Quick Comics Reviews

Adventures of Superman; Ultimate Spider-Man; Wolverine



Adventures of Superman #634

by Greg Rucka, Matthew Clark & Andy Lanning

This is the most fun I've had reading a Superman comic in quite a while. Smack in the middle of a story about the new Parasites, Mxyzptlk shows up and tries to help. Mxyzptlk is one of those characters with whom it is very easy to mess up a story, but Rucka handles him quite well, and he and Clark pull off some great gags, verbal and visual. Of course it's not the best Mxyzptlk story ever--that honor belongs to Evan Dorkin's World's Funnest. But it does show why Adventures is the Superman book to be reading right now.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)




Ultimate Spider-Man #69

by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley & Scott Hanna

Bendis and co. finish off another fun two-parter, this one featuring a team-up between Ultimate Spidey and Ultimate Human Torch. After Johnny accidentally catches on fire he is exposed as a probable mutant and has to leave the school, leaving poor Liz Allen crushed. It was kind of disappointing that Liz didn't show up to meet Johnny, but then she is a teenage girl, and no one ever in the history of the planet has ever been able to figure out how teenage girls think. In the traditional Marvel-U, it's Spider-Man who had the hero worship for the more experienced Fantastic Four, so it's interesting to see the roles switched here int he Ultimate-U (I figure that the previous meeting in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up is going to be ignored.)

Rating: 3 (of 5)




Wolverine #22

by Mark Millar, John Romita, Jr. & Klaus Janson

Part 3 of "Enemy of the State" is a mostly mindless punch-up between the mind-controlled Wolverine and the Fantastic Four, but it is a competantly done punch-up and is not without its charms. Millar has the FF use their powers in some unique ways to fight off the intruder, including one by the Invisible Woman that, while novel, is one of those things that makes you wonder why she has never done it before, and when she doesn't do it in the future it will beg the questio of why not? There seems to be a big reveal on the last page, but are we supposed to recognize who it is? (I'm not nearly as up on the knowledge of obscure Marvel characters as I am with DC.)

Rating: 3 (of 5)