Unreachable Star Reviews March 22nd, 2006 (SPOILERS)

This is our 161st edition, with five books this week. And it's a
pretty unimpressive weak, really... none of the books really stand
out, and the ongoing ones are in a little bit of a slump this time
out. None of them are awful either, though.

This week, we have...

Daredevil #83 - 3.25 Stars
Exiles #78 - 3 Stars
Robin #148 - 3.25 Stars
Untold Tales of the New Universe: DP7 #1 - 3 Stars
X-Factor #5 - 3.25 Stars

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Daredevil #83 - "The Devil In Cell Block D, Part One" (Writer: Ed
Brubaker, Artists: Michael Lark with Stefano
Gaudiano)

After attending the funeral of one of his close friends, Matt
Murdock must face being put into general population... but after
what's happened, that might just be what he wants.

Brubaker handles the emotional weight of what's happened well,
and there's some good drama potential with Matt in prison, but
it feels this particular issue was a little short. But then
that happens in the multi-arc format. It's not a big problem,
certainly, and I'm making Daredevil my Pick of the Week this
time out.

Review: 3.25

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Exiles #78 - "World Tour: Squadron Supreme, Conclusion" (Writer: Tony
Bedard, Penciler: J. Calafiore, Inker: Mark McKenna)

The Squadron Supreme have imprisoned the Exiles and decided to put
them on trial to determine whether they should be believed or not.

The last bunch of issues have been generally fun, nothing too deep,
but this one falls pretty flat. Part of it's the premise... it
just seems way too stupid to put the Exiles on trial, when one of
the people holdign the trial has a means of detecting when people
are telling the truth. Why not simply have them tell the important
and truthful bits of their story, and ask follow-up questions from
there, instead of going through a whole elaborate trial format and
wasting time?

Also, the Exiles helping the world get on the right track all feels
too easy and ultimately unsatisfying.

Unfortunately for this series, I've decided to do a reassessment.
We've already passed away from any of the worlds that I have any
affection for or familiarity with. What we're left with is dealing
with Proteus, and Bedard's failed to make him a particularly
compelling villain. So, I think I'm going to save a little money,
drop the rest of the World Tour, and come back to give it a try when
Claremont takes over the book. To be fair, I'd all but decided this
before I purchased the issue... I might have changed my mind if it
had been particularly good, but as it was, it only confirmed my
decision.

Review: 3 stars

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Robin #148 - "Boy Wanted, One: Out Go The Lights" (Writer: Adam
Beechen, Pencils: Karl Kerschl, Inks: Wayne Faucher)

It's One Year Later, and Robin is attacked suddenly, and when the
fight his over he sees what looks to be Batgirl lying dead before
him. Now, framed with Batgirl's murder, he has to figure out what's
happened.

I was ready to skip Robin once it came back from One Year Later.
I figured, I could get my fix of Robin with Teen Titans, and with
Tim Drake still in the title, I didn't feel a burning desire to
read him as a solo character.

The reason I'm back is because it was suggested that Batgirl is
involved with this storyline. Since I like her much more than
Robin, that was enough to make me try out at least the first
arc of this.

Really, it's not bad. We haven't gotten deep enough into the
storyline to really judge it yet, but the setup is good, and
we get some nice scenes with the wider Bat-universe... I was
afraid they were going to have everybody jumping to horrible
conclusions, but it was handled realistically.

Don't know for sure if I'll be sticking around after this arc,
but it's pleasant enough so far.

Review: 3.25 stars

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Untold Tales of the New Universe: DP7 #1 - "The Dead Plains Seven"
(Writer: C.B. Cebulski, Penciler:
M.D. Bright, Inker: John Stanisci)

While on the run from the Clinic for Paranormal Research, the group
of escapees encounter a Native American paranormal who needs their
help with a problem involving the undead.

Back again with 80s nostalgia. Of all the New Universe titles,
DP7 was my favorite (at least, retrospectively... I actually liked
Psi-Force more while they were actually running). It had the
strongest plots and characters and was really ahead of its time in
providing realistic views of characters with powers. Here was a
book with no costumes, and code names that were barely used.

Now, seeing as how pretty much the only people interested in this
review are probably hardcore fans of the New Universe like I was,
so I'm going to get very, very picky.

Unlike the Star Brand Untold Tale, at least this one doesn't
totally violate the spirit of the New U, or DP7 in particular.
The story, or one like it, could have happened there, as the
semi-supernatural aspects are all explained in terms of
paranormality.

One of the problems for me was the art. DP7 had the same artist,
Paul Ryan, throughout the run. While it might be too much to ask
that he do this issue, I would have really liked if they got someone
with a similar style. For example, when the Exiles visited the New
U, I could pick out any character of DP7 just by looking at them.
Here, I had trouble telling some of them apart, and others just
looked wrong. Not helping matters was inconsistent coloring (hair
or beard color changes). To get ultra nitpicky, firstly, Lenore
may be a 70 year old woman, but her powers keep her rejuvenated,
and so, when her mask is removed, she shouldn't look old (nor
should you be able to see the color of her face - typically it's
emitting pure white light all over). Secondly, Randy's antibody
should not appear bald and muscular, but rather like a shadow
version of his own body. Finally, over the course of the issue's
timespan, Scuzz's clothes should have degraded noticeably... they
look new throughout the issue. Nobody other than a determined
fan would probably care about this, but then nobody but a determined
fan should be reading the issue.

Moving onto the writing half of the story, and the nitpicks there.
Well, the characters voices are okay for the most part, but they
feel off at times. None of the characters should really be that
willing to be as open with their abilities as they were in the
first few pages. We have Lenore wondering how many people she
could zonk out at once, when in issue #2 of the original series
she used her powers on a busful of people repeatedly with no
problems. We also have a weird little bit where Stephanie uses
her abilities to boost Friction's... which doesn't really make
sense. Her powers provide energy and, in a pinch, one could say
that maybe she could enhance some kind of energy projector, but
Friction's problem was always in visualization... she could make
things frictionless, but she had to be able to see or clearly
visualize them. Stephanie's powers should have no impact on that.

Also, despite the fact that the writer took pains to establish that
this took place a week after issue #4, the story doesn't really
work well between issue #4 and issue #5, since in issue #5 they
tackle questions of religious belief and consider what may have
caused their paranormalities. If they had just had this experience,
it would have come up in that conversation. This is not a flaw,
per se, it simply removes it from my being able to accept it all as
an 'Untold Story'. I could, however, accept it as a story that
might have happened in an alternate NU.

Finally, the framing device for this story is a tale told to a
child in the present day New U, about the event that happened 20
years ago. I don't have any problem with it, but I just feel that
if you're going to go to the trouble of using page space to do that,
you could at least try to work in some hints about what the New U
might be like in the present day. A newspaper article, a report on
the news, something that might give a glance at the world outside
their window.

Now that we got the nitpicking out of the way, I'm going to try to
just analyze it as a story. First, I should probably say that if
you had never read DP7 before, it's probably not worth it to pick
up this issue. The characters and their relationships don't get
much depth or showcase what's really good about the series. If you
want a taste of the New U, it's probably cheaper to track down
the first issue of DP7 in the quarter bins. You'll get better art
out of the deal, too.

The basic story's not bad but a little on the light side with a few
goofy moments and a bit of awkward writing here and there. Really,
it's only for New U fans who aren't terribly picky. My score is
keeping in mind that, despite all my nitpickiness, I did enjoy seeing
these characters back in action, even if just for one issue. I just
wish it was a lot better.

Review: 3 stars

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X-Factor #5 - "Captive Audience" (Writer: Peter David, Artist: Dennis
Calero)

After being beat up last issue, Siryn is now in the hands of a
crazy ex-mutant who wants to make sure X-Factor finds out what
happened to mutant powers and reverses it. Unfortunately, only
one person's even out looking for her... Rictor. And what help
could he be? I mean really. Rictor? Even if he still had his
powers, he's a pretty sad choice for your only hope.

There is no B-plot to this issue and... well, it really needed
one. The story was okay, but it never really grabbed me, and I
wanted to find out what the rest of the cast was up to (be sure
to read the recap page though, they give some important information
on that topic that was left out of the last issue)

So while it's not a bad issue, it's a little disappointing, given
the fun of the last few issues.

Review: 3.25 stars

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Recommended off the Shipping List:
Sometimes I'll see something on the shipping list that, although I
didn't purchase it this week, I have read it before and think it
deserves a special recommendation.

This week: Runaways Digest Vol 5: Escape to New York, by Brian K.
Vaughan, Adrian Alphona, and Takeshi Miyazawa

I always have to give a standard recommendation to Runaways
whenever a new digest comes out. This digest covers 'Star-Crossed'
in which Karolina learns of a plan her parents had for her, and
"East Coast/West Coast" in which Cloak brings the Runaways to New
York in order to help prove he's innocent of beating his partner
into a coma. Although the guest appearances may be a bit tiresome,
there's a lot of good in these issues and so I highly recommend
them if you've tried the other digests.

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Well, that's it for this week folks. Next week, according to the
shipping list, we have only two books. There's X-Men: Deadly Genesis
#5, and New Universe Nostalgia Month continues with Untold Tales of
the New Universe Psi-Force #1. Also, it's my birthday on Friday. Not
that it really matters. But hey, why not treat _yourself_ to something
and help me out at the same time... just go to my site,
http://www.unreachablestar.net and use the searchbox to find something
you like from amazon.com and buy it. Not only will you get something
cool, but if you get it from a link on my site, I'll make a tiny bit
of money. Yeah, yeah, I know, shameless, but I try to only do it once
a year. :)

See you next week...

Peter Dimitriadis
http://www.unreachablestar.net
The Unreachable Star - Comics & SF News/Reviews/Opinion
.

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