Quick hit (Marvel) reviews for 4/21/08

Our reviews get down to the Marvel section of the stack, starting with The Mighty Avengers #10-11 (Marvel, $2.99 each). While I've never quite taken to The Sentry, the 1970s look and feel of the story as Sentry and Iron Man go back in time to the 1970s with Dr. Doom and then come back for a big throwdown in Latveria made for some cool, old-school comicbook action that went down easy. .... I liked The New Avengers #39 (Marvel, $2.99) for different reasons, not the least of which was the dark mood evoked by David Mack's art as Maya Lopez and Wolverine tackle Skrull imposters. ... I cared not one whit for the way in which the Peter Parker-Mary Jane marriage was dissolved, but the rollicking nature of the thrice-monthly "Brand New Day" stories is definitely a throwback — in a good way — to the comics of yore. Toss in some stunning visuals by Chris Bachalo, whose art seems much better suited to Spider-Man than it ever was to X-Men, and The Amazing Spider-Man #555-556 (Marvel, $2.99 each) are winners. ...

Kick-Ass #2 (Icon, $2.99) is about as gut-wrenching as it gets. It also proves that sometimes it's extremely entertaining to watch characters do something they know is incredibly stupid. ... War is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle #1 (Max, $2.99) was much goofier than I expected for a World War I flying ace story by Garth Ennis and Howard Chaykin. It has its charms, though I can't help but feel the tale of a naive pilot expecting glory only to face the true horrors of war is going in a predictable direction. ...

Cable #2 (Marvel, $2.99) is hard to judge because so far the story been little more than a continuation of the plot from the recent "Messiah Complex" crossover. Still, the combination of painted art and Photoshopped realism by Ariel Olivetti is fantastic and worth a look at on its own. ... X-Men: Legacy #209 (Marvel, $2.99) is another continuation from "Messiah Complex," though there's a lot of stuff going on in here that will appeal to the longtime X-Men fan. Mike Carey mines continuity with unusually interesting results and it's all drawn very nicely by Scot Eaton and Philip Tan. ... More "Messiah" fallout in Young X-Men #1 (Marvel, $2.99), as "Eli Stone" creator Marc Guggenheim catches fans up on the various New X-Men characters, reducing this spinoff's appeal to that of fans of that now-canceled book. ... Wolverine: First Class #1 (Marvel, $2.99) falls into the same concept as X-Men: First Class — simple, all-ages stories focused on younger characters from the X-Men's past. I think appealing to that kind of audience works better when you don't turn it into a separate line of comics. This book, featuring Wolverine and young Kitty Pryde, doesn't succeed qutie as well as Jeff Parker's X-Men: First Class, but the nostalgia and simple fun make it hard to pick on this one too much. ... Wolverine #63-64 (Marvel, $2.99 each) continue the "Get Mystique" storyline, which straddles a modern encounter in Afghanistan and an early meeting of the characters in 1920s Kansas City. This works pretty well, thanks to creators — Jason Aaron of Scalped and underrated veteran Ron Garney — who manage to make Logan's tough nonchalance and Mystique's sexy/evil combo an entertaining and convincing one.