Comics from 18/07/2007 : part 1

For lack of a better alternative, I'll be using the Savage Critic appreciation scale for now : Ass, Crap, Awful, Eh, OK, Good, Very Good, Excellent.

And now, reviews !

World War Hulk #2 (of 5) : This is already showing its limits. Last issue, Hulk beat the crap out of Black Bolt and Iron Man. This issue, he beats the crap out of Reed Richards and various heroes standing in the way. It's done very competently, but it quickly becomes repetitive. And for every good moment (how She-Hulk intervenes), we have lots of quicks scenes that will be extended in a crossover issue (without mentionning which, of course). Eh.

World War Hulk: Frontline #2 (of 6) : What is the point of this, again ? There's no story here, except for "Ben and Sally look at events already described in WWH". All it does is expose the plot holes of the current Marvel statu quo : the insanity of the registration act, and the evacuation-but-not-really of Manhattan. In theory I'm all for a book which eschews traditional superheroics for politics and journalism, but this doesn't work. The main mistake seems to be the appending of this slow and talky series to an event which is meant to be fast and furious : it clashed in Civil War, and it clashes even more here, where there's barely any politics to the main event.
Meanwhile, the backup is quickly becoming silly and melodramatic ("oh noes ! the beat cop I don't care about may die if he doesn't solve the murder !"), and the humorous strip is cute but too short to write anything home about. Awful.

World War Hulk: X-Men #2 (of 3) : Good job, Chris Gage. In your first issue, you managed to fool me into thinking this mini may have a point beyond the cash grab. But even with your talent, you can't hide anymore that this will be three issues of pointless fighting. There's no real reason for the Hulk fighting the X-Men, so this is Awful.

Avengers: the Initiative #4 (WWH) : What, you mean this crossover is actually important for the plot ? I didn't see this coming at all. Problem : this is because it isn't clearly explained that Hardball substituted a fake. On the other hand, there are lots of good characterization, I'm starting to care about the characters, and Slott seems to be finding his feet in a more serious tone. A low Good.

Annihilation Conquest: Quasar #1 (of 4) : How many series is Gage writing these days ? He may be stretching himself too thin, or my general apathy to all things cosmic may be kicking in : I couldn't care for what little happened here. Too much recaps, not enough story ? Eh.

Countdown #41 : What an horrible failure. Each subplot is barely advanced, and I don't care about any of them. Also, the "spine of the DC universe" remit isn't helping at all : did they really hold that big funeral for the Flash while the Amazons' Attack was still ongoing ? Shouldn't the heroes have been too busy to attend ? Meanwhile, the Monitor backup manages to be worse than both the main "story" or the similar pointless recap in 52. When is it ending, again ? Crap.

New X-Men #40 : This really should have been the second issue of this arc : the uncaptured characters come to the rescue. Meanwhile, yet more slaughter, and it becomes more and more pointless as most the characters killed last issue are brought back (not that the death of X-23 was likely to stick). Young's pencils remain too melodramatic, and the colouring isn't helping at all. Meanwhile, business as usual in the Endangered Species backup. Nothing really happens, but it's at least more or less entertaining, and thus far better than the main story. Awful.

The Order #1 : This more or less works, despite the quirks : "the Champions" would have been a much better fit, and Pepper's role is a bit jarring from when we last saw her. On the other hand, I like the characterization of the team leader, and the dismissal of most of the team after a drunken binge is a nice twist. The villains for next issue do not look very promising, but for now a tentative high Good.