Action Comics Annual #11: Wow, the long-delayed conclusion to the much-hyped Johns/Donner/Kubert “Last Son” story arc. This storyline is so late in ending it was launched out of the end of DC’s big event like three events ago. Adam Kubert gets an F for work ethic — his dad, comics legend Joe Kubert managed to get more pages done last year and he’s technically retired — but what he gets on the pages here does look great. It’s not precisely consistent with his work in the previous chapters of this story, oddly; at times the art here resembles Walt Simonson’s work more than the style Kubert used when this story began. Writers Geoff Johns and Richard Donner (making his last co-writing appearance?) get some good bits in here, but the story is so cold at this point it’s nigh impossible to get too worked up about it. Good stuff, really, but you guys who managed to avoid it until now and then just randomly stumble across the collected volume at Borders will probably enjoy it more than anyone.
Avengers/Invaders #1: Uncharacteristically awful covers by usually dependable artists David Finch and Alex Ross herald this Dynamite-produced, packaged-for-Marvel 12-issues series with art by former JSA hotshot Steve Sadowski. Unfortunately, it looks like they went with the same reproduced-from-pencils method here that’s made made Scott Kolins’ work look like crap ever since he left The Flash. A good inker (like Sadowski’s former JSA partner Mike [Hernandez] Bair) would have straightened out at least some of the rough spots here and there, anyway. Disappointing overall; absolutely nothing happens that anyone with a vague idea of the overall concept of the series (’40s Invaders come to the present and meet the present-day Avengers, starting this issue with Spider-Man) wouldn’t predict. Still, I’m hopeful for future issues, as I’m enjoying the other two current Golden Age-meets-the-present series, The Twelve and Project: Superpowers — but frankly this series doesn’t come out of the gate with the same charge as those books did, even with the advantage of much higher marquee name characters.
0 comments ↓
There are no comments yet, but you may add your thoughts by filling out the form below.
Leave a Comment