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Comic Round Up
The Week of May 5

Mini-reviews on the good, the bad, and the fugly in new comics.

UNCANNY X-MEN #444 (MARVEL)

A new beginning planted firmly in the past, X-Men super scribe Chris Claremont returns to the series he took to the top of the comic summit- a peak from which it has never fallen. Issue #444 ushers in X-Men Reload, a month long restructuring of all the X-titles. It's a curious situation employing Claremont, the grand old man of X-Men, in what is supposed to be a bold, new direction for the series. The fact that another 80s X-Men star Alan Davis is handling artistic (and plotting) chores only hammers the idiosyncrasy even more. Nostalgic touches abound: colorful spandex costumes (especially Wolverine's return to yesteryear threads), Danger Room sessions, Sentinels, an X-Men baseball game, Storm's tiara. The first half of #444 is "Around the X-Men in 15 Pages", a wonderful trip where Claremont and Davis revel in all of the things we love about the X-Men. The rest of the issue is devoted to missions by the team in their new capacity as the X-treme Sanctions Executive- a global task force commissioned by the world powers to stop evil mutants. Um, hello? Isn't that what they've been doing since day one? At any rate, it's great to have Claremont and Davis back on the scene. Sometimes a bold, new direction is best served by a step into the past and a consolidation of strengths. This issue is certainly a good case for that.

FIRESTORM #1 (DC)

DC has caused another type of firestorm amongst fanboys who are up in arms over this new take on their favorite nuclear flame brain. Ironically, the new Firestorm, seventeen year old Jason Rusch, is somewhat of a fanboy himself (he namechecks Bruce Boxleitner!). Jason is mentally and physically abused by his Dad (who looks uncannily like G.I. Joe's Roadblock), and he's just gotten fired from his waiter gig at Bryson's Bar & Grill. With the college tuition money for his upcoming fall semester flying away like so many buffalo wings, Jason turns to a small time loan shark for the extra dough, and all hell- literally- breaks loose. Writer Dan Jolley has a good ear for dialogue and artist Chris Cross (did his parents hate him?) is fantastic with facial expressions. He captures all the weakness and fear in Jason Rusch. The end of the premier issue climaxes with Jason gaining the powers of Firestorm. There's enough promise here to warrant tuning in for issue #2 to see what he does with them.

STRYKE FORCE #2 (IMAGE)

If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team... er...Stryke Force! Pardon me for confusing the two, but Stryke Force is more or less a superhero version of Hannibal and the boys. And a very accomplished and entertaining one at that. The outlaw group is led by the multi-armed cyborg Stryker. Thank God his last name isn't Lipshitz because Lipshitz Force doesn't have the same zing to it. Here's the rest of the crew: sword wielding Tia Katana, electricity channeling Killawatt, Thing-like Anvil, and my personal favorite Sly, a hottie whose ironic power of invisibility doesn't extend to her clothes. Yes, when they go on their commando missions she really goes commando. Issue #2 opens with our heroes in the middle of an ambush by government cyborg agents who want to prevent them from finding a missing child. Penciler Tyler Kirkham does action well and his powerful figures make you eschew any thought of Jim Lee/ Mark Silvestri appropriation. His work is amply supported by inker Marlo Alquiza and especially the jaw dropping color by Brian Buccellato. Jay Faerber takes what are pretty basic story concepts and imbues them with an extremely readable energy. The characters are also well fleshed out. I enjoyed the surprising moment when Tia Katana resorts to some very un-superhero like actions to get a captured assassin to talk. Highly recommended.

SPYBOY: FINAL EXAM #1 (DARK HORSE )

It's Ultimate Spy-Kids! Peter David's SpyBoy is a hipper, funnier, and (shudder) more extreme version of kids who save the world and worry about acne in equal amounts. Accordingly, this latest storyline finds SpyBoy figuring out who to take to the prom while unknowingly being targeted for extinction by his nemesis SpyGuy. Spyboy is a fun lark, nothing more nothing less, so those looking for anything heavier should take a trip to Millar World. However, that shouldn't be seen as a knock on Spyboy as Peter David does teenage angst quite convincingly, and he's a hell of a good writer. And a funny one too. Spyboy asking out Spygirl to the prom with the latter unable to accept what she's always wanted is a hoot. So is SpyGuy's successful mission to get the public to think Democrat presidential candidate Howard Dean is "out of control". For a SpyBoy primer, check out the trade paperbacks before you pick up Final Exam.