What is a Short Pants Review? While we’d love to give full reviews to everything, there just isn’t enough time in the day. So we’ve come up with Short Pants as a way of providing capsule reviews from our varied review writers, giving quick hits and short capsule thoughts about various comics we’ve read recently.

This time out, Randy and Nick cover Birds of Prey #104, Fallen Angel #14, Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness #2 of 5, Spider-Man Family #2 and Usagi Yojimbo #101.

Randy Lander Read and Thought:

Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness #2 of 5
Writer: John Layman
Artist: Fabiano Neves
Company: Marvel Comics/Dynamite

I came down pretty hard on Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness #1, but I have to say, I might have been wrong. Issue two features a lot of the same dark humor schtick that carried the original miniseries, including a neat moment with Spider-Man, a fun take on the Punisher (and Ash’s reaction to him), and a clever use of C-listers including Dazzler, the Blob and Ho… nah, that’d be telling. But it provides a great “that’s hilarious… where the hell do we go from here?” last page. And I’m starting to wonder, is Ash wrong or is Layman actually providing the answer to the zombie plague of the Marvel Zombies universe, and it is the Necronomicon? I laughed, I groaned, I was appropriately grossed out by all the gore… turns out this might be a worthy Marvel Zombies sequel after all.

Spider-Man Family #2
Writers: Sean McKeever, Paul Benjamin and others
Artists: Kano, David LaFuente, Vasilis Lolos and others
Company: Marvel Comics

I should probably start by mentioning that Paul Benjamin is a close friend of mine, but I promise I’m judging his stories as a critic rather than a friend. Benjamin’s story is the reason I picked this up, a brief little 10-pager about the Lizard with a clever hook and beautiful, manga-esque artwork from Vasilis Lolos. It’s more than a little rushed, but it’s a great hook, a clever and funny homage to a classic monster movie and I think it mostly suffers from having too much story to tell in too few pages, such that the horror/suspense element doesn’t come through as strongly as it should. It’s a good story, but the page length stops it from being great. As it turns out, the story that really grabbed me was the lead by Sean McKeever, a Venom vs. Spidey story that is basically a done-in-one detective tale. It fleshes out Venom, gives Peter the chance to play up his smarts as well as his powers and basically reads like classic, old school Spidey with a modern touch, exactly the kind of thing I wish was the status quo for the regular books. Try not to think about the continuity (Eddie Brock is Venom in this one) or notice the little name homages (Gus Dahlberg, a friend of McKeever’s, was (is?) a reader of mine, so that stuck out, and the Devlin/McGregor was a clunky, unnecessary reference to The Fugitive) and you’ll find that it’s a damn good Spidey story. The rest of this over-stuffed package is made up of reprints and Spidey manga, and I can’t help but think the book would be better without it… but then it’d just be the recently cancelled Spider-Man Unlimited, so I guess I can’t blame Marvel for the format experimentation.

Usagi Yojimbo #101
Writer/Artist: Stan Sakai
Company: Dark Horse

With the somewhat in-jokey (yet very good) Usagi Yojimbo #100 behind him, Sakai launches back to Usagi’s fantasy samurai era. That cover, one of the best in a long line of covers, really got my attention and drew me in, and what I found was another solid, action-packed story with some really grim portents for Usagi’s future. I was a little disappointed in the “dream” aspect of the story, which always feels like a bit of a cheat, but there are implications, given the demon that has long been lurking in the story background, that this might be a portent and not just a fever dream. Certainly it’s chilling seeing a demonic, undead Usagi gleefully tear his way through friends and loved ones, even if it isn’t “real.” And that last page cliffhanger is another payoff to a long-brewing subplot. This may be one of the more inaccessible issues of Usagi in a while, playing heavily off knowledge of a couple baddies who have been around for a few years, but even the neophytes could probably enjoy the opening ninja fights and the actions of Usagi’s friend Chizu as she tries to save his life.

Nick Budd Read and Thought:

Fallen Angel #14
Writer: Peter David
Artist: J.K. Woodward
Company: IDW

Peter David is one of those authors that tells fantastic stories. X-Factor is borderline the best X-book at the moment and with Fallen Angel, the IDW stuff and the DC stuff, you can’t go wrong. With that said, I do have to tell you that I was waning in my interest with this title. In a lot of ways the book is like the television show Lost, as each issue (or episode) peels back and reveals more and more about Bette Noire and the cast of odd characters that run rampant through its streets, while at the same time inexorably leading to a countless number of other questions. That style of writing gets a little tiring over a period of time but every once awhile, one of those episodes draws you back. For me, it’s this issue. In it we meet another character, Lin, a woman who just happens to be locked in an insane asylum and has repeated flashbacks that involve the people and the ongoings of Bette Noire. Who is she? Have we seen her before somewhere? Well, that would be telling but let me say that the reveal is worth reading and it has has truly reinvigorated my interest in the series. This is gloomy, addictive fun at its best and paired with the hip, painted and illustrated work from Woodward, it’s a can’t miss.

Birds of Prey #104
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Nicola Scott
Company: DC Comics

Okay, superheroes throwing meatballs at supervillains and women beating up other women with Mega-rods. What’s not to love here? Well, to be honest there’s more to this issue of Birds of Prey than that, things such as the continuation of the Spy Smasher problem and the long overdue return of a beloved character. All of which are good things but every once in awhile, the need for a good ol’ fashioned brawl with the infusion of great comedy supersedes everything else. It’s nice then that Gail Simone can accomplish both feats simultaneously, blindfolded and with one arm tied behind her back. The Secret Six versus the Birds of Prey, two teams that Simone has put on the map of comic book goodness, duking it out is a fanboy’s uber-dream come true. What’s even better is that it works incredibly well on the page. Nicola Scott’s pencils are pitch-perfect to Simone’s words, eliciting the fun vibe with every line she draws. My only complaint would be that there wasn’t enough of Deadshot, but that’s just because he’s one of my favorite characters. Besides that, this issue packs a wallop of comedic punch and acts as a perfect jumping on point for anyone looking for some fun.