Bought Thought 10.15.08

[kguillou]

Well, nah, it's just that this is a the thread for the new issues that came out yesterday, but eh whatever, Ult. X-Men vol.6 huh? That's the "Return of the King" arc right? when the x-men fought magneto, that was a good story man. If you liked volume 6 u should get 7 and 8 as well, the "Blockbuster" and " New Mutants" arcs with Bendis and Finch are pure gold.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Did any of Flash: Rebirth come out yet?

January, son.

Also, I firmly believe Wally's power reduction is temporary. Johns wouldn't do that to Wally, right? ***** him out so he can only run at the speed of sound? Right? He wouldn't do that...

 

[CaptainCanada]

Given that this arc must take place before Final Crisis, and Wally can run through time itself in that, it's temporary.

 

[Eros]

January, son.

Also, I firmly believe Wally's power reduction is temporary. Johns wouldn't do that to Wally, right? ***** him out so he can only run at the speed of sound? Right? He wouldn't do that...

Thier can only be one "Fastest Man alive" and since Barry is back, someone needs to be the second fastest Man alive.

 

[Hush]

Well, nah, it's just that this is a the thread for the new issues that came out yesterday, but eh whatever, Ult. X-Men vol.6 huh? That's the "Return of the King" arc right? when the x-men fought magneto, that was a good story man. If you liked volume 6 u should get 7 and 8 as well, the "Blockbuster" and " New Mutants" arcs with Bendis and Finch are pure gold.

I believe trades have been posted in here for all the time that I have posted and I believe Nub was just just dicking around with me, take that as you will pervs. Oh and I have read those other stories it got crappy after New Mutants. I just wanted to own this story once and for all.

So wait Wally has the slight possibility that he is de-powered? Johns, please don't do that.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

He's already depowered. It wasn't Johns, though, it was Alan Burnett. I still think it'll just be for the duration of this arc.

Thier can only be one "Fastest Man alive" and since Barry is back, someone needs to be the second fastest Man alive.

F*** that. That shortchanges everyone who's come to love Wally as the Flash. It's bad enough that he's going to play second-fiddle in terms of headline status--no need to bump his powers down as well.

Also, for the record, if Wally can only move at the speed of sound, he's more like the five hundredth fastest man alive, which is utterly f***ing pathetic for a guy who spent 20 years in the big leagues as the Flash.

 

[Eros]

He's already depowered. It wasn't Johns, though, it was Alan Burnett. I still think it'll just be for the duration of this arc.

F*** that. That shortchanges everyone who's come to love Wally as the Flash. It's bad enough that he's going to play second-fiddle in terms of headline status--no need to bump his powers down as well.

Also, for the record, if Wally can only move at the speed of sound, he's more like the five hundredth fastest man alive, which is utterly f***ing pathetic for a guy who spent 20 years in the big leagues as the Flash.

Remember what has happened to Kyle Rayner since Hal returned. Yes I know Kyle became powerful as Ion, but then lost his godly powers, got possesed by a evil entity and became evil, and where is he now? Kyle rayner is not not even a regular character in green lantern books anymore, hell he's off somewehre in another dimension LOL. Wally doesn't seem to remember he even exists, and John stewart is now more important then Kyle is. JOHNS likes wally alot, so maybe he won't completely phase out him like he did with Kyle......one can hope.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Kyle's a regular in Green Lantern Corps. I just read last week's issue and saw him, in fact. But yeah, whenever Johns has gotten his paws on him since Rebirth, Kyle has tended to get shafted. But Johns claims to love Wally, so one would think he wouldn't f*** him over as much as he has Kyle. Then again, he seems even more in love with Barry than he was with Hal, presumably because Barry actually had a personality before Johns himself had to rewrite his whole history to give him (an extremely annoying) one.

 

[Dread]

Average week in terms of quantity. 6 books, 4 were good, 1 was already, 1 was a dud. Those who can't guess the dud probably haven't read too many of my reviews. As always, full spoilers.

Dread's Bought/Thought for 10/15/08:

BOOSTER GOLD #13: With Geoff Johns busy resurrecting the childhood of every 47 year old DC Fanboy (warts and all), Chuck Dixon chased out of the company, and Dan Jurgens...off towards the next challenge (catch the reference, anyone?), we have our first complete creative change on this title. Rick Remender arrives for story with Patrick Olliffe on art. I am always bemused that so many of the covers seek to repeat those cheesy, classic "humor" covers of the Gold and Silver Age, when they're pretty much out of vogue. Robert Kirkman once lamented about CAPES that they can be "the kiss of death". BOOSTER GOLD at least sells within the Top 100, and given DC's willingness to allow titles to hover around so long as they can sell as well as SPIDER-GIRL or better, it should be able to stick around for another year.

Thankfully, BOOSTER GOLD's premise is simple enough, it seems, that a new creative team is able to jump in and match the tone fairly well from the past writers and artists.

Booster and his sister Michelle are off doing their QUANTUM LEAP thing, with roles a bit reversed. Michelle is the newcomer, uncomfortable with the "greater good" mantra of repairing the time-stream, even when it means that some people "have" to die. In a way it seems weird to read Booster of all people repeating some of Rip Hunter's rules, but it also is true that he has learned them the hard way. He couldn't prevent Barbara Gordon from being crippled by the Joker. And he ****ed up the time-stream good by reviving Ted Kord. At least that means Remender paid attention to the last few runs. And to be fair, Booster's not nearly as unsympathetic about it as Rip was.

Unfortunately, when they return to their base, ol' Rip has been possessed by DC's longtime starfish nemesis, Starro. There's just something about Starro that breeds both menace and absurdity at the same time. Classic stuff there. With access to Hunter's mind and technology, Starro starts on a quest to control the entire time-stream. The Gold sibs manage to save the past, but aren't able to prevent Starro from conquering the future.

Olliffe's art is good here, although Jurgens will be missed on the book; his art was vibrant and iconic to the character he created. Still, Olliffe gets the job done. Remender at least attempts to balance the comedy with adventure, with the source of Starro being Danny's leg, and no end of one-liners from Booster. Add in a cliffhanger ending and you have a solid issue.

The only quibble is that sometimes Olliffe seemed to repeat some poses for some of his figures. Both Booster and Superman make the same exact facial expression and fall the exact same way with a sock to the face? C'mon. But that's just nitpicking, really.

BLUE BEETLE was able to handle a shift in creative team well, or at least better than a slew of DC books, and at least from this issue, BOOSTER GOLD looks able to claim that, too. So long as it offers entertaining time-crossing adventure, I'll be in.

DYNAMO 5 #17: It always seems like a while between issues of this series. Yeah, the price is annoying for the page count, but I'm willing to pay it, and I regret it a lot less than a lot of Bendis comics. I like the property, the premise, and the characters, and that's more than enough for me.

This issue is low key, but not what I would consider filler. With Maddie in a coma and taking a turn for the worse, Doc Noble manages to convince Gage/Scatterbrain to put Dynamo 5 retirement aside for a moment to venture inside the woman's mind to try to revive her. As expected with these sorts of things, this leads to a trip down memory lane for Maddie. But that's fine; she's the leader of the team in many respects and a lot about her was still a mystery. The memories naturally show her meeting, romance, marriage and separation with Captain Dynamo. Naturally things go from attraction to a disconnect but while C.D. is a cad, it also shows that Maddie herself had a bit of a fear of commitment to some degree.

The story goes as some might expect; Maddie blames herself for Dynamo's death despite his cheating, and has retreated into herself due to the guilt (and Brain's psychic assault). The interesting thing is that most times the hero will get someone to get over this by giving the ol' acceptance speech. But Gage is a jock so he basically tells Maddie to get pissed off, and it works. I thought it was a useful quick to the scene.

Not the best issue of D5 in terms of action but a progression of the storyline and the characters that I thought was essential reading for fans of the property. As always, Asrar's art is what helps make the property shine and he gets some psychic stuff to play with and younger forms of Dynamo and Maddie.

I also have to point out that even though he's just required to use his powers in a medical situation outside of the public eye, Gage makes sure to don his mask and costume as Scatterbrain. Guess his First Aid teacher was Doctor Mid-Nite, who NEVER forgets his mask before an autopsy. Medicine in Tights: who needs an HMO? I'm not making fun of it; I think it's great. I certainly wouldn't mind my co-pay bill if my doctor had some cape and called himself Doctor Night-Striker or something.

The next issue promises that the original D5 will unite; that's obvious. But it has been another interesting story. The price may put off some but it's shameless and well done superhero stuff, getting less attention than some Marvel & DC books that aren't a lot better. It's no Invincible, though.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13 #6: Leonard Kirk returns to do pencils as Cornell's scrappy band of British superheroes engages in more mystical threats. This time it is Plokta, a being that draws strength from offering people their heart's desires; one of many supernatural menaces freed by Wisdom to reclaim magic from the Skrulls.

And Blade has this nasty habit of staking anyone who happens to be a vampire, even British speedster heroines. THAT'S RACIST!

Seriously, it does make some sense. Blade's mission is to rid the world of vampires, and he doesn't believe that Spitfire can control her bloodlust. Of course, Hannibal King could for some time, but he also had help from Dr. Strange. This of course puts a damper on the welcoming issue for him and makes the mission that much worse. Faiza is there to save Jackie, and Wisdom eventually learns that sending Brian alone against Plokta may not have been the best move.

The mission itself isn't that impressive; what makes it good is not only the art but the characters and the banter; reminding me a lot of what DnA do on GOTG. From Brain's banter with the possessed woman to the interplay between Blade and Spitfire and even Black Knight mentioning how his blade is literally telling him to go berserk and kill everyone, Cornell manages that good balance between thrills and comedy that makes a good adventure. The work isn't so pretentious or dark that some enjoyment can't be made of things.

And of course there is Captain Midlands, forgotten European hero. He gets in a notable cameo here.

But the real talk of the issue will be the end, with Meggan making a reappearance. I was wondering if Cornell would bring this up; technically she sacrificed her life quite some time ago, but Brian literally doesn't remember her. She could just be an illusion of course, but as this book is basically EXCALIBUR with another name, I wouldn't mind some of the old crew coming back on occasion.

I am curious if Blade will manage to stick around, or if this is just a guest appearance. I doubt Blade is being killed off here, so I imagine that Jackie could pull back from biting him at the last moment to try to "prove" her control. Blade, at least from BLADE II, is often most interesting when he has to bend his inflexible vampire-slayer ideals for a greater good, and this could provide another opportunity for that. It also provides a good dilemma for Brian that he can't just punch his way through with his newfound powers.

One of Marvel's best team books, and another solid issue.

Next Up: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #6, GHOST RIDER #28, and MIGHTY AVENGERS #19

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm starting to wonder if Faiza is basically a Muslim Martha Jones. I mean, I know Cornell wrote a few episodes of Doctor Who, but seriously, every time I read Faiza I hear Martha's voice in my head. The characters are remarkably similar.

 

[Manic]

I'm starting to wonder if Faiza is basically a Muslim Martha Jones. I mean, I know Cornell wrote a few episodes of Doctor Who, but seriously, every time I read Faiza I hear Martha's voice in my head. The characters are remarkably similar.

See, now I have to go back and reread some of Faiza's dialogue from previous issues...

 

[Max Shrek]

I'm starting to wonder if Faiza is basically a Muslim Martha Jones. I mean, I know Cornell wrote a few episodes of Doctor Who, but seriously, every time I read Faiza I hear Martha's voice in my head. The characters are remarkably similar.

Is she constantly moping about unrequited love and being snippy when people bring up the female lead who was in the book before her?

 

[hippie_hunter]

I was rather surprised to see *****y Mc***** ***** the Super-***** in Booster Gold. Then I realized that Rememder was writing this arc so I thought...oh.

 

[Manic]

And finally...

ASTONISHING X-MEN #27
What the hell, Bianchi?!

Simone Bianchi said that he was getting a head start on his art back during the Spring so delays like this wouldn't happen. Not only do we still have delays, but his facial expressions, female facial structures, and bodily poses get progressively worse with each issue. And do you know what really burns my toast? Only about 2/3 of his panels have backgrounds drawn into them. He literally leaves every few panels completely blank. There's a panel where Cyclops and Beast are talking, and not only is the background of the X-Center a completely white blank nothing, but Bianchi doesn't even bother drawing an arm to connect Beast's gesturing hand to his torso. He doesn't even bother throwing a gradient color into the backgrounds. Bianchi just looks at Ellis' scripts and thinks to himself "Hm. This panel is supposed to have Beast sitting on a chair while the ghost box is sitting on a table, so I'm going to only draw Beast, the chair, the ghost box, and the table. A floor? Nope. Walls in the back? Nope. Just those four items."

My disdain for Simone Bianchi aside, I found Warren Ellis' science fiction writing as good as usual. He seems to be crafting a pretty good and intriguing story, although it's moving at a very slow pace. He's clearly shooting for a 6-part arc, which I suppose would be fine is the artist got his work in on time.

There is a problem with Ellis' inability to capture the characters' voices, though. Rather than a hardass soldier, Abigail Brand came off more like a teenaged girl with a kinky streak who could only think about bumping serious uglies with Beast. I know the references to their relationship were supposed to be played for laughs in this issue, but it's called The Comedy Rule of Three. That means Ellis should've stopped somewhere around "Xenophiliac Experimentation Partner."

Oh, and Cyclops is still saying "Henry" instead of "Hank." That ain't right.

----------

BOOSTER GOLD #13
[insert opening statement here]

So the new creative team has taken over. Truth be told, you'd hardly notice. The book retains a similar art style and writing tone. The only real difference I can see is that Booster is a lot more serious and angrier than usual, but I guess that's related to all the horrible crap he's been through since this series began. The sad thing about Booster is that, up until recently, he really was the inept idiot everyone thought he was. Without a straightman to his stooge, Booster just kinda screws up royally all the time. And yet, here's Booster as the straightman while his wacky ancestor is screwing up.

Anyway, the main plot of this story is that, thanks to Booster's wacky ancestor, Rip Hunter has been taken over by a Starro fish. With access to all of Rip's time traveling stuff, Starro goes back in time and attempts to take over the Earth centuries ago. Booster and Goldstar chase him back, only for him to run to the future to take over that. Things get really bad when an army of Starro-people toss Booster into a pit full of Starro fish, threatening to kill Booster's son soon after. For anyone who's been paying attention, Rip Hunter is secretly Booster Gold's son of an undetermined mother.

----------

CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13
Who the hell is Captain Midlands?

I had to check both Wikipedia and the Marveldatabase-- a rare double-dip for information. Turns out he's a recently made British knockoff of Captain America who professes in appearing in the background of this title. If I've seen him before now, this is honestly the first time I've noticed him.

Anyway, when we last left MI-13, Blade had stabbed Spitfire through the chest for being a vampire. Because there's nothing more unforgivable than being a dirty, filthy half-vampire with no blood lust. Personally, I'm awaiting the day Blade stakes himself. Anyway, Faiza used her amazing bio-powers to heal Spitfire up, causing Blade to abandon MI-13. Meanwhile, Captain Britain (with his new feeling-based powers) ventures into a magically burning building on his own, where he encounters a powerful demon-god thingy named Plokta, who is putting people in a wish-fulfilling dreamstate to consume their souls. Spitefire and Blade end up in an all-out brawl, which I'm sure will conclude next issue with Spitfire proving she's not a blood-hungry beastie. MI-13 daringly rescues Captain Midlands. In the end, Cap Britain faces off against Plokta by himself, until Plokta tempts Cap with something he can't deny: his late wife Meggan.

I still love this book.

----------

X-MEN: WORLDS APART #1 OF 4
Someone in this African nation... is a murderer! *shock, gasp*

This miniseries starts off with Cyclops and Storm heading to the Morlock tunnels, prepared to offer the Morlocks a place in the San Franciscan sunlight. Scott strikes up a conversation with 'Ro about whether she's the Queen of Wakanda or an X-man. Before Ro can answer, she's summoned by her people to investigate a murder, and must head back to Wakanda.

It turns out Nezhno has been recorded on a surveillance camera, murdering a Wakandan mystic. Right away, as a reader, I know Nehzno is innocent, because (a) it's freaking Nezhno and (b) who the f*** stares directly into a CCTV camera for 16 straight seconds before committing a murder? Storm's not an idiot and knows Nezhno has been set up, so she orders his release, and tries to take him away. That is, until the Wakandan military is ordered to apprehend Storm and Nezhno by no other than Black Panther himself. What the hell is going on, here?

It's Shadowking. He's screwing with T'Challa's mind, and likely took over Nezhno's during the murder. What ever will Storm do? And more importantly, will we finally get to see Nezhno rejoin the X-Men in San Francisco?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Is she constantly moping about unrequited love and being snippy when people bring up the female lead who was in the book before her?

Okay, so she's not exactly like Martha.

 

[fifthfiend]

Johns claims to love Wally

It's not especially evident from any Flash comic Johns ever wrote. That book was 100% about the villains.

 

[Brainiac 8]

I :heart: Booster Gold.

Also, I called it being the return of Maddie since they showed her. I mean, back in X-Man, she dissapeared, she had to show back up eventually.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It's not especially evident from any Flash comic Johns ever wrote. That book was 100% about the villains.

I tend to disbelieve him simply because he spends most of his time gushing about Barry and is in fact happily participating with the restructuring of the Flash mythos around Barry. The comment about loving Wally came off as an afterthought to do some early damage control with everyone born after 1980.

 

[Dread]

I'm starting to wonder if Faiza is basically a Muslim Martha Jones. I mean, I know Cornell wrote a few episodes of Doctor Who, but seriously, every time I read Faiza I hear Martha's voice in my head. The characters are remarkably similar.

I wouldn't know. I don't watch DOCTOR WHO.

Oh, and Manic's new avatar is pretty cool.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yes, he's a daring duck of mystery.

 

[Anubis]

When theres trouble you call DW.

 

[Brainiac 8]

"I garuntee!" - Jumbalaya Jake.

 

[Manic]

What can I say? I'm the terror that flaps in the night.

 

[Brainiac 8]

I bought the DVDs of DW Duck so I could introduce my daughter to the awesome show.

 

[Dread]

It's a shame that network cartoons aren't as imaginative as they were in the 80's and 90's. Hence why they always have to be rehashed and revived.

Even a little show like MIGHTY MAX, which hardly anyone would consider in a Top 10 list, is miles above some of the non-comic stuff now.