Fallen Angel #18

Written by Peter David

Art by J.K. Woodward

IDW $3.99

Okay. Last month I became really worried. A lame crossover, more bad art, the single worst issue of the 37 issue series, a story that seemed so bad it must be a joke. But this issue starts off with the most appreciated return of J.K. Woodward and the story turns around. Last months flipbook was a horrible idea and made for a ridiculously bad, short and disorderly introduction to a story and to be honest, I thought using Shi in the book was just a gimmick. This issue didn’t justify the horrible quality of issue 17, but it did restore my faith in the series by introducing a plot that actually makes sense in the long-running continuity of Fallen Angel.

The return of Yurei, Woodward, the concept of tricking Lee into eating some kind of cursed food so that she can never leave Yellow Springs and return to Bette Noir makes perfect sense in the context of Yurei being an evil, power hungry bastard. I have yet to decide where Shi comes into play, why David agreed to write her into the series and why she’s necessary in the story. If Yurei set them up to come to Yellow Springs, Shi fits into the equation somewhere, whether she double crosses Lee or is in league with Yurei himself, something more complex than two incredibly powerful, religiously affected women who have killed lots of people wander into a strange cursed place at the same time has to be happening.

David’s return to form is most evident in his projections of the simplicity of Christianity and how flimsy it’s grounds are. As Shi hears Lee’s experience with God, hearing the revelation that God doesn’t care about humanity, in fact, he is disgusted and bored with us, Shi, the faithful Christian is immediately upset and scared that Lee might be right. Lee asks her, “if he had no mercy for his only son, what chance do we have?”, clearly scaring the shit out of Shi.

Next month will be fun to see where this all goes, if Shi will stick around, what she’s there for, what happens with Yurei and what exactly comes next. And a fight with hundreds of samurai is almost guaranteed, which definitely helps.

Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #20

Written by Christos Gage

Art by Butch Guice, Dean White and Gerald Parel

Marvel Comics $2.99

This was really good, you should do yourself a favor and buy it if you’re out there reading World War Hulk. Even if you aren’t reading any of the other tie-ins, this is good, all by itself. First off, Chris Gage is a fantastic writer, check out Stormwatch P.H.D. if aren’t reading it yet, it’s one of the best superhero team books going right now outside of JSA. In addition to the great writing, the art is top notch, especially since this is a marvel book and so many of their books are populated by the formulaic mainstream comic book format that lack proper light, shading, texture and personality. Guice does all of that and more, quiet well. If you see this in the store, just crack it open and take a took at the art, that alone is worth taking a look at. The cover should grab your attention as well, it’s ominously depressing to look at, which really works with the remorse that isn’t being expressed in the actual WWH series.

If all of that wasn’t enough to excite you, in this issue Iron Man has been captured and imprisoned by the Hulk and the warbound, the Hulk storms S.H.I.E.L.D.’s ship and demands to see Nick Fury, when it is revealed Nick Fury is hiding from the government somewhere underground and it’s likely that the Fury that lead Hulk onto the space ship was an android built by Stark to deceive him and Tony has planned an armagedeon plan for S.H.I.E.L.D. to carry out in his absence. Stark manages to contact his first officer from inside of the prison, where he gives instructions to carry out some kind of apocalypse mission against the Hulk. In the lead up to this moment, about half of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been talking about how they’re glad Stark is gone and they thought he wasn’t the man for the job, but in the stark(lawlz) reality of his capture, they are willing to carry out his final, desperate doomsday plan.

Go buy this, it’s so good. And I HATE Iron Man.

Midnighter #10

Written by Keith Giffen

Art by Chris Sprouse, Karl Story and Randy Mayor

Wildstorm $2.99

Well, that was a pleasant and immediate change. In a single issue Chris Sprouse takes Midnighter from being a one shot, non-continuity-having, globe-trotting, uncaring superhero comic book to what looks to be an arc about Midnighter developing an alter ego and his stay in an insane, dangerous patriotic American town. FUCKING AWESOME. I was seriously just about to stop reading because I didn’t feel like the comic had done anything worthwhile in the near year that it’s been out. I’m actually really excited now.

I felt like I should keep reading, if nothing more than to support one of the only gay superheroes in comic books, but with all of the one shot, self-contained stories, I didn’t feel like it was really worth three dollars to see these little action stories with cute dialog about a teleporting tough guy. But the idea of establishing a secret identity? Now that’s interesting and I don’t think I’ve seen it done. Many comic book-based movies have done the opposite, where they show the viewer how the person who has attained new abilities develops a superhero persona, but not the other way around. Because of this new angle, we get to learn answers to questions I’ve been asking about Midnighter since the first issue. Like, who the fuck is this guy, where he’d come from, does he like toast? And things of that nature.

In this issue we learn he has a daughter, which is interesting since he’s gay, but no real information is divulged about her othre than the fact that she hates that his life is so secretive and she generally seems to have a poor relationship with him. Another thing we learn is that at some point the guy Midnighter used to be was erased, after the government programmed him. While you could easily say that this is going the Wolverine route, I really don’t think they’ll be doing that, though I would be happy to see him fight against some government scientists and politicians who may have stolen his life from him. In addition to all of this, it is revealed that he has some sort of secretary, though she doesn’t know much about him and isn’t privy to private, classified information, though she passes paperwork and what not on to him.

I’m actually really excited about this.

Raise the Dead #4 of 4

Written by Leah Moore and John Reppion

Art by Hugo Petrus, Marc Rueda and Ivan Nunes

Cover by Arthur Suydam

Dynamite Entertainment $3.50

Arthur Suydam’s covers have become the types of girls I liked in high school and it’s starting to bother me. On the outside, a wonderful exterior that makes one trust that the contents found within would be equally interesting, intriguing, important and, at the very least, a little friendly towards a nice stranger like myself. But instead you get dumb, dull, mean and boring once you get past the cover. Like a Fallout Boy song, interesting for a second and horrible for three minutes, Raise the Dead has been an arduous chore of a four issue min-series to read. I feel as though I should have received a prize upon finishing the final panel of this pointless comic which had no beginning, certainly no end and really barely had a plot.

A zombie outbreak occurs because of maybe a meteorite or maybe the government or maybe some scientists, it’s never really cleared up. Some people band together to escape, some are jerks and some of the jerks die. And then maybe some people get away. There you go, I saved you fourteen dollars.

I don’t remember actually putting this in my pull list, but at the time issue one came out I was reading some marvel zombies book, walking dead and the second IDW zombies series; Eclipse of the Undead. Dynamite’s hollow, pointless attempt at a zombie book fails hard, not achieving the characters and interesting plots of Kirkman’s zombies, nor the great inside art or human conflict of IDW’s books. It sure as hell wasn’t funny, so it doesn’t compare with Marvel Zombies. Again, Suydam’s covers were the only reason to even think about looking at this book, the writing is terrible, the art isn’t anything spectacular and the concept is old and tired. Go buy Walking Dead.