Bought/Thought August 27th, 2008

[CaptainCanada]

Fantastic Four: True Story #2

Paul Cornell and Horacio Domingues' miniseries hits its second issue, as the Fantastic Four head into fiction to find out what's amiss; after rescuing the Dashwood sisters from Sense & Sensibility from an army of goblins, they head over to Ivanhoe and from there rally all the adjacent fictional characters to confront the uncoming goblin army. Cornell throws out a lot of metafictional concepts into the stew, and it's a lot of fun. Particularly enjoyable is the Austen-like Dashwoods interacting with the Fantastic Four and Dante; little Margaret pals around with the Thing, while Elinor and Marianne find Ben and Johnny dashing heroes. And the villain of the piece is revealed to be Nightmare, out to subsume all fiction; not a bad half-year for Nightmare, between this and Incredible Herc, since he's a pretty minor villain.

New Avengers #44

In the Department of Misleading Solicitations, this issue actually has nothing to do with a dark secret of the Illuminati; it sets out to make you think that's what it's about, from the recap page into the first few story pages, but we quickly find out that the "Illuminati" are all Skrull-made clones, who the Skrulls are trying to have act out a scenario. Apparently, the Skrulls don't quite know what to do with all the data they gathered from the Illuminati in terms of making a perfect spy-Skrull, so they need Reed's brain to do it. A succession of clone-Reeds are brought in, with multiple tacks tried to get him to develop the formula they need, until they finally succeed in a clever way. There's a very nightmarish quality to the Skrulls' actions here, producing an assembly line of sentient beings who they slaughter like cattle. Billy Tan's art is pretty strong here; I found him middling on Uncanny X-Men, but his NA stuff is a big improvement (different inking/colouring makes all the difference; that, and his faces seem more expressive).

Northlanders #9

Beginning the "Lindisfarne" two-parter, after the completion of the first arc; this is a pretty simple story (it's a two-parter, after all): a young boy growing up in the greater Lindisfarne community becomes fascinated by Germanic paganism as an escape from the ritualistic Christian community he lives in (ironically, he has a Christian name, while his hated older brother has a pagan one), and summons the gods to help him; in a super-remarkable coincidence this occurs exactly as the Lindisfarne raiders arrive, and the boy cheerfully volunteers to lead them to the monastery. The sack of Lindisfarne was the beginning of the Norse pillaging of Northumbria and the British Isles, and this is an interesting perspective to tell it from. The new artist is good. I think I'll probably follow this in trade once this story is over, though.

X-Force #6

The first arc of Kyle and Yost's new series concludes, and, as a whole, I'd have to say that them leaving New X-Men for this was not a positive thing for the X-Franchise; the replacement, Young X-Men, hasn't come close to the quality of their run, and this book is just too drenched in their darker tendencies to be especially good. The tone here just seems so out of step with the spirit of the wider San Francisco reboot. Anyway, Angel can now transform between his two forms, which strikes me as a good compromise (the Archangel look is quite cool, and in combat it has its uses; the Angel look is great for iconography); Risman is killed, but Bastion and his load of revived villains get away; Rahne's Purifier brainwashing backfires and she eats her evil dad. I'm leaning towards not continuing with this, though the promise of Choi & Oback on art next issue is tempting; Yost has two new X-miniseries on the horizon, one with the Starjammers and one with Storm, that seem like they'll make use of his clear love for the X-Men and knowledge of their history without being so dark and muddy (the latter being a problematic feature of Clayton Crain's art).

[fifthfiend]

Iron Fist:

Quite good! Possibly not as good as it heretofore has been. But still - enjoyable! I enjoy how Danny's efforts to remake himself are being twisted against him. You'd think Thunderer could have thrown the dude a warning, like "Hey so now that you made me head of Shou Lao, just FYI here and all but a crazy monster demon thing's gonna try and eat your heart in a couple weeks. Keep your head up, yeah?" I guess being Yu-Ti and a total dick just go hand in hand.

Kick Ass:

A hilarious continuation of Mark Millar's ongoing practical joke on anybody who's enough of a sucker to pay money for this comic.

Amazing Spider-Man:

Oh okay, so they have decided to play BND as a shallow plot gimmick that they have no intention of sticking by for the long run. Super, in another couple of years I should be able to actually enjoy Spidey comics again.

Anti-Venom... I'm not actually going to opine on this because my opinion on it would likely be totally different if I hadn't spoiled myself on the reveal via the internet. Alternately, maybe I still would have thought it was lame nonsense. Really, who can say?

Runaways:

Art was meh but not terrible, writing was kinda stupid. They were on the run from the Avengers six issues ago, so now they're just unwind at their parents' old place and send Chase to get a job? WTF?

X-Men First Class:

Already reviewed it last week but seriously what's wrong with you that you're not reading this comic?

[Mr. Green]

Iron Fist:

Quite good! Possibly not as good as it heretofore has been. But still - enjoyable! I enjoy how Danny's efforts to remake himself are being twisted against him. You'd think Thunderer could have thrown the dude a warning, like "Hey so now that you made me head of Shou Lao, just FYI here and all but a crazy monster demon thing's gonna try and eat your heart in a couple weeks. Keep your head up, yeah?" I guess being Yu-Ti and a total dick just go hand in hand.

Kick Ass:

A hilarious continuation of Mark Millar's ongoing practical joke on anybody who's enough of a sucker to pay money for this comic.

Amazing Spider-Man:

Oh okay, so they have decided to play BND as a shallow plot gimmick that they have no intention of sticking by for the long run. Super, in another couple of years I should be able to actually enjoy Spidey comics again.

Anti-Venom... I'm not actually going to opine on this because my opinion on it would likely be totally different if I hadn't spoiled myself on the reveal via the internet. Alternately, maybe I still would have thought it was lame nonsense. Really, who can say?

Runaways:

Art was meh but not terrible, writing was kinda stupid. They were on the run from the Avengers six issues ago, so now they're just unwind at their parents' old place and send Chase to get a job? WTF?

X-Men First Class:

Already reviewed it last week but seriously what's wrong with you that you're not reading this comic?
You really do dislike more comics than you actually like. You should really quit buying those comics that you don't like.

[topnotch]

Today I went to a comic book shop and I saw the hulk red and a book called the son of the hulk. I haven't read a comic book in years. Can anyone give me info on these please?

[kguillou]

^^If your just jumping back into marvel, then boy you've got ALOT of catching up to do. MUCH has happened within the last few years of marvel comics. Its best to just to a wikipedia check.

[fifthfiend]

You should really quit buying those comics that you don't like.

There's a major assumption you're making here that's throwing off your entire analysis.

You really do dislike more comics than you actually like.

Actually there's a couple here as well but it's more bother than it'd be worth to explain them to you.

It's kind of depressing that we're down to all of two posts before someone starts complaining about other people having opinions. Would you maybe like to review an actual comic, instead of reviewing other people's reviews of comics?

[Bubonic]

The Initiative was full of win.
Never knew the Kill Krew, but the Duke Nukem guy and his awesome looking sidekick were great, even though their origin is some of the worst **** I've ever heard.
One thing I'm really liking with where this is going is that we might get exposed to some more Initiative teams we hadn't seen yet since the Kill Krew is partnering up with Dwayne and using his talents cross country too weed out the Skrulls.
That O'Grady, the douchebag we love to hate is in for more then he bargained for, wonder how that'll pan out.

Skaar is entertaining me still, although I cringed at his first words... I was a fan of Planet Hulk and this is a good extension of it, simple stuff involving Conan type stories and battles with a futuristic twist too them.
I like the look of the humanoids on this world, but I wish they didn't split it into two stories.

Iron Fist is still being great even with a new team and I like to see where this is heading.

[gildea]

It's kind of depressing that we're down to all of two posts before someone starts complaining about other people having opinions. Would you maybe like to review an actual comic, instead of reviewing other people's reviews of comics?

Negativity begets more negativity.

[TheCorpulent1]

Thank you, Lama gildea.

Anyway, Avengers: The Initiative was good. Kind of sucked that we had to have a few panels of the douchebag Ant-Man monologuing to himself about what a pussy he is, but the rest of the issue was cool. The main plot with the Skrull Kill Krew was all right, although I'm still kind of annoyed that every comic expects us to believe that all superheroes kill remorselessly when, up until like 5 years ago, that wasn't at all true. (I'm talking about Delroy here, since obviously the Kill Krew is going to kill Skrulls.) But that's becoming more and more minor to me; I guess I'm adjusting (unfortunately). Von Blitzschlag was funny. Um... you know, other than the introduction of the Kill Krew, not a whole lot happened. But I'm glad we got a transition scene that let us see Rhodey heading off into the events that will take place in Iron Man: Director of SHIELD's final arc; I know Gage is co-writing A:TI, but with today's comics you never really know if the creators'll be considerate enough to make character appearances gel that way. I'm glad they did here.

They didn't do that in Nova and She-Hulk, however. Super-Skrull turns up in the former and saves Nova, explaining that he's infiltrated the religious zealot Skrulls' invasion and is trying to circumvent it from within. Nova gets all hot and bothered when he learns the invasion's target is Earth and heads there, and Super-Skrull practically begs Nova to take him along so he can make sure his daughter (She-Hulk's Jazinda) is safe. Then, when we see Kl'rt in She-Hulk, he's... anxiously trying to murder his daughter. Um... huh? I know it's been mentioned that Kl'rt promised to kill Jazinda the next time he saw her, but you'd think the situation might've changed a bit in light of his words in Nova. There's also the fact that Kl'rt appeared to turn on Nova in the final panel of Nova's comic, but that's pretty obviously a bluff designed to keep them both from getting killed by the giant f***ing war fleet in Earth's orbit. Don't get me wrong, I liked both issues; there's just this weird disconnect going on between them. I think it might have been better if the scheduling worked out differently, allowing Nova's arc to finish before She-Hulk's arc began. In the end, it'll probably synch up better, since DnA and David are both pretty good about keeping their characters in-character, but right now the issues left me with a few questions. The art on both was great, though. My only problem was that I thought Alves' Super-Skrull looked a little weird in some panels. I really like the new penciler for She-Hulk--so much better than the mediocre artists we saw on the book before.

[fifthfiend]

Negativity begets more negativity.

Which why the negative quality of comic writers' work begets my negative views on them, but which doesn't at all explain why you're so continually incapable of dealing with people posting their thoughts about comics in the thread for people's thoughts about comics. Is there an actual comic you've read that you'd care to comment on, or shall I go start a Bought Thought Thread Thought Threads for you guys with no comments on any actual comic but a bottomless need to comment on the Bought Thought Thread itself?

But hey since I read an actual comic book from time to time:

Nova

I enjoyed the skrull with Jean Gray hair a lot more than is probably justified, although I was disappointed that Skrullverine didn't call Nova "Bub". Also, "Super-Skrull the Ronin" is totally a comic I would buy.

[TheCorpulent1]

I like it when people comment on my thoughts on what I've bought. It makes me feel important, which is crucial to my small and fragile ego.

[fifthfiend]

They didn't do that in Nova and She-Hulk, however. Super-Skrull turns up in the former and saves Nova, explaining that he's infiltrated the religious zealot Skrulls' invasion and is trying to circumvent it from within. Nova gets all hot and bothered when he learns the invasion's target is Earth and heads there, and Super-Skrull practically begs Nova to take him along so he can make sure his daughter (She-Hulk's Jazinda) is safe. Then, when we see Kl'rt in She-Hulk, he's... anxiously trying to murder his daughter. Um... huh?

Isn't she unmurderable or something, or is he expressly trying to murder her in some non-ressurectionable manner?

[TheCorpulent1]

He mentions that he's gonna kill her and then keep killing her until she stays dead, so... trial and error, I guess?

But toward the end of the issue, the Talisman (the holy Skrull whose presence means the gods have given the "Cool, Invade the Crap Out of Those F***ers" stamp of approval to a Skrull war effort) says he's going to steal her resurrection power. He has some kind of nebulous magic powers (although he got his ass kicked pretty easily in the She-Hulk/X-Factor crossover directly preceding this for a magic, holy, favored-by-the-gods Skrull, but whatever), so presumably he could do it. I think the end result of this arc will probably find Jazinda without her unkillableness, but that's pure speculation on my part.

[gildea]

but which doesn't at all explain why you're so continually incapable of dealing with people posting their thoughts about comics


Where on earth did you pull that from? "incapable of dealing" How does one become incapable of dealing with an internet post? I care not about peoples thoughts.

I enjoy discussion of the comics more than the act of reviewing them. Though the terrible quality of people expressing there "thoughts" (with some exceptions) and the ridiculous level of snark and hugely polarised level of opinion make that difficult.(Personally I enjoy civil discussion also which why I tend to discuss with dread.)

[RockSP]

They didn't do that in Nova and She-Hulk, however. Super-Skrull turns up in the former and saves Nova, explaining that he's infiltrated the religious zealot Skrulls' invasion and is trying to circumvent it from within. Nova gets all hot and bothered when he learns the invasion's target is Earth and heads there, and Super-Skrull practically begs Nova to take him along so he can make sure his daughter (She-Hulk's Jazinda) is safe. Then, when we see Kl'rt in She-Hulk, he's... anxiously trying to murder his daughter. Um... huh?

What's the big deal? Kl'rt lied to Nova. He's not exactly going to ask him "Hey, give me a ride to Earth, wouldja? I wanna kill my daughter who lives there...thanks."

[Brainiac 8]

What's the big deal? Kl'rt lied to Nova. He's not exactly going to ask him "Hey, give me a ride to Earth, wouldja? I wanna kill my daughter who lives there...thanks."


This was my thoughts on it too.

Kl'rt knows that Nova wouldn't help him with that motive, so he played off of his compassion.

[fifthfiend]

He mentions that he's gonna kill her and then keep killing her until she stays dead, so... trial and error, I guess?

But toward the end of the issue, the Talisman (the holy Skrull whose presence means the gods have given the "Cool, Invade the Crap Out of Those F***ers" stamp of approval to a Skrull war effort) says he's going to steal her resurrection power. He has some kind of nebulous magic powers (although he got his ass kicked pretty easily in the She-Hulk/X-Factor crossover directly preceding this for a magic, holy, favored-by-the-gods Skrull, but whatever), so presumably he could do it. I think the end result of this arc will probably find Jazinda without her unkillableness, but that's pure speculation on my part.

Just so long as he's killing her for a good reason.

I mean he's the Super-Skrull, that's how he rolls.

[TheCorpulent1]

I don't really know why he wants to kill her. I wasn't reading She-Hulk's comic when Jazinda's backstory was given.
What's the big deal? Kl'rt lied to Nova. He's not exactly going to ask him "Hey, give me a ride to Earth, wouldja? I wanna kill my daughter who lives there...thanks."
This was my thoughts on it too.

Kl'rt knows that Nova wouldn't help him with that motive, so he played off of his compassion.
I guess I could see that. He seemed pretty earnest in Nova's comic, but he did mention that subterfuge is his race's greatest asset.

[JewishHobbit]

You know... this cosmic marvel colliding with mainsteam marvel is giving me a headache. I bind my comics into hardback volumes as I prefer, and now I'm not sure where to place these dudes. Nova and GotG will be in my Cosmic run of volumes, but now She-Hulk and Inhumans are statling the line due to Super Skrull and War Of Kings.... maybe I should start buying two copies of those... but then what if I decide either doesn't have enough tie-ins with the main Secret Invasion storyline? Then I have extra copies and spent money I didn't have to! Grrrrrr. I'm loving it... but my second comic hobby of binding is giving me a headache.

[Bubonic]

Thank you, Lama gildea.

Anyway, Avengers: The Initiative was good. Kind of sucked that we had to have a few panels of the douchebag Ant-Man monologuing to himself about what a pussy he is, but the rest of the issue was cool. The main plot with the Skrull Kill Krew was all right, although I'm still kind of annoyed that every comic expects us to believe that all superheroes kill remorselessly when, up until like 5 years ago, that wasn't at all true. (I'm talking about Delroy here, since obviously the Kill Krew is going to kill Skrulls.) But that's becoming more and more minor to me; I guess I'm adjusting (unfortunately). Von Blitzschlag was funny. Um... you know, other than the introduction of the Kill Krew, not a whole lot happened. But I'm glad we got a transition scene that let us see Rhodey heading off into the events that will take place in Iron Man: Director of SHIELD's final arc; I know Gage is co-writing A:TI, but with today's comics you never really know if the creators'll be considerate enough to make character appearances gel that way. I'm glad they did here.

I get the same feeling, growing up I remember the Marvel universe being basically full of a no-kill rule... but now it seems its ok for everyone to kill skrulls.

i guess the mentality here is that when your in a war you must kill, and it does add too the realism of the situation, but I do sort of get disappointed when I see people I wouldn't expect to kill doing so.

[TheCorpulent1]

I'd be fine with that if there were someone out there equivocating over whether they're actually in a war and whether that does give them a license to kill or not. But nobody has; everyone's just like, "Skrull? F***, kill them b****es!"

I'm fine with it to some extent for Initiative graduates, though. They're taught from the outset by SHIELD personnel and guys like Gauntlet and War Machine, who will use lethal force if necessary. Delroy's a bit of a special case since he was already an established hero before joining the Initiative, but he was fairly new and undefined, so he could've conceivably had a change of heart.

Anyway, it's minor at this point. I realize it's simply a side effect of comics' being aimed at older readers now.

[yenaled]

I forgot comic don't get here till tomorrow, **** sucks :(

[Bubonic]

I can't really complain, I'm glad comics have matured alongside us and is straying away from the tired catch and release formula of before.

[Manic]

I don't really know why he wants to kill her. I wasn't reading She-Hulk's comic when Jazinda's backstory was given.
Jazinda is still in her "I have a lot of secrets I'll only reveal when I'm ready" phase. So far, all she's told She-Hulk is that she did something she wasn't supposed to, and now she's immortal because of it. Oh, and her people want to kill her for it, and her father the Super-Skrull vowed to kill her himself. That's literally all Jazinda has said about her past.

[WolfCypher]

Amazing Spider-Man 569
Nothing I didn't already know. The new villain's (Anti-Venom) reveal I saw coming a month ago. Nothing major really happened here, cept we see that absolutely no one remembers who Spidey is, and Peter even referrences this himself. Part 1 was more interesting.

Ultimate Spider-Man 125
Very good. Venom vs. the Beetle. Part 3 makes up greatly for the ho-hum part 2 of last month. Venom eats a horse and its rider whole.

[CaptainCanada]

Dread is really neglecting his responsibilities.

[Dread]

Dread is really neglecting his responsibilities.

The past two days have been long ones at work and by the time I come back to face a computer for personal rather than office reasons, I'm tired and just can't muster the will to sit in front of a Word Document and type comic reviews for 2-3 hours, since this is a large week for me.

The easy answer would be to type shorter reviews, and I do that sometimes (some weeks when I have 4 books, each one may get like 5 billion words, but when I have 7-10, anything beyond three paragraphs can get tiresome to type). But I'm sometimes a stickler for tradition and "doing things right or not at all". That and I probably just like reading my own words. :p

But, hey, other people are posting great reviews. No need to wait on me.

For the record, this week I bought BLUE BEETLE, AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE, IMMORTAL IRON FIST, KICK-ASS, MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS, MIGHTY & NEW AVENGERS, NEW WARRIORS, and NOVA.

Thoughts will be forthcoming...TGIF.

[arachnid-guy]

Bought

Amazing Spider-Man 569
Amazing Spider-Man: Secret Invasion 1
Daredevil 110
Ultimate Spider-Man 125


Thought

Nova: SI
Thor: SI

[Blader5489]

Am I the only one who thinks Nova is gradually getting worse?

God, I wish Keith Giffen would come back and write more cosmic Marvel.

[Obi-Ron]

Fantastic Four: True Story #2

Paul Cornell and Horacio Domingues' miniseries hits its second issue, as the Fantastic Four head into fiction to find out what's amiss; after rescuing the Dashwood sisters from Sense & Sensibility from an army of goblins, they head over to Ivanhoe and from there rally all the adjacent fictional characters to confront the uncoming goblin army. Cornell throws out a lot of metafictional concepts into the stew, and it's a lot of fun. Particularly enjoyable is the Austen-like Dashwoods interacting with the Fantastic Four and Dante; little Margaret pals around with the Thing, while Elinor and Marianne find Ben and Johnny dashing heroes. And the villain of the piece is revealed to be Nightmare, out to subsume all fiction; not a bad half-year for Nightmare, between this and Incredible Herc, since he's a pretty minor villain.



It's pretty sad when the "House of Ideas" has to resort to ripping off plotlines from episodes of South Park.

[Brainiac 8]

Am I the only one who thinks Nova is gradually getting worse?

God, I wish Keith Giffen would come back and write more cosmic Marvel.


I don't think Nova has missed a beat yet, it's been constantly superb IMO. :up:

In fact, I loved the two parter Galactus story.

[CaptainCanada]

It's pretty sad when the "House of Ideas" has to resort to ripping off plotlines from episodes of South Park.
Actually, it's a tribute to Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next novels more then anything else (with a shoutout to Bill Willingham as well) (and the idea wasn't original when Fforde and Willingham did it).

[RockSP]

It's pretty sad when the "House of Ideas" has to resort to ripping off plotlines from episodes of South Park.

House of Ideas, not the House of ORIGINAL Ideas. :oldrazz:

[Dread]

Am I the only one who thinks Nova is gradually getting worse?

God, I wish Keith Giffen would come back and write more cosmic Marvel.

DnA don't have Giffen's flair or experience, but I think NOVA has been consistantly good since it became an ongoing. They struggled at times with the initial 4 issue mini in ANNIHILATION and ANNIHILATION CONQUEST had some hiccups (it was their first event story; tell me House of M had no "hiccups"), but NOVA has been good. Not perfect, some stories better than others, and a few moments where Nova struggles with an opponent he should be able to overpower and I think, "Oh, come on" (but, I imagine Flash readers go through that a lot). But I greatly enjoy NOVA, and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.

More on NOVA later.

[Brainiac 8]

DnA don't have Giffen's flair or experience, but I think NOVA has been consistantly good since it became an ongoing. They struggled at times with the initial 4 issue mini in ANNIHILATION and ANNIHILATION CONQUEST had some hiccups (it was their first event story; tell me House of M had no "hiccups"), but NOVA has been good. Not perfect, some stories better than others, and a few moments where Nova struggles with an opponent he should be able to overpower and I think, "Oh, come on" (but, I imagine Flash readers go through that a lot). But I greatly enjoy NOVA, and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.

More on NOVA later.


What he said. :up:

[Red]

Am I the only one who thinks Nova is gradually getting worse?

God, I wish Keith Giffen would come back and write more cosmic Marvel.

You fail at taste.

[fifthfiend]

Am I the only one who thinks Nova is gradually getting worse?

God, I wish Keith Giffen would come back and write more cosmic Marvel.

I actually agree inasmuch as "worse" translates to "slightly less totally fantastic." But that still leaves light years worth of room before it got near anything I'd call bad, or even mediocre.

And yeah, everyone loves them some Giffen.

[Anubis]

You fail at taste.

Words right outta my mouth.

[fifthfiend]

I kind of wish She-Hulk had the realization about heroism she had this issue, like, on the first or second issue of PAD's run, so we could just skip over all the angsty crap we've had to sit through in the interim. But she's had it now, so hopefully this comic can start being interesting again. Having She-Hulk throw Super-Skrull out the window of a flying spaceship is, I feel, a positive step in that direction.

[Blader5489]

I actually agree inasmuch as "worse" translates to "slightly less totally fantastic." But that still leaves light years worth of room before it got near anything I'd call bad, or even mediocre.

And yeah, everyone loves them some Giffen.

I didn't say it was bad, it just seems like it's not as good as it used to be (damned if I knew what it was though).

I do like Guardians, though, and I'm frothing for War of Kings.

[Dread]

Great reviews this week from everyone else. I usually have been too tired from work to want to type for a few hours, but we have a 3 day weekend here, so, now I'm good. Least I will get them in before August ends. As always, full spoilers.

It was a big week for me, especially for SECRET INVASION tie-in's, which are in full blast.

Dread's BOUGHT/THOUGHT for 8/27/08 - Part One:

BLUE BEETLE #30: Give credit to DC, they are a company that can allow a comic to remain on the shelves even if it doesn't sell terribly well, and Blue Beetle hasn't sold closer than the Top 120 or so in ages. While that is fine for, say, Dark Horse or Image, most Big Two books aim higher and Marvel would have never allowed a low selling book to survive even 2 years. For a company that is plagued by terrible franchise decisions, they have done something to keep BLUE BEETLE a fun, action packed young hero yarn despite the departure of the launch writer(s). Now, if only that could be duplicated more often.

While regular artist Albuquerque remains on usual art chores (beyond the occasional fill in issue or two), Sturges has taken over as the new lead writer with Part 2 of his newest storyline. While helping Peacemaker patrol the border last issue, four men snuck across with a secret weapon; MGH. Well, not really MGH because that is Marvel, but SOME sort of funky drugs that gave them super-powers. While inexperienced, Jaime's armor couldn't get a proper bead on the threat and the thugs escaped into the town. He also ran into a new girl, who is staying at Paco's house and getting in the middle of his new "non-relationship relationship" with Brenda.

And yes, the teenage drama is nearly as much fun as the superhero epics, just like INVINCIBLE, or the premise behind classic Spider-Man. That is what keeps the series fun and fresh. It doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel, but does it justice. That is often more than enough for me and most true fans. Sturges has managed to capture enough of the flair of the Giffen & Jones run that this seems like a seamless continuation, which is a break from the typical "new writer" on a book, especially DC, who decides to do a 180 (usually back to 1972).

Jaimie questions La Dama about the super-illegals, thinking as the area's major crime boss, she knows SOMETHING about the hit. She does, but keeps it to herself. The two wanna-be villains from last issue come back, using the monikers that Jaimie gave them, and get a beat down. After some hyjinks at the Paco home and running into The Posse, the issue hits high gear in the third act as Beetle confronts the four powered thugs, and manages to defeat them. However, one of them dies from pre-determined causes, and now El Paso's hero is stuck answering uneasy media questions about his stance on illegal immigration. What Sturges gets is that while BLUE BEETLE has madcap action and often hilarious one-liners, there is legitimate superhero and character pathos here, and I thought the ending was effective to build drama, to get me eager for that extra 22 pages next month.

(FYI: while I like Blue Beetle, I am not SO devoted that I would bite on reading TEEN TITANS just because he is an official member know. After scimming some reviews at the DC Board, I am glad for this fact.)

I like to imagine BLUE BEETLE as the little book that could. It sells around the range where a lot of 3rd party books do and always seems to be consistent in quality; even fill-in issues have been enjoyable and readable. That means the premise is simple yet distinct enough for many writers to handle and respect, and that's good. DC's a cesspool of darkness or complications or universe reshuffling, but BLUE BEETLE is the rare oasis away from that. And to think it started as a spin-off from INFINITE CRISIS.

AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #16: Caselli returns to major art chores and that is good, as his art is the distinctive and definitive art on this title, and the fill-in artists usually struggle to even match his flair and style. Slott & Gage continue their tag team on, for my $3, one of SECRET INVASIONS most enjoyable and action packed tie-in's. I wouldn't call it the best, because it isn't, but I certainly have been enjoying it. It has managed to give us a slew of characters (as usual, handled well for the most part) while focusing on a few. In this arc's case, 3-D Man, Crusader, and Ant-Man III (Eric O'Grady). The last two are refugees from Robert Kirkman series and it is great seeing them handled with vigor.

While in April of this year, Bendis denied that the Skrull Kill Krew would play a major role in SECRET INVASION, Slott & Gage likely figured how ridiculous this is, and rightly have the remaining members of the Krew waging their own "guerilla war" against the invading Skrulls, traveling across the Midwest blasting away any they find. Slott & Gage also realize that many of these characters are not familiar to everyone and a few pages are devoted to going over the origins of the Krew, the original 3-D Man and Delroy (formerly Triathlon). I mean, the Krew really haven't been seen much in about 13 years, after all. It is repeated that while the Krew were empowered by accidentally eating "Skrull beef", they had a disease that was slowly killing them. After all these years, it has killed 3 out of the five, leaving only Ryder and Riot, with the latter trapped in a monstrous form. The only caveat is that all this effort was made into explaning backstory, yet there was no mention that Riot is actually a girl; I mean, that's a bit of a vital detail to know a character's gender. Armed with 3-D Man's goggles and a hankering for Skrull flesh, the trio head into the home planet of John McCain, Arizona. They run into Komodo from the "first class" and her team, who have been infiltrated by a Skrull.

As with many SI books, the power levels of the Neo-Skrulls vary. Some titles, including some of Bendis', imply that they can be killed with only slightly more effort than normal Skrulls (but rely on surprise and superior numbers). And others, like this one, show that each is powerful enough to challenge an average superhero team, if not outright beat them. I've long griped that a major flaw of the event is that the Skrull power levels are kept flexible and they keep making boneheaded errors. This title keeps a proper mix about the Neo Skrulls, which is good. There is the concern, mentioned by TheCorpulent1, of superheroes becoming increasingly inclined to killing enemies no matter who they are. Even in past invasions by aliens, not every hero would be keen on just slaughtering the aliens. I think it is due to not only marketing modern comics to an older audiences than grade school children, but also the standards of what is accepted in society in terms of violence expanding. I mean, in the era of NES, no one ever "died". Your character was "defeated" or turned into an icon and floated away. Now nearly every game is a FPS and you slaughter and get slaughtered. What passes in a PG movie is more than what passed in one 20 years ago. Network TV shows, least live action, have expanded what could be shown for years. In light of all this, comics had to flex a bit to remain some sort of cult appeal. Plus, one could argue that war makes killers of many people if they have to. Seeing it in Delroy doesn't shock me as it would in Spider-Man (who, I might add, went at a few threats during JMS' run that he "destroyed" but for one reason or another decided didn't count enough as living things), so I don't mind it. Of course, I knew Delroy a lot less before now. Even when the Invasion is eventually repelled, there likely will still be many Skrulls for the Krew to kill left. Komodo naturally wants to go to Nevada to save Hardball, but preview art from Joe Q's blog some time ago showed Steve Uy drawing a scene there, so I wonder if he is the next artist for issue #17 or #18.

Slott & Gage also adhere to strict continuity. They set up War Machine and give him a graceful exit for his next series takeover, something that used to happen a lot in the past but which has also become sadly rare in modern years. Crusader also fits in well with SECRET INVASION issues as he is inspired by Nick Fury's rally. He's an interesting character, a Skrull who went native who is, basically, a big superhero fanboy with a cosmic ring. At first I imagined a dark motive for him, but I like him more without one.

Nabbing a few pages is Eric O'Grady, who is out to just hide and save himself, but naturally stumbles upon Skrullowjacket and him leading a squad of Skrulls, wanting to make Camp Hammond the nerve center of the new empire. Not everyone is taken to O'Grady, but I am. I think he is a fun, interesting character. He isn't evil, but he is completely NOT the guy you ever would imagine getting access to super-powers or you would feel deserves them. I'm just happy that Slott & Gage haven't let two of Kirkman's creations fall into Limbo. Now if only they would truck Titannus out...I mean, why would the Skrulls just leave him to rot in SHIELD?

As always, AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE offers characters you never imagined carrying solo issues a chance to shine, and in a series that is fully intertwined into what the Marvel line is doing at the moment. Full of continuity, character, action, and some dark humor. Gage compliments Slott on the title seamlessly and well. Overall, this series is kind of like MARVEL TEAM UP, only relavent and important (and thus, better), if that makes sense.

IMMORTAL IRON FIST #18: One of the few Marvel titles that isn't taking part in Secret Invasion, likely because it doesn't need to. While semi-regular artist from the previous run, Trevor Foreman, continues on pencils, Swierczynski continues to fill the shows of Fraction & Brubaker.

The plot, started as an epilogue by the departing writers, involves around the mysterious fact that all of the past Iron Fist's have either disappeared or died at age 33, aside for Orson, who escaped his destiny by refusing to be Iron Fist and taking drugs for years. Coincidentally, and for plot convenience, Danny Rand just turned 33. He is immediately accosted by a two-headed man (kind of like that guy from HITCHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE, only with more evil and chop-socky) who appears to know all his moves and is immune to his chi powers. While the death of the 1800's Iron Fist is recounted in the Old West, Danny survives by calling upon his buddies the Heroes for Hire, who manage to escape with Danny despite even Luke Cage being unable to do more than stalemate the threat. Davos learns of this threat to Rand (and is probably jealous to not be the one icing him) and the Iron Fist Serial Killer decides to lure Rand out by targeting one of his charity dojo's; something the Tick might muse, "Standard villain procedure."

The art is crisp and keeps the action flowing, although Foreman is no Aja. Like the prior run, flashbacks are used to spice the story and give context, as well as shave a few pages from the core artist's workload per month. Some might say that after some of the complicated weavings of the past run, the "scourge of the Iron Fist legacy" turning out to basically be Micheal Myers with Kung Fu Grip may seem a little simple, but it may not be. The guy is clearly operating for some other mystical dragon or "heavenly city" and is likely not the only one of his kind. The point is made that unlike past Iron Fist's, Danny surrounds himself with allies, and that has kept him alive many times. Is the strength of a true warrior knowing when one cannot win a battle alone? Bah, now I'm getting all Caine on people.

I was hesitant about continuing the book without Fraction and Brubaker, and while Swierczyski won't ever be accused of topping them, he's managed to come in seamlessly enough and continue on the themes well. I look forward to seeing how this story develops and whether the cult fan following of the series will give him a chance for more issues beyond 6.

And hey, another random Orson flashback one-shot. Those are usually fun.

KICK-ASS #4: One of the best selling ICON titles in ages, this series from Millar & Romita Jr. is garnering a lot of attention and already has a movie studio interested. It also is barely 10k below FANTASTIC FOUR with Bryan Hitch in terms of sales, which has to be underwhelming for the Four.

Still, while I like the series overall, it is on the verge of being overrated and is succumbing to some of Millar's narrative flaws. Namely, the fact that he sometimes appears to be an odd hybrid of a storyteller and an overzealous car salesman, trying to tell us how "awesome" something in a story is every few panels (sometimes by having a character outright say something is hilarous or so on).

This series started on the premise of being "real world" based, where superheroes don't exist and their feats are nearly impossible to duplicate. Where trying to slap on a costume and fight thugs in alleys gets you in the hospital and in a lifetime of pain, as Dave Lizewski has learned. Still, he's managed to save one guy, wind up on YouTube, and become a post-modern "Internet celebrity" in his costumed guise. In school, though, he still is a loser pretending to be a homosexual to get near a girl he likes, and his father is still struggling. It has a lot of F-words and Millar's sense of crude, vile humor and non-PC language (could any writer with less hype or of American birth get away with homophobic or sometimes borderline racist comments in comic books these days quite like Millar or Ennis do?).

But this issue, naturally introduces a 10 year old girl who can slaughter a dozen men with two katanna's and who can leap across rooftops. Effortlessly. She's joined by a massive masked man named "Big Daddy". She is named "Hit Girl" and although 10, she talks like a potty mouthed middle ages housewife. They've been hunting mobsters and this brings the mafia to gain interest in Kick-Ass (and issue 1 opened with him in their clutches), but this seems to be an aberration to the little universe Millar made. It also bares resemblances to WANTED, which was hardly a work worthy of duplication. It was shallow enough for Hollywood (which still altered the hell out of it) but is no comic classic. It is like claiming that superheroes aren't real or possible, then inserting Iron Fist, powers and all, into the mix. It doesn't gell.

There's some pathos of Dave worrying about the muck his vigilante attempts are making of his life, but after 4 issues even this is starting to repeat.

Everyone screams about how unique it is, but I swear I have read stuff like this from Millar before. It's not as overrated as NEXTWAVE was, but getting close. The fast track that it getting through Hollywood is probably a testament to how desperate they are for script ideas. I mean, eventually they will run out of remakes or TV adaptations.

MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #12: After a year of long $4 issues, this series finally comes to a close. It hasn't been solicted after this and the sales were dire. The regular stories weren't dramatically impressive and some of the best tales came from the one-and-done shots. Last month featured STINGRAY and this one is a MAN-THING story, although it is more about the two SHIELD agents tasked to find him.

That story, "Dirty Work", is written by Jai Nitz with art by Ben Stenbeck. Yeah, never heard about them either. It is about two SHIELD agents with less-than-stellar career histories named Easterbrook and London being tasked with finding Man-Thing in the Florida Everglades and, in the spirit of the SHRA, getting him to register with the feds or destroy him with herbicides. The two share biting wisecracks with each other, including botched missions and the fact that London slept with Easterbrook's (ex)wife. During their hunt, they come across a crashed drug-smuggling plane with piles of gold bars. Easterbrook wants to steal the gold and flee SHIELD, while London is still interested in a career. They run into Man-Thing, who almost seems to show up via obligation. Man-Thing of course doesn't understand the registration concept and Easterbrook attacks the monster, leading in his demise. London seemingly kills the monster (real surprise; he doesn't) and cobbles together a plan for both gold and glory, although his boss outsmarts him in the end. The dialogue is crisp and while there is little purpose to the story, it ends before it wears out any welcome and was on the whole enjoyable and stress-free. Apparently, Eric O'Grady wasn't the only SHIELD agent who was a douchebag out for a quick score.

How about the other three "main stories"? Two cluster-****'s out of three. The VANGUARD story from Guggenheim & Tsai wraps with the titled super-psionic soldier seemingly wasting the secret team after they discover him. Only he doesn't. It was Retcon doing SOME mind mangling, only to what and how is kept vague and confusing. And it still doesn't answer why Yelana Belova is still alive (although she notes how "she is believed dead"). Dude, she outright DIED in a NEW AVENGERS SPECIAL. Dead. Doornail. So this is either a Skrull, an LMD, or a ****-up. As for Vanguard himself, he played surprisingly little role in his own story, although I suppose he could be an interesting detail to pop up in another story, especially considering he is full gung-ho American soldier in the age of SHRA and can nuke entire countries with mind-bullets. Blade got in some alright lines, but many elements of this story were pointless and seemed like dragging (the bit with Watcher, and Thing, especially) and I expect better things with Blade in CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13 soon.

MACHINE MAN from Brandon & Henrighon wraps and has another dead woman, Madame Menace, looking very much alive as she uses a bunch of robots to get the robot hero through a funky mental crisis. He gets a giant body and Brandon is clearly trying to channel Ellis from NEXTWAVE, but aside for a few funny moments, it mostly falls flat and appears like a waste. Oh, wait, that WAS NEXTWAVE as well. Nevermind. Anyway, same question about Menace; Skrull, LMD, or does this story just take place before she was killed in PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL?

WEAPON OMEGA wraps with the mother of all surprises; Pointer overcomes his evil shrink and becomes a reluctant hero. Isn't this where he started? Blech. Oeming got some traction from the wiggy OMEGA FLIGHT premise, but this story has struggled. I like the dynamic between U.S. Agent and Arachne's daughter, but as former FORCE WORKS members, they could interact in some random Initiative team instead of clogging up Canada. Not a bad story, but like VANGUARD, even for 8-10 pages a month, parts felt dragged out, which is never good. Plus, Pointer is oozing with Bendis-level uber angst and I just don't feel sorry for him, sorry. Sticking a mass-murderer of heroes and innocents inside a nation's national colors is kind of like if Timothy McVeigh cut a deal and become Captain America. It is the sort of retarded, illogical premise that only Bendis could come up, leaving Oeming and Kolowski to deal with it. Hopefully Magneto will figure out to just kill Pointer and get all those mutants their powers back. He reminds me of Vulcan; a character with incredible powers to escape any situation, with barely any personality beyond what the story needs of him. Boring.

This is a title I won't be giving another shot if relaunched and I won't miss. The fact that the one-and-done stories usually beat out the regular tales speaks volumes. The stories were not of top caliber, came out too slowly compared to the bi-weekly schedule of past volumes and was overpriced. A misfire all around.

[Dread]

Part Two (of Two):

MIGHTY AVENGERS #17: The title should be, "BENDIS HATES HANK PYM FOREVER", but it isn't. At least the cover is somewhat accurate in that way.

Rather than answer the fate of the REAL Hank Pym (is he dead, or in an incubation cube like Jessica Drew likely is?), this issue focuses on Dugan and the Skrull Pym. It is a bit of more endless preludes before SI started that isn't especially necessary. The crux of the story is that Hank Pym sucks. Bendis has written untold pages of how Pym is nothing but his worst moments, and is a failure as a hero, a man, and heck, probably couldn't outdo a goldfish in the game of life. And even when this Skrull takes over his form and believes to be him, he inherits the ineptitude, and has to be taken down. Not even Pym as a Skrull is competent. Pym to Bendis is a curse of suckiness that not even aliens can escape. It merely is a testament to how poorly Bendis knows this character, and how little he cares to find out anything about him beyond whatever is on a poor fansite or whatever Millar told him in a bar at 4:00 a.m. back in 2000 when they were launching ULTIMATE. The art is by Pham, and it is fine. Phamtastic, one could say.

The story and issue, though, is a waste and contributes next to nothing. Skrull Dugan is also the size of a small barn; even Juggernaut would have muscle envy.

The revelation I guess is that they needed many agents to try to imitate Pym and master his suckitude without dying. Skrullowjacket may be one of many who failed before him. Does this really matter? No. But it paid Bendis' rent, sucka! Manhattan's expensive, y'know.

A completely skippable issue, worthless for anything but compost or an object to swat flies with. If anyone offers cash money for it on eBay that is 1 penny over the cover price, ACCEPT!


NEW AVENGERS #44: Giving Bendis an 8-9 issue event mini as well as 2 monthly comic titles to use as tie-in's adds to indulgence. He is literally intent on milking his own story for all it is worth and devoting 22 pages to the most mundane of details. Marvel at how the Skrulls pick their noses before launching their attack! About the angst Spider-Man feels between panel 22 and penal 23 of SECRET INVASION #4. Does any writer get to stroke their ego across an entire line quite like Bendis does? Maybe Geoff Johns at DC?

The cover and solicts promise a revelation about the Illuminati. In classic bait-and-switch, it doesn't offer one. Not really. Between that and the "Thor/New Cap" panels in SI, Bendis seems to be using this event to purposefully goad and bait readers from $3 just to prove how clever he thinks he is. Not even John Bryne was that arrogant.

But, unlike MIGHTY AVENGERS, this story has some good moments and once you get over being rooked, the story works. Past issues detailed how after kidnapping the Illuminati and testing their DNA, Dorekk VII would clone them to aid in drills and would usually kill them for pleasure. During one such exercise, a clone of Reed discovers a bit of genetic science the Skrulls themselves didn't master, but could empower them a thousandfold. Dorekk, citing the horrible irony of relying on his hated Terran enemy for aid for his empire, follows the advice of a lower level scientist and tries to get this data out of subsequent clones. Killing Clone Reed's Clone Family (with some Ultimate-level schlock death) doesn't work, so they use the tried-and-true Bendis method of using a talkative kid and lover to coax information out of someone before killing him. Basically what happened to Pym. This story is, apparently, the tale of how the Skrulls mastered their new genetic status.

The only caveat is, if the Skrulls had this data back in the 70's-80's when Dorekk was alive, why the hell did they wait until NOW to launch this type of attack? Riiiight, retcon, nevermind.

Still, this story has a point, the art from Tan is solid and it has some genuinely chilling moments. Of course, the same Skrulls Bendis writes as soulless killers here are expected to be taken seriously over in SECRET WAR talking about how much of a warmongering race Earthlings are and how peachy Earth will be under their control, but no matter. Unlike MA, this issue at least works.

NEW WARRIORS #15: The downside of the SECRET INVASION boost to sales is that smaller books like NW's, which most shops maybe order about a dozen or less copies for, is that the crossover leads them to sell out of these quick. Granted, NW's sales are slipping below the Top 100 and is still being solicted, so Marvel either has faith in Grevioux or the bounce from sales. Turnbull continues on fill-in art for Medina and while he's not as stiff as Malin was, his art is hardly A-list, either. His proportions are sometimes out of whack and some of his action is hard to follow. But it isn't horrid.

The New Warriors square off in front of the Taylor home with Counter-Force, mostly consisting of the Old New Warriors (plus MVP and the two Scarlet Spiders, who say nothing and are just there for continuity's sake, which is worth something). After a quick battle between the teams (who each think the others are Skrulls, Night-Thrasher calls a halt to the festivities and reveals his identity as Donyell. The readers knew this more than 6 months ago, but to the characters it is a revelation. And they all know that Night-Thrasher is no longer a Skrull. After all, if reading SECRET INVASION teaches me anything, it is that any Skrull will reveal themselves if you simply accuse them of being a Skrull loud enough.

Donyell still wants to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt if Dwyane is dead. That involves getting a DNA sample from the corpse, which Justice reveals is on the SHIELD helicarrier (or a specific SHIELD helicarrier). Unfortunately, it is being attacked by super-Skrulls, so both teams have to fend them off and save some soldiers. Justice and Donyell get their DNA sample, and it proves that Dwayne really is dead. They give him a proper burial and memorial, and Justice allows the new incarnation of the team to continue. Part of me kind of wanted some of the older Warriors to return to their roots, and I wonder if this title had more of them from the start, if it'd be selling better. The X-X-People weren't what was expected. I did like Justice figuring out that Wondra was Jubilee, although I haven't a clue when he ever actually met Jubilee before.

At one point, they battle a super-Skrull with the combined powers of the founding New Warriors, and he looked exactly the same as a Skrull who was in the last panel of YOUNG AVENGERS/RUNAWAYS #2. Is this the same warrior, or do the Skrulls just find New Warrior powers useful? I'm curious how they imitate Nova's, personally. Still, I understand why such a Skrull would fit into this title, and it's fine. Provides drama.

The main "Donyell and Midnight's Fire have a shadowy plan" plot continues next month, and hopefully it call comes to a satisfying conclusion. The sales are horrid and while I still like the book, I am amazed at Marvel's patience. Maybe after their cut from IRON MAN, they realize they can afford some small books. Good. So bring back THE LONERS!

NOVA #16: After facing Galactus & Silver Surfer last issue, NOVA takes part in his third crossover with SECRET INVASION. While a sales boost is always nice, I wondered about this one. Sure, Skrulls and aliens and Nova is space. Fine. But the Skrulls are focused on Earth and Nova was at the other end of the galaxy. I wondered what the point was, and how it would work as a story.

Nova answers a distress call on the plant planet Dendron (yes, I catch the botany reference) that is considered a Phalanx invasion, but turns out to be a trap laid on him by Neo-Skrulls. Due to surprise and the fact that Worldmind is still gone and Nova is stuck with an inferior "User Control" for his suit, the Skrulls have the advantage until Kl'rt, the Super-Skrull himself, lends a hand and Nova then can turn the battle. The entire reason for the trap? The Skrulls know Nova hails from Earth and did not want to risk him aiding the planet with the Nova Force. I suppose that is logical enough, although in failing in the attack, Nova ends up finding about the invasion anyway.

Much of the issue focuses on Nova talking with Super-Skrull and unlike a Bendis discussion, it feels relavent and not a line is wasted. DnA continue giving Super-Skrull a "gray" side by depicting the idea that the current Skrull leadership is a "jihadist cult" and that Super-Skrull is more in tune with the other ways. Considering he is an old soldier, it seems reasonable. Once he gets around to telling Rich that Earth is being invaded, they boot up a stargate and head off. They wind up smack in the middle of the Skrull Armada and Super-Skrull seemingly turns on Nova immediately. Was it truly a luse in an elaborate trap, or is Kl'rt just putting on a show for his species? Maybe a bit of both? Playing both sides? One can never tell. Super-Skrull is loyal to his people to a fault, but has his own concerns and desires. He mentions a daughter on Earth, who apparently is in SHE-HULK, which I don't read.

The only real caveat is Super-Skrull appears to not get some of Rich's Earth slang, which seems odd as Super-Skrull has sometimes been in deep cover for days or months on Earth and should know all that. I mean, he impersonated a mobster once, for chrissakes.

Alves's art as usual is great. I was surprised that Nova didn't make mention of some of the powers being used against him, including Sandman. Some people may not like that he has to announce his suit's functions most times like a Power Ranger, but I don't mind it, and it adds a limitation to his staggering powers. Much like Dr. Strange, he can be caught off guard. Seeing him effortlessly blow up a warship was cool, though. Very cool. "Pow."

The dilemma is, Nova can't influence the invasion outright, otherwise he'd be appearing in SECRET INVASION, which he isn't. That means something has to happen, and I am curious to what it is and how important to the series it would be. In a just world, SECRET INVASION would be written by someone else and Nova would be one of the major heroes in it. Oh, well.

As always, a solid issue from DnA & Alves. NOVA continues to be a great space adventure book with the best run and take on the character since...ever.

[fifthfiend]

literally

:csad:

[Dread]

:csad:

What? :huh:

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm guessing he's disappointed that you misused the word "literally." It's one of those exaggerations that becomes a pet peeve to a lot of people.

[fifthfiend]

He is literally intent on milking his own story for all it is worth

Unless science has found a way to graft teats onto a comic book, no part of that statement is literal.

[masteryoda]

Unless science has found a way to graft teats onto a comic book, no part of that statement is literal.

I'm sure there are quite a few fanboys working on that right now. :cwink:

[Dread]

I'm guessing he's disappointed that you misused the word "literally." It's one of those exaggerations that becomes a pet peeve to a lot of people.

I see. Kind of like how some people don't like the word "just". They think it is a "useless" word. Paul McCartney was quoted as thinking so, I think, somewhere.

Unless science has found a way to graft teats onto a comic book, no part of that statement is literal.

You're seriously arguing semantics with me? Every single person on the Internet uses bold exaggerations to make a point or react to something, but when Dread does it, suddenly it's the abomination of mankind, right?

I mean, when someone says a story "sucks", is that true? Does it have lips and suckle something? No. I can't imagine what you'd think if someone says it "really sucks". :whatever:

What kills me every week is all anyone focuses on are the Bendis rants. I can praise BLUE BEETLE, or AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE, or NOVA, or even to some degree IRON FIST. But no one wants to talk about it. No, all it is is, "How dare you rip into Marvel's Golden Child? Booooo!"

[RockSP]

As for Vanguard himself, he played surprisingly little role in his own story, although I suppose he could be an interesting detail to pop up in another story, especially considering he is full gung-ho American soldier in the age of SHRA and can nuke entire countries with mind-bullets.

Vanguard was the group, not the psychic dude.

[Dread]

Vanguard was the group, not the psychic dude.

I thought that was also the name of the psychic dude. Oh, well. That story was so confusing it is no wonder I got it mixed up.

This incarnation of MCP was a far cry from the 90's when it was Sam Keith's launching pad. :o

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, which sucks because Vanguard's a cool name for the dude and the group didn't really need a name. :(

[RockSP]

Well if you want a dude named Vanguard bad enough you could always ask Larsen to revive his character who goes by that name.

[TheCorpulent1]

Noooo, I want this guy to be named Vanguard! :cmad:

[silversurfur65]

Once again Daredevil kicked all kinds of ass, I can't believe more people aren't reading this book as it has consistently been Marvel's best comic over the last several years IMO ( DD wants info....what better way then to break a guy's fingers lol) !!

[JewishHobbit]

What kills me every week is all anyone focuses on are the Bendis rants. I can praise BLUE BEETLE, or AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE, or NOVA, or even to some degree IRON FIST. But no one wants to talk about it. No, all it is is, "How dare you rip into Marvel's Golden Child? Booooo!"

If it makes you feel better, I took up reading a few differant books over the past due to your praise of them. So I'm definately listening in to both sides. I want to say some were Captain America, New Warriors, Iron Fist and Thor, but I could be wrong. Now, I haven't stuck with all those, but the fact remains that I listened well enough to give them a shot (and to shell out money for a decent read for a good long while until funds couldn't allow it) and I still read New Warriors and Iron Fist. I want to say there were more as well.

[Blader5489]

What kills me every week is all anyone focuses on are the Bendis rants. I can praise BLUE BEETLE, or AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE, or NOVA, or even to some degree IRON FIST. But no one wants to talk about it. No, all it is is, "How dare you rip into Marvel's Golden Child? Booooo!"

No one is defending Bendis, people are just tired of your constant *****ing.

What kills me is that you continue to feed the beast, spending money on comics you hate just you'll have license to complain about them, while neglecting to pick up good comics that need to be bought by more and more people--like Incredible Hercules or the late Iron Man: Director of Shield. And if Herc gets canceled because of sales, I'll hold you personally responsible. :cmad:

[Manic]

Let's not get into that again. The only reason Dread buys Bendis' books is because he's given enough control over the Marvel Universe for his books to be relevant across the whole line. After all, what's the point in enjoying the books you read if it means you don't know what's happening in the books you can't stand?

[Blader5489]

Let's not get into that again. The only reason Dread buys Bendis' books is because he's given enough control over the Marvel Universe for his books to be relevant across the whole line. After all, what's the point in enjoying the books you read if it means you don't know what's happening in the books you can't stand?

And let's not get into that again, because as I've said before, most of Marvel's books aren't even tying into SI. The only relevance SI has thus far is with the Avengers books and some lesser-known titles that need the sales boost.

[Manic]

Nonsense. There is absolutely nothing by Marvel that you can read without following Bendis' Avengers books. Immortal Iron Fist, the X-Men line, Skaar, Spider-Girl, Eternals, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Moon Knight. You need to read the Avengers books to get the full story of those books, right?

I mean, just because people like me haven't bought any of the Avengers books or even Secret Invasion's main title but can still follow and enjoy Incredible Herc, that doesn't mean it should be done by everyone.

[Blader5489]

Nonsense. There is absolutely nothing by Marvel that you can read without following Bendis' Avengers books. Immortal Iron Fist, the X-Men line, Skaar, Spider-Girl, Eternals, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Moon Knight. You need to read the Avengers books to get the full story of those books, right?

I mean, just because people like me haven't bought any of the Avengers books or even Secret Invasion's main title but can still follow and enjoy Incredible Herc, that doesn't mean it should be done by everyone.

Good one.

[fifthfiend]

You're seriously arguing semantics with me? Every single person on the Internet uses bold exaggerations to make a point or react to something, but when Dread does it, suddenly it's the abomination of mankind, right?

I mean, when someone says a story "sucks", is that true?

It's figuratively true, but not literally true, which is why we have two different words to differentiate those states. AND YOU'RE KILLING THEM. DREAD, WHY ARE YOU KILLING WORDS?

[Dread]

If it makes you feel better, I took up reading a few differant books over the past due to your praise of them. So I'm definately listening in to both sides. I want to say some were Captain America, New Warriors, Iron Fist and Thor, but I could be wrong. Now, I haven't stuck with all those, but the fact remains that I listened well enough to give them a shot (and to shell out money for a decent read for a good long while until funds couldn't allow it) and I still read New Warriors and Iron Fist. I want to say there were more as well.

Thanks. I mean I'm not personally insulted or anything, it just gets grating. If people would just discuss the books I like rather than complaining about the ones I dislike, maybe we'd focus less on them. But logic and message boards go like oil and water sometimes.

Because after all, *****ing about *****ing is the worst *****ing of all. :o

No one is defending Bendis, people are just tired of your constant *****ing.

What kills me is that you continue to feed the beast, spending money on comics you hate just you'll have license to complain about them, while neglecting to pick up good comics that need to be bought by more and more people--like Incredible Hercules or the late Iron Man: Director of Shield. And if Herc gets canceled because of sales, I'll hold you personally responsible. :cmad:

I don't read either, and am not in the mood to buy trades of either to catch up.

Manic is rebutting your opinion fair enough. I don't need to. I'd love to live in your comic world where the things that Bendis does on his Avenger titles are irrelevant to the rest of the MU, but sadly I live in this one, where they are supposed to be.

It's figuratively true, but not literally true, which is why we have two different words to differentiate those states. AND YOU'RE KILLING THEM. DREAD, WHY ARE YOU KILLING WORDS?

It just seems like you are reaching for a nit-pick, figuratively speaking. I'm sure I could wait around until you made some sort of word error and pounce on you like a scavenger to a festering carcass (figuratively speaking), but that just seems petty.

I mean, hey, I'd love to talk about NOVA or AVENGERS INITIATIVE or whatever, but, no, gang, let's ***** about *****ing and complain about exaggerations. Sheesh. Because that is what I like coming to SHH for; getting a pop quiz on Creative Writing 101. :whatever:

[gildea]

Manic is rebutting your opinion fair enough. I don't need to. I'd love to live in your comic world where the things that Bendis does on his Avenger titles are irrelevant to the rest of the MU, but sadly I live in this one, where they are supposed to be.


I think manic is being somewhat ironic.

Regardless after SI i'm dropping the avengers titles because i'm sick of thie "gotta catch em all" mentality i've found myself in.

[Blader5489]

I don't read either, and am not in the mood to buy trades of either to catch up.

Manic is rebutting your opinion fair enough. I don't need to. I'd love to live in your comic world where the things that Bendis does on his Avenger titles are irrelevant to the rest of the MU, but sadly I live in this one, where they are supposed to be.

Actually, Manic is agreeing with me.

[Red]

Play a new tune blader.

[Doc Destruction]

No one is defending Bendis, people are just tired of your constant *****ing.


False. People defend that no-talent prick all the time.

[Blader5489]

Play a new tune blader.

Hmm...I don't know that one, but if you hum a few bars, I could try.

False. People defend that no-talent prick all the time.

Hey, did you ever end up going to one of those conventions so you could criticize him face-to-face?

[imdaly]

It's figuratively true, but not literally true, which is why we have two different words to differentiate those states. AND YOU'RE KILLING THEM. DREAD, WHY ARE YOU KILLING WORDS?

JMvMzQ4Vu-8

[fifthfiend]

JMvMzQ4Vu-8

I'd hit it.

[fifthfiend]

It just seems like you are reaching for a nit-pick, figuratively speaking. I'm sure I could wait around until you made some sort of word error and pounce on you like a scavenger to a festering carcass (figuratively speaking), but that just seems petty.

I mean, hey, I'd love to talk about NOVA or AVENGERS INITIATIVE or whatever, but, no, gang, let's ***** about *****ing and complain about exaggerations. Sheesh. Because that is what I like coming to SHH for; getting a pop quiz on Creative Writing 101. :whatever:

Seriously dude, I was just ********ting at you.

EDIT: Also if I were really reaching for nits to pick I would never have passed up

potty mouthed middle ages housewife.

But I did, cause that's the kind of class act I am.

[BrianWilly]

People just need to realize that the correct response to most douchey jibes in the internet is "Yeah, I totally give a ****, honest," and not "OH GOD I'M SO BUTT-HURT WHY IS IT THAT YOU [continue with mile-long epic description of the butt-hurting in minute detail]."

Now just watch as someone responds to this jibe with the latter.

[BrianWilly]

Oh and some (not all) reviews.

Final Crisis: Rogue's Revenge #2
Excellent. There is very little here not to like, and the Rogues' are as well-written as you'd expect them to be. The story is moving a bit slower than I would have thought -- the main thrust of this issue is "Rogues reclaim some old stuff" -- but so much happens anyway that you're never bored.

Oh and there's no way that Libra's eye-color-changing isn't intentional this time around. I mean it's bloody bright red.

(9 out of 10)


DCU: Last Will and Testament
...What? Wait, seriously, what?

We're all aware that this makes not even a tiny bit of sense in continuity, right? There's no way that everyone involved with this story doesn't know it. It's like they don't even care anymore. If DC wanted to pad Meltzer's ego that much, why didn't they just release this as a Geo-Force standalone and not try to tie it into the Crisis considering that tying it into the Crisis makes no sense and feels completely forced? I would have been perfectly happy with this as a Geo-Force story. I like Geo-Force and those parts weren't bad...well, no, some parts of those parts were bad*...and actually does cap off the longrunning Geo-Force storyline that Meltzer had set up way back in his JLA run. But throw in a bunch of completely inorganic OOOH FINAL NIGHT moments and it just takes me utterly out of the whatever story there is. It's sad because there's a lot of good things here but then there's also so much that's just...forced. There's no other way to say it.

*The bad, unsurprisingly, is Deathstroke. Meltzer tries to justify that hilariously-bad Identity Crisis fight by retroactively sticking as much OVER9000 as he can into Deathstroke here, and like a lot of things it just comes off completely unnatural. I'm sorry, but all the OVER9000s in the world can not make Deathstroke a match for someone of Geo-Force's power level, much less easily overpowering Geo-Force. It's just abjectly ridiculous. Add to this the fact that Deathstroke is as much a monologuing villain pastiche here as he's been everyone else in the DCU for the past decade or so, and you just end up with yet another reason for me to hate the character and think that he's the most annoying, overrated thing on the face of the planet.

(6.4 out of 10)


Trinity #12 and 13
RYAN CHOI OUT OF NOWHERE~! :D:up:

This book continues the steam that it's been picking up for the last four or five issues, and only looks like it's going to get better. I haven't said this about many DC books lately but I'll say it now: if you're not picking this up, you're missing out big time. I suppose that Superman's personality getting bogged with Bruce and Diana's is somewhat of a bad thing in terms of the ongoing plot, but it's pretty damn badass as far as reading the story goes. The thing he says about how not killing his enemies makes him stronger because he has to face them over and over again as they get cleverer and better themselves, as opposed to just leaving some corpses in his wake and then thinking he's the best thing ever...pure badass gold.

One complaint though is that neither Bruce or Diana themselves have had all that much to do for a long time now. Another slight flaw in this story, if I had to nitpick, is that the whole big shock at the state of the world after the CSA has been removed is...well, not really a shock. At least it shouldn't be, for either the characters or the readers. How many times has it been now since the JLA has tried to oust the CSA? How many times has it been hammered through their heads and ours that this is not a particularly good idea, at least the way that they've been doing it? If they want to improve this world they need to be thinking outside the box and looking for another way, not the same out banging their heads against a brick wall that they've been doing every time they've been faced with this world.

Oh and Hawkman is awesome here, as is Enigma.

(8.5 out of 10 for 12)
(9.2 out of 10 for 13)


Justice Society of America #18
Bluh...not crazy about Hawkman's characterization here. Right after Niceaza has been writing a freaking awesome Hawkman over in Trinity, we get this Punisher-wannabe who's all "hurr hurr kill hurr." It brings back oily memories of Johns' equally-embarrassing Wonder Woman all-kill-all-the-time characterization back in Infinite Crisis. I feel like it's all or nothing with Johns approach to lethal force; you're either so old-school that it's too trite, or you're so completely off the wagon about it that you seem like some kind of uncontrollable killing machine. It's the same over and over again; Wonder Woman, Laira the Red Lantern, and now Hawkman. There's no subtlety, no in-between. It's particularly gratuitous here when Jay and Superman-22 give completely reasonable, completely rational arguments in support of their stance, and all Carter can respond with is "GODDAMNIT IT'S WAR GRRR I WANNA CHOP PEOPLE IN HALF."

The rest of the issue is decent enough, but this just sticks out in my mind.

(6.8 out of 10)


Teen Titans: Year One #5 and 6
...That's it? That's the ending? That's freaking depressing. I don't understand what the hell.

(7.2 out of 10 for #5)
(4.9 out of 10 for #6)
(7.6 out of 10 for the series)


Fallen Angel #29
Peter David at his absolute best. Seriously I'm having a ball reading about about Lee, Mariah, and Jude's adventures across the world, so much so that if someone were to ask me for an issue I would recommend to anyone to show them the best that this series has to offer, I would show them this issue. Looking forward to more.

(9.7 out of 10)

[fifthfiend]

People just need to realize that the correct response to most douchey jibes in the internet is "Yeah, I totally give a ****, honest," and not "OH GOD I'M SO BUTT-HURT WHY IS IT THAT YOU [continue with mile-long epic description of the butt-hurting in minute detail]."

Now just watch as someone responds to this jibe with the latter.

WHY ARE YOU SO BIASED AGAINST BUTTS BW? I AM OUTRAGED BY YOUR CALLOUS DISREGARD FOR THE SUFFERING WHICH SO MANY INNOCENT BUTTS ARE FORCED TO ENDURE.

[Dread]

Actually, Manic is agreeing with me.

:huh:

Seriously dude, I was just ********ting at you.

EDIT: Also if I were really reaching for nits to pick I would never have passed up



But I did, cause that's the kind of class act I am.

That's a typo. Not the same as what you were nit-picking about. Nit-Picking typo's is probably pettier than nit-picking semantics. ;)

People just need to realize that the correct response to most douchey jibes in the internet is "Yeah, I totally give a ****, honest," and not "OH GOD I'M SO BUTT-HURT WHY IS IT THAT YOU [continue with mile-long epic description of the butt-hurting in minute detail]."

Now just watch as someone responds to this jibe with the latter.

Anal-Rape seems to come up a lot with you. :huh:

BrianWilly's lesson of the day: Match douchiness with equal to greater douchiness. Hmm.

[Manic]

*sigh*

What I was basically saying was that I understand why Dread reads Bendis' horrible books and why he thinks it's important, but I would never put myself through that because I don't think knowing what's going on with the core of the Marvel Universe is worth rolling my eyes while reading something I detest.

So I get it, but I don't think it's worth it. At least for me. And I wouldn't recommend anyone else do it. But Dread can keep on keeping on, because I tend to skip over his New/Might Avengers reviews, anyway. Not because I'm tired of his Bendis bashing, but because I just don't give a damn what's happening in those books.

[Dread]

Fair enough.

[fifthfiend]

typo's

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h143/sithcountess/Misc%20Stuff/VaderNOOOOO.gif

[BrianWilly]

WHY ARE YOU SO BIASED AGAINST BUTTS BW? I AM OUTRAGED BY YOUR CALLOUS DISREGARD FOR THE SUFFERING WHICH SO MANY INNOCENT BUTTS ARE FORCED TO ENDURE.Yeah, I totally give a ****, honest.





Now everyone try!

[TheCorpulent1]

Trinity #12 and 13
RYAN CHOI OUT OF NOWHERE~! :D:up:
I was like, "Uh, this dips*** again?" But then Ray Palmer also showed up, so I was happy. :)

[Blader5489]

*sigh*

What I was basically saying was that I understand why Dread reads Bendis' horrible books and why he thinks it's important, but I would never put myself through that because I don't think knowing what's going on with the core of the Marvel Universe is worth rolling my eyes while reading something I detest.

So I get it, but I don't think it's worth it. At least for me. And I wouldn't recommend anyone else do it. But Dread can keep on keeping on, because I tend to skip over his New/Might Avengers reviews, anyway. Not because I'm tired of his Bendis bashing, but because I just don't give a damn what's happening in those books.

Oh, see, I thought you were being sarcastic earlier since you referenced a ****load of comics that have absolutely nothing to do with SI or Bendis' Avengers.

If I read that wrong, my mistake.

[Manic]

I was being partially sarcastic earlier. Moreso in one post than the other.

[BrianWilly]

I was like, "Uh, this dips*** again?" But then Ray Palmer also showed up, so I was happy. :)I will stab you with a spork. :cmad:

[Doc Destruction]

Hmm...I don't know that one, but if you hum a few bars, I could try.



Hey, did you ever end up going to one of those conventions so you could criticize him face-to-face?

Not yet dammit :(

Still trying to set up a face to face with my LCS owner who knows him pretty well.

[Dread]

Now for something different. There is a new video game store in my neighborhood called GO GAMES and they actually happened to have a small section with comics. Most of these are foil/hologram stuff from the 90's at inflated prices or signed 90's era IMAGE or VALIENT stuff, but they did have one of those "50 Cent/3 for $1 bins". In the age of eBay and whatnot, these are becoming very rare in normal comic shops. I did some hunting.

TIME-WARP FROM THE 50 CENT BIN:

WHAT IF? (vol.2) #21: Ah, this was like a time warp back to 1991, which was when it was published. The paper is non-glossy. The coloring isn't all fancy-pants digital and is old school dots and colors. The cover price is $1.25, back when a kid could afford a comic without spending, like, half a week's allowance on a single issue. The advertisements are for NES games for THE PUNISHER and WRATH OF THE BLACK MANTA, which were, erm, hardly considered classics for the system. The back cover offers the NES add-on from Konami, the worn-on-head, voice activated LASER-SCOPE, which was a horrible flop to squeeze cash from kids' parents. Oh, and the trading card series, MARVEL SUPERHEROES SERIES 1 was just on the way. You couldn't be a kid in a school yard in 1991 without comic knowledge (even if everyone I knew were still Ninja Turtle fanatics). My Mom had subs for ASM, WEB, THOR, and HULK back then, so I could read comics for free whenever I felt like digging through her room (without getting caught). Those were the days.

This WHAT IF, like many of the time period, focused on Spider-Man; WHAT IF SPIDER-MAN MARRIED BLACK CAT? One of the flaws of these WHAT IF stories is that often knew they could get away with killing off characters, so the writers usually did. The stories usually ended in a somewhat bleak and depressing way. I only purchased a handful of these comics throughout WHAT IF's long run, which ended in the late 90's. This issue is written by Danny Fingeroth and drawn by Jim Valentino.

Watcher, the perennial series narrator, gives the run down; in this universe, Peter broke up with Mary Jane over fears of endangering her life with his career as Spider-Man. Rather than selling his soul to a Hell-Lord, he contacted his old partner Black Cat and rekindled their romance, eventually leading to marriage (which may not have been entirely legally binding, as they married under assumed aliases in Vegas; Peter used one of his tried and true aliases, "Peter Palmer"). Unfortunately, Black Cat was still in her "crazy cat-woman" phase. Let me explain; when she first debuted, she had genuine interest in Spider-Man's secret identity. But back in the 80's, just as now, the idea of Peter settling down with any woman full time scared the bejeesus out of the editorial board. So they decided to just make Felicia a bit crazy and have her all but revile Peter Parker, only being interested in Spider-Man like a crazed groupie. While I always liked the idea of a woman who actually fell for Spider-Man instead of Peter Parker (as most of Peter's lovers, including MJ, had), this seemed a little extreme, as if deliberately made to cause the reader to lose sympathy for Felicia. I recall the letters pages of Spidey comics around this period were full of hate for "Cat" as a result, wondering when Peter would dump "the broad" and stick to MJ. Ah, such simple minded fools. At least he had 20 years with MJ (barely).

The public knew by this period that Spider-Man and Black Cat were crime fighting partners (even then detective Jean DeWolfe knew), and while Cat cared little about secret identities, Peter still had a family and friends to protect. Which meant that Felicia Hardy and Peter could never be seen together, lest someone catch on. This involved all sorts of stealth games with visiting apartments, which usually infuriated Felicia. She also hated that Peter still considered MJ a friend (and vice versa), and was insanely jealous of MJ, all but threatening to assault her if she sent Peter another birthday card. See? "Crazy Cat woman". No fan in the 80's missed her. Also during this period, Silver Sable and her Wild Pack had debuted in ASM and were sometimes involved in his adventures; her Wild Pack consisted of Paladin and Sandman.

The story of course hits things off with a bang when a low-bit hood calls a "mysterious figure" via payphone claiming that by overhearing Felicia one night, he heard Spider-Man's secret identity and is offering it for $1 million. The figure, it turns out, is Adrian Toomes, a.k.a. the Vulture, who kills the hood rather than pay him. He blows up Aunt May's halfway house, but luckily she avoided death by hiding in the basement. Vulture gases Black Cat and sets his trap for Spidey; when Spidey angrily crashes in, the bird-brain chastises him about his blabbermouth partner. Spidey beats the crap out of Vulture before yelling at Cat about how careless she is. Silver Sable shows up and collects the bounty on Vulture, even sharing a cut with Spider-Man. They share a chat at her apartment and discover both of their pasts involve tragedy; Sable warns the web-head to not steel his heart as she had. Spidey tries visiting MJ, but leaves when he finds her dating a guy named "Brad". Vulture tries escaping from Rikers Island, putting a guard in a coma in the process, and is seemingly killed by a shadowy figure. He manages to croak "Spider-Man" as his last words, and suddenly the web-slinger is framed for the death and Sable and her squad are hunting him for the bounty. It turns out that Black Cat (of course) was the one who killed Vulture to protect Peter's identity and try to cover her mistake. When MJ stumbles onto the hectic fight scene, Black Cat grabs her and leaps to a rooftop; Paladin assumes she is taking MJ hostage and fills Felicia full of lead, mortally wounding her (and hardly feeling guilty about it later).

The ending actually interested me. It seems to end in darkness; Felicia dies in Spidey's arms, MJ falls from the rooftop and Peter has his 500th flashback to the death of Gwen Stacy while saving her. MJ leaves Spider-Man behind. BUT, there still is Silver Sable. Having grown closer from the experience, the two become partners and eventually, lovers.

Yes, all that happened within 22 pages. 1991 stories were like that.

The ending interested me because it reminded me a bit of how a recent WHAT IF story went. It came out in Jan. 2008 and it was WHAT IF: SPIDER-MAN VS. WOLVERINE by Jeff Parker, Clayton Henry, with a cover by John Romita Jr. The crux of that was Peter eventually choosing the "darker side" of superhero life, leaving his civilian life in the dust to keep them safe, and embracing the superhero one full on. He wound up with a black ops lover and a level of satisfaction. Danny Figeroth's story basically ends that way about 17 years sooner. Nothing's original, baby.

Naturally, the tale from 1991 shows it's age a bit in many ways. But it was nice for a time-warp.

[fifthfiend]

I combed the above for grammatical errors but I couldn't find a single one.

:(

Come on Dread, why you gotta do me that way?

[imdaly]

I combed the above for grammatical errors but I couldn't find a single one.

:(

Come on Dread, why you gotta do me that way?

Wellll...he was SOOOOO close...

...BUT!...

...in the very last paragraph...



Naturally, the tale from 1991 shows it's age a bit in many ways. But it was nice for a time-warp.

The tale shows it is age, huh? ;)



Just messin' with ya, Dread! :)

[Mr. Green]

Ha! What a ball-buster!

[fifthfiend]

AUGH! And I missed it!

Shame of such magnitude can only be expunged one way - ritual suicide in the tradition of the Grammar Pedant. If you will excuse me I must go now and disembowel myself with a copy of the American Heritage dictionary.

[TheCorpulent1]

If it's any consolation, Dread also put volume 1 when he really meant volume 2. What If (vol. 1) #21 looked like this:

http://image.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/95076770084.21.GIF

Nary a Spider-Man nor a Black Cat to be found, and comics weren't 75 cents in 1991.

[Hans]

Is Reed wearing a jet-belt?

[TheCorpulent1]

Well, how else is he supposed to fly?

[Hans]

The Fantasti-Car?

[RockSP]

Well, how else is he supposed to fly?

Weed?

[Darthphere]

Jack Kirby?

[Bubonic]

Just read the Ghost Rider Annual #2 and although I liked the main story concerning a fallen angel who kills people holding back from committing suicide due to their religious constraints. This frees them from their pain and grants them access to heaven.

Then they had a reprint of Ghost Rider volume 1 #35 which was actually a pretty awesome retro story, yet I have mixed feelings about reprints in annuals.

I sort of end up feeling jipped, seems like a far cry from the 64 page annuals I remember as a kid where you'd usually get 3 or 4 stories out of it. This just felt like it could have been Ghost Rider #27 with a reprint tacked on.

[Dread]

I combed the above for grammatical errors but I couldn't find a single one.

:(

Come on Dread, why you gotta do me that way?

Such is life.

Wellll...he was SOOOOO close...

...BUT!...

...in the very last paragraph...





The tale shows it is age, huh? ;)



Just messin' with ya, Dread! :)

Naturally. It is an error I make a lot.

AUGH! And I missed it!

Shame of such magnitude can only be expunged one way - ritual suicide in the tradition of the Grammar Pedant. If you will excuse me I must go now and disembowel myself with a copy of the American Heritage dictionary.

Whatever makes you happy.

If it's any consolation, Dread also put volume 1 when he really meant volume 2. What If (vol. 1) #21 looked like this:

Nary a Spider-Man nor a Black Cat to be found, and comics weren't 75 cents in 1991.

You're right. I actually didn't know that the stuff from the 80's-90's was actually Vol. 2. I thought it was all one volume that continued for decades. I edited my review accordingly.

The real question would be: if I were to nitpick another poster, would everyone chuckle in good jest or declare me the Internet Anti-Christ as what usually happens? ;) Because while I've learned to enjoy some of the barbs in MB jest over the past year or so, if I run a post a little long and personal, I'm usually automatically declared a bastard. It seems a little unequal. One day I would like to initiate some ribbing of my own. :p

Just read the Ghost Rider Annual #2 and although I liked the main story concerning a fallen angel who kills people holding back from committing suicide due to their religious constraints. This frees them from their pain and grants them access to heaven.

Then they had a reprint of Ghost Rider volume 1 #35 which was actually a pretty awesome retro story, yet I have mixed feelings about reprints in annuals.

I sort of end up feeling jipped, seems like a far cry from the 64 page annuals I remember as a kid where you'd usually get 3 or 4 stories out of it. This just felt like it could have been Ghost Rider #27 with a reprint tacked on.

Yeah, I flipped through that in the store and got that feeling. I didn't feel that the story was especially worth $4 extra last week. Jemas banned annuals before the Joe Q tenure because he felt they usually were worthless and sold worse than the regular issues, so he preferred they just sell an extra regular issue instead of an annual. Joe Q kept this philosophy into the first few years of his EIC run until ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1 made a wave and, like with many things, Ultimate initiated the return of annuals.

Yet most annuals have reverted to what made them seem pointless in the old days; rather than have a vital story, like USM ANNUAL #1 had, they just offer random one-shot stories (sometimes by fill-in talent, like the GR ANNUAL here) that usually can be missed. The ESSENTIALS also make sticking random reprints into annuals almost a waste because the ESSENTIALS are far more economical.

Personally, if a random filler story is good, I don't mind it. Sometimes it can seem like a break to the standard storyarc, like the MOON KNIGHT ANNUAL last year. But that's my taste, and it doesn't fit for everyone.

[Brainiac 8]

Sorry Dread, no ribbing for you.[/soup nazi]

[Dread]

Sorry Dread, no ribbing for you.[/soup nazi]

Damn you, Soup Nazi! Damn you, I say! :oldrazz:

While on the topic, I love the fact that the real-life soup chef in Manhattan (the "Soup Nazi" was based upon a real soup kitchen and chef in midtown) originally hated SEINFELD for parodying him like that, and all but sued him. But years later when he's used that infamy to boost his business, he turned an about face. People are so full of **** sometimes over money. Nothin' like good unabashed hypocrisy to lighten my day. :)

[Brainiac 8]

Money brings out the real person in many cases.

[fifthfiend]

I don't really see that as necessarily hypocritical. He may have been entirely sincere in his original anger at being parodied, but after the N millionth person told him ha ha hey it's the Soup Nazi then who isn't going to break down and say a hundred million Seinfeld viewers think I'm the ****ing Soup Nazi, I guess I might as well grind some cash out of the deal. Making lemonade out of ******** that life's handed you doesn't mean that you necessarily like said ******** or that you're even a hypocrite for using this ******** you dislike to make said lemonade.

[fifthfiend]

Weed?

What If: Reed Richards had been a stoner in college?

[RockSP]

What If: Reed Richards had been a stoner in college?

Where do you think he got the idea for that space trip?

[Anubis]

Some drunk named Stan Lee?

[fifthfiend]

Where do you think he got the idea for that space trip?

I guess he did used to keep that pipe pretty handy.