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Ares #1 Book Released: 11 Jan 2006 Review posted: 17 Jan 2006 Writer: Mike Oeming Artist: Travel Foreman Ink: Derek Fridolfs Colors: Len O’Grady Publisher: Marvel Comics  3.50 out of 5 Stars Reviewed by Matt Rawson

With Ares, Mike Oeming (Thor: Blood Oath, Powers) is at the writing helm of another god-oriented book for Marvel. With Thor:Blood Oath and his co-creator-owned (with Mark Wheatley) Hammer of the Gods, one must assume that Mr. Oeming likes him some gods. Whether writing or providing art, I have always been keen on Mike Oeming’s work. Ares, however, satisfies in some areas, and disappoints in others.

With a quick stop in the bathroom for a good ‘ol fashioned warrior bad-ass make over, Ares straps an arsenal to himself and goes off to fill the remaining four issues with many a severed head.

We open the story with an epic battle between the Olympus pantheon and Hades. Zeus and the Olympian gods call upon Ares to finish the war for them in a no-holds-barred, berserker-style rampage. After the bloodbath, Ares, who has been shunned by the other gods (with a brief appearance of the Marvel rendition of Hercules), hopes to be welcomed back into their midst. Overhearing the pantheon discrediting him and calling him all but a cancer on their ranks, he abandons his mantle as god of war.

Here we experience a very jarring skip in time. Between two panels Ares goes from mohawked warrior god to a bearded man sitting in his son’s classroom awaiting a parent/teacher conference, which is very inadequately described as “many years later,” at one point obvious and redundant, and another vastly understated. Most of the book is focused on this modern period in Ares’ life. He has a son and a steady job as a construction worker and goes by the name John Aaron. His son, Alex, has a problem with fighting at school, which his father, quite enthusiastically defends and encourages. One must stop and think on this point. Yes, he is the god of war, and fighting would be something he would hold dear and try to teach his son how to do it properly, but then again, didn’t he walk away from that life disgraced? I find this akin to an ex-junkie trying to teach his son how to shoot-up properly (minus the drug reference, of course.) But then again, old habits die hard, and Ares is the embodiment of violence.

John Aaron is then visited by another god who has taken to imitating a mortal life, Hermes, now with the appearance of a skateboarding Justin Timberlake. Hermes informs Aaron that the Olympians once more need his talents in facing the enemies of Olympus, who are not revealed at this point. Aaron refuses to go back to that life and sends Hermes away injured. A few days later Aaron receive a call that his son has been kidnapped. Assuming he knows who is responsible, Aaron, with a quick stop in the bathroom for a good ‘ol fashioned warrior bad-ass make over, straps an arsenal to himself and goes off to, quite obviously, fill the remaining four issues with many a severed head.

I enjoyed reading Ares, but after I put it down I didn’t really feel that urge for the next issue.

Mike Oeming has proved both a talented writer and artist, but I would still lean toward his art to explain why I like his work so much. His writing in Ares, for example, offers not much more than escapism (which, of course, is perfectly fine). It is certainly entertaining but in the end a tad forgettable. “Forgettable,” I must clarify, is not synonymous with “bad.” I enjoyed reading Ares, but after I put it down I didn’t really feel that urge for the next issue. The last page of Ares is a big character-revealing splash, an element that is relied upon for cliffhanger effect so much in comics that it has become a sort of cliche. It is most assuredly a cool looking image, but as I stated, that urge for the next fix just wasn’t there.

Talent Foreman’s (Cla$$war, Dr. Spectrum) art, while certainly not bad (in fact, quite good at its high points), deteriorates at times throughout the issue. The opening sequence of the Olympian battle is very well done, with skewed panels and dramatic action shots, but as soon as we skip ahead those “many years,” a lot of the beautiful detail and texture is replaced with awkward silhouettes and absent backgrounds. The drama of the opening sequence does rear its head occasionally through the issue, but that only leads to a feeling of inconsistency. If Foreman were to render an entire book with the quality he put into the first seven pages, then my review of his artwork would be quite different. His strength, at least judging by his work in Ares, rests more with the fantastical than the mundane, and with the direction the book seems to be headed he should get to flex those muscles in the remaining issues.

In conclusion, I would say give Ares at shot. I can’t tout it up and say that you’ll love it, but I can say that, while I found some problems with it, I still did enjoy the first issue and I will stick with it to see where it goes, even if the wait between won’t be as excruciating as, say, Desolation Jones or The Punisher.

[Read the counterpoint review to this one!]