Second verse, same as the first. A year later and Marvel once again has two events going, a 30+ chapter crossover event that is the main focus of just about every Marvel title, WORLD WAR HULK, and the smaller, two dozen or less titles in space with ANNIHILATION CONQUEST. Marvel figures, worked last year, why not repeat it? WWH at least works as a simple action story and had over a year of direct build-up to lead it to a more natural conclusion. ANNIHILATION, while still the "sidekick" event in comparison, scored moderate sales for characters who either hadn't had an ongoing in a decade, or ever, so Marvel seeks to repeat that and ride on that wave with CONQUEST. How will things fare this time? Plus, at the same time, a deperate X-Line, reduced to secondary status for the first time in 15 years, conks out another one-shot to try at an event of their own.
As always, full spoilers abound.
DREAD'S BOUGHT/THOUGHT for 6/20/07:
THE SPIRIT #7: The cover says "Summer Special", but it may as well as say, "Filler". Now, not to be too cruel, but while many of Darwyn Cooke's stories seem one-shot, they do carry over some subplots and whatnot. They also have appeal for his art and cinematic pacing style almost as much as for the title character itself. However, it seems that after a half year, Cooke needs some sort of break to catch up, so we have some outside talent doing a series of short stories. The success is varied. Everyone seems to be trying to capture some of Cooke's magic, or their own take on the material, and sometimes it hits and sometimes it misses; Cooke earned his stripes doing storyboards for Timm cartoons and some experiences can't be transferred. Easily the best story of the 3 here is the one by comics legend Walt Simonson, with art by Chris Sprouse, involving a typical celebutard and her stolen gems. The second story is by Jimmy Palmiotti & Jordi Bernet, which chronicles affairs at a slum-like apartment building across a variety of tenants who are connected to the Spirit when he randomly chases a thug into the building, setting off a chain of events. The last story is written/drawn by Kyle Baker, which seemed to be a stock recycling of post Frank Miller cliches, and I didn't care for. The Spirit and his universe really only works as a showpiece for writers/artists to show off their pacing stuff with some noir, not as a character unto himself. I'm too used to Cooke to get equal entertainment from these random short stories. Still, they are fun and 2 out of 3 ain't shabby. However, if you are a typical comic fan who buys more than they should and is wondering about this, you could probably give it a pass and save $3. If not, though, it does have some decent Spirit antics, and it has work from Simonson & Palmiotti. No major complaints here, but to deny the fact that it feels like filler would be dishonest.
FRESHMEN II #5: New penciler Jorge Correa hops on board to finish out the run, and he gets in with a jolt as the issue essentially has two action sequences; Puppeteer venturing into the mind of missing college student Len Kirk to battle the psychic entity Mr. Fiddlesticks, while the rest of the Freshmen do battle with some cybernetic zombies created by her rotten father (a somewhat typical "evil rich white guy"). The premise behind Kirk/Fiddlesticks is somewhat unique; the Ax-Celler-Ator that gave our heroes their wonky powers also worked on him, but as he was a diagnosied schtizo with an active delusion, the energy pretty much made his delusion, in this case a twisted version of a children's storybook character, come to life. That means only Kirk can anchor Fiddlesticks, but he's too damned scared of him to muster much aid as Puppeteer gets pummeled by the rhyming reject of a Sam Kieth book. The rest of the kids get lectured by the Beaver to get brutal or get killed by the cyber-zombies, and even the Quaker uses his powers to brutal effect. The kids manage to seemingly escape the building and stop Fiddlesticks, but for how long? Green Thumb & Intoxicator have an amusing speach and Stan Lee has a cute quote on the cover, which is painfully honest about this book's sales. However, unlike some other smaller books I read, like INVINCIBLE or DYNAMO 5, I can understand how this gets lost in the shuffle, it just seems both wonky and typical. I still do enjoy it on a simple level, though, and like many of these sorts of things, puts focus into seeing who couples up as well as the threat of the arc. The ending looked somewhat creepy and I will be curious as to the end. Sterbakov & Green plan for a third volume of this, and I am partisan about bothering; it's a cute book but my budget grows more limited every month. Still, how often do you see heroes like Longdong or Post-It? I also got the Hester cover, because he's Phil Hester. To me, I am reading this book because I liked the wonky charm of the first volume, along with the daffy characters, and this second volume matches it. But to place it in a league of small books like INVINCIBLE, DYNAMO 5, IREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN or so on would feel cheap. Think of it as "Mystery Men Lite in College". It is cool seeing Norrin (who desperately wants his codename to be "Scarlet Knight") finally get some appreciation. It's an awkward book to review. I like it, but I wouldn't recommend people bypass other good books or make some extreme effort to hunt it down.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #541: "Fundamentals in Angst", or "Back in Black" continues, as Spider-Man continues on his hunt to avenge May's shooting, and knows that he is dealing with his old enemy, the Kingpin. In some ways this storyline has had two dimensions. On the one hand, Peter has been acting out of character several times over the past 12 issues or so, but this time it feels accurate, as it makes sense for Peter to go on a grim vendetta with his Aunt at death's door by a sniper's bullet meant for him, his life in shambles and his wife fearing both criminals and authorities. On the other hand, while it all makes sense, it has JMS giving Peter dark, grim-hero dialogue that I realize the more I see, the more generic and typical it all sounds. Dark Spidey sounds just like Moon Knight who sounds like Batman who sounds like Daredevil who sounds like any Frank Miller hero, etc. People mocked the silly repetitive stuff of the golden age, but many fail to realize the post-modern "anti-hero" routine can also get nearly as comically repetitive. Even with it still making sense, I am starting to tire of the Dark Spidey routine; the fact that it does make sense for the character keeps me aboard. Kingpin arranges a showdown with Spidey at his jail, where he promptly frees all the inmates as back-up. Peter, for his part, theorizes that the enzyme he gave May to save her back in ASM #33 or so to save her life from a blood transfusion with him may allow her to now be able to survive getting blood from him to save her. Naturally, the story could go various ways; the blood could kill May, and Peter's angst cycle is complete, and Marvel's repeated themselves within a decade. It could save May, and that is that. Or, it could save May and have some side effect. It also allows Spider-Man to be weakened from loss of blood, which is the only way a glorified sumo wrestler in a business suit has any chance in hell of challeging him (I always found the "holding back" excuse to Spidey vs. Kingpin fights ludicrous. When the fat bastard is strangling you on his rug, only a suicidal masochist, i.e. Penance, would hold back). While I can't buy Spidey being unable to beat Kingpin in one panel because he "holds back", I CAN buy Spidey being unable too because he has a hundred or so inmates to battle, he has been going on no sleep for days, and he just gave a pint or so of blood. The next issue promises a death and despite some theories, the speculation is in the air. Barring some turn of events, it can't be MJ, unless JMS just throws in a random gunman at the hospital or something. So bets are on May or Fisk. JMS could go another route, have a random convict die in the battle and guilt Peter with that, but that might feel anti-climatic. In a way I also don't mind Spider-Man instilling a little fear into his rep into the underworld, because too often he seems like a clown. Even if it seems a computer program could write "dark angsty hero" dialogue these days, the story is so far still suspenceful. I usually don't prefer Spidey to act this way, but he's had plenty of dark stories in the past, ironically, and they usually are full of emotion, and this one is too. Garney's art is solid as always, so it almost is taken for granted. While it seems every hero gets grim at some point, JMS is managing to make it seem seemless and fitting while acknowledging continuity when he can.
ANNIHILATION CONQUEST PROLOGUE: A week after WWH #1, another event starts. June's sales are going to be rocking. Naturally, the original ANNIHILATION, mostly written by industry vet Kieth Giffen, was the little event that could in the wake of CW, seemingly providing what that event lacked. It had true heroes and villains, effective revamps and designs, satisfying action, and epic battles. No one complained about the ending here; Nova tears out Annihilus' guts (with assistance from Phyla, the new Quasar) and saves the universe, but the universe isn't as stable as before the wave. Like most true space stories, these allow writers/editors to display real life situations and dynamics through metaphor, and the crew does so here. Much like other nations, entire planets and systems were shattered by the Annihilation Wave and everyone is trying to rebuild and stay alive. This time, Abnett & Lanning, who wrote NOVA last year and continue to do so this year, seem to be writing the event itself (or at least the prologue). The issue spends much of it's focus on Phyla, Moondragon, and Peter Quill (the Man Formerly known as Star-Lord). Phyla is struggling to learn how to control the Quantum Bands as well as be an effective Quasar, constantly asking, "What would Wendall Do?" Moondragon, for her part, encourages her, and it is good to see a lesbian couple depicted as loving, supportive, and playful with each other without (so far) being complete porno-lesbo tramps. The pair beat off a rag-tag collection of space pirate refugees rebuilding a temple at the edge of the shattered Kree empire (now run by Ronan the Accuser, who grabbed power in ANNIHILATION). On Hala, Peter Quill is working with the Kree to get them back to snuff as they are essentially the lone unified power left in the universe, so they will be the first in line to defend anyone (or to get attacked by another invading force from some other dimension). Peter organizes an alliance with the Spaceknights, which goes horribly wrong very quickly, so wrong that the Quantum Bands and their "Cosmic Awareness" powers are screaming at Phyla to find specific people to ease a disaster. At first I was thinking, "The Spaceknights are bad guys now? Boy, the fanboys will be angry", but then I got to the end and perhaps I was too used to some mainstream Marvel events, where characters change character with no explaination. Want to know why the Spaceknights want Conquest? Because they've been taken over by the Phalanx, offshoot of the Magus (and Warlock) and wishing to impose "order" across the universe. Some might feel they are essentially acting as Borg stand-ins. To that I reply, the Phalanx have been doing that for the past decade at least, so seeing it brought to a cosmic scale against people other than the X-Men makes sense, and is an evolution of that theme. Nova and Ronan have cameo's, but this prologue is really Phyla & Quill's show. Much like Annihilus, the Phalanx had an interesting concept, at least in Marvel where there have been few Borg rip-off's that had as much lasting power (they want to assimilate, not just destroy), and had fallen into C-List status where it is some 5-10 years between appearences in X-books. ANNIHILATION made Annihilus into a cosmic bad-arse and CONQUEST looks to do the same with the Phalanx, creating some new "overlords" of that species to act as villains. There are 4 CONQUEST series out, one is NOVA and the others are based on Phyla, Quill, and some new person named Wraith, who surprisingly isn't mentioned at all here, but who looks dynamically cool on covers, like a space version of Dante (from Devil May Cry games). Last time around I skipped some mini's, but this time I may not. I honestly am not TOO crazy about Phyla, but her mini seems to be the most important. I like Quill, Wraith looks cool and I am already buying NOVA. I wonder who will get to save the universe this time? Guess there is only one way to find out. While Marvel's Earth has had 3 events in a row where the line between hero and villain remains blurred, out in space it seems some things are still kept simple and effective. Consider me aboard. As a final note, Perkins takes over on art and seems to have a style that merges DiVito with Horn, and while I definately prefer DiVito's art, it's definately pretty and effective for the story, and I wouldn't mind seeing more of it. WRAITH will be written by more TV people, so hopefully it doesn't fall behind; however, Giffen will return for STARLORD, so you know it'll be solid.
GHOST RIDER #12: One of few books to make it a year before a cancellation is announced, as it ferries from the end of one tie-in to the start of another; that will mean that essentially 7 out of 13 issues of GR will have been boosted by crossover tie-in's. I would love to say they were seemless, but they aren't. The last tie-in was vaguely connected to CW because Satan decided to animate the corpse of Jack O'Lantern, who got offed by Punisher in CW. This one is somewhat more direct as Johnny Blaze, in a battle with his inner demon to use his powers to save innocents vs. blind vengance, travels to NYC in the midst of the "Hulk Evacuation" and runs smack dab into the green behemoth himself. I've cynically felt that a lot of these tie-in's are pointless and seek to just stretch out a simple story; Hulk lands from space with a crew and a vendetta, and heroes battle him for a while until he loses, is somehow appeased, or they all die. It's basically a simple, action movie scene that I can't see how other titles can crossover into besides in stories that basically read like this: "[INSERT CHARACTER HERE] finds Hulk, fights Hulk, loses". Ghost Rider seems on track to fulfill that senerio. I can be a sucker for good action, but it loses some impact when the outcome is pre-determined and the motive is shallow, just to boost sales for the event and a struggling title (this book has fallen to the Top 50 and is slowly but steadily bleeding readers). On the plus side, Saltares fills in for Tex on art and does the job a lot better than the last fill-in the book had, with a very simular style. I won't mention "The Stupid Non-Retcon Retcon" again, but I also should note that Ghost Rider's method to stop Satan is almost "hamster wheel" pointless. The gimmick is that Satan escaped Hell with Blaze and fell into 666 bodies. Every one that is dusted, the remaining grow stronger until only 1 body with Satan's full power remains. Naturally this would mean eventually one would kill enough bodies that the rest grow too strong for Ghost Rider or anyone else to stop. One would think that a new strategy, such as perhaps exorcising the bodies via an alliance with a mage or something to drain power from Satan, would be mentioned. Nope, Ghost Rider is still running around killing bodies that continue to grow stronger, slowly empowering the rest. Didn't he ever see THE ONE? The only mage who knows Ghost Rider is back is Dr. Strange, and thankfully, even after attacking the Sorceror Supreme and nearly offing him, the Doc has stayed mum about it to the SHRA people. Still, Way and others who do crossovers with WWH have a challenge to somehow make the appearences of their characters have more weight than the diagram I outlined above, and Way so far hasn't fulfilled that. I wonder if the next issue will surpass that, or just deliver a great looking fight where Ghost Rider gets through the bother of losing so he can continue on his mission against Satan. Speaking of which, can we PLEASE get a new villain for him? Imagine if Batman fought Joker every issue for 12 months. It'd get old. There are other demons or nasties out there for him to fight, y'know. Keeping BLADE limited to vampires has done nothing for his rep, and keeping GR on "Satan" won't do him any favors either. There's a premise and then there is repetition. Even the Fugitive didn't fight the One-Armed Man EVERY episode, did he? The other problem with WWH, besides the predictable factor, is placement; the WWH story has very simple scenes and fitting in side-quests seems more awkward. To his credit, Way perhaps seems to imply the battle between Ghost Rider & Hulk takes place as heroes are still evacuating, i.e. before the fight with Iron Man. Guess the pressure is on Slott to make his AVENGERS INITIATIVE tie-in's unique.
) to get his pretty, white suit back and a night of unlocked cell doors. JMS writes that scene pretty well, and has been doing the Kingpin justice since he appeared a few issues ago. 
). In fact, Bucky actually helped train Natasha in the few short weeks they spent together. That little bit of characterization retcon is something I can get down with. Nothing major, just something to add to the characters and the story without rewriting history. Again, hats off to Brubaker. Now, Natasha figures into the story by being the person selected by Tony to move Cap's real shield to a secure location. Bucky's Nick Fury LMD was found (according to plan) by SHIELD and they were spooked enough to move it. As we've seen in countless heist movies (the last one being Ocean's 12, in my memory), several identical trucks move out proceeding in completely different directions to force the would be thief to choose correctly. Then shortly after, the real prize rolls out in something more unassuming. Of course Bucky's smarter than the Nightfox 
yay
