Bought Thought 10/22/08

[Phaedrus45]

DCU Halloween Special 2008 sucked eggs. For $5.99, there was only one short story out of the 8-10 that's contained in the issue that I somewhat enjoyed. HUGE disappointment! They should have had less stories, maybe three or four, that featured some of the more scary characters in the DCU than what they presented.

As JewishHobbit said, Echo is just a fantastic title. It doesn't move at a fast pace; but, more reads like a good novel, taking time to let you enjoy the characters while slowly expanding on the story.

While Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge ended up being a disappointment to me, I have really enjoyed the Legion of Three Worlds mini. And, as someone said, Revelation is good, but filled with a bunch of talking and not much story advancement, I've noticed. But, that's the way these yearly Spectre stories seem to be.

What I have disliked about Final Crisis is how the DC's other titles, unlike with Marvel's Skrull Event, do not tie into this supposed big event. What made Crisis on Infinite Earths and other Events so cool was getting to see those events mentioned and featured in DC's main titles. This seems to be an event in it's own world, only getting tie-ins through miniseries not connected with other titles. DC seems to have so many things going on at once with each individual set of books, that there is hardly any cohesion. Batman is doing RIP, Superman is setting up a new structure (or, really redoing an old one) with New Krypton and tying all of Supe's books together, Justice Society is having Gog, Hell has Reign In Hell, we have another Rann-Thanagar situation, and so on and so on. (NOT TO MENTION we even have Trinity, which is even further seperated from all the other stuff happening throughout the entire year it goes on. SHEESH!

I did give the $1.00 G.I. Joe #0 a try, and don't see me trying it again. Every few years, it seems like another company tries to reintroduce this 80's juggernaut, and fails.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

How was Rogues' Revenge a disappointment to you?

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Are you out your flipping mind, Osborn is maniac,rapist,pedopile,murderer, and A class one Nut Job in every sense of the word.

Prove it.

The only thing they ever got him for was one murder, iirc, and apparently he has been pardoned, to some extent, as he was given "medication" and appointed T-Bolts director.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I still don't see how people accept him in such a powerful position with an explanation that basically amounts to, "Yeah, he kind of killed a guy one time when he was crazy, but he's better now. Promise!" Once again: the people of the Marvel universe are ******s.

 

[Dread]

I still don't see how people accept him in such a powerful position with an explanation that basically amounts to, "Yeah, he kind of killed a guy one time when he was crazy, but he's better now. Promise!" Once again: the people of the Marvel universe are ******s.

Seriously. I thought it was public knowledge by the end of the Mackie era that Norman Osborn was Green Goblin. He was arrested, was a raving lunatic and everything! Even as recently as CW, he tried to assassinate an Atlantian diplomat.

Maybe they'll blame it on Mephisto's mind ****ing for BND. If the world forgot about Harry's past, maybe some of Norman's are being smoothed over. Which still seems to me that BND was all about resetting everything back to the very early 70's, which is hardly very "brand new", or even moderately "new".

And yeah, the citizens and U.S. government of the Marvel Universe are ******s, as well as corrupt and perennially ungrateful and paranoid. Like I said, every hero is better off pulling an Authority, leaving the planet and going, "You guys deal with it, then."

 

[GNR]

Captain America #43 - After being spoiled with Epting for sometime now,the change to Luke Ross was a tad distracting.Certain pages and panels just looked wonky and didn't seem to flow.It took me a while to figure out what was happening on the page where Buck was jumping from his bike and attacking the goons.Storytelling problems aside,Ross' art is still better than most and a fine addition to Marvel's already stunning stable of artists.I only expect him to get more comfortable and to settle in as his run continues.

After what has pretty much been a 3 and a half year storyline,I think Bru was able to pull off the transtion into a new direction quite well.He sets the ball rolling on so many fronts and plants a great deal of seeds.For the first time in a long time with this title,Bru's noir-styled storytelling sensibilites shines real bright without sacrificing the tone which has been set for the past 42 issues.

Now for some speculation:[BLACKOUT]Brubaker is going to bring back the original Human Torch. [/BLACKOUT]Brubaker managed to do it pretty well with Bucky so I can only imagine how well Bru would do it with him,plus I think it's long overdue.[BLACKOUT]The guy appeared on the cover of the first "Marvel" comic and was one of the early icons of the MU[/BLACKOUT] ,so I'm totally game.[BLACKOUT](1)Torch appears on the variant cover for #46 (2)seems to have a significant role in the flashbacks so far (3) the remains being discussed by Batroc and "informant" could be his (4) notice the time Bru takes showing the young Chinese prodigy in awe of the Human Torch [/BLACKOUT]

Merely speculation at this point,but with Bru totally milking the entire history of Cap and the Invaders for his run,I think it's highly likely.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Captain America #43 - After being spoiled with Epting for sometime now,the change to Luke Ross was a tad distracting.Certain pages and panels just looked wonky and didn't seem to flow.It took me a while to figure out what was happening on the page where Buck was jumping from his bike and attacking the goons.Storytelling problems aside,Ross' art is still better than most and a fine addition to Marvel's already stunning stable of artists.I only expect him to get more comfortable and to settle in as his run continues.

After what has pretty much been a 3 and a half year storyline,I think Bru was able to pull off the transtion into a new direction quite well.He sets the ball rolling on so many fronts and plants a great deal of seeds.For the first time in a long time with this title,Bru's noir-styled storytelling sensibilites shines real bright without sacrificing the tone which has been set for the past 42 issues.

Now for some speculation:[BLACKOUT]Brubaker is going to bring back the original Human Torch. [/BLACKOUT]Brubaker managed to do it pretty well with Bucky so I can only imagine how well Bru would do it with him,plus I think it's long overdue.[BLACKOUT]The guy appeared on the cover of the first "Marvel" comic and was one of the early icons of the MU[/BLACKOUT] ,so I'm totally game.[BLACKOUT](1)Torch appears on the variant cover for #46 (2)seems to have a significant role in the flashbacks so far (3) the remains being discussed by Batroc and "informant" could be his (4) notice the time Bru takes showing the young Chinese prodigy in awe of the Human Torch [/BLACKOUT]

Merely speculation at this point,but with Bru totally milking the entire history of Cap and the Invaders for his run,I think it's highly likely.

I certainly would love to see that.

 

[THANOSRULES]

I wouldnt mind it either...they sure didnt really know what to do with him during the whole WCA return...

 

[xisaacx]

To Bendis, who writes SI...yes Cage and Jones are hugely important to them. But if the baby is a skrull, does this mean Jessica is...or does this mean they replaced the baby?

Well did they ever show what exactly happened when the civil war was going on, didnt jones go to canada or something? the baby could have been replaced there, and skrulls can take place of anyone, even babies.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That's gotta be a sucky job. All the Skrull does is cry and poop himself all day.

Finally read Secret Invasion #7. Not bad. I liked that there was a whole solid issue devoted to lots of fighting. That seems to be getting more and more rare in this day and age, unless every issue is just one big fight, in which case it quickly becomes old and stupid (yes, I'm talking about Hulk). Thor didn't really do much, but I like that he immediately bonded with Ares on the battlefield. Ares' "aye, brother!" to whatever Thor said was great. Even Spider-Man's banter was decent in this issue, much to my surprise. The "big" moments of the issue sort of fell flat for me because, frankly, I don't give a flying f*** about Jessica Jones or the fact that she's willing to fight Skrulls for Luke, and the less I see of this *****ebag Skrull Pym from here on out, the better. I'm glad there's only one issue left to this event, in fact, because I'm pretty Skrulled out in general. Still, lots of action and Yu's art did a great job of showing all the action, so I was content.

The one part I didn't like was commando Hawkeye shooting Skrulls in the face. It does sort of make sense in the context, I suppose--if you ignore the fact that Hawkeye's never shown murderous intent before, let alone the genocidal intent Bendis has imbued him with in SI--but that's not what I like about the character. I've never read scenes with Hawkeye and thought, "Man, this would be so much better if he'd dispense with the trick arrows and just shoot people in the face!" I like the trick arrows, I like the jocularity of the character, and I in no way ever needed to see him become even more of a cheap Green Arrow knockoff by having him start to kill people.

 

[Brainiac 8]

On the plus side, the Skrull has unlimited access to breasts....how is that bad?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Maybe it's lactose intolerant?

 

[Brainiac 8]

Maybe.

I do agree with you about Hawkeye...I have never seen him as a killer. The sad part is what should have been one of the best moments were marred by the gross mischaracterization...but when has Bendis worried about that if it didn't fit the story he was writing.

 

[moraldeficiency]

Considering the mockingbird thing I don't mind the hawkeye going crazy moments currently, cause he's literally crazy with rage, so I think it's allowable and not too off putting.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Being angry is one thing. Swearing genocide because of it and then actively attempting to make good on it is quite another. Like I said, I see how Bendis has set up this attitude shift for Hawkeye, but it doesn't read like Hawkeye. It's like Clint somehow came back a different person after House of M.

 

[moraldeficiency]

Well I kinda assumed the more insane statements were just the rage talking, the way people do. Everything changed since HOM, writing quality, characterizations, my interest in marvel events, everything. God I hate HOM.

 

[kguillou]

They're obviously trying to get Hawkeye on par with his Ultimate counterpart. Come on lets all be honest, ultimate hawkeye kicked 17 kinds of ass in Millar's Ultimate's run. Loeb's ultimate hawkeye is a different story. I'm not saying 616 hawkeye has to be like Ultimate, but its nice to see him a little bit more badass, besides this is war, this is no time to "wound" your opponent, everybody's playing for keeps...except Spider-man i guess.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Right, because the Avengers never fought in a war while upholding their morals before.

 

[moraldeficiency]

Yeah apparently spider-man is the only guy that thinks murder applies to aliens as well as humans, if he wasn't a devil dealing d-bag I'd give him props for not being racist like everyone else.

 

[kguillou]

It really bothered you that much to see hawkeye use exploding arrows to take out a few skrulls Corp?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yes. It bothers me when any hero who formerly took the stance that killing is a no-no turns around and starts murdering people. They managed to get along just fine without killing people before, but suddenly it's an absolute necessity that their foes must die? Please. I can't stress enough how much I utterly loathe the explanation that "back in the old days, it was just fun and games," either. No. F*** you. Back in the old days, the villains were trying to kill the heroes just as dead as they are now.

 

[Brainiac 8]

Yes. It bothers me when any hero who formerly took the stance that killing is a no-no turns around and starts murdering people. They managed to get along just fine without killing people before, but suddenly it's an absolute necessity that their foes must die? Please. I can't stress enough how much I utterly loathe the explanation that "back in the old days, it was just fun and games," either. No. F*** you. Back in the old days, the villains were trying to kill the heroes just as dead as they are now.

And now you just stated my one big gripe with modern comics. The Avengers have been through huge conflicts, but never resorted to murdering their enemies. But the new thing that many comics do is say that the heroes are changing with the times and realizing killing is necessary at times. I don't agree with that new thinking. Heck, the X-Men have more of an excuse than anyone, and I still don't really agree with their creation of a team of assassins.

My only hope is that the new attitude never starts to influence Superman's decisions, and it seems to not have effected Spider-Man....but that is of little relief considering he makes deals with the Devil, which is as bad.

 

[kguillou]

I can definitely see where your coming from Corp, the moral values are what makes the characters what they are. But, at the same time, i think its cool to see some of the heroes cut loose and see them in "rage" mode. Again, im not saying hawkeye should be picking off bad guys with his fingernails, but every once in a while its nice to see that old school characters like hawkeye shouldnt be messed with.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

To each his own. This whole trend of heroes killing everything in sight just brings back bad memories of the X-treme '90s era, when grim-n'-gritty crap lost the refinement of the '80s and became pure trash meant to appeal to the impotent 13-year-old boys in readers.

My only hope is that the new attitude never starts to influence Superman's decisions, and it seems to not have effected Spider-Man....but that is of little relief considering he makes deals with the Devil, which is as bad.

I think I might cry if Superman fell to this plague of overly violent 'heroism.' Joe Kelly's "What's so Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way" is probably my favorite Superman story to date because it's such a wonderful treatise on why true heroes don't stoop down to the level of their enemies, and Superman completely embodies that.

 

[Brainiac 8]

I think I might cry if Superman fell to this plague of overly violent 'heroism.' Joe Kelly's "What's so Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way" is probably my favorite Superman story to date because it's such a wonderful treatise on why true heroes don't stoop down to the level of their enemies, and Superman completely embodies that.

Abso-friggin-lutely.

One thing I love about Superman represents all that is good in humanity. It's his ideals that is the reason other heroes look up to him. That is the reason he will always be my favorite of Superheroes. If they started writing him as a killer, I would probably give up comics.