Advance Reviews:
She-Hulk #1:
Dan Slot & Javier Pulido
This is a tough one to review. Was there a demand for a She Hulk book? As a story, it’s fine. It’s a one and done. It sets up Jen Walters to go forward from here. She takes a case and it wraps up by the end. I think the selling point to Marvel on it is it’s a legal book written by a lawyer. But beyond that, there wasn’t much to it. The art was good, but the preview pages probably did more harm than good. A couple shots of She Hulk’s face then she touches a table and it breaks. Not exactly something to make you want to grab it. She is only really doing She Hulk stuff off-panel (although she is green the entire time. Can’t she turn back? I’m not up on my She Hulk recent history). The rest was just legal stuff. As an issue, it was fine, but there’s no real hook at the end to bring you back.
New Warriors #1
Christopher Yost & Marcus To
I’m happy to have this book out there. A book I can put into the hands of a 12 yr old. A team of younger heroes, but not a murder spree book. Simple introductions to the different characters and the introduction of an old school big bad. Not a lot of depth, but that’s ok. It is introducing the players and story. A good issue.
My problem with this book is not in the book itself, but in how it fits in with the rest of the Marvel U and Inhumanity. The big bad is the High Evolutionary. He seems to be going after mutants. But, in my opinion, the High Evolutionary should be one of those character deeply involved in the Inhumanity storyline, not this one. If the Terrigen Mists further evolved humanity, you’d think he’d be right in there.
X-Force #1
Si Spurrier & Rock He-Kim
So they cancelled both Cable & X-Force and Uncanny X-Force and are now bringing this book out. To be fair, I didn’t read past the first issues of either of the new X-Force books. I really enjoyed the 2 previous versions by Yost and Remender, but the new ones didn’t grab me. There is nothing in this to explain what happened to those 2 books. It just starts off with a mission to find something. Cable is the leader and he’s joined by Psylocke, Fantomex, Dr. Nemesis and Marrow. Marrow is the narrator. It basically feels like she is just taking Deadpool’s place in the group.
The book has potential, but it really just feels like another X-book. No clear point for the book. It says that this group is the X-Black Ops group. We’ve seen that before and I’m not seeing anything new or different. Marrow is the narrator of the book, but there’s not much to like about here. She continually narrates to “Baby” and after a while I stopped reading her narrations. Fantomex is VERY French and Psylocke is portrayed as very British. Cable is basically the Nick Fury of the group. Dr. Nemesis is in about 3 panels. I’m not a fan of the art at all. There’s not a lot here for anyone other than X-Completists.
Winter Soldier Bitter March #1
Rick Remender & Roland Boschi
A solid cold war story. Nick Fury and another agent going to Castle Hydra to get 2 Nazi scientists. Winter Soldier shows up to stop them. Basically an early Winter Soldier story to tie in with the movie.
Fuse #1
Antony Johnston & Justin Greenwood
You’re a burned out cop. You decide to take a job on a makeshift energy platform 22,000 miles above earth. Upon arrival, you find yourself instantly involved in a murder investigation.
This one I enjoyed very much. Good art and characterization. Like many new Image books, this one makes me want to come back for the next one.
Superior Spider-Man #27
Dan Slott & Guiseppe Camuncoli
It all comes down to this. Doc Spidey vs the Goblin. Knowing that they are relaunching Amazing at the end of this, there is the expectation of either something really big or just the destruction of everything Otto has done to clear the slate for Peter’s return. I don’t see anyone jumping off now and this issue finally brings Otto and the Goblin into direct conflict. Still good stuff.
