Marjorie Liu/Daniel Acuna
Just in time for her big screen debut in Iron Man 2, the Black Widow graduates from mini series to on-going series. The issue starts off with a meeting between Widow and a new figure known as the Black Rose and leads to a rather uncomfortable sequence where Natasha has to concentrate very hard not to move like her life depended on it-because it did. The mystery attacker will be the focus of Widow's attention for the first arc I assume. The story moved along well and there is enough here to intrigue me to follow it for another issue. A solid read. Acuna's art fits the mood the Liu's story and they seem to be meshing well as a creative team.
3 bullets out of 5.
Siege - Loki #1 Kieron Gillen/Jamie McKelvie
I give Marvel credit for not dragging out Siege into a massive cross-over event which they could have. Other than the Avenger titles and the two Siege mini's the spillover from this event has been relatively minor. This leads us to the five one-shots released this week. Of the three that I read, I thought that the Loki one was the best. Since Loki has really been the puppet-master of this entire event. In his one-shot we see Loki graduate from the god of Mischief to the god of Mayhem. If anything I thought that this issue should have been in either the main series somehow or a side-issue from one of the Avengers title. I'm very interested to see how the groundwork laid in this issue pays off in the final issue of Siege. Gillen writes a tight story that really showcases Loki's deviousness and McKelvie's art fits the fantasy tinged atmosphere. His art style looks a bit like Steve Dillon only less line-heavy. A solid read. 4 out of 5 bullets.
Siege - Young Avengers #1 Sean McKeever/Mahmud Asrar
Like most of these one-shots, this issue takes place during the collapse of Asgard after Sentry smashed his way through it. The Young Avengers are in various spots and are reacting to the carnage or the fact that they are trapped. The main parts of the story involve Hulking and Wiccan searching for survivors and their team-mates and Patriot and Mockingbird trapped deep in the rubble trying to get out. I haven't been reading the various Young Avengers minis since the first one so the story really didn't seem to serve much purpose other than to put the Young Avengers in play for the big final battle in Siege #4. Wiccan seems to be a whiner and Mockingbird seems to be rather cold to Patriot (of course she was just trying to motivate him to get them out). I think Marvel squandered the 'it' factor that this team had several years ago and now they are just fringe characters filling in holes in big combat scenes. We'll see if Bendis can elevate them in the final issue of Siege. 3 out of 5 bullets.
Siege - Captain America #1 Christos Gage/Federico Dallocchio
Why this issue is even on the stands astounds me. The story also takes place after the collapse of Asgard as Stevie Cap and Bucky Cap escape and begin to look for survivors. They run into a family who think they can film the collapse and hit the sweet life selling the video (aren't there embedded journalists with the main action. Isn't there evenanother mini about that???). So, the family are standing in the field when Asgard drops out of the sky and then as they pick themselves up out of the big smoke cloud, 2 Caps arrive to take on some lame double blades for hands guy who wants to kill jailbait. The Caps beat him up, save the family and Bucky Cap thinks he just might be ready for the big job and all the faith that Stevie Cap has put in him. Hooray and the crowd goes mild. Gage is capable of writing much better material than this. While the art isn't bad, its nothing to rave about either. Perhaps a better story would have elevated the art but with nothing to work with Dallocchio's weaknesses become more apparent. Avoid this one.
1 out of 5 bullets.
Batgirl #9 Bryan Miller/Lee Garbett
This is a title that I am pleasantly surprised I am enjoying. Truth be told, I picked it up to fill the void left behind by Birds of Prey but didn't think I would stick with it. It has been a solid read since the start and a new arc begins with this issue. It involves mysterious tech crimes that all lead back to the twisted Calculator who is bent on finding a way to kill Oracle and ressurect his dead son Marvin and heal his crippled daughter, Wendy using Apokylips tech left over from Final Crisis. Stephanie continues to grow into her new role as Batgirl and her mentor/mentee relationship with Barbara Gordon continues to develop into a realistic manner. Garbett's art is a good fit to the tone of the book and I am looking forward to seeing Steph take on Calculator at some point. I just hope he doesn't bring that old costume with the big calculator buttons on the front out of mothballs though. 4 out of 5 bullets.
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