Bought/Thought 3/26

[Egotastic]

That was just horrible writing period. Those last few pages are utterly disgusting.

The part where Echo and Clint kissed?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Echo's probably got cooties.

 

[RockSP]

Hawkeye definitely does. He's boned damn near every female Avenger.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

He is a man****. But in his defense, he learned from Tony Stark, so he's actually been pretty conservative.

 

[Egotastic]

Echo's probably got cooties.

Dude, she slept with Murdock. She's got worse things than cooties.

 

[gildea]

NEW AVENGERS #39: And then she suspects he is a Skrull, and accuses him. And then...he reveals himself, makes it blatant, and is killed by Echo & Wolverine.

Now, this doesn't work.

I mean, the DD Skrull could have simply denied Echo. Could have done nothing even if Echo attacked.

The criticism doesn't work.

Firstly it's made blatantly obvious by the over-written exposition that the skrull was going to kill and replace echo, hence no need to deny.
Secondly the skrull wasn't killed, it flew away (even though the dialogue says teleported).

 

[RockSP]

Secondly the skrull wasn't killed, it flew away (even though the dialogue says teleported).

It did both.

 

[Egotastic]

Ergo, Dread loses.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Urban Monsters #1: I know I'm late on this, since #2 actually came out this week, but I guess I missed #1 at my shop and didn't remember until I saw #2 on Wednesday. So I bought #1 and read it. I think my experience can best be summed up by the phrase "absolute disappointment." Really, the premise sounded so awesome but the reality... um... well, let's be frank here: it sucked. This was a stupid comic. We get a slapdash introduction to the characters and the situation their world is in--namely, that monsters have been integrated into the populace but are still treated as second-class citizens--and then the main characters go on a road trip to Hollywood, but one of them gets attacked by cops, and then a cop goes bad because it turns out he's a zombie or something. It's kind of a mishmash of a bunch of disparate events. The art sucks in a lot of places, too. The artists could be good, I just don't think they're that good right now overall.

 

[Darthphere]

The part where Echo and Clint kissed?

Yeah, it sounded like middle school kids at their first boy/girl party.

 

[Egotastic]

Urban Monsters #1: I know I'm late on this, since #2 actually came out this week, but I guess I missed #1 at my shop and didn't remember until I saw #2 on Wednesday. So I bought #1 and read it. I think my experience can best be summed up by the phrase "absolute disappointment." Really, the premise sounded so awesome but the reality... um... well, let's be frank here: it sucked. This was a stupid comic. We get a slapdash introduction to the characters and the situation their world is in--namely, that monsters have been integrated into the populace but are still treated as second-class citizens--and then the main characters go on a road trip to Hollywood, but one of them gets attacked by cops, and then a cop goes bad because it turns out he's a zombie or something. It's kind of a mishmash of a bunch of disparate events. The art sucks in a lot of places, too. The artists could be good, I just don't think they're that good right now overall.

Huh. I considered picking that up. I remember reading some preview pages a while ago and thinking it looked pretty good. Didn't Tone Rodriguez do the art? He's usually decent.

Yeah, it sounded like middle school kids at their first boy/girl party.

Eh, I think it sounded like two people who are attracted to one another despite not really knowing one another.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Huh. I considered picking that up. I remember reading some preview pages a while ago and thinking it looked pretty good. Didn't Tone Rodriguez do the art? He's usually decent.

Yeah, Tone Rodriguez drew it. I really didn't like it. It looked very plain overall and sloppy in some panels.

 

[Egotastic]

Good to know, I guess. That sucks, though. The premise sounded really cool.

 

[Egotastic]

On a related note, Screamland #1, another book about monsters (Hollywood monsters) was really good. The basic premise is that Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolf-Man, etc, are washed up horror stars, having been replaced with CGI and such. The humor is really dry and sarcastic and it's great. The art's great, too.

 

[Egotastic]

For anyone keeping score with the whole Mack/New Avengers #39/swipefest, we can now apparently add "liar" to his resume. He claims that his Adam Hughes "homages" were done with the permission of Hughes and his girlfriend (the original model). He said their response was that "they got a kick out of it." According to Adam Hughes girlfriend (the original model), they didn't. She says it's a shame and that they both considered Mack to be a friend.

That just about does it for me.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Wow. Ouch. Swiping goes to his professionalism, but outright lying about friends? That's, like, middle school low.

 

[Egotastic]

This is turning into some Stephen Glass ****.

EDIT: I'm not going to post all of them here, but it's turning out that literally every single panel from #39 was swiped. If you're curious, head on over to Newsarama and check out the NA #39 Preview thread.

 

[kguillou]

Okay, after reading NA #39, i was interested to read some back story on echo, so i attempted to read David Mack's 'Vision Quest'. Holy Cow, was anyone else able to get through this? I couldnt get past the first issue, it was way too trippy for me, i cant even tell what's going on. I know its just a matter of artistic tastes but did anyone else feel the same way?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Mack's Daredevil work did have a really ethereal quality to it. I liked it, but I don't read DD so I didn't read those arcs.

 

[xisaacx]

The sad thing is how all people do is troll online to find swipes, like they seriously have no lives to sit there and just argue about him swiping the issue. Comedians do it, artist do it, rappers use samples from others songs, peopel use parts to old songs. Is anything original anymore? No offense but if they got that much time on their hands that all they do is nitpick about that crap they have no lives. Guess my opinion was to strong for that board considering Im banned ha.

 

[BrianWilly]

Wait, what?

In absolutely no other creative medium is this sort of thing ever tolerated. Not in film, or in writing, or in music, etc etc. You can bet your ass that a musician is going to care if you steal the lyrics or melody of one of his songs and then sell it as your own; the merest hint of it would raise lawsuits up the wall. The comics industry is really one of the only places where blatant theft like this doesn't end up with the product being pulled immediately from the shelves and the thieves corporately blacklisted.

Just because it happens doesn't make it somehow magically acceptable, and I'm not sure why you would possibly think that. As I've said, it is offensive not only ethically and legally but also artistically. To call yourself a creator and then to make money off of someone else's creations is fcking pathetic. There is no other way to say this, nor any justification for it.

 

[Eros]

settle down brianwilly, you make it sound like "swiping" is a serous offense.

 

[gildea]

In absolutely no other creative medium is this sort of thing ever tolerated. Not in film, or in writing, or in music, etc etc.

Depends on your definition of 'tolerated'. It happens all the time in every other medium, you're being VERY naive if you think otherwise.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

BOUGHT:

ARMY OF DARKNESS XENA #1
BLACK PANTHER #35
BLUE BEETLE #25
COUNTDOWN #5
COUNTDOWN TO ADVENTURE #8
DAREDEVIL #106
FREDDY VS. JASON VS. ASH #6
GARGOYLES #8
GREEN LANTERN #26
LEGION OF SUPERHEROES #40
MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN #11
MARVEL ATLAS #2
MIGHTY AVENGERS #11
MS MARVEL #25
NEW AVENGERS #39
NEW WARRIORS #10
POWER PACK DAY ONE #1
SHE-HULK #27
SHEENA #5
SPIRIT #15
TEEN TITANS #57
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #52
ULTIMATE IRON MAN II #4
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #120
ULTIMATE X-MEN #92
WOLVERINE FIRST CLASS #1
WORLD WAR HULK AFTERSMASH DC #3
X-MEN FIRST CLASS #10
X-MEN LEGACY #209

THOUGHT:

ARMY OF DARKNESS XENA #1 – This is the second week in a row that a comic I was pondering an idea for happened. Although, this one was really a no-brainer. As soon as there was a Xena comic with Bruce’s character featured, it was only logical that some Bruce fan would want to see two Bruce characters together in one comic. Hell, that was my logic behind it. Would I have done it in quite the way it was here? Not really, no. It was a decent concept, although the characterizations were a little off for the AoD characters. The Xena characters seemed fairly close, but hard to tell with just one issue. We’ll see how the series progresses; good idea, or crappy fanboy geekgasm come true?

COUNTDOWN TO ADVENTURE #8 – I thoroughly enjoyed the Space Trio story, and I was thoroughly bored by the Forerunner story. While it was nice to get two stories for just a dollar more than one, I had no interest in Forerunner beyond the role she plays in Countdown. She did NOT merit her own mini-series. But the rest of the book was damn good with some damn fine art. Like to see these three together again WITH the same creative team.

FREDDY VS. JASON VS. ASH #6 – The end is here. It felt like a lot was packed into this chapter instead of spaced out like the previous ones. But I guess that will only benefit the trade readers in the end. Overall, it was a good story, about as good as when I first read it. The art suffered some in this issue, that was about it. It didn’t mesh with the rest of the series. Just a shame this will never see the light of day as a film.

GARGOYLES #8 – The constant time jumping is beginning to get to me. We have one page of story progression, followed by several pages of regression. I wish this book would go linear just once; tell the whole story in order. The art, however, has greatly improved since the series started and the characters look more and more like their animated counterparts.

LEGION OF SUPERHEROES #40 – I’m about to give up with this book. There are far too many characters to follow and far too much going on. I can barely remember most of the Legion’s names. Definitely missing the old creative team here.

MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN #11 – Wow, a MA book that actually acknowledges past issues, AND has an ongoing subplot and continuity?! It was another cute, enjoyable story perfect for the youngens, but for us seasoned fans the portrayal of Alpha Flight might be a bit grating. Oh, and let’s not forget the eye-roll & chuckle inducing Wolverine joke.

MARVEL ATLAS #2 – Handbooks are always awesome. Now, if only they could find a way to update them after publication…

MS MARVEL #25 – You gotta love when they get one of the old-school artists still around today to create pages that look like they were taken out of a Silver Age comic. We get some flashbacks done in this way to try and pave the road for the retcon of the Skrull invasion. It’s a Bendis event, I have no high hopes for it. As usual, Ms. Marvel was excellent. Damn good book that keeps the hits coming.

NEW AVENGERS #39 – Wow, a pretty decent issue…by Bendis! The story was pretty good, save for the usual Bendis dialogue and Hawkeye once again getting lucky. The thing that surprised me most about this issue was Mack’s artwork. Ever comic I ever got with his name on it were confusing abstract works. This ACTUALLY looked like a comic. Go figure. Also, Wolverine was done pretty damn well for a change. See, I know there’s a good writer hidden somewhere deep down inside Bendis. Why he doesn’t let him out more often? Who knows.

POWER PACK DAY ONE #1 – Following the craze of origin-based minis, the Pack gets their own. As usual, it’s a fun romp with the Pack, following the same continuity as the other minis and even throwing in a bit of the actual 616 origins as well. I’m sure this will be another good run, as the only mini I’ve ever been disappointed with was the Hulk team-up.

SHEENA #5 – This series started off interesting, but this final chapter was completely off the wall. Things came out of left field and the ending was confusing as hell. All of this was done in a rush to conclude the story like the writer suddenly realized this was the last issue already. Not sure if I’ll pick up any future Sheena books. Time will tell.

SPIRIT #15 – Did Dolan always feel so competitive with Spirit? I don’t recall that during the Cooke run. So far, the book is still holding true to how it began.

WOLVERINE FIRST CLASS #1 – As the cover implies, this is Shadowcat placed in the tutelage of Wolverine during the pre-New Mutant days of the X-Men. Despite sharing the title, the fact they used the CLASSIC classic costumes for Kitty and a flashback to the original X-Men kind of cements that this book takes place in a separate universe from X-Men: First Class. Divito’s artwork was excellent, and Van Lente tells an entertaining story as usual. Wolverine’s personality is spot-on, except that since this is an all-ages book his fighting effectiveness is severely diminished. Honestly, one has to ponder the logic of putting a character whose weapons are BLADES in a comic where blood is a no-no. We’ll see how the series progresses, if it can match the enjoyment of Parker’s X-Men.

WORLD WAR HULK AFTERSMASH DAMAGE CONTROL #3 – Well, that was…different. We take a break from the main story to focus entirely on the issue of the living Chrysler Building. I have to say, it was definitely amusing. Not laugh-out-loud hysterical, but issues filled with outrageous moments like that will keep Damage Control coming back for more, I think.

X-MEN FIRST CLASS #10 – Not digging the new artist, but we got a pretty decent story showcasing Cyclops’ often-understated abilities. Granted, he’s no favorite character of mine, but he’s more than a 2-D character like he’s typically portrayed. Not many gags this time around, except for the opening, but Parker manages to spin a good yarn without it.

 

[Darthphere]

This is turning into some Stephen Glass ****.

EDIT: I'm not going to post all of them here, but it's turning out that literally every single panel from #39 was swiped. If you're curious, head on over to Newsarama and check out the NA #39 Preview thread.

The Maleev swipe was especially incredible since he used the same pose in literally like 5 pages. Daredevil didn't move.