Comic reviews for 11/29

Batman 658: Uh, what? I have no idea what happened there at the end. Andy Kubert's art is nice and all, but the whole problem with Morrison writing (that I alluded to in my New X-Men review) is that when Batman speaks, I don't hear Batman. I hear Morrison riffing on whatever he wants. **

Blade 03: God help me, I'm liking this title. Not a fan at all of Chaykin's art, but Guggenheim is just going so completely over the top with this series it can't help but raise a smile on my face. ***

Captain America 24: Meh. The Hydra stuff was sort of interesting, but I don't care about Sharon Carter at all. I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing that I was able to predict the final reveal about 5 pages before the end. **1/2

52 Week 30: OK. Whoever came up with the revamp of the 10-Eyed Man (Morrison, I'm looking at you) deserves to be either shot or rewarded, I can't decide which. I don't really like any issue with Batwoman in it, and if they're going down the path of Nightwing wooing her, I can only forsee bad things. **

Eternals 05: How long has it been since issue 4? I had to really struggle to remember what the hell happened - there's a serious disconnect between where I remember Sprite being at the end of 4, and what happens in 5. JRJr is lovely as ever, but this whole series is mostly just confusing. **1/2

Fantastic Four: The End 02. Dammit people. The best "The End" stories (Hulk, Punisher) are one shots that show the endpoint of the character in a nice simple short story. The worst (Wolverine, X-Men) take way too long and throw in a bunch of unimportant elements to tell some sort of story that doesn't matter. Alan Davis is going the latter route, and he pays more attention to the Avengers than the FF. The art is great, but the story is really lacking. *1/2

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 14: The Ben Reily idea is somewhat cute, but why do people keep trying to tell us that the Vulture is a credible threat? He flies. And is old. That's about it. *1/2

Mischief Night 01: It's from Avatar, so you know what that means. Two outcasts come back from the dead to kill the popular people who made fun of them, while an earlier survivor can't get anyone to believe her. Sex and violence ensues. It's decent for what it is: a splatter movie in comic form. **

Nextwave 10: WTF? That was a random 12 page interlude (although the Machine Man one was quite funny). The "solution" was obvious and sort of dumb, but the rest of the issue is crazy, weird, and so very much fun. I'm so very very pissed off that this is ending. ***

Onslaught Reborn 01: The project that absolutely no-one asked for. Is it as bad as you'd think? Not quite. Loeb's writing is okay from moment to moment, other than the fact that his Onslaught and his actions make absolutely no sense at all. Liefeld's art still isn't going to win any awards (other than from Wizard, maybe) but it's not his worst by a long shot. Readable, but don't seek it out. *

Sensational Spider-Man 32: Focuses on Mary Jane and her Civil War travails. It tries to show Mary Jane's resiliance and devotion to Peter, but doesn't quite pull it off. The dream sequence especially was jarring, and the meeting with Sue was problematic, considering what happens at the end of Civil War 04 (especially considering Mary Jane could reach her by cell). *1/2

Stan lee meets Dr. Doom: Quite probably the weakest of these - Lee writes Dr Doom like a jokester, which is inconsistant with everything (even Lee's creation of him). Loeb and Guinisses' backup is pretty weak as well, offering nothing new. Art is nice though. **

Teen Titans 41: They made him an entirely new body, and he still doesn't have his voice back?! A mostly confusing mess of an issue, it relies too much on tropes (will she kill) and dredging up things we all want to forget (Cassie and Robin's kiss, the "let's clone Con-El again" thing). *1/2

What if? Wolverine: Enemy of the State: Wolverine killing everyone and everything. Some moments are nicely shocking (Cap, for instance) and it plays out decently like a horror movie, but I think the ending isn't a plausible resolution. **

X-Men 193. Man, I'm starting to really turn around on Chris Bachalo's art - it's still way too confusing half the time, but the other half can be really pretty. We get a (sort of) resolution to the Children plot, and it's first revealed (as far as I know) that they aren't evolved - they just use advanced tech. I'd really like it if that had been pointed out earlier. This arc was sort of meh, but I hold high hopes for future ones. **1/2

Hopefully I'll have another video-game post later on.