Bought/Thought 4/9/08

[iloveclones]

That's right. A bought/thought without one bought. Or thought (you could argue that's the case every week) I have no intention of giving one opinion. Let the thread die for all I care. Nobody is going to read it now that Dread is banned anyway. Let the *****ing commence.....

[Egotastic]

WTF?

[Anubis]

You suck clones.

Did the latest issue of X-Men Legacy come out this week or last week? Cuz I got it in the mail and I don't know which place to put the review.

[DoomJester]

Strange week, had some other-wise decent books that I felt could've been a lot better.

Batman: Death Mask
I was really looking forward to this book because I love anime and manga. I figured I'd love the fusing of manga and Batman... and in principle I'm not against it, but this wasn't quite the successor to Child of Dreams. The principle problem with this issue is that many scenes could've been edited-- not even cut-- to read better. Batman has a lot of strange dreams, but they are inserted so jarringly that the reader is left a bit more confused than they should be. There are other scenes which feel entirely superfluous. The book does have some high-points-- delving into Batman's psyche, askin "who is the secret identity?" is always very exciting. The book is otherwise competent-- the dialogue isn't the greatest, wittiest dialogue, but it works, same can be said for the art. This series could really take off if the next issue is edited better.
I can't absolutely recommend the book but if you feel that you need some Batman go ahead.

Criminal 2
You know how Criminal works. Something something hard life, something something bad decisions people die. No one is happy. Was this issue good? It was entertaining if you can accept that you're not really supposed to be entertained by the issue. We aren't really supposed to get any escapism by reading a comic like this. Especially with this character, he is not the type of person you can put yourself inside, and maybe the isolation was part of the story, judging by the blacked out panels. It is an interesting read, not as good as the previous Criminal, largely because of the characters are not people you can really about in this issue. I knocked the Batman book for not being well edited. This is an example of a well edited, well paced story though. And for that, Brubaker gets props.
Very well scripted, well edited issue. The story is quite simple but it is so steeped in noir style you won't notice until it's over. If you want to read a noir one-shot, go for it. It isn't earth shattering though.

Fantastic 4 556
The first real casualty. Millar is working a few angles with this book and they kinda got the best of him. The dialgoue was typically great, the art was beautiful. The scenes with Johnny were pretty cool as well, and will most likely pay off (and come crashing down on his head soon). But, I felt as though a few scenes could've been nipped and tucked to get the plot moving a bit faster. Because while cool things happened in this book, had it been edited, great things could've happened. Hitch worked against Millar some in this issue. His panels were a bit inefficient at getting the most bang for the buck in the amount of story telling you. I love Hitch but he used large blocks of the page for each panel so frequently, that when he really starts to shine in his "widescreen" action sequences, the book is almost done. I think he could've used his panels a bit better, since Millar always has so much going on. Also, the fight with "Cap" was a bit strange... I feel the payoff wasn't quite what I wanted. Also I get the feeling way too much preference was given to the "cliffhanger" ending as far as pacing goes.
The issue stumbled a bit, but you need to be reading this series. It will be one of the best of this year.

[CaptainCanada]

Booster Gold #8

Actually the ninth issue; Booster and Blue Beetle find themselves trapped in that old standard, the dark alternate Earth, and team-up with Green Arrow and Hawkman’s new Freedom Fighters to try and take down Maxwell Lord and Brother Eye (though to Booster’s dismay, the Freedom Fighters consist of Pantha (also, Lord was apparently responsible for her origin too), Anthro, and Wild Dog, and thus are not a particularly good band when it comes to taking on the evil lord of Checkmate. Meanwhile, Rip Hunter takes Daniel and Rose with him to the end of time, which is where the Time Stealers are headquartered (in a location very reminiscent of the end of time in Alan Moore’s Tom Strong series), looking to take on the bad guys directly (Rose isn’t thrilled that he’s eventually going to be having sex with Daniel), though the bad guys know they’re coming (and, presumably, Rip knows they know). The rest of the Freedom Fighters all get slaughtered in the attack on Checkmate’s castle, forcing Booster and Beetle to retreat, and Booster decides that they need a better team to fight Maxwell Lord: more specifically, they need the old JLI. This continues to be a very good comic, although it’s disheartening to know that the writers will all be changing up after twelve issues (hopefully Jurgens sticks around).

Criminal #2

Brubaker and Phillips’ second volume of their acclaimed crime series continues, and I’m still buying, although I’m not really a big fan of crime comics, but I am a big fan of Ed Brubaker, and the series continues to be very entertaining. This issue focusses on Teeg Lawless, whose two sons, Ricky and Tracy we’ve already met in the preceding stories (well, Tracy more than Ricky). Lawless Senior finds himself back from Vietnam and in debt to the sum of fifteen grand to a local casino owner, and so has to find the money, in the process stumbling into some real trouble. There’s effective use of black panels to communicate Lawless’ alcoholic/drug-induced blackouts, leaving both him and the reader disoriented as to what’s going on. This is another effective done-in-one story, with all the graphic violence and nudity we love and expect from mature readers’ comics.

Fantastic Four #556

One reviewer on ComiXtreme rather hysterically labelled this the worst issue of Fantastic Four ever, worse than any mainstream comic not written by Chuck Austen. What exactly is supposed to be so bad here is not at all clear to me, though it’s not a great issue by any means. After two issues where we mostly followed various members of the team (primarily Reed) around separately, mostly talking about stuff, we get an issue that is mostly action, as everybody (and I do mean everybody) tries to defeat the CAP robot. CAP goes on a rampage, slaughtering soldiers and trying to disarm the world’s militaries, killing anyone that gets in its way (although it doesn’t kill the heroes, perhaps because they’re just too tough). In this issue, it fights three-quarters of the Fantastic Four, the New Avengers, the Mighty Avengers, the Young Avengers, some Initiative guys (including Gauntlet and Justice) and some spare anti-Regs (like Hercules), and jollystomps everyone, through no particularly specific display of power (it appears to be just a big, unstoppable robot with vague energy weapons). There’s absolutely no explanation for why all these anti-Regs showed up at the same time as the pros when SHIELD put out the call, but I’m just glad we ducked another registration "debate" between Iron Man and Luke Cage. Having established CAP as basically unstoppable, it’s all up to Reed Richards’ tremendous brain to save the day, which he no doubt will next issue. Meanwhile, Johnny’s new girlfriend (who has an absolutely horrible codename; I’ll defend "Speed" in debates with Dread to the bitter end, but "Psionics" sucks) has a day job when she’s not supervillaining, which is cute, and Johnny is desperately trying to keep anyone from finding out about it, which one would think would be particularly hard since he’s starring in a reality show based in his apartment. This continues to be an enjoyable comic, and remarkably straightforward from Millar.

Justice Society of America #14

Much like the aforementioned issue of Fantastic Four this is pretty much all action, as the JSA finally does something after many an issue of mostly gabbing and introducing new members (not a single person joins the JSA this issue! Huzzah!). Gog, established as the forerunner of "Kingdom Come"’s Magog, has a rather pointless fight with the Infinity Man (the killer of the New Gods), although it establishes the dynamic between the Fourth World and Gog, who is the servant of the last survivor of the preceding Third World. Sand is brought in (apparently, he’s a member of the team still, although it’s very hard to keep track; this issue actually has an absolutely packed double-page spread with everybody in it, complete with names) to find Gog, but Gog kicks his ass and impales him with his staff, then teleports into JSA HQ and fights everybody for many, many pages; there are some cool moments, such as Mr. America stealing his staff using his whip, and throwing it to Amazing Man, who absorbs its properties. Ultimately, Gog clobbers Amazing Man and KC Supes, only to find himself facing Obsidian and Alan Scott, the latter now outfitted with his KC armour, which is one of my all-time favourite costumes, so it’s cool to see it brought in here. The series is starting to regain a bit of momentum now, after a long drag.

Wonder Woman #19

This I just found confusing, and I say that as someone who has enjoyed Gail Simone’s run for the most part. Last issue saw Diana brought to the Khund homeworld by the Khund to help fight the Ichor, a mysterious race that wants to destroy them on the basis of them being genocidal conquerors; the local Green Lantern, whose family died in one of their wars, is a-okay with this, and intervenes to stop Diana from helping. Diana fights him for a bit, but convinces him that death is not the answer, at which point it is revealed that, if I understand correctly, the Khunds only asked for her help in order to distract the Green Lantern while one of them set off a suicide bomb in the atmosphere that would kill everyone and prevent the Khunds from being killed by an outside power. Except, um, the GL has no interest in stopping the bomb until Diana talks him into it. Maybe I’m missing something here. Apart from the plot, we get some more reliably good characterization, and Bernard Chang’s guest art is very good; I wouldn’t mind if he stuck around, but Aaron Lopresti coming on next issue has me very excited.

[Anubis]

never mind

[Anubis]

Screw it, I'll go to Doom Jester's, he actually has reviews up.

[iloveclones]

Originally Posted by Anubis

Screw it, I'll go to Doom Jester's, he actually has reviews up.

I was actually making fun of my own thread while they were merging it. Oh, irony rules the day.

[iloveclones]

It came out last week. But I doubt anyone will hunt you down if you put it in either place.



I do suck, don't I?

[Anubis]

Wow, super fast merge.

[DBM]

Originally Posted by iloveclones

That's right. A bought/thought without one bought. Or thought (you could argue that's the case every week) I have no intention of giving one opinion. Let the thread die for all I care. Nobody is going to read it now that Dread is banned anyway. Let the *****ing commence.....

How did Dread get banned? I must have missed that.

[iloveclones]

Originally Posted by DBM

How did Dread get banned? I must have missed that.

We just saw that today. My guess was he went over his Word Count...

[Anubis]

Originally Posted by DBM

How did Dread get banned? I must have missed that.

No one knows. We just woke up one day, and the music died....

[DoomJester]

The latest issue of X-Men Legacy was last week. I say just review it with your current stack of books though.

It doesn't matter if there are no reviews in the initial thread. I was making a bought/thought earlier--I started my thread first, just posted it second (it just took me so long to write a few reviews, gathering my thoughts and all) that this one popped up. I don't really care where the reviews go, cause I can easily copy/paste.

Can we just decide where to place the books to avoid confusion? I think there is a case to be made for someone just making a bought/thought thread to just dump reviews in. It avoids multiple threads showing up.

[TheCorpulent1]

I still vote rampant mod overreaction--the cause of 75% of all Hype bannings.

[DoomJester]

Originally Posted by TheCorpulent1

I still vote rampant mod overreaction--the cause of 75% of all Hype bannings.

But most people pretty much play by the rules on hype, at least, in the 3 comic boards I browse. That's what I see. Take into account that I rarely hit up the movie boards...

[iloveclones]

Seriously though, who's going to populate this thread if there's no Dread review to wait for...

[Egotastic]

Originally Posted by iloveclones

Seriously though, who's going to populate this thread if there's no Dread review to wait for...

Dude. MANY, MANY people write reviews in these threads. I don't what's up with you swinging on Dread's nutsack, but his reviews are generally the ones I ignore (because of length) or read just to laugh at. Everybody else's reviews I usually read regardless of the poster who posted them.

[MyPokerShirt]

Originally Posted by Egotastic

Dude. MANY, MANY people write reviews in these threads. I don't what's up with you swinging on Dread's nutsack, but his reviews are generally the ones I ignore (because of length) or read just to laugh at. Everybody else's reviews I usually read regardless of the poster who posted them.

BLASPHEMER!!

[Dread]

I actually am kind of embarassed and touched that discussion about the probationary ban got this kind of a response. I usually don't like distracting from the B/T.

The short end of the story is that it was a case of mistaken identity; my IP address matched that of a troll on the Hype. Because I use a cyber cafe for most of my posts (where I go after school/work), my IP address is rather common. But I explained myself to the mod and several people vouched for me. I don't know who exactly by name, but to all of you, thanks. It is appreciated.

Everything's cool now. Thanks for the concern.

Originally Posted by Egotastic

Dude. MANY, MANY people write reviews in these threads.

Word. I like that my reviews have a rep here, but I never wanted to disparage other people who post them, too. I read every one that is posted and sometimes incorporate the opinions into my drafts, like if a "consensus" about something is brewing. Still, this is all a MB and while my opinion is important to me, it rarely is any better than anyone else's. So give some of the other loyal B/T'ers some attention and a read.

I'll try to get things back on track with reviews soon enough. This was a small but good week. I got BOOSTER GOLD #8, FANTASTIC FOUR #556, THE LAST DEFENDERS #2, and NOVA #12.

[iloveclones]

Originally Posted by Dread

I actually am kind of embarassed and touched that discussion about the probationary ban got this kind of a response.

Actually, we all kind of thought you deserved it. Wait until we get ahold of those vouchers.....

[Dread]

Now that the misunderstanding is cleared up, how about some more reviews? Great job on the ones so far; it doesn't surprise me that Zeb Wells is hitting ASM out of the park. When he shattered the low expectations of YOUNG AVENGERS/RUNAWAYS during CW and produced a fun, likeable and appropriate team up with a lot of action and character, I realized that whatever ills he wrote for NEW WARRIORS, he probably learned from the experience for the better. Everyone is allowed one mulligan in their career. Or in the case of some creators, several.

This was a short week, but an overall great one in quality. Even the worst book of the four listed would be about a B in quality, and that's pretty damn good. Couldn't they all be like this?

Dread's BOUGHT/THOUGHT for 4/9/08:

BOOSTER GOLD #8: Or issue nine if you get technical, the storyline involving the ramifications of Booster saving Blue Beetle continue onward and quite frankly it is a compelling and exciting storyline, full of heart and character.

I remember during Darwyn Cooke's commentary on JUSTICE LEAGUE: NEW FRONTIER in which at one point he mentions a scene and scenerio where he says, "both of them are right". In a way, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle are both right. No one is going to begrudge Micheal for saving his best friend from being murdered. Why should he believe Rip's theory about "solid time" when time has been altered before? When countless heroes have risen from the grave? Besides, emotions would surely come into play. He saw his chance and took it, and no one could begrudge him for it. On the other side, Ted has been hinting that altering what was meant to be, as he is catching on that he was "destined" to be killed by Max Lord, has ruined things and he does try to convince Booster to reverse it for the greater good. Again, a noble, selfless gesture and that is in character, too.

Of course, at some point Booster and Beetle will probably agree that fixing the time-stream is more important than their friendship, that being heroes is better than both of them surviving, and for all we know that could be how Johns & Katz want to end their run (since we know from previews that with issue #12, or technically 13, a new creative team is on). But the point isn't always the conclusion, but the ride getting there. Johns & Katz are not rushing things, letting things run their course, and all the while keeping the tone serious and dark overall, but not without amusing interludes to break the tension, so things are not so dire. More stories could benefit from this.

Undoing Beetle's death undid the JLA discovering about the OMAC Project, so now Lord & Brother Eye have seemingly destroyed all the major superheroes, and Max is using Superman as his personal brainwashed flunky. He can't get Kal to kill (just yet), but pummeling other heroes is just fine. Blue & Gold fall into the token resistance movement, led by the bickering Hawkman & Green Arrow, and comprising of C-List fodder like Pantha, Anthro, and Mad Dog. I only them vaguely but that is just fine for this story. They plan an attack on Lord's stronghold, but it doesn't work and virtually the entire team is killed or OMAC-isized aside for Booster & Ted. There is also another Countdown homage, when Lord shoots Beetle in the shoulder. Since Johns wrote that, it verges on tooting his own horn, but it is done well so I didn't mind. Rip begins to track down the Time-Breakers while they, including the "Black Beetle" of the future, plot to undo Booster Gold before he becomes the threat he is destined to be to the villians, noting that there is a grand destiny to Booster.

The art by Jurgens & Rapmund is great as always. Classic without being retro, expressive, and very energetic. It has enough detail for the eye for some of the costumes and local yet it all moves very well. BOOSTER GOLD is just a well-put-together comic on all levels, which may not be the case for the rest of the DC line, or so I hear. If you're not aboard, you're missing out on DC at it's best. The reunion of the JLI, or "the Leaguers who seem to always get mutilated during the DiDio tenure" looks to be very sweet, both nostalgic and appropriate at the same time to the story. THAT's how to do it. Johns has some blunders on his resume, but this isn't one of 'em. Thumb's up.

FANTASTIC FOUR #556: Hitch doing a retro cover like that is...interesting. At any rate, while I agree with the masses that this is the worst issue of Millar & Hitch's run on the book so far, there's no reason to get hysterical about it. As part 3 of 4, it is basically resolving the build-up and setting up the climax. It has a functional purpose to the story as a whole, even if not as a story in itself. If this was a 6-parter I might be irked, but at a 4 parter it is acceptable.

Even taken as is, it was better than a slew of books out there. Perhaps the surprising bit of news for some is that if you look at the sales charts for Feb. 2008, which was the launch book of this, while Millar & Hitch have doubled FF's sales and gotten it into the Top 10, they couldn't get it into #1 or even in the Top 5, and Feb. was a slow month in terms of sales (only three books, all Marvel, sold 100k or over). Why this is is anyone's guess; it could be because the Four are not the hottest franchise Marvel has, especially after the fizzled performance their sequel had. It could also be a hesitation to get involved since the LAST project from these two got delayed quickly. Or it could be a sign of retailer belt-tightening due to the economy. Who knows. Frankly, I never expected Millar & Hitch on FF to score #1, and getting the book into the Top 10 without needing an event is a worthy accomplishment, not unlike JMS & Coipel on THOR. The trick will be to keep it there.

As I stated, this is a bridge-the-gap issue. CAP is raging a rampage outside of New Earth, taking down an Alaskan military squad and moving onto taking nukes out of the equation, not unlike Superman in SUPERMAN IV (at least until Radioactive Fingernail Man arrived, speaking in second person). Alyssa asks SHIELD to throw every superhero they can at it, and they do, to no avail. Johnny is trying to kick-start his shameless media exploitation career while sleeping with the "criminal chick" he collared last issue. Her codename, Psionics, is so lame that I had to re-read it before I caught on that it was actually her codename. I mean, how about this as a general rule; if you can't think up a good codename, don't use one at all. Just use a character's regular name. Heck, even just using her hair color as a codename would have worked better. But, it wasn't an issue-breaker.

I suppose the issue does have two fundamental problems involved in the big fight. The first is namely that if SHIELD is assembling this hero-force, then why are a slew of unregistered heroes among them? I suppose that considering the events of the twin AVENGERS books, where the Mighty Avengers have accepted aid from the rogue New Avengers without arresting them, including during WORLD WAR HULK, it isn't such a big deal. CAP is easily at least as big a threat as Hulk posed. Perhaps the biggest issue is that upon having arrived at the scene and seeing that CAP has already dispatched with half of the current Marvel hero roster, you automatically know that Johnny, Sue, and Thing have absolutely zero chance and you just sort of thumb along, waiting for Reed to make his enterance (which he does in the final page splash). I mean a threat that has just defeated both squads of Avengers alongside Hercules, Yellowjacket, Gravity, et. al., then watching 3 of the Four give it a go almost feels like going through the motions, no matter how you slice it, or how well Hitch draws it. It isn't like the three of them did anything remotely clever or out of the ordinary for the Four; Thing tried punching it, Torch tried burning it, and Sue made her 1,000th forcefield that got shattered. I mean something interesting might have been, say, trying to get CAP high enough into the air that Johnny could supernova the thing without killing everyone. But what do I know? Besides, the problem with CAP taking everyone out so quickly is that it almost feels like a plot-hole, without having to explain the robot's powers directly.

Still, despite being action packed set-up, the issue does no harm; hell, you have heroes fighting something in red, white, and blue and no one mistakes that for some political angle. That is because it is not part of the story at all; CAP is meant as an homage to the fallen hero and that is all you need. This is shaping up to be at least as good as Millar's UFF run and probably better, and Millar is enjoying himself with the fundamentals of the Four, even if I would say it is about time Johnny matured some. But, yeah, the McDuffie run was SO last year.

Hitch's art is great as usual, although some of his faces for women looked similar, and he still struggles with non-leather 616 outfits. Maybe he is actually trying to rush to keep schedule? Anyway, even as the worst issue of the run so far, it is fine enough and does what it needs to do. It still is the best thing I have read from Millar since, well, Ultimate Fantastic Four. I cynically called that this run would only get out Four issues on time, so I have until June to be proven wrong. I wouldn't mind.

THE LAST DEFENDERS #2: That IS a Deodato cover, isn't it? Not only is She-Hulk barefoot, but her rear is facing the camera. Anyway, TLD chugs along and Casey & Giffen have made a light-hearted superhero team book that seems all over the place at times, but doesn't do any harm to the characters and offers some chuckles and action. Muniz's art still isn't quite as good as Casey gushes, but I say part of that is Fabela's colors, because these pages inked without color looked slightly better from Newsarama previews.

The core plot centers around Iron Man disbanding the team after their first mission against the Sons of the Serpent goes horribly wrong. Sure, they pummeled the magical dragon the zealots summoned and beat up a lot of grunts, but they trashed half of Atlantic City in the process, and even Stark fears the wrath of Donald "Yuh Fye-ED" Trump. She-Hulk notes how they didn't know about the dragon and whatnot, but Iron Man is on his "hypocritical safety concern" jibe and isn't hearing it; after all, his Mighty Avengers have been equally reckless, without having to repeat myself. Blazing Skull and Colossus seem to go their seperate ways, but Jen sticks around and when Nighthawk gets a signal from his SHIELD agent pal's com, She-Hulk lends a hand for the rescue. Agent Pennysworth gets in some great lines as Jen & Kyle fight each other and then encounter the SOTS' "Mad-Bomb". Meanwhile, Yandroth goes back in time and tries to form an alliance with a young Hellstorm.

Under the hands of others, I might be concerned, but Casey & Giffen are planning something here, and both are good at their craft. But more to the point, not many of Marvel's team books are this "fun" these days and so even the bits that don't quite work can be forgiven. Considering I raised enough angst about Colossus' placement on the team to sink a battleship, so far while he hasn't done anything noteworthy, he hasn't been harmed, either. I mean, sure, Nighthawk is clearly the focus, but Skull and Jen have also done more in the story than Colossus, who just seems sort of "there". Still, I guess Piotr is the sort of fellow who would work on a traditional superhero book; he is a tanker and he follows orders and doesn't have ego issues. Kind of like those B-Level players on a sports team who don't always get all the attention, but know their fundamentals and do their job, and when the team wins, are often the unsung heroes. At least the mystical fire-breath didn't do more than scuff him. It was cute seeing him in a bathrobe in steel-form. Still, I see a lot of missed potential here and hopefully the next four issues have something special for him to do.

I expect the core four to reform, although with Stark wanting to scrap the Defenders, it explains why we have some new members coming in future issues; perhaps a do-over? Defenders vs. Defenders? To sum up, LAST DEFENDERS isn't the best Marvel book out there, but it has plenty of action and chuckles, and is light-hearted. More serious than X-MEN FIRST CLASS yet not suck in melodrama and bleakness. I can't imagine the sales will be too strong, though; unfortunately, as Kirkman has hinted, any lighter hearted hero books these days sell like poo. It is only a mini, though, and I am looking forward to more madcap action and where it all will conclude for the heroes. Nighthawk works surprisingly well as the lead here, too.

NOVA #12: If I did a "Pick of the Week", this might be it. Abnett & Lanning perform the amazing task of getting NOVA to an issue 12, and he will probably get to at least issue 16, which is an accomplishment for the franchise. But moreover, they provide a kick-ass story with some stunning art & colors by Pelletier, Magyar, and Guru. Seriously, those Technarch designs hurt my fingers just looking at 'em.

The technarch Siredam has been summoned, and hope for Warlock, Tyro, Nova and their planet seems lost. Left with little option but to flee before they are killed, Tyros wants to fight but Warlock wants to preserve his offspring and his hope for the new Technarch. Seeing that only Nova has enough power to slow down the Siredam with his collective Nova Force, Warlock sacrifices his "lifeglow" to cure Nova and then, well, the comic goes from bad-ass to, uh, even more bad-ass. Nova is back to full power and it looks as cool as it should be. He is able to fight toe-to-toe with the massive threat again and it looks stunning. Who said superheroes have to be low powered to be relatable? Abnett & Lanning are simply masters at making Nova cool, running with the foundation that Giffen had left them (and they helped build with NOVA's first 4 issue mini). Leaving Earth has been the best thing to happen to the character.

I was afraid that DnA would be pulling something similar to past arcs; creating or writing good supporting characters and then either killing them (Ko-Rel) or removing them from the stage (Kosmo). But fortunately they don't repeat themselves. Tyros ends up saving the day, his father, and even Nova's buddies Drax and Gamora. Contrary to solictations or checklists, the gang is set to appear in ANNIHILATION CONQUEST #6, and while I don't see DnA abandoning Phyla & Adam Warlock, or even Peter Quill to allow Nova to take out Ultron, I can see this gang purging the Kree of the Phalanx. AC #6's finale next week just got all the more sweeter.

People may begrudge ANNIHILATION CONQUEST for not surpassing or maybe matching the prior event, but it has still been an incredible ride, with a better villian. No delays, no posturing, no overhype, no fudgy morals; y'know, the opposite of the Mainstream Marvel event. And as the only ongoing of the line, NOVA has blazed a path of greatness for 21st century Marvel space heroes. Blue blazes indeed.

I know this seems short compared to the other 3 reviews, but even I struggle to spend a thousand words trying to capture how great a read this issue was. Just go out and grab it for yourself.

[TheCorpulent1]

I know. What good is a Bought/Thought thread that you can scroll through without developing carpal tunnel syndrome?

[iloveclones]

And we just got the guy to use paragraphs, too. Good God.

[DoomJester]

Dread banned? That's crazy. Weird. Thread merging is good though, I forgot that was possible... I guess I will just do another post.

Reviews continued...
Wolverine 64
Yet another casualty of war. If Millar had great ideas that got the better of him, Aaron had a firm grasp of what to do with his story but just made some poor pacing decisions. Did we need another issue of Wolverine/Mystique chase and a flash-back? No. No we didn't. But Aaron did it so well. The atmosphere was quite suspenseful. Now, I wasn't going to jump out of my seat or anything, but he did a great job keeping my attention glued to the action. I just really question the pacing of this issue, given that the outcome, even from issue one, was most certainly a Wolverine/Mystique showdown, the ending is not a surprise at all and would never be a surprise, well maybe her choice for battle-gear is Seriously, that's gonna have to be explained.
Another series you need to be reading! It won't enlighten anyone but this is a textbook case on how to write a well scripted action comic with real characters and an advanced narrative.

JSA 14
I thought JSA was going downhill for the last 3 issues or so, but this picked up with steam. Has it redeemed the arc yet? No. But it is a return the kind of writing that made the first 6 issues genius. The pacing was still a little awkward though. Maybe I'm a bit stressed out after the earlier Thy Kingdom Come issues, but if I see the JSA sitting at that table arguing about what to do one more time I'm gonna flip. Too many issues have been wasted to make using an immersion technique like that. I'd like the plot to move forward even faster, but the story is definitely picking up again. The next issue will almost certainly be fantastic. Also, the art was great!
A definite improvement over the previous issues. The end was very good. It is too early to call with this arc. I think Johns is ready to come out swinging and end on a high note, but he may have waited a bit too long.

Countdown to Final Crisis 3
I'd love to rip this book to shreds here but that would take up too much space. Let me say that the pacing of the books has improved tremendously. The events are flowing quickly but the characters and their decision making is so stupid it almost offends me. If anyone believes that any of these people are driven by anything but plot then well, tell me how. Mary Marvel makes no sense, Superman makes no sense, Kyle and Donna, no sense. It is a travesty. I've complained Bendis does whatever he wants to characters for the sake of his story... well, that's not true (not always). Countdown does that. And its becoming frustrating.
Superman and Darkseid do fight in the book, for some length, but no, this issue isn't even worth that. Trust me. Although, the pacing was generally at a good frantic pace.

Amazing Spider-Man 556
I'm not a big fan of Bachalo's pencils, so I was already very distracted while this book, especially because of the snow... In any case, I question the pacing some, I mean, did Spider-man really need to have that conversation with the bum? Did we really need that many scenes telling us how cold it was? The dialogue was pretty nice though. I'm not huge on this arc, but I really enjoy getting a spidey book three times a month. The ending could very well be neat, but the way the book is paced, nothing is really guaranteed. On an off note, I wonder what the writers will do with the female cop that Peter knows. I feel like some background is being laid for some later stories. I think my biggest problem with the book, after pacing, is that Spidey is so isolated from everyone else in this arc, and it is bad idea. Because when Spidey is isolated like that, I become keenly aware that it doesn't matter if he is married or not, or if he is a loser or not, and then sting of OMD kinda resurfaces... I think Brand New Day is at its best when Spidey is around all the people.
I can't give this book an absolute recommendation. If you want spidey though, it certainly isn't offensive. I definitely liked the previous arcs more.