Bought and thoughtfor the week of March 4th 2009 *spoilers*

[bryanss3]

first up

Sub-Mariner the Depths 5 of 5.
I've really been enjoying this series its not quite what you'd expect. I liked the first 4 issues but I hate the last issue. it was an obvious and pretty cliche. the ending of is

Spoiler

every one on the Submarine dies except Dr. Stein who returns to the surface and claims Atlantis is a myth. the story ends with a monologue of his saying things like "there are some places we just shouldn't know about" "tis has to be forgotten" end with him throwing his journal in to the ocean.

I was really enjoying this mini. too bad they had to end it so unoriginal. this was just disappointing. 4/10

Solomon Grundy 1 of 7.
so the faces of evil one shot which was basically a preview for this was not that good. not a lot happened and the ending was basically coming next month a 7 issue limited Solomon Grundy series. I liked this issue a lot more than the one shot where almost nothing happened but it didn't like a complete issue. if the one shot and this issue were 1 comic they would be a pretty good whole issue. this issue continues from where the FOE one shot left off. GL Alan Scott and the Phantom Stranger trying to help Grundy. this leads Grundy into a battle with the Demon Etrigan. this battle was fully of Grundy yelling this like "Grundy kill!" "Grundy no like fire face!" and the classic "Grundy Smash!" which makes me miss the Superfriends days of "Grundy wants pants". this isn't a total waste if you like Solomon Grundy and in the next issue he's gonna fight Bizarro.
6/10 as a stand alone issue but if you get this and the FOE one shot I guess it'd be 8/10

Superman World Of New Krypton 1 of 12
So Kal El has left Earth to live on New Krypton this idea is very promising but the first issue of this story is summed up as an ok story with great characterization. I like it but there are very few surprises. I love James Robinson writing Superman its just this is a set up issue you can tell where it is going the whole issue. the characterization is good its just the story that hurts this. What drives this story though is Kal El's drive. it's clear he wants to change how new Krypton is going to be run. He doesn't agree with their Guild system and he can see the flaws and corruption in Zod and his aunt Alura. It's clear he wants to do anything but wage war with his people to help change their society for the better. 7/10

Secret Warriors #2
If it wasn't clear to you by the end of the last issue HYDRA is back. HAIL HYDRA! I really liked this issue this issue. the story itself tells more about whats going on with HYDRA, but the parts with Fury's team felt more like they were to get us associated with the characters better. this is shaping up a lot better than I expected. The series hasn't won me over yet but I like the direction plus it has a whole arc to win me over before I'd decide to drop it. the next issue will be more action packed thats a given. 8/10

Daredevil #116
I now know why there are 2 issues of Daredevil this month. This entire issue is about Wilson Fisk the Kingpin and his new life Daredevil does not appear in this issue at all. I wonder if anyone can guess how this issue ends? Wilson Fisk finds his new life, his new love, and his new family, but is troubled by his past. He's scared to be happy and let go the memories of his wife and life as the Kingpin the second he lets his guard down guess what happens. The thing that holds up in this is the writing. Ed Brubaker isn't stupid he knows we all know how this issue is going to end. The real make of this comic is the writing. He actually made me feel bad for the Kingpin a few times in this story. think of all the things he's done. this was a really good way to start a new arc and I'm ready for the King To return. 9/10

War Of Kings 1 of 6
this read incredibly fast but in the kind of good way. this is a great start for this limited series. thats all I'm gonna say. its good
the art looked a little to cartoony in some parts but still good.9/10

X-men/Spider-man 4 of 4
I really liked this mini series. cause I am a big fan of both that being said. this issue for me is the weakest issue. the other 3 were really good, but this one was just ok to me. the art was still just as good as the others. a plus this issue had a lot of funny dialog. mainly between Wolverine and Spider-man. the whole series is great but I wasn't really feeling the final issue as much as the others. 7/10

Deadpool #8

starting off the DP thunderbolts crossover and guess what it's my least favorite issue of this new Deadpool series. I didn't really find any of the jokes in this funny and guess what the thunderbolts don't actually show up till the end of the issue. I was actually happy going into it cause Thunderbolts 129 seemed to lead right into this last week but instead so I didn't feel like I had to wait till thunderbolts 130 to actually see the fight. also Norman Osborn kinda talked like a robot through most of this which leads me to believe the crossover will end with Deadpool killing Osborn only for it to be revealed as a LMD.
4/10 and I feel bad saying it cause its been very entertaining till this issue.

more later

 

[CaptainCanada]

Best of the Week:

Daredevil #116

One of Brubaker's little one-shot character-focussed stories; he excels at this sort of thing (consider "The Lonesome Death of Jack Monroe" in CA #7 or Winter Soldier: Winter Kills), and the focus here is on the Kingpin, who, per the "Return of the King" arc title, will soon be in a New York state of mind. There's not really much plot here, but a lot of atmosphere and character. Kingpin tries to live up to his wife's wish that he stop being the Kingpin and find a normal life, so he moves to Spain and starts hanging out with a single mom and her two little kids and I'm sure you can see where this is heading. Fisk's an utter bastard, but Brubaker does a great job of making you feel sorry for him. He subverts expectations twice here: the Hand don't want to make Fisk their leader (LB basically tells him to go back to New York and see Daredevil about them), and it turns out that Vanessa's last wish was really for Kingpin to find a new life and then destroy it and all the people he came to care for, just so he would realize how she felt. Damn, Vanessa's a righteous *****. Aja's guest art is typical solid stuff; hard to tell apart from Lark, for the most part, though he throughs in a really neat pop art-style page that Lark would never do.

War of Kings #1

Hey, a cover full of people who don't appear! (Nova, Starlord, Major Victory, Darkhawk; the Starjammers would have made more sense, though I suppose the point is to let people know they'll show up at some point) Annihilation III, for all intents and purposes, has as its big selling point the inclusion of the X-Men's corner of the cosmic universe, which has heretofore been off-limits while engaged in it's own civil war story. The fallout of that has Emperor Vulcan now out to subdue the last remaining opponent worth note, the Kree, and even they are extremely weak following two successive wars (to the point that Black Bolt's Inhumans could easily topple the government and gain control). The remaining Shi'ar opposition consists of the Starjammers, by now a mix of X-Men, the usual Corsair flunkies, and Lilandra. There's a cute bit with Crystal and Polaris (what wedding could do without the bride's ex-husband's half-sister?), but my favourite moment of the issue is Vulcan's wondering aloud why a Guardsman he killed back in UXM #480 is seemingly back to life. Gladiator's internal monologue might as well say "I'm so gonna betray the Emperor somewhere in this story", but this is one of his best showings in terms of power levels in quite a while, KO'ing Black Bolt with a little help. I did wonder about the nature of the Guard's objective here, though; they describe the operation as a "headshot", but they don't seem to kill anybody significant (except possibly Ronan), and Black Bolt is left standing. Nice art from Paul Pelletier, though I sometimes think his cute figures are a bit out of place in a fairly bloody story like this.

 

[Keyser Soze]

I was all set to drop Secret Warriors after giving the first issue a try. I thought it was alright, but didn't really grab me enough to want to keep reading. But with the glowing reviews I'm reading for #2, I'm thinking about giving it at least one more issue to win me over.

I really can't wait to pick up Daredevil either. I've been mildly entertained by what I've read of the Lady Bullseye arc, but even judging by the preview material, I can tell Return of the King is going to be on a whole other level. High expectations there.

 

[GNR]

Daredevil is one of the best superhero titles on the racks.Quality month in and out.

And Aja is far from "typical" CC!

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

Fantastic Four: Dark Reign #1

"I want this over two minutes after we hit the lobby."

Man, Sue is bad ass.

There's not much to say about this issue. It really is just set up but I liked it all the same. The Four are in character, the art by Chen is solid and it really did seem to set up some cool action for the rest of the series.

So, all in all, a great first issue.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Fantastic Four: Dark Reign #1

"I want this over two minutes after we hit the lobby."

Man, Sue is bad ass.

There's not much to say about this issue. It really is just set up but I liked it all the same. The Four are in character, the art by Chen is solid and it really did seem to set up some cool action for the rest of the series.

So, all in all, a great first issue.

Indeed. Makes me look foward to Hickman on the main title even more.

 

[Anubis]

Question about that whole Superman on New Krypton thing, where the f**k is Lois? And if he didn't bring her with him, how did she react to him going to go live with a bunch of *****e bags on another planet?

 

[hippie_hunter]

Question about that whole Superman on New Krypton thing, where the f**k is Lois? And if he didn't bring her with him, how did she react to him going to go live with a bunch of *****e bags on another planet?

He told her in last week's issue of Superman that he was leaving and had to renounce all ties to Earth. She gave him the a okay.

 

[BrianWilly]

He explained to her, in the last Superman issue, that he needed to go and try to keep a watch on the Kryptonians for both their and Earth's sake. She understood, and then moved in with Cyclops UH I MEAN SHE'S WAITING FOR HIM DUTIFULLY AND LOVINGLY AND STUFF.

 

[Anubis]

.......Man they better not f**k up Supes and Lois like Marvel did Spidey and MJ......I think I might actually give a s**t about that.

 

[JewishHobbit]

War of Kings 1 -
Deadpool 8 -
Secret Warriors 2 -
X-Men/Spider-Man 4 - but just barely

I've really liked X-Men/Spider-Man so far but this issue just felt a little bland. I was hoping for something big to come of Sinister's years of experimentation but I wasn't that impressed with what came of it. I guess if that character moves on to become a mainstream foe it could be cool but I doubt we'll ever see it. One bonus though... no sign of BND spidey anywhere and Kitty's there so it's pre-Messiah Complex also, so chance is it's all completely pre BND.

 

[BrianWilly]

.......Man they better not f**k up Supes and Lois like Marvel did Spidey and MJ......I think I might actually give a s**t about that.

I'm pretty sure they'll be fine. It wasn't treated as something horrible and bad, it was treated as a whole big emotional and romantic moment they had together and everything.

I think that the only people left who would ever want to see them separated are the random minor zergs in the deeper reaches of The Internets, especially after something like All Star Superman.

 

[Anubis]

One could say the same thing about the people that didn't want Spidey and MJ together. All it takes is one of those random minor zergs to get into a positon of power within the industry to change things.........

 

[Manic]

I only picked up a handful of titles this week, and here they be. As always, my reviews are mirrored at my website. I'm experimenting in integrating excerpt panels, these days.


BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON 8 #23
Writer: Drew Z. Greenberg
Penciler: Georges Jeanty
Publisher: Dark Horse

Right away, the thing that stuck out the most about this issue was the dialogue. It was completely, absolutely, 100% on point. More than many other issues, the dialogue was written so perfectly, I actually heard the voices of the actors as I read through the story. I had to go back to the credits page to see who the writer was. It's Drew Z. Greenberg, one of the old staff writers and story editors from the Buffy TV series.

Andrew is heavily featured in this issue, as some of the slayers under his command went rogue some time ago, and he's finally received information about the capture of one of them. Apparently somewhere in Italy (where Andrew leads a team of slayers as their watcher), a rogue slayer named Nisha has been ensnared by some sort of Ragna demon, and retrieving Nisha could allow Buffy to find and bring in a notorious rogue slayer named Simone. Buffy and Andrew go on this mission alone, which allows us to read some of Andrew's many geeky musings about Star Wars, Terminator, Jem, V for Vendetta, and Daniel Craig as James Bond. Somewhere along this long trip, Buffy and Andrew finally bond, which makes for an amusing couple of pages. However, things in the story take a sudden turn when it's revealed that Andrew genetically engineered the Ragna demon specifically to capture the rogue slayers. Simone surprise attacks Buffy and Andrew, then steal the Ragna demons for herself. In the end, there's a nifty sword fight, gunshots fired, and Buffy wins while the fate of Simone's rogue slayers remains unknown.

It's been a while since we've seen Andrew in a significant role in this comic, and he came back big time in this issue. This issue clearly establishes that Andrew isn't just a tag along who hangs out with Buffy's crew because he has nowhere else to go; he's a part of Buffy's extended family, like Willow and Xander. Buffy expresses her trust in him, and with good reason. Andrew is pretty clever, and aside from the sixteen slayers who left the fold completely, he commands the respect of the slayers he watches over. He also proved to be surprisingly devious, as he went behind Buffy's back in creating the Ragna demon.

This was a good issue. Certainly the first I've really enjoyed in a couple of months.

Letting it all come out, eh Andrew? Well, most of it.

--------------------


CABLE #12
Writer: Duane Swierczynski
Pencilers: Jamie McKelvie & Ariel Olivetti
Publisher: Marvel

When we last left Cable and Hope, Cable tried to timeslide into the future to find food or water, but materialized over a sort of crater. Cable then promptly passed out from hunger and thirst, leaving a seven year old Hope alone for the first time in her life.

Being the foster daughter of Cable, Hope proves to be an enginuitive child. In the corner of her eye, Hope finds what she assumes is a partially buried can in the sand. After digging around it for a while, she discovers a crashed Japanese NASDA vessel, and opens the hatch to reveal a couple of long dead skeletons. Hope then thinks about what Cable would do, grabs his belt and some of his equipment, and climbs down the hatch to find drinkable water and food rationings. She takes them back to Cable, and finally revives him.

What's amusing is that as soon as Cable wakes up, he assumes Hope's mutant powers have manifested early, as he can't comprehend her discovering food and water when left to her own wits. Granted, she is only seven years old, but he's been teaching her how to scavenger and survive all of her life. This misunderstanding leads to Cable asking Hope to use her powers "again," which she finds confusing and frustrating. Eventually, they find the ruins of the Xavier Institute, where Cable discovers the voice recording Cyclops left for him several issues ago. After one last timeslide into the future, Cable and Hope find themselves in a populated future, and Cable has a bad feeling about this.

I think it was pretty funny, being able to read Hope's thoughts through the narration boxes and see her speak aloud. She's developed quite the vocabulary, even going as far as saying "****in' A" when she finds water (censored, of course). Also, while I typically enjoy the painted look of Olivetti's artwork, it was nice seeing McKelvie draw the majority of this issue. Olivetti's Hope looks suoer deformed, with a ridiculously tiny body, large head, and a face that belongs to an adult. McKelvie wonderfully drew Hope's little solo quest, and I wouldn't object to him returning to this title in the future.

Cussing children are adorable.

--------------------


FARSCAPE #3 OF 4
Writers: Rockne S. O'Bannon & Keith R.A. DeCandido
Penciler: Tommy Patterson
Publisher: BOOM!

Somehow, four issues doesn't feel like enough. Farscape was a series that only got stronger as it continued, and became more engrossing as it played with more plot threads. This is the penultimate issue of this limited series, and it feels like they've set up too much to conclude in one final issue.

That said, this was still a very good issue. This is one of those times when Rygel gets to shine, and this comics gets the opportunity to do a few things that I imagine the TV series wouldn't have done... like show Rygel stand. After being captured during a failed attempt to reclaim his throne, Rygel uses his experience both as a former prisoner and an adventurer aboard Moya to easily escape his shackles, and take over his prison transport ship. At the same time, John and Aeryn confront Scorpius, who has captured their son Deke. John and Aeryn escape Scorpius, reclaim their son, and bust out the rest of their friends. They soon meet up with Rygel aboard his prison ship, and agree to rendesvous with Moya at a Hynerian planet thought to be barren.

There's something strange going on with baby Deke, and I'm interested to see if they're going to reveal it next month. He hasn't cried since Scorpius got his hands on him, and the planet seems to tremor a little when he's in danger. The tremors started even before Scorpius, in fact. I also may have said this last month, but the writers (who also created and wrote for the old TV series) capture the characters' voices perfectly.


--------------------


WAR OF KINGS #1 OF 6
Writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Penciler: Paul Pelletier
Publisher: Marvel

It's strange reading this issue, since it's supposed to take place immediately after X-Men: Kingbreaker, and the final issue of Kingbreaker hasn't been released yet. Still, from what I've already read, this issue seemed fairly accessible. In fact, I find that I could've easily skipped Kingbreaker. Aside from one missing Starjammer and Rachel Summers appearing to be an 80's version of herself, nothing obvious has changed from the Emperor Vulcan miniseries to War of Kings. In fact, I probably could've skipped Emperor Vulcan. I pray that this miniseries doesn't turn out to be yet another huge waste of my precious time and money.

My reservations aside, this issue was good if you were looking for wall to wall action. It starts with a chase scene, and ends with a blitz. Vulcan's hubris is so bold that he had no qualms with staging a surprise attack on the Kree Empire during Crystal and Ronan's wedding. During the attack, Vulcan sends the Shi'ar Imperial Guard to attack the wedding itself. Two Imperial guardsmen lose their lives, as does Ronan The Accuser. Lilandra gets captured, Ch'od loses a hand, Crystal is more upset than anything when someone tries to light her on fire, and Medusa has declared all-out war against Emperor Vulcan.

It's on.

There were a few things off about this issue, however. Polaris and Crystal talk to one another as if they're old friends, but they've had little to no interaction in the past. Yes, Crystal is Quicksilver's ex-wife and Polaris is his sister, but Polaris and Quicksilver's blood relation was unknown until recently, and certainly wasn't known back when Quicksilver and Crystal were still together. Yet there's Polaris, playing with her niece as if she knows her. There were also no panels to establish the actions of characters like Rachel Summers and Medusa during the big fight scene. This wouldn't have been much of an issue, except that Medusa is badly scratched up on the final page with no explanation, and you need to account for Rachel's actions when she's been shown holding off Gladiator in the past.


--------------------


X-MEN FIRST CLASS FINALS #2 OF 4
Writer: Jeff Parker
Pencilers: Roger Cruz, Amilcar Pinna, and Colleen Coover
Publisher: Marvel

The X-Men are nearing their graduation from the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, but they first have to survive surprise attacks from practically every enemy they've faced in the past. This time, a mutant named Frederick has ambushed the X-Men. Readers might remember Frederick as an enemy from the previous X-Men First Class series, whom Cyclops assumed was dead after dropping him down a mineshaft. Frederick has survived, and he wants revenge. The X-Men are doing fairly poorly, until Juggernaut suddenly runs by, knocks out Frederick, and keeps running into the distance. The team attempts to contact Xavier through cerebro, but Jean instead detects a new mutant signature in an old rock quarry. When they investigate, they're instead attacked by what appears to be Magneto.

This issue also finished off with one of Coover's humorous backup comics.

I can feel this miniseries ending with an "it was all a dream" twist, and that stops me from being excited about this story. As fun as X-Men First Class was in the past, this is a bit of a let down, and feels like such a bad way to end the best of the First Class comics.

Keep trying, Scott.

 

[fifthfiend]

One could say the same thing about the people that didn't want Spidey and MJ together.

Naw, that was always at least half the slap***** running Marvel.

Anyway, topic.

Secret Whatever 1 & 2

So the previously competent hero character is a big dumb ****up, and has been a big dumb ****up for his entire history, and the villains were actually winning the entire time because the villains are just that many million times more competent than the heroes?

Why look at that, it is a Bendis comic.

She-Hulk 37 & 38

Nice to see David found time to crap on the last little bit of givea**** I had for this series before he slunk towards the exit. What really kills me is for a couple of pages there I almost remembered why I liked this goddamn series. The next time someone asks PAD for a character pitch and he gets that old twinkle in his eyes, jumps out of his chair and shouts "ROAD TRIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!!" like the leader of Team Fratboy in every miserable ****ing college comedy ever produced, they need to run him out of the building on a ****ing rail.

Nova 22

**** yeah, Nova. God there's so much good going on here but what really stands out is that there's been an apparent disconnect between the predominant narrative and the events as depicted in the story and then in this comic they actually resolve that disconnect, in a way that fully addresses the issue, makes clear that it was in fact intentional, and actually makes some kind of gods-blessed sense. I didn't even know writers wrote things like that anymore, I thought it just went out of fashion, like disco or newspapers or those old balloon-lookin' fake **** pornstars all used to have before science developed the new, more naturally shaped fake **** being deployed today.

Incredible Hercules 126

Main story was cool and all, but like...

They had to take away the little ****er's dog? Really?

What the ****, guys?

 

[BrianWilly]

Some real quick thoughtses; I really haven't had time to do any of these for a while.


Wonder Woman #29
I actually quite liked this issue. Genocide is still pretty cock, but everything in here -- flow of story, interesting twists, art, battles, giant squids crushing the **** out of a Navy ship -- was like a dozen times better than the issue before. What can I say, I got a kick out of Kane Milohai casting Meteo.

(7.8 out of 10)


Nathan Fillio...er, Wonder Woman: the new DTV thingy
Surprisingly good. There's so much decapitation here! The woman tosses that tiara again and again, she just can't bloody hang onto it, it's like greased lard! I guess lard is kind of grease anyway. And then there's dual-wielding zombie Amazons with the voice of Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls. And then there's some serious funny that actually caught me by surprise. It's not really the origin story movie that I would have chosen for WW, and you won't really find that much insightful insight into the whole "woman's ambassador" deal that is pretty central to the character, but it's surprisingly good. It works quite well as an All Star/Ultimate take on the story but, really, don't get this for the story, get this for the action which is phenomenal compared to your usual charming little white people cartoons.

(8.3 out of 10)


War of Kings #1
I get that I'm probably supposed to root for the Inhumkrees here, and they're certainly a fair bit more likable than Superboy-Prime OOPS I MEAN VULCAN especially with poor lovesick Ronan over there in the corner, but I do find it a bit on the "" side that Medusa was all like, "Oh whatever with your silly concerns, you silly ex-empress of an intergalactic empire who certainly has no idea what she's sillily talking about, we can handle whatever the Shi'ar can dish," and then like the very next thing they do is to...very, very not handle the stuff that the Shi'ar dished. Crystal was like hey we're Inhumans, we're very good at ruling stuff but, really, judging from recent evidence, that's pretty much the last thing they're good at. Look, b****es. You kinda suck. Deal with the not sucking and then we'll get to me sympathizing with you dying.

Sorry, Buffy came out this week. I very talk good.

Other than that, totally looking forward to this event! up:

(8 out of 10)


Nova #22
This is awesome so get it.

(9.5 out of 10)


Blue Beetle #
This is not quite as awesome but I still liked it so you should get it OH WAIT IT'S OVER. ****.

(8.3 out of 10)


Buffy the Vampire Slayer #23
This was good.

(7.9 out of 10)


The Mighty #1 and 2
This was good.

(8.2 out of 10)


Trinity #908356
This is still going? I kid. Actually this issue was really good. It kinda kicked some butt. It didn't really kick ass, but it kicked butt. The problem is that this particular issue makes it so damn glaring that like half of the issues of the last two months were just completely. ****ing. Pointless. Hawkman and co. spend all that time contesting territories and fighting against Morgain and co. and doing the whole Tarot symbology thing with different sorts of heroes and they do this week after week after week...and then apparently we're supposed to feel moved because they were losing and everything was looking dire and all hope was lost...except that this week, the Trinity just shows up in literal God Mode and pulls a literal Deus Ex Machina and saves their whole misbegotten little endeavor. Which literally means that the only actual story we needed for the past few months is the one where the Alfred and the Sidekick Crew go and get the Trinity to come back.

Yikes.

(7.9 out of 10)

 

[Keyser Soze]

One could say the same thing about the people that didn't want Spidey and MJ together. All it takes is one of those random minor zergs to get into a positon of power within the industry to change things.........

So I'm not the only one who liked Peter and MJ as a couple just fine, then? Phew, and I thought I was the one going crazy...

Don't you hate how in his interviews on the subject, Joey Q takes the Peter/MJ marriage not working as given? "Well, since they clearly couldn't stay married, we had two choices...." Before you even get into the idiocy of chosing making deals with Mephisto over simple divorce, where is this assumption that nobody liked the pair as a married couple coming from in the first place?

Sorry, off-topic rant...

 

[Tron Bonne]

So I'm not the only one who liked Peter and MJ as a couple just fine, then? Phew, and I thought I was the one going crazy...

Oh, man. You should've seen the Amazing Spider-Man thread on here when OMD first hit. Holy ****, dude, holy ****. Dan Slott himself came to the thread to defend the decision and even he got the blunt end of a lot of hate. There still is some that pops up about it, too.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

War of Kings #1
I get that I'm probably supposed to root for the Inhumkrees here, and they're certainly a fair bit more likable than Superboy-Prime OOPS I MEAN VULCAN especially with poor lovesick Ronan over there in the corner, but I do find it a bit on the "" side that Medusa was all like, "Oh whatever with your silly concerns, you silly ex-empress of an intergalactic empire who certainly has no idea what she's sillily talking about, we can handle whatever the Shi'ar can dish," and then like the very next thing they do is to...very, very not handle the stuff that the Shi'ar dished. Crystal was like hey we're Inhumans, we're very good at ruling stuff but, really, judging from recent evidence, that's pretty much the last thing they're good at. Look, b****es. You kinda suck. Deal with the not sucking and then we'll get to me sympathizing with you dying.

Sorry, Buffy came out this week. I very talk good.

Other than that, totally looking forward to this event! up:

(8 out of 10)

I was okay with Medusa being a total imperious b**** because, frankly, in everything I've seen of her lately, she's always a total imperious b****. And, given everything that's happened to the Inhumans lately, it fits. If I were in their position and actually had the power to do something, I'd definitely go the whole "we're mad as hell and we're not gonna take it anymore!" route. Also, given that Lilandra is ex-royalty, there was probably some political posturing involved. Like, yeah, we Inhumans are new intergalactic leaders, but we know how to rule without your help, ex-empress lady.

Granted, we could see that it was foolish for Medusa to disregard Lilandra's warnings, but Medusa didn't know anything about Vulcan gearing up right that second to attack the Kree. Dramatic irony there.

The Imperial Guard and Gladiator definitely stole the show this issue. Yes, it's obvious that Gladiator's gonna betray Vulcan and yes, it's always annoying that he's a total tool loyal only to the Shi'ar throne in the first place, but he kicks more ass in this one issue than he has in his last, like, ten years of appearances, so I can forgive that. He's Superman with a mohawk. He should be awesome, and thankfully DnA are making him awesome again.

Although, I'm with CaptainCanada in not really understanding the point of a "headshot" that doesn't actually kill the king or the queen or any of the major generals. All we got is Ch'od and Gorgon losing a couple limbs, which, since this is a cosmic book, they'll obviously replace with unbelievably awesome bionic versions later on. "Headshot" probably referred to Lilandra getting kidnapped in the middle of the fight, which suggests the whole strike was just a diversion to get Lilandra back. Only that doesn't make sense because Vulcan already stole Lilandra's whole kingdom so, again, confused.

 

[JewishHobbit]

As far as War of Kings 1 goes... I've heard a few comments that don't seem to be conclusive yet. Ronan is not shown as dead and could very much be alive. He just got pummeled and was laying there, could be very much unconscious. And Gorgon got eye beams to the leg but it wasn't shown as flying off or anything. It could very well just be broken.

That is all.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It looked like Gorgon's leg came off in the panel. I guess it might've still been attached. I suppose it'd be a bit awkward for a guy with his powers to have one bionic leg and one natural leg, now that you mention it.

 

[Manic]

A pure shock to the system (as my daily number of hits is equal somewhere to just under a dozen), but after my review of Farscape #3, writer Keith R.A. DeCandido left me a comment that clears up a few things said in my review:

Link

Hey there! Thanks so much for the review of the Farscape comic book.

Just FYI: this isn’t going to entirely wrap up in #4 — because there’s more to come! After this miniseries is done, the next post-finale miniseries, “Strange Detractors,” will commence. And when that’s done there’ll be another. This is a series of four-issue miniseries, not just the one.

Again, thanks for the kind words!

—KRAD

More to come. Awesome.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Ah, so it's basically like Hellboy or BPRD. That's cool.

Also, KRAD? Best initials ever.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I can't believe I'm the first person to mention Agents of Atlas #2. You all make me sick.

It was extremely awesome. The issue centers on an arms deal between the Agents and Osborn's ATF squad, now headed by Grizzly since Man-Mountain Marko got eaten last issue. There are also flashes back to the '50s with some kind of phantom Soviet plane piloted by a skeleton. I'm not sure what that's about, but the flashback stuff expands to include a meeting between Jimmy Woo and Suwan and an attack on the other Agents by some dudes with red stars on their chests.

The main story, however, is the more compelling to me. More tensions within the Atlas Foundation's hierarchy start to pop up, as Temugin sees right through Jimmy's attempts to straddle the line and do good by appearing bad. He scolds Jimmy for not even doing that much right because he could easily wipe out all the suffering and hardship in the world by simply conquering it with the Atlas Foundation's resources. What's more, Jimmy mentions at the end of the issue that Temugin may be right. I doubt he'll actually be conquering anything, but he may start resorting to somewhat dirtier means for greater gains in the end. Should be interesting to see where that goes.

The only problem I have with the series at the moment is how disjointed everything seems at times. Namora is an emotional mess, literally beating Grizzly into the ground with a helicopter for pointing a gun at M-11 at one point. Bob Grayson is similarly sort of standoffish to the rest fo the Agents in this issue, although that might've just been because he had to build the weapon that the Agents showed to Osborn's crew. M-11 is enigmatic as ever. It feels like there's a lot going on that I should know but don't. Still, it's only the second issue and the plots themselves are pretty straightforward, if not certain characters' behavior. I think Parker will clarify some of that stuff as the series rolls on.

Of particular note to a continuity lover such as myself was the fact that Temugin now has a bionic hand to replace the one he lost in MODOK's 11 (so questions about that also-awesome series' canon status can be laid to rest) and that his father apparently taught him how to teleport in exchange for Temugin giving him his rings back (which explains how the Mandarin had them in the even-more-awesome "Haunted" arc of Iron Man: Director of SHIELD).

 

[Manic]

Did Agents of Atlas #2 come out this week? I wonder if I just didn't see it or if my local comic shop was out, because I always walk across their wall of new releases twice before going to the register.