Broken Frontier

The All-New Atom #21

By Tonya Crawford

Ryan takes some time to try to learn more about the Atom belt and discovers something else entirely… something is living in his blood and it is not natural.

Writer Rick Remender takes over from Gail Simone this issue and fans are going to know the difference. While there are some things Remender does well (Head fans can rejoice since Remender nails the character’s bizarre syntax) others involve a noticeable change in tone. There is a sense of scientific drive here now and the humor is a bit darker. Likewise, Pat Olliffe replaces Mike Norton on pencils. Olliffe’s work is solid if not spectacular but some of his sequences for the world inside Ryan’s blood seem a bit muddled and the action hard to follow.

For those who fell in love with Simone’s creation Remender may have a fight to keep them on board. For those who like his darker humor, however, they will find it in evidence here.

Rick Remender (W), Pat Olliffe (P), John Stanisci (I), DC Comics, $2.99

Amazing Spider-Man #552

By James Wortman

Amazing Spider-Man #552 marks the beginning of a new story arc in the title’s Brand New Day cycle, with Oscar-nominated writer Bob Gale (Back to the Future) taking the reins after Marc Guggenheim’s successful three-issue run last month.

In this issue, life doesn’t seem to get any better for Spider-Man — who is still suspected of being a serial killer — and sensationalist Daily Bugle Editor-in-Chief Dexter Bennett is only making matters worse. Not only that, but there’s a new villain in town. After ransacking the homeless shelter where Aunt May volunteers, a junkie known as "Freak" finds his way to Dr. Curt Connor’s laboratory, which he mistakes for his friend’s meth lab. Freak injects himself with some of Doc Connors’ animal stem cell research and transforms into a giant, hideous monster, making himself yet another member of Spidey’s ever-growing rogue’s gallery born from science experiments gone wrong.

While most readers were skeptical about this title’s new format, Amazing Spider-Man is once again among the most fun titles in Marvel’s lineup. Gale’s writing — striking an ideal balance between action and comedy — coupled with Phil Jimenez’s engaging artwork makes the seemingly short seven-day wait for the next issue nigh-unbearable.

Bob Gale (W), Phil Jimenez (P), Andy Lanning (I), Marvel Comics, $2.99

Cory Doctorow’s Futuristic Tales of the Here and Now #6: After the Siege

By Dave Baxter

The mini-series concludes with a final tale relating a city under siege, the plague of zombieism it suffers in its wake, and tackling the very serious issue of why wars and under-developed, war-torn countries never seem to end or progress, respectively.

Color me impressed by this one. Writer James Kuhoric (of the usually deplorable Army of Darkness book by Dynamite) shows that he may only fail in the plotting department, but as a writer, or rather an adapter of another writer’s material, he whips up a script heavy in emotion, ambience, and spot-on dialogue. The story is not light-hearted, and the message it has to say is a complicated one, so it’s a mammoth sigh of relief that Kuhoric knocks it right out of the park with wood-cracking accuracy.

Art by Guiu Vilanova enhances the story with a sublime appropriateness: his visuals dark and smudged, his lines sprawling and scrawled, his figures ugly and well-composed in equal measure. The world of After the Siege is not a pretty place, nothing glamorous a part of it, and therefore neither are the men and women that populate it. Add to this an unforgettable cover by Savage Planet’s Dan Parsons, and After the Siege is a fitting swansong to the very best serious sci-fi comic book to come out in years and years and years.

James Anthony Kuhoric (W), Guiu Vilanova (P), Guiu Vilanova (I), IDW Publishing, $3.99

Gargoyles: Clan Building Volume: 1

By Tonya Crawford

The first six issues of the comic based on the Disney animated TV series are bound up in one digest sized trade paperback and fans can rejoice. Clan Building (re)introduces the Gargoyles, their enemies and their allies.

With writer Greg Weisman having been the creator for the TV series, readers can know that the voices of all these characters stay true to what has been established. The comic itself has an all-ages vibe that gives it enough sophistication to appeal to those who grew up with the Gargoyles and yet be approachable to younger readers. This trade does have two drawbacks. For one thing, there are four separate pencillers leading to a rather uneven look – particularly since several of the artists have a more polished style than the others. The second drawback is the price - $19.95 seems a bit steep for a digest-sized trade.

For fans of the animated series the Gargoyles live again!

Greg Weisman (W), David Hedgecock, Nir Paniry, et. al. (A), SLG Publishing, $19.95

Rogue Angel: Teller of Tall Tales #2

By Dave Baxter

Ah, and the series’ subtitle and how it connects to the scheme of the book comes clear! It looks as though each issue will be just a touch of main-plot throughline and then a whole lot of backstory storytelling, the stories somehow putting all the pieces of the primary plot together. Which should be mighty clever when all is said and done.

After a good, but somewhat didactic first issue, Barbara Kesel offers a kinder and vastly more new-reader-friendly second ish, perhaps the most new-reader friendly issue ever conceived, in fact, as the entire issue is devoted to lead character Anja Creed telling her origin of how she became the Rogue Angel. So we get all the background we so desperately needed in the beginning, but how will anyone feel to have an entire issue devoted to just the main character’s origin? A main character of a franchise that many (if not most) will already know?

I can see what Kesel and the editors were going for: the theme here is "Teller of Tall Tales", so they had issue #1 continuity-free and simply set-up the first story arc’s center. Then, after the readers get nice and hooked, and since the origin of Anja does need to be told, and since the theme allows her lengthy origin to be told as part of the conceit…then it’s all within the rules to have an issue-length origin regurgitation. And in a way, they’re right, it is.

Some may hate it, but Anja’s story isn’t a simple one, and the series’ conceit does allow for it, so what we get in issue #2 is "what has come before" and not much of anything else. It’s very well told, and the art by Renae De Liz is very dense and detailed and frankly beautiful. She’s come a long way from just one issue to the next, her lines and layouts far more attractive here than in issue #1, and she was pretty damn good then, too. So a marked improvement, all around, though the single-minded focus of this issue may pique a few.

Barbara Randall Kesel (W), Renae De Liz (P), Renae De Liz (I), IDW Publishing, $3.99

Silent Hill: Sinner’s Reward #2

By Dave Baxter

Mob hitman Jack steps into Silent Hill, to rescue Jill, his lover and the wife of his now-ex boss. But between his own sins and Jill’s, and said mob boss coming to get them both, no one involved is likely to make it out alive. And wait’ll folks get a load of the final page!

After a slow-burn first issue, the horror and SH’s staple violence kick into high gear, alongside a more adventurously paced, non-chronological narrative and more character-building moments of high-quality writing than you can smack a demon with a stick at! It’s a true credit to up-and-coming writer Tom Waltz that he’s written a franchised comic that feels worthwhile; an honest story with sincere characterization and a plot that’s gripping for its own elements and not just those lent by it piggybacking the vista of the best-selling games.

Steph Stamb continues a glorious run of intensely atmospheric and evocative art. His pages are layered in texture and color effects, offering a highly produced visual, but one that works exceedingly well with the subject matter, and this issue his underlying linework proves crisp and clear, less stilted than his initial issue #1 efforts. I would never, ever consider picking up a Silent Hill comic book in this day and age, not after so many games and tie-ins and what-have-yous, but Sinner’s Reward is worth picking up just for being its own comic, period, which is stunning.

Tom Waltz (W), Steph Stamb (P), Steph Stamb (I), IDW Publishing, $3.99

Zipper #4

By Dave Baxter

Zipper’s personal origin is revealed, the media closes in, the religious right closes in, the otherworldly Hunters all close in, and (in case it hasn’t come clear yet), we’re talking major climax coming in the next issue following.

Once again, an issue that offers everything good that comics can: utterly bizarre alien lifeforms, a fully realized urban winter landscape, action and a flawless pace, both in script and art. Zipper is not the comic you think it is. It has zero sado-masochistic underpinnings. It’s not sci-fi action fluff, either, but rather a heavy socio-political statement in the form of sci-fi action fluff. Writer Tom Waltz is one of the very best working at IDW these days, and even with that credit, he hasn’t managed a story better than Zipper.

The art by Casey Maloney is smooth and eerie and dynamic. Whatever the moment calls for, he seems to manage it effortlessly. The big brawl in issue #3 was magnificent, and here in issue #4 — a near-fully talking heads ish — he moves from extra-dimensional landscapes with truly freak-tastic beings to Ypsilanti streets with gangs and militant zealots without missing a beat. Awesome book, awesome look, another awesome issue. This one is an all-around complete package. For comic lovers everywhere.

Tom Waltz (W), Casey Maloney (P), Marc Rueda (I), IDW Publishing, $3.99