The mini crossover "The Omega Effect" comes to a close with the current issue of Daredevil, and while it doesn't have quite the bang that I was expecting, it's still a very solid ending for this entertaining story.
Spinning out of the events of last week's Punisher (and The Avenging Spider-man a week before that), the issue finds ol' Hornhead fighting off a horde of A.I.M., Hydra, and other nefarious agents of the Marvel Universe at Grand Central Station, while Punisher, Spider-man, and Punisher's "sidekick" Rachel Cole-Alves attempt to help him. How did DD find himself in this predicament? Well, Cole decided to push Daredevil into the crowd of thugs, all so she could grab the Omega Drive that everyone is going after him for. For those just catching up, the Omega Drive contains information on every major crime group in the Marvel Universe, and is quite the hot item of the moment for the baddies.
After a quick assist from Spider-man, Daredevil leaves Punisher behind with the rest of the goons to chase after Cole, who has mysteriously vanished after pushing him into the mob. Confronting her in an abandoned warehouse, Daredevil tries his best to talk Cole out of using the drive to wipe out the crime gangs, telling her that killing all of these men won't bring back her husband, who was murdered on Cole's wedding day. After a tense stand-off, Cole gives Daredevil the disk, but not after Punisher and Spidey's fight with the numerous agents spills into the warehouse, allowing Cole to escape.
While I was expecting a little more action from this finale, I was still very happy with the end product. The character work here by Mark Waid is fantastic, and you can tell that Punisher writer Greg Rucka had a lot of say in this story, as Cole, who was introduced in Frank Castle's book, really takes center stage here. Her confrontation with Daredevil is the highlight of the issue, and DD's speech to her about the loss of her husband not justifying murder was fantastic. Marco Checchetto's art is great as well. With his awesome action scenes and quieter moments, the art really stands out in this issue.
For those who haven't been reading Daredevil or "The Omega Effect", this issue probably won't do much for you, but if you have been following the story, this issue is a satisfying conclusion to the storyline, and offers some great story points for characters not only in Daredevil, but in Punisher as well. With so many big events going around in Marvel, it's good to see that the smaller ones are just as good, if not better, than the big guns.
The DC mandate of "making Aquaman a badass" continues with issue 8, which shines some light on "The Others", a mysterious group of superhumans that Arthur Curry allied himself with before joining the Justice League. Focusing primarily in flashback, this issue shows Aquaman and his former teammates hunting down Black Manta, who is also currently attacking these members in the present day. Geoff Johns continues to make Arthur Curry the baddest mofo around, even if he is a pretty big a-hole in the flashbacks of this book. We also finally get some reasoning behind Aquaman's distrust of Shin, the marine biologist whom Curry sought in "The Trench" storyline at the beginning of the series.
As usual, Ivan Reis' pencils are fantastic, and the character designs for the members of "The Others" are very cool, especially Prisoner, a character who I hope we see more of in future issues. Aquaman is one of the premiere new 52 books, how much more do I have to praise it until you believe me?
No comments:
Post a Comment