This is a monster of a week, some 9-10 comics that came out this week, so I will be tackling this in chunks. Which should suit the post-limit count fine.
I had been buying KICK-ASS, but with the 6th issue out on a week where I spent about $30 on comics, and after a little discussion on another topic with Teardrop, it caused me to re-evaluate buying it. In truth, KICK-ASS hasn't been wowing me. John Romita Jr.'s art is good; it always is. And to be fair, issue #5 was better than issues 3-4 to me. But in truth it usually seems like Millar 101, doing his same violent, vulgar, bleak, pop-culture-reference laden schtick that he did with WANTED, or some of his work on Ultimates. It comes out so infrequently, barely every 2-4 months, that I often forget about each issue or that I am even buying it until it appears on a Diamond list like a ghost every quarter. As someone who stayed on NEW AVENGERS or ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN for at least over a year after I ceased liking it or had faith in the direction, I know what it is like to see a comic on a Diamond list and literally dread buying it, but feeling obligated to for whatever reason fans tell themselves; KICK-ASS had been at that point since about issue #3 with me, once I got over the pedigree of the title. I flipped through KICK-ASS #6 and it did seem like the story was going somewhere, which is good after six issues, but in truth between reprints and overorders, I have about a month to decide. KICK-ASS has it's moments but it really isn't giving me anything new from Millar I haven't read before, and it makes his FANTASTIC FOUR look like innovative, Eisner material (it's more upbeat, for one). As a comic it is above average, but with some of the books I actually like, such as THOR, rising in cost, KICK-ASS may have reached MOON KNIGHT territory, where buying out of habit isn't enough. It does show the desperation of Hollywood for anything as filming on the motion picture has started before the "graphic novel" is even finished. I remember when Mark Millar would post on blogs about he disliked industry sell-out's, and now he is the face of them. At the very least, he freely admits how lucrative it is, and it's easy to justify hypocrisy when it pays the bills or a new house. Considering this is a comic that is so arrogant it brags on the cover how awesome it is ("the best comic book series EVER!" I think the cover to issue five claimed), something not even Bendis books do, I shouldn't lose much sleep without it. And yes, I know the irony of writing a 500 word paragraph about a comic I didn't even buy.
Now for stuff I actually bought, and didn't feel bad for doing so!
Dread's Bought/Thought for 4/22/09:
DYNAMO 5 #21: The schedule for this title has gone off the rails a bit, which may be due to either the writer Jay Faerber once writing about 3 titles at once, or because the series regular artist Mahmund Asrar gets semi-frequent work from Marvel for their space books (such as a NOVA annual, or the upcoming Gladiator stuff) these days. After running a few months behind schedule, from about the end of Jan. into Feb., we got about 2.5 issues of D5 material, so this time I am more forgiving of March being a "skip" month. It is a shame that most issues of the series have been $3.50 for about 20 pages of story, which may have kept some people off the title or just for the trades, but I have usually enjoyed it. It's not my favorite team book, but I rank it higher than most, and it's at least as good as some of the Marvel team books I get, while getting maybe a 10th of the attention and sales of some of them.
The theme of this issue is still centered around Valentine's Day, which is a bit poorly timed as this book is in April, although the theme was stronger for issue #20, which actually did ship in 2/2009. The original Dynamo 5 having reunited at the end of the last major arc, issues #0 and #20 were borderline "filler" material, but Faerber has been an expert at making "random" stories fit in later, and in truth I sometimes enjoy them for a breather now and again in comics. This issue sees Bridget/Scrap meet a guy she met at an online dating website while Hector is out on his first date with the younger Firebird after his jock half-bro Gage aggressively set the wheels in motion for him. The half-alien Myraid still seems to have secrets around him, from omitting his alien past to posing as the female Virgil for months to currently increasing his physical prowess in battle, specifically his speed.
In truth, I should have seen this coming, especially after Heinberg basically did the same story several years earlier with YOUNG AVENGERS. The streets are being flooded with a new designer drug that immediately boosts strength, but causes users to be more aggressive and irrational, thus an uptick in crime. It was interesting seeing D5 stop some berserk thugs in a park rather than costumed creeps as usual. But, still, if you can't guess what happened, here is a hint. If you have a team of superheroes and you come into a drug story, guess which member will be revealed to be a user. If you guessed the black male character, you get a gold star. Hell, even the cartoon TEEN TITANS did that with one Cyborg episode. It is something of a predictable cliche that is somewhat irritating to always see the exact same way, and I am white for crying out loud. While, yes, Myraid really isn't an "African American" technically, merely an alien who chooses that form out of familiarity, it is still essentially the same. I just always wonder why it always seems that the black male of the superhero team is usually always the one who seeks a shortcut with drugs. I suppose Gage the football player would have been the other "cliche" member to do so, but I just think it could have been better handled. Why not bring back Quake and have him be a user to get over his injuries? Faerber usually finds a way to make simple or straight-forward ideas better in execution or with a twist, but right now I wasn't impressed.
There is also a bit where Bridget meets her online date, who turns out to be a journalist. If you can also call that he's working on a story on, guess what, the Dynamo 5, you win another gold star. This angle, though, while predictable, works a little better. I mean, superhero dates ALWAYS have to involve some soap-level melodrama or plot convenience.
The best bit of the book, though, besides the part where Maddie investigates some missing men and stumbles onto the next series villain, or Gage revealing that she was a FLAG agent to Slingshot and Myraid, though, is the Hector and Firebird date. It was pretty sweet and yet unique to their lifestyle as after a walk in the park, they decided a training simulation would be spicier. I like diverse hero teams and I do like how Hector hasn't become trapped in the molds of too many Asian American heroes; he is neither a martial artist or a super-genius. He's just Hector. That's what makes him cool. He's quickly become one of my favorite members of the team.
Cinar pitches in to pencil a few pages for Asrar and will be filling in next issue, and does a good job because I didn't notice much of a shift in the art style. Once upon a time, that was what all fill in artists strove to do. Now you have Ramos filling in for Caselli on books.
Despite the appearance of one of my least favorite cliche's, I enjoyed this issue of DYNAMO 5 about as much as I usually do. It's not the best issue, but this title is usually better with finale's than build-up, which is a reasonable dynamic. It's an oft overlooked team superhero book, but not by me. I still can't explain how the 5 issue mini GEMINI has gone off the scheduling rails, though.
INVINCIBLE #61: Upon reading some reviews for INVINCIBLE #60, quite a few people online didn't care for the approach; they said 32 pages was too condensed for an event story, and it wasn't new reader friendly. Part of me thinks this is a double standard; Marvel & DC hardly are new reader friendly, and I don't mind some decompression. Frankly, the point of INVINCIBLE WAR was to upend the status quo more than being a blockbuster unto itself, so I could bare with the "rushed" aspect of it. The point of it was that Angstom Levy leads a squad of two dozen alternate reality versions of Mark and trashes the world, as well as Invincible's rep. He escapes to scheme another day and the world has to pick up after it. Kirkman was able to do that in a single oversized, extra buck issue rather than eight, and I commend him for it.
As the cover says, this is the Aftermath to that horrendous war. Despite uniting nearly every Image superhero for the battle and the clean-up, dozens of major cities across the world are in shambles, with millions of people dead, and thousands injured and/or homeless. Several superheroes are among the fallen, such as Rex Splode and the second Darkwing. Bullet-Proof, Shapesmith and Atom Eve are all fairly injured, with Eve perhaps the worst so. The stress of the situation convinces Immortal and Dupli-Kate to retire to form a family while they still can; being revived after a second beheading I guess was a "moment of clarity" for Immortal. And despite testimonials from some heroes like Savage Dragon, the world still holds Invincible responsible for the attacks, as does the maniacal Power-Plex. Mark, as well, blames himself bitterly for the global catastrophe, as well as Eve's injuries. The squid aliens from Mars also start to plan a return to form.
The situation has made him the awkward ally of Cecil Stedman again, and although Mark is ready to help for clean-up or emergencies, he declines an offer to lead a reformed Guardians of the Globe, with the cynical Brit getting the nod instead. There a few quips here and there but the tone of the book is somber, and appropriately so. Ottley, as usual, can carry that level of emotion to his pencils, too. Levy was Invincible's enemy and the worldwide attack was solely to get revenge on him. Add that in with the stuff with Nolan all those years ago and it is easy to see why Mark is tormented.
As usual, though, there has to be fuel to the fire. A scarred, massive, and seemingly cybernetic Viltrumite has arrived, with the name of Conquest. Frankly, he is the first that Kirkman bothered to name immediately; "Anyssa" needed to be named in a letters page, and most of the other other Viltrumites that Mark and/or Nolan have battled, aside for Lucan (the black dude from the Mantis World battle) haven't been named. He's something of an enforcer for the empire, there to ensure that Mark is "taking care" of Earth as his species desires, or to kill and replace him if he is not, as Anyssa warned him many issues ago. Considering Mark's emotions, though, Conquest is simply something to vent on, and quickly engages him. Issue #62 should be hardcore. While "Conquest" is a bit of a generic name for an alien trooper, he probably has one of the better Viltrumite designs from Ottley, very menacing and unique looking. And, of course, with a trademark moustache.
It was a solid aftermath issue, but in some ways felt like a good set up to issue #62, so I am more jazzed for May's issue. It will be interesting seeing Mark genuinely have to take on another Viltrumite (besides other versions of himself, of course).
AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #23: Quite a busy issue of this "Initiative Disassembled" arc and the first without Dan Slott co-writing. Honestly, Christos Gage has developed quite a steady grasp of the title that I find myself not missing Slott as much as I expected, as he usually fits more "adventure" stories better than darker ops stuff like this title requires. Gage, though, is more in his element.
There are essentially two stories here, and Gage does a good job of juggling all the characters, even if many of them don't speak. One part of the issue is Justice and the New Warriors there to expose the Initiative's sins to the media and give MVP a proper burial, away from clones and labs. The other part of the story deals with the "Shadow Initiative's" mission to take down Hardball and HYDRA in Madripoor, where they find themselves not only outnumbered, but the victims of poor timing.
(I know Justice's team has also gone by "Counter Force", but as of issue #22, Vance claimed they were taking back the old team name, especially as Donyell's squad just disbanded, so I'll stick with that for now. Besides, all of the members are past Warriors aside for the sole remaining Scarlet Spider/MVP clone.)
Justice of course finally gets to say his piece about the sins of Camp Hammond, and with the ever sassy Sally "Liberal" Floyd in front of the camera, the dirt on the camp comes to bare. Ultra-Girl decides to leave the group and join officially with Vance's troupe, tired of the federal game-playing. Gauntlet, a military man who "follows orders", admits his role in MVP's death after almost two years of comics and things to get a bit sordid, with some of the other heroes, such as Doc Samson, not being too thrilled. Tigra also gets in a few good lines, and honestly between the REPTIL one shot and some interviews, Gage seems to be the writer who wants to reform Tigra a bit and do something with her besides make her a pin-up cover, and that's good. She desperately needs such attention. While Gauntlet is usually a jerk who is hard to root for, he came off as human here, which was good to see. Even Trauma acknowledged his role in the "accident", even if Sgt. Green was the experienced trainer. Rather than be appalled, the newly unelected Vice Vice President Norman Osborn capitalizes on it to authorize sweeping changes to how the Initiative was run, starting with the closing of Camp Hammond. Osborn even allows the Stamford citizens to rampage a pit and tear down that Human Torch statue.
This comes at a bad time for the Shadow Initiative. Hardball now seems to be a full fledged hell, with the ex-SHIELD agent Scorpian at his side romantically and having delivered Stark's power sapping SPIN-Tech to HYDRA, which they use to take out Komodo and put the rest of her team on the run. With SHIELD being dissolved and remade into HAMMER, though, Taskmaster and the rest of his allies may not be able to count on a pick-up in three hours, and are left without options with Madripoor's nortorious duo, Roughouse and Bloodsport, stalking them. Considering the setting of the story, I was curious if we would see them, and I am glad we will. They always make good sparring partners. Just ask Wolverine, who fought them a half dozen times in the 90's.
I am curious why Scorpian is there; while conflicted, she usually was a straight-up heroine for SHIELD until now. While SHIELD is dissolved that wouldn't exactly determine she would be a giddy HYDRA loyalist. They were the ones who created her, originally. It could be "deep cover". Hardball, though, seems like a remorseless heel at this point, and while it was a real shame to lose his romance with Komodo, which seemed tender, he's becoming a bastard as a villain, the kind who you can't wait to see go down. It is worth noting that before the Initiative, he was willing to get empowered by criminals and use his powers to knock over banks, he only became a hero by pure misunderstanding. He made some crappy choices when Sen. Woodman came calling, but one may argue he always seemed aimed at this lifestyle. It was his tenure with the Initiative that was the anamoly. Even with a crippled brother with medical bills, not everyone's first impulse is to then get super-powers from the same figure responsible for said brother's misery and then attacking an armored truck. I felt very sorry for Komodo in this issue, as she hates her human form so much, which Hardball clearly knows. Poor gal needs a boyfriend who isn't a dick. That was why I was hoping Reptil could have stuck around, they could have laid eggs together.
Osborn is running the show now and Gage has given interviews that while more villains may become deputized, there will be a resistance movement led by the New Warriors with other heroes in their ranks, such as Tigra and perhaps Prodigy. Then again, if Osborn showed Prodigy respect and dignity despite being an "ex-con", something Stark's administration never did, I am curious which side he would take. The book is still selling decently, Top 40 style sales, and DARK REIGN may help add quite a few new twists to it. I am quite excited for the future of this title and what Gage will write in it. He has a solid handle on many of the characters, especially Vance and Tigra.
Ramos' art was actually pretty strong here; the inks looked a bit less rushed, and Delgado's coloring was quite good. It was probably the best drawn issue of the last three to me.
Coming Up:GHOST RIDER #34, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #13, IMMORTAL IRON FIST #25, INCREDIBLE HERCULES #128, MIGHTY AVENGERS #24 & THOR #601.
The art was tolerable.
