Comic Reviews for Janaury 25, 2011

Rounding out the first month of 2012 we have reviews for Aquaman #5, Secret Avengers #21.1, Teen Titans #5 and X-Men Legacy #261. It's a good week for books, so read on!

"Lost"
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Ivan Reis
Inkers: Joe Prado, Eber Ferreira
Colorist: Rod Reis

Geoff Johns sets out to finally answer the ages old question of "what would happen to Aquaman in a desert?" The answer, as you might expect, is have some hallucinations and then pass out. That's not a particularly thrilling story, true, but it is interspersed with the far more interesting story of how he got into the desert, which involves fighting some Atlanteans in a highly advanced aircraft and struggling to find out what the artifact he found in the last arc is supposed to be.

It's easy to make light of the situation, but in honesty this is another solid issue for this surprisingly good book. The plot is definitely taking a very slow burn, largely because Mr. Johns seems more interested in character examination than story, but it is an interesting read nonetheless. It's no doubt helped immeasurably by Ivan Reis' engaging artwork and Rod Reis' superb coloring -- the hallucination sequences in the desert are particularly noteworthy.

Aquaman has turned into a surprisingly good character study book, but it remains light on plot. It'd be nice if the book moved forward a bit more, but the hints that have been littered around for now are enticing enough to get me to buy this book each month.

"Red Light Nation"
Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Patrick Zircher
Colorist: Andy Troy

This issue serves as the start of Rick Remender's run on Secret Avengers, a book that I have had a hard time getting into in the past. I had high hopes at the start of the series, but couldn't get into the first arc. Similarly Warren Ellis' much praised run earned a second look, but it didn't click with me as I was rather lost. Rick Remender's excellent run on Uncanny X-Force is what has now drawn me back to the series a third time, though with some trepidation since his Venom run hasn't grabbed me either.

Fortunately we're starting off with a rough new direction for this book, so my lack of understanding of the overall story isn't too much of a disadvantage. Near the end of the issue, though, the series' main villain pops by to monologue for a bit, but I'll be damned if I have any clue what's going on. In a supposed introductory issue that's a bit of a misstep, but the core of the issue is solid.

In essence this is the issue where Captain America hands the reigns of his covert task force over to Hawkeye, after a little bit of a test. It does tread some well worn ground with Captain America doubting whether or not Hawkeye is ready for a command assignment -- despite having led numerous teams over the years, including the Avengers and Thunderbolts. It works well enough since this is supposed to be a covert team, and Hawkeye is by nature a flashy hero... but it does smack a bit of "not this again" eye-rolling. Still, taken at face value it is a good story, and it gives each character a few moments to shine without overdoing each other.

The art comes from one of my favorite artists in the business today, Patrick Zircher. His work is strong as usual and the action heavy issue plays well to his strengths. It's a pity he won't be the series regular artist, but I have faith that the series will continue with high standards.

Mr. Remender seems right at home with the covert ops team books, though he might be risking getting a bit typecast at this point, and Secret Avengers certainly looks like it will be another good book. I could certainly use a bit more information on the backstory (which is, in theory, what the point one issues are supposed to do), but so long as it doesn't get too bogged down it should be alright. I'll be looking forward to the proper start of his run.

"Over Before It's Begun"
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Pencils: Brett Booth
Inks: Norm Rapmund
Colorst: Andrew Dalhouse

This is the fight issue that we've been building to since the beginning of the series: Superboy versus the Teen Titans. As such it's pretty much wall-to-wall action, which works well enough, and takes good advantage of artist Brett Booth. On the other hand it is just a fight book with a pre-ordained outcome,thanks to Superboy's parent title already revealing the ending. There's nothing wrong with it, and it gives the team a chance to start learning to act like a team (or not), but there's not much beyond that to recommend it.

Each character gets a few moments in the sun to show their stuff, but at the same time just about every character has already had a good shot at it in their own individual issue. It does also cement why Red Robin gets to be on the team when there are such heavy hitters available. Granted it's been established many times in the past, but this is a new continuity so I suppose we can put that aside since it needs to be established for the new team.

I feel this series has done a good job of playing on reader expectations so far. It's at least partially assumed the Superboy will be a Teen Titan -- he has been in the past, of course -- but this series has hinted at that possibility without actually fulfilling it. If anything it seems that the team will be at odds with Superboy, at least until he can break free from his masters. Whether or not he'll join in the future is up in the air, but it's done a good job of playing on those expectations to create interesting conflicts with the characters and the reader.

Teen Titans hasn't been one of the best books of the relaunch, but it's been consistently good. Now that the gathering of the team has finally finished it's time to see what the book can do with the group. I think it'll be worth watching.

"Lost Tribes"
Writer: Christos Gage
Penciller: David Baldeon
Inker: Jordi Tarragona
Colorist: Sonia Oback

Wolverine's X-Team gets a visit from 90s supervillain, Exodus. Now as villains go Exodus has always been a bit of a difficult sell since he's never had a real motive and has just been wandering around being just about unbeatable. Of course the same could be said of Mr. Sinister, but Kieron Gillen has been doing some excellent stories with him over in Uncanny X-Men, so there is some hope here (though it does raise the question of why Marvel suddenly feels like rehabilitating old, worn-out villains).

The story does turn out to be serviceable in that regard, though it does devolve pretty quickly into just a giant fight sequence with the various X-Men showing off their powers. It's a bit of a pointless sequence given that we've already established that Exodus is pretty much unbeatable by the X-Men, though they do kind of get him to a stalemate by the end. Sort of. In the past the only way to 'beat' Exodus has been to convince him that his reasoning is unsound, but this time around that has the annoying side effect of sending him after Cyclops' X-Men. We may have the teams meeting up again sooner than we'd expected.

The core problem with the story is that Exodus is just an uninteresting villain. He's superpowerful, that's really his entire gimmick, and he doesn't at least have an interesting mission or personality to get by with just his powers. On the flip side the stuff with the X-Men is generally good and it's clear that Mr. Gage has a good grasp on the characters. He also writes one of my favorite Marvel titles, Avengers Academy, and if he can bring a bit more of that magic to this book then I will be thrilled. As it stands, though, this is still a good book, but it could use a more interesting villain.