Comic Book Wednesday Part 1: Marvel

Alright so here's how my CBW reviews will break down, I'll divide it amongst multiple posts with one post per company, mainly it'll just be DC and Marvel though. As you can tell from the title this post is devoted to the Marvel series I got today, which honestly is not a lot, but here we go. Oh and um... spoiler alert

First up...
DEADPOOL #26
Words by: Dan Way
Art by Carlo Barberi
For those familiar with (this) Deadpool series Deadpool is pulling a Nic Cage and is leaving Las Vegas. The Merc with a Mouth starts the book by wiping out his former employers and ditching the suit that he used in the previous arc, to which I say THANK GOD! I have read every issue of Way's run, but the last arc lacked the creativity and vibrancy of say Deadpool offing Skrull as the Phillie's Phanatic, or him becoming a pirate, or... Hit-Monkey (Nuff Said?) [Nuff Said.] The issue has some laughs, but not as much as an average Deadpool comics because as soon as Wade finishes hs task a certain hothead shows up and drags him away. Most of the issue (which doesn't kick off a new arc, but instead is a one and done tale) is a retrospective of how Deadpool became who he is, but that is a story that should be told in an arc or limited series (Much like Way's Bullseye's Greatest Hits) The issue's worth checking out, but overall it doesn't do much and ends kind of fast.

Br. Brooklyn says: It's worth a Read  (6/10)

SECRET AVENGERS #4
Words by: Ed Brubaker
Art by: Mike Deodato
It seems like just yesterday that Osborn was still leading the avengers, then Siege occurred, and enter in the corniest Crossover title ever (The Heroic Age) and then there were a bunch of new Avengers books (The, Young, New, Secret, Uncanny). I tried "The" and, not being a BMB fanboy I was let down that THAT was the series that got JRjr. I also tried "Secret" which is becoming one of my current favorites. Ending an arc that involves the team on Mars, #4 shines showing once again that Steve Roger's isn't like Peter Parker or Clark Kent, even though Steve doesn't wield the shield he is still Captain America. Everything he says and does is what Cap would do, and I love that. In addition to him as front man, this band has one hell of a cool lineup (Valkyrie,War Machine, Ant-Man [O'Grady], Beast, and Moon Knight, for starters). Nova is defeated once Steve dons the helmet and delivers a cosmic beat down, Fury is caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and The universe is saved, but this issue is mainly about what Rogers has been Asking of O'Grady from #1, "Nut up and be a man," which here means stopping nuclear suicide bombers from attacking the team on mars. The Art is good, but Brubaker's story and character development over shadows it, making it deeper than it s pretty.

Dr. Brooklyn says: LIKE this issue (9/10)

SHADOWLAND: DAUGHTERS OF THE SHADOW (1 of 3)
Words by: Jason Henderson
Art by: Ivan Rodriguez
If you aren't following Shadowland turn off the computer, go to your nearest comic shop and buy everything that has the aforementioned words at the top. The series is really asking tough questions about vigilante's, corruption in government, and what truly makes a hero. This issue is no exception. Told in a First Person narrative the story follows Colleen Wing, a Samurai chick who wear tight white spandex. My first exposure to the character couldn't have been told better, we meet her as her. She walks you through her life, you get her perspective and you learn about her past in a exposition heavy middle, but the dialogue keeps it moving so it's not overbearing. About 2/3rds of the way through the issue Wing arrives at Shdowland for a st down with Daredevil, the latter tells the former about her mother and recruits her into the Hand as part of the Fox Force Five ripoff, The Nail. Rodriguez doesn't do anything too inventive here, His art is the generic stuff you'd find in any title, but Henderson introduces us to many of the questions I was talking about and sets the stage for conflicts that I can't wait for.

Dr. Brooklyn says: LIKE this issue (7/10)

SHADOWLAND: POWER MAN (1 of 4)
Words by: Fred Van Lente
Art by: Mahmud Asrar
From the opening panel you know this comic is going somewhere. The simple flashbacks matched with the one page splash of a glowing hand rising from the rubble sets that this will be good... but sadly, True Believers, the maic ends there for most of the book. This Power Man is not Luke Cage, who is in the book though, he IS a hero for Hire, but he's more of a jack-ass merc jack-ass. focusing more on the hire than Hero this Power Man is not like able, and that's what most the book focuses on. He's cleaning up Spanish Harlem, true, but he's doing it fifty bucks at a time. Not until the end is there any real rising action: There's pimps, there's ho's, there's ninja, but the best part of this book is the interactions of Luke Cage and Iron Fist coming to stop the new guy, leaving us hanging with a fight breaking out between Power Man, Power Man, and Iron Fist. The Art is average and the writing is the same. If you're following Shadowland it's a must read because this will definitely make a splash, but if you are just curious it's a pass kind of deal.

Dr. Brooklyn says: It's worth a Read (if you are reading SHADOWLAND) (5/10)
                             PASS (if you're not reading SHADOWLAND)

And if you've been keeping score (which you don't have to because I do) this weeks clear Marvel winner is SECRET AVENGERS #4 Go check out this fine book and the first 3 issues, this is a series you don't want to be left behind on.