Skip to main content

Featured

Of Embassies and Origins - Justice League International Part 2 (Eaglemoss Collection v77)

  Review: Since we are doing a series of reviews focusing on Booster Gold over his nearly 40-year history, we include this one as a collection of some of his earliest appearances, dating to late 1987. That places the original publish date of these tales while his original solo series was still going strong.  This book is a beautiful, glossy hard-cover with smooth and heavy-stock paper inside, although the sometimes-low print reproduction quality leads to blurred and hard to read word balloons on occasion. It is also a rare book here in North America, as Eaglemoss Collections targeted UK fans with this series. At this point in the history of the 1987-rebooted Justice League, they have gained official United Nations recognition and sanction. To ensure their reach truly is global, they rebrand as Justice League International (as does the title of the series!) and they open new headquarters buildings around the world: New York, Paris and Moscow are included here. As this is a product of 19
Post a Comment
Read more
Labels

Review: Siege: Avengers – the Initiative

 

Cover of Siege: Avengers: The Initiative graphic novel TPB

Description:

Months of story threads finally weave together as Norman Osborn offers Taskmaster a seat at the Cabal's table...the Avengers Resistance uncovers a horrifying secret...and members of the Initiative are called up for an assault on an enemy of incalculable power!

Collects: Avengers: The Initiative #31-35 and Avengers: The Initiative Special
Authors: Christos Gage
Artists: Rafa Sandoval, Mahmud Asrar, more
Published By: Marvel
Published When: Dec 15 2010
Parental Rating: Teen

Review:

The explosive conclusion to the entire Avengers: The Initiative series! Norman Osborn makes his boldest, most audacious power play yet, gathering his forces for an assault on Asgard.

The final five issues of the series are told through the bone-encircled eyes of Taskmaster. His unusual super-power of photographic reflexes - the ability to perfectly reproduce any physical movements after observing them a single time - came to the fore a couple times during the arc, and it's fascinating to see Steve Rogers, knowing Taskmaster has figured out all his moves, leaves him for someone else to battle. But we learned much more about what drives him, how he has managed to survive throughout his villainous career.

With Osborn's heavy-hitters targeting Thor, the assault on Asgard is phenomenally successful. But Osborn, Taskmaster and their trained B-team ultimately cannot hold their advantage. Osborn overplays his hand and finds his power crumbling beneath him.

This well-told, well-paced narrative blends some romance, betrayal and revenge into the mix. The main story and the Special both have tragic love stories at their core, adding emotional depth to Christos Gage's fine story-telling.

On the artistic side, unfortunately, things are less consistent and effective. Maybe with the end of the entire series in sight, Marvel was shuffling assignments internally, or having a harder time getting artists interested. The result leaves the three-year run of the Avengers: The Initiative series ending with a whimper, visually.

Rafa Sandoval and Roger Bonet tackle the duties in the opening chapter, issue #31. Their work is uninspired, the layouts hold little variation or surprise, and the renderings of the skull-headed Taskmaster is almost comical with his popping eyes and jaw line that varies from panel to panel. Kudos to their work on Diamondback, however, as she looks her best in their hands.

Mahmud Asrar and Rebecca Buchman take the second chapter. Diamondback gets a haircut, Taskmaster's appearance becomes more intense and frightening, less humorous, befitting his central role in the narration, and the layouts become more dynamic.

The final three chapters, from issues #33-35, are all penciled by Jorge Molina, with a shifting team of inkers and colorists. Diamondback gets another haircut - over the course of a single battle, spanning multiple issues, she goes from cascading waves down her back, to a shoulder-length bob, to a trim that barely passes her ears. But that is the only complaint I can raise with Molina's work, his section is otherwise stunning, drawing the reader into the battles and the personal dramas with stunning work, creative angles, and powerful visualizations.

This is a solid story, sending Avengers: The Initiative out with a bang, and bringing a fitting conclusion to the multi-year fallout of the Civil War arc across so many Marvel titles. My quibbles with the shifting artistic styles and quality aside, this deserves 4 Capes.

ISBN-10: 0785148183
ISBN-13: 978-0785148180
Language: English
Pages: 160 pages


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts