Dread, where are the rest of your reviews?
Right here.
Dread's Bought/Thought for 10/15/08:
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #6: Reading this right after CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13 has a nice feel to it; two great team books with solid writing, art, inks and colors back to back. Goes together like laser blasters and talking raccoons. This wraps up the SI crossover, but the interesting thing is that 6 issues have passed, and it feels like we have gotten more than one story out of this. Abnett & Lanning manage to keep the story flowing as a narrative, while having enough "episodes" happen that things are hardly decompressed. Good show.
I did a lot of *****ing and moaning about the "obligatory" SECRET INVASION crossover, mostly because I was not in the mood for another "team infights" storyline. While it ends as you would expect (the team appears to break up because their trust is shattered), thankfully no character is "sacrificed" to the Skrull saga. None of them were Skrulls. Cosmo was just hiding Skrulls who wanted out of the new "jihad" movement and getting mind-wiped each time so he couldn't betray them, even by accident. The ones that blew up Knowhere were part of the Queen's crew, and they all died.
Highlights include Drax's method of finding the Skrulls (He only killed everyone for 90 seconds, honest!), Starlord's one-punch contribution to the Starhawk fight, and of course Cosmo beating everyone off panel.
Between this and NOVA, DnA have gotten some great mileage out of the SECRET INVASION storyline. So much so that it simply makes you think quite a lot of how much better that story would have been had it been written by anyone but Bendis. His ideas are rarely the problem, it's always his execution. DnA, among others, know how to execute a story. The Luminals continue to try to top the Shi'ar in the A-Hole Alien race department.
The Guardians seemingly disband once learning that Peter used Mantis to "steer" them into becoming a team, which shatters their trust. Mantis hints that events are not happening as they should, as if something is effecting time. Of course, Major Victory and Starhawk pretty much feel through cracks in time & space and they are a part of that. I sort of doubt DnA would write out everyone on the team here, although I wouldn't mind Gamora hanging out with NOVA again. Frankly I never care for the whole, "mindwashing people to get them to join a team" plotline because it always ends the same way, basically this. But DnA managed to get a decent story out of all of it and I have faith that they will continue onward, mixing the new GOTG with the old.
As always, Pelletier is in his element on this series, getting to draw splendid background and a myriad of characters, from raccoons to superheroes to hulking aliens and canines and it all looks great. I will hate it when and if he has to leave the book. When it comes to space books, he could be a Ron Lim for the 21st century.
The story suffers from some expectations due to the plot, but the dialogue and action, as well as characters, are enough to make it more than readable. Execution is everything.
GHOST RIDER #28: I had to call ahead to reserve this book at my LCS, and I am glad I did, because by the time I got to the shop, they were sold out. Guess Dan Ketch had more fans than I thought. This is the issue where the GR showdown begins. Contrary to cover, Ketch's GR doesn't have blue flame. At least not in this issue. Huat continues on art and, well, he's no Marc Silvestri (who did the covers). I am slooooowwly getting used to him. Aaron continues on his (so far) successful quest to make Way's retcons work and be enjoyable.
A Tibetan Ghost Rider is introduced shortly before Dan Ketch murders him in the name of his master, the fallen angel Zadkiel. Blaze and the new Caretaker, the nun Sara, show up to investigate. Naturally, it is frustrating to Blaze to once again be clueless about his own state to another generation of Caretaker, as well as being on the opposing side to his brother. Dan doesn't believe Blaze was ever around for him or his family, and doesn't respect the "gift" of the GR. The idea of having there being different GR's for every country is a good one, stretches the idea out a bit. Blaze and Ketch get into a fight-fight, and naturally things are about to get uglier.
Because there is a several page back up summarizing the history of the Ghost Riders to make sense of all the wacky retcons and stories, the issue $3.99. I still wonder why Marvel has no price between $2.99 and $3.99. Again, would $3.75 bankrupt them? I like the title but this issue didn't have to be four bucks.
The idea of the GR being a power from Heaven rather than Hell still doesn't sit entirely right, but that retcon's long been accepted and Aaron is managing to make it work fairly well, embracing it and elaborating on it. If anyone is going to make this work, it is him. And bringing Ketch back is a good way to renew interest in a series that had been lagging towards the bottom of the Top 95-100 without relying on another shameless crossover (like GR had with WWH). I am genuinely curious whether Ketch will be killed at the end? Freed from Zadkiel's control? Continue onward as an enemy of Blaze? Or what? I suppose to some, making Ketch the bad guy can be akin to DC sinking Kyle for Hal (to a much, much lessor degree), but I don't mind it, if only because Ketch's legacy is tainted by the mangled mess it ended on during the 90's.
The blue Ghost Rider on the cover reminds me of Bonechill from DYNAMO 5.
Huat's artwork is still dependent on taste. I would prefer a better artist, but I am beginning to get used to him. He still has some odd panel angles.
Still, I can't see Zadkiel getting drug out more than another arc, tops. Hopefully Aaron will know to wrap things up when he is ahead.
MIGHTY AVENGERS #19: Remember that thing I said about execution? Bendis doesn't have it. Least not often, and not here. The issue, as the cover suggests, focuses on Capt. Marvel. Both him and the alternate reality version introduced by Grant Morrison 8 years ago, which has bumped around the MU for a few years now, since CW. Bendis has some interest in making him the new Captain Marvel, which seems a bit off since he basically wants to take over the world, not defend it.
In execution, this amounts to a lot of stuff we have seen in other comics, only shown with a lot of panel banter. The narration of two characters having equal spaz-out moments literally conflicts with each other. Frank Miller buries readers in over-the-top sado-sexist jibberish, well, Bendis buries people in over-the-top freak-out, man-child emo jibberish. The only difference is that Miller's prime lasted a lot longer than Bendis'.
Summary: Noh-Var is in the Cube, which he has taken over. The Skrulls attack earth. He does a long winded version of "OMIGOD, WHAT DO I DO, SUPREME INTELLIGENCE, GIVE ME A SIGN, GIIIVVVEEE MMEEEEE AAAAA SSIIIIGGGNNNN!" The Skrull Capt. Marvel goes on his whole "I am Skrull! I am Kree! I am who I choose to be! Eee-eye-eee-eye-ooohh!" until he screams a lot, punches some spaceships, blows up and dies. Only he inspires Noh-Var. Maybe. The end.
Wasn't that worth $3? No. It's a mess, and it was boring.
Pham does the art, and he is due up to draw the upcoming Dan Slott run on MA, starting with issue #21, making this the penultimate issue for Bendis' run. The pencils seem a bit stiff from Pham, but I've seen some of his B & W pencil work and I conclude that the inker/colorist didn't make it look that vibrant. Hopefully Pham gets some better folks when the Slott run comes.
Bendis is phoning it in as he nears the finish line on this title, and on his SI tie in's in general. Can you tell?
Beast wars had superior writing,superior storylines, and vastly more mature themes then any other transformers show ....ever. Go watch the best episode of the original GI series, and then watch the best episode of Beast wars, I garantee you Wars comes off as if were written buy educated adults.
