PULL LIST 06-04-08 Trinity #1 Buffy the Vampire Slayer #15 Secret Invasion #3 Ultimate Origin #1 Criminal #3 Kick Ass #3 Justice Society of America #16

Trinity #1
The big book of the week for me is the start of DC’s third weekly series, and I’m at least willing to give this one a shot for the first month or so. It doesn’t hurt that Mark Bagley is doing the art on the lead story, and I’m a huge Bagley fan. What we get in this issue is two stories, the first dealing with Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman having a meeting about a similar dream that they have had and what it could mean. The second story deals with a villainous trinity coming together and how they might tie into the good trinity. The first half is a lot of fun, with the three main characters having fun with each other and a nice bit of action with the Flash thrown in. Bagley’s art is up to his usual standards and it’s neat to see him drawing something other than Marvel characters. The second story is not as fun, although the villains are kind of interesting and the artwork by Scott McDaniel is decent enough. The second half is just wordier and a bit slower paced. The first issue suffers from the same problem of the last two weekly series DC has published, and that is that a lot of plot points are being set up and you have to be willing to give the series a few issues to get up to speed. So, I’m willing to give the first issue a pass, since I like the art, and I’m hopeful that the plot will come together. It looks like I may be back on the weekly bandwagon though. —4 out of 5

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #15
Drew Goddard‘s story arc, “Wolves at the Gate” comes to a dramatic close with this issue, and I have to say the last four issues have been mostly a success. Goddard has a good handle on the characters, and he gives each of the main characters a good moment or two in this issue, with special attention going to Xander. The best moments of the issue are reserved for Dracula, as he gets some good moments in the fight, and also has some good interaction with Xander. My biggest problem with the arc is that I never got a good sense of how bad the Asian vampires really were, and that ended up hurting this issue, because the battle just didn’t feel as epic as it maybe should have. Definitely an improvement in terms of the story for the series, and if they can keep up this level of excitement, my opinion of the series as a whole will improve. —4 out of 5

Secret Invasion #3
If you’ve read enough interviews with Secret Invasion and big time Marvel architect Brian Michael Bendis, you’ll know that he’s a big fan of playwright and film director David Mamet, and Mamet stories are known for their double crosses, so every one is pretty sure that this issues big “revelation” is not what it seems. The biggest scene of the book happens between Spider-woman and Iron Man, but there’s plenty of other stuff going on, with the Young Avengers and the Initiative taking on the invading Skulls in New York, and the least surprising last page of all time (at least for people reading Mighty Avengers). While I enjoyed the first two issues, this one was a bit of a let down for me, just because there wasn’t much happening. I can understand though that it was setting stuff up for the next few issues, and I’m still enjoying the story for the most part. The art by Leinil Yu continues to impress, and it’s nice to see that he’s keeping up with the schedule. Hopefully the next few issues turn the action up a bit, and we don’t fall into the same pacing problems that Bendis had with “House of M”. —3 out of 5

Ultimate Origin #1
And now we get another sort of event book from Brian Bendis, this time showing the events that shaped Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, and setting the stage for Jeph Loeb’s “Ultimatum” later this year. What we get here is fairly standard Bendis work. It reads a bit quick for my taste, but there’s still a good bit of info shown here. We get a look back to WWII, as James Howlett (Wolverine), Nick Fury, and a man named Fisk (not sure if it’s supposed to be the Kingpin or his dad) get caught trying to take enemy treasure, and two of them are inducted into their respective countries super-soldier program. It’s a lot of set up for not a ton of info, and I wonder how much Bendis will be able to accomplish with the five issues of this mini. The art by Butch Guice fits the mood of the story, which is harsh and realistic, and looks great. This might be one that ends up reading better in the trade though. —3 out of 5

Criminal #3
Damn, that was a depressing issue, even for this series which prides itself on downer stories. This is the last of the stand alone yet still tied together stories that have started the second series of Ed Brubaker‘s noir masterpiece, and this one focuses on the femme fatal that factored into the first two issues. It basically charts her life and how she became the person who shows up in the other stories. It’s very dark and while it’s still a good issue, I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as the other issues of the series. Sean Phillip‘s turns in his usual great job on the art, although again, it seems a little rushed this time and I didn’t love it as much as previous issues. It’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination; it was just half a step down from the series usual greatness. Still, the whole series comes highly recommended from yours truly, and I’d suggest picking up the next issue which begins the next extended arc. —4 out of 5

Kick Ass #3
More good stuff from Mark Millar and John Romita Jr., although like Sean Phillip’s work on Criminal, I thought the art looked a little rough in spots compared to Romita Jr.’s usual work. This is more of the same story as the first two issues; with the main character Dave still learning how to be a costumed hero. He’s aided in this issue by another costumed adventurer, who we don’t learn much about, but seems to have more brutal means to fighting crime. You kind of have to accept that while this is supposed to be about a super-hero in the real world, it’s not necessarily a completely realistic world. Still, it’s an interesting book, and Romita Jr.’s art is great as always so I can’t find too much to complain about. —4 out of 5

Justice Society of America #16
It feels like I just reviewed issue 15 a few weeks ago, but it’s always nice when we get lots of issues for a great series, so I won’t complain. This issue follows close on the end of last issue, as Gog makes his appearance and throws the JSA for a loop by not being a big malevolent evil as they are used to Gods being, but is instead quite benevolent, as the big guy travels around Africa, helping the poor villagers, and healing one of the JSA members. We also get some information on Gog’s background, and lastly we get the return of Black Adam, and it looks like he’s not going to pretend to be a hero this time. The stuff with Gog is a cool way to flip the readers’ expectations, and also allows Geoff Johns to give his characters some good moments. Fill-in art on this issue comes from Fernando Pasarin, who does his best Dale Eaglesham impression and doesn’t lose a beat. The great work all around continues, and that makes me a happy reader. —4 out of 5