Daredevil #84

Ed Brubaker // Michael Lark
June 2006
****

DD & his enemies are on Rikers Isle, building the pressure & sending the prison out of control. One great strength of this arc is its Fritz Lang-like development of complex systems of organization: city, prison, newspaper. Lark’s staging adds the physicality of violence & shadows out of film noir.

last issue: Daredevil #83
next issue: Daredevil #85

also indexed for Jun. ’06
Astonishing X-Men #14
Annihilation: Nova #1 of 4
Annihilation: Ronan #1 of 4
Annihilation: Silver Surfer #1 of 4
Annihilation: Super-Skrull #1 of 4
Nextwave, Agents of HATE #4

Young Avengers Special #1

Allen Heinberg // Michael Gaydos, Neal Adams, Gene Ha, Jae Lee, Bill Sienkiewicz, & Pasqual Ferry
February 2006
***

As YA hits delays, it offers a special to keep interest high & loop new readers in. It’s secret origins time, as Jess Jones (drawn by Gaydos, as she should be) interviews the teen team. Each episode gets a different artist—serious talent, & some of my faves. On the plus side, gay hero Wiccan shares a curious spark w/ Scarlet Witch; on the minus, the tough, awesome Hawkeye has a rapey backstory.

continued from Young Avengers #9
continued in Young Avengers #10

Young Avengers #1

Allen Heinberg // Jim Cheung
April 2005
****

Both the disbanded Avengers & the Daily Bugle wonder who the kids dressed up like Avengers are. The light, superheroic tone reminds me of The Legion of Super-Heroes at its youthful best—not least cuz the team’s been recruited by a 30th-century teen: Iron Lad, AKA Kang! Nice to see Jess Jones too.

next issue: Young Avengers #2

The Pulse #13

Brian Michael Bendis // Michael Gaydos
March 2006
*****
Jess delivers her daughter surrounded by baby-daddy Luke Cage & his colleagues, the Avengers. D-Man, a onetime Avenger & now a vagrant, gets help from his hero, Daredevil. The thematic parallel is elegant, liberal, & hopeful, implying an inclusive community that looks after even its lowest members.

last issue: The Pulse #12
next issue: The Pulse #14

also indexed for Mar. ’06
Iron Man #5
Nextwave, Agents of HATE #1
Young Avengers #10

The Pulse #10

Brian Michael Bendis // Michael Lark
September 2005
***

Lark’s etched style is perfect for a journalist’s perspective on the alt-verse of House of M, in which Magneto has instituted apartheid against humanity. Or it would be, except that the late Hawkeye detours thru this ish on his way from #5 of the HoM mini to #7, angsting about his resurrection.

last issue: The Pulse #9
next issue: The Pulse #11

also indexed for Sept. ’05
Young Avengers #6

The Pulse #9

Brian Michael Bendis // Michael Lark
July 2005
****

Lark nails the seedy, cynical tone that Bendis aims for—no surprise, considering how akin this mag is to Lark’s previous gig, Gotham Central. Jess & her Bugle colleagues are pawns in a superspy intelligence leak. But she only cares about Luke Cage, whom she finds w/ his kung fu pals in a safehouse.

last issue: The Pulse #8
next issue: The Pulse #10

also indexed for Jul. ’05
Astonishing X-Men #11
Young Avengers #4

The Pulse #5

Brian Michael Bendis // Mark Bagley
November 2004
***

Osborne gets arrested, yet the big moment feels anticlimactic. Maybe it’s the obvious violation of due process when Luke Cage attacks him in broad daylight? Maybe it’s how a super-tussle violates the book’s fragile realism? Maybe it’s that Jess’ scene, a pregnancy anxiety, rings a rare hollow note?

last issue: The Pulse #4
next issue: The Pulse #6

also indexed for Nov. ’04
Astonishing X-Men #5

The Pulse #3

Brian Michael Bendis // Mark Bagley
July 2004
***

Despite an intimate scene w/ a hormonal Jess Jones, this mag is less Alias redux than a Daily Bugle bi-monthly. Like Astro City, it’s a look at civilian life in a superhero city. Basing it around a newspaper gives Bendis access to every level of urban life, w/ arc #1 focused on a reporter’s murder.

last issue: The Pulse #2
next issue: The Pulse #4

also indexed for Jul. ’04
Astonishing X-Men #1
Daredevil #60
Fantastic Four #513
Fantastic Four #514
Secret War #2 of 5
Thanos #10

The Pulse #2

Brian Michael Bendis // Mark Bagley
May 2004
**

Last issue’s corpse gets a backstory—and it’s humdrum. A Bugle reporter, nosing into a missing-persons case, gets killed by the Green Goblin. The complete lack of a hook to the character is atypical for Bendis. The only clever note is that she’s a Lois Lane manque: Terri Kidder (= Hatcher & Margot).

last issue: The Pulse #1
next issue: The Pulse #3

also indexed for May ’04
New X-Men #154
Thanos #7
Thanos #8