Reviews: Secret Avengers #1 & Detective Comics #865
What on earth was up with the comics industry two weeks ago? My bag was freakishly heavy with comics and, happily, almost all of them were fantastic. I'm going to be doing two-book reviews today, tomorrow and Monday to try to play catch-up.
I want to note, before I start, that when I was paying for Secret Avengers #1 there was a kid - maybe ten years old - standing nearby. He saw the book in my hand and piped up in the every-sentence-is-a-question way of children, "You know that book you're buying? Secret Avengers? It's a really good book? You're really going to enjoy it?!" Even I, child-hater that I am, couldn't help cracking a smile at that enthusiasm but I worried that I wouldn't enjoy the book very much if it appeals to a ten-year-old.
I was sooooooo wrong.
Unfortunately, so is everything about Detective Comics #865.
Read on for more detailed thoughts!
Secret Avengers #1: I have an innate weakness for all things Moon Knight. I don't know why. I picked up the first issue of his reboot a few years ago purely on a whim and have loved him ever since - loved the character, that is, even though the book itself wasn't very good and didn't stay in my bag for very long at all. So, when I saw he and Steve Rogers - the real Captain America - were both in Secret Avengers, I immediately subscribed. I am so, so glad I did. This is a fantastic book.
The art work is really incredibly strong, more in the painted style of Marvels Project or some of the Church of Crime scenes in the last year of Detective Comics than the "normal" Marvel Comics look. The writing is equally fantastic, as Ed Brubaker knows how to bring the quality every single time. Strong characterization, snappy dialogue and a few touches of humor here and there are shaped into a really effective blend of adventure and intrigue that also manages to reflect Brubaker's luxuriously noir style. This is a comic book that makes me excited to read more - more of this book and more of others. It's a comic that sells comics as a form. Mars! Kidnapping! Industrial secrets! Face-kicking! I get now why that ten-year-old loved it so much and I am happy to say that I do, too.
Detective Comics #865: I'd try to tell you how boring this issue was but you and I would both fall asleep. This only barely involves Batman, instead focusing entirely on Dr. Arkham. I realize there's a different Batman book (or seven) right now, and I know that anything is going to be a letdown after Rucka's departure, but this book is dull: barely anything like a plot, uninteresting dialogue and unnecessary cruelty. Christ, I just yawned in real life. I made it about halfway through this second issue in the current arc before giving up and deciding to drop it from my bag. The only glimmer of potential interest is a cameo by a guard who also figured in the story of the videogame Batman: Arkham Asylum - seriously, the only hint of possible traction this thing could gain with my mind. The art is nice enough; too bad it gets put to use in service to a story that doesn't interest me in the least.
Klarion
Posted to Review on 10 June 2010
· Comments (0)
Other stuff like this: Detective Comics, Secret Avengers
Post a comment