BC Refugees Blog

Avengers: The Initiative 27: Two great stories from Christos Gage this month, both related to the attempt to take back the Negative Zone prison from Blastaar and his forces. First, he digs up an actual (I checked) pair of third-rate villains from an old issue of Dazzler and through them shows the “working class” point of view of the members of Norman Osborn’s new Initiative. This is the kind of thing this book does best, and it’s a gem of a story that made me want to find their original Dazzler appearance. (But then I laid down for a minute and the feeling passed.) The second story features the regular cast and shows the actual assault. Ms. Marvel 44: This book is also on the twice-a-month plan through October. I’m not sure why there’s such a rush to finish this storyline, but I really liked the interaction between Osborn and his Ms. Marvel (Norman: “Not the time, Karla!” Karla: “You’ve been wrong every other time I’ve been right today. Do you really want to go for another?”) and the h...

Green Lantern 45: Continues the off-Earth portion of “Blackest Night”, checking in with all the other Corps as the Black Lanterns try to capture all their homeworlds. There are a couple of surprises for GL readers, one (literally) huge and one subtle, that aren’t essential to the main story but shouldn’t be missed by regular readers. Kudos to Doug Mahnke, who drew a zillion different colored corps members, and several terrific splashes and double-page spreads. Batman and Robin 3: What can I say about this? It’s as close to the perfect comic book as you’re probably going to get, so don’t miss it. Wolverine Origins 39: Daniel Way gives an explanation this issue for why Romulus has seemingly come out of nowhere in Logan’s life that’s plausible (even a little bit ironic.) It doesn’t help me care about it more, though, and Romulus’ appearance at the end (assuming it’s him) is a little too much “I created you in my own image” for my taste. Dark Wolverine 77: This is well written and I ...

X-Men: Legacy 227: This title has to spin its wheels a little bit, because the new direction presumably depends on the ending of “Utopia”, but it’s still nice to see a confident Rogue and the story does hint at what her role will soon be. The Ms. Marvel appearance is a bit of a missed opportunity, in my opinion. Even though it’s not Carol Danvers, I feel like her appearance (especially in the old costume) should have had some psychological effect on Rogue. Wolverine Weapon X 4: Jason Aaron advances the story on two fronts: Wolverine fighting one of the Strikeforce X mercenaries who has a personal motivation to beat Logan (featuring some of Ron Garney’s best art in a while) and Maverick trying to stop the spread of the Weapon X technology (featuring a surprise capability of the Strikeforce mercenaries.) It’s great stuff, and I’m definitely liking this book way better than “Origins”. Outsiders 21: Apparently the conspiracy plot is on hold for now, as Alfred uses the team to hunt down...

FALLEN ANGEL: REBORN #1 (IDW) I actually didn’t realize that there had been a lapse in Fallen Angel titles since I went to collecting the trades a long time ago (right after the Shi crossover). Or is it just fashionable now to be “reborn” a la Captain America, Batman, etc.? Or is this a mini-series? - - there’s nothing here in Issue #1 that indicates that. Oh well - - and this looks to be another crossover story rather than a new look for Liandra, the Fallen Angel. Issue #1 is mostly about someone else from a different ANGEL universe, the one that spun off of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. The story this time is all about Illyria, a once very powerful and ambitious goddess banished from a demonic universe/hell for gaining too much influence. The Hierarchy promise to help her regain her position by recovering three magic scythes, and will lead her to the location in exchange for her killing Liandra. The art here by J. K. Woodward is fabulous, like looking at paintings panel after pa...

Batman: Streets of Gotham 3: Kind of a “moving the pieces around the chessboard issue”, but in a good way as Dick and Damien try to keep Hush/Bruce Wayne under control and Black Mask, Zsasz and Penguin work on their plans. Some great dialogue too – Damien’s reaction to the “superstitious and cowardly lot” line is priceless. The Manhunter chapter shows Kate being resourceful without her equipment, though she does need a last-minute rescue from a familiar face. Blackest Night: Superman 1: Unlike the other BN tie-ins so far, this doesn’t key off a specific scene in the main book instead featuring Superman and Superboy in Smallville. However, it does contain the worst kept secret of the year as the Golden Age Superman finally appears as Black Lantern Kal-L. I was surprised by who he brought with him, though (but I should have expected it.) Of course, James Robinson does a great job, even making a very clever and subtle point about Superman’s personality via the “emotion vision” from the ...

I own a share of Marvel stock, so at some point I will be asked to vote on this. Tell me how I should vote! (Not that it will affect the outcome...) Disney to Pay $4 Billion for Comic Giant Marvel (NY Times) Edited to add: Rich Johnston has a great list of questions raised by the sale at his site .

ULTIMATE AVENGERS COMICS #1 I liked this enough to want to come back for more. I found it very entertaining and cinematic in the way that Millar wrote and paced it and Pacheco illustrated it, reminding me of a good John Woo movie (or take your pick of action film directors).  The centerpiece of the book is an awesomely portrayed skirmish in the air that takes place inside and out of two helicopters - - and possibly the best action panels that I’m going to see, at least for this month. I’ll summarize what occurs here without spoiling anything for you:     Issue #1 focuses mainly on the characters as shown on the front side of the wraparound cover; and if the future team will include all the others depicted here then things should get very interesting.  Nick Fury as envisioned by Carlos Pacheco couldn’t possibly look any closer to Samuel L. Jackson than he does here.  It’s three months after the events of Ultimatum and Fury has been disciplined for h...

Rogue Elmo menaces Times Square tourists. Congress needs to pass that Muppet Registration Act soon…

Phil and Kaja Foglio's Hugo acceptance speech for their great webcomic (and graphic novel) series "Girl Genius".

Blackest Night 2: Too many great scenes to name in this space – I’d just wind up recapping the whole book – but I especially liked the GL/Bat-Signal splash and his “Flash Fact” line. The Black Lantern rules seem inconsistent; I thought the bodies were being possessed but not the spirits, which would explain Ralph & Sues’s behavior and how Boston Brand’s body is taken against Deadman’s will, but on the other hand Dove apparently can’t be taken because his spirit is at peace and somehow the Spectre is vulnerable. I’m intrigued by this, not annoyed, because I trust that Johns will make it all clear eventually. (And I still say the body count is too high for most of these characters to stay dead.) Batman 689: I still like the way Winick is showing Dick finding his own way to be Batman – he’s realizing he’s more of a performer than Bruce – and how all his family members are adjusting. (Alfred: “Ah, that’s more familiar. Deflecting a moment of genuine emotion.) Mark Bagley’s art comple...

Dark X-Men: The Beginning 2: Turns out that the reason I thought Paul Cornell was writing this whole series is that he is doing a “Dark X-Men” mini with “Captain Britain” artist Leonard Kirk later in the year and I got them confused. Here, he does the Cloak & Dagger story that I was hoping for last issue and I like where he puts them – they’re in Columbia fighting the drug cartels – and I like Osborn’s sales pitch. (“I’d like to be able to say to the daylight side of the U.S. government that my people are making major advances in the War On Drugs.”) Again, the key to making Osborn work is for him to sound as much like a real politician as possible. The Weapon Omega and Daken stories are also pretty good, but it is basically an entire issue of Osborn talking people into joining his X-Men. Doom Patrol 1: I’m on the fence with this. What I’m having trouble with is that a couple of team members (you can probably guess which ones from the preview) are lost on a mission at the beginnin...

            GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #2: It’s an uneasy alliance between these three Sirens that will most likely be tested on a regular basis, maybe every issue.  Poison Ivy uses her powers on Catwoman to force the identity of Batman from her. Under the influence of the truth toxin secreted by Ivy’s lie-detector vines Catwoman tells the truth but still protects Bruce Wayne’s secret through a clever parlor trick taught her by Talia.  It seems a little contrived but perhaps writer Paul Dini is using this to get his point across that nobody is completely trusting here and this isn’t going to read like a standard “buddy book”.  I’m just wondering how far you can go with this concept.  So far, the book’s provided some light-hearted entertainment.  The Sirens seem willing to help each other out of trouble, and now its Ivy and Selina working together to rescue an apparently abducted Harley Quinn as the issue ends. ...

CAPTAIN AMERICA REBORN #2: by Ed Brubaker, Bryan Hitch/Butch Guice To some in discussion groups and online chat rooms it seems pretty clear cut now what will happen and how Captain America will be reborn = apparently he wasn’t dead, he’s just been missing because he’s trapped in a time travel loop.  I’m not sure about that. Yes, time travel is involved but . . . . . . . my head is swimming with possibilities and I don’t mind a bit.  I think Brubaker has maybe revealed one card so far but he’s not going to show his entire hand until the very end - - and it’s going to be a full house of creativity.  I love this series so far.   How can you resist that WWII wish-fulfillment fantasy cover with Cap’s hands around Hitler’s throat and choking the life out of him with grim determination?     In fact, before I get to the story I want to talk about the stellar art work done here.  Before,  I said that I felt the combination of Hitch and Gu...

DOOM PATROL #1 (DC); I reviewed the 5-page preview of this previously and didn’t like it then. Nevertheless I decided to give the first full story a chance, and I also wanted to check out the Metal Men second feature. I still don’t like this book but I respect it more after reading the full story. It’s not so bad and worth your time to investigate, especially if you like this team from past volumes. Two team members don’t survive the mission here and Keith Giffen uses that to make his point that there’s a reason they’re called the “Doom” Patrol and also explain some of their cold-hearted reactions to losing some members and then making light of it. Although it doesn’t quite ring sincere to me and the whole thing comes off a bit heavy-handed and inconsistent. Matthew Clark does a fine job on the art - -nothing special but it does show some promise in certain panels. Giffen lays the humor on even thicker and heavier in the Metal Men feature and I found it to be very annoying. I’m ...

CHEW #3 (Image): This title deserves the attention. It’s well-earned. With Issue #3, things get even more complicated and the entertainment value keeps rising. I love this book. Crazy scripter John Layman comes up with another made-up word and almost gets us to swallow it. First, we’ve got a main character who picks up vital clues in criminal investigations after munching on decomposing body parts. Now, we learn more about his love interest (she’s not aware of it yet, though) - - Amelia Mintz, a food pages reporter who happens to be a “saboscrivner”, meaning people reading her newspaper column can actually taste the food she is writing about. In this issue, she gets bored with writing about gourmet food so she investigates all the D-rated restaurants - - and her readers start hurling and spewing. Clever artwork adds to the fun. Two issues left in the opening series - - and I hope we get a second helping. THE STUFF OF LEGEND Volume 1: The Dark, Book 1 (Th3rd World Studios): A nice touch...

What better way to top off a year-long celebration of 70 years of Marvel Comics than with a limited series that details the beginning of it all? What better writer to handle with care the heady task of plotting this event and  treating these long-term characters properly than Ed Brubaker? What better artist to trust with maintaining accurate historical detail while creating some exciting visuals than Steve Epting? They are probably the best writer-artist combination available today, with their long-term work on CAPTAIN AMERICA serving as evidence of how their teamwork makes both story and art even better. The advance information on THE MARVELS PROJECT promises an eight issue limited series that will explain the start of the Marvel Universe and reveal the hidden connection between the heroes. It will feature some well-known characters (Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, Captain America) as well as some lesser-known and lesser-used secondary characters from Marvel’s early days (...