 months in a row hasn’t caused the end of the world. You should still be afraid!

Anyway, so how do I plan to make a unique opener that may draw anyone stumbling across the homepage to check out the full review? Remember these guys from my second Progress Report?

I’m thinking that I’m going to use Jake and Leon here to open every review with a brief wrap-up of the haul as a whole, as far as what my opinion was. Let’s try it out here. Granted, I’m just going to throw something together, so it’s not as clean as the pic up there.

I’m trying out a brush pen. I’m not sure my lines are as tight, but at least they’re darker than the Sharpie Pen I was using (and used for the word balloons–I should stick to the computer text). Markers bleed through the paper, but maybe that doesn’t matter when I only use one side?

If I opened every week’s comic reviews with something like this, would it be a good thing? Or maybe I shouldn’t just limit myself to these two guys or the art style (since I want to have more than one character model type)? What do you think?