Review - Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates #3 by Mark Millar and Leinil Yu

This is the issue where it hits the fan.

The comic fan that is. The comic fan gets hit with a big bunch of silliness.

Nick Fury was pinpointed as a traitor in issue one and Carol Danvers was shown to be employing Tyrone Cash, the first Hulk, also making her a traitor. Good guys as traitors? Ee-gad!

Now we have the fallout, but first...

Now recovered enough to drink martinis, Tony Stark decides the best and easiest way to discharge himself from hospital is to buy the hospital itself which you can apparently do at 2am in the morning. So, I'm assuming it's a private hospital, because of course you couldn't buy a public hospital. And let's just push aside the fact (as Millar has done) that this sort of transaction isn't like buying a car. But of course he has to get out of hospital because...

Nick Fury has turned up at S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters. Seemingly able to infiltrate (with the rest of the Avengers, mind you) the heavily secured facility without being detected even when everyone is looking for him. Why? So Carol Danvers can immediately start shooting and there can be a massive punch-up between the Ultimates and the Avengers of course! Lucky that Iron Man instinctively knew what was happening, other wise he might've missed the punch up!

With Captain America kicking the bejesus out of Fury it's up to the Punisher to save him.

In the tradition of the previous two covers of the series, this issue doesn't cover the 'Death of Spiderman' proper as proclaimed, although he does make an appearance right at the end to cop a bullet. I'm not spoiling anything here, I mean, the whole thing has been billed as the Death of Spiderman, so  I suppose that means he is going to die... sometime.

Spiderman apparently can swing faster than a speeding Punisher's bullet. Instead of just grabbing Captain America with his webslinger thingies and pulling him out of the way of said bullet, it's more advisable (heroic even) for Spidey to put himself in harm's way by knocking Cap out of the bullet's path with his body. Both Fury and Cap are shocked! Nearly as much as readers, no doubt.

Oh and there's a bunch of gratuitous boob shots.

This: Silliness factor ramped up to grimace level.

Forthcoming: The quality has been fluctuating. The next could be better, and... well, I'm here now. Let's see if Spiderman actually dies.. not that I actually care too much.

Review - Superior #3 by Mark Millar and Leinil Yu

Superior #3 sees Superior/Simon Pooni save the crashing space station that was hurtling towards New York in issue two and then begin dramatically rescuing people in life-threatening situations across America.

Introduced in this issue is TV anchor-person, Madeline Knox who for an unexplained reason looks dressed to go partying rather than to work. She mentions in her voice over that when she was the highest paid television personality she wasn’t a very nice person. Held up in traffic she complains aloud that the stoppage must be because of ‘some kind of retard convention'. Hmmm... seems she’s not so much of a nice person now either! However she vows to find out who Superior is. I smell mismatched relationship happening, where Simon and Madeline learning something special from each other...ooh, won't that be nice. Millar referenced the movie Big in issue one and Superior, I dare say, is going to draw some close parallels.

This issue also sees the return of Ormon the talking monkey in a space suit, albeit minimally and it seems that he may not be the benevolent simian we were led to believe! Millar, you scoundrel! All talking monkeys, especially those in spacesuits should be working for the forces of good! This is an unwritten comic law!

What is excellent in this issue is the scale of heroics presented. This issue is mainly an onlooker's view of Superior’s actions. Really well done is the sense of wonder (which Millar has said he wanted to show) in how a man can pick up a space station. Superior is dwarfed and hidden by the space station so to an onlooker it looks as if the thing is hovering on its own. Yu's artwork and use of scope is excellent. He uses the widescreen format that Millar likes so much to great effect. His cityscapes are quite remarkable and the scenes of the space station using an array of worm's eye and bird's eye view angles are especially brilliant.

One criticism of Yu’s artwork is the somewhat gratuitous use of boob and crotch shots. Is this Yu ad-libbing or directions from Millar’s script? Either way, is there really a need for Ms Knox to have such a low cut dress, or a female train passengers' dress to ride up in a crash to reveal her panties, or… yeah, I think you get the idea. From the promo art for issue four it looks like it’s going to continue.

As I stated in my review of Superior #2 I’m not a fan of the colouring and in that regard for issue three my stance hasn't changed. It looks harsh and takes away from Yu's artwork.

Now, would a pre-teenager with massive power go straight to heroic actions? Would he even have an idea of how to stop a nuclear meltdown in a power station (as he does)? We’re not privy to Simon’s thoughts in this issue about what he's going through apart from the fact her likes the attention. It seems Simon just knows what to do. But I'm not really supposed to ask these questions, am I? I mean Superman and all those Golden Age heroes never had any other thoughts than to use their abilities for forces of good, did they? It was straight to work as the good guy! No doubts, no hesitation. This is what Superior is all about and it's working a treat.

The question is - why am I enjoying this, a fairly straight forward superhero comic? Well, unlike Grant Morrison's stuff, it's not taxing on the brain nor does it come burdened with years of comic continuity which means it can just be enjoyed on its own. And to Millar's credit, he knows how to pace a story to keep you interested.

This: Entertaining (portrayal of superheroics) and mildly annoying (sexist art) at the same time.
Forthcoming: I've come this far, I can't go back.

Read review of Superior #2.

Review: Scarlet #1, by Brian Michael Bendis (writer) and Alex Maleev (art), Icon (Marvel) Comics

Hot off the presses from Marvel's burgeoning Icon line of creator-owned comics comes Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev's Scarlet. 

Bendis again joins with his Daredevil artist to produce a character that he says will 'spark a modern day American Revolution'.

Scarlet is a twentysomething redhead who's decided to fight back. and do something about corruption and criminals. If she sees something wrong, she intervenes. Usually with brute force.

At base Scarlet #1 is basically an origin story. Like most origins it's based on loss, this one specifically building on the pure senselessness of an individual's actions. The incident, which is both poignant and heartbreaking, propels Scarlet into her new life as a vigilante.

While Scarlet may move a bit slow for some, if you're familiar with Bendis' work (if you aren't go out and do so now... No, really, I'm serious... NOW!) then you've come to expect that something big is going to happen later on in the series. Bendis weaves small stories into great interlocking narratives which build into something big and then rushes into something bigger.

Bendis' forte (for me) is his dialogue and he again produces true to life conversations. That's not to say he can't tell one hell of a story. When the first thing you see in a comic is a full page illustration of a woman garotting a man you know this story isn't going to pull any punches.

The most interesting part though is Scarlet 'breaking the fourth wall'. She talks directly to us. The way Bendis does it is something which I haven't come across in comics. The closest would be Grant Morrison when for example his characters in Seven Soldiers of Victory (and to some extent in Animal Man) look out at the reader. Morrison is more about a comic characters recognising themsleves as characters; that they're trapped inside a story. Scarlet addresses the reader directly and therefore  situates both as existing in the same world. But Bendis is also doing more. He (via Scarlet) is asking us to be involved in the story, a collaborator, an accomplice. A difficult task, but if anybody can pull it off, it's Bendis.

Maleev's art is I think, an acquired taste. Like many of my favourite artists he has an individual style that's recognisable as Maleev and that's what you want. Not surprisingly Maleev's art strikes me as a cross-between two other Bendis collaborators - Michael Gaydos (Alias) and David Mack (Kabuki, Daredevil, Alias covers).

Scarlet looks like Bendis has got another hit on his hands and should propel him further into the comic writing stratosphere.

This: Highly Recommended. Forthcoming: Can't Wait.