THE MIGHTY THOR #1 (Writer: Matt Fraction, Artist: Olivier Coipel): I miss Pasqual Ferry. With THOR becoming JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY again, THE MIGHTY THOR is Thor’s new solo title debuting just in time for the hero’s new movie. Olivier Coipel, best known for his run on THOR with J. M. Stracynski, is on-board as penciller. I’m a huge fan of Coipel’s work and his previous run on THOR, but Pasqual Ferry was the perfect match for Matt Fraction’s storytelling. Stracynski’s THOR was very down to earth, Fraction’s has been a sci-fi epic. Ferry’s Kirbyesque approach to the art was the ideal fit. Apparently, Ferry will be drawing the next arc, so I don’t want to go overboard criticizing the decision to go with Coipel here, but I do think it hurts the story a tad.
This is intentionally a very accessible first issue. If you come out of the movie theater on Friday craving some Thor comics, this is definitely a good place to start. However, if you’ve been reading Fraction’s run on THOR, you might find the straightforward storytelling a little disappointing. As with any first issue, there’s a lot of set-up here, hopefully next issue we’ll see some real fireworks.
RUSE #2 (Writer: Mark Waid, Artist: Mirco Pierfederici): I never read RUSE when it debuted as a Crossgen title. Two issues into this new series, now I’m very disappointed I didn’t. RUSE has a Sherlock Holmes meets Doctor Who vibe and I’m loving it. RUSE’s male lead, Simon Archard, is a socially-inept genius who subscribes to the Whovian method of problem solving: leap off the building and then figure out how you’ll land on the way down. The female lead, Emma Bishop, is nearly Simon’s complete opposite and perfectly complements his emotionless pragmatism. RUSE’s is a tried and true formula and Mark Waid executes it brilliantly.
ACTION COMICS #900 (Writer (main story): Paul Cornell, Artist (main story): Pete Woods): 52 of this anniversary issue’s 96 pages are taken up by the main story written by Paul Cornell, so let’s start there. So often a year long story arc, like Cornell and Woods have crafted here, has fallen apart in the final issues; that’s not the case with ACTION COMICS #900. Cornell delivers a strong finale to a great Lex Luthor tale. All along, this has been Lex’s story, so even with the reintroduction of Superman into the mix, Cornell takes care to keep the focus on Luthor. We see Superman through Lex’s eyes as he tries to bring the Man of Steel to his breaking point. While I don’t want to spoil the ending, Lex’s downfall (no, shocker, he doesn’t succeed in killing Superman) is tremendously believable and in-character for the villain.
Onto the back-up stories: Damon Lindelof and Ryan Sook’s Jor-El story is probably the strongest. It’s a shame Ryan Sook can never meet the deadlines on a monthly book because his style is unique and pretty consistently gorgeous. The controversial 7-page story written by David Goyer is arguably the worst in the book. I have no real issue with Superman renouncing his American citizenship (if teabaggers thought this issue was bad, they need to read Mark Millar’s SUPERMAN: RED SON about Supes growing up in Communist Russia, I fear their heads might explode), but the story just isn’t that good. I’ve always thought Goyer was an overrated screenwriter and he doesn’t prove me wrong here.
Blog-A-Day Challenge: Day 23
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