Comic Reviews ... of the FUTURE! - Matt reviews 5/21

Reviews of the Marvel previews -- these books will be on the shelves and ready for your well-manicured hands this coming Wednesday, May 21^st. For now, you’ll just have to take my word for it.

I hate Wolverine: Origins. Hate it, hate it, hate it. I think Daniel Way is a boring writer, and he seems to loathe the characters he’s writing. And yet issue #25 really isn’t too bad. It advances the plot nicely, begins to tie up one of the more unnecessary plotlines in recent memory, and works within its own logic. It’s also probably improved by comparison to the DREADFUL reprint of New Mutants #97 that they’ve included as a backup for no discernible reason.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #54 is actually quite good. I haven’t been reading it since ... good lord, I don’t know, probably since the last Mark Millar run three years ago, but this is a solid FF story that manages to feel like the Fantastic Four while still being identifiably the Ultimate version of the characters. Who knew? The art is blandly attractive as well.

Iron Man Director of SHIELD #29, combined with Green Lantern Corps from this week, leads me to believe that I don’t much like Stuart Moore’s writing. It’s a pity, too, because he was a terrific editor at Vertigo years ago.

Ultimate X-Men #94: thank god that Kirkman run is over. This could go either way, but it’s a promising start and much more tonally in line with the early issues of this book than Kirkman’s weirdly detached ‘90s pastiche was.

Captain America #38, still the most consistent book Marvel publishes. (Although this storyline is beginning to drag a bit -- was Cap really killed over a year ago, real-time?!?)

Fantastic Four #557 is the best issue so far of the Millar/Hitch run, although who would ever have suspected what faint praise that is.

X-Factor #31, also incredibly consistent, and also feeling like it’s spinning its wheels somewhat. I never thought I would type these words, but the book is really missing something without Layla Miller.