A weekly column in which Jake gives
short blurbs about the comics he’s
picked up that week. Reviewed in the order read, which varies but generally by
increasing anticipation. Disclaimer: he
knows very little about art, at least not enough to considerably honor such
tremendous undertakings, so…yeh,
there’s that.
Marvel Zombies #3
Writer: Simon Spurrier
Artist: Kev Walker
Inker: Jason Gorder
Color Artists: Guru-eFX
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Marvel
With only three shots left in her gun,
Elsa Bloodstone must rescue her mysterious charge from a horde of intelligent
zombies. Spurrier stacks the odds and
deepens the mystery in what appears to be the near-end issue. While the mystery does increase, Spurrier
points the read and Elsa in a general direction towards answers, which is a bit
nice. The art remains as dirty and
stellar as ever, though there is a slightly noticeable change when Gorder steps
in on inks. However, this isn’t so distracting as to ruin the
narrative. The closing moments of the
issue are a set-up for a big reveal, one that has the potential to make or
break the quality of this book. However,
much like last issue, Spurrier seems to have things well in hand.
Godzilla in Hell #2
Story: Bob Eggleton
Art: Bob Eggleton
Letters: Chris Mowry
IDW
Things get a bit more traditional has
Bob Eggleton crafts this issue of Godzilla in Hell. Though traditional, it might be even more
beautiful than the last, owing to Eggleton’s painted work. Every
panel feels like it should be in a museum of classic paintings. Eggleton’s Godzilla clashes with some of his classic foes, who, being
dead, have been possessed by the demons of Hell. Furthering the more traditional spin, albeit
somewhat negatively, is the arrival of caption boxes. While they do give the work a more classic
feel, one can’t help but
wonder how necessary they are, considering how ably Stokoe got along without
them last issue. Still, this issue, much
like the last, is a visual feast and one that’s well worth it for that reason alone.
Spider-Woman #10
Writer: Dennis Hopeless
Artist: Natacha Bustos
Color Artist: Vero Gandini
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Marvel
Spider-Woman is trapped in an Old West
town by hordes of mindless pseudo-zombies and her friends are about to be
buried in the desert. Also, it’s the end of the world. Jessica Drew is at her best in her last
issue, butt-kicking and quip-…quipping. Even the perpetually inept Roger gets a
moment to shine in a genuinely hilarious sequence. Hopeless also he can handle the heavy
dramatics with aplomb as Spider-Woman confers with Black Widow on the state of
the apocalypse. I’ll be honest. I wasn’t
paying attention to the credit page and had no idea that these were Javier
Rodriguez’s pencils
throughout the issue. Going back, I can
definitely notice some of the smaller details and the ways in which Bustos’s own style shines through. Busto’s
style is less clean than Rodriguez, which perfectly fits this issue where
Spider-Woman tussles in a meat-packing plant and in cow-pens. Gandini’s colors are also in a similar vein to Rodriguez’s. All this being said, the new art team is a great
substitution because it’s
similar in execution to the usual team so as to not jar the reader, but has
enough of it’s own flair
as to not be a carbon copy. Even in its
rocky start, this book was always fun and heartfelt. This issue is no exception and I’m very much looking forward to
the next volume.
BOOK OF THE WEEK
Magneto #21
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Gabriel Hernandez Walta
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Marvel
We all knew how this was going to end,
but damn if it isn’t a
hell of a finish. Magneto makes his last
stand for a dying Earth and looks back on the moments that made him the man—the monster—he became. Bunn manages to take several key moments from
Mags’s published past and
congeal them into a coherent statement on the character. Consider me on the front lines for
championing Bunn as one of the best Magneto writers of all time. The spectacular continues as Walta and
Bellaire return to the title. While the
Pauls performed admirably in their outing, there’s no denying the fantastic effect these two have on the
title. Magneto’s final
soliloquy is a poignant one and brutally honest, a fitting in for so twisted
and scarred a character.
So what did you pick up this week?
Agree or disagree with anything said here? Let us know in the comments.
Labels: Godzilla In Hell, IDW Publishing, Magneto, Marvel Comics, Spider-Woman
