Wolverine is the type of character that seems to be everywhere and somehow involved in everything all at once. He is tilting more and more over to the violent side of things and caught up in angst-filled adventures, it seems that he never gets a break. The title of this one-shot may seem serious but upon opening, the word “Sushi” is jumping out at you, and you know that this comic cannot be taken seriously.
If you’ve been following the Viltrumite War, Thragg (traitor to the planet Viltrum) is currently trying to destroy the Coalition of Planets. Weapons gathered by Nolan and Allen the alien have been helpful to defend Talescira, however time is running short and Thragg is getting closer to his ultimate goal… Destroying the Coalition of Planets! Starting at this issue, 74, isn’t a good place to start. Getting issue 71 (the pre-crisis) or just getting issue 72, are both good places to start in the Viltrumite War story arc. Starting at that point in the Viltrumite Story arc, will give great foresight on the current events on the war.
If you don’t like the regular cast of Poison Ivy, Catwoman or Harley Quinn, then in this issue you’re treated to Zatanna and Talia al Ghul. Unfortunately, that is the only thing you’re treated too.
Catwoman has finally coped with the battle her and her sister fought in issue #12. She’s won the mental battle, but is now engaged in a physical one. Someone has decided to kidnap her in order to find out who the original Batman was. It makes sense that someone would come after her to find out that Bruce Wayne is Batman, but this story has been used before in the very first issue of Sirens when Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn force Selina to tell them Batman’s secret identity. Using a similar story just makes it seem like they’ve run out of ideas.
H.P. Lovecraft is considered to be a major influence on horror. Even Stephen King has said he was influenced by him. Now, Lovecraft makes his impact on comics with Alan Moore’s “Neonomicon”, a comic showing the events leading up to the awakening of Cthulu.
Neonomicon starts off by giving an impending sense of doom with a statement claiming that Cthulu will soon arise and nothing can be done to stop this.
The crossover event of the year lives up to the hype. Armageddon is upon us and thirteen characters of the Top Cow universe that are the bearers of the thirteen artifacts are the reason why, including the bearer of the Witchblade Sara Pezzini.
Aphrodite IV kidnapped Sara’s daughter and killed someone very close to her. Sara is put on an emotional roller-coaster. The writing makes this end-of-the-world story unique. All the characters have distinct personalities, and small actions help characterize them. When Sara Pezzini is fighting demons she seems tough and unsympathetic, but then her child is in danger and Sara becomes a caring mother that will do anything – including killing anyone in her way – to get her daughter back.
Alabaster Graves returns with the second installment of Driver of the Dead. Previously, Graves was hired to transport the body of legendary voodoo priest Mose Freeman who was killed during an exorcism. Graves (and yes the name is ironic) is accompanied on his trip by Freeman’s granddaughter Marissa. It’s an uneasy alliance, as Graves prefers to be alone and Marissa is unclear as to why someone like Graves is needed to transport his body.
The amount of greatness this comic book’s story contains mirrors that of a coin flip – the first half seems to drudge on until you get half-way through to the material that is even better than the first issue.
The members of Cyberforce are infected with a virus and now it’s a battle against the clock for Velocity to save them all. Literally. Every page of this issue has a timer in the top left-hand corner counting down the seconds. It’s an interesting concept but does not deliver suspense. The issue does a nice little recap on the first page by not using the standard paragraph that makes you feel like you’re reading the back of a novel. It provides pictures from the first issue and states vaguely what happened before. They should have left it at that. Instead they spend the next 12 pages re-hashing the entire first issue by way of narration from Velocity. If you’ve read the first issue, it seems very tedious. If this is your first time reading it, you may think you can just skip the first issue because you know all there is. But you would be missing out on some great moments, like the history of the villain Erasmus Paine. Little gems like that make the first issue worth the $3.99. And the second issue is worth it too… if you’re willing to buy a 15 page issue since the first dozen are pointless.
Critical Millennium succeeds in telling a highly political, future-full-of-doom story set in space. Based on the previous sentence you would think that it almost has too much going on in the story, but that is why it succeeds because it takes everything in strides and blends them effortlessly together. The first issue seemed rooted in ‘Event Horizon’ where as the second issue is more ‘Cowboy Bebop’, with its sassy dialog and cool setting.
The setting is the not so distant future and it’s only a few days before crime and cash are eliminated from the United States of America. Cash is being ended in favor of plastic, eliminating any form of illegitimate business. A simple broadcast sent out all over the country will stop anyone from doing anything they know to be unlawful. That idea alone sets up a playground of ideas, but that is not when the story takes place. The book is called the “Last Days of American Crime” and that is where the story begins just days before the broadcast goes live and cash as a currency is erased.
Mouse Guard is a series that has grown with popularity since arriving on the comic scene. It is one of those books that critics and retailers didn’t think twice about, but that fans latched onto. The word of mouth has made it one of Archaia’s biggest if not THE biggest selling title from the company. Creator/Writer/Artist David Peterson’s four issue mini-series format has become a staple in the series development and showed the industry as a whole that you don’t need to be numbered monthly to be successful. The latest series “Legends of the Guard” is a mixture of short stories set in the world of Mouse Guard.
