Quickies 6/17/09

I'm doing reviews two days in a row? It's true! Grab a soda and a hot dog, so we can get down to business! Soda and hot dogs = business time! Deal with it!

Incredible Hulk #610

You may remember that a few weeks ago I mentioned how stupid I thought the reveal of the Red Hulk was. Truth be told, I felt the whole World War Hulks (and Hulked out Heroes) was pretty stupid. I couldn't even enjoy how silly it was. That's pretty rare for me. How rare? Well Smokey and the Bandit is one of my favorite movies of all time, if that means anything to you.

This issue surprised me though. The resolution of this big sloppy mess of a Hulk story turned out to be its most satisfying part. That may be because this is the first part of this story that didn't spend half of its pages telling the same story that another issue already had. There is some awesome action, great dialogue between characters, and a return of the green Hulk that makes sense. This is the kind of writing from Greg Pak that I normally expect. The art from Paul Pelletier is solid as well. He handles all of the characters in this issue well, and there are a lot.

The last bit of dialogue from Skaar sums up how I felt about this issue perfectly, "finally."

R.E.B.E.L.S. #17

This is another book that takes DC's C-list characters and turns out a lot of good stories. Maybe the editors are less slack with books that don't feature household names, I don't know. It does work though. With Guardians of the Galaxy on hiatus, this book has become my space team book of choice.

In this issue Vril Dox, son of Brainiac, is out negotiating with alien races about entering into his L.E.G.I.O.N. peace keeping program. Think of it as the Green Lantern Corps, except without the rings. On the planet Rann, a planet Vril Dox moved into a different galaxy, the Tamarans are attacking. Current members of the L.E.G.I.O.N. are attempting to combat this new found threat while also dealing with a couple of rookie Green Lanterns. The situation on planet Rann is pretty bananas guys!

This issue has a lot going on, but you don't ever get lost while reading it. It was organized well, by writer Tony Bedard. Sergio Arino's art is decent in this book, but it's nothing that's going to blow your minds. He tells the story well visually, and there is nothing wrong with that. Changing the coloring or the inks in this book would probably make it look better. I'm not sure which one to change though.

This is a fun book. It's worth a try, if you're into space themed stories. If you're not, this may be a hard sell.

Simpsons Comics #167

Homer attempts to rig a sack race in his favor at a Family Day celebration in Springfield. To his defense, he got the idea after drinking a few glasses of Moe's "cream soda". Homer ends up foiling Snake's attempted robbery, of the ticket booth for the fair, by running into him while drunkenly hopping around in his sack. For some reason, both of them end up in court. Rigging a sack race in Springfield is a serious crime I guess. Anyways, the judge sentences Snake to live with The Simpson family, mainly due to Homer acting like a fool in court. Hijinks and tomfoolery ensue from this point on.

I'm not going to go into great detail here, it's a Simpsons comic. It's a funny story and it looks the cartoon. That's all you need in my book! Kudos to writer Mike W. Barr and artist Phil Ortiz!

There is also a great short story at the end. It features the comic book guy re-enacting many famous deaths from various movies, tv shows, and comic books. The Gwen Stacy one is my personal favorite.

Dark Wolverine #87

Daken is a little down in the dumps in this issue. He recently had his wrist claws cut out of him by Wolverine, and he found out he's just been a pawn in a game to get Wolverine to take Romulus's place. If Daken were to update his twitter with an emoticon, it would be " :( ".

This issue finds him Rome, Italy. He wanders around pondering the nature of power while berating thieves and con men. It's not a very exciting issue by any means. It does give you a clear picture of where Daken's head is at though. His struggle for a place in the world has been one of his most interesting characteristics to me. He's a very conflicted character, that typically does very bad things when pushed. Overall, it's interesting look into the inner workings of Daken.

The art in this book is nice. Mierco Pierfederici provides all of the art chores in this issue. His work captures Dakens mood well. His coloring is rich and full of emotion, it accentuates the dialouge. His claws for Daken look rushed though.

Overall, this book is decent. I think it's beautiful, but could see how some people would be turned off due to its lack of action. If you want more hacking and slashing from your Dark Wolverine title, then next issue will be sure to satisfy. In the meantime, just let Daken be a little bummed guys.