Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Steve McNiven
Company: Marvel Comics
A better overall outing than the first issue, Brubaker continues his trip through Captain America's secret history while at the same time putting together a story filled with action and solid character moments. It still feels a little less than stellar than it probably should, but being able to delve into his World War II days and see a few familiar faces certainly pops, and the reveal towards the end is fairly notable and fun. In a lot of ways, the book exudes a very classic comic book feel, hearkening back to the Gruenwald days of yore. McNiven may in fact be the bigger draw here, however. His
storytelling seems to have evolved a bit since Civil War and while I think that he was fine on that, there's an edge to his line that wasn't there before that's apparent in these pages. Overall, despite Captain America looking like the least interested man who's ever thrown a shield before in his life on the cover, the story inside is getting better and better. Let's hope the trend continues.
Writer: Christos Gage
Artist: Andrea Di Vito
Company: Marvel Comics
The best tie-in to the Fear Itself series. Hands down. Period. End of story. Christos Gage simply knows how to make you care for a group of characters, then puts said characters into an insanely dangerous situation and hits the puree button on that enigmatic comic book blender that we all know and love. It's a classic recipe, one that's tried and true in the comic book genre, but Gage just sells it so well and incorporates many nuances and elements that seemed to have been forgotten about. Seeing the newly empowered Absorbing Man and Titania wreak havoc on Pym's miniaturized dimension space and the kid's responses to it are so satisfying and refreshing. Di Vito's artwork doesn't hurt things either. It's detailed and expressive, two things that I know all artists strive to be yet sometimes fail at. I especially found the rendition of the setting to be quite awesome, and the way that he was able to get across the alternate space makes the book that much greater. A bright spot in a cross wide event that seems as if it will never end. Definitely worth your time.
Writer: Matt Sturges
Artist: Hendry Prasteya
Company: DC Comics
A simple and extremely entertaining done in one tale that sees Power Girl's strength, speed, and wits put to the test in a series of challenges, organized by a shadowy figure. Matt Sturges, the man behind things like Jack of Fables and House of Mystery brings a bit more of a lighter side to things, evoking the same sort of style that Jimmy Palmiotti did during his run. The humor and the lightness goes a long way in my book. He also does a nice job of putting Power Girl's persona and character on the page, not to mention putting forth a story that is very easy for anyone and everyone to get in to. Prasteya's artwork is mighty fine in almost every regard. Well thought out action? Check. Character emotion front and center? Double check. A fun style that exudes personality and flair? You betcha. Truthfully, this isn't the end all be all comic. What it is though is a satisfying outing, one filled with true superheroics, wit, and action. I call that a win.
Writers: Brian Michael Bendis, Jonathan Hickman & Nick Spencer
Artists: Mark Bagley, Eric Nguyen & Mitch Breitweiser
Company: Marvel Comics
Overall, I wouldn't call Ultimate Fallout creatively successful. Why? Because the stuff that we've gotten really hasn't done much in the way of creating a single thread of a story. What we've gotten have been snippets of stories, teasers for the upcoming books that don't do much more than sit there flatly. With this issue, Bendis again tugs on the emotion string a bit too hard as we see Aunt May and Gwen continue to deal with the death of Peter Parker and the media swarm that the event has caused. In the other snippets of story there are some neat ideas at work, especially in Nick Spencer's Ultimate X-Men tease. The art of the series is again a mixture of mediocre and fantastic. Breitweiser and Nguyen's offerings are certainly the highlights, putting forth memorable, detailed, and organic storytelling. Bagley's is fine, though a little dry at times. Like I said, Ultimate Fallout feels extremely lackluster and really should have been released as a one shot.
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Greg Land
Company: Marvel Comics
Despite the unsatisfying exploits of Greg Land, who's work here is stiff and photo referency to the point that you can't scrub the bold face word BLAND out of your mind, Kieron Gillen is one smart writer. His two-fold story here that pits the X-Men against a super-charged Juggernaut is smart, fun, and seems as though it will have lasting effects on the team. The process of the actual story, seen as a series of tactics that have the members of the team use their powers in interesting and inventive ways (feeling very Claremont-y in that regard) to stop Juggernaut's unstop-ability, is a page turner. The second story, involving Magik, is also good. If I had one complaint about the issue, is that it seems that every character is out to kill someone, which for some of the people, means their friends and comrades. Somehow, that doesn't gel. Still, it seems Gillen has a plan and for the moment, it's got my interest. Let's see how things shake out.
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