Captain America #1
Marvel Now had begun and with it a new series of Captain America by Rick Remender and J.Romitta Jr. This week saw a few new releases and this was one of the less impressive, Romitta's art it not at its best, although I'm not a fan in general I believe a lot of this to be just average for him. As for the story, it fulfills the need for a jumping off point (which is all of what Now is, because the .1's didn't work) but isn't particularly amazing. Cap's internal dialogue is good and the whole thing is well written but the plot itself is lacking in credibility. The only particularly interesting event is Cap saving/ tanking a baby, if he keeps the kid with him and that becomes the arc I would be impressed, it would give Remender a chance to write something out of his comfort a little and give cap a fresh story.
Overall it was pretty average, not an awful start, fingers crossed it gets better.
7/10
Indestructible Hulk #1
The other new series starting this week was Indestructible Hulk, I'm not sure what happened in the last series of Hulk but this series begins with Banner Joining SHIELD. This issue is pretty much just that.... but somehow its pretty awesome! With the ticking clock punctuating the issue, just enough text tells you Banner's intent, and with Maria Hill being convinced to let Banner be the new mind of the MU and hulk be a destructive force for good I can see this series being brilliant! Something that has always bored me about the Hulk is the inward battle between Hulk and Banner, although interesting it is done too much with too many characters so the fact this series seems to be moving away from that is awesome. Yu's art work throughout the book gives it a dark and dirty feeling whilst staying impressive and not looking too muddled. Hopefully he will stay with the book, his art really suits it. As for Waid, I haven't read his DD but this is really easy to read for a fairly wordy first issue, it really flows well and is believable... although "your strength... Its incalculable" was a little cheesy, its just enough for comic book humour and made me smile.
8/10
Iron Man #2
After an interesting, funny and pretty basic #1 the second issue of the current Iron Man series continued with the destruction of stolen Extremis. This time it wasn't businessmen selling the tech, it was a group of Arthurians, all named after the knights of the round table and coveting the Grail ie. extemis. The story itself was a good idea and I feel like Gillen is using this basic first arc to set up an equilibrium before shattering it after the 1st 5 issue arc. The analysis of Tony as a Technologist is also really interesting, how he is an engineer first and foremost, not a pilot. It was also interesting to question beliefs though the devout Arthurians as I know that is something Gillen is planning to play with a lot. In contrast to the first issue this one was pretty wordy but the dynamic battles drawn by Land helped the fluidity of the comic. The panneling thoughout the battle, the design or the Arthurian armour and the stunning Iron Man art make up for the slightly poor way Land draws Tony. Another score for Iron Man, this issue was better than the last, I can't wait for #3!
8.5/10
X Factor 247
Another issue of X Factor focusing on just a few characters in a simple and contained story, this is just a hint of Peter David doing his thing. David is a master at these one off tails which giv you a little insight into the characters and a nice bit of action, humour and self reflection on the comicbook medium. I loved the fact Madrox slept with his gun after seeing himself murdered on his wedding night in a different universe. Although that story let me down a little this call back to it was excellently considered. The whole zombie thing was a little odd but if you have spied the cover to issue 250 you know something similar is coming on a bigger scale. I miss getting intertwining stories but after the Havok of breaking points (get it, havok) its nice to have a few issues off the heavy stuff. The art was consistent, it looked nice but as often with XF I wasn't blown away by any of the images.
7.5/10
On a side note @Thought bubble I got a commission of Madrox done by part time XF inker Ortego, check it out:
My friend got a Layla:
Check more of his stuff out @ http://willortego.deviantart.com/
Also I got #200 of XF signed by cover artist Esad Ribic :D
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