Superior Iron Man #9 - A Review

This is it! The final battle between the Superior Iron Man and Pepper Potts over the soul of Tony Stark.  Even with a back-up of Tony's mind, a new Rescue suit and an army of Tony's old designs at her disposal it will be a close thing...


There is little I can say about this issue beyond it being a perfect conclusion to Tom Taylor's run on this series. All the plot threads are sewn up and the ending is a satisfying one. It remains to be seen what Tony's life will be like post-Secret Wars but if there was never another Iron Man comic ever, this would be a good ending for Tony Stark's story.


The artwork is excellent, despite some of the fight scenes being a little cluttered at points. Still, one can't accuse Yildiray Cinar of giving anything less than 110%. As always this book's artwork is the equal of its scripts in quality.

Superior Iron Man #7 - A Review

The Superior Iron Man is growing out of control and Pepper Potts was just barely able to thwart his efforts to buy his own media empire.  Now the new Tony Stark must face Pepper's ally - the old Tony Stark!  Well, an old Iron Man suit containing an A.I. based on Tony's memories from eight years ago, created for just such an emergency... but close enough!


It should be no surprise that this series continues to be a wonderful read.  The action of the issue, featuring a battle between one of Tony's earliest suits and his latest digital symbiote suit, is a thrilling one. And the dialogue is filled with Taylor's trademarked witty banter.


The artwork was finished by two separate teams but you'd never know it from how well the images fit together. Both Yildiray Cinar and Felipe Watanabe are to be commended for their pencils on this issue.  The inks by Ruy Jose and Cinar are also excellent as are the colors by Guru-FX.

Superior Iron Man #4 - A Review

With crime on the rise as The Have-Nots of San Francisco turn to crime against The Haves to pay for their Extermis 3.0 treatments, a new crime-fighting solution is required. Tony Stark has the answer - drones watching everyone who signed his service agreements to make sure that they're safe at all times. Naturally Matt Murdock is less than thrilled about this new development. But what can The Man Without Fear hope to do against The Superior Iron Man?


Tom Taylor does a masterful job of manipulating the reader's expectations with this issue. We don't know quite what to make of this Tony Stark. For every moment he seems to have returned to the wicked ways of the Civil War Tony, we see some signs of the man of compassion he once was. Nowhere is this more clear than in Tony's treatment of a young super-being known as The Teen Abomination, whom Tony defends from SHIELD.


Despite being handled by two inkers this month, the artwork for this series remains undiminished in quality.  Quite often when a book employs more than one inker, it shows. And any disparity in style and skill-level between those two inkers is immediately obvious.  That isn't the case here, thankfully.  Both Cory Hamsher and Tom Palmer do a fine job of enhancing Yildiray Cinar's original pencils.

Superior Iron Man #3 - A Review

In order to win Daredevil to his side regarding the use of his new Extremis 3.0 body-modification app, Tony Stark has done the unthinkable and restored Matt Murdock's sight!  Now, as Tony Stark leaves to deal with a newbie villain with a grudge, Pepper Potts and a mysterious figure in an old Iron Man suit work to figure out just what has happened to change Tony Stark...


Tom Taylor continues to impress with his scripts on this series. It's always a tricky proposal to write a heroic character in a way that suggests they are giving in to their darker impulses while still keeping them true to form.  This is doubly difficult with a character like Tony Stark, who is already defined by his dark side.  Yet Taylor manages to successfully portray a Tony Stark who is heroic and unethical at the same time.


Yildiray Cinar's artwork is excellent as usual, but I must note one particularly nice artistic touch. In the scenes between Tony and Daredevil, we see all of the action from Matt Murdock's point of view as opposed to the usual comic art which views the action from the viewpoint of a hidden camera or unseen audience. This subtly helps to increase the power of the scenes, as Tony seems to be addressing the reader directly and we get to experience the thrill of once again being able to see from Daredevil's new perspective.

Superior Iron Man #2 - A Review

Tony Stark's latest invention has revolutionized the world but Matt Murdock isn't sure that's such a great thing.  Murdock knows better than most how appearances can be deceiving and Tony Stark is bound to be hiding something behind his efforts to make everyone beautiful using his new Extremis App.  The devil, as always, is in the details and The Daredevil is about to get into Iron Man's business!


Tom Taylor delivers an amazing issue that is as easily accessible as the first.  Indeed, the only disappointing aspect of this second issue of Superior Iron Man is that it stands on its own a little too well.  The cliff-hanger at the end of the first issue is completely forgotten and the focus here is firmly upon the conflict between Iron Man and Daredevil, without any thought as to who was the mysterious figure we saw speaking with Pepper Potts in the last issue!


Once again, Yildiray Cinar does an excellent job on the artwork for this series. Of particular note is the sequence in which Cinar shows us the world from Matt Murdock's perspective.  It seems nearly every artist who tackles Daredevil has a unique method for conveying Murdock's radar-vison and Cinar is no exception.

Earth 2 #13 - A Review

Picking up where the recent Earth 2 Annual left off, Earth 2 #13 further explores the various "Wonders" recruited or created by The World Army.  The primary focus is on Captain Steel, whose origins and powers are explained in detail as he undertakes a mission to explore one of the fire pits created during the Apokolyptian invasion.  We also get another glimpse of the new Batman, who is following Hawkgirl even as she continues her investigation into the the death of Alan Scott's lover.  Mention is also made of several other World Army agents, all of whom share the word "Red" in their code-names. 


No one can deny that James Robinson is in his element when it comes to this series.  No writer can match Robinson for his knowledge of the classic Golden Age heroes and his revamps of these classic characters have all proven skillful and satisfying.  The conceit of drawing a connection between several unaffiliated heroes who had nothing in common but a color in their name is a brilliant one and typical of the thought that went into Robinson's classic Starman series.  With mentions of The Red Tornado, Red Torpedo, Red Arrow and a Red Lantern, one wonders if we might see a Red Bee before Robinson is done.


Yildiray Cinar once again subs for Nicola Scott.  I've had issues with Cinar's work in the past but suspected that my objections might be due to two different inkers with two entirely different styles.  That suspicion seems to have been born out by this issue, which only employed one inker - Rob Hunter.  Cinar's figures seem less distorted and warped than in that previous outing.  More, Cinar proves to be no mean visual storyteller, capable of conveying the action effectively on those pages without any dialogue.

World's Finest #9 - A Review

Worlds Finest #9 didn't impress me much on my first read-through.  On the surface, not much really happens to advance the on-going saga of two heroines trapped in a world that is not their own.  It occurred to me, on my second read-through, that this was likely by design and that there was more than met the eye to the extended action sequences that make up most of the book's pages.


This is a gorgeous book, with the legendary George Perez taking the lead as our action opens.  Recovering from her recent injuries on her best friend's private island, Huntress finds herself and Power Girl's home under attack.  Unsure if the armed mercenaries have come for her or are after the billionaire Karen Starr, Helena doesn't hesitate in running defense.  We then cut to a flashback scene, ably illustrated by Cafu, where we see our heroines shopping - clothes for Karen and "hunting" gear for Helena.  The final chapter where Karen comes home to find things in disarray is illustrated by Yildiray Cinar, whose excellent work has been most recently seen in Earth 2.



The script by Paul Levitz is enjoyable and adheres to the Stan Lee standard of treating every story you write as if it were going to be someone's first issue.  No previous exposure to World's Finest is necessary.  This issue does a great job of establishing the personalities of both our heroines as well as their skill in kicking butt.  Indeed, it's only flaw is that some of the action here is repetitive for long-time readers and nothing is done to advance the on-going plot of the book until the final page.



World's Finest #9 would be a good jumping-on issue were I certain it was representative of  the book's quality in the immediate future.  That's not to say this is a bad comic.  Far from it.  Yet the continual shifting of the book's artistic contributors do leave it feeling somewhat disjointed visually and the upcoming departure of George Perez has me worried about the future for this book.  Today, though... today it is a great book and well worth the reading.

Earth 2 #8 - A Review

One must credit James Robinson with having made Earth 2 a surprising book, if nothing else.  I can honestly say that I did not see the surprise revelation of this issue coming at all.  I don't think anyone did.  Yet now that the news is out, I can see the sense of it and wonder how I did not see this coming! 

In reestablishing the most famous alternate-Earth of the DC Universe, Robinson brought back the conceit of a Huntress who was Batman and Catwoman's daughter and a Supergirl who was raised by Clark Kent and Lois Lane as an adopted daughter.  With all of these reestablished legacies, nobody stopped to think about what was missing.  Nobody remembered that in the Earth 2 that once was, Wonder Woman had a daughter as well...


Like most of Robinson's re-imaginings thus far, this Fury is a far cry from the original Hippolyta Hall who went on to greater fame as a supporting player in Neil Gaiman's Sandman.  This Amazon daughter was apparently kidnapped at a young age and raised on Apokolips, turned into a weapon to be used against her homeworld!  This is a brilliant conceit on Robinson's part, hinting at a connection between this Fury and the Female Furies of the New Gods.

Oddly, considering the anthology feel of the series so far, this issue focuses entirely upon Fury and the marooned Apokoliptian general Steppenwolf.  Trapped on Earth and in hiding, the main thrust of the issue concerns Steppenwolf's efforts to reestablish a base of power on Earth.  There's more talking than action in this issue, but Robinson does a good job of further establishing the world and differentiating it from the main DC Universe.

The artwork by Yildiray Cinar is skillful, but uneven at times.  I put this down to the book's two inkers.  Most of the panels look fine.  Indeed, some like the splash page where we get our first look at Fury are poster-worthy!  But others are too thinly inked, barely seeming to have been touched at all.  It's a unneeded distraction while reading the story but not so disastrous of one it makes the book unenjoyable. 

If you haven't been reading Earth 2, this isn't a bad issue to start with.  The story stands on its' own merits and you need know nothing going in save that this is an alternate Earth from the one seen in most of DC Comics' books.  Apart from some uneven inking, the artwork complements the writing perfectly.  This is truly one of the best books on the shelves right now!

Earth 2 #7 - A Review

Earth 2 #7 sees James Robinson taking a bit of a breather from the world-ending catastrophes so that we may take a closer look at this parallel world.  This is not to suggest that this issue is completely free of action.  Indeed, there is one wonderful sequence where we get to see a team known as The Sandmen fight against a seemingly brainwashed Mister Terrific - a refugee hero from the main DC Universe.  


This issue offers us full backgrounds for some characters who had been shrouded in mystery until now, including Hawkgirl and Wesley Dodds - leader of The Sandmen.  We also get further hints at new versions of other classic heroes including Commander Steel and The Red Tornado.  Robinson has done a wonderful job taking the base concepts for these classic DC Comics characters and doing something new while still respecting their roots.  Taken on those terms, this book is a great read and a fun intellectual exercise for long-time DC Comics fans like me who enjoy the oh-so-clever feeling we receive whenever we "get" the hidden references to the classic lore. 


Guest artist Yildiray Cinar proves a capable substitute for Nicola Scott.  I wasn't particularly impressed by Cinar's work on The Fury of Firestorm but neither did I dislike it.  Maybe I was tainted by my antipathy for the character before, because this time I really enjoyed Cinar's work.

If you haven't been reading Earth 2 so far, you've been missing out on one of the hidden treasures of The New 52.  I'd suggest picking this issue up, but you'll get a lot more out of it if you've been reading from the beginning though there's little chance of you being lost by the story in this issue.  Track down the first seven issues (1-6 plus a Zero issue) or wait three months for the upcoming hardcover collection.  I think you'll be glad you did. 

The Fury Of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #1 - A Review

As readers of my Brightest Day coverage will remember, I hate Ronnie Raymond. I hated his stupidity and his inability to study the basic science needed to make use of his powers after he lost the benefit of having a physicist in his head. I hated his cluelessness, like when he showed up at the funeral of someone he was indirectly responsible for killing in jeans and a t-shirt to apologize to the victim's boyfriend. But mostly, I hated how an interesting (to me, anyway) character like Jason Rusch was sidelined so that Ronnie Raymond - the original Firestorm - could make a comeback that nobody was demanding, in so far as I can tell. So even with my beloved Gail Simone as the writer and co-plotter on this book, this was going to be a hard sell.

Most of the plot of this issue centers on a mercenary group known as The Dog Team. We see them tracking down and torturing various students and scientists, in search of a sealed thermos that is connected to something called The Firestorm Protocol. Details are few and far between, but apparently a scientist named Martin Stein stumbled across the secrets of transmutation and sent the details to several prodigies around the world. One of those prodigies, honors student Jason Rusch, is in the middle of an altercation with rich jock Ronnie Raymond when The Dog Team comes calling for him. The issue ends when Rusch activates the thermos, transforming both himself and Raymond into living weapons... shortly before they merge into a being called Fury.

Much as I hate to say this, I was lost for a good portion of this comic. The technobabble flies right and left and it's still unclear at the end just what The Firestorm Protocol is supposed to do. The only reason I had any clue what was going on and what powers the boys were manifesting at the end was due to past familiarity with the character. What saves the script, however, is Simone's gift for creating memorable characters the readers can empathize with. She cleverly shows the common ground between jock Raymond and nerd Rusch in one page, which depicts the two having dinner with their single parent and asking a hard question about their own feelings of guilt.

The art by Yildiray Cinar is capable but not particularly noteworthy. There's nothing about Cinar's style that is particularly notable or unique but that actually serves the story well. The mundane suburbia in which Ronnie and Jason live is depicted well and the horror of the scenes in which the Dog Pack go after their targets is made all the stronger by the simple commonness of the backgrounds in which they do their dirty work.

As much as I'd like to recommend this title to new readers, I can't do so in good conscience. The artwork is decent but not outstanding. Simone did the impossible by making Ronnie Raymond a character I don't want to see struck dead (though I still find his poor little rich jock act annoying) but the phony baloney tech talk used to justify the Firestorm powers this time just confused me and I can't imagine it would do the new readers any favors. I'll give it a second issue - Simone has earned that much good faith from me for her past works - but I think new readers curious about Simone's writing would be better served picking up Batgirl #1 instead.