CBC Quickees: 9/28/05

My To-Read pile is getting out of hand...

Black Panther #8: Sigh. Hudlin totally let me down here. After defending the first four issues of his controversial reimagining of the Black Panther, he abruptly wrapped up his first arc without ever answering the primary question his story posed, "Who is the Black Panther?" Then, last issue's pointless, though admittedly entertaining, House of M tie-in, and now this internal continuity confusing crossover with the X-Men, whom he's inexplicably met before and even had some sort of a relationship with Storm!?!? Storm, whom strips down naked and takes to the skies posing as "the goddess of the desert" to calm a group of rioting Nigandans whom are... You know what? Who cares? It's a dumb story and I'll be following the rest of Hudlin's run via Ebay, and only there because I'm a Panther completist. My bad.

The Gift #13: My spider-sense was right. This wasn't very good. From the clichéd tale of bullied geek gets revenge, to the old school Image-style artwork, to Raven Gregory's unnecessary disclaimer explaining that he doesn't condone high school violence and over-the-top PR efforts a few months back hyping this issue - which, sadly, even Buzzscope bought in to - it all left me unimpressed and wanting a refund. This and Ant are two good reasons why there needs to be more black creators working in the industry. In the same way I hate that UPN represents black comedy, ya know?

Young Avengers #7: I had every intention of hating this series, but it not only won me over, it's one of my favorite superhero titles right now. I've never watched the OC, and still don't plan to, but Allan Heinberg has a great ear for dialogue and sets the right tone - not too light, not too serious - in this always entertaining series. In this issue, his Captain America / Spider-Man / Luke Cage interplay outdoes Bendis' work over in New Avengers, and the cliffhanger ending has the potential to either be an interesting twist on one character's abilities, or a terribly clichéd way to handle his development that'll make me axe this from my pull list without blinking. Seven issues in, I'm trusting Heinberg to do the right thing.

Silent Dragon #3: Andy Diggle and Leinil Yu rock! Robots, samurai, intrigue, and Dave Stewart on colors? How can you not love this?

The Losers #28: One of my favorite comic books, another Andy Diggle effort, finishes its penultimate arc with a literal bang. And Jensen, my favorite character, gets a money shot. I'm going to miss this series when it's done.

Defenders #3: There's moments here that are great, like the two-page splash of a defeated Eternity, but many more where anyone familiar with the Giffen/DeMatteis schtick are left groaning for new material. It's fun, in a been there done that kind of way, but like Michael Jordan playing for the Wizards, it's wearing thin rather quickly.

Battle Royale #1: My second foray into Manga, I'm still making my mind up about it. On the one hand, it's an intriguing blend of Death Race 2000 and The Breakfast Club, featuring a TV show that drops an entire 9th grade class on an isolated island and pits them against each other in a game of Kill or Be Killed. It's ultra-violent, sexually explicit and so over-the-top that you can't take it seriously. And yet, it's not presented as a satire, even with Keith Giffen doing the translating. An entertaining read that left me feeling a little skeeved, but likely to pick up the next volume.