Sneak Peek Reviews: 2/3/09

The Mighty #1

Written by: Peter J. Tomasi & Keith Champagne

Art by: Peter Snejbjerg

I am the ultimate fanboy. When writers work on a first issue they should know that I am going to giggle like a school girl at least once in the reading. Lately there have been more and more really great first issues that have made my fanboydom a little worn out and my pocket a little frayed but I'll be honest and say that there are worse problems to have. Peter Tomasi has had his fair share of my girlish giggles in his career thus far. Ever since leaving the editorial chair behind and finding himself in a way that few could have expected at the writer's desk he has penned fantastic story after fantastic story after fantastic story. Add to that the near boundless imagination of Keith Champagne and you'll be hard pressed to turn out a bad comic book. Champagne has clearly been having some fun since branching out from a very prolific career as an inker and has turned out a lot of really fun romps in the DCU and elsewhere. If Champagne has any flaw as a writer it is that he is too ambitious and that his imagination sometimes out paces his ability to convey his excitement to the reader. Add to the writing duo the fantastic pencils of living legend in the making Peter Snejbjerg and you've got a near unstoppable force of comic-y goodness. I really think that the series is going to knock some socks off and while I think that Snejbjerg might not be the right fit for the series as it proceeds you certainly won't find me arguing anytime I get the chance to see his work.
The premise of the book is that there is but one superhero in the world, Alpha One. And that he has been around since 1952 when he was irradiated during a nuclear test. Imagine Superman. But he has a support system known the world over as Team Omega, think of them as the first responders when something terrible happens, they come to clean up the destruction once Alpha One has stopped the unthinkable from happening.
The main character we follow throughout this issue, and probably through the rest of the series, is Gabriel Cole. He is second in command at Team Omega and he clearly has some history with Alpha One. I think that this is one hell of a promising start to a new series and that everyone with an extra $3 tomorrow should have no good reason at all to not leave the store without a copy in hand (unless your store sells out, which I can see happening at a lot of places).


Bad Dog #1

Written by: Joe Kelly

Art by: Diego Greco

Who likes The Boys? Who likes Golly!? Who liked Agent X? Who liked ... Bad Scotty ... Stop comparing this book to other books. There is a really frustrating thing about writing reviews as opposed to talking to a particular customer and getting an idea about what they like and then recommending. There is a lot of very, very good stuff about this book. It is totally not what you might expect if your first experience with Joe Kelly was I Kill Giants. Bad Dog is very much the kind of stuff he was doing back when he was working on Deadpool. There is a lot of very funny dialogue in this story and there are a ton of great scenes that made me laugh out loud. Take one werewolf who refuses to return to human form and one fallen preacher and make them foul mouthed bounty hunters and you've got Bad Dog. The artwork in here is fantastic and if Kelly's track record is any indicator then this is going to be a far more complex and far more entertaining story than most people are going to give it credit for. I also can't help but mention that while the main character is a werewolf he looks a whole lot like a bear and there is something about that visual that makes me giggle too. A great #1 and if it manages to stay on schedule I think that it might be just a great little title for Image, for Kelly, and for your pull and hold.

Agents of Atlas #1

Written by: Jeff Parker

Art by: Carlo Pagulayan (back up story art by Benton Jew)

Jeff Parker really knows how to give you everything you coould ask for $3.99. Too many comics these days are ... I've already done this rant ... a comic that's $3.99 should be more than 22 pages or have a card stock cover ... that's all I'm asking for.

Jeff Parker ... right. Man does this guy know how to write comics. He knows how to make a villain a villain but also the hero of his own story. He knows how to make a hero a hero but not the very model of a modern major general. He knows that when it comes to comics there are few things that'll get me to read a book faster than a man sized robot, a gorilla wearing clothes and toting guns, and a guy in a bubble domed space suit.

In 2006 Parker brought back some characters that had been relegated to the pages of What If? and made them not only viable but incredibly interesting. I think that it was one of the best mini-series that came out that year and it was certainly the kind of introduction that any writer would hope to have to the mainstream. Sure it wasn't the number one selling book of it's time or anything but it has sold rather well in collection and it has made for an opportunity for Jeff to continue telling the tales of Jimmy Woo, Undercover Agent. There just happens to be a perfect place for the Agents of Atlas to exist in the current Marvel continuity thanks to the recent Secret Invasion and ensuing Dark Reign.

And for your $3.99 you get a 24 page main story and a 12 page back up story featuring none other than Wolverine, Fidel Castro, and Che Guevarra!