Comics from 1/11/06

Okay, here goes the round up of what I read this week. A strange week for me: Much more Marvel than DC. Usually, these days, I am quite the other way.

DC Books:

Hawkman #48: Hawkman and Hawkgril are off fighting in the Rann-Thanagar war. Hawkman continues to be the baddest of bad asses. At one point, the Green Lantern Kilowog asks him if he is trying to take on four armies at once, and Hawkman's answer is simply "Whatever it takes." Not only is he taking on four armies at once, he has every intention of winning. For good measure, he also has a scrap with some of his allies in the Rannian army. However, this really is more of a "Day in the life" issue, focusing on the relationship between Carter and Kendra - it just so happens that when you are a Hawk and surrounded by war, a "day in the life" will always include battle.
Spoilers of significant upcoming changes ahead!
I got the feeling, however, knowing that this title will be changing to Hawkgirl with #50, that the romance here was just to make us feel Hawkman's loss that much more acutely. This is the downside to today's comic book culture, where we all know what is going to be happening 2 or 3 issues from now. What might have seemed like a straightforward character development to me before I was reading previews, now feels like a predictable plot device, no matter how well written (and it was) or how well drawn (and again, it was)
End of Spoilers.
Overall this was another good issue of Hawkman. Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray do a wonderful job writing Hawkman, bringing across his well-earned confidence, and showing his complex form of honor, as well as his strategic mind. Chris Batista's pencils and Cam Smith's inks are perfectly suited to this book. Every issue is a pleasure for me to read.

JLA #124: Somewhat less of a pleasure to read. Continuity problems bothered me in this one. Warning: Much of what I say about this issue will contain mild spoilers of this book, and of last week's Day of Vengeance special.
Somehow, the threat of the Key using Manitou Dawn to kill millions of people still hasn't grabbed me as significant, even as we see people dropping all over Gotham. Maybe because that threat is given so few pages compared to the character development stuff that is is clearly only a subplot. The real story here is that Envy, one of the Seven Deadly Sins unleashed when the Spectre destroyed the Rock of Eternity in the original Day of Vengeance mini-series, then caught by Sabac, and released again when Katana took him down in the pages of Outsiders, then captured again by the Shadowpact in the Day of Vengeance special last week (so what is he doing here? I don't know, hence the continuity problem I mentioned earlier - I'm not sure when this is supposed to be taking place relative to the other stories mentioned above), shows up and influences (as does the Key) an already-pissed off Green Arrow. So, Green Arrow proceeds to throw a beat-down on Batman. Yep, that's right. Mano-a-mano, Green Arrow beats up Batman. It's one of those "I'm so angry, I'm going to fight well above my head" moments. Listen - I don't care how angry Batman gets - he isn't going to beat Arrow in an archery competition. Similarly, Arrow, sans bow, is not going to take out Batman. I really hope the next issue shows that there was some force either limiting Batman, or amping up GA. Batman never even throws a punch, or tries to get his batline around Arrow. He does give him one little throw, which Arrow turns against him because Batman threw him towards a pole he use to swing around (showing Batman's typical lack of observation of his environment... wait...) and kick Batman. Otherwise, he just gets straight-up beat down. Sadly, as the last story arc of the version of the JLA comic, Bob Harras has let us down. There is the kernel of an interesting story (or two between the GA/Bats showdown and the Key's plot) here, but the execution leaves something to be desired. The art, however by Tom Derenick with Dan Green's inks is quite nice. It has a good feel to it, and helps tell the story well.
End spoilers and review of JLA #124

Marvel Books I picked up this week:

Cable & Deadpool #24: Okay, I have been in and out of this series. I don't know why I haven't been picking them all up. Fabian Nicieza is a good writer. His run on New Warriors remains one of my favorite books of all time. I still read his "New Thunderbolts" and love every issue. So why haven;t I been reading this book? Maybe because I am far from a fan of Cable. Regardless, it has been an oversight I may well rectify. The opening page of this book is an introduction from two of the supporting cast which is designed to bring you up to date in the same way as the "What has gone before" method that Marvel typically uses. Only much more entertaining. From there, we immediately cut in to so well-drawn, nicely dialogued action scenes. My only real complaint about this book is the Spider-Man/Deadpool fight and interaction wasn't long enough. Otherwise, this was a fun book. Patrick Zircher's pencisl suit the story, and are enhanced by "Udon's M3th" on inks. (On the cover, this person is referred to as "M3th@Udon") This one is worth picking up, and I am looking forward to the next issue, when Captain America goes after Cable. (Little bit of a continuity problem here, too: Nick Fury is apparently still in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. so I guess this must take place pre-Secret War #5.

Daughters of the Dragon #1 (of 6) Another book by Palmiotti and Gray (the guys who bring us Hawkman, above?) this book brings us a look at some characters who were supporting cast in Iron Fist and Power Man tales from the 70's. Coleen Wing, samurai and Misty Knight, ex-cop with a cyborg arm were KnightWing investigations at one point. Now they are bail bondswomen and their own bounty hunters. This book starts off with a fight with the Rhino. It's well written, and apparently Misty Knight's arm is a much more serious piece of hardware than it has been protrayed as in the past. The art by Khari Evans celebrates cheesecake, but also does a nice job on the scenes that don't involve any ot that. The full-page spread of the Rhino makes him about as bad-ass looking as he has been drawn in... well... forever. The multi-talented Jimmy Palmiotti also inked this book, and his inks do nothing to get in the of the beautiful pencils. So far, this is pretty far from standard super-hero fare, but that doesn't mean that it isn't fun. After all, how many books these days have a guy with a ball gag on their cover?

She-Hulk #4: A tale told in flashback about the brief time when She-Hlk was not in control of her faculties, and pulled a "Hulk" and knocked a town down. And her redemption after facing up to what she had done. It's a nice, straight forward story, has a guest appearance by Doctor Leonard Samson, and is a nice look at the makeup of the She-Hulk, and what makes her a hero. Another enjoyable read by Dan Slott, but something about guest artist Scott Kolins makes me think his art is better suited to the pages of Heavy Metal than a hero book. Not necessarily the nudie stories of the book, just that the style, I think would lend itself better to "more serious" sequential art, and perhaps Sci-Fi than it does to She Hulk. It certainly is both distinctive and of excellent quality, though.

Well, I'm out of time but do want to post something, so tune in later for reviews of Ultimate Extinction #1, and X-men: the 198.