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]

Originally Posted by 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?

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]

Originally Posted by Mr. Green

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.

Originally Posted by Mr. Green

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]

Originally Posted by fifthfiend

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]

Originally Posted by gildea

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]

Originally Posted by TheCorpulent1

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]

Originally Posted by fifthfiend

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]

Originally Posted by TheCorpulent1

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]

Originally Posted by RockSP

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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.

Originally Posted by RockSP

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."

Originally Posted by Brainiac 8

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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.