I read some old comics this week too. I went back to the JLAvengers crossover from...late 90s? I don't remember. But Busiek and Perez were awesome. Sure, it had its flaws, but man it was fun! I forgot what's it like to read a good comic that takes longer than 15 minutes to read. Great stuff.
While the initial plans to do a JLA/Avengers crossover began in 1979 with Gerry Conway and George Perez, the series didn't become reality until 2003-2004. Naturally, by then Kurt Busiek was the writer and Perez still drew it, re-uniting the classic AVENGERS team from the start of the 21st century. It is funny how you assume it was from the late 90's, as it does have a timeless feel to it. I recall at the time I thought it read a bit dated, but I came back to it later and realized it'd aged better than, say, the Millar/Hitch ULTIMATES which is full of pop culture references that do nothing but remind you how old it is.
Anyway, onward with spoiler filled reviews!
DREAD'S BOUGHT/THOUGHT FOR 10/24/12:
INVINCIBLE #96: Or, "The Cross Dimensional Adventures and Extramarital Ordeal of Robot & Monster Girl", as this arc should be titled. The Flaxians have returned to earth to stage another invasion despite the long term regime change strategy of Robot/Rex and Monster Girl/Amanda, and their leader is the hybrid son of Amanda's male Monster Girl form and a Flaxian. Robert Kirkman certainly isn't shy about complicated relationships. The art is divided between Ryan Ottley (who is a very cool fellow I got to chat with briefly at NYCC for a signing) and co-creator Cory Walker; while Walker's return is always welcome, he's hardly a speedy artist and this series is suddenly roughly a month behind schedule since his arc began. Much like with CAPTAIN AMERICA and IMMORTAL IRON FIST, you have one artist for present scenes (Ottley) and another for the flashbacks (Walker). Rex manages to organize the Guardians of the Globe, the Actioneers and the Capes, Inc. heroes towards a final victory over the aliens, and is left to pick up the pieces with Amanda. Naturally, both of them are a bit flawed; Amanda is often impatient and impulsive, while Rex's cold and calculating nature made him a bit of a tyrant as ruler despite himself. Meanwhile, this issue actually has Mark and Eve turn up for a few pages, as Mark continues to struggle with being "normal" again for the first time since he was 18, whether when it comes to dealing with a crisis or having sex. While this has been an interesting story, a part of me wonders if the focus wasn't a bit of a issue filling move until the push to issue #100 begins. The subplot of Thragg calling out another Viltrumite for gaining genuine compassion for the lowly humans they room with is probably going to be a sign that Nolan's betrayal after coming to Earth was not an isolated event. This has been a bit of a middling arc for me - well written and interesting but not terribly exciting - and I do expect an upswing for the next.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #696: The march towards an eventful 700th issue as well as the relaunch of the title as SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN at the start of 2013 continues with another terrific installment of "Danger Zone" by writers Dan Slott and Christos Gage with pencils by Giuseppe Camuncoli. Drawing upon threads that were set up in subplots established two years ago, Slott and Gage are escalating the increasingly dangerous world of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. While he may have a fantastic scientist job at Horizon Labs to upgrade his Spider-gear and is a member of both the Avengers and the Future Foundation (sometimes), the life of Parker has gotten little easier. In fact, Slott has wisely used these developments to up the stakes to staggering and awe inspiring levels. While the world isn't in danger yet, events are becoming more and more desperate. As the cover reveals, this issue has the new Hobgoblin (Phil Urich) finally draw swords and pumpkin-bombs against the long dormant original Hobgoblin, Roderick Kingsley. However, this issue also features Madame Web, the Kingpin, and ninjas.
Finally deciding to reap the benefits of having a mole in Horizon Labs, the Kingpin has organized the creation of a machine which is intended to drive Spider-Man's "spider-sense" haywire. To this end this has given Peter crippling migraines, and allowed his swift capture by Urich. Ages back Peter told his boss Max Modell as well as his other Horizon peers that he designs technology for Spider-Man as an attempt to maintain his identity and explain so many coincidences. Now that such news has been leaked to the public by the Daily Bugle, the plan by Kingpin is to treat Parker as many villains treated Jimmy Olson, "Superman's best friend". Unfortunately, a ransom plot to recover a MacGuffin can't work when the hostage and hero are one in the same. Peter is forced to rely on Max Modell as well as his own fast wits and determination to escape captivity; much like James Bond, he capitalizes and adapts on what fate often drops into a situation. Slott has wisely always sought to have Peter rely on his brains rather than sheer power for his heroic feats, which is always the best way to challenge a hero.
Camoncoli's art is gloriously backed up by Dan Green's inks and Antonio Fabela's colors and as always he continues on a great run as one of ASM's regular artists. He replaced Marcos Martin's position very soon into Dan Slott's solo run on the title and has forged his own status on this series. Scenes in which two Hobgoblins duel each other in particular have exceptional pop. If the issue has any demerit, it is the obligatory scenes with Madame Web which serve little purpose other than to practically stick up a neon sign which reads "FORESHADOWING". Beyond that, however, it is another thrilling installment in what has become a yeoman run on this franchise by Dan Slott for the last two years (with sporadic assistance from Christos Gage, a frequent script collaborator). While the announcements for SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN have made many fans justifiably wary - and it does risk the stable and successful sales ASM has had for years - the stories leading up to it are good enough to earn some benefit of the doubt. One merely hopes it won't be a case of attempting to fix what isn't broken.
AVENGERS VS. X-MEN CONSEQUENCES #2-3: Because AVENGERS VS. X-MEN ran for twelve issues (and a zero issue) over roughly seven months, naturally the epilogue must take quite a while to be told as well. As Marvel rolls out their "Marvel NOW" campaign, writer Kieron Gillen has been tasked with a weekly series to help set up the status quo for the universe as well as settle the affairs of involved characters. Gillen, the exiting writer of UNCANNY X-MEN as well as the writer of JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY and formerly THOR, has a steadier and more focused hand with telling the ramifications of AVX than the five writers of AVX had with the event themselves. Most of the action so far has focused around Cyclops, who has been placed within a private prison run by a tycoon who seeks to make money on imprisoning the newly budding mutant population who will inevitably become criminals. The rest of the Avengers are busy attempting to rebuild the shattered world (or K'un L'un) as well as some of the rest of the X-Men coping. Cyclops sees himself as a political prisoner and a martyr, who was forced to do a terrible thing to save mutants; he's succeeded, and now anything left is borrowed time. While the establishment would like Cyclops to go bad or disappear, they can't outright execute him with the Avengers poking around, so they've settled on allowing the prison population to handle things. While Cyclops can handle himself, he has found himself mentoring another mutant prisoner in his empty cell block. A taunt verbal confrontation between Cyclops and Wolverine in issue two is worth the cover price alone, and while this is a short term story for Cyclops at best, it isn't a bad one given what AVX did to him. The artists for each issue change; Steve Kurth pencils the second issue and Scot Eaton handles the third, after Tom Raney handled the first. The series will be finished in another fortnight, but so far it has proven to be a better read than the event itself. The fact that is a more focused story with better dialogue helps.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #19: Only Marvel Comics have the sheer audacity to boldly proclaim, "The Final Issue Of" on the cover of this issue while at the end of it attempt to sell the next CAPTAIN AMERICA #1 in November. At this point Marvel's editorial strategy is beyond satire. What this is the final issue of is Ed Brubaker's run on CAPTAIN AMERICA, which began in 2005 and has run for almost eight years. Few writers in recent memory have had so long on a major franchise title at the "House Of Ideas"; J. Michael Straczynski's run on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is the nearest comparison. During this run Brubaker has done the impossible several times over; he revived Bucky from the dead, killed off Captain America, and had Bucky replace Cap for two years and boosted sales for the series to heights it hadn't seen in years, if not a decade. Brubaker made Captain America a figure the media cared about once more, and brought many new fans aboard for the ride. For this final issue artist Steve Epting, who drew or helped draw the prime center of this run returns for one more collaboration. This is a somber issue where Brubaker manages to summarize Steve Rogers' origins as well as the central idea of his run - which was that Captain America was larger than Steve Rogers himself. While that has often been a common theme for Cap stories, Brubaker weaves his own continuity with the history of such stories to weave a clear tapestry. The issue also ties up a loose plot thread, which was the Captain America of the 1950's - the chemically insane William Burnside, formerly known as the Grand Director - is tracked down after last appearing a couple of years back. While some stories treated him as a villain, Brubaker wisely remembers that Burnside had merely been attempting to fill the void when Rogers was frozen, and his insanity was something he didn't count on or desire in his attempt to re-create the super soldier process. Aware that Burnside was inspired by him like so many others, Rogers seeks to end his actions through dignity rather than fists. Matched with Frank D'Armata's colors, this is a fitting farewell to the voice of the sentinel of liberty for eight long and mostly great years. While the last arc may not have been among the best, this final issue is.
SECRET AVENGERS #33: What is apparently the last arc of Rick Remender's run on SECRET AVENGERS before its relaunch, we get along to setting up the climax of his story about the Descendants - his race of technologically organic beings created from Super-Adaptoid stuff. This was a very interesting storyline which was derailed a bit to do an underwhelming AVX crossover before shifting back to gears with an island of villains and picking up leftover scraps of the Ed Brubaker launching run. The last time they tangoed, Eric O'Grady was seemingly killed trying to save a small techno-organic boy from being enslaved by "Father", who wants to be lord of all robots/cyborgs (everyone from LMD's to Adaptoids to Reavers like Lady Deathstrike and even some spare Doombots and Sentinels). He seemed to survive, but it was noted that he'd been replaced by an LMD loyal to "Father". In this issue that comes to a head, as he becomes "the Black Ant" and sets up the team for destruction by letting the Descendants into their HQ. They also disturb the long awaited sex scene between Valkyrie and Flash Thompson - the former of whom has no qualms fighting while naked. The art is by Any Kuhn, which is amazing to me since he's also the new regular artist of IDW's TMNT series; perhaps this was done first, or he's a speedy artist on a par with Mark Bagley. Matthew Wilson's colors work really makes it pop, and I can't help but be reminded of "BLACK ADDER" with Black Ant's name, which is unintentionally hilarious. In the B-plot, Hawkeye and Captain Britain have set off to retrieve a MacGuffin from another universe where everyone left is some sort of undead monster with Brother Voodoo in charge. It's weird and wonderful, with cameos by Franken-Castle and even Cap-Wolf. Suffice it to say, this is my favorite run of this series - and I've read all of them except Warren Ellis' - and I can't say I am a lock to read the relaunch under Dennis Hopeless.
