I’m back with some more reviews from my December 23 pile. This was a huge week for me with 13 books, so I’m not even going to attempt to do all these at once. What I’ll be doing is breaking them up into 3 articles so it doesn’t get too tedious. So let’s bust a move!
First up is…The Incredible Hercules #139.
Publisher: Marvel
Writer(s): Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente
Artist(s): Rodney Buchemi & Reilly Brown (cover by Michael Bierek)
This book has been a surprise for me, but I think Pak and Van Lente have a lot to do with it. Their writing is pretty good and the artwork is done by two fellows I’ve never heard of, but they do a fine job. This issue was a continuation of what was started last time. Herc’ and Cho found out that the Olympus Group plans on destroying everything on Earth and starting over fresh. Of course Hercules has enlisted the help of his buddies in the Mighty Avengers. On the other side you have Herc’s step-mom Hera, and her loyal servants – Typhon and a pantheon of other Greek mythological beings. The fight goes badly for our heroes, and when the dust settles, Athena is turned to stone by Delphyne, Wolverine is impaled by Huntsman, and Zeus is kidnapped and taken inside the stronghold and shown what Hera’s master plan is. Great issue, and I’m going to add this title to my pull list from here on out! There was also a back-up story featuring The Agents of Atlas written by Jeff Parker with art by Gabriel Hardman. 4/5
Next is the conclusion to Dark Avengers: Ares #3 of 3.
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Manuel Garcia (cover by Ed McGuiness)
This series was pretty good for a spin-off from Dark Avengers. It didn’t really wow me or anybody else, but it was solid. This issue showed the final battle between Ares and his son Kyknos. Ares’s team of soldiers went back to the surface under orders from their leader, but they soon realize they’ll be next on Kyknos’s list if they don’t get him first. They actually hide inside carcasses of some of the fallen participants from the brawl that killed dozens earlier in issue #2. They surprise Kyknos, and while he’s distracted, Ares gets loose and kills his own son! That was kind of unexpected, and the only other thing of note was when Norman Osborn showed up and questioned Ares about what was going on, and Ares told Norman to walk away. Osborn responds by saying OK, and walking away to leave Ares sitting on his son’s throne. This series definitely had some good artwork, especially the covers. 3/5
Next up I have two Wolverine titles, starting with…Wolverine Weapon X #8.
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Yanick Paquette (cover by Adam Kubert & Todd Doney)
All I can say about this title is WOW! It is a little disturbing sometimes from a visual standpoint, but in a good way. This issue is continuing with part 3 of “Insane in the Brain.” The immoral Dr. Rot is hellbent on figuring out why Wolverine is proving too tough for his mental assaults, and also too tough for a saw to cut through his skull. Dr. Rot then hooks up a few dozen electrodes to Logan’s head to try and get inside to see what he’s made of. After some prodding the good Doctor starts to get a read out of what’s been going on in Wolvie’s mind over his lifetime, and the Doc gets very aroused at the things he sees. There’s a couple of problems that are going to come to a head next issue though. While Logan was being zapped by the Doc, he mentally cried out to his reporter friend Melita. She was working with him and trying to find out where some missing homeless people got to. Well, they found out alright, and Logan was abducted and taken to the Dunwich Sanatorium for Dr. Rot to experiment on. One other problem for the Doctor is that the Mob has come looking for their two henchmen that were sent to Dr. Rot’s place a few days ago but never returned. If you can handle the gore and violence of this book, pick it up, you won’t be disappointed. Oh, and when it says “parental advisory” on the cover, they’re not kidding! 4/5
Lastly we have…Wolverine Origins #43.
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Daniel Way
Artist: Doug Braithwaite
In issue #42 we saw Logan asking Silver Samurai for his help in defeating Romulus. Wolverine needs to learn some skills with The Muramasa Blade before he attempts another shot at killing Romulus. After Wolvie takes a whoopin’ from Harada (Silver Samurai), he contacts Cloak for a ride out of there, but Cloak says he’s busy looking for Dagger. She was kidnapped by Romulus’s stooge Victor Hudson. Wolverine tells Cloak that he’ll find Dagger, and shortly thereafter they do. Cloak wants to kill Hudson, but Wolvie does the favor for him. Dagger, who’s angry about Logan and Cloak’s activities, unleashes a blast on Logan. We next see Logan and Cloak breaking into The Raft to bust out Ruby Thursday (a chick who years ago bonded an organic computer to her head that allows her to change form). It should be interesting to see where this leads, and how it all pans out in the end. 3.5/5
Well, that’s it for this batch, but hopefully more will be forthcoming very soon! Happy New Year and be safe!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
Really don’t know about the Weapon X arc so far, maybe because I keep getting a Batman feel while I’m reading the story and I’m wondering how the hell did Logan end up at the Hospital after the events of the last arc finished? Incredible Herc is back on track again and the past couple of issues have been pretty good as well
good work Billy!
@Speech-Yeah, I know what you mean. This issue cleared it up though I thought. I think Logan was still kind of dealing with that whole Weapon X mess and while it was ending he and that Melita chick stumbled on the homeless people disappearing and snap, here we are. lol
The Ares story sounds pretty intense.
And how does Logan just get abducted like that?
Kristin has a point lol for being the best he is at what he does he sure does get kidnapped a LOT lol
@Kris-Well, in short, this Dr. Rotwell character cuts open peoples heads and removes their brain, then hooks them all into this wacky machine that acts like a very powerful telepathic mutant and can subdue people thru thought manipulation/suggestion. Whew!
@Speech-lol, how true.
okay I actually finished reading the weapon x book and it explained a little more of whats going on in this arc which makes it an easier read now.
I read all these books and thought they were all pretty solid!