Book Review: Zatanna: Bring Down the House by M. Tamaki et al.

Zatanna: Bring Down the House written by Mariko Tamaki, art and covers by Javier Rodriguez

In this reimagined origin story of Zatanna, she is working in Vegas as a magician. Her show is bargain basement--free admission is included with a waterpark pass at a second-rate casino. Even so, one person keeps showing up in the audience. Her performance is also very basic--she does slight-of-hand tricks, no actual magic. Meeting the audience member, who is part of a secret cult of actual magicians, draws out some bad stuff and a demon attacks. In the chaos, Zatanna helps her stalker get rid of the demon (but the casino gets a lot of damage). She finds out about the cult and also a rival faction. They both want something from her. Zatanna grew up with a magician father, Zatara, who was a leader in the cult. Zatanna accidentally killed a bully by using magic, creating a lot of trouble for her and her dad. He tried to fix the situation but wound up dead. She doesn't use real magic because the incident seems to have drained her. The confrontation with the demon brings it back. Now she has to figure out what to do and which faction she should side with.

The story is interesting and provides both character development and history for an obscure member of the Justice League (which will come in later stories, maybe). She has a nice sense of humor and a lot of pathos from her life story. There's enough surprises to keep things interesting. Like many other magic-themed stories, the demons and alternate realities are very creatively depicted. This is published under the DC Black Label, letting it both sit apart from the larger continuity and have more adult content. Zatanna is surprisingly underdressed for many scenes in the story and has an on-going affair with John Constantine. So the book is really aimed at older teens.

Mildly recommended.

Book Review: Hunt for Wolverine: The Claws of a Killer and Mystery in Madripoor by C. Soule et al.

Hunt for Wolverine: The Claws of a Killer written by Charles Soule and Mariko Tamaki, and art by David Marquez, Paulo Siqueira, Butch Guice, and Mack Chater

Wolverine died encased in adamantium (the same metal that makes his bones unbreakable). The X-Men had set up a cabin in remote Canada with his remains. A group of desperate villains, the Reavers, find the location and try to steal the encased corpse. The X-Men had set up some security and arrive to stop the desecration of Wolverine's grave. The Reavers try to get a little bit DNA so they have something to sell, only to discover the adamantium covering is only a shell--there's no body inside. The X-Men had moved his corpse to a grave not far away. When they go to visit the real burial place after the fight, the X-Men discover Wolverine's body is gone. Realizing this is a perilous situation, Kitty Pryde organizes several teams to search of the missing body.

One group after Wolverine is led by Lady Deathstrike, who is a former Reaver. She's informed by the one Reaver who escaped the X-Men that Wolverine's body is missing, so she puts together a team to hunt for Logan. Old enemy Sabretooth and Wolverine's estranged son Daken follow Deathstrike to a small desert town. An adamantium scanner shows activity there, though when they arrive, the town is overrun with zombies. They have to fight their way out as they figure out what is going on.

The story quickly morphs into a Walking-Dead style horror story with the larger story looming over the action. A lot more people than Daken wind up having family issues by the end of the story. It wasn't that interesting overall though there were a few good moments. Nothing really happens to affect the characters or the bigger story. Meh...

Only recommended if you like the rest of the Hunt for Wolverine series.

Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor written by Charles Soule and Jim Zub, and art by David Marquez, Paulo Siqueira, Thony Silas with Leonard Kirk

The final group after Wolverine is led by Kitty Pryde. She takes a few of the X-Women (Storm, Jubilee, Rogue, Domino, and Psylocke) to Madripoor, an island overrun with crime (Wolverine had lived there years ago). Magneto has been in charge and he seems like a likely suspect for taking Wolverine's body. They arrive to find Magneto himself has been kidnapped and a group of villainous women led by Viper have their own project that may or may not involve the fate of Wolverine. 

The tone is like a James Bond-style spy adventure. The group of heroes tries to infiltrate the seedier side of Madripoor, so they dress scantily and head into action. They wind up fighting an interesting variety of opponents, also all female and scantily clad. So the whole package comes off a little exploitative. The story is interesting but does not resolve the larger mystery and only provides hints toward who really took Wolverine and where he is now.

Not really recommended--I guess you need to read this for the whole Hunt for Wolverine narrative but it definitely does not stand up on its own.

Book Review: Batman: One Bad Day: Two-Face by M. Tamaki et al.

Batman: One Bad Day: Two-Face written by by Mariko Tamaki, art by Javier Fernandez, and colors by Jordie Bellaire

Harvey Dent/Two-Face is in one of his good phases. Gotham's mayor is willing to make him District Attorney as long as he behaves himself. Dent wants to be on the up-and-up but he has a hard time since he's made enemies on both sides of the law. This problem becomes more concrete when he receives a threat against his father. Dent Senior is turning 88 years old and retiring. He wants to have a big party. Dent enlists Batman to investigate the note, who in turn gets the rest of the Bat-family, including Batgirl and Batwoman, to help out. The investigation turns up nothing, leading the characters to beef up security at the party. Will some villain strike when the time comes?

I've always liked the conflicted nature of Harvey Dent/Two-Face and his strange, simplistic yet elegant use of his two-headed coin. The coin does not get much to do in this story. The focus is on the tension of the split-personality and how that divide may not be as even as it sounds. The "One Bad Day" series is based on The Killing Joke, where the Joker puts Jim Gordon through one bad day to test whether he will still do good even under the most stressful circumstances. That core idea is a bit lost when the "Bad Day" victim is a villain (which is what these modern takes on the classic Joker story focus on), since it is a lot more likely that a conflicted villain will give in to weakness or evil and make it a bad day for everyone else. This book is true to that formula and does not add any real interest or ideas to Harvey Dent/Two-Face as a character. I can see the potential here but not the actualization.

Not recommended--I really wanted to love this but it doesn't deliver anything above a less-than-average Two-Face story.

Book Review: Spider-man and Venom: Double Trouble by M. Tamaki et al.

Spider-man and Venom: Double Trouble written by Mariko Tamaki and art by Gurihiru

Spider-man and Venom are roommates since Venom wants to be a better super-powered person. At least, that's what he tells Spider-man. One night, he switches bodies with Spider-man so he can go on a Ninja-Warrior style TV show that's only for superheroes. Meanwhile, Spidey (who is stuck in Venom's body) has to deal with Green Goblin, who wants to collect a debt from Venom. Things get more comically weird from there.

The story is very light-hearted and wacky. The initial Odd Couple vibe quickly switches into the Freaky Friday plot without the characters learning about each others' lives. They just have some mad-cap adventures. The book is fun and reads quickly.

Recommended.

Book Review: Thor & Loki: Double Trouble by M. Tamaki and Gurihiru

Thor & Loki: Double Trouble written by Mariko Tamaki and art by Gurihiru

Thor brags about how great he is while Loki tricks him into raiding Odin's treasury of magical objects. Thor retrieves a Lur, which is a magic horn. When Loki blows the horn, it summons the sister of the Midgard Serpent. The giant snake starts to lay waste to Asgard, with Thor and Loki (okay, mostly Thor) fighting the monster. More mayhem and adventures follow from this action-packed beginning.

The plot is a bit episodic, running from one situation to the next. As with other Thor and Loki stories, the joy is in their interactions, verbal and physical. The story is fun and moves along at a good pace. The art by Gurihiru (who worked quite well on Avatar: The Last Airbender) is very good and captures the playful tone. It's light-hearted, kid-friendly storytelling.

Recommended.

Book Review: She Hulk Vol. 1 by M. Tamaki et al.

She Hulk Volume 1: Deconstructed written by Mariko Tamaki, art by Nico Leon and Matt Milla with Dalibor Talajic and Andrew Crossey

Jennifer Walters is a brilliant lawyer and cousin to Dr. Bruce Banner, a.k.a. the Hulk. She got a blood transfusion from him once upon a time and now she can change into She-Hulk. Classically, Jen has control over when she changes and she retains her personality as She-Hulk. This story takes place after the Civil War II event in Marvel Comics, during which She-Hulk had a fight with Thanos that put her in a coma. Jen has recovered, gone back home, and started work at a new law firm. She hopes to leave the difficult past behind. The firm gives her all the freak clients, including a woman who has clearly been transformed physically by some accident. She's being evicted from her apartment wrongfully. Jen agrees to look into it without promising anything concrete (she is a lawyer, after all). Meanwhile, she blows off some superhero friends who come to check on her. She struggles to keep her alter-ego from emerging during stressful moments.

The story moves along at an even pace, delving into this new persona for Jennifer Walters. Previously, she was a fun-loving superhero who hung out with the Avengers, did a stint with the Fantastic Four when The Thing dropped out for a while, and was her own muscle during legal cases. Now she's very subdued. While in the coma, Bruce Banner was killed, adding to her hardships. So she's dealing with that as well as the other issues in her life. The story is interesting but very low on action and not the rollicking good time of earlier She-Hulk stories. I enjoyed it but found it very average.