Comics: Week of November 2

I'm not very comfortable writing reviews. Sure, I can rant like the dickens, but I don't think I can use those abilities to make a competent review. So for the next while, I'm going to experiment with writing paragraph-length reviews about the comics I picked up during the week. No more than five sentences, plus The Doc's Patented Ratings Systen: marks out of five for both Expectation and Rating, and the Differential. Because more comics reviews are just what this fine Internet of ours needs. I'll try and keep them fairly spoiler-free, but there's no guarantees, folks.

Desolation Jones #4
(Warren Ellis, words; J.H. Williams III, art)

This is my favourite Warren Ellis title out there right now, and seeing as how I can count four off the top of my head (six if you count Iron Man and Planetary), that's a fairly high rating. This issue puts out quite a bit of plot in between two instances of decompressed violence, and I was very happy with it, on the whole. Ellis doesn’t always give the reader well-defined characters (some that have character traits and dialogue that are fairly interchangeable), but Michael Jones is the most well-rounded character he’s put out since Spider Jerusalem. Williams’s art is not quite as breathtaking as his work on Promethea, but the grittier tone is an excellent fit for the book; I was also particularly pleased with Jose Villarrubia’s use of color in the opening fight scene. My only complaint is that I really wish it was a monthly book, but if as long as it continues with its high level of quality, I’ll keep patiently waiting for the next issue.
Expectation: 4
Rating: 4
Differential: 0


House of M #8
(Brian Michael Bendis, words; Oliver Copiel, pencils)

I have a love-hate relationship with this series: I thought a number of issues were very good, but I also felt that few were un-necessary or, at the worst, just plain bad. I stuck it out, though, because I had an investment after the first four issues and wanted to see how it all turned out. This issue sets up a very different – and interestingly enough from a DC fan’s perspective, not retconned – path for the Marvel Universe, and I was actually shocked by a few of the developments. While the overall storyline felt a little padded, this issue was tight and well-plotted, and it’s in no small part thanks to Bendis’s approach to the key characters. However, this issue did not do the one thing I hoped it might do, which is make me care about Marvel again on a monthly basis; I’ll stick to reading D!’s books when I go to visit.
Expectation: 2.5
Rating: 3.0
Differential: +0.5


Marvel Team-Up #14
(Robert Kirkman, words; Cory Walker, art)

Two Marvel books in one week is an extremely rare occurrence, but I just couldn’t pass up on the Spidey-Invincible combo, especially when it brings Cory Walker back to the character he helped create. The issue has plenty of jokes, a number of which involve the inherent silliness of superhero names, and almost all of them work just fine. The action sequences are good too; I particularly enjoyed the way Invincible decided to deal with Doctor Octopus. However, the book’s main failing is that the inclusion of the teenaged Invincible really points out just how far Spider-Man has fallen from the way I feel he works best: a loser teenager with great responsibility and an incredible secret. He’s just not as effective as a handsome guy with a supermodel wife, which is why I’ll stick to my Ultimate Spider-Man trades – at least, as long as Ultimate Peter Parker remains under-25.
Expectation: 4
Rating: 4.5
Differential: +0.5


Powers #14
(Brian Michael Bendis, words; Michael Avon Oeming, art)

The second chapter in the current storyline opens with another stand-up comedian, this time ranting about the sniping cowards on the Internet (as a non-sniping Internet coward, I take no offense), although I don't know how - or if - it ties in to the rest of the story. Pilgrim and Walker's investigation of the victim / suspect's home with the "assistance" of a mysterious federal agent is interesting, but I was chilled by Pilgrim's chat with Internal Affairs. Bendis's ear for dialogue is almost as good as Elmore Leonard's, which is praise that I don't give out lightly, and Oeming's work this issue is some of the best I've seen him do. Although I don't know where they're going with this storyline, I'm glad Pilgrim's getting some close scrutiny, and I'll be watching this with a great deal of interest.
Expectation: 3.5
Rating: 3.5
Differential: 0


Seven Soldiers: The Bulleteer #1
(Grant Morrison, words; Yanick Paquette, pencils)

I've found the Seven Soldiers miniseries consistently above-par, so I was shocked when I found The Bulleteer to be simply "okay". Just like in the previous series, the book has it's share of crazy-but-brilliant ideas; much less so than some of the others, but that's not neccessarily a bad thing. Morrison's Bulleteer, Alix Harrower, is a twist on the reluctant hero; a woman who's gained her powers (strength and invulnerability) thanks to her husband's twin obsessions with beauty and superheroes. The psychosexual themes of the book are consistently mirrored in Paquette's art, and that's where the biggest trouble comes in: every image of Alix looks like a pinup, which makes the book look more like a collection of cheesecake shots than a series of panels intended to tell a forward-moving story. My first impression of this series is that in both writing and art it's a straight-ahead middle-of-the-road superhero book, and as such it doesn't quite live up to the expectations that the previous miniseries have laid out for it.
Expectation: 4
Rating: 2.5
Differential: -1.5