Day: September 8, 2014

Hulk / Wolverine: Six Hours 1 (March 2003)

Hulk / Wolverine: 6 Hours #1

Writer Bruce Jones takes great care plotting out this first issue. He reveals the significance of the Six Hours title towards the middle of the issue, during the first intense, action set piece. There are a couple of those set pieces, with the beginning of the issue instead dedicated to setting up the supporting cast.

Bruce Banner is on the run and just happens to be at the airport when the men in black are after him so why not hop a flight to Canada. Things don’t go well on that flight, which Jones set into motion during the first quarter of the issue. He also moves between different characters and scenes through similar dialogue; it’s all very deliberate and it definitely creates tension.

The Wolverine appearance so far is inconsequential to the story. Jones is teasing.

Scott Kolins art is an odd fit for a wilderness story, but successful.

B+ 

CREDITS

Writer, Bruce Jones; artist, Scott Kolins; colorist, Lee Loughridge; letterer, Dave Sharpe; editor, John Miesegaes; publisher, Marvel Comics.

1

Nightworld 2 (September 2014)

Nightworld #2

The second issue of Nightworld has even better art than the first. Leandri doesn’t have as many things to draw, but his huge chase sequence between the hero demon and the speed demon adversary is fantastic. There’s a lot of the speed demon on a cross-dimensional treasure hunt with a nice Raiders homage.

The only problem would be McGovern’s script. There’s a lot of humor in it, but none of it is particularly funny. The grandfather in the supporting cast sort of talks in puns and vague rhymes. Is it amusing? It’s cute, not sure about amusing. Definitely not amusing enough to carry a scene.

And the speed demon gets tiresome rather quickly too. Nightworld has a disconnect–the writing is nowhere near as strong as the art and scenes can be simultaneously gorgeous and exasperating.

But McGovern does mean well and he’s got a lot of enthusiasm. It evens out.

B 

CREDITS

Writer, Adam McGovern; artist and letterer, Paolo Leandri; colorist, Dominic Regan; publisher, Image Comics.

2

The Fury of Firestorm, The Nuclear Man 41 (November 1985)

The Fury of Firestorm, The Nuclear Man #41

The issue is simultaneously likable and shallow. The first half has Firestorm moving the Pittsburgh and Conway introducing the new supporting cast on the book. Conway gives Martin a whole new supporting cast of colleagues and teaching assistants, while Ronnie has his cast held over. His high school girlfriend, his high school rival. The former works out but the latter feels way too forced.

Speaking of forced, the second half of the issue is the Crisis tie-in and Conway is rapidly cycling in place. Firestorm goes a little kooky because of Psycho Pirate and Harbinger has to calm him down. So what? And it’s the finish of the issue too. There’s not just no more character stuff with the supporting cast, there’s no character stuff with Firestorm.

Ah, tie-ins.

Akin and Garvey’s inks are a little better than usual. Some of the panels are excellent; Kayanan’s composition shines.

B- 

CREDITS

Storm Warning; writer, Gerry Conway; penciller, Rafael Kayanan; inkers, Ian Akin and Brian Garvey; colorist, Nansi Hoolahan; letterer, Duncan Andrews; editor, Janice Race; publisher, DC Comics.

0

She-Hulk 8 (November 2014)

She-Hulk #8

Soule pulls one over on the reader. It’s a beautiful job of it too, because he sets the reader up and then distracts him or her from the inevitable.

She-Hulk takes Captain America’s case–except it’s old Captain America, Steve Rogers in his nineties. They’re off to L.A. to the hearings and so on and there’s a lot of setup with the cast members and with She-Hulk. Soule writes old Steve Rogers as a special guest star, but an old man of one. He’s presented entirely from Jennifer’s perspective. It’s not just a great guest star, it’s an exceptional way of handling a guest star.

Especially for a Marvel comic.

The Pulido art is essential for the whole thing, but specifically for making Jennifer’s arrival in Los Angeles distracting enough to hide the foreshadowed reveal. Pulido’s composition for those scenes, told in summary and often silently, is outstanding.

It’s great stuff.

A- 

CREDITS

The Good Old Days, Part One; writer, Charles Soule; artist, Javier Pulido; colorist, Muntsa Vicente; letterer, Clayton Cowles; editor, Jeanine Schaefer; publisher, Marvel Comics.

0

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