Velvet #4

Velvet is on the trail of whoever framed her for murdering an agent, and her last semi-disastrous op has at least given her the lead she needs to get to the next piece of the puzzle — she needs to find a former KGB agent named Roman. And she knows where to find him — he’s never missed the grand masquerade ball called the Carnival of Fools, which is always popular with spies, just so they can dress up in masks and pretend to be anonymous. But Roman is being stalked by assassins — can Velvet rescue him and learn his secrets before it’s too late?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Excellent espionage flavor and action. Fantastic art. Dark and funny at the same time. It’s just a vastly fun and exciting comic, and I hope you guys are picking it up.

She-Hulk #2

Jennifer Walters has just started her own legal practice and met up with the owner of her building — a former mutant who rents office space to superhumans because they have trouble getting office space in most other buildings. And she’s just hired her first paralegal, Angie Huang, an overweight, taciturn woman who brings her pet monkey everywhere with her. And she’s also just learned that the rest of the NYC legal community is blackballing her because of how she quit her last firm. Later, she goes out for a night on the town with Patsy “Hellcat” Walker — and when Patsy gets drunk, she gets in a mood to go fight crime. She leads Jen out to a deserted Bronx warehouse which she insists is a secret A.I.M. hideout. And as it turns out… she’s right.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Fantastic art and storytelling, wonderful humor, and great action. It may not be the traditional fists-and-angst-and-dimwittedness superheroics we get in a lot of comics, but this series is one of the perfect examples of why the new Marvel Now comics are mopping the floor with DC’s Nu52.

Today’s Cool Links:

• I hope y’all remember the reviews I’ve done previously for Lucy A. Snyder’s Jessie Shimer urban fantasy novels. Well, she’s running a Kickstarter for the fourth novel in the series, and I’d love it if y’all would go pitch her some cash.
• I really do hope y’all are watching the new “Cosmos” series — it’s glorious and inspiring and one big giant Valentine to science and the universe — and at the very least, if it’s making stupid people angry, you can bet it’s worth your time to watch and love.
• The BBC is going to do a miniseries on the history of science fiction, and they’re lining up the big-name talent for the show.

She-Hulk #1

Yay, a new She-Hulk comic! They keep canceling She-Hulk books, then keep bringing ’em back. You’d think they’d learn to just keep the series running, fer cry-eye.

We start out with Jennifer Walters looking forward to a highly favorable annual review and a big bonus check from the partners at her current law firm. But it turns out that it doesn’t matter to them how many billable hours she’s put in, how much money she’s earned for the firm, how many cases she’s won — all they wanted from her was a bunch of superheroes as clients. But after she walks out, she quickly gets a new client — Holly Harrow, widow of Dr. Jonas Harrow, criminal scientist. Holly says Stark Industries stole some of her husband’s technology. Jennifer figures she can get the whole thing settled with a friendly conversation with Tony Stark, but instead, she gets shunted over to Legal — not the Legal Department, but a dry-bones legal eagle called simply Legal. He makes it clear that the corporation will give Holly no money, and they’ll bury She-Hulk under so much legal paperwork, even she won’t be able to lift it. Can Jennifer win the case?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Not that surprising that Marvel’s going with the “She-Hulk: Super-Lawyer” premise again — it’s a good one that’s been popular every time it’s been produced. What makes it a bit more interesting this time is that it’s written by Charles Soule, who actually is a lawyer. And it’s looking like it’ll be interesting to get a real lawyer’s perspective on the legal matters in the Marvel Universe. The chief interesting thing in this issue is that the law isn’t depicted as an intrinsically moral force. She-Hulk is a hero working for a supervillain’s widow, and she faces the lawyer for another superhero. Who’s on the side of right, and who’s on the side of wrong? Neither one — they’re just doing their jobs.

Javier Pulido’s art is initially a little off-putting — Shulkie’s chin sometimes seems comically ginormous — but the style grows on you fast. It’s good for personality and facial expressions and body language, good for action, good for quiet moments. It’s fantastically designed, and ultimately, it’s a lot of fun to look at.

Yay, a new She-Hulk comic! Hope they keep this one going for a nice, long time.

Manifest Destiny #4

The Lewis and Clark Expedition is trapped behind the walls of a near-deserted fort, besieged on the outside by bison/minotaur monsters and from within by plant-zombies. It’s decided that they’ll have to make a run overland to try to get to their boat, but that means some of the crew will have to sacrifice themselves to distract the minotaurs — but it turns out someone has already slaughtered the minotaurs! It’s Toussaint Charbonneau and his wife Sacagawea! (Actually, though Charbonneau takes all the credit, Sacagawea actually did all the slaughterin’. With the minotaurs out of the way, it should be an easy hike back to the boat, right? Well, maybe not…

Verdict: Thumbs up. Not quite as over-the-top whackaloon as the previous issues, but I’m looking forward to seeing what the series is going to do with Sacagawea — and the cliffhanger, while expected, is still well-done.

Coffin Hill #5

Eve Coffin, ex-cop and black-magic witch, has to deal with the fact that some dark, eldritch force has taken over the body of her old friend Mel. In addition, she’s finally got a lead on the kids who’ve gone missing around Coffin Hill — and there may be an unexpected family connection to the mystery.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Excellent creepy horror and some fine twists on the ongoing mystery. I hope you’re reading this — it’s one of the most enjoyable horror comics on the stands right now.

Today’s Cool Links:

• A great profile on the man who created “The Settlers of Catan.”
• What if “Doctor Who” had been an American TV show?
• The writing style of this article may put you off after a while, but it’s still a great tribute to Fred Rogers.
• This New Orleans-style jazz rendition of “Sweet Child o’ Mine” is just plain glorious.

I waited ’til pretty much the last minute to get this done, so let’s skip the usual overbearing intros and get right into… FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Tonight’s battle comes to us from November 1989’s The Sensational She-Hulk #7 by John Byrne, Bob Wiacek, and Glynis Oliver. Shulkie and a bunch of new friends (spacefaring truckers, if you must know) have been captured by the diabolical Xemnu the Titan. Can the Glorious Green Giantess get the drop on the overgrown sack of hair?

That’ll do it for this week. Enjoy your weekend, guys and girls, and I’ll see you back here on Monday.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, kids and other kids, it’s long past time to get the weekend started. To be honest, I would’ve been pretty good starting it on Tuesday or even Monday. But it’s finally here, and that calls for a celebration — namely: FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Tonight’s battle comes to us from March 1983’s The Avengers #229 by Roger L. Stern, Al Milgrom, and Joe Sinnott. She-Hulk has temporarily lost her powers after a run-in with the Radioactive Man, and Hawkeye decides to help her out by being a colossal douche.

Yes, Hawkeye, it’s always smart to taunt someone until they get mad enough to turn into an enormous green rage monster.

Holy cow, it’s Friday again! The weekend is upon us! We have no time for clever intros! We only have time for… FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Tonight’s battle comes to us from August 2006’s She-Hulk #9 by Dan Slott, Paul Smith, and Joe Rubinstein. Jennifer Walters has just married astronaut John Jameson, and his father, J. Jonah Jameson, is having second thoughts about having a green-skinned superhero as a daughter-in-law. This resolves itself as such things often do: with robots and fisticuffs.

Ahhh, once again, comic books show us that there’s no problem that can’t be solved with gamma radiation, mad science, and beating each other up.

She-Hulk Sensational #1

It’s the 30th anniversary of the creation of She-Hulk, so Marvel has put together a commemorative comic starring the Jade Giantess. We start out with a new story about Shulkie worrying about hitting her 30th birthday and getting visited by a bunch of spirits, including Stan Lee (Why is Stan Lee a spirit?) and the Ghosts of She-Hulk Past, Present, and Future. After that, there’s a story from a couple years ago where She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel team up with a possible Skrulled-version of Spider-Woman to fight HYDRA. And finally, we get a classic and thoroughly goofy story from the John Byrne era of She-Hulk’s comic.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Loved the new story by Peter David and Jonboy Meyers — it had a lot of funny stuff in it, like a few nods to Shulkie breaking the fourth wall, a cameo appearance by former “She-Hulk” writer Dan Slott, and Iron Man proclaiming that “I just barfed in my helmet.” I also loved the Byrne story — it really does encapsulate a lot of the things that make Shulkie so much fun as a character. I actively disliked, however, the more recent Skrull-clone-Spider-Woman story, ’cause it’s mostly just lame and unnecessary. Still, on the whole, it’s all fun and worth reading.

Wonder Woman #42

A trio of Green Lanterns, including the Khund GL introduced a couple years ago in “Wonder Woman,” investigate a planetary genocide caused by an unusual bioweapon — billions of tiny snakes that ate everyone, grew larger, then turned on each other, growing larger and larger as they ate themselves. Two of the three Lanterns make their escape, though the third gets eaten by the snakes. Turns out it’s a really impractical way of raising a really, really big snakey food source — and this time, it’s a food source that’s got some Lantern energy in it. Later, we find these snake-producing aliens attacking Earth — they’re all women, they want 100 Earth women to induct into their society, and they plan on exterminating everyone else for food. Can Wonder Woman stop a bunch of crazy alien cannibalistic snake fanatics all by herself?

Verdict: I hate to say it, but thumbs down. Decent dialogue, nice art, but the background is just too corny to take really seriously. Any society that has to rely on a food source as unreliable and inefficient as self-eating snakes is too stupid to survive at all.

At last! Fight fans have been waiting a long time, and SpaceBooger has decreed — it’s again time for FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS! And the special theme for the next 12 rounds is going to focus on bad guys beating the snot out of good guys. Hey, just like real life!

Our inaugural brawl is from December 2004’s She-Hulk #8 by Dan Slott, Juan Bobillo, and Marcello Sosa, as Shulkie gets closely acquainted with the Champion’s fists:

Luckily, later that issue, She-Hulk cleaned Champion’s clock. And a few issues later, he lost a lot of his hair and got a small mountain dropped on him. There’s an object lesson in there somewhere.

I think we’ve all had a stressful enough week that we’d all appreciate a wonderful weekend, wouldn’t we? And as always, the best way to start off a wonderful weekend is with some gratuitous, face-cracking violence, right? So let’s get this party started — it’s time again for FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Our pain-packed panel for this week comes from November 1985’s Fantastic Four #284 by John Byrne as She-Hulk hits one of Psycho-Man’s minions so hard his whole head blows up.

Over the top? Maybe. I guess that’s just how gamma-powered lawyers roll…

Two of the comics on my pull-list had their final issues yesterday.

Blue Beetle #36

Definitely one of my favorite comics series of the last few years, and I’m really sad to see this one end. Jaime Reyes and his impossibly awesome supporting cast have been the focus of some of DC’s best stories and most engaging storytelling. And there’s not much else out there to replace it with.

We pick up where we left off last issue — the remaining alien scarabs of the Reach are fighting Jaime because he refuses to join their crusade against all oppression across the universe. But wait, how can Jaime be fighting the aliens as Blue Beetle at the same time that he’s helping evacuate his classmates from the high school gym in his civilian guise? Turns out he’s got some remote-controlled holographic projectors invented by Ted Kord that let him be in two places at once. But it still doesn’t leave any good options for beating up a bunch of bloodthirsty aliens all by himself. The Scarab says it can force a hard reboot of all the scarabs, including Jaime’s own — but that leaves Jaime with no powers, a mile or two above the Earth, with no chance of the Scarab rebooting for almost a month. Is there anything that can keep Jaime from hitting the ground hard? Nope.

Verdict: Thumbs up. A good, fun story, a bit sadder than I was expecting (I’d mostly discounted the idea that they were going to kill a member of the supporting cast), and quite a bit more exciting than I was expecting, considering some of the less-than-awesome final issues I’ve seen out there. If you still wanna see Jaime, you can find him in “Teen Titans,” but I don’t read that one anymore. He’s also going to be showing up in Cartoon Network’s “The Brave and the Bold” cartoon from time to time.

Seriously, I’m gonna miss this series so much. Awesome writing, awesome characterization, awesome dialogue. If you haven’t read this one previously, go get the trade paperbacks. You’ll love ’em.

She-Hulk #38

Niiiice cover. Hello, Tall, Green and Gorgeous!

The story inside, of course, has absolutely nothing to do with the cover. Shulkie is back on top of the world, but she gets a telepathic message from her Skrull friend Jazinda, who tells her that she’s been captured by the government and she has to absolutely disavow any knowledge that she was a Skrull. She-Hulk reluctantly agrees, but is eventually summoned to a secret base where a bunch of scientists are torturing Jazinda and repeatedly killing her to watch her resurrect herself. Of course, Shulkie can’t stay quiet for long, so she moves in to save Jazinda. But then she gets attacked by the Man-Elephant (snicker), but the cavalry shows up in the form of the Lady Liberators. Is there a way for everyone to get Jazinda free? Is there a way to keep She-Hulk out of prison? Is anyone going to finally break the fourth wall?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Peter David’s run on this book has been sorta off-and-on, but he hits all the right notes in this one. The story’s fun, funny, exciting, clever. They get some nods to previous series, they get a little legal mumbo-jumbo, they get a lot of fisticuffs. I’m gonna miss this series, too — I’ve always thought She-Hulk was a cool character.

She-Hulk #37

The Man-Elephant is back (snicker) and he’s gotten a lot more powerful — powerful enough to knock the She-Hulk around easy. Only thing is, it’s not She-Hulk, it’s her Skrull pal Jazinda in disguise. Where’s Shulkie? She’s getting bailed out of prison by Mallory Book, her old nemesis at Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway, and having happy reunions with her old friends at the law firm. And it looks like she’s going to get her law license back again, so she’s leaving the bounty hunter biz. About time, too.

Verdict: Thumbs up. This title is about to be cancelled, so they’re trying to return things to the old status-quo as quickly as possible, so this is a somewhat clumsy switcheroo. However, I still enjoyed how it was done (and the very welcome reappearance of Mallory Book makes it clear that she was too good a character to be abandoned for so long). Not sure how many issues are left, but I’m looking forward to at least one more courtroom escapade before this title goes away.

Secret Six #6

Well, Ragdoll’s sister is the extremely twisted and creepy and mutilated and naked Junior. Eww. Ewww, ewww, ewww. The Six release Bane and, for whatever reason, don’t kill Junior, though they know she’s going to be gunning for them for as long as she can. After the team leaves, Jeanette tells her story — she’s a banshee, made immortal and attuned to death when she was a servant of the notorious Erszebet Bathory, medieval serial killer and vampire. We also learn that the Mad Hatter, a former member of the Secret Six, is now plotting nastily against them. And at a roadside rest stop, Deadshot makes some very, very surprising decisions.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Not sure what I think of Jeanette’s weirdo origin story, but wow, Deadshot sure does drop a big reminder that these guys are all supposed to be villains, not superheroes. Can’t wait for the next issue.

The Age of the Sentry #5

Marvel’s tribute to Silver Age lunacy continues. In our first story, we visit the distant future as Sentry and the Guardians of the Galaxy (a weird combo of Marvel’s original Guardians of the Galaxy, DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes, and a bunch of modern-day characters with a futuristic retrofit). The team has been instructed to help assist a pregnant planet. A what?! Yeah, it makes no sense, but that’s the Silver Age for ya. In the second story, the Sentry’s life is manipulated by shadowy children, who send a robot Sentry to break up his date with Lindy Lee, and try to set him up with the Sentress. Finally, we discover the identity of the mysterious and half-glimpsed parent who’s been telling his son stories about the Sentry’s adventures.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Any story that includes the Boy Blob, the Interstellar Mailman, fruit-pie-loving hippies, and a stoned Dr. Strange has got to be worth reading.