Amazing Spider-Man #699.1- This was a pretty unremarkable issue. This is pretty much a lead in to Morbius's NOW title... But yeah, pretty boring and was pretty much just shoe-horned into ASM to hopefully attract readers to Morbius's title when it debuts. But I wasn't a fan, so I won't be checking it out.
Avengers Arena #1- I feel bad about checking this out because I absolutely HATE stories that kill characters just for the sake of killing them. Especially younger characters with tons of potential. But I'm a sucker for Hunger Games/Battle Royale type stories so I wanted to at least give this a chance. And really, I don't think this was that bad of a first issue. I mean, it wasn't fantastic or anything but it was a pretty interesting introduction to the series. But I can definitely see the outrage some of you guys are feeling. I haven't read Avengers Academy, so I don't have any connections to those characters. My tune might change if Chase or Nico get killed as I'm a big Runaways fan. That being said, this story absolutely HAS to have some sort of a virtual reality twist. I don't think there's any way that Marvel would've signed off on killing off a big chunk of younger characters that have a lot of potential for good stories. With that in mind, I think this is a great idea for a series. You're getting new readers, like me in this case, to check out a book because I love the concept. Hopeless said this book is going to be super character driven, so I'll probably fall in love with some of these characters and totally pick up subsequent titles featuring them. If that's the plan, I think this is a terrific idea on Marvel's part as I think this title will sell better than you guys think. If they are indeed killing these characters off this, this is definitely some ******** and a stupid idea.
Batgirl #15- I actually really enjoyed this issue and I haven't really liked this title in a few issues. I was pretty close to dropping it, but felt obligated to at least see it through DOTF. Simone did a really good job of writing Barbara in this issue. Interested to see where it goes.
Batman #15- Another fantastic issue by Snyder and Capullo. I absolutely love Snyder's take on the Joker and I think he's doing an absolute expert job of executing this story. This issue had a lot of exposition to set up the next two issues, but I never felt that it dragged. I've read that some people are upset about Bruce flat out denying that Joker knows the Bat family's identities. As I said in another thread, the way I'm reading Bruce's denial is that he's trying to convince himself that there's no way that Joker doesn't know because he's terrified of the consequences. Through out the story you see Bruce's internal monologue showing just how scared of Joker he truly is and how he constantly remind himself that he's only a human being. I feel like the rest of the Bat-Family is kind of acting as the readers in saying, "Dude... It's kinda obvious that he might know." and Bruce is in full blown denial mode to keep himself together. He's too good of a detective and too aware of Joker's capabilities to be this brazen in his denial. He's just trying to convince himself. Anyway, Capullo's art is just ridiculously awesome in this title. He already draws my favorite Batman, but his Joker is stealing the show. The image of Joker on the first page is haunting. Anyway, this whole issue is leading up to what happens on the last page and it's a super awesome and exciting ending. The wait for #16 is going to be unbearable. Also, the back-up story was fantastic. Love Jock so much and this story makes me even more excited for the upcoming Riddler arc, as it's showing a Riddler who's extremely intelligent and cunning rather than a complete goofball.
Batman and Robin #15- God, I love Damian so much. He's one of my favorite new characters to come along in a long time. Tomasi does such an awesome job writing him, too. Love how he's desperately trying to help his father and how much he looks up to him. Anyway, while the writing in this issue was great, the thing that really stood out in this issue was Gleason's art. Along with Capullo, he's just killing it with this Joker design. I don't want to give it away, but there's a scene where Joker turns his frown upside down and it's just an incredibly striking image. Can't wait for next issue.
Cable and X-Force #1- To be honest, I'm mostly checking out this title to see what's going on with Colossus. This was a pretty meh issue. It wasn't terrible or anything, just not great. It was nice seeing the Uncanny Avengers in the beginning. Anyway, I'll stick with this for a couple of more issues to see where it's going.
Fantastic Four #2- Another really good issue. The Fantastic Four was always a tough series for me to get into. I admittedly missed Hickman's run during my comics hiatus (I need to check it out still), but I had a hard time getting into other runs... Even Waid's, who's a writer I usually love. I'm loving Fraction's take on the team. This is just a really fun title and I love the family dynamic of it. Excited to see where it goes.
Iron Man #4- I really, really want to like this title, but I'm just having a hard time getting into it. Like Cable and X-Force, I really don't think it's bad, but in this case I just find it to be bland. One thing that I don't really like is the episodic nature of the issues. Yeah, they're all connected by the overall Extremis story, but the one and done issues just aren't doing it for me. Maybe it's just the current nature of comics, but I'm really a big fan of arcs that span across a few issues that lead into each other. I know these issues might be more accessible to readers to just jump in whatever, but I'd much rather something more encompassing. It sucks, because I really loved Gillen's run on Uncanny X-Men, but this isn't doing it for me. It's in danger of being dropped off my pull list.
The Walking Dead #105- I'm loving Negan. Totally intimidating new big bad in the series. Carl is such a little badass in this series and Negan totally has his crapping his pants. The next issues cover leads me to believe Rick is going to go on the offensive. Can't wait to see how he reacts to Carl's current situation.
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