Another merciful week for the wallet, although next week will, of course, be a wallet-busting, $30+ affair. Damn wiggy shipping schedules. Anyway, both of the big two's top selling titles came out this week, as well as yet another installment of Marvel's "cosmic event" thing. And DEAD-GIRL. Time to transform and roll out.
Like I say every week, this is a spoiler-full post.
DREAD'S BOUGHT/THOUGHT FOR 4/19/06:
JUSTICE #5: The Ross/Krueger/Braithwaite collaborative, bi-monthly "elseworlds" story continues to put out another satifying issue, although the taut story is slowed some by the bi-monthly schedule. A 12 issue tale is rather long even by today's standards, and given that this one has already been going on for 10 months and is barely at the midway point does take some of the punch out of the story. That is unavoidable, though, and at least it hasn't been late. Naturally, the Legion of Doom is still engaging in their most expansive, collaborative effort to take over the world and destroy the JLA yet, and they're still winning, by and large. The Atom's in the hospital due to a sniper, Aquaman's lying on Brainiac's operating table, Red Tornado's destroyed, Green Lantern's trapped in some black wormhole/void of space, the Flash can't control his speed and is racing all over, and most of the core League has been under attack by their dire foes. That means the cavalry is left to whoever survives, and the remaining "reserve" Leaguers, which include Elongated Man (and Sue's still alive and presumably un-raped) and Capt. Marvel. J'onn manages to escape Grodd's telepathic underwater-trap, and Wonder Woman rallies to fend off Cheetah. Left a crying, whimpering wuss begging for help last issue, Superman is saved from his attackers by Capt. Marvel (with a pose that runs counter to their meeting in KINGDOM COME) and leads him to the Batcave. Now, I was expecting Batman, the one JLA'er left unmolested by the Legion, to ride to the rescue and be the big savior, and so far that didn't happen, and I didn't mind the surprise; apparently he (and Alfred) have been mind-controlled by techno-worms, and Superman's just noticed some on his OWN skin (it's also good to see a Batman/Superman "fight" where Kal doesn't get schooled)! Hawkman and Hawkgirl manage to survive Toyman's attack and J'onn attempts to rally them, as the world continues to wonder why the LOD are playing saviors, and the League are nowhere to be seen. Obviously there is more than meets the eye, and when read in one sitting when it is finished sometime in 2007, this will likely be another instant classic. As it is, it is good, but the long breaks hurt it. Some of the dialogue seems stilted, though.
ANNIHILATION: NOVA #1: The only ANNHILATION title I planned on buying (aside for PRELUDE) and the inevitable conclusion), and overall was left happy with what I got. Now, before someone says it, YES, Nova is easily Marvel's answer to DC's now-hot Green Lantern titles, but this is hardly new. Nova's origin, circa the 70's, literally reeked of an attempt to "imitate" some of that GL goodness, so seeing Marvel play that card again now is hardly unrealistic for the character, and is in fact a decent approach to it. Once again, Nova is the last remaining member of the Nova Corps alive, and he's directed by their "Worldmind" to survive and save what is left of Xandar by absorbing all of their "Nova Force", and becoming ION...wait, wrong title. No, he simply gains a sleeker, updated costume and risks going insane with power (much as "Super-Nova" once did) the longer his body must remain a vessal. Rider, meanwhile, is not happy about taking orders from an alien machine and compares him to his dad, as well as wants bloody revenge against Annihilus' armada for destroying the Corps. Nova's anguish and response is easy for someone who has undergone wartime "survivor's guilt" or some PTSD. Space stories, naturally, allow for all sorts of metaphors into "real life", which is why they have appeal. And why Marvel's ignored them for a while; metaphors take work, and it's easier to have someone leap over rooftops and fight the Kingpin. Drax makes an appearence at the end, and the first issue is off to a good start to hopefully make Nova a contendor again. "Marvel's GL" is a much better niche than "yet another teen hero", eh? Especially since the New Warriors seem to be the whipping boys of Joe Q these days. And unlike Spider-Man, I actually like Nova's new armor. I'll likely be in the minority. It's certainly better than his last "costume update" during the last NW stab about 6 years ago.
Oh, and despite ANNIHILATION being important to Marvel, one doesn't think that it will tie into CIVIL WAR, much as DC managed to tie in ADAM STRANGE/RANN-THANAGAR and SHADOWPACT into their event. Also, if Silver Surfer is busy in his own ANNIHILATION title, how is he appearing in PLANET HULK as a GLADIATOR reject? For lord's sake, seeing the company that INVENTED cohesive universe continuity being completely unable to pull it off in the age of cell phones and email is utterly, unforgiveably pathetic.
NEW AVENGERS #18 Speaking of being utterly, unforgiveably pathetic, here comes Marvel's A-title. The book that has their A-list characters, their A-list writer, constantly what they consider A-list art, and achieves...almost consistant mediocrity (its mediocre run spinkled with a handfull of good issues and a near equal amount of near abysmal trash). This book was supposed to be a trend setter, the best thing since underware, and by and large, the team is written better by other people. Consistantly. Regardless, THE COLLECTIVE continues on its merry way, and actually this story isn't so bad, if only because the New Avengers are FINALLY taking on a threat that is actually worthy of that sort of team, instead of, well, facing jobbers like Sauron and The Hand. The problem? The Collective, as he is, has been hinted at by Bendis for months, so the big reveal this issue loses some of its teeth (basically, he's a postman from the North Pole who has been embued with all of the "energy" that mutants lost from M-Day, because despite the MU being filled by meta-class genuises, their universe is ruled by principles from 4th grade science, because the writers themselves are not scientists). The Collective, as he is, is also nothing more than a walking plot device, not unlike Doomsday. His design is simple and really not as keeping, he has zero personality, and simply seems to rampage mindlessly and hurt/kill whoever the story demands. This arc is far better than "RONIN", though, and even if Collective is a bit lame, it is good seeing the New Avengers fully assemble (yes, even Sentry shows up) to tackle an enemy that really challenges them. Its also good to see Spider-Man use his brain for once, as he figures out the identity of the Collective at SHIELD. Meanwhile, Iron Man and Ms. Marvel get "OWNED" big time by Collective, as he is able to use the powers of every mutant who lost theirs on M-day, which basically makes him almost omnipotent in terms of power. Not even Sentry can battle Collective toe-to-toe for very long (and it becomes obvious that he's basically a mentally challenged stand-in for Thor). Despite the big reveal not being such a surprise, the story is paced out very well. Oh, and the Young Avengers show up for a page, but only because Bendis needs Vision to show up in the story, and I suppose it is good to see Vision doing something with the Avengers, even if he sounds nothing like the Vision 2.0 that Heinberg writes. As usual, Bendis likes inserting wisecracks when they feel inappropriate to say, especially by adults in the middle of a crisis (save Spider-Man, of course, because that's his schtick). Overall, not a bad story, one of the better arcs of NEW AVENGERS so far, just such a shame that their first REAL challenge is such a flat, boring, non-character. Maybe the reason some villians get overexposed is because of modern creators being utterly unable to create any NEW ones. I mean, its not like anyone will be wearing a T-Shirt with Sammy Silke or Geldoff on it.
Not the best issue of NEW AVENGERS, but easily amung the Top Five. Granted, that may not be much of a milestone. When a mediocre series has a "decent" outing, is it really an accomplishment? When one's expectations are nearly zero, it skews the scales a bit.
X-STATIX PRESENTS: DEAD-GIRL #4: This weird, wacky, and entertaining series by Milligan and Allred is almost finished, and I am still enjoying the ride. Dr. Strange and Dead-Girl's posse of dead heroes, consisting of some random Marvel figures and X-Statix, find the location of the forces of the Pitiful One, just as he and the Ancient One (who is evil for some reason, like Miss America) find Strange's mortal body and seek to kill the good doctor for all. It also becomes obvious that Dr. Strange seems to fancy Dead-Girl, as he literally dives into an otherworldly pit to save her. Wong manages to escape and warn Strange, but it seems to be too late by the cliffhanger ending. This series is a bit bizarre and I'm sure the fact that many characters seem to be acting in such strange, off-character ways can be off-putting. I've found myself enjoying this read, though. Sad that Marvel didn't feel the need to give Dr. Strange some sort of billing in the story, as he's easily just as important as Dead-Girl and the X-Statix here (and has had more panel-time). And it's actually been one of the better Dr. Strange outings for me, of course this is coming off of DEFENDERS and JMS LOVES THE MATRIX (otherwise known as STRANGE
