Legacy Shorts: Comic Book Reviews for 5/6/09

Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Mike McKone
Inker: Andy Lanning
Colorist: Jeremy Cox

Story – 24/7: Part Two

Review

After finally scrubbing my mind enough to forget what happened in the last issue due to the moment that will not be spoken about the second part of the “24/7” arc comes out and this was a much more entertaining issue. It is fun to see how Spider-Man continues to find ways to annoy New York City’s new mayor. Mike McKone did a nice job giving this issue a lot of energy especially with the fight scenes between Spider-Man and the Spider-Man SWAT team and the battle between Spider-Man and the new Vulture.

Speaking of the new Vulture I really dig the viciousness behind this new Vulture. It was an interesting addition that the new Vulture spits out lava like acid from his mouth. It helps to make the new version of an old Spider-Man foe feel fresh. The only complaint I had was with the costume of the new Vulture. I thought that his pure red Vulture armor was a bit dull. I would have liked it if Waid and McKone would have done more with the design of the new character.

Issue Rating
Story: 8.2/10 – Waid continues to be at home with Spider-Man and his supporting cast. I especially love how grumpy he makes JJJ act during the issue.
Art: 8.5/10 – McKone provides some solid artwork and his style is a nice fit for Amazing Spider-Man.
Overall: 8.35/10 – 24/7 is nice arc that takes a break from some of the major things that have happened to Peter’s life in the past few story arcs and I am looking forward to seeing how the battle between Spider-Man and the new Vulture turns out.

Review
Overall Battle for the Cowl has been an average event that has equated to a typical summer blockbuster. But I got to I was surprised and Nicieza and Kramer’s “The Network” tie-in one shot. This was a very entertaining one-shot that focused mostly on The Birds of Prey. I especially enjoyed the dynamic between Batgirl and Huntress in this book. While I don’t recall many stories that both these characters have been able to interact with one another but they really acted like bickering sisters. With the new Batgirl series launching once Battle for the Cowl is over I hope that they interact more in the future in Batgirl or some other title as they shared a fun dynamic in this issue.

Another that I liked about this one shot is that unlike in Battle for the Cowl were what is happening to Gotham City is more of a backdrop for the fighting going on for the Batman mantle between Dick, Tim, and Jason I that Nicieza is addressing that everything has gone to hell in Gotham City by showing how all the heroes of Gotham have been spread thin. Nicieza did a nice job showing that Gotham’s heroes must continue to work round the clock to save Gotham. Once all the heroes beat and arrest one set of villains and/or gangs their help is needed somewhere else. This is an element that has been missing from the main series and I glad that it was at least addressed in this one shot.

Issue Rating
Story: 7.8/10 – Nicieza does a nice job handling The Birds of Prey characters and I especially liked how he portrayed Batgirl and Huntress like bickering sisters.
Art: 8/10 – As always Kramer delivers some solid artwork and I hope that he gets a chance to draw one of the Bat-titles in the future.
Overall: 7.9/10 – The Network was a nice one-shot that does a better job showing what has happened to Gotham City without Batman than the main series.