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Welcome to my new weekly rundown on the week’s comic releases!

Welcome to THE SHADOW GALLERY, a weekly blog, new to Popsyndicate.com featuring me, James Donnelly (and hopefully some of the other reviewers at some point), that will have a briefish rundown of the comics I read this week, and ones that I’ve read recently that had a significant impact, whether good or bad.

THE SHADOW GALLERY isn’t going to be a pseudo-sycophantic rundown just to make people happy.

THE SHADOW GALLERY is all about my opinions and your reactions to them. And my reactions to your opinions. And so on and so on.

So, are you sitting comfortably?

Then I’ll begin.

Uncanny X-Men #500
Matt Fraction joins man-god Ed Brubaker on what is by far Bru’s most lackluster title and are joined by cheese/beefcake extraordinaire artists Greg Land and Terry Dodson for the landmark 500th issue where the X-Men are currently liking their new San Francisco digs, but a ‘schlock-shock’ artist gets a hold of some Sentinels, and Magneto shows up, and all hell breaks loose. I really could care less about this rag-tag group anymore, now that Whedon and Cassaday are off Astonishing, and Clayton Crain is leaving X-Force. Not even Bru and Fraction can keep me on this title. Did anyone else notice that Cyclops’ hair seems to have grown about four inches overnight? Of all the X-Men that need short-cropped hair… but I digress. The back and forth art between Land and Dodson is really uneven and makes it just that much more difficult to enjoy. Although, an interesting ending to be sure. But I’ll wait for trades on this from now on. And on a more somber note, I’m really pissed that a lot of retailers decided to jack up the price of the Michael Turner variant cover. That’s just a really sleazy thing to do.

Avengers: The Initiative #15
I’ve really enjoyed this book and I’m surprised at myself that I haven’t reviewed it before. This issue is another prime example on why this is the most consistently interesting Avengers title. I thought that watching Crusader’s path from Skrull secret invader to human Avenger was very compelling, by having elements of intrigue, action, romance and tragedy. Slott and Gage should be very pleased with how this book is turning out. And speaking of the A-team…

New Avengers #43
Another of Bendis’ hot/cold running issues. First of all, now we know that The Savage Land is the only place on Earth with the technology to identify Skrull from Human. It’s a drug-tipped dart that doesn’t seem to really hurt, but it forces the Skrulls to reveal themselves. Why is this something that’s only in The Savage Land? And why aren’t Ka-Zar and his people running like hell all over the place and shooting everyone with these darts so people can start trusting each other again? Although I do appreciate the brain-washing or memory-wiping or total-recalling work that they do on their own agents. But if they did this for the timeframe that’s suggested here, how the hell is Emma Frost on their side? Makey no sensey. I also think that since Bendis obviously loves writing Spidey so much, he should quit this book and just write all the Spider-Man titles.

Thunderbolts #122
Another creative team shift occurs this week with Christos Cage taking over for Warren Ellis (and this was the ONLY book that I really liked Ellis on) and Fernando Blanco taking over art for Mike Deodado. This was a good issue, though. Another pretty seamless transition. Venom is still eating people. And skeletons. Norman Osborn is still the guy you love to hate. Moonstone is still as heartless of a bitch as a heartless bitch can get. And Swordsman… revived his sister? That he likes to lay on the bed with while she’s butt-naked? And flay off some of his own skin and give it to her so she’ll have powers? I just love how screwed up this book is. And I just love Blanco’s art. I don’t think it’s better than Deodado, but it is different. Anyone else also notice how there’s one frame of Moonstone from her posterior side where you KNOW he just drew her naked and colorist Frank Martin colored in the white of her costume? Look again, if you can’t remember. Oh, and Captain Marvel shows up and kicks everyone’s ass. The T-Bolts are officially part of the Secret Invasion tale.

Nocturnals: Carnival of Beasts One-Shot
I’ve never read a single issue of Nocturnals, but I have always LOVED Dan Brereton’s art. And this is actually a great kick-off point, I think, for people to get interested in these characters and in this book. As usual, Brereton’s art kicks ass, and his storytelling abilities as a writer are pretty darn good as well. I first remember his work from Batman: Thrillkiller, and then from his series Giantkiller, which was also really cool. I’m thinking that I’m going to pick up the big hardcover trade of Nocturnals pretty soon, especially since there’s going to be a new series soon. I just really dug these guys.

X-Files #0
Man, I remember when this was a Topps comic, and boy, did it suck. I still collected it though, because I was a total and unadulterated X-Phile. I went to a con in Chicago the summer the first film came out and talked to Steven Williams. He was cool. I was so into this show… until about season six, and then it just started to overstay its welcome. Anyway, for the comic, they finally got a writer from the actual series, who is coincidentally the same writer of the new film, Frank Spotnitz, and a really good artist in Brian Denham. And it doesn’t tie into the current mythology. It goes back to before Mulder and Scully were kissing and having babies and leaving for almost two entire seasons… I have issues. Anyway, it’s a pretty good tale, but it’s a little too neatly-wrapped. Oh, well. At least it takes place before the show went to hell.

Madame Xanadu #2
She’s one of those characters that I’ve been interested in since I first remember seeing her in Ostrander and Mandrake’s amazing run on The Spectre. This mini is pretty cool, though. Matt Wagner is obviously a talented writer, and artist Amy Reeder Hadley is also very good. And the backdrop of the fall of Camelot is also really cool. And having Morgana as her sister is cool. And having the Phantom Stranger (DC’s shorter and less Charlie-Brown-headed Uatu) is cool. And having Etrigan is cool. It’s a cool book. It needs a little more, though to really get it to that ‘Mature Readers’ level it’s supposed to be at. NUDITY! Sorry, did I write that out loud?

Justice League of America #23
Dwayne McDuffie and Ed Benes are all over the new Justice League. They obviously love and respect them, and this book continues to bowl me over with its character work (I especially love how Wally narrates his combat with the new Amazo… that’s really cool), and its mega-action. This is not a Bendis-style team book. It’s not too indulgent, it rarely gets bogged down by unnecessary dialogue, and once the action ramps up, it rarely lets the reader down. It’s a great classic team book, and it’s very audience-friendly since McDuffie took over for Brad Meltzer. I don’t mind a book being challenging, and I really dug Identity Crisis and “The Lightning Saga” arc, but it took a while to get there, and now I’m just enjoying how this team works so fluidly… but they are still getting their butts handed to them by the new (and vastly improved) Amazo. And yay! Animal Man is coming back!

Daredevil #109
Brubaker and Rucka together again. It’s a potentially beautiful thing. Getting Matt’s head on straight seems to be the order of business that these guys are looking to get to, but I also think at the same time, they can’t get enough of pounding on ol’ Horn-Head. He may not be catching much of a beating physically, but emotionally, he’s on very shaky ground. Trying to save an innocent man who doesn’t want to be saved, getting entangled in all sorts of government sneakiness, and OHMIGOD did someone just kill Dakota North? The only problem I’m having here is that this arc seems kind of… rushed, I guess. They’re trying to cover a lot of potentially fascinating plots here, but they’ve only got one issue left of this arc and there’s some stuff they are going to have to fast-track to get wrapped. The awesomeness of Michael Lark’s art never ceases to amaze. And I love that Daredevil is able to detect a laser sight by hearing a hum and feeling the air change. That’s super-extra cool. But what’s up with the cover? It makes all kinds of not-sense.

War Heroes #1
FINALLY. Something that Mark Millar is really kicking ass on again, other than Kick-Ass, of course. Hopefully, this book will come a little more frequently. It’s really jam-packed with cool ideas. And it also scares the hell out of me. Some of the terror ideas here are pretty damn frightening because of their possible reality. And that’s what Millar is playing with here. Since this is a first issue, we know there’s going to be a lot of stuff that’s going to be scrutinized, and that’s okay. It starts out with a bang (quite literally) and it leaves us with a good feeling about the future of the book and the various possibilities that could be explored because there‘s a LOT going on here to work with. Are these power pills addictive? Do they burn people out, like the power suits that were used by the villains in Ultimates 2? Are people planning on hijacking shipments? What‘s with all the cameras? Tony Harris also does some really top-notch art here. Although, the one sequence in the street where the two shirtless dudes are fighting… what’s going on there? Otherwise, this is a nice start to what could be a very compelling series.

Now, I’ll switch gears and talk about a comic that didn’t come out this week, but I want to talk about because it’s either really cool or really crappy.

Helen Killer Issues 1-3
My local comic shop got in all the issues this week, and I bought them all because I wanted to read them and didn’t want to wait until they sold out again or for a trade. Boy am I glad I bought them because this series ROCKS. I just love the ideas here. The voices are very unique, and I love how the creative team of writer Andrew Kreisberg and artist Matthew JLD Rice are mixing real people into this highly-fictional concept. At first, I thought that it was just a clever title, but I read a review here, courtesy of our own Ken Lowery, which you can find here: http://www.popsyndicate.com/site/story/helen_killer_1 and it really got me intrigued, so I asked my store to find the series run and they brought it in from another store. It’s just so freakin’ cool. Alexander Graham Bell invents glasses that give Helen Keller the ability to see, hear, speak and kick some serious ass, but they also are driving her a little crazy. It’s a little reminiscent of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in its use of famous people and in the super-gadgetry (her walking stick is also the first wireless phone!), but if there’s a writer that’s going to influence your work, it might as well be Alan Moore. I highly recommend this series to anyone who can get their hands on it. Rice’s art is really dynamic and Kreisberg keeps the action and intrigue at an edge-of-your-seat pace. Go out and get it.

Well, that’s it for this week, boys and girls. Also don’t forget to read all of the comic reviews this week from all our contributors. You’ll find mine for Liberty Comics #1 and The Immortal Iron Fist #17.

Tune in next week for the next volume of THE SHADOW GALLERY, courtesy of me, the King of the Twentieth Century, the Bogeyman, the Villain… the black sheep of the family.

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