Bought/Thought 4/11

[GNR]

So any other reviews besides these idiotic arguments about opinions and Nova?Geez.

 

[Darthphere]

So any other reviews besides these idiotic arguments about opinions and Nova?Geez.

Welcome to the Hype. Thanks for contributing.

 

[Phaedrus45]

So any other reviews besides these idiotic arguments about opinions and Nova?Geez.

You should have read more than three lousy comics.

 

[Darthphere]

Oh snap!

 

[Sebastos]

Iron Fist has a terrible track record as well, he has his own book too and its really good. Go figure, look to the present not the past.

The only thing that was terrible was the last Iron Fist series. His other ongoings were great. And now, with his new ongoing Immortal Iron Fist, it's his best ongoing right now. The first four issues have been awesome.

So any other reviews besides these idiotic arguments about opinions and Nova?Geez.

I would post my reviews, but I don't get my comics till tomorrow.

 

[Darthphere]

The only thing that was terrible was the last Iron Fist series. His other ongoings were great. And now, with his new ongoing Immortal Iron Fist, it's his best ongoing right now. The first four issues have been awesome.

I know you have to run and defend everything Iron Fist, but Phaedrus and I were never talking about the quality of the comics.

 

[GNR]

You should have read more than three lousy comics.

I like to enjoy life and spend my money and time on other things besides 10 to 20 comic books a week.

 

[Darthphere]

I like to enjoy life and spend my money and time on other things besides 10 to 20 comic books a week.

Strippers?

 

[Phaedrus45]

I like to enjoy life and spend my money and time on other things besides 10 to 20 comic books a week.

I understand. There are better things in life than buying 10 to 20 comics a week....like waiting for reviews of comics or being the first to post the bought/thought thread each week on The Hype.

 

[Red]

Interesting! I'll pick it up along with New Avengers and Loners.

You realise Iron Fist is not in The Loners.

 

[Sebastos]

I know you have to run and defend everything Iron Fist, but Phaedrus and I were never talking about the quality of the comics.

You said he had a bad track record, so I was just replying to what you said by saying imo the only terrible series was the one from 3 years ago.

You realise Iron Fist is not in The Loners.

Do I need to report you? You seem to like following me and making all these stupid jokes for no reason. I told you to stop several times.

 

[yenaled]

I am looking forward to Nova tomorrow, despite seemingly no-one buying it.

 

[Saved]

I bought Ghost Rider 10 and Iron Man 16. I will have a review for Thunderbolts 113 and Punisher War Journal later.

Ghost Rider 10
The sheriff of the town has a sit down with Johhny and they discuss what exactly is going on and who is on who's side. Sheriff tells Johhny who Jack o lantern is, and Johhnny tells Sheriff about Satan and how he's in 666 bodies that had recently died. It basically just sets up a huge batal with Johnny vs. Zombies and Jack o lantern. Not bad.

Iron Man 16
No idea what was going on. Basically, the old man that has been in some capture has a secret and sinister identity. For Iron Man readers, you'll want to get this. For Initiative readers, save your money.

 

[Eddie Brock]

You realise Iron Fist is not in The Loners.

You realize this joke stopped being funny?

 

[Mr.Valentine]

You realize this joke stopped being funny?

No it hasn't

 

[Darthphere]

You said he had a bad track record, so I was just replying to what you said by saying imo the only terrible series was the one from 3 years ago.

Thats fine, but we were never talking about quality. Books get cancelled because of sales, not quality.

 

[Sebastos]

No it hasn't

Yes it is. And not to mention Red X made an ass of himself over at jinxworld.

Thats fine, but we were never talking about quality. Books get cancelled because of sales, not quality.

Very true Darth!

 

[Mr.Valentine]

Yes it is. And not to mention Red X made an ass of himself over at jinxworld.



Very true Darth!

No, it hasn't. Don't try and tell me what I'm supposed to find funny. I don't really care about whatever he's done about Jinxworld.

So yeah, did nobody else (who can be bothered to write a review) pick up Nova?

 

[Sebastos]

No, it hasn't. Don't try and tell me what I'm supposed to find funny. I don't really care about whatever he's done about Jinxworld.

I didn't tell you anything. All I know is that his lame jokes are getting old now.

 

[Kevin]

Where are all the f***ing reviews??

 

[Eddie Brock]

No it hasn't

Oh my, you're right. How silly of me to find it stupid that the same joke is repeated again and again and again until it's become so redundant that it's almost sickening. My mistake.

 

[C. Lee]

You realise Iron Fist is not in The Loners.

Stop harassing The Iron Fist.....your official warning PM is on the way.

 

[Dread]

Very large comic week, but mostly a quite good one, with a few post-CW launches from Marvel. INVINCIBLE once again did it's little tango of shipping about a week or two later than Diamond originally projects, but another solid Image superhero opera came out in it's stead to tide me over.

As usual, Worldmind states that my spoiler threat is global.

DREAD'S BOUGHT/THOUGHT for 4/11/07:

52 WEEK #49: With only three chapters left, it should be noted that DC proved me wrong on the timely issues front; cynically, I doubted this series would make it midway without at least one delay, but DC managed to get this out every week straight, even if at the price of some of the other titles their 52 writers were on. It also seems obvious that as the "time between IC and OYL" comes to a close, this series is setting up the next big DC event, World War III. And yet another weekly comic series, counting backwards. That I probably won't be aboard for, because I am almost 52'd out. Not that it has been bad, but I do need a break; I love steak, but I couldn't eat it for a year straight. I do hope this series has an outright ending and doesn't merely middle onward towards the NEXT sell, because after a yearlong investment I expect some sort of finale. I mean, well we get any more of Booster Gold? As for this issue, Doc Magnus makes his big play against Egg-Fu with, who else, the Metal Men. He helps Dr. Morrow escape and then opens up a can of whoop-ass on the lame egg themed villian (really, how outdated is that?) as the JSA attempts to get past China's heroes to Oolong Island to "apprehend" Black Adam. Once again, the writers expect us to take a name like "Socialist Red Guardsman" seriously, but the Great Ten don't go over their silly names again, and the prospects of their little international bickering are interesting, that technically Oolong Island and Egg-Fu are part of their empire, and acting against them could spark war. The JSA doesn't back down once the shields are down, and Atom-Smasher proves he's at least more intimidating than Hank Pym (sorry), only to release a still-pissed Adam out on the world. Some of the issue reeks of some of Morrison's over-the-top fare, and it was readable, but nothing that knocked my socks off, like the last few issues. The JSA themselves also got an origin recap, but it's the bare bones. And if Black Adam seemed irritated at his treatment, look at it this way; he fared better than Batwoman. Truthe be told I have enjoyed this series but will be more than willing to call it a day next month, unless it ends on a cliffhanger that cannot be ignored. Which may take some doing. It would be a cheap sell, though. But for now, all is well. The end is in sight.

ALL-STAR SUPERMAN #7: This is DC's equalivent to ASTONISHING X-MEN, a book that used to have a lot of steam that lost much of it due to the fact that it ships about every 2-4 months (which is still a rate faster than ULTIMATES 2, which has seen a whopping 6-7 months fall by between issues). For those keeping track, we actually did have an issue of this that shipped in 2007, literally the first week. I guess the Eisner Awards don't care much for how many actual issues of said "series" that come out. Still, unlike ULTIMATES, ASTONISHING, or ALL-STAR BATMAN, the series only has a very loose subplot that vaguely links some issues together, and mostly relies on standalones, which help keep the waits from being unbearable. As it is, Morrison seems to be enjoying playing with stuff from the Golden/Silver Age, which won't please everyone. But it works better here than it does for BATMAN. This issue gives a new spin on "Bizarroworld" and I must say it was very interesting. Hailing from an alternate dimension Earth that is cube-shaped, the Bizarro's are just detail-lacking white globular humanoids who take on the traits of people they touch, leaving that infected person melting and able to "spread" that to others (unless you are taking "performance enhancing drugs", which made Mr. Lombard immune, or you are from Krypton, like Superman). Superman does his thing, saving people and fighting Bizarro briefly, before, in "perfect Golden Age" mode, dabbling a cure for the virus for infected civvies and literally smashing a "wound" into Bizarroworld to get it to retreat. Unfortunately, this leaves Superman on Bizarroworld powerless, and encountering the seemingly only non-deformed being, "Zibarro", who has a fairly silly design and whose name makes him seem like a distant relative of Zorro. That also means the issue ends in a cliffhanger, which may make it somewhat less bareable for fans of this to wait until, say, July for #8. But, truthfully, I'll have forgotten this issue after a week and will muddle onward, only being startled with it's reappearence somewhere in the summer, as usual. Despite some outdated details, Morrison is really going wild here, and I enjoyed this new take on Bizarroworld a lot more than last issue's time stuff. I could almost imagine Singer attempting to stripmine it for potential sequal ideas, actually.

DYNAMO 5 #2: It says so on the back cover; even Brubaker likes this title. The quirky adventures of fallen playboy superhero Capt. Dynamo's kids continue here. With the origin out of the way, this tale is a more straightforward adventure, with the team tracking down yet another "old foe" of their father's running amok, Whiptail, who is basically a riff on the Lizard, but in that way that makes it seem almost normal, like when Kirkman in INVINCIBLE has some "clone" of, say, Rhino (Elephant) or the Serpant Society (Lizard League) appear. The team is still "green" and the big dino throws them a beating their first time around. We get to see Maddie's ex-spy partner Augie show up with a younger, thinner partner, as well as see the team interact as they split-up. Scrap really shows off her strength here (and is challenged to escape her employment rut by Maddie), Myriad thinks Slingshot is a suck-up, and Visionary and Scatterbrain discuss their powers and girls. But they manage to get the job done and much like the second appearence of Man-Bat in B:TAS, the main twist is that Whiptail is actually a woman, Augie's new partner. Honestly, I was expecting the male nursing home attendant, so kudos. Asrar's art is again solid alright some pages seemed more rushed than last issue's. This issue also challenges that $3.50 pricetag, as the story itself is 20 pages long, shorter than typical comics. Of course, issue #1 was 26 pages, and there are still no ads until after the story, so there you go. Faerber tells us more about the property on the letter's page and two sketches are included. He notes how he made Scatterbrain a jock to sort of shatter some genre expectations (big jocks get brute powers, goth girls get telepathy), and I am glad he did, because it makes the team quirkier. This is solid superhero entertainment, with all the freedoms of an indie so you never know where it could go (such as Maddie secretly hording some of Whiptail's serum). Maddie seems to be attempting to get the team to bond together, even against her, but I wonder if this will come to haunt her later if/when she does something the team dislikes. She did execute Viel last issue, after all. As shops tend to underorder this series, is also has become a challenge to get every issue on time, but I have enjoyed them thus far. Worth tracking down, especially if you are tired of big two events. You have to boost the small books every now and again, and this one deserves it. Give it a try, you may like it. Issue #1 was just reprinted, too. It's back to basics superheroism with modern dialogue and of course some neat twists on genre expectations. A pleasant surprise.

GHOST RIDER #10: To my bemusement, the cover actually hypes TWO events; the icon for WWH is at the side, and the banner is under CASUALTIES OF WAR. Out of all the tie-in's, GHOST RIDER's is the mose shallow; basically the only connection that the corpse that Satan has just reanimated is the latest Jack O'Lantern, who was killed by Punisher in CW #6. This is stretching it at best, and considering GR sells moderately above the Top 50, one wonders if Marvel is pushing their luck for only a temporary and minor boost, if any. The story takes a bit of a twisted way of getting to the point of Blaze and the sheriff coming to an understanding to fight Jack O'Lantern/Satan and his army of zombies. As usual, Texeira's art is lovely, and worth the price alone. But sadly this has often been the case of GR, where the visuals were far stronger than the story. The story isn't bad, just a shame it's based around an utterly useless and dishonest origin retcon (it's dishonest because Way seems to believe it's not a retcon and just chugs along). The story is dragging a little but hopefully next issue seems some more kick to it. It is good to have a hero on the open road again, though. Readable, but not spectacular.

THE LONERS #1: After a mild degree of buzz from WIZARD and Newsarama, the spin-off mini to RUNAWAYS' first arc of their second volume is finally upon us. The cover is strange, with poorer art than Moline's interiors, and it literally has text at the bottom explaining the premise. In a way it seems like a movie poster, which will be the theme of all 5 covers, supposedly. But it did make the book seem odd. Maybe they are trying to make it look "mainstream indie" to try to attract some newcomers, but that seems odd considering it is a spin-off of the good but low selling cult fave RUNAWAYS. It is akin to the low selling Mirate TMNT comic having a spin off about CASEY JONES. Despite all their efforts, one cannot imagine the audience for this being large. I have been eagerly waiting for this launch for months now, and after some fears from the previews that it would be a spandex free, emo-palooza, well, those doubts are wrong. Yes, there is plenty of angst, but this is about a superhero self-help group, so it is supposed to have angst. But the second half of the tale does have genuine superhero action. Against an actual supervillian, to boot! Yes, yes, superheroes fighting supervillians post CW, and 500 civilians didn't even die. Shocking, but apparently Marvel can still publish these. Cebulski is coming off of X-MEN: FAIRY TALES and editting the first volume of RUNAWAYS. In a way the set-up of the heroes having a "superhero anonymous" meeting gives Ceb the ability to have his characters literally name themselves and summarize their stories. Ceb takes a step back from RUNAWAYS #6, which had the team become a de-facto team group. This time around, the group is back to their original premise to attempt to "kick the self-destructive habit" of superheroing because it always wrecks their civilian lives, and is dangerous to boot. Chris Powell (Darkhawk) is unstable and new member Mattie Frank ("the young one" of the Spider-Women) has her own horror stories from ALIAS. Civil War is mentioned as a reason for why the group needs to maintain their retirement, seemingly to adhear to the law. Julie Power ends up using hers and explains it as it being the hardest of all for her because she gained her powers as a child, younger than even the mutant Johnny Gallo (Ricochet), and cannot remove it via a costume like Micky (Turbo) and Phil Urich (Green Goblin). But it turns out Mattie really doesn't want to retire, and merely moved to CA to track down the MGH gang that messed with her, and manages to rope along Darkhawk and Ricochet into the battle. Their fight is well drawn and paced, and so within the first issue we sort of have a schism between this group. Half the team will be fighting the MGH dealers on the side, and half wonders where they keep running off too. The cover asks if the team can keep out of the spandex for good, and so far it seems like they won't. But I think that is the forgone conclusion. It's the ride getting there that counts. Honestly, in a way this is like DYNAMO 5, only with more established characters; a superhero series with a twist. Off to a solid start. It was worth the wait so far. Moline's artwork is also quite fitting, with some good colors/inks. Give it a try.

NEW AVENGERS #29: Back to our regular programming, where superheroes fight other superheroes, and Bendis insists on ninjas. And Yu gets in two gratuitus arse shots of Elektra within the first 2 pages. This title has improved since CW started, but this issue suffers from some sketchy art and some of Bendis' wonky story order. In an attempt to liven things up, he switches back and forth between various flashbacks, as if he'd seen MEMENTO that weekend. The Mighty Avengers come off as *****ebags and even Ms. Marvel's semi-compassion isn't much better than the "Oh golly, this feels wrong but I'll comply with these nasty orders anyway!" baloney that Mr. Fantastic and Spider-Man gave us for half a year. Fortunately, Dr. Strange's magic comes off big here, allowing them to easily escape Iron Man and even hide in plain sight from him; until he sics Brother Voodoo of all people, who risks breaking some of Strange's seals. Iron Man also gets the runaround from Danny Rand's lawyers, but frankly the CW BATTLE DAMAGE REPORT already revealed this sort of bit, so I saw it coming. Bendis continues to be incapable of keeping a secret, and he gets no favors from Marvel, which is astounding considering he is their unofficial vice EIC. So the issue more or less ends where it started, and while some backstory was nice it felt a bit like filler. Interesting filler, but still filler. The Mighty Avengers are coming along as not much more than Iron Man's stormtroopers, though, as Marvel inists that Iron Man wasn't the antagonist of CW, despite what 99.999999999999999999999999% of their audience believes. So far, even with the stupid ninjas, this is a better arc than some, which isn't saying much for this title. So, any bets on how anti-climatic the second Ronin reveal will be? More or less than the first?

NEWUNIVERSAL #5: Ellis is best when he has no mainstream characters to butcher, but this series is moving a bit slowly and honestly, while there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the story, it is becoming a bit conveluted and my interest is waning. It shifts from some explosive scenes to more middling buildup, and after 5 issues it seems like more should be happening, not even the midway point of a beginning. A new Native American superhuman is introduced, and he's okay, and the army fights the Starbrand, mostly off panel, before he is whisked away by Nightmask. But at this point, the first arc isn't even over and I feel that despite it all, I am only getting future issues because I got past ones, which doesn't feel healthy. It's not rubbish, it actually is interesting, just a bit slow and maybe not what I am into after all. I may give this up soon. It is a modern update of the NEWUNIVERSE, but instead of merely sticking to the "humans get powers after WHITE EVENT" bit, already Ellis is throwing in time-travellers, cyborg armor robots, and potential aliens. It combines slow pacing with huge bitefulls of details and buildup. Honestly the Justice segments have been the strongest because **** actually happens. But it may not be enough for me before too long.

NOVA #1: If you didn't read ANNIHILATION, get it. Buy the HC's, track down the trades, even DL it, whatever has to be done to have not missed Marvel's strongest event in years. For those concerned about sales, ANNIHILATION overall sold moderately, starting around the Top 40's and ending around the 60's, which considering that it was the midst of CW and starring characters who are C-List and lower prior, those are solid numbers. Amung the better selling mini's was NOVA, which is written by the same duo that pen here. This takes place some time after the end of ANNIHILATION #7 with Nova, the last Corpsman, stretching himself thin trying to respond to one crisis after the next because there are no more Nova Corps to patrol the universe. The Worldmind urges him to rest or rebuild the Corps, but Rider won't, insisting that any time wasted is time better spent helping. And so Rider goes about smashing giant Planet-destroying beings and smashing more bugs, only to break down upon finding an adrift space station, months too late. A reunion with Earth is set up when attempting to use his powers to travel through some stargate to respond to yet another crisis winds him smack dab near Earth, where Iron Man & SHIELD have detected him as a threat. Of course they do. He's a power outside of their control, and anything Iron Man cannot control is a threat. Hence why he "really hates magic". Anyway, the first issue shows how much Nova has grown. Sure, he does joke a little, but he has become a true champion, literally trying to rise above his limits to try to save the universe, one planet at a time. The war is over and he still hasn't given up on his mission. He still has issues from losing the Corps, but he doesn't let it render him into an inert emo ball. He flies out and he kicks arse. And he doesn't take lightly anyone who tries to get in his way; he isn't the kid who used to have trouble fighting the Rhino anymore, as he tears apart cosmic enemies rather quickly with the Worldmind and all the Corps' power at his back. Yeah, it's probably like Ion, but as I always say, if you are going to rip something off, at least get it right. There is a reckoning with Iron Man & The Thunderbolts for the next two issues, and while it may have seemed a little convient getting there, it should be worth the ride. I definately hope this book succeeds as like MOON KNIGHT and IRON FIST, it looks like another successful relaunch of an old franchise, least in terms of quality. The art's good too. Buy it!

PUNISHER: WAR JOURNAL #6: At least the background isn't one still photo for the entire issue. And it continues the theme of breaking up the order of scenes to attempt to make them more interesting. Hey, look, I know it is a common literary tool, but some people do it well and others just use it for shorthand. Fortunately, while some bits of this book seem silly, like Castle in some ad-hoc "Captain Punisher" costume and the new Hatemonger, Fraction's had a bit of quirky humor throughout. I mean this is a book that had Punisher fight little Iron Man robots, after all. Hatemonger is manipulating anti-terror vigilance to wage war on Mexico and Punisher escapes SHIELD to try to fight him, but winds up bound to a stake in barbed wire with dogs about to eat him. Just about the usual for Frank. It's fairly silly, but it's not like Ennis hasn't relied on some wonky humor for the past, like, 700 years? He gave the Russian inflatable boobs and a dress for F's sake. And it keeps Castle's one-note schtick from seeming too stale. The concept of Punisher wanting to wear a silly Cap costume seems ridiculous, but I can't look away. And besides, no one said the fella was sane. He just does a service by offing crooks.

 

[Dread]

last, but certainly not least:

SPIDER-MAN & THE FANTASTIC FOUR #1: A mini by Jeff Parker, of AGENTS OF ATLAS and X-MEN: FIRST CLASS fame, and 'Ringo, who hasn't done Spidey or FF in a spell. Objectively, it seems strange and rather random to publish this. It has nothing to do with anything either books are doing right now, and seems to take place at almost any point in their history. Not even organic webbing is mentioned. Of course this fits Parker, who is a fan of old school superheroics, which is what this has in spades. Spidey stops a mugging, runs into Impossible Man, and then some invader alien, gets wiped, and seeks out the Fan Four's help. Basic, timeless premise, and a harken back to old days before superheroing seemed so grim, nihilistic and dire in the wake of CW, where the public cheered the FF and babies didn't die with every missed punch (because, y'know, brutality is always "realistic"). It's quirky, it's fun, and it kept me entertained without having to worry about tie-ins or crossovers or someone acting out of character, which is so rare for a Marvel book featuring any of these characters now. Spider-Man is angry because May was shot, Reed was a fascist and now is in marriage camp, and so on. None of that here. Just the Four and Spidey united in heroism for 4 chapters, and what more do ya need? A pleasant diversion, and Parker's flair for old school stuff is really endearing to me in this age of many writers having pompus cynicism.

I also bought the SPIDER-MAN: BACK IN BLACK Handbook, which has more bios of the Spideyverse, but haven't gotten to it yet. I should enjoy it, as usual.

 

[Kevin]

Very large comic week, but mostly a quite good one, with a few post-CW launches from Marvel. INVINCIBLE once again did it's little tango of shipping about a week or two later than Diamond originally projects, but another solid Image superhero opera came out in it's stead to tide me over.

As usual, Worldmind states that my spoiler threat is global.

DREAD'S BOUGHT/THOUGHT for 4/11/07:

52 WEEK #49: With only three chapters left, it should be noted that DC proved me wrong on the timely issues front; cynically, I doubted this series would make it midway without at least one delay, but DC managed to get this out every week straight, even if at the price of some of the other titles their 52 writers were on. It also seems obvious that as the "time between IC and OYL" comes to a close, this series is setting up the next big DC event, World War III. And yet another weekly comic series, counting backwards. That I probably won't be aboard for, because I am almost 52'd out. Not that it has been bad, but I do need a break; I love steak, but I couldn't eat it for a year straight. I do hope this series has an outright ending and doesn't merely middle onward towards the NEXT sell, because after a yearlong investment I expect some sort of finale. I mean, well we get any more of Booster Gold? As for this issue, Doc Magnus makes his big play against Egg-Fu with, who else, the Metal Men. He helps Dr. Morrow escape and then opens up a can of whoop-ass on the lame egg themed villian (really, how outdated is that?) as the JSA attempts to get past China's heroes to Oolong Island to "apprehend" Black Adam. Once again, the writers expect us to take a name like "Socialist Red Guardsman" seriously, but the Great Ten don't go over their silly names again, and the prospects of their little international bickering are interesting, that technically Oolong Island and Egg-Fu are part of their empire, and acting against them could spark war. The JSA doesn't back down once the shields are down, and Atom-Smasher proves he's at least more intimidating than Hank Pym (sorry), only to release a still-pissed Adam out on the world. Some of the issue reeks of some of Morrison's over-the-top fare, and it was readable, but nothing that knocked my socks off, like the last few issues. The JSA themselves also got an origin recap, but it's the bare bones. And if Black Adam seemed irritated at his treatment, look at it this way; he fared better than Batwoman. Truthe be told I have enjoyed this series but will be more than willing to call it a day next month, unless it ends on a cliffhanger that cannot be ignored. Which may take some doing. It would be a cheap sell, though. But for now, all is well. The end is in sight.

ALL-STAR SUPERMAN #7: This is DC's equalivent to ASTONISHING X-MEN, a book that used to have a lot of steam that lost much of it due to the fact that it ships about every 2-4 months (which is still a rate faster than ULTIMATES 2, which has seen a whopping 6-7 months fall by between issues). For those keeping track, we actually did have an issue of this that shipped in 2007, literally the first week. I guess the Eisner Awards don't care much for how many actual issues of said "series" that come out. Still, unlike ULTIMATES, ASTONISHING, or ALL-STAR BATMAN, the series only has a very loose subplot that vaguely links some issues together, and mostly relies on standalones, which help keep the waits from being unbearable. As it is, Morrison seems to be enjoying playing with stuff from the Golden/Silver Age, which won't please everyone. But it works better here than it does for BATMAN. This issue gives a new spin on "Bizarroworld" and I must say it was very interesting. Hailing from an alternate dimension Earth that is cube-shaped, the Bizarro's are just detail-lacking white globular humanoids who take on the traits of people they touch, leaving that infected person melting and able to "spread" that to others (unless you are taking "performance enhancing drugs", which made Mr. Lombard immune, or you are from Krypton, like Superman). Superman does his thing, saving people and fighting Bizarro briefly, before, in "perfect Golden Age" mode, dabbling a cure for the virus for infected civvies and literally smashing a "wound" into Bizarroworld to get it to retreat. Unfortunately, this leaves Superman on Bizarroworld powerless, and encountering the seemingly only non-deformed being, "Zibarro", who has a fairly silly design and whose name makes him seem like a distant relative of Zorro. That also means the issue ends in a cliffhanger, which may make it somewhat less bareable for fans of this to wait until, say, July for #8. But, truthfully, I'll have forgotten this issue after a week and will muddle onward, only being startled with it's reappearence somewhere in the summer, as usual. Despite some outdated details, Morrison is really going wild here, and I enjoyed this new take on Bizarroworld a lot more than last issue's time stuff. I could almost imagine Singer attempting to stripmine it for potential sequal ideas, actually.

DYNAMO 5 #2: It says so on the back cover; even Brubaker likes this title. The quirky adventures of fallen playboy superhero Capt. Dynamo continue here. With the origin out of the way, this tale is a more straightforward adventure, with the team tracking down yet another "old foe" of their father's running amok, Whiptail, who is basically a riff on the Lizard, but in that way that makes it seem almost normal, like when Kirkman in INVINCIBLE has some "clone" of, say, Rhino (Elephant) or the Serpant Society (Lizard League) appear. The team is still "green" and the big dino throws them a beating their first time around. We get to see Maddie's ex-spy partner Augie show up with a younger, thinner partner, as well as see the team interact as they split-up. Scrap really shows off her strength here (and is challenged to escape her employment rut by Maddie), Myriad thinks Slingshot is a suck-up, and Visionary and Scatterbrain discuss their powers and girls. But they manage to get the job done and much like the second appearence of Man-Bat in B:TAS, the main twist is that Whiptail is actually a woman, Augie's new partner. Honestly, I was expecting the male nursing home attendant, so kudos. Asrar's art is again solid alright some pages seemed more rushed than last issue's. This issue also challenges that $3.50 pricetag, as the story itself is 20 pages long, shorter than typical comics. Of course, issue #1 was 26 pages, and there are still no ads until after the story, so there you go. Faerber tells us more about the property on the letter's page and two sketches are included. He notes how he made Scatterbrain a jock to sort of shatter some genre expectations (big jocks get brute powers, goth girls get telepathy), and I am glad he did, because it makes the team quirkier. This is solid superhero entertainment, with all the freedoms of an indie so you never know where it could go (such as Maddie secretly hording some of Whiptail's serum). Maddie seems to be attempting to get the team to bond together, even against her, but I wonder if this will come to haunt her later if/when she does something the team dislikes. She did execute Viel last issue, after all. As shops tend to underorder this series, is also has become a challenge to get every issue on time, but I have enjoyed them thus far. Worth tracking down, especially if you are tired of big two events. You have to boost the small books every now and again, and this one deserves it. Give it a try, you may like it. Issue #1 was just reprinted, too. It's back to basics superheroism with modern dialogue and of course some neat twists on genre expectations. A pleasant surprise.

GHOST RIDER #10: To my bemusement, the cover actually hypes TWO events; the icon for WWH is at the side, and the banner is under CASUALTIES OF WAR. Out of all the tie-in's, GHOST RIDER's is the mose shallow; basically the only connection that the corpse that Satan has just reanimated is the latest Jack O'Lantern, who was killed by Punisher in CW #6. This is stretching it at best, and considering GR sells moderately above the Top 50, one wonders if Marvel is pushing their luck for only a temporary and minor boost, if any. The story takes a bit of a twisted way of getting to the point of Blaze and the sheriff coming to an understanding to fight Jack O'Lantern/Satan and his army of zombies. As usual, Texeira's art is lovely, and worth the price alone. But sadly this has often been the case of GR, where the visuals were far stronger than the story. The story isn't bad, just a shame it's based around an utterly useless and dishonest origin retcon (it's dishonest because Way seems to believe it's not a retcon and just chugs along). The story is dragging a little but hopefully next issue seems some more kick to it. It is good to have a hero on the open road again, though. Readable, but not spectacular.

THE LONERS #1: After a mild degree of buzz from WIZARD and Newsarama, the spin-off mini to RUNAWAYS' first arc of their second volume is finally upon us. The cover is strange, with poorer art than Moline's interiors, and it literally has text at the bottom explaining the premise. In a way it seems like a movie poster, which will be the theme of all 5 covers, supposedly. But it did make the book seem odd. Maybe they are trying to make it look "mainstream indie" to try to attract some newcomers, but that seems odd considering it is a spin-off of the good but low selling cult fave RUNAWAYS. It is akin to the low selling Mirate TMNT comic having a spin off about CASEY JONES. Despite all their efforts, one cannot imagine the audience for this being large. I have been eagerly waiting for this launch for months now, and after some fears from the previews that it would be a spandex free, emo-palooza, well, those doubts are wrong. Yes, there is plenty of angst, but this is about a superhero self-help group, so it is supposed to have angst. But the second half of the tale does have genuine superhero action. Against an actual supervillian, to boot! Yes, yes, superheroes fighting supervillians post CW, and 500 civilians didn't even die. Shocking, but apparently Marvel can still publish these. Cebulski is coming off of X-MEN: FAIRY TALES and editting the first volume of RUNAWAYS. In a way the set-up of the heroes having a "superhero anonymous" meeting gives Ceb the ability to have his characters literally name themselves and summarize their stories. Ceb takes a step back from RUNAWAYS #6, which had the team become a de-facto team group. This time around, the group is back to their original premise to attempt to "kick the self-destructive habit" of superheroing because it always wrecks their civilian lives, and is dangerous to boot. Chris Powell (Darkhawk) is unstable and new member Mattie Frank ("the young one" of the Spider-Women) has her own horror stories from ALIAS. Civil War is mentioned as a reason for why the group needs to maintain their retirement, seemingly to adhear to the law. Julie Power ends up using hers and explains it as it being the hardest of all for her because she gained her powers as a child, younger than even the mutant Johnny Gallo (Ricochet), and cannot remove it via a costume like Micky (Turbo) and Phil Urich (Green Goblin). But it turns out Mattie really doesn't want to retire, and merely moved to CA to track down the MGH gang that messed with her, and manages to rope along Darkhawk and Ricochet into the battle. Their fight is well drawn and paced, and so within the first issue we sort of have a schism between this group. Half the team will be fighting the MGH dealers on the side, and half wonders where they keep running off too. The cover asks if the team can keep out of the spandex for good, and so far it seems like they won't. But I think that is the forgone conclusion. It's the ride getting there that counts. Honestly, in a way this is like DYNAMO 5, only with more established characters; a superhero series with a twist. Off to a solid start. It was worth the wait so far. Moline's artwork is also quite fitting, with some good colors/inks. Give it a try.

NEW AVENGERS #29: Back to our regular programming, where superheroes fight other superheroes, and Bendis insists on ninjas. And Yu gets in two gratuitus arse shots of Elektra within the first 2 pages. This title has improved since CW started, but this issue suffers from some sketchy art and some of Bendis' wonky story order. In an attempt to liven things up, he switches back and forth between various flashbacks, as if he'd seen MEMENTO that weekend. The Mighty Avengers come off as *****ebags and even Ms. Marvel's semi-compassion isn't much better than the "Oh golly, this feels wrong but I'll comply with these nasty orders anyway!" baloney that Mr. Fantastic and Spider-Man gave us for half a year. Fortunately, Dr. Strange's magic comes off big here, allowing them to easily escape Iron Man and even hide in plain sight from him; until he sics Brother Voodoo of all people, who risks breaking some of Strange's seals. Iron Man also gets the runaround from Danny Rand's lawyers, but frankly the CW BATTLE DAMAGE REPORT already revealed this sort of bit, so I saw it coming. Bendis continues to be incapable of keeping a secret, and he gets no favors from Marvel, which is astounding considering he is their unofficial vice EIC. So the issue more or less ends where it started, and while some backstory was nice it felt a bit like filler. Interesting filler, but still filler. The Mighty Avengers are coming along as not much more than Iron Man's stormtroopers, though, as Marvel inists that Iron Man wasn't the antagonist of CW, despite what 99.999999999999999999999999% of their audience believes. So far, even with the stupid ninjas, this is a better arc than some, which isn't saying much for this title. So, any bets on how anti-climatic the second Ronin reveal will be? More or less than the first?

NEWUNIVERSAL #5: Ellis is best when he has no mainstream characters to butcher, but this series is moving a bit slowly and honestly, while there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the story, it is becoming a bit conveluted and my interest is waning. It shifts from some explosive scenes to more middling buildup, and after 5 issues it seems like more should be happening, not even the midway point of a beginning. A new Native American superhuman is introduced, and he's okay, and the army fights the Starbrand, mostly off panel, before he is whisked away by Nightmask. But at this point, the first arc isn't even over and I feel that despite it all, I am only getting future issues because I got past ones, which doesn't feel healthy. It's not rubbish, it actually is interesting, just a bit slow and maybe not what I am into after all. I may give this up soon. It is a modern update of the NEWUNIVERSE, but instead of merely sticking to the "humans get powers after WHITE EVENT" bit, already Ellis is throwing in time-travellers, cyborg armor robots, and potential aliens. It combines slow pacing with huge bitefulls of details and buildup. Honestly the Justice segments have been the strongest because **** actually happens. But it may not be enough for me before too long.

NOVA #1: If you didn't read ANNIHILATION, get it. Buy the HC's, track down the trades, even DL it, whatever has to be done to have not missed Marvel's strongest event in years. For those concerned about sales, ANNIHILATION overall sold moderately, starting around the Top 40's and ending around the 60's, which considering that it was the midst of CW and starring characters who are C-List and lower prior, those are solid numbers. Amung the better selling mini's was NOVA, which is written by the same duo that pen here. This takes place some time after the end of ANNIHILATION #7 with Nova, the last Corpsman, stretching himself thin trying to respond to one crisis after the next because there are no more Nova Corps to patrol the universe. The Worldmind urges him to rest or rebuild the Corps, but Rider won't, insisting that any time wasted is time better spent helping. And so Rider goes about smashing giant Planet-destroying beings and smashing more bugs, only to break down upon finding an adrift space station, months too late. A reunion with Earth is set up when attempting to use his powers to travel through some stargate to respond to yet another crisis winds him smack dab near Earth, where Iron Man & SHIELD have detected him as a threat. Of course they do. He's a power outside of their control, and anything Iron Man cannot control is a threat. Hence why he "really hates magic". Anyway, the first issue shows how much Nova has grown. Sure, he does joke a little, but he has become a true champion, literally trying to rise above his limits to try to save the universe, one planet at a time. The war is over and he still hasn't given up on his mission. He still has issues from losing the Corps, but he doesn't let it render him into an inert emo ball. He flies out and he kicks arse. And he doesn't take lightly anyone who tries to get in his way; he isn't the kid who used to have trouble fighting the Rhino anymore, as he tears apart cosmic enemies rather quickly with the Worldmind and all the Corps' power at his back. Yeah, it's probably like Ion, but as I always say, if you are going to rip something off, at least get it right. There is a reckoning with Iron Man & The Thunderbolts for the next two issues, and while it may have seemed a little convient getting there, it should be worth the ride. I definately hope this book succeeds as like MOON KNIGHT and IRON FIST, it looks like another successful relaunch of an old franchise, least in terms of quality. The art's good too. Buy it!

PUNISHER: WAR JOURNAL #6: At least the background isn't one still photo for the entire issue. And it continues the theme of breaking up the order of scenes to attempt to make them more interesting. Hey, look, I know it is a common literary tool, but some people do it well and others just use it for shorthand. Fortunately, while some bits of this book seem silly, like Castle in some ad-hoc "Captain Punisher" costume and the new Hatemonger, Fraction's had a bit of quirky humor throughout. I mean this is a book that had Punisher fight little Iron Man robots, after all. Hatemonger is manipulating anti-terror vigilance to wage war on Mexico and Punisher escapes SHIELD to try to fight him, but winds up bound to a stake in barbed wire with dogs about to eat him. Just about the usual for Frank. It's fairly silly, but it's not like Ennis hasn't relied on some wonky humor for the past, like, 700 years? He gave the Russian inflatable boobs and a dress for F's sake. And it keeps Castle's one-note schtick from seeming too stale. The concept of Punisher wanting to wear a silly Cap costume seems ridiculous, but I can't look away. And besides, no one said the fella was sane. He just does a service by offing crooks.

See, this here, people, is a real reviewist. Dread, along with BrianWilly, make these B/T threads worthwhile. Longwinded as they may be, they really get into it. You should all be ashamed. Thank You, Dread and BW.