Legen--wait for it--dary Comic Book Highlights for 5/13/09

Cover of the Week: Green Lantern Corps #36

I like how there is no empty space on this cover for GLC #36. It gives a nice preview to the hectic war going on in Oa.

Dark Reign: Hawkeye #2 Highlights

So this is basically how we are suppose to see H.A.M.M.E.R as. If this keeps up it looks like Norman's reign over the Marvel Universe will meet a quick end.

I continue to love how Bullseye continues to get under Norman's skin. And it will be nice to see the usual homicidal maniac I expect Bullseye to be.

Green Lantern Corps #36 Highlights

Emerald Eclipse in essence is the sequel to Sinestro Corps War. It is great that at least GLC knows how to integrate the other Lantern Corps while continuing the war between the Green and Sinestro Corps.

With Sodam turning the Daxam sun yellow I wonder if we will see a war between Daxam and New Krypton in 2010.

Oracle: The Cure #3 Highlights

This was a nice little cyber battle between Oracle and the Calculator, though it was a bit of a one-sided battle.

Ultimate Spider-Man #132 Highlights

Who doesn't love a good chick fight! The best part was when Kitty says she loves Peter as much as MJ while her current boyfriend, Kong's looks on. When USM is relaunched as Ultimate Comics Spider-Man I would like to see more stuff with MJ and Kitty.

With Venom involved later on this was a nice battle between Spider-Man and the Sinister Six and I hope that we get a Sinister Six II storyline when this title is relaunched.

I was impressed with how Immonen was able to capture the Ditko Peter Parker. And I like the creepy look to the zombie Uncle Ben at the end of this page.

Man I will be super pissed if Loeb kills Ultimate Peter Parker. It would only give me another reason to hate Loeb's work in an ever growing list of things I hate about his work.

War of Kings: Ascension #2 Highlights

The Annihilus baby back and it should be an interesting plot point after War of Kings is over for Nova or Guardians of the Galaxy to pick up on.

It should be interesting to see how DnA will mix Blastaar into the main War of Kings book and if his escape from prison 42 will mean that some of the other Marvel heroes on Earth will get involved in War of Kings.

Legacy Shorts: Comic Book Reviews for 5/13/09

Dark Reign: Hawkeye #2

Creative Team
Writer: Andy Diggle
Artist: Tom Raney
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colorist: Guru eFX

Story - Hawkeye Part 2 of 5

Review
Diggle continues to impress with how well he understands the homicidal maniac that Bullseye really is. I love seeing how Bullseye, as Hawkeye, took out the camera crew at the beginning of the issue and then pinned down to helicopter pilot with one of his arrows and then placing an explosive arrow right out the pilot to give him a chance to live. It was a very sick act I expect from Bullseye. And I also continue to enjoy how Bullseye continues to find ways to get under Norman's skin by the actions he does as Hawkeye.

Now as I said before I have mostly stayed away from most of the Dark Reign books but just from the few Dark Reign books I have read I have not seen H.A.M.M.E.R portrayed the way they were in this issue. Norman and his H.A.M.M.E.R organization were portrayed as plain terrorist in this issue with what they did to the workers at the TV station. This portrayal doesn't really fall in line with how H.A.M.M.E.R has been portrayed in the past and with more actions like this it may be just time before Norman is new power.

Also I continue to dislike that it is only Ben Ulrich that is calling Norman's rise to power in question. It has been one of the more unrealistic things that almost no one has questioned the amount of power Norman currently has and it is another that hurts this issue as we are reminded of this in the middle of the issue.

Issue Rating
Story: 7/10 - Though Diggle writes a great Bullseye I found his portrayal of H.A.M.M.E.R and the reminder of the non-questioning of Norman's actions to hurt this issue.
Art: 7.7/10 - Raney's art continues to look great but I still would have preferred someone like Aja or Lark to draw this book that should have a darker feel to it.
Overall: 7.35/10 - Dark Reign: Hawkeye #2 had an entertaining beginning and ending but a lot of what happened in the middle of the issue hurt how good this issue should have been.

Oracle: The Cure #3

Creative Team
Writer: Kevin Vanhook
Artists: Julian Lopez & Fernando Pasrin
Inkers: Bit, Norm Rapmund, & Fernando Pasarin
Colorist: HI-FI

Story - A Matter of Anti-Life or Death

Review
All I can say about this series is that I guess I should have learned already what I get when I get my hopes up. Oracle: The Cure had some potential to show why Barbara could carry a book on her own but in the end this series proved to be little better than what you would read in a fanfiction. Other than Morrison it just seems that any writer trying to pick up some of the plot points from Final Crisis are just doomed to failure. And Vanhook made the search for the left over Anti-Life Equation on the Internet very uninteresting. It doesn't help that I could have cared less about a battle between Barbara and the Calculator as we have seen it in the past before and in a much more interesting story. I kind of wish Vanhook would have used another villain for his story than the Calculator as the story did not feel very fresh.

Issue Rating
Story: 4.5/10 - Vanhook was very unimpressive with his writing as it felt I was reading dialogue from a fanfiction.
Art: 6/10 - Lopez art was good though this issue have a lot more inconsistencies that hurt the look of this issue.
Overall: 5.75/10 - Overall Oracle: The Cure was a very disappointing mini-series and I have no idea how this ties in with what DC has in story for Barbara and the new Batgirl book in the future though I could care less.

Ultimate Spider-Man #132

Creative Team
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Stuart Immonen
Inker: Wade von Grawbadger
Colorist: Justin Ponsor

Story - Ultimatum Tie-in

Review
If there wasn't more of a reason to hate Loeb and his Ultimatum event but for the first time that I can remember in its almost 10 year run Ultimate Spider-Man actually wasn't released last month. And if that wasn't bad enough it seems that Ultimatum has finally affect the quality that we get in Ultimate Spider-Man. Even Bendis and Immonen best can't help make Ultimatum a better event. Still the team of Bendis and Immonen due their best with what little they have to work with and still continue to make the Ultimate Spider-Man tie-ins to Ultimatum much more compelling that the event itself.

Again as always the strength Ultimate Spider-Man #132 is the stuff that goes on in Peter and supporting cast lives. The short fight MJ and Kitty get into, MJ actually punches Kitty, was great. The best part was right when Kitty says she loves Peter as much as MJ and just stopping before saying Peter's name was made even more awkward as Kong, Kitty's current boyfriend, was there as well with a shocked face. Bendis does a great job with this scene as his dialogue is perfect and it will be interesting to see if Kitty and/or Spider-Woman will be able to reach Peter before what looks to be his final moments if we are suppose to believe what Loeb has been saying.

Also while Bendis went a bit to long with the stuff going it was still much more enjoyable than the senseless fighting over in Ultimatum. And I got to give it up Immonen as his artwork continues to grow on me and he kicks some butt with his artwork in this issue. Also I liked the little call back to the Nightmare plotline from issue #70 and #71. It was cool to see how he brought Spider-Man's worst enemies to life and used all the people Hulk killed against him in order to mess with both heroes mentally.

Issue Rating
Story: 7.8/10 - Bendis does the best to give this Ultimatum tie-in much more depth than the event itself though their is little he can do to stretch out the very thin story of Ultimatum.
Art: 8/10 - Immonen does a great job in this issue and his splash pages were awesome.
Overall: 7.9/10 - Overall this was a good issue of Ultimate Spider-Man but still not close to some of the better issue of this series. Still an average issue of Ultimate Spider-Man is better than most of the other titles on the market.

War of Kings: Ascension #2

Creative Team
Writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Artist: Wellinton Alves
Inkers: Scott Hanna & Nelson Pereira
Colorist: Guru eFX

Story - Null and Void

Review
Though the last issue showed some promise with the Fraternity of Raptors showing themselves to be villains this issue suffered from focusing on giving the reader insight into Christopher Powell, better known as Darkhawk. I found the stuff dealing with Chris to be a very boring character study and would have preferred to see more of a focus on Talon and the Fraternity of Raptors.Still I am enjoying how DnA are building the Fraternity of Raptors into the antithesis of the Nova Corps and hope that after War of Kings is over that DnA build up a war between the Nova Corps, what's left of the Nova Corps after War of Kings, and the Fraternity of Raptors as it would be awesome to see and give Nova a Sinestro Corps War type event. Also I will be interested to see how DnA tie-in the ending of this issue into War of Kings.

Again the star of this mini-series continues to be Wellinton Alves great artwork. I love how Alves capture all of the cosmic stuff. I hope that Alves gets a more splash pages of action to draw in the last two issues as he wasn't really given any in this issue.

Issue Rating
Story: 5.3/10 - DnA do an good job when the issue did not focus on Chris. To bad most of the issue did focus on him instead of Talon and the Fraternity of Raptors.
Art: 8.4/10 - Alves does a great job with all the cosmic stuff and I would love to seem him back on Nova or tackle an Iron Man book.
Overall: 6.85/10 - This was an average issue and this mini-series still has potential to be a good one. Though I wonder how the ending of this issue will tie-in to the main series.

Legen--wait for it---dary Comic Book Highlight for 4/8/09

Cover of the Week: Daredevil Noir #1

Even though we've seen this cover many times over, especially in Daredevil comics, I like the whole black with a little bit of red to the Daredevil Noir version. And the rain affect on the cover is pretty cool.

Battle for the Cowl #2 Highlights

I present to you Jason "The Mass Murder and Child Shooter" Todd. At this point all that potential growth Jason had coming off his return in Under the Hood has been completely wasted as DC has decided that he should be their version of Punisher.

Talk about identity theft. Jane Doe is certainly one chick you do not want to mess with.

Though Gotham City burning is nothing new still Daniel kicks ass in this scene though I would have preferred if it was Two-Face or Penguin behind Gotham burning not Black Mask.

The beast, or in this case the bat, has been awaken as Dick is finally ready to take his rightful place in the Batfamily as the heir to Bruce's mantle and kick Jason Todd's ass.

I still don't understand why Jason just had a crowbar just laying around in his "batcave." Oh wait, that is suppose to be symbolic of his death at the hands of the Joker. That's clever. NOT!

Maybe Tim will eat a senzu bean to heal that huge wound from having a batrang the size of a football in his sternum. Now that would be a twist.

Dark Reign: Hawkeye #1 Highlight

Norman Osborn has to be the number 1 most incompetent leader there has been. Wait, Luke Cage was the leader of the New Avengers not to long ago. My bad I meant to say Norman is the second most incompetent leader with Luke Cage being the first. My bad!

Shouldn't this be the question that is asked by all reporters in the Marvel Universe in every title Norman appeared in for the first few months.

I know some fans want Iron Man or Captain America to be the ones to take Norman down but how sweet would it be if Hawkeye shot him right in his black heart and walked away saying he is done being the "hero?"

See now there is a signiture that she will never forget. Norman isn't going to be to happy about this.

Green Lantern #39 Highlights

And so the Orange Lanterns are born. To bad for the supposed Guardians of the Orange Corps learned first hand that greed is not something to be controlled. (I know, bad pun. Sorry!)

I like this twist of Hal not leading the Blue Lanterns as a Blue Lantern but a Green Lantern as Hal has the power to power-up the whole Blue Lantern Corps. It should be interesting, especially with how the Guardians treated Hal in this issue, if Hal does join the Blue Lantern's and how he will be able to find the hope to power all their rings.

Philip Tan really turned up the creepiness level as he shows that the Orange Lanterns may be the most out of control of all the Lantern Corps.

Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk #4 Highlight

See know this is a Rulk that I like. I wish Ultimate Rulk would go to the 616 Marvel Universe and go Ultimate Hank Pym on 616 Rulk's ass.

War of Kings: Ascension #1 Highlights

I love Talon's powered-up armor. Alves did an awesome job with his look of Talon in this issue.

Though I prefer Talon's power-up armor more I like that Marvel has decided to finally upgrade Darkhawks costume as this new power-up form gives Darkhawk a definite power upgrade to go up against someone like Nova.

Wolverine: Weapon X #1 Highlight

See that is what happens kids when you wake a sleeping bear from his nap.

Dark Reign: Hawkeye #1

Creative Team
Writer: Andy Diggle
Artist: Tom Raney
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colorist: Guru E-FX

Story- Hawkeye

Review
Even though I have largely stayed away from the onslaught of Dark Reign titles, save for the ones I was already collecting before Secret Invasion, I couldn't help but be intrigued by a mini-series starring my favorite Daredevil villain Bullseye masquerading as a the hero name Hawkeye. After reading Dark Reign: Hawkeye #1 it is clear that Diggle, like Warren Ellis, he is able to tap into that psycho manic part of his mind that allows him to write some badass villain characters. I guess I shouldn't be surprised as I was highly impressed with Diggle's work on Thunderbolts.

For anyone that read Ellis and Diggle's Thunderbolts you know that Norman Osborn and Bullseye have some great chemistry. It just feels that anytime these two have a conversation you know that either one could snap at any second as both have been shown to be completely psychotic characters. But what makes their conversations in this issue, and when they were starring in Thunderbolts, special is that their is an added interest that Norman is taking meds in order to control his psycho Green Goblin persona to maintain a professional appearance but Bullseye is completely unapologetic and he could easily kill Norman if he wanted to, which is what he tells Norman in this issue. It is this part of this series that may be the most interesting part of this series as we know that Norman will not be happy about all the crazy villainous acts Bullseye committed at the end of this issue and most likely in future issues.

Speaking of the ending I have to say that the ending of this issue was just awesome and an act that will come to no surprise to anyone that is familiar with Bullseyes character. Now I do not want to spoil anything as it is a scene you should read for yourself but simply put that last scene makes the $3.99 price tag worth the buy. Diggle did a great job writing that final scene as we see what a danger Norman is really in for having a team of supervillains masquerading as superheroes is to the power he now controls.

The one thing were this issue does go wrong though, and it is not Diggle fault, is that I continue not to buy Norman's rise to power. I don't know how Norman as Iron Patriot has been portrayed over in Dark Avengers but in the opening scene with the Dark Avengers trying to stop the "rogue" Hulk-Buster armor Norman came of as an incompetent leader as all he did was get in the way of his teammates just because he wanted the glory of being responsable for taking the Hulk-Buster unit down. And also I don't get why Ben Ulrich seems to be the only one to question Norman about his rise to power as it seems that during these first few months of Dark Reign questions like the one Ulrich asked should have been ask by the media before.

On the art side of things I found Tom Raney's artwork to be a mixed bag for me. Raney has a great dynamic style that could perfectly fit a team title like the Avengers or the X-Men but for a title like Dark Reign: Hawkeye I don't see his art fit the dark tone of this book. For a mini-series centered around Bullseye I kind of expect more of a Aja or Lark type artwork were they can carry the dark tone that Diggle is aiming for with this title. Still I like Raney's artwork but feel that he is an odd fit for a title like this one

Issue Rating
Story: 8.2/10 - Diggle continues to impress with how well he is able to write villain characters.
Art: 7.7/10 - Raney's art is impressive though his artwork does not fit the dark tone of this book.
Overall: 7.95/10 - Overall Dark Reign: Hawkeye was a great start for what should be a fun mini-series. If you have been enjoying Diggle's work on Thunderbolts so far I definitely recommend getting this mini-series.