Bought/Thought 10/11

[Darthphere]

And banging Tigh's wife.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That's cool, though. Not evil. Cool.

 

[Dread]

Some replies to past points:

On X-MEN IN SPACE, AD NAUSEM: Technically you could also claim the "X-Men vs aliens" stuff started way before Claremont, in the Lee & Kirby days. But, EVERYONE fought aliens back then at least once or twice. They were standard for any hero. Even Mr. Down-To-Earth SPIDER-MAN fought "aliens" in ASM #2, until they were later retconned as costumed folk (thankfully). And yes, Claremont wrote some good space epics. But to me, space has become to the X-Men what ninjas were to Wolverine back in the mid to late 90's; something every writer seems to to do "channel the past" but all it does it endlessly copy the same tired 80's cliches while keeping the property itself in spin-cycle. Now, the flaw of all ongoing franchises is they CAN'T end so long as sales are there so you can only go so "far" with some plotlines. But the X-Men seemingly get this worse than some other properties. I mean, at least Peter Parker got out of college eventually.

The X-Men, after Claremont revived them, became not a gaggle of superheroes but true to their original purpose which was to serve as an allegory against discrimination issues. Alien stuff only distracts from their core purpose, which is to deal with the mutant situation on Earth. Morrison's NEW X-MEN was apparently the only run willing to actually pave new ground with the X-Men's premise, his problem was he did it in a manner that apparently fans and the editorial board couldn't live with (namely, typical European "weirdness" and cramming about 7 years of development into about 2). I think there is a lot of room for the X-Men to continue along their premise in a manner that seeks to do it in a way that isn't as extreme as Morrison but keeps some of that spirit around and tweaks it. But Marvel doesn't want that, and endless space stories don't help. Both ASTONISHING and UNCANNY are relying on it heavilly. It's a distraction, and it usually goes nowhere but random violence. Let the Avengers fight aliens.

I mean, we have the X-Men fighting space warriors and the New Avengers, at one point, fighting Sauron and the Silver Samurai. WTF?

ON CIVIL WAR:

I don't think it's "crap". I admit it is heavilly flawed. It's one-sided but pretentiously denies it. It relies on shock value death, grimness, and warping any character to fit the story, instead of writing a story about characters. This is a big one because I honestly believe at this point fans read comics for the characters they like, not the actual plot of the month. Therefore, when these characters act in totally mind-boggling ways to suit a story, it seems "phoney". And finally, while it is currently relivent, it's just the typical liberal bleating. Any conservative idea is "wrong", and they'll prove it by making the conservatives either idiots, brutes, or fascists. Only MS. MARVEL and occasional issues of FRONTLINE and YA/RUNAWAYS have even attempted to at least complicate that stereotype. And finally, if the real THOR doesn't appear in CW, then the Prelude issues of FF (that sold horribly well due to that tie in) were a scam, and I don't appreciate it, even if "Clor" makes more sense (as in, "I could never see the real Thor acting that way, but a Clor? Yes").

So why do I like it? Firstly, unlike HOM, it's not boring. You don't wait for 3 issues of the main title for stuff to happen. Secondly, the art is good and thirdly, Millar usually rocks on action, which I admit I can be a sucker for. Plus, while the A + B listers get butchered either in flesh or character, a lot of C listers may end up more popular than ever if they live through it, and many faces who haven't seen an interior panel in years are showing up. Yes, yes, the New Warriors got hosed, but when was the last time they were used ANYWHERE seriously? When was the last time one could really see a reassembled roster of the NW's, with remaining founders and some newbs, actually working? When was the last time we saw Shroud, Prodigy, Solo, etc. do anything? The title does embrace the entire Terran MU, even if only to stab it in the back. And lastly, while the current political relivence is a downer, it also, well, makes it relivant, which is worth something. And it's provided some good quality spin-off books like YA/RUNAWAYS, MS. MARVEL, etc., and gave Bendis something good to do on NEW AVENGERS.

That all said, ANNIHILATION is rocking arse without the delays, the overhype, the massive tie-ins, and the lateness. It's not out to cynically try to reinvent the wheel like CW wants to, and it's not afraid of expectations of the genre. In embraces the genre and simply does it well and effectively. However, much like ETERNALS, because CW is clogging the racks, it sells worse than it deserves to.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Hate the fat suit.

Can't say that I blame them. lol

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

The story was quite enjoyable for me too, that is until they had Tony go so far as to hire villians to hunt down his friends and other heroes. How people can accept that as within his character is beyond me.

"You know, I have a friend who doesn't who thinks orange is the new red, when obviously it's the new yellow, so I'm going to hire Jeffrey Dahmer to hunt them down, and ruff 'em up a bit."

How can you agree with that. Tony is now a villian, hands down. And somehow, they'll have him fixed and all hero and nicey nice to Captain America by the time the movie comes out.

I HATE mis-characterization for the sake of a story.

That sounds like my mom, kind of.

"This person doesn't agree with said fashion, so they should die." Though she speaks in totally incoherent sentences and such. Drugs and alchohol will do that to you. Either way, it should sound MORE like my father.

"This person is too dumb to understand the complexity behind why I'm subjugating them to this eternity of servitude under my glorious mind. Therefore they must die." Which isn't true either.

Call him a villan if you want, just don't use metaphor's that don't make sense.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

You noticed the obvious extreme liberalism in CW, as well Dread? I figured it was just me, who's even liberal. Though I like to think of it in the literal term, not the political one. Either way. I still think it follows the load of garbage, "organized regular humans can't make good decisions for regular humans, but anybody who throws on a costume can." It's dumb, it's unrealistic, and it's most DEFINITELY simply an anti-government extreme liberal **** fountain of a message. However, I still do like the story some. While I do not like it as much as I originally did (with Marvel saying, "oh ****, we're being FAIR to the government. Can't have that. Let's make them look like actual evil people who don't care for human life half the time, and the only person who DOES seem concerned with anything but smashing things should be Spider-Man, who we're going to just run through the ringer of guilt, and Iron Man, who we're going to make for reasons unknown, a total ****bag beyond anything he's ever done before." And THEN, we'll make the anti-side look like saints, who despite their obvious lack of intellectual thought, are right. Which is basically just saying that the average everyday person should always be considered correct, and the actual people who sit and think all day should be more or less discredited. Can you say some comic book writers are feeling a little inadequate?), I still enjoy the story, if anything, for the art and fight scenes. Though this is truly the weaker of the two large scale events with the avalanche of bias that Marvel has undergone. (**** Bendis and Marvel for not being level headed. Jplaya could have been more fair.)

Annihilation: What can I say? Spec-f'ing-tacular. Love it. It's awesome. Kl'rt's back, and better than ever. I want to see some Super-Skrull love. I want to see some Accuser love. And I want to see some herald love (though, I have this feeling it's not going to happen any time soon. Though I think they'll be coming back.) I don't exactly agree that Galactus could be manipulated so easily like this, unless he were to be EXTREMELY desperately hungry. But the feeding system never needed him, so I don't know why they're putting him on the front. Unless they've somehow managed to control Galactus. And I hate the fact that Annihilus could use the Q-bands for current SS feats, and Quasar could barely survive an ass kicking by the fleet. Either way, still the best of the two.

Frontline: Best issue in the entire fricking series of Frontline so far. Why? Because I don't have to subvert myself into lasting in yet another extreme liberal monologue that if only slightly redirected, would read, "We hate you, President Bush. You are the anti-christ." And basically always shows the government in a bad light. No, for ONCE, the superhumans are the ones on the hotseat, and they're the ones with the blame. I loved how the senator shut that whiney ass reporter up by showing how supporters of the anti-side (comic side and abroad) are fairly predictable (which they tend to be), and I liked how Speedball not only admitted his team was a screw up, but that HE was as well. Kinda shoves it in all those people who argued with me earlier that the New Warriors did the right thing, when they so obviously didn't. This issue actually begins to even it out some, and create the conflict of ethics (on a supersmall scale).

 

[Darthphere]

Can't say that I blame them. lol

Im kind of miffed too. [/boy crush]

 

[TheCorpulent1]

lolz ur so gh3y 4 lee

 

[Darthphere]

lolz ur so gh3y 4 lee

lawl 4 realz.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I may not like Cable too much as a character (though I've been warming up to him thanks to Cable & Deadpool), but it pisses me off that they are completely bastardizing his character in Ultimate X-Men

 

[Darthphere]

I may not like Cable too much as a character (though I've been warming up to him thanks to Cable & Deadpool), but it pisses me off that they are completely bastardizing his character in Ultimate X-Men

But theyre not, because its ULTIMATE!!!!

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Whatever they're doing to him in UXM can't possibly be worse than his early years in the 616 universe.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

lolz ur so gh3y 4 lee

I'm....straight for Lee?

Dude, he's hot.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

His very obviously unnatural American accent annoyed me in the first season. He's gotten better, though. It almost sounded natural in last week's premiere.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Yeah, it DID sound kind of wierd. But his accent isn't what drew me in. Though uh... I wouldn't mind a round with Six.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Six is kind of wiry. But, then again, my favorite characters are Tyrol and Callie, so obviously I'm not really judging by looks.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

I never said I liked Six as a character. My fave character so far is Admiral Adama.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

He doesn't really count, though. Everyone loves Adama because you're supposed to love Adama.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Nah, I just have father issues. And I liked Gaius for a while.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I still like Gaius. He's the underdog of the season, it looks like. I'm pulling for him to overcome his own cowardice.

 

[Phaedrus45]

Bought:

Green Lantern Corps #5
Martian Manhunter #3
DMZ #12
52 - Week Twenty-Three
Tales of the Unexpected #1
Fables - Special Edition #1
Gen13 #1
Battlestar Galactica #2
Powers #20
Red Prophet #1
Red Prophet #2
Red Prophet Collected Edition
Marvel Milestones Featuring the Legion of Monsters
Stan Lee Meets Dr. Strange #1
The Punisher #39
Thunderbolts #107
Annihilation #3
Frontline #7
Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #17
Ultimate X-Men #75
Ultimate Power #1
New X-Men #31
Uncanny X-Men #479
Wolverine - Origins #7
Wolverine - Origins Varient #7

Thoughts:

Green Lantern Corps #5: I find myself continuely behind in my reading of many DC books; so, I ended up having to read issues #3 & 4 to catch me up to this week's issue. To me, this is the best Green Lantern book you can buy. I find it much better than Green Lantern or Ion; simply because with a variety of storylines running through it, each reader can latch onto something they like. The Guy Gardner story is very light and laughable, the Isamot and Vath is filled with suspense, and Soranik's story is touching. While I find the previous book, Green Lantern Corps: Recharge, a bit better with taking the various stories and bring them all together in the end, this one knows it's strength lies in not focusing on just one member of the Corps. 9/10

Martian Manhunter #3: Actually, I finally read issues #1-3, and find this story pretty good. I'm not a big Martian Manhunter fan, and it's fairly obvious after the first issue that MM wasn't going to hear the dead Martian's plea not to trust his fellow Martians. But, with the material, Lieberman tells a good tale and I know I'll be picking up all 8 issues of this miniseries...even though I'm fairly certain I know how it will all end. 8/10

52 - Week Twenty-Two: I'm still amazed by how excellent this series is. It's the only comic I know that can give me a few pages of a new superhero, like Super-Chief, and make me willing to go out and buy a comic with his name on it. Maybe what makes this book so good is that each of these heroes have flaws. Or maybe it's the continual mystery about what will happen next, like all the elements converging around Lex Luthor's Superhero Program. Or, maybe it's the fact that this series takes a character I normally find dull and boring, like Lex Luthor and Steel, and makes me anxious to read more about them. Or, maybe it's all that and the fact, like Green Lantern Corps, that there is just something for everyone in this series. 10/10

52 - Week Twenty-Three: Continuing from the previous issue, we get the mystery of the disappearance of many scientists answered (while opening up some new questions); but, this issue is devoted mainly to Black Adam and his ever-growing family. While the mystery of Amon and Intergang interested me, I find that when 52 focuses on one story over the others, it tends to not be as good as previous issues. (I felt the same with one of the previous issues that mainly focused on Lobo.) Luckily, even a subpar issue of 52 is better than most of the stuff DC is putting out right now. 8/10

Tales of the Unexpected #1: This eight-issue miniseries features two stories: The Spectre and Dr. 13. The first, with The Spectre, steals it's inspiration from a variety of sources: The opening scene should remind just about everybody of Saw. But, the real question is in The Spectre's choices for who gets punished and who doesn't...and, does the punishment fit the crime? This story is told very well and very graphically. The second story, with Dr. 13, is just what you'd expect: Filler. The art isn't near as good as The Spectre story, the writing kind of dull, and the notion of a paranormal researcher who doesn't believe in what he continually discovers ridiculous. There are some chuckles, as this story plays for laughs, while The Spectre story played for much more graphic seriousness. 8/10

Gen13 #1: Ok, I have a lot of the first two volumes; but, never got around to reading them. I decided on giving this new series a try, and I'm guessing this is a starting over point. Everything that happened before didn't, I'm thinking....though, I'm not sure. This first issue really isn't that good. We get the briefest of introductions to the characters who make up Gen13, and each one is given a high school-type stereotype to fit into. From just the first issue, I highly doubt I will continue this book past the first few issues. I might be better off just reading my older issues. 5/10

Fables - Special Edition #1: A great buy at 25 cents, this Special Edition is just a reprint of Fables #1 in an attempt to gain new readers. (Being my first time reading this book, it's not the first issue of Fables that I own; I have issues 1-12 of Fables and Y, The Last Man from a 20 box collection I bought from an old comic collector who wanted to sell all his comics to me for $500.00 about a year ago.) I notice it seems I've been missing a pretty good comic. The writing is very good, and after issue #1, I already like the characters presented. Also in this inexpensive issue is an upcoming look at the Fables Hardcover book, 1001 Nights Of Snowfall, coming out next week that gives "the early years and secret histories" of the Fables cast.

This idea of reprinting an old comic to try to gain interest in their product at a very cheap price worked on me. I liked the preview of next week's hardcover, and will definitely be picking it up. It already seems much better than Lost Girls. 9/10

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

I still like Gaius. He's the underdog of the season, it looks like. I'm pulling for him to overcome his own cowardice.

Well, in his position (despite having been shown as a total coward) most people (even very strong willed ones) would do what he's done. It's really true, sadly. But I like how the show even MORE shows that he's the idiot, and the "traitors" are the idiots, when it's the humans who are polarized to the point where there will always be a war, even if the Cylons really DO just want to be friendly. Despite the fact he's still pretty much an idiot.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

BOUGHT:
52 #23
ANNIHILATION #3
BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #211
CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE #7
DARKMAN VS. ARMY OF DARKNESS #1
DMZ #12
GEN 13 #1
MAGICIAN APPRENTICE COLLECTED EDITION
MARTIAN MANHUNTER #3
MARVEL MILESTONES LEGION OF MONSTERS
NEW X-MEN #31
PUNISHER #39
STAN LEE MEETS DR. STRANGE
THUNDERBOLTS #107
ULTIMATE POWER #1
ULTIMATE X-MEN #75
UNCANNY X-MEN #479
WOLVERINE ORIGINS #7

THOUGHT:
52 #23 - Could care less about the Dr. Morrow story, but the Black Adam one comes to a close and a new chapter begins. For some reason, those tales have the phrase "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" running through my head. Can't wait to see what happens!

ANNIHILATION #3 - All out war in the grandest sense! I'm really digging this book. Whatever Planet Hulk lacks for me it sure as hell is present here. Dare I say I'm loving it MORE than Civil War!

BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #211 - And the mystery comes to an end with a big twist. I feel like I missed something in the story, but it was pretty good regardless. At least Jones can do better on Bats than he can on his progeny.

CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE #7 - Another awesome installment of the series. Much like 52, I look forward to the next one.

DARKMAN VS. ARMY OF DARKNESS #1 - This kinda disappointed me. The one flaw in a lot of comics these days is pacing. They're either too fast or too slow. These AoD books are ones that go too fast. Felt like a little more time should've been taken to develop the story instead of just rushing into it. And, of course, even seasoned veterans like Busiek can't resist throwing in a pun or two.

GEN 13 #1 - Okay, Gen 13 fans...someone wanna clue me in if I need to know SOMETHING about these guys to fully get this story or is this basically a revamp from the start? 'Cause I feel like I should know something about the first two volumes if I'm gonna pick this up. But, if Simone writes this like her other works I probably wouldn't be lost for long even if I haven't read the rest.

MARTIAN MANHUNTER #3 - Eh, found it to be dry and boring. Dunno if I'm gonna pick up the rest of the series.

NEW X-MEN #31 - The New X-Men survive Nimrod and the plot thickens behind the scenes. Great freaking issue with great art. This is the kinda book Marvel does RIGHT these days.

PUNISHER #39 - Kinda puts a smile on your face when a guy has to assemble a heavily armed MILITIA just to take on the Punisher. Now that's badass.

STAN LEE MEETS DR. STRANGE - Another great combination of tribute pieces, plus a little-seen reprint to boot! My only complaint is the Bendis piece. It started off good, expressing all the concerns readers have had lately. But then, the sanctimoneous ******* goes and throws in the line "Change is good, 'nuff said." Yes, jackass, change when it makes sense is good. Change for the sake of change and shock value freakin' SUCKS and takes LITTLE to NO creativity! Books in previous decades, no matter how many teams, no matter how many issues, the stories seemed to flow together as if they were almost pre-destined. Now, it's just throw anything out there and cry freedom of creativity. And Bendis is the LAST one to write this strip since HE is the worst offender of everything he highlighted. I'll be glad when people wake up and recognize him as the one-note hack he is.

THUNDERBOLTS #107 - Hundreds of Thunderbolts and a gambit to save the world! Not bad, but I dread the new direction the book is supposed to be taking. Hopefully it survives yet ANOTHER revamp.

ULTIMATE POWER #1 - Well, did that suck. The art was great, but then there's Bendis. Ah, Bendis. I can't entirely blame this on Bendis, though. When it comes to mini-series, the Ultimate Line is batting under par in every attempt lately. This one looks like it won't be no different. And 9 issues? Decompression central.

ULTIMATE X-MEN #75 - What the ****? What the ****?! Yeah, this book had a serious what the **** moment in it. Overexposure freaks're gonna have a field day with this one...

WOLVERINE ORIGINS #7 - While this book has the vague sense of classic Wolverine, the story progresses so slowly between the flashbacks and the present day. I must say, the covers on this book have been GORGEOUS! Usually Quesada's are the best, but this month goes to Deodato hands down. Now, if only we could get a better interior artist...

 

[Darthphere]

Funny enough, I couldnt find anything that suckworthy in Ultimate Power. Wasnt great but I wouldnt say it sucked.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Potential, but the fear of not living up to it. It wasn't horrible. But I wouldn't say top ten of the week.