Pants Stampede 5/24/09

What is Pants Stampede? Pants Stampede is an occasional feature on the site where the members of the Panteon take a gander at the week's releases and give a quick hit and run review of each one. Now, we may not cover everything, as some of them are already covered in our Wednesday Number Ones and some we may not have access to, but we'll get to as many as we can. As always, we're curious what you thought of this week's books. What were the standouts for you? Was any book so atrocious that you threw it across the room? These are the things we want to know! Anyways, without further ado, let's get to the reviews.

Nick Budd Read and Thought:

Agents Of Atlas #5: It's an appearance of the New Avengers (fighting the Agents of Atlas) that doesn't make me want to pull my hair out. Awesome! Really, seeing these characters be intelligently written by Parker simply tugs at the heartstrings of badassness and uber coolness. This series is slowly creeping up to the high peaks of greatness that the original mini did.

Batman Battle For The Cowl #3: For a first time writer, Tony Daniel showed a heck of a lot of talent with Battle for the Cowl. Sure, not everything was perfect about this finale. There were a few loose ends that could have easily been tied up, but he got the characters, put them in interesting situations and made something with heart out of a story idea that seemed so bizarrely dumb when it was first revealed. All thing said, because of that and his nice looking art, I'll be picking this up in whatever trade form it appears in.

Boys Herogasm #1 of 6: Tits, ass, and lots of sex. On the surface, that's what Herogasm, the new spin-off book from Garth Ennis that takes a look at heroes on a day off is about. There is more to the story though, a level of humanity and a look at relationships (which I wasn't expecting) that saves it from being a one note wonder. Still, there are some cheap laughs, as you might expect, and beyond it being rather cool to see John Mcrea team up with Ennis again, you have to wonder why this story couldn't have been accomplished within the confines of the main series. If you're a fan of The Boys, this is probably a must buy though.

Captain America #50: Bucky's birthday celebration! Hooray! Right? Eh, not so much. Brubaker and company are some of the best pros working these days, but this issue just didn't feel like much of anything but filler. And while I truly love seeing Marcos Martin get to do anything, the back up tale that chronicles the history of Cap just felt...For lack of a better word, kinda boring.

Complete Dracula #1 of 5: Moore and Reppion, while occasionally able to pull out a great or interesting story (see the current Sherlock Holmes title), this one doesn't cut the mustard. The adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula is certainly an okay idea, but there's just nothing here to hold the interest other than some decent, if not a tad stiff, painted art by Colton Worley. If you're in the mood to read Bram Stoker's story, might I suggest trying to recent release of Ben Templesmith's Dracula instead.

Doctor Who Time Machination: On par with the fabulous previous stand alone issue, The Whispering Gallery. Tony Lee concocts a light hearted tale, one that wraps in real life characters (this time H.G. Wells) and fits them perfectly into the Doctor Who mythos. He also has a real handle on the characters and tells the story of a time travel mix-up with charm, which is needed for the property. Handling the art is Paul Grist, of Jack Staff fame. His style, while maybe not the first choice I would have thought of for the project, is surprising. It has a great sense of timing and flow, and his cartoonish sensibilities mesh and capture the likenesses quite well. Overall, this series of one shots continue to be stellar stuff and any fan of Doctor Who should seek them out.

Fantastic Four #566: Stab my eyes out, that was boring. And that ending...What can be said other than UGH? Millar and Hitch really need to head back to Ultimate-land, as their run on FF has the overall effect of making a person cry. Really, I'd take Waid's skin armored Doctor Doom over this!

Final Crisis Aftermath Dance #1: Out of all of the Crisis Aftermath books, Dance was the one I was most looking forward to. Grant Morrison's take on the Forever People was unique and seeing Casey pick up the ball and run with the concept of struggling heroes looking for acceptance and stardom just works. He gets the bizarreness of it all and redirects it into a focused, tangible story. It doesn't hurt to have Chris Cross doing the artwork either.

GI Joe #5: Still chugging right along. Dixon has picked up the pace (finally) and the idea that Snake Eyes isn't exactly doing what he's supposed to be doing is a fun plot point. It's Dixon's take on Scarlett though that it proving to be the best. She's more interesting as the Intel broker and more in charge kind of gal. That said, I wish that it hadn't taken so long to be the spider sentries, but since that's over with, let's hope things pick up.

Hellblazer #255: Milligan just doesn't have the same skills as Andy Diggle, I'm sorry to say. This tale of retribution and classic Constantine backstabbing just doesn't hold a candle to past stories. It's almost as the essence of the thing just wasn't there.

Hulk #12: This book goes back and forth from fun to awful faster than Superman could chug a six pack of Budweiser. The outlandish plot, the Beyonder and the Controller playing a game with different time line Defenders, works in a sense, but Loeb falters when he forgets the fun and tries to pack an emotional punch to the proceedings. I will say that McGuinness has never once faltered with this book. His pencils just have this electric charge to them and the way he draws action is MY kind of action.

Incredibles Family Matters #2: First issue was great. Second issue was better though. The story seems to form into something less formulaic, which is great, and Waid gets to introduce some new characters into the mix that feel right at home in the Incredibles Universe. The animated art, whose style goes hand in hand with the movie's look, continues to prove to be another bright point as well. What's in store for this family of superheroes next? I have no idea, but I can't wait to find out.

Jim Butchers Dresden Files Storm Front #4: One of my favorite Dresden fight scenes gets transposed into comic book form and while it doesn't quite go down as tremendous as the book makes it seem, I applaud Adrian Syaf for some great monster work and a good panel by panel slog of action. The adaptation itself is serviceable, if not a little dry. Still, all parties are doing their jobs to the fullest and the result has been entertaining thus far.

Killapalooza #1 of 6: Absolutely find the plot of this one, a group of highly trained and almost superpowered assassins who lead a double life as a rock band, hilarious. Adam Beechen, best known for his work on Robin, provides a serviceable story. It's rough around the edges and the characters, who all come off as stereotypical schmucks, don't quite endear themselves to the reader. That said, the action is the name of the game and in that respect, Beechen doesn't falter as he throws just about everything that you can think of besides the kitchen sink. Trevor Hairsline's frenetic and sketchy style though doesn't help, mainly because it's sometimes quite difficult to tell what is actually happening from panel to panel. Mediocre at best.

Outsiders #18: Okay, highlight of the week: Watching Alfred deck Deathstroke the Terminator. That's damn cool. Still, Tomasi doesn't leave it at that. The balance that he's found with these characters in interesting and he uses them in non-traditional ways as they seek out the identity of an organization who is after the meteor that created Vandal Savage. This is a cool spy/superhero story, one that's illustrated quite well too.

Planet Skaar Prologue One-shot: It's nice to see Pak writing Hulk again. He was the guy who made the Hulk relevant again after so many years of constant obscurity and other smaller Hulk SMASH moments. This one shot that tells the tale of Skaar's (the Son of Hulk) journey to Earth actually has a lot going for it. Pak's handle on the characters, especially his usage of the FF makes for some great comic book reading and while I think that Panosian's art every once in awhile is a little off-kilter, the expressions and character work that he gets through in his pencils is way above par. This issue certainly has me excited.


Punisher #5: The image of Frank Castle wearing a copy of Hank Pym's Ant-Man helmet will forever make me chuckle. That said, Remender uses the technology in a way that lingers precariously on that cool/sick line of thought. Kudos for that by the way. Still, while I think Punisher works better out of the 616, this book and the surprises that it has brought has made it one that I always look forward to. I personally would love to see Frank put a cap in the Hood's head. It ain't going to happen, I know that, but a man can hope can't he?

Supergirl #41: Sterling Gates has done one heck of a job with Supergirl. He's bounced around from one event to the next, but he's really given the character a much needed centralized characterization. She no longer changes on an issue to issue basis and this one, where we see the conclusion to the Who is Superwoman story, and the ending leaves things in a very precarious place. Probably the best the title has been since it returned.


Thunderbolts #132: The Thunderbolts visit Madripoor and go head to head with one of the deadliest men alive. Sounds cool, right? The correct answer is yes. Andy Diggle writes one hell of a take on what I like to call the Evil Mission Impossible, and he just makes you care about whatever character appears on the page, be it a Z lister like Ghost or the Headsman to Norman Osborne. One of the best books Marvel puts out. Period.

Transformers All Hail Megatron #11: ZOMG!!! Omega Supreme lays the smackdown! Hooray! Okay, fan moment over. I will say that while this series has delivered a lot of great stuff, the pacing has been horrendous. Whether or not Shane McCarthy is writing for the inevitable trade in mind or not, reading this story in one giant sitting will probably be the best way of making heads or tails out of the plethora of story threads that it had going. Still, for a guy looking for a Autobot versus Decepticon throwdown, this book has just the thing your looking for.

Trinity #51: All I can say is this: 1 ISSUE LEFT UNTIL WEDNESDAY COMICS! Hell yes!


Uncanny X-men #510: Stop doing that! That was my first reaction to this issue, what with that teaser of an ending. I still think Fraction needs someone, be it Brubaker or someone else entirely, to balance things like the nutter-tastic science team out. Land's work doesn't help the proceedings much either. I really want to like this book, but it's losing ground fast.

Wolverine Weapon X #2: Wolverine book number 1001. Did we really need another one? That's neither here nor there though, as Marvel capitalizes on the success of the new movie and everything. Jason Aaron's story, drastically less suicide inducing than most of his other work, has Wolverine fighting a coalition of bad guys who brandish green laser claws. Beyond that cool idea though, much of the issue is a bit formulaic and doesn't differentiate between the countless other books where Wolverine kills things.