Panels of Awesome!

I understand that I’ve been off the grid for the past couple of days and the books discussed in this week’s Rapid Fire Reviews may be from last week but it’s better to be late than never show up at all right? It’s time to throw down some kick-ass reviews from some of the biggest books to hit comic book shelves… at least from last week.

Enough talking. There’s books to review!

Amazing Spider-Man #571
Following up on last week’s battle to the death between Venom and Anti-Venom, issue #571 opens with a nearly de-powered Spider-Man trying to fend off the seemingly kindhearted Anti-Venom. In the pages that follow, Spider-Man gets the crap kicked out of him, Norman Osborn confronts the pseudo-Goblin in Menace and The Thunderbolts figure out a way to get rid of Spidey once and for all. Great writing once again by Dan Slott as he proves, for a fourth consecutive issue, that he’s the best writer currently working on the Amazing Spider-Man title. JRJR’s art seemed a little sloppy at times in this issue but, for the most part, he keeps in line and delivers some wicked visuals.
- 8.9/10

Batman Confidential #21
This issue of Batman Confidential brings the Bat and the Cat arc to a close with a pretty satisfying ending all-around. I’m not about to say that this has been the greatest comic I’ve been reading but it is one of the funnest. It’s been a really nice change from some of the other books I’ve been keeping up with that are afraid to try and get the readers laughing. In between the chuckles, there’s been some wicked action and really interesting character interaction. For these reasons and more, I’m really looking forward to Fabian Nicieza and Kevin Maguire’s next arc in Confidential #22.
- 8.0/10

Deadpool #1
While Daniel Way and Paco Medina’s new incarnation of Deadpool is fairly entertaining to read, there’s very little that will keep readers coming back for more. If you’re a longtime fan, you’ll probably dig what you get out of this book but the lack of any serious story, at least one that doesn’t involve Secret Invasion, is going to turn off casual readers. Great writing, for what’s there, by Way and fantastic art earns this book a passing grade but they’ll need to bring more to the table in the coming months if this book’s going to be sticking around for the long term.
- 7.3/10

Which leads up to…THE PICK OF THE WEEK!

Secret Invasion #6 (of 8)
I guess I’m not overly surprised that this book was my pick this week. It was a pretty close one between Amazing Spider-Man and Secret Invasion but the last couple pages of the comic really solidified my choice. The interaction between Thor and Cap, as well as Thor and the rest of the Marvel U, was really awesome to finally see. The issue, until the last couple of pages, is a little bland and almost seems to be running in place but when you finally reach those last couple pages, the book rocks.
- 9.0/10

Looking to get your hands on a copy of Secret Invasion #6?
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It’s time once again to take a peek at another forgotten treasure of the comic book art world. Granted, most of these images were forgotten for being just plain terrible but we’re digging them up anyway. Last time, we took a look at Rob Liefeld’s drawing of Cable. This time, we’ll be seeing the second part of that image by featuring Deadpool, who actually appears further down in the same image:

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Deadpool’s forearm should not be crossing over his arm like that. Not to mention, there are a significant amount of muscles on his body that…well, don’t exist on real people’s bodies. Also, neither character’s feet are visible. Possibly because Rob doesn’t know how to draw feet.

The words “Liefeld” and “accurate drawing of the human body” have no business being in the same sentence as one another.

I haven’t been following the news on this movie as much as I’d like to but I managed to catch a quick little tidbit of info that I thought would be worth of breaking up my regular schedule. Apparently, unless I’ve read wrong, Deadpool is going to be making an appearance in the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie. If that’s old news for you, the man who’s apparently going to be playing the mouthy mercenary is none other than Ryan Reynolds of Blade Trinity.

To be honest, Reynold’s could definitely pull of the “smart-ass attitude” needed for the role so, once they toss a mask on him, he very well could be the perfect man for the job. This cameo, much like the Nick Fury cameo planned for both Hulk and Iron Man, really makes sense and could possibly set up some of the future movie franchises before they even are announced. It makes for a much more continuous Marvel movie universe.