Comic Snap Reviews 06-29-07

Hits, Mehs, or Misses, and spoilers galore, as per usual.

World War Hulk: Frontline #1: Hey, what I wanted to see out of Civil War: Frontline… a look at the consequences from a street level perspective, and without spurious historical comparisons. Excellent stuff. More interesting than World War Hulk #1. HIT

Daredevil #98: Daredevil’s wife gets kidnapped (that was fast) and he rescues her, but the inklings of the subplot behind it all begin to show up. HIT

Invincible #43: Invincible considers quitting school, and the return of Allen the Alien. And the Immortal quits… all with the usual great final page. It’s hard to review Invincible because it’s the same structure, but always interesting. It really is “probably the best superhero comic book in the universe”! HIT

World War Hulk: X-Men #1: AKA World War Hulk/X-Universe recap issue. Now with sarcastic Hulk, and silly ending! Intelligent Beast not included. MISS

Ultimate X-Men #83: Murdering Nightcrawler as the new leader of the Morlocks is cute, but the issue doesn’t particularly make sense. Some of the back scenes are establishing another team of mutants (perhaps it’ll spin off into Ultimate New X-Men or something) but the core story just seems to be about random fights and new mutants every issue. MISS

Ultimate Fantastic Four #43: Ultimate Silver Surfer is wacky and brings death! I had a little trouble following the Ultimatized versions of various Marvel military personnel, and there didn’t seem to ever be a big threat. But it’s all still in setup, I suppose. And Pasqual Ferry’s art still rocks. MEH

Countdown #44: Still a mess. Return of the Monarch, more stuff with the Forerunner character that we don’t care about, Captain Marvel and Mary Marvel fight. The most interesting piece is the Pied Piper and Trickster being remorseful about the Rogues killing Bart Allen, and what that means… though the more tantalizing parts of that were in the weekly DC Nation column. Very close to dropping this title. MISS

Jack of Fables #12: Experience the mystery… of KEVIN! And, oh yeah, Jack gets Excalibur shoved in him at the end, like he’s The Stone. Great stuff. HIT

X-Factor #20: Madrox says: “THIS IS MUTANT TOWN!” Not really, but close. And Layla Miller, having the not-so-mutant power of narrative flow, proves her prowess again. HIT

Cable & Deadpool #44: Yeah, heroic sacrifice aside, still don’t care about Cable, still only wanted to see Deadpool. “Must… use… Shatner voice… to reach… statue…” HIT

Thunderbolts #115: A very strong issue where… well, I’m not sure who wins, but finally the team falls apart, and the good guys get some breaks. HIT

Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes #31: Still can’t follow this series. (I shouldn’t be surprised after 30 issues.) But some nice snippets of dialogue, and for whatever reason, I found the Gobi Rainforest amusing. MEH

She-Hulk #19: Unlike the main Hulk book, this one still deals with the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde type of story, but in new and interesting ways while bringing back one of the big Hulk baddies, along with some interesting (if predictable) legal maneuvering. Also, advancing of sideplot, and a great Howard the Duck reference. Seriously, how much more can you ask for? HIT

Amazons Attack #3: Any number of ways that this book pissed me off, and it all stinks of editorial piledriving. There’s a footnote on nearly every page referring to another comic that you should read. And the plot just could not make less sense. I mean, really, the President declaring women’s groups as terrorists? Instead of making military action? Guhhh. MISS

Superman/Batman #37: Alien monster thing gets Killer Croc to steal Kryptonian thing. Superman is shocked by everything, and Metropolis turns into Kryptonite. Solicitation for next issue: “Kryptonite destroys Metropolis” Not even worth punctuation, apparently. MISS

Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special: Woah. That book rocked and pulled no punches. Every major Green Lantern menace come out at the end, and are joined by the new (big) Sinestro Corps. Action packed, with a number of surprises (though other reviewers point out you probably need to know your DCU history to follow it completely) and some surprising character moments. Great stuff. HIT

Immortal Iron Fist #6: OK, so it’s an ongoing series and not a mini, and that’s great news for us. This one’s worth picking up in the trade, and the last issue of “Book One” seals the deal. HIT

Black Panther #28: Fantastic Four on Skrull Homeworld versus wise-cracking Galactus Marvel Zombies. It has a lot of difficulty establishing a credible tone, neither wacky nor serious. Also, I’m a little pissed that this title and Fantastic Four are basically the same title being made twice a month. MEH

Blue Beetle #16: Hey, wow, genuine believable human interaction that relies upon some DC knowledge but not too much. Along with some neat magic mojo, and a transformation into a dentist. A surprisingly strong issue. HIT

JSA Classified #27: Part two of Wildcat versus Sportsmaster’s gambling addiction! Is is it just me, or does every issue of this series seem like a stretch… that all the good ideas for these characters end up in the JSA main title? MEH

Fantastic Four #547: Really, this title is the Fantastic Six, as there’s some joinups, Sue gets captured, and yet another world destroying alien race. (I only hope that it was just a fake out, because that’s much better.) MEH