Birds of Prey 2 (December 2011)

Swierczynski’s Birds of Prey shows exactly why the comic needs two strong leads. Having Dinah partner up with some lame brained new character devoid of personality just shows all the cracks in the concept. Even having Katana, who Swierczynski writes better than anyone else, show up doesn’t help things. Swierczynski’s set the book up with Dinah deceiving everyone, just so he can have soft cliffhangers with Poison Ivy.

But Saiz’s artwork is so great this issue—there aren’t many stupid looking bad guys this time, just one it seems—I’m finding it difficult not to support the book. Saiz has a nice way of not objectifying the characters. Though the costume designs might force him in that direction. Black Canary looks more and more like Brubaker’s Sharon Carter all the time.

There’s no compelling villain, which the book definitely needs. But Swierczynski’s improving and his writing is getting reassuringly mediocre.

CREDITS

Trouble in Mind; writer, Duane Swiercynski; artist, Jesús Saiz; colorist, Allen Passalaqua; letterer, Carlos M. Mangual; editor, Janelle Asselin; publisher, DC Comics.

Birds of Prey 1 (November 2011)

It’s been a while since I’ve read a Duane Swierczynski comic book, so I forgot how badly he writes dialogue. He should teach a class in verbose declarative statements.

That defect—and his interesting comfort having a female character refer to herself as “bitch”—aside, Birds of Prey isn’t terrible. Jesus Saiz is a good artist. In some ways, of the good artists DC has on these relaunch titles, Saiz is the only one who doesn’t let himself get lazy. He does his work.

There’s a fair amount of new origin stuff here, but Swierczynski’s a deceptive writer—one who doesn’t have enough faith in the material being good so he has to pace out revelations to keep up interest. I mean, Black Canary’s a fugitive. Batgirl doesn’t want to be her partner. Instead, the new partner’s Starling, which is pretty dumb superhero name.

It’s without value, but not worthless.

CREDITS

Let Us Prey; writer, Duane Swiercynski; artist, Jesús Saiz; colorist, Nei Ruffino; letterer, Carlos M. Mangual; editor, Janelle Asselin; publisher, DC Comics.

Widowmaker (2011) #4

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Swierczynski tries a little Mockingbird and Hawkeye romantic banter moment or two and he fails. It’s all right though, because he’s not really hinging much on it. In fact, he’s hinging almost nothing on those two this issue–Black Widow narrates the issue.

There are still the problems with Garcia and Ruggiero. Lots of eyes getting completely inked over, lots of faces being inconsistent when going from close-up to medium shot (and vice versa). There are some mediocre panels and some awful ones, but there’s at least a decent sense of movement to carry it along.

Swierczynski writes Widow and Hawkeye well together (at one point, positioning them against Dominic Fortune and Mockingbird) but the issue is mostly Widow’s. He can’t quite sell his trick ending though–in fact I had to read it twice because it doesn’t make sense.

Widowmaker limps overall, never retaining that first issue enthusiasm.

Widowmaker (2011) #2

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So Marvel is now alternating creative teams on limited series? I’m only mildly complaining–mostly about Ruggiero and Bit’s inks on Garcia, who I thought did better work. Maybe I’m wrong. There’s a lot of problems with faces here (and eyes being totally inked over). It’s not terrible art, but it looks very rushed.

As for Swierczynski taking over writing chores, it’s hard to say. About half the issue is a battle with the Supreme Soviets, with some revelations at the end. It’s a boring fight, partially due to the art, but also because it seems out of place. It’s this big battle scene, not dynamically rendered, and it serves no purpose except to fill pages.

When he gets to the espionage angle, Swierczynski does a lot better. He shows Mockingbird and Dominic Fortune out of the comic halfway through, which helps, to bore elsewhere. His Widow and Hawkeye work.

Immortal Weapons (2009) #5

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You know who David Lapham can’t write? Danny Rand. You know who he has as his de facto protagonist? Danny Rand.

John Aman—the Prince of Orphans—is secondary to his own issue. Lapham even writes an adventure for Danny and Luke with a wacky miniature villain. I guess Aman gets the opening scene but….

Worse, it’s like Lapham never even read Brubaker and Fraction’s Immortal Iron Fist issues with Aman and Danny to get the relationship down. He just makes Danny a pest—it’s like he’s writing Spider-Man as Danny Rand.

I guess it’s an okay story for not being any good and Lozzi’s art is lovely.

This whole Immortal Weapons series is a waste of time.

And the Swierczynski Iron Fist backup, which started so nice, is a waste. Swierczynski lost hold of the narrative—it’s obvious. And Diaz’s artwork is even worse than before. He’s awful.

Immortal Weapons (2009) #4

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There’s the Swierczynski I was expecting… turning in a completely useless issue.

Tiger’s Beautiful Daughter gets the feature. Swierczynski’s so wrapped up in his Amazon warrior women story he neglects to mention a) the name of the Heavenly City and b) how they could possibly have an Immortal Weapon. It’s nonsensical, but also bad.

Swierczynski tries real hard not to be sexist, but fails miserably. I also like how he borrows the reasoning for some Muslim women taking the veil (so their features aren’t their defining factor) as the warrior women putting on face guards. However, these warrior women are running around in bikinis so I’m not sure what difference the face guard makes.

Also… if Tiger’s Beautiful Daughter is supposed to be beautiful, did someone forget to tell Evans? The character’s funny looking.

The Iron Fist backup is, again, too short and too unbearably ugly (thanks to Diaz’s art).

Immortal Weapons 5 (January 2010)

You know who David Lapham can’t write? Danny Rand. You know who he has as his de facto protagonist? Danny Rand.

John Aman—the Prince of Orphans—is secondary to his own issue. Lapham even writes an adventure for Danny and Luke with a wacky miniature villain. I guess Aman gets the opening scene but….

I guess it’s an okay story for not being any good and Lozzi’s art is lovely.

This whole Immortal Weapons series is a waste of time.

And the Swierczynski Iron Fist backup, which started so nice, is a waste. Swierczynski lost hold of the narrative—it’s obvious. And Diaz’s artwork is even worse than before. He’s awful.

CREDITS

Prince of Orphans: The Loyal Ten Thousand Dead; writer, David Lapham; artist, Arturo Lozzi; colorist, June Chung. The Caretakers, Conclusion; writer, Duane Swierczynski; artist, Hatuey Diaz; colorist, June Chung. Letterer, Nate Piekos; editors, Alejandro Arbona and Warren Simons; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Immortal Weapons 4 (January 2010)

There’s the Swierczynski I was expecting… turning in a completely useless issue.

Also… if Tiger’s Beautiful Daughter is supposed to be beautiful, did someone forget to tell Evans? The character’s funny looking.

The Iron Fist backup is, again, too short and too unbearably ugly (thanks to Diaz’s art).

CREDITS

Tiger’s Beautiful Daughter; writer, Duane Swierczynski; penciller, Khari Evans; inkers, Victor Olazaba and Allen Martinez. The Caretakers, Part Four; writer, Duane Swierczynski; artist, Hatuey Diaz. Colorist, June Chung; letterer, Nate Piekos; editors, Alejandro Arbona and Warren Simons; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Immortal Weapons (2009) #3

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Who’s this Rick Spears guy and why have I never heard of him before? His origin of Dog Brother #1 is fantastic.

He opens it in late nineteenth century Hong Kong, where Dog Brother is something of a myth. Spears’s protagonists are these two orphans, trying to navigate the gangs, the British and the poverty. It’s sort of incredible how subtle Spears’s writing manages to be, given everything going on in the story.

Eventually, whether or not Dog Brother #1 has anything to do with the story doesn’t matter anymore. Spears gives his protagonists this tragic arc. He never pushes it or makes it melodramatic. He just lets all the awfulness play out.

Some fine art from Green… just a great piece of work.

The Iron Fist backup is messy. It’s too short, confusingly follows the previous installment and Diaz’s artwork is terrible. Swierczynski tries, but he can’t do much.

Immortal Weapons (2009) #2

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What a stinker.

The whole thing plays like a bad Marvel horror comic from the seventies, with a team of mercenaries (they have matching outfits, of course) out to retrieve a spider. It’s not any spider, it’s one of the Bride of Nine Spiders’s spiders. There’s a bit of a continuity break, showing the Bride to always be beautiful, when in Immortal Iron Fist flashbacks she wasn’t shown as such.

So, it’s an action horror comic instead of a kung fu horror comic.

Bunn’s writing is occasionally okay—his dialogue is fine—but he’s establishing all these characters in a single issue. The Bride he never gets around to establishing though. She’s barely in her own comic.

Also, Brereton’s problematic—his proportions are off.

It’s just a forced horror comic. Big mistake.

However, great Iron Fist backup. Gaudiano’s inks make Foreman’s pencils fantastic. Still, doesn’t make up for the feature.