Bought/Thought 11/29/06

[hippy fascist]

today I bought a donut...it was awesome.

Now for god's sake will someone spoiler me up!

 

[The Ether]

what kind of donut was it?

 

[hippy fascist]

what kind of donut was it?

glazed...mmmmmmmmmmmmm!

 

[GNR]

haha,got your PM hippy,no such luck,way too busy with school but I did pick up something on Monday,sooo.....

Green Arrow The Archer's Quest by Meltzer/Hester
Finished up Smith's run,which I highly enjoyed,and picked this up right away.The transition is really smooth.What Meltzer lacks in humor,he makes up for in characterization.I've really been enjoying the character of Arsenal,so it's great to read a story which features more history about him.After reading alot of past DC stuff like JLA Year One and New Frontier,I'm really starting to miss Barry Allen and wish he was around still.He seems to be a very well respected hero which everyone loved.I haven't finished this yet,I'm at the point where t[BLACKOUT]hey encounter Grundy in the cave[/BLACKOUT],but so far this has been a great read.Quiver was ace,Sounds of Violence was great,if AC keeps up what its been doing in the first half,this should be just as good as those.

 

[GNR]

anyone who didn't pick up Iron Fist shall be flogged and executed

 

[hippy fascist]

anyone who didn't pick up Iron Fist shall be flogged and executed

sod iron fist I want spidey spoilers

 

[The Ether]

nice to know but I ain't spoiling you with anything since I don't like glazed donuts unless they're honey cruller.

Captain America #24 - the fact that its a CW tie-in and doesn't do much as tie-in and follows through its own storyline makes it so much better since it didn't rely we don't need to hear another story of people complaining how evil the pro-reg is over and over again. Don't know who exactly the guy in the last page is though, info would be nice. sad that Bucky wasn't in the issue.

Nextwave #10 - not much explosion and random comedy as the other issues but still a good read. Forbush man is amazing lol.

Superman/Batman #30 - Apparently everyone who wasn't born in earth are being manipulated to kill Batman which I find funny and sad for batsy here, good read a little confused at times had to reread a couple of back issues since i forgot about this but its all good.

X-men #193 - For some reason I'm liking this more than Brubaker's work on Uncanny, The action is amazing, I'm starting to like rogue even more than before. Chris Bachalo has been one of my favourite artists so I'm not complaining about that department all in all great read.

Batman/Spirit - This is Golden Age comics right here from the time settings and everything and its also a great read. I like how Cooke portrait Spirit in this issue and I can't wait for the upcoming series that he's going to work on next month.

Iron Fist #1 - This book is just a judo chop full of awesomeness, pick it up cause I know I am.

and that's all I gotten so far. ....yeah.

 

[bored]

The owner/one of the only employees of my LCS got married this week, so it isn't open yet for me to pick anything up. Was "Immortal Iron Fist" amazing? Tell me it was, or I shall be ever so sad.

 

[Darthphere]

Deleted posts are awesome.

 

[Nasty-B]

The owner/one of the only employees of my LCS got married this week, so it isn't open yet for me to pick anything up. Was "Immortal Iron Fist" amazing? Tell me it was, or I shall be ever so sad.

It was okay. I've never been a fan though, I just bought it cuz I like Bru and Fraction. The art is servisable, but AJa's not really my cup of tea. Also, Danny's whole balancing act between running his father's corporation and being a superhero has been a bit played out by Batman. I might have also been swayed against it because it features IF fighting a bunch of Hydra flunkies, and I read it right after I read Captain AMerica, wherein Brubaker writes about Cap fighting a bunch of Hydra flunkies. I'm sure others who are more fond of the character liked it, however.

 

[Dread]

A mercifully short week this week, helped no doubt that the lure of extra greenbacks in my pocket kept me from overindulging curiosity. So, only three titles, and they're mostly good in varying degrees. Which is good because after Ultimate Clone Saga, Bendis needs some "wins" in his work to remind us why he's Marvel's #1 writer (at least in their opinion).

As usual, full helpings of spoilers, and other irate or pessimistic rants.

DREAD'S BOUGHT/THOUGHT for 11/29/06:

52 WEEK #30: Frankly, I'm surprised 52 has lasted this long without an actual appearence from Batman, who is to DC what Wolverine is to Marvel (only with DC, at least Batman's status there comes in part to coming out merely a year after Superman, 1939). But, most of the story isn't about Bruce, but about his partners and about Montoya, Batwoman, and the dying Question. As I mentioned in previous weeks, DC has a habit of replacing longtime heroes with young, ethnic and more "PC" characters, so much so that it almost has become an in-joke. Surely Montoya, a lesbian Hispanic woman, fits all of those to a Tee. However, while she's plenty capable, I still wonder why Question chose her and not, oh, someone more stable? Did they meet in the GCPD title I never read? It's the double-edged sword of DC's legacy heroes; it keeps things realistic to see a passing of the torch, but fans may have embraced one character and not another; did we really need to see Ray Palmer go? Lord knows the Hal Jordon vs. Kyle Rayner wars never ended, to which DC has some blame for (they kept having Jordon pop up); the Barry Allen/Wally West transfer was probably the most successfull, perhaps because Barry actually didn't show up in some form every few years? From interviews that Morrison did for WIZARD regarding Batman, I could sense that he had a lot of influence on this issue; the statement where Robin believes "it was his youthful, joking style that kept Batman on the edge" was last stated by Morrison and I don't believe it's coincidence (as he's a co-writer on 52). But that's fine, because it works. Batman's at times too "perfect" and less human, so the idea of him gaining as much from his partnership with a Robin as the sidekicks did makes sense in human terms. The Joker's flux during the Silver Age from killer to ham is also mentioned. Nightwing and Robin talk a bit as they team up to take down Intergang weapon smugglers in their search for Wayne, who's gone on a bit of a "vision quest" to piece together his sanity after IC ended; DC is at least acknowledging that he became a near psychotic paranoid who trusted no one (at least outside his main books). BrianWilly mentioned that the JLA title is what heaped a lot of this stuff on the Big Three and he's probably right, but it makes fodder for 52. The idea is also dropped that Wayne actually wants to retire and wants Grayson to become Batman (again; Grayson did don the mask very briefly after Valley got punted), an idea both may not be thrilled at (Grayson usually has wanted to maintain his own identity, however, Arsenal is THIS CLOSE to becoming "Red Arrow", so who knows anymore). Elsewhere, Montoya finds out that Question is in the last stages and will die soon, and starts to take steps towards embracing her role as his protoege, while Batwoman fights more Intergang monsters and gets to meet Nightwing, who just found out that Intergang's come into Gotham with Batman's absence. And ol' Bats himself? Wandering the desert seemingly fighting a demonic man who follows "The Cult of the Ten-Eyes", a goofy reference to the Ten Eyed Man that also reeks of Morrison (no one is as insane or tripped out on acid as he is to even reference Ten-Eyed Man), which may have been an actual mystical thing or a Wayne delusion as he proclaims that he's "Batman, No More!", and then melodramatically throws his costume in a trash can that allows the mask to peek out while walking away in an alley...no, the last part was made up. Of course, we know it can't last as Batman is back into the swing of things now, but it's all in the journey. There's also an origin for the Metal Men, done in a loopy art style by the guy who does fill-in's on BLUE BEETLE. He's like DC's Bachelo, only better than Bachelo. Still, I liked the Nightwing/Robin stuff and the meeting with Batwoman, so a solid issue.

IMMORTAL IRON FIST #1: Marvel's latest attempt to relaunch a character who was red-hot maybe 30 years ago and ever since has struggled to maintain a team or solo title, and who has remained within the public eye via frequent guest appearences (like Dr. Strange and Namor). CIVIL WAR, for all it's faults, resulted in his resurgance in the fan's eyes as he was revealed as impersonating Daredevil while Murdock was in prison (or was that just Brubaker being clever around the same time?), so Marvel is smelling another MOON KNIGHT-esque moderate hit with this. However, for once Marvel does something bright; Brubaker also writes CAPTAIN AMERICA, UNCANNY X-MEN, DAREDEVIL, CRIMINAL, and this, which is a lot for any writer to handle in a timely fashion. So, they attach a co-writer from the start in Fraction. Smart move. Now if only they did this with artists, it'd be full competance and flexing with market realities. A month ago, I didn't know who Fraction was. But last week he put out PUNISHER: WAR JOURNAL #1, a CW tie-in launch that was far better than I expected it, so now his co-writing credit is a postive for the book in my eyes. Iron Fist's not as gritty as Punisher, but he needs some grit otherwise he comes off cheesy. Aja, fresh off stints on DAREDEVIL, does art and he's a natural for the kinetic pace of Iron Fist; he streamlined the costume slightly by converting the "ballet slippers" to toed yellow ninja boots, which works (I could have stood to see the yellow collar go, but that's just me). He also uses dark scenery and shadows to make Rand stand out amungst his enemies while not seeming like he glows in the dark, a trick Aja played up with Daredevil, who only has a bright red costume. Like most first issues, there is a recap of his origin so that a new fan can understand what the character is about and a hint at the first arc, which promises to embellish his backstory heavilly. In this way, the flashback is welcome without seeming obligatory.

I've always liked Iron Fist, although the most I read of him as a kid was the H4H series from Ostrander & Ferry they put out in the late 90's. Probably because his mask was simular in the eyes to Spider-Man's and the fist is a good visual. Admittedly, the only thing of Brubaker's I've probably read was maybe his worst current work; DEADLY GENESIS, an X-mini marred by lateness, Marvel spoilers, and yet more retcons and tacked on stuff to an X-mythos already waterlogged with that crap. But so far he's doing well here. Rather than "retcon", he's simply embellishing on something from Rand's origin that no writer really has before; that K'un L'un had past "Iron Fists" and their lives were simply never embellished before; a gold mine for a writing team who may feel that Marvel needs a good legacy character and Iron Fist is a goldmine for that due to this. They also set up his ancient enemies, Master Khan and Steel-Serpant (Davos). They use the past to almost have Rand requestion his lot in life again; basically, a solict for this series could seem almost like Marvel's last stab at it a few years ago, only infinately better. Second time within the new millenium may be the charm here. Iron Fist basically reveals that a business company that almost tried to worm their way into his is allied with Hydra, and he engages in rooftop battles against a horde of soldiers and a "Mechagorgan", which symbolizes the dragon in his origin. From seeing Punisher take on robot toys in Fraction's P:WJ#1, I wonder if this was his idea. He's a man who doesn't feel the need to "apologize" for some comic book traditions, and more power to that. Elsewhere, we get a glimpse at Bei Ming-Tian, the Iron Fist from 1227, and Orson Randall, an Iron Fist from 1915 who's been missing since 1933, and targetted by the power-covetting Steel-Serpant. Considering that Danny's father was named Wendall Rand, I wonder if Orson may be some kind of relation; after all, his father was also searching for K'un L'un, he simply got lost and ended up murdered. This issue is a good example of how to EMBELLISH rather than retcon and have it all work out, although, like I said, Iron Fist was perhaps a rare example as miraculously, no writer has complicated this matter before (he's been killed, replaced by a plant man, and so forth if you want complications). A good first issue that wants you hungry for more. To give Marvel credit, the past couple of years they've seemed eager to try to get their past characters right; first MOON KNIGHT, DR. STRANGE: OATH, and now this. Plus, NOVA is serging into A-list and even the New Warriors have a future again.

The major downside? Adverts. 26 in total, with 22 pages of story. No two page splashes are effected but there's a gazillion for Element PC from Honda. After the first few pages it just becomes almost glaring at times. A year ago Joe Q promised that at the end of the year, this overkill of ads would never happen, but this year he basically admits, in bloated business-speak, "we already cashed their checks, so grin and bare it, money-givers". The end of the year is when the ads are bought or something, so they usually are at their worst now. But when ad pages outnumber the story pages, it gets glaring (and I didn't even count the back covers). Note that this is a Marvel that uses the term "comic book quality" as a blanket excuse for why any and every book that happens to be late is late; we can't do a fill-in, or demand our writer imagine our audience is as important as a TV audience, or demand an artist who is late on interiors NOT do covers for other comics/magazines, but rather we'll just sit and wait and tell y'all to shut up and delay your dollars to us because we care about overall quality." Well, how can you claim a comic with 26 pages of ads next to 22 of story is of "high quality"? Especially when some of those ads just repeat themselves (one Honda ad is fine; a good 3-4 placed about is overkill). Because it gives the impression that "quality" is used only as an excuse and that Marvel cares far more about ad dollars than fan satisfation; how can you say a comic that has an ad every other page at times is of "high quality"? MAD magazine, who usually give snappy answers to letter writers, claimed this month, "we love our readers, but we love money even more", and I wish Joe Q would admit this. Because it is becoming very obvious. As comics move on there is less and less reason to buy monthlies anymore. The industry creators always point to the trade when they need an excuse for how a story is of high quality when it's months behind, or clogged with ads, etc. The trades are cheaper and easier to store. Only impatience and nostalgia keep the monthlies as the lynchpin of the comic industry, and Marvel all but dares their audience sometimes to ruin that. Why?

Besides, who ever heard of Honda ads in comics before? Talk about misreading a demographic. DVD's, video games, toys, etc, they all are reaching the target audience. But a NEW CAR!? Surely someone could rationally explain that comic books are a poor place to troll for car buyers, but a Honda marketter seemed not to care, and Joe Q couldn't cash their check fast enough.

Bottom line? IMMORTAL IRON FIST #1 is good, but it's presented format is not, and I hope the ad issue gets under control. I mean, they were able to have a mere 8 in the last issue of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN. Surely you don't want to make a debut issue more of a hassle to read than it has to be.

ULTIMATE POWER #2: Read it, posting the thought bit later.

 

[Darthphere]

You know something, a comic book can have 40 adds for all I care, as long as the price stays down.

 

[Dread]

You know something, a comic book can have 40 adds for all I care, as long as the price stays down.

Trust me, you wouldn't say that if you had to wade through almost 8 pages of ads for 1 of comic. You'd probably wait for the trade. Like I said, with trades and illegal DLing, Marvel needs to sit and think about how annoying too many ads can be. Over 10 is noticeable, over 15 is obnoxious, past the story page count is almost obscene. You can't claim the comic is of the "quality" that Marvel explains they want when claiming why CIVIL WAR is late.

 

[Darthphere]

Would you rather pay $4.99 for a 22 page comic with 10 ads or $2.99 for a 22 page with 26 ads? Removing the aspect of trades, seems like a no brainer.

 

[hippy fascist]

Trust me, you wouldn't say that if you had to wade through almost 8 pages of ads for 1 of comic. You'd probably wait for the trade. Like I said, with trades and illegal DLing, Marvel needs to sit and think about how annoying too many ads can be. Over 10 is noticeable, over 15 is obnoxious, past the story page count is almost obscene. You can't claim the comic is of the "quality" that Marvel explains they want when claiming why CIVIL WAR is late.

*cough*RUNAWAYS *cough*

with the amount of ads that book has it should cost $2 at the MAXIMUM

 

[Roughneck]

I guess I need to be Flogged...but I did buy:

Wolverine #48 - This was actually a lot better than I though it would be, it's a nice set up by Guggenheim for his next run on Wolverine......clever little minx that one. It brings up a few more questions, adds another element to Wolverine....People are gonna be upset but really this does make sense. Oh it explains what happens to Wolverine when he gets fried down to nothing

52 #30 - Actually a pretty slow week in 52, though it gave us a nice good bit with Batman, Robin and Nightwing.....

X-men #193 - Flipped through it, still coulnd't get past the art.

Guy Gardner: Collateral Damage #1 - PICK OF THE WEEK....this was by far the best comic I got this week....plus I love Guy, he's such an ass.

Reviews to come in a few minutes as I read them, but not for x-men as I haven't read any of this Bachalo crap yet.

and some TPBs

Runaways Digest Vol 6 -

Justice Like Lightning...Thunderbolts -

Captain America Red Menace Vol 2 -

Skrull Kill Krew - This is better than I thought it would be but far from great...I read about half

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Would you rather pay $4.99 for a 22 page comic with 10 ads or $2.99 for a 22 page with 26 ads? Removing the aspect of trades, seems like a no brainer.

I'd pay 10 for NO ads.

 

[PWN3R]

Batman/The Spirit was truly wonderful. Cooke is so talented. If you can afford this, there is no reason why you shouldn't pick it up.

10/10

 

[GNR]

Batman/The Spirit was truly wonderful. Cooke is so talented. If you can afford this, there is no reason why you shouldn't pick it up.

10/10

You should have saved your money so that in a couple weeks you can pick up Absolute New Frontier.t:

 

[PhotoJones]

Would you rather pay $4.99 for a 22 page comic with 10 ads or $2.99 for a 22 page with 26 ads? Removing the aspect of trades, seems like a no brainer.

i agree. ads don't bother me at all. unless it interupts a two page splash (which i haven't seen yet), i really don't care, as long as the cover price stays the same.

 

[Marcdachamp]

I'd pay 10 for NO ads.

So why aren't you trade-waiting? I spent 27 dollars today. If keeping the price down means extra ads during november and december (when I'm already spending a lot), I'll take it.

Heavy week, I must say.

Sensational Spider-Man- Pick of the week! Sacasa has really shocked me lately, because this is very close to the quality of Amazing Spider-Man. I loved seeing MJ having difficulty over all of this (what wife wouldn't?), and her heart-to-heart with Sue Storm was also well done. 9/10

Captain America- I love Civil War. Why? Because it makes me really wonder about where everything is headed in the next few months. Brubaker's Cap has been sensational, and I'm quite interested to see where everything is headed. The villian on the final page seems a little TOO goofy for a noir book like this, but I have faith that Bru will make it interesting. 9/10

Ultimate Spider-Man- Quite a bit of exposition, but it's pretty interesting. It's pretty cool seeing Bendis changing up Ultimate origins. After all, the whole point of the universe is to offer something different. Hopefully Ultimate Jessica Drew will be sticking around for a while. 9/10

Stan Lee Meets Dr. Doom- It's funny. I bought Stan Lee's Amazing Marvel Universe a few months ago, and Stan had some very unique opinions on Dr. Doom that carry over into this issue. Larocca's art is the best I've seen in some time (the coloring is magnificent!), and it's a very fun package. 8/10

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man- Ahhh. You had me a little confused, Peter David. I couldn't help thinking "How could Peter stay at the school if he's on the run?". Interesting. I guess Marvel really IS starting to loosen up about the original Clone Saga. 8/10

Black Panther- Hmmm. Things are actually starting to cook in this title. It took almost 2 years, but oh well. I love seeing the Panther/Iron Man interaction. Johns did great things with it during his Avengers' run, and Hudlin plays off that past quite well. I really hope Hudlin continues to excell on this Civil War arc. There's great potential. 8/10

Avengers Next- Old-schoolers, there's no excuse for you to skip this book. Fun, classic Marvel stories with new incarnations of classic characters. In fact, I can't WAIT to see one of my old favorites (making his debut on the final page) next issue! 8/10

Transformers: Escalation- Damn. That was better than all of Infiltration! Great start to the new arc. Lots of action, and what could be a very interesting turn of events next issue.

Spoiler

Could one of the new humans already be taking a dirt nap?

8/10

Nextwave- Machine Man's bit was hilarious, but the way Forbush Man was stopped was terrific. Immonen really shines, though. It was great seeing his different artistic styles presented. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear he was showing off to those that say he won't be a good fit for Ultimate Spider-Man. 8/10

Onslaught: Reborn- Not a bad start, if you can get past the art. Pretty much all set-up. I'm not sure when exactly this takes place, but I like Onslaught, and the proceeds go to a good cause, so why not? 7/10

New Excaliber- I like seeing the Wrecking Crew mouth off to Cain, but I'm pretty sure I'm done after this arc, especially if Cain goes back to the two-dimensional villain he once was. My problem is that none of the characters or stories are really grabbing me. PAD made me a fan of characters I thought were lame over in X-Factor. I'm just not feeling that same vibe from anything here. We'll see how it goes. 7/10

 

[yenaled]

I tend to ignore adverts, I only notice then when they have the 4 page spread in the center of a comic.

And I usually just pull it out and carry on reading.

Also Dread's and other peoples loving of Iron Fist has convinced me to pick it up tomorrow. Yay for Marvel.

 

[Sebastos]

I just went to my shop for one issue alone and it was the pick of the week.

The Immortal Iron Fist #1: This book was all worth waiting for. It was so awesome! The art was great, Aja's work really fits well with the book, and Fraction and Brubaker did a great job with Iron Fist. They made him look like a dark badass. Full of Kung-Fu in him he was definetly a force to be messed with. The issue had plenty: kung-fu action, mystery, dark mood, etc. Steel Serpant is back! One of Iron Fist's known villains has come back and it seems he's after Danny. I really like the idea of having Travel Foreman draw the flashbacks of the old Iron Fist's that had the mantle and then have Aja (whose work was so good) draw the series with the current Iron Fist. Everytime I turned the page, I was given just even better martial arts action. It just got better and better. Aja is an amazing artist in the making. The art for Iron Fist was fantastic. He drew Iron Fist well, having the Iron Fist ninja garb with ninja boots. And even made the garb great, having IF in the shadows. Brubaker and Fraction really know what they have planned for him. They had Danny just right and also gave bits of Iron Fist's origin again, showing how he got the Iron Fist power. I can't wait to see how everything unfolds, there definetly is alot of mystersy going around. the book really has a martial arts/kung fu feeling to it and that makes it a whole lot of badass. Orson Randall was revealed in this issue. It seems he was an Iron Fist and went missing a long time ago. But he was foun din Thailand and it seems he does have connections to Danny Rand. The book just left me in awe and just waiting for the second issue! I can't wait! This was a solid issue and Brubaker, Fraction and Aja are doing an excellent job with the Immortal Iron Fist!

 

[MaskedManJRK]

52 Week 30: Pretty good stuff. Very interesting how Batman is "no more." I just wonder how Bruce gets Bats back in time for OYL?

Batman/Spirit: Awesome. Just recently gotten more into The Spirit, so it was cool seeing him walk around in the modern world now. Cool stuff. I also love how Spirit never believes that Batman is the real deal.

The Punisher X-Mas: Am I the only one who picked this up? It was pretty damn good--surprising since most of the Christmas specials with Punisher haven't been that good. Still, great stuff.

The Punisher 41: Very good, I was surprised by

Spoiler

The deaths of O'Brian and Nikolai. O'Brian's was great, but did anyone else feel like Nikolai's was lame? I was hoping that him and Frank would square off.

 

[Sebastos]

anyone who didn't pick up Iron Fist shall be flogged and executed

I picked it up, and it was fistacular!

Iron Fist #1 - This book is just a judo chop full of awesomeness, pick it up cause I know I am.

and that's all I gotten so far. ....yeah.

I think it was the pick of the week.

The owner/one of the only employees of my LCS got married this week, so it isn't open yet for me to pick anything up. Was "Immortal Iron Fist" amazing? Tell me it was, or I shall be ever so sad.

Pick it up when you can get it! The whole team on the book should be proud, the book was just awesome!

IMMORTAL IRON FIST #1: Marvel's latest attempt to relaunch a character who was red-hot maybe 30 years ago and ever since has struggled to maintain a team or solo title, and who has remained within the public eye via frequent guest appearences (like Dr. Strange and Namor). CIVIL WAR, for all it's faults, resulted in his resurgance in the fan's eyes as he was revealed as impersonating Daredevil while Murdock was in prison (or was that just Brubaker being clever around the same time?), so Marvel is smelling another MOON KNIGHT-esque moderate hit with this. However, for once Marvel does something bright; Brubaker also writes CAPTAIN AMERICA, UNCANNY X-MEN, DAREDEVIL, CRIMINAL, and this, which is a lot for any writer to handle in a timely fashion. So, they attach a co-writer from the start in Fraction. Smart move. Now if only they did this with artists, it'd be full competance and flexing with market realities. A month ago, I didn't know who Fraction was. But last week he put out PUNISHER: WAR JOURNAL #1, a CW tie-in launch that was far better than I expected it, so now his co-writing credit is a postive for the book in my eyes. Iron Fist's not as gritty as Punisher, but he needs some grit otherwise he comes off cheesy. Aja, fresh off stints on DAREDEVIL, does art and he's a natural for the kinetic pace of Iron Fist; he streamlined the costume slightly by converting the "ballet slippers" to toed yellow ninja boots, which works (I could have stood to see the yellow collar go, but that's just me). He also uses dark scenery and shadows to make Rand stand out amungst his enemies while not seeming like he glows in the dark, a trick Aja played up with Daredevil, who only has a bright red costume. Like most first issues, there is a recap of his origin so that a new fan can understand what the character is about and a hint at the first arc, which promises to embellish his backstory heavilly. In this way, the flashback is welcome without seeming obligatory.

I've always liked Iron Fist, although the most I read of him as a kid was the H4H series from Ostrander & Ferry they put out in the late 90's. Probably because his mask was simular in the eyes to Spider-Man's and the fist is a good visual. Admittedly, the only thing of Brubaker's I've probably read was maybe his worst current work; DEADLY GENESIS, an X-mini marred by lateness, Marvel spoilers, and yet more retcons and tacked on stuff to an X-mythos already waterlogged with that crap. But so far he's doing well here. Rather than "retcon", he's simply embellishing on something from Rand's origin that no writer really has before; that K'un L'un had past "Iron Fists" and their lives were simply never embellished before; a gold mine for a writing team who may feel that Marvel needs a good legacy character and Iron Fist is a goldmine for that due to this. They also set up his ancient enemies, Master Khan and Steel-Serpant (Davos). They use the past to almost have Rand requestion his lot in life again; basically, a solict for this series could seem almost like Marvel's last stab at it a few years ago, only infinately better. Second time within the new millenium may be the charm here. Iron Fist basically reveals that a business company that almost tried to worm their way into his is allied with Hydra, and he engages in rooftop battles against a horde of soldiers and a "Mechagorgan", which symbolizes the dragon in his origin. From seeing Punisher take on robot toys in Fraction's P:WJ#1, I wonder if this was his idea. He's a man who doesn't feel the need to "apologize" for some comic book traditions, and more power to that. Elsewhere, we get a glimpse at Bei Ming-Tian, the Iron Fist from 1227, and Orson Randall, an Iron Fist from 1915 who's been missing since 1933, and targetted by the power-covetting Steel-Serpant. Considering that Danny's father was named Wendall Rand, I wonder if Orson may be some kind of relation; after all, his father was also searching for K'un L'un, he simply got lost and ended up murdered. This issue is a good example of how to EMBELLISH rather than retcon and have it all work out, although, like I said, Iron Fist was perhaps a rare example as miraculously, no writer has complicated this matter before (he's been killed, replaced by a plant man, and so forth if you want complications). A good first issue that wants you hungry for more. To give Marvel credit, the past couple of years they've seemed eager to try to get their past characters right; first MOON KNIGHT, DR. STRANGE: OATH, and now this. Plus, NOVA is serging into A-list and even the New Warriors have a future again.

The major downside? Adverts. 26 in total, with 22 pages of story. No two page splashes are effected but there's a gazillion for Element PC from Honda. After the first few pages it just becomes almost glaring at times. A year ago Joe Q promised that at the end of the year, this overkill of ads would never happen, but this year he basically admits, in bloated business-speak, "we already cashed their checks, so grin and bare it, money-givers". The end of the year is when the ads are bought or something, so they usually are at their worst now. But when ad pages outnumber the story pages, it gets glaring (and I didn't even count the back covers). Note that this is a Marvel that uses the term "comic book quality" as a blanket excuse for why any and every book that happens to be late is late; we can't do a fill-in, or demand our writer imagine our audience is as important as a TV audience, or demand an artist who is late on interiors NOT do covers for other comics/magazines, but rather we'll just sit and wait and tell y'all to shut up and delay your dollars to us because we care about overall quality." Well, how can you claim a comic with 26 pages of ads next to 22 of story is of "high quality"? Especially when some of those ads just repeat themselves (one Honda ad is fine; a good 3-4 placed about is overkill). Because it gives the impression that "quality" is used only as an excuse and that Marvel cares far more about ad dollars than fan satisfation; how can you say a comic that has an ad every other page at times is of "high quality"? MAD magazine, who usually give snappy answers to letter writers, claimed this month, "we love our readers, but we love money even more", and I wish Joe Q would admit this. Because it is becoming very obvious. As comics move on there is less and less reason to buy monthlies anymore. The industry creators always point to the trade when they need an excuse for how a story is of high quality when it's months behind, or clogged with ads, etc. The trades are cheaper and easier to store. Only impatience and nostalgia keep the monthlies as the lynchpin of the comic industry, and Marvel all but dares their audience sometimes to ruin that. Why?

Besides, who ever heard of Honda ads in comics before? Talk about misreading a demographic. DVD's, video games, toys, etc, they all are reaching the target audience. But a NEW CAR!? Surely someone could rationally explain that comic books are a poor place to troll for car buyers, but a Honda marketter seemed not to care, and Joe Q couldn't cash their check fast enough.

Bottom line? IMMORTAL IRON FIST #1 is good, but it's presented format is not, and I hope the ad issue gets under control. I mean, they were able to have a mere 8 in the last issue of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN. Surely you don't want to make a debut issue more of a hassle to read than it has to be.

Excellent review.

I guess I need to be Flogged...but I did buy:

Wolverine #48 - This was actually a lot better than I though it would be, it's a nice set up by Guggenheim for his next run on Wolverine......clever little minx that one. It brings up a few more questions, adds another element to Wolverine....People are gonna be upset but really this does make sense. Oh it explains what happens to Wolverine when he gets fried down to nothing

52 #30 - Actually a pretty slow week in 52, though it gave us a nice good bit with Batman, Robin and Nightwing.....

X-men #193 - Flipped through it, still coulnd't get past the art.

Guy Gardner: Collateral Damage #1 - PICK OF THE WEEK....this was by far the best comic I got this week....plus I love Guy, he's such an ass.

Reviews to come in a few minutes as I read them, but not for x-men as I haven't read any of this Bachalo crap yet.

and some TPBs

Runaways Digest Vol 6 -

Justice Like Lightning...Thunderbolts -

Captain America Red Menace Vol 2 -

Skrull Kill Krew -

Get The Immortal Iron Fist!

Also Dread's and other peoples loving of Iron Fist has convinced me to pick it up tomorrow. Yay for Marvel.

You won't regret it, man.

52 Week 30: Pretty good stuff. Very interesting how Batman is "no more." I just wonder how Bruce gets Bats back in time for OYL?

Batman/Spirit: Awesome. Just recently gotten more into The Spirit, so it was cool seeing him walk around in the modern world now. Cool stuff. I also love how Spirit never believes that Batman is the real deal.

The Punisher X-Mas: Am I the only one who picked this up? It was pretty damn good--surprising since most of the Christmas specials with Punisher haven't been that good. Still, great stuff.

The Punisher 41: Very good, I was surprised by

You didn't get Iron Fist?