NOVA #18: A bad-ass cover for a bad-ass issue. Who says there isn't truth in advertising anymore?
Right, I should probably write more specifics here. Alright. I love the boldness of sticking DARKHAWK and QUASAR's names on the cover, as if they ever got anyone onto a book who wasn't already reading it since 1995. I love that kind of boldness to Abnett & Lanning. They see strength and potential in a lot of characters left for dead by the end of the 90's, including the titular hero, and much like Slott, they're not afraid to hide it. Alves & Hanna continue on art & inks and do the usual bang up job. The only quibble is that in a few panels where Darkhawk is baring wounds from his Skrull attackers, we see pink human flesh/skin underneath. While that is fine for Nova or most characters, it doesn't work for Darkhawk. He isn't a man in armor, he is a man whose body is swapped for an organic battle android which the host's mind. Darkhawk can bleed, but I don't imagine that his alien cyber-body is all pink and humanoid underneath. The armor's true "face" has been scary enough to stop hardened criminals in their tracks (although it has barely been glimpsed to the reader). It isn't a major quibble, but I see that factoid as something a lot of writers forget.
But, the rest is all goodness. No, it isn't a Skrull trick; Quasar is back in the flesh, or rather, in the quantum energy. Having survived his "murder" at the hands of Annihilus, he aids Nova, Darkhawk, and the soldiers of Project PEGASUS as they seek to protect the base from the armada of aliens. Of course, a few issues back during CONQUEST, Nova had a Phalanx-induced dream of him leading the Nova Corps with Wendell as pure quantum energy, so one could consider that foreshadowing. And while NOVA can sometimes be an obscure character sandwich, it is also a continuity sandwich. The PEGASUS people react to Quasar's return as they should, since he used to work with them for years. Darkhawk makes mention of his time with Nova on the New Warriors and how much Rich has changed since then. War has made Nova "grow up", but unlike some of the people we see in SECRET INVASION, we got to read of Rich's struggles with his new legacy and responsibility, and him slowly but surely stepping up. It wasn't stretched out to the point of annoyance like a JMS THOR story, but it was still addressed, and that fruit is being reaped now. They took what Giffen handed them years ago and ran with it, and have ever since.
Worldmind has even been reactivated and acts as if he had never left, activating the "Minion" program and using the new Death's Head robots to turn the tide in battle. It was a little heartwarming seeing Nova be estatic about the return of his trusty gestalt living computer that he used to be irritated with 5 issues back. He has some fun interaction with Rich's brother and the other members of PEGASUS. Like any great science fiction writer or writers, Abnett & Lanning excel at making all, or most, of their characters interesting, accurate, and exciting, whether they be humans with alien powers or aliens themselves. I was initially concerned about yet another SI tie-in but NOVA is easily coming forth as providing one of the best ones. It hasn't sold it's soul to the event and the tie-in is bringing about good things to the core title. It's a win-win. The entire issue was just people kicking around nameless Skrulls, and the action was still exciting!
I was a bit surprised that instead of watching Nova hand-pick some Nova Centurions, a squad of five have appeared out of nowhere at the final page. They are a group of aliens, including one who looks a bit "inspired" by Booster Gold's sidekick Skeets, and a Shi'ar. Of course, Rich always could do some personal recruiting while on Earth, and Quasar is due to appear in GOTG at some point according to interviews. Abnett & Lanning have proven very capable of making brand new and exciting characters, even when they only last two issues, like Ko-Rel (who I'll remember her more than Suzy Sherman). Where did they come from? Did Worldmind manage to quickly recruit five nearby beings within a few moments off-panel? Did they happen to be away from Xanadar when the Annihilation Wave struck it and managed to survive without Worldmind noticing (or telling Rich)? It opens up a lot of opportunities. Plus, if anyone could write a Shi'ar who was in any way readable, it would be DnA.
NOVA is a book that, much like the human rocket himself, seems to soar higher and higher on it's blazing journey. There's no telling the heights it can reach.
SECRET INVASION: THOR #3: The conclusion of Fraction & Braithwaite's SI tie in. Much like with USM and ASM, the core titles were too busy for the crossover, and the random mini's often sell about 10-20k worse as a result. This 3 part mini was more of a popcorn action flick, providing some of the action that JMS' THOR is too self-righteous to provide. Are there power level gaffes? Oh, sure. But it seems it is either that, or 22 pages of conversations that only tell us what we already know, from Thor. It has often been an issue with Thor; in his own title he often is of some grand power level because of his particular storyline, and in other titles, he's basically Superman with a hammer and no heat-vision.
Yeah, Thor should have been able to pummel that Skrull Femizon woman easier, the final blow seemed a bit awkward and forced, and so on. But Braithwaite made it look great, enough that one can almost forgive those sort of gaffes. Really, the only major hassle I have is that none of the other Asgardians, even Loki, seemed to make a big deal about Thor basically abandoning them in the midst of an attack so he could deliver some random woman's baby as Donald Blake. I mean, of course all life is precious to Thor, and he's all about helping the mortals. But if I was a random Asgardian there, especially if I or one of my buddies was hurt or killed in that attack, I would probably "have words with thee" or someone about it.
I will say that perhaps Thor didn't deflect Stormbreaker because it would have hit some other location; maybe it is hard to steer where you want your tampered hammers to go? The Skrulls had someone used magic to tamper with it; maybe that altered some of the rules of repelling it. In the end, Thor saved the town and got Bill his weapon back, so that is what matters. Bill's default costume is back, but at least he's out of limbo and free for someone else to use him. It isn't like anything from OMEGA FLIGHT was used in any book that counted, so why is anyone shocked about a costume design?
I did kind of like the appeal of Thor and Bill seeing themselves as battle-brothers, y'know, that star-crossed comrade thing. If aliens and gods can get along, why can't the rest of us, man? The Warrior's Three aiding Thor at the start of the issue was also pretty cool. Again, it is seeing the troupe engage in the sort of splashy, dramatic battles that JMS can't be bothered with. There was probably a better way to do it, but Fraction is obviously being stretched a little thin with all the books he is doing now, so some things are getting sacrificed. At least Thor is considered so important now that Marvel commissions three Thor books to ship in October.
I'm still a sucker for a smash-mouth action scene. SI: THOR provided one, so I don't regret it. It provided at least a minor reason as to why Thor was in SECRET INVASION's core mini (besides, y'know, just 'cuz). Still, not one of the better SI tie-in's. But maybe I am desperate to see Thor hit something. I can't imagine how that happened.
THOR #11: Thor continues to be a successful, if also a frustrating book. The sales are terrific and it has been one of Marvel's best relaunches; after a 4 year rest, THOR's selling at least twice as well, if not more, than he was in 2004. The premise of the relaunch has been solid. But JMS' problem is getting ON with it. There is zero urgency to this series, and that is a major drag. It almost seems to be daring you to cry out, "Thor was asleep for 4 years, and ALL HE DOES IS TALK TO PEOPLE!?"
That said, JMS also manages to take his middling decompression and get some good character moments out of it. They usually are good enough to distract you from his plot meandering for a while, especially combined with Coipel's pencils. The moment here is Thor talking to Captain America's spirit on the anniversary of his death.
It is worth mentioning that in real time, it has been about a year and half since Steve Rogers died. Which means JMS is making mention of this as having passed in real time in the Marvel Universe. This is clearly an editorial burp because there is no way in heaven or hell a Marvel Universe that claims the period from 1961-2008 was "13-16 years" (and THAT depends on who you ask!) while also claiming that Franklin Richards is under 10 years old is going to allow a year to pass in real time. JMS also mentions the 2008 election, which the EIC in the year 2028 will claim as "topical" and stretch the timestream further. Ah, the strength of fanboy cynicism.
But, dismiss all that, and the story does work and have something to say.
On the anniversary of Capt. America's death, the media is naturally focusing on it. They also are trivializing it with partisan political chatter or outright trite commentary, diminishing the initial tragedy. This appalls Thor, who manages to summon the ghost of his departed friend for a chat. The ghostly image of Cap is both haunting and inspiring, the cloak with the iconic star symbol showing. It naturally confirms that Cap is dead; granted, Colossus' ghost popped up a few times before Whedon revived him with aliens, but, damn it, there's that pesky cynicism again. Thor, on the anniversary of Steve's death, asks if he wants to be avenged. While I would have been very surprised if Steve said, "Sure, Thor! Wipe Red Skull and all his Neo-Nazi Terrorists off the Planet! Do the world and their victims a favor!", naturally that is not Steve's way. His main lamentation is that the thing he fought for, the love and potential of his country, was being twisted and warped by media harpies. Steve did not want his ideal to be lost. Thor zaps some satellites and literally creates a worldwide moment of silence for his departed friend, which I thought was pretty sweet. Thor talking to Cap, offering him Valhalla, all that stuff was accurate and cool character stuff.
The major caveat, of course, is JMS giving a lecture on using and twisting honest symbols to support a partisan political agenda like an axehammer. It would seem less hypocritical coming from someone who hasn't already written a few stories telling us how evil conservatives are, and using comic book or sci-fi characters to do it. But, well, there was that line from SANDMAN, "all writers are hypocrites". And despite that, it DID make sense for Cap to feel that way, and for Thor to offer the "gift" that he could.
The part that wares thin is the Balder/Loki parts. Maybe this stuff would seem relavent if the last few issues hadn't already finely established that Balder is weaker willed than Thor and unable to move past Loki's manipulations. Sif is still trapped in the form of the old woman as she was half a year ago. Nothing has changed but the scenery. Some good jokes on Voltagg's weight are had, though. But in the end all the nice speeches mean little when the pace moves like that of a snail. We are nearly a year in and this story easily could have some to this point 2-3 issues ago. But, no editor is going to turn to a successful TV and comic writer and say, "speed it the hell up! Even my dog's fallin' asleep here!"
And so THOR remains a good if not irritating relaunch by this stage. If only someone could take JMS' ideas and speeches and cram in some sort of urgency or action, but in a way better than Fraction did in the SI mini.
GIANT-SIZED X-MEN: FIRST CLASS #: While the ongoing has been canceled, Marvel has commissioned this other "annual/special" issue and another mini-series, so apparently this "sort of" Marvel Adventures book is still trucking, just not as often (which means the digests are selling decently). This issue has a few stories drawn by various people. They seem a bit erratic and lacking in the same charm as some of the past issues, though, and I found myself growing bored with the stories. The reprint of UXM #40, where the X-Men fight Frankenstein (who, didn't you know, was a robot made by random aliens) does the era before the "new" team emerged no favors. For $4, I would say skip, even if you enjoyed some of the past series. The stories aren't bad, and have some moments, but aren't too great. The regular issues are often better. Where is that AGENTS OF ATLAS follow up already?
Oh, and the Skrull Invasion/Secret Invasion part seemed very forced.
