New comics 10/5

Fantastic Four/Iron Man: Big in Japan #1 (Zeb Wells/Seth Fisher, Marvel)
I've seen samples of Fisher's art on projects he's done for DC with Green Lantern and Batman, and it's always looked really impressive and unique, but I've never picked up any of the comics. I like Wells's writing on the new New Warriors series, so I figured this was worth a shot. The story is mostly just an excuse for Fisher to draw really weird creatures, but his art is incredibly detailed and amazingly creative, and it's worth the price just to look at it. Wells does glance off of some interesting themes, including tying the decline of giant monster comics and the concomitant rise of superhero comics to the post-WWII period in Japan, and actually making it work as an allegory for East/West relations. But mostly it's about big, strange monsters, and it does a good job with that. On the other hand, Paul O'Brien makes a good point about the price and the obtrusive ads. It might be best to wait for the trade, although since I've already bought one issue of four, I'll probably just buy the rest.

Fell #2 (Warren Ellis/Ben Templesmith, Image)
Another excellent issue, with a nice done-in-one story with roots in real events, and a continued building of characters. Ellis packs more story into his 16 pages than most comics get in two issues. And the back-pages essay is informative too. Rapidly becoming one of my favorite series.


Powers #13 (Brian Michael Bendis/Michael Avon Oeming, Marvel/Icon)
A new story arc, and it's a real mystery, meaning that it's actually sort of confusing and just jumps right into things. It seems like Bendis is putting some of the ongoing issues (Deena's powers, the new Retro Girl, although she's on the cover for some reason) on the backburner for now, which is fine as long as the mystery remains interesting and he gets back to them eventually.

Spellgame #1 (Dan Mishkin/Ramon Perez, Speakeasy)
I admit, I only picked this up on a whim because it involved magic and Las Vegas, but it was a nice little read. I've heard good things about Mishkin's writing but never read any of it before, and I assume Perez is a newcomer. The story was a little disjointed but intriguing enough for me to want to see what happens next (especially the cool cliffhanger), and Perez's art (he does pencils, inks and colors) was pretty eye-catching, although his storytelling was at times confusing. I'll at least pick up one more issue to give it a shot.