Comics Fondle

Common Foe is a terrible, terrible comic book. It’s truly incompetent. Over its five issues, the comic goes through two artists and neither of them can draw distinctive figures. It’s not just the characters all looking alike, even the uniforms look alike. The monsters all look the same and are supposed to, so I guess […]

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Even with Mike Ploog’s most phoned-in art of the series (it’s his last issue), Mike Friedrich’s first issue is a wonderful change for the title. Friedrich’s Jack Russell narration isn’t overbearing, his script is full of action, and the guest villain isn’t really Jack’s mother’s sister’s baby-sitter’s niece who’s after his wallet because the leather […]

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Byrne’s Hulk isn’t really about the Hulk, unless it’s in the Moby-Dick sense. Half of each issue is devoted to Doc Samson or the Hulkbusters fighting. It’s either each other or the Hulk. What’s worst about the fight scenes, though Bryne illustrates them with competence, is how repetitive they get. A fight scene in the […]

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Vaughan’s Swamp Thing finale is a cop-out mess. Worst is the last page, which references a famous old Swamp Thing shot, not because the homage is a bad idea, but because Camuncoli is such a terrible artist. Even with Cameron Stewart inking, these are easily the two worst illustrated issues of the series (no wonder […]

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McDuffie and Pelletier’s excellent run concludes a little on the light side, due to issue constraints (issue 550 needed to be double-sized). Even so, McDuffie gets in a lot of action for the team, as Sue’s kidnapped by the Frightful Four and Reed’s got a science project. With the emphasis on them for this issue–the […]

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