My Week in Comics: February 18, 2011

Heralds, historical figures and crazy cyborg zomebies are invading my week in comics this week! Sit back and enjoy the most verbose comic reviews around! What did I think of this week's comics? Read on to find out!

SHIELD #6 sees the forces of Isaac Newton and Leonardo da Vinci in a bloody battle of beliefs, with Leonid caught in the crossfire, while Nathaniel Richards and Howard Stark are stuck in the future with a very angry Nikola Tesla!

I've realized that SHIELD is sort of "You either love it or hate it" deal. Jonathan Hickman's overreaching concepts reminds me of Grant Morrison, but more down-to-earth and easier to digest. In this ish, we discover more plot points and uncovered secrets culminating in the revelation of the Forever Man's identity. But as a stand-alone issue, it reads exactly like the 22 pages of a graphic novel. But I'm not reading a graphic novel right now, I'm buying this bi monthly book that's supposed to stand on its own in the comic rack.

Don't get me wrong, it's thick with symbolism and information, but its all pointless at this, uh, point. Dustin Weaver's pencils save this issue, however. His sprawling splash pages and attention to detail is awesome, and you'll find yourself just looking at all the pretty pictures longer than you're reading the book. I give this a 2 out of 5.

In Uncanny X-Force #5, Fantomex uncovers something fishy happening in the super-soldier research center known as the World, while Deadpool ponders (!) on what the team has done killing Kid Apocalypse!

The Deathlok Nation storyline begins here, and writer Rick Remender is keeping it as newbie friendly as possible. Concepts like Deathlok and the World are eased into the story as cleanly as possible, leaving you to just enjoy seeing Deatlok-ized versions of heroes just messing the whole place up. Esad Ribic steps up for Jerome Opena this ish, and his cyborg zombies are fun and awesome to look at.

Deadpool getting nightmares because of Kid Apocalypse's blood in their hands is surprising, given that my passing knowledge with the Merc with a Mouth usually involves depravity and violence and cancer. Seeing him really messed up because he had a hand in the death of a child is very interesting to me, and I'd like to see where Remender takes that.

Another great issue for one of my favorite series, with a quality and clarity of purpose that's just bloody refreshing to see. This one's a 4 out of 5.

And so we come to Silver Surfer #1, by writer Greg Pak and art by kababayan Stephen Segovia. Silver Surfer is one of those characters I would have loved to read about, but never knew where to start. Pak must have heard me then, becaue now I have a Silver Surfer book in my hands! So is it any good?

Pak makes bringing Surfer back to Earth interesting, and we get to see Galactus' herald really stretch his cosmic muscles in this issue. Add to that a bad guy in the form of the High Evolutionary and it becomes this action movie kind of ride. All these sorts of powerhouses in a single issue is fun to read!

Stephen Segovia renders the hell out of this book, with bombastic splash pages of the Surfer in action in a sort of hyper detailed style that takes you a while to really digest everything. I do take issue with some anatomic inconsistencies (midget Surfer makes a cameo here!), but otherwise Segovia's storytelling makes up for it.

Pak and co. serves up a fine first issue, with an interesting villain and an interesting problem for the Silver Surfer. With a cliffhanger of an ending that just makes you want to find out what happens next, this does more than a lot of #1's out there. This is a good 3.5 out of 5.

A lot of good comics makes up for a downer SHIELD. Let's hope next week is better! Comments? Violent reactions? Thinking of the last time the High Evolutionary was actually relevant? Drop me a line in the comment box and let's talk about it! Thanks for reading!