Bought/Thought, April 22, 2010: Agent of S.P.O.I.L.E.R.S.

[JewishHobbit]

Just saw this and it cracked me up I tried to do the video youtube thing here but it didn't work. Oh well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6A3dDy5ihk&feature=related


Anyhow... on to my spoiler filled reviews. Gotta say... pretty excellent week. I don't think I disliked a single issue. And just to mention it, I picked up Dark X-Men 2-4 (I already own issue 1 and couldn't afford the 5th issue) and as an X-Men and X-Man fan, I LOVED the series. I'm eager to get the final issue, though I already know the ending. It'd be nice to read it in context though. I just wish Bendis or Coipel would have thrown these guys into the mix at Asgard to make it seem like they were actually a part of Osborn's arsenal.

X-Men Legacy 235[/] - Second Coming part 4! I opened this book and was like "Oh crap... Greg Land" but his art ended up being pretty good. The only obviously traced part is one panel with the Cuckoos, but it kinda works for them so I didn't mind it. And there was maybe a Wolverine or two. Believe it or not, Greg land is actually a pretty good artist when he just draws and isn't tracing (which makes his tracing that much more of a crime) and this issue kinda makes me think he may have drawn more than he traced... so that's good. I could be wrong, but it wasn't bad.

And the issue itself was also really good. I've never been a big Hodge fan just because X-Tinction Agenda and all the stuff previous was prior to my reading so I never got the chance to really get into him. He was a bad dude in this book. He decimated Karma, chopped her leg off, and held his own against the New Mutants. But I loved how he was taken out. Go Warlock! And while none of it was mentioned, it fits being that it was Hodge's plots that originally killed Warlock, and that Hodge himself died while tied to the Phalanx, which Warlock is very much against. Being the the writer was Mike Carey, I'm surprised this wasn't mentioned at all.

The other aspect of the story follows Wolverine's crew and their pursuit of Cable and Hope. They manage to find and rescue Hope and Cable and inform them that Cable is being tracked, so the new plan is for Rogue (with all of their powers now) and Nightcrawler to take Hope, and Cable stays behind with Wolverine, X-23, Archangel, and Psylocke as decoys. It's a good plan and I'm finding myself more and more excited about this storyline.

We have our first death on the X-Men's side, though it's about as minor as it can be. The teleporter, Ariel, was accompanying Wolverine and X-23 as they followed the teleporting Rogue and Nightcrawler when they were struck by a missile. Wolverine and X-23 were burnt but walked away healing, Ariel obviously died. Being that I didn't even know who Ariel was prior to a few months ago when she suddenly showed up, I find myself not caring. But it's still cool to have casualties in a war. Now I"m just eager to find out who the bigger casualty is that's coming up.

All in all great issue. Mike Carey's been writing on the outskirts of the X-Men for a while now with Xavier and then Rogue, so it's good to see him write the core again... and he knocks it out of the ball park.

X-Factor 204 - The loose Second Coming tie-in is pretty good. I loved the image of Shatterstar flying through the air in the first scene, swords out, ready to kick tail! It was just really cool.

Anyhow, Bastion, through Trask, sets some people on X-Factor and the comic begins. Madrox, Rictor, and Longshot take on a case for Absorbing Man to check on Titania who might be cheating on him. Turns out that Absorbing Man and Titania are being paid off though, leading the 3 X-Factor people into a trap. That trap results with the cliffhanger ending, all three of them getting their brains blown out (on panel, blood out the sides of their heads and everything). Now, obviously they aren't going to kill them off, but I'm real curious to see what becomes of their 'deaths'.

And continuing from last issue, Guido is assaulted by Baron Mordo, but then they're interupted by gunman who gun down Mordo and then take out Guido. Mordo kills one of them before teleporting away.

Good set up issue. One thing I've decided though is that the more I read this comic the more I like Shatterstar... as minor of a role as he was in this issue. Good stuff.

Guardians of the Galaxy 24 - The Guardians learn that Thanos has returned and they go to meet him. Turns out he's feral after his resurrection and has killed everyone on the Universal Church homeworld... which is good because they bored me to tears. Star Lord and his team go to investigate and have a happy reunion as they find the other half of their team, which they thought were long dead. With the exception of Groot, who gets two good hits in before being knocked out, the team is trampled over until Star Lord gets out his Cosmic Cube that he, as it turns out, didn't use against Magus, and uses it against Thanos. It takes Thanos out but also, it seems, gave him his mind back. And how great was that scene when he actually shoots Thanos with it?! Awesome! So in the end, the Guardians are all back together minus Phyla, who died last issue as Thanos was resurrected (we'll see if that sticks).

As a side story, we are also taken to the future with the original Guardians of the Galaxy where it is being discussed whether or not the thing in the past was fixed. As it turns out, it isn't. Thanos is the reason. While not a fan of the original GotG, I did really like these scenes. First off, we get a bit of an explanation about the male and female Starhawks, and we learn that the "original" GotG were a longrunning tradition that actually began with Star Lord's crew. It should have been obvious, but I never made the connection, so I thought that was neat.

Good issue. And from my understanding this is the last one until after the Thanos Imperative? I find that wierd, as most events get tons of tie-ins, but this one actually lessons the amount of buying. It's strange, but I kinda like it.

Nova 36 - So while GotG dealt with the Thanos aspect of the Thanos Imperative, this title deals more with the Fault aspect. Nova comes and chats with Quasar at Project Pegasus, along with Darkhawk. After talking for a while we learn that the Quasar that was in the Imperial Guard mini was the real Quasar, just back from the Fault, and when Nova confronts this Quasar about it, he goes all evil and the fight begins. While they battle, Darkhawk finds a gateway with a creature trying to come through and he fights it as well. Nova's fight eventually pours into Darkhawk's and htey battle together. Quasar fleas and the creature critically wounds Darkhawk. Darkhawk is taken to get help as Nova flies off after Quasar, and the issue ends.

Good issue and an interesting lead-in to the event. Realm of Kings overall has been a bit underwhelming, but it really did serve as an interesting lead-in to the Thanos Imperative. I'm curious to see where it goes and even more curious to see what becomes of Nova and the GotG books when it finishes.

Green Lantern 53 - The last book of the week that I bought and it was also pretty good. It's basically just fall out of Blackest Night as we see what most of the "New Guardians" are doing. Hal and Carol have a special moment until interupted by Sinestro, back from his finding the White lantern in Brightest Day 0, and they discuss. Saint Walker is basically saying a prayer over each grave that was decicrated as Flash fixes them. Larfleeze goes to Luther wanting to know more about what is the most important to own on Earth. Luther first says Power but Larfleeze has that, next he says land and Larfleeze, of course, wants some. And lastly, the confusing ending... Atrocitus is confronted by two others about their desire to bring down the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps. We then learn that those two are.... Ganthet and Guy Gardner?! Well, if I wasn't interested in Emerald Warriors before I certainly am now!

Also, we have a scene with Hector Hammond and someone speaking to him who, apparently, protected the universe for the Guardians prior to even the Manhunters. As it turns out, this person wrote the Green Lantern oath itself! We only see the person wrapped up in a cloak in a dead land with green shackles on their feet, but we do see that he has Parallax chained to a block of stone with the Sinestro symbol on it. Beside that one are six other stones with the other symbols on them, so I'm curious if he plans on capturing the other beasts or whatever they're called. Curious where this goes. And if I had to guess, based on stature and what little body type we can see, I'd say this guy was of the Guardian race himself.


Okay... so good week.

Best of the Week:
X-Men Legacy 235 - The fact that an X-Men book would beat out Nova and Green Lantern (my two favorite books each month) for book of the week is really saying something. Second Coming has been great so far but I've had trouble classifying how good each issue is based on the fact that it's just a small part of one story. However, this issue really felt great, Land's art was surprisingly enjoyable, and the writing was perfect. There were great moments and in the end there was that feeling that you just read a great comic. Kudos to Mike Carey and Greg Land (and man does it feel wierd saying that).

Worst of the Week:
X-Factor 204 - And this isn't even a fair placing because the comic was good, it just was less good than the rest of them that I read this week. It had a slower start than the rest and the payoff is one that is obviously a rouse, so it deminishes the issue for me. I'll claim otherwise if they really due turn out dead next issue, but they won't be and we all know it. It was cool seeing Absorbing Man in an X-Men comic though... that's differant.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Hercules: Fall of an Avenger: Damned good. The fight between mortal proxies was awesome from start to finish, especially Namor's--ahem--objection to the selection of Bruce Banner instead of Thor. Cho beating Phobos was kind of bittersweet and Pluto's "fears" were hilarious. The ending gets me pretty excited for Prince of Power, even if I could see it coming pretty easily. But, as with Brubaker's Captain America, Pak and Van Lente prove once again that predictable does not equal bad--quite the opposite, in fact, for the possibilities that this ending opens up. I especially liked Cho's correction to Athena that he's Herc's champion, not hers.

The Venus and Namora backup was quite good as well. That also was pretty obvious--Herc's slain a lot of monsters, so now that we know he had boatloads of money laying around, of course one of his investments would be a care facility for the orphaned children of the monsters he's slain--but pretty great. Not a lot of action or plot movement or anything, but it was a sweet little story about how big Herc's heart was.

Sif: Decent one-shot. Not great, not terrible, just kind of middle-of-the-road, solid comic storytelling. The art was good, if a bit sloppy here and there. The writing was good, even though the plot was kind of unsatisfying. It was nice to see Sif take her confidence back, but the payoff just didn't really gel for me. Things didn't come together quite as well as they could have, I thought. I did like Sif's new(ish) costume, even though the artist tried to squeeze in too many elements from Sif's earlier costumes on the torso area. (Granted, I never really liked that diamond-shaped... thing... that she had over her belly starting with Simonson's run.)

Nova: Promising lead-in to The Thanos Imperative. It was great to see Nova back with the Corps and Nita up and about. DiVito's return to penciling duty was also quite welcome. I'm glad that the Lovecraftverse's threat is finally getting exposed. Should be fun to see Quasar and his evil doppelganger go at it eventually, too. Not really sure what's up with Darkhawk at the end; I hope DnA didn't just build him up as a solid cosmic player just to kill him off or turn him evil or something. Very excited by the 8x8 signal at the very end--I knew Nova would link up with Quasar and Star-Lord for The Thanos Imperative, but it's still awesome to finally see it starting to happen. The Thanos Imperative has the potential to be the best cosmic event since Annihilation, given the strength of the concept and the players involved. I can't wait.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Good issue. There's a lot of good stuff with Star-Lord and Thanos (who is, as we suspected, angry about being ripped away from Death via his resurrection) toward the end, but what really interested me in this issue was the Guardians of All Galaxies and how they'll fit into the big picture, either with The Thanos Imperative or somewhere else. Moondragon breaking the fourth wall a bit in her anger that she and Phyla never seem to be alive at the same time was funny in a meta way, but the scene itself was actually pretty dramatic and heart-wrenching. Walker's art was quite good, although I still prefer Craig's cartoony style.

 

[Phaedrus45]

Happy Earth Day, everyone! My poor daughter has strep throat; so, she's home from school today...but, she wants to see Oceans, the new DisneyNature film. We might go see that tonight, if her fever has gone away. Anyway, onto the reviews:

Ultimate Avengers #6

Very lame ending! Spoilers galore!!!! (You've been warned!)


When you are dealing with the Cosmic Cube, you better bring it; because we've seen some pretty awesome stories with it in the past...and, because it really is the ultimate weapon in the Marvel Universe. This issue begins with Red Skull kickin' butt with the cube...but, the reader has to ask themselves why he's bothering fighting in the snow...why he's bothering with hand-to-hand combat...and, when Captain America finally comes to save the day (we all knew THAT was going to happen), why he gets duped so easily.

In the end, Red Skull goes against everything we saw about him before by admitting on his deathbed that he simply wanted to use the Cube to go back in time and make sure his father (Cap) returned from the war, and he and his mother would live out a normal life. We also learn that Nick Fury was secretly behind this whole fiasco, just in his attempt to get back into power.

Ultimate Spider-Man #9

AWESOME ISSUE!!!! Again, many spoilers.

I love Spider-Woman, even though it's kind of creepy to think that she's actually Peter Parker with boobs. The question is whether Bendis would make her embrace her femaleness or be a lesbian. (For me, I think lesbian would have to be the way to go.) This issue starts out with her taking on a mother/daughter team of armored car robbers (the girl is a lot like Hit Girl), and along comes Johnny Storm to help out. Naturally, Johnny being Johnny, he totally flips for Jessica, and pursues her for a date. This leads to Johnny proclaiming his love for her in front of Peter and friends...and, Peter runs out of the house disgusted when Johnny says that he made out with her. (No proof about that, though. So, we don't know if he's making up stories or not.)

NOW, I have been moaning and groaning about the artist in this book, especially when it comes to Peter's hairstyle. (I have stated it's the worst hairdo I've ever seen on him.) YES! Kitty and Gwen grab Peter at high school and give him a haircut!!! They even make a joke about that awful drawing of Spider-Man with a completely round head...so, it sure sounds like Bendis has listened to the complaints of the fans, and he's responded! Very funny, and just in seeing the hair get cut, I became an instant fan of this issue.

To end things this issue, we see some (feds?) coming to pull Kitty out of school, simply because she's a mutant. Things get intense...so intense, I cannot WAIT for the next issue.

Definitely the best issue of this series. I loved it, especially since I think it shows Bendis does listen to his critics. Others might not give it so high of a review...but, for me: t:

Kato: Origins #1

Decent first issue, even though we are getting Kato's origin in the Matt Wagner's Green Hornet: Year One. In this story, the Green Hornet has sent Kato on an investigation of a murdered Korean, even though Kato doesn't know that language. (Since this takes place during WWII, Kato must hide the fact he's Japanese by pretending to be Korean.) Of course, he must deal with racist/prejudice police officers who make his investigation much harder than it has to be. What he can't accomplish as a civilian is easily handled in his costume.

Blackest Night Director's Cut

This super-sized, $5.99 issue looks back at the entire Blackest Night mini. First, we get snippet comments from those involved about various pages within all 8 issues. I love this kind of commentary...but, after reading a few pages, I became quite bored. It was nothing more than them praising each other for their greatness, or just remarking on the obvious. We then get Johns' pages of instructions for issue #1, which we generally see in all Director Cut books. After this, we actually get a deleted scene, which sadly isn't drawn, but just is Johns' script. Finally, there are alternate covers and many pages of those characters involved in the event.

There was a bunch of stuff shoved in this comic; but, I wouldn't say it's worth the high price. It felt like a lot of self-congratulation for what turned out to only be an ok event. It sure wasn't worth the hype...and, really doesn't come close to DC's previous, Final Crisis. (Say what you will about Final Crisis, it was so much more involved, and truly deserved a Director's Cut look at all the stuff and characters involved.)

I do hate how they give these books the "Director's Cut" title...because, for the most part, they really aren't director cuts. A director's cut gives the viewer/reader extra content and scenes from the original source. This issue finally does give us a deleted scene...but, I would have loved to see it drawn.

Iron Man: Iron Manual Mark 3

From the Ani-Men to Worldwatch, we get updates and new entries in this Iron Man Handbook. A nice new feature was instead of reprinting all the Iron Man stuff we've seen before, they simply will put a one-page "Nick Fury Update" or "Iron Man Update." To me, this just gives Marvel more of a chance of putting in other, more obscure, characters for us to learn about, rather than having to reprint 4 or so pages of old information many of us Handbook fans already have in a previous edition.

Captain America: Who Won't Wield The Shield?

As the cover of this issue says, "This comic has nothing to do with Captain America Reborn." The best thing about this comic is the return of Forbush Man, who dares to ask why Marvel is "taking cherished childhood heroes and turning them into grim and gritty perversions of themselves." Naturally, that's exactly what has happened to Forbush, who goes on a killing spree and can't remember who he is. (I like the drawing of Brubaker with his trademark hat.) Sadly, the Forbush segment is interrupted by a very unfunny couple of stories, "Doctor America" and "The Golden Age Deadpool." (Yes, ANOTHER Deadpool story!)

Even though I did like Forbush Man, this is mainly a comic to skip. Comic Satire from DC and Marvel too much focuses on the people who create the comics, and very rarely has fun with the characters.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Avengers vs. Atlas #4 - Jeff Parker's latest miniseries comes to a conclusion, and I think this is my last Atlas story; I've read the various stories for a while, and, while they're all competent, they've rarely drawn me in much, and the characters remain mostly undeveloped. This story teamed the Agents up with the original Avengers, strung together with a rather convoluted time travel plot that unexpectedly ties in with the current Marvel status quo for Jan - that part was rather affecting (Parker always interests me a lot more in the guest stars). The art by Gabriel Hardman is, as usual excellent. The backup story centres on Gorilla Man, heretofore the series' most overrated character, and is written by Jason Aaron - lo and behold, Aaron actually gives him some real characterization, the first time I've ever found him remotely interesting as a character.

Captain America: Who Won't Wield The Shield? - IGN called his issue "insane", which is a pretty fair characterization. I loved pretty much the whole thing; the main story, such as it is, is Forbush Man going on a killing spree of current Marvel staff, which allows writer Jason Aaron to take numerous shots both at himself and at others. The jokes just keep on coming at the expense of the writers, my personal favourites being Bendis and Fraction still twittering even as they lie dying ("Tell my wife I love her. Also tell Oeming."), and Brubaker, surveying the carnage and Bendis, Fraction, and Aaron dead (as well as editor Steve Wacker), phoning Jeph Loeb to tell him that they have to write a dozen more books a month. The other stories, one being Matt Fraction ramping up his usual psychedelia schtick to eleven, the other a "Golden Age Deadpool" story, are also fun (my favourite bit being Deadpool's origin being President Wilson seeing World War I as a chance to get rid of an embarassing relative).

Hercules: Fall of an Avenger #2 - Ariel Olivetti acquits himself okay in the talking bits, but the fight scenes expose all the weaknesses of his style (plus, the rather blank backgrounds). Nonetheless, if he had to draw a story, it was good it was this one. Reilly Brown's work in the backup clearly shows that he's a much better choice. The brief bits with the gods choosing their champions was quite fun (particularly Namor's annoyance at Hebe not choosing Thor, though he's a god, and Athena said you couldn't have a god; unless she just meant an Olympian). I especially liked Namor's attitude toward Poseidon, since you rarely see him being respectful to anyone. I was expecting that Herc wasn't in the Underworld; he'd have been too easy to retrieve in that case. Is he not dead, or did his dying in an alternate universe send him elsewhere? Wait and see, I guess. I do think that Athena's being a written a bit more hamhandedly in these last two issues, compared with her pretty much effortless smoothness in the rest of the series. The backup by Paul Tobin is also very good, continuing to give us some different viewpoints on Hercules' life on Earth.

Siege: Spider-Man #1 - Brian Reed writes the fourth of the five Siege "Battlefield" tie-ins, which tell little stories set during the battle for Asgard. Reed basically uses this as a way to revisit various threads from past projects he's written, mainly the Spider-Man/Ms. Marvel date from Ms. Marvel #47 and the Dark Reign: Sinister Spider-Man miniseries about Mac Gargan. Spidey's out to take him down for that, and the fight is moved into Broxton, away from the city (which Reed uses as a neat parallel for Spider-Man's concerns about whether he really belongs in Avengers-type scenarios). It's a well-written little fight story; Reed writes a funny Spider-Man, and, unlike some iterations, it's usually not getting in the way of him being competent. He also throws in some enjoyable twists on the usual Venom takedown methods (my favourite being Spider-Man going to the Broxton church belltower, only to discover that the tower doesn't actually have a bell). The banter/flirtation between Peter and Carol is fun, too. The art by Marco Santucci, who I hadn't heard of before, is really nice stuff.

Sif #1 - fittingly enough, Kelly DeConnick, the wife of future Thor writer Matt Fraction, writes this one-shot which attempts to make up a bit for Sif's return in the actual Thor comic being handled in the space of a few pages with no real followup by JMS. The villain of the piece has a modus operandi conveniently similar to Loki's, which allows Sif to sort of work through some of her issues; which is good, because the odds of her actually getting a piece of Loki whenever his comeuppance for all this comes is pretty slim. Beta Ray Bill and his new girlfriend Ti Asha Ra guest-star, but it's a fairly slim appearance, though pleasantly written.

X-Factor #204 - this issue is mostly told from the viewpoint of the MRD, which is an interesting narrative choice, and allows the writer to conceal a fairly obvious narrative trick from the audience (hence, basically giving us the story as how X-Factor's enemies see it). The story also briefly teases us with the prospect of some of the non-mutant heroes giving a crap about mutant issues for once, but that turns out to be a computer simulation of the MRD's - and so probably an overly optimistic one. This is a neat way of tying into "Second Coming" without being a part of the main story.

X-Men: Legacy #235 - "Second Coming" continues apace, and so far it's been quite good; much as with "Messiah Complex", I find myself really liking the weekly release format. This issue was drawn by Greg Land, but his work here is surprisingly tolerable - and he's been dislodged from Uncanny, which gives reason to be optimistic that he won't be back! Rogue has some sort of connection with Hope, rather than it being a psychic thing like I thought last issue, which is a useful plot device to allow the X-Men to find her quickly. Next issue either Cable or Nightcrawler is going to bite the big one, and, while I initially thought it was Nightcrawler, he smartly goes with Rogue and Hope back to Utopia, leaving Cable the rest of the Alpha team in the path of whatever forces Bastion flings at them. Cable, we hardly knew ye. Elsewhere, Karma's looking to join the cybernetic limbs club, and Warlock gets a pretty badass moment defeating Cameron Hodge.

 

[Phaedrus45]

9 quick reviews of comics that were mentioned by others above, and one that hasn't been mentioned yet.

Avengers Vs. Atlas #4

After 3 issues of action, we get the explanation issue. It nicely pieces everything together, and links up with Janet's death in Secret Invasion. Parker does tell a good story, and the ending was kind of emotional. I really liked the back-up stories in each issue that featured a solo story featuring one of the Agents. This time it's Gorilla Man. My real feeling about this issue is a bit below a .

Sif One-Shot

Just like with the previous reviewed comic, this is a decent little story that sees Sif helping out Beta Ray Bill and his new ladyfriend. It's cute, but will be quickly forgotten in a month or two. Again, somewhere below a .

Siege: Spider-Man One-Shot

I guess they are probably going to space these Siege one-shots out to make us not think about Siege issue #4 coming out around mid May. It's not a huge delay; so, I don't mind that much. And, this issue was pretty good. I loved seeing Ms. Marvel rip Gargan out of the symbiote...and, really loved the continued flirtation between Spidey and Ms. Marvel. It would be a nice little hook-up, I think...and, makes me happy that Peter and MJ aren't together any longer. Unlike the previous one-shots, this takes place before Asgard fell.

Guardians Of The Galaxy #25

Good final issue of Guardians! It sets up the upcoming Thanos event...and, this epic battle was nicely depicted. LOVED this issue, and am sorry to see the series end.

Nova #36

In contrast, this issue sucked eggs! Comparing the first half of Nova's solo title with the second half, I really feel the quality really dropped. I couldn't stand this book, ever since the Corps was remade...and, the Sphinx storyline was the only issues I've enjoyed since. This final issue had me bored throughout. Glad to see it come to an end!

Hercules: Fall Of An Avenger #2

Good second issue of this two part series, and nice to see it got away from the "cherished memories" that filled the first issue. My only complaint is that we've seen the "pick teammates to fight against each other" a bit too much lately from Marvel. And, some of the battles really weren't that involved. (And, seriously, I don't think Amadeus' team would have won, imo.) It's all a set-up for the new series premeiring after Siege ends in Age Of Heroes.

X-Men Legacy #235

This issue of Legacy was much better than previous issues...probably because it didn't focus mainly on Rogue, who now bores the hell out of me. At last, we finally get Cable and Hope split up...and, we get our first big fatality of this event. (Ok, so it's not that big....but, at least it's something.) There were some neat scenes, as JH described above. Solid issue!

X-Factor #204

This side-adventure that spins off of Second Coming was nicely set up, too. I don't, for one second, believe that what we saw at the end of the issue really happened...but, it did grab my interest, which is more than I can say this title has done for me lately. I especially like Baron Mordo's return...and, how that will probably help save the life of Strong Guy and Monet.

Green Lantern #53

When Johns re-told the origin of Hal becoming the Green Lantern many issues ago, I thought that we might see Sinestro take a more heroic role in the near future. (He really brought that villian to life, and made the reader a tad sympathetic to his plight.) And, while I'm still not a fan of the many colored rings, Brightest Day has so far turned out to shed a new light on many DC books or characters I was preparing to drop. (Green Lantern wasn't one of them, as it's usually a pretty solid title...but, the next reviewed comic was taken off my list last month, and put back on again this month.) Good issue!

Justice League Of America #44

Yes, I'm glad I decided to give Justice League another chance! Gone is the complaining, bickering members...and, now we seem to have (hopefully) a new, solid team that works well together. The one part I don't understand is the return of Jade...who I thought was already back in the pages of Brightest Day. (Maybe I'm missing something, though.) This issue had some good action sequences, and some good humor, too. I haven't said this for a good, long while...but, can't wait for the next issue of Justice League to come out.

 

[Dark Victory]

ASM #628 -
Green Lantern #53 -
American Vampire #2 -
Ultimate Spider-Man #9 - t:

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Just an FYI, Phaed...Nova and Guardians are on hiatus, not canceled. I guess DnA needed to lighten the load some for this event.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I wonder why. They've been working on both steadfastly for years now, and they had the rather expansive War of Kings event in the midst of that.

Streets of Gotham had a satisfying conclusion to its long--and interrupted--Zsasz arc. Damian actually didn't annoy the living s*** out of me, and I was pleased to see that Abuse survived. Surprisingly, the main story was actually a bit better than Manhunter this issue. I chalk that up to Manhunter being something of an awkward transition from the Two-Face court battle to the search for Ramsey; we all get the occasional issue in a series that serves mainly to bridge a gap between arcs or to set something up, and in an abbreviated format like this backup, that "mainly" becomes a "solely." Still, it was decent and Haun's art, while not up there with Jeanty's, was solid.

Avengers vs. Atlas ended on a pretty great note. The nature of the threat is revealed, the Avengers are suitably heroic, and we get a Gorilla Man backup! I especially liked the emotional notes with Jan and Hank, and although it's to be expected, it's always fun to see Cap live up to the heroic ideal and march the Avengers into certain death without a moment's hesitation. The best part of this mini was that virtually all but the first issue focused on the founding Avengers and Cap rather than the New Avengers. Kind of awkward for the Agents, since the mini was undeniably created to keep them in the spotlight yet they come off almost like background players in this issue while the Avengers do most of the real work. Hardman's art is fantastic and makes me really glad he'll be taking over as penciler for the Agents' next ongoing; his style just seems to fit the Agents as Parker writes them perfectly. The Gorilla Man backup was pretty sweet, showing us a bit more depth behind Ken's very upbeat demeanor. I imagine it'll serve as something of a primer for the upcoming Gorilla Man mini.

 

[runawayboulder]

I was pretty satisfied with everything this week so it's tough to pick a favorite, so I'll kick it off with....

X-Men Legacy #235 - I'm gonna consider this my BOTW, not just because of this issue in particular, but so far I've been real happy with Second Coming as it hits the 1/3 mark. Greg "Hit or Miss" Land gets shuffled over to XML from UXM and does great work here. When he's on he's really on, when he's not he's really not. He draws a frightening Hodge, and a really good Wolverine, Cable and Archangel (his wings looked cool as f**k). Ariel is the first casualty from the X-camp and the first of what should be many. The creative team is doing a nice job on Second Coming, but the thing is with these long 13 part stories is that there's plenty of time to screw it up. That was what seemed to be the main complaint about Messiah Complex, but I loved MC and so far I'm enjoying this.

ASM #628 - Solid Spidey storytelling is what helps me ignore the mess Quesada and co have made of Peter Parker's social life, and Roger Stern serves that up here. (A little bit of trivia here...) It's cool that the Spidey as Cap Universe story way back during "Acts of Vengeance " took place EXACTLY 300 issues prior to this story. And Lee Weeks....he should draw Spidey forever and ever..... Plus the back up story by Waid was good.

SIEGE: Spider-Man - The SIEGE backups including this one have been ok (Loki's was the best one IMO). I like the Spidey/Ms. Marvel team up with hint of romance down the line. The big problem is that other than in Avengers/Ms. Marvel's solo, this is totally ignored in ASM. They have him juggling MJ, Black Cat, and Carlie Cooper. He's banging Felicia while trying to start a relationship with Carlie and dealing with MJ coming back. I know Pete's life is supposed to be a soap opera but Marvel has no friggin clue what direction Peter's going in (big shocker, I know) Thank god for the outstanding storytelling of Roger Stern to help me get my mind off of these things.

Hellblazer #266 - No Future part 2. Every Hellblazer writer at some point needs to tell their story about John's punk rock roots and Milligan's doing his. The story itself is okay, but the thing I'm enjoying is the budding volatile, love/hate, huge age difference, mobster's daughter relationship between John and Epiphany. She's much more fun to read than Phoebe, who's most likely as good as dead and next month starts a new arc which is supposed to have more Epiphany/John stuff. Cover artist Simon Bisley once again does a great job on interiors but I'm looking forward to Giussepe Camuncoli returning next issue. I'm glad he's staying here as well as doing Wolverine.

 

[Dread]

Another week, another set of six comics, mostly from Marvel. Two years ago, that might have set me back $19, since one is a Handbook. Nowadays I was back $22. Such is life.

As always, all rants and spoilers ahead.

Dread's Bought/Thought for 4/21/10:

AVENGERS VS. ATLAS #4: What to make of this, as a whole? Jeff Parker and Gabe Hardman wrap up their latest Atlas mini, meant to tide us over between their last ongoing title and the next, due next month or so. While X-MEN VS. AGENTS OF ATLAS was fun if not busy, part of me does thing this installment was a bit of a misfire. A lot of the time travel techno-babble felt incomprehensible. Apparently, the time anomaly effecting the Agents and Avengers was Hank Pym, effected by Kang's time attack from AVENGERS #8, only split off from time and trying to connect to Wasp in the present, only in the present she is dead, so it didn't work. So it became a time virus thing. Or something. Honestly, this is the kind of story where one looks for positives and goes, "the art was lovely", because it was, and "it had a lot of great moments", because it did. A lot of good lines, and exchanges, and sequences. But the entire story did not equal the sum of it's parts, at least not at the finale. Maybe Parker saved some of his focus for handling THUNDERBOLTS this quarter? Considering AGENTS OF ATLAS for 11 issues managed to make excellence look easy, this was quite ho-hum by Parker standards. Still, he writes the Agents well, so even in a "meh" experience, it is fun reading them. Still, I'll probably forget I read this by tomorrow.

The back up strip, by Jason Aaron and G. Capacuzzo, about Gorilla Man fending off yet another seeker of "immortality", however, is exceptional. Mostly a dialog drama between Hale and some random gun-man in a restaurant, it quickly paints a thrilling situation and lays out all you need to know about Ken Hale, and his own life. He may have immortality, and the power of a gorilla, but it is no picnic, least of all because of others who are as foolish as he had once been, seeking the curse. This strip was easily better than the main story, I thought. Shame it is hard to recommend a $4 issue just for the 7 page back up strip.

FIRESTAR #1: A one shot under the "Women Of Marvel" promotion, this also serves as a loose prelude to YOUNG ALLIES, since both this and that are written by Sean McKeever, and Firestar will be on the team. Emma Rios does the art and while there is about a 200-500 word summary of Firestar's life and times, including covering most of what she's done in the last 4 years (broke her engagement, retired from heroics, and survived breast cancer) before getting to the crux of the issue. And it is a "day in the life" sort of issue, covering who Angelica is right now and where she is headed. If there is any awkwardness, it was the left over bit from MARVEL DIVAS that she is friends with Photon, Hellcat, and Black Cat, since before Marvel Divas, I don't think Jones even met them before, much less had SEX AND THE CITY style dialogs with them. It's like if I wrote a comic where John Blaze (Ghost Rider) was best diner buddies with Matt Murdock (Daredevil), Henry Hellrung (Anthem) and Eddie Brock (Anti-Venom) and they talked about girls and times over steaks. It would be totally random (and even I did better than DIVAS because technically Brock, Murdock, and Blaze have all met & fought each other at least once). But, at any rate, McKeever inherited it, and works with it.

Angelica is a cancer survivor, but the cemo treatments weaken her and often make her feel ill (and, as we learn later, have taken her hair). She attends college classes full time, and struggles to pass them. She's taking an art major but doesn't feel much into it. And every now and then, she puts on her costume and does super hero stuff, such as stopping car thieves or so on. She is living with her father again, who is of modest income. Things get interesting when her father dates the mother of Cassie, a girl who used to bully her before her Hellion days. Naturally, Cassie is still a witch, but Angelica decides to try to help her. They end up having a heart to heart and while there is no villain, Angelica does manage to "save" someone just by being an honest, genuine person. It is very much something that could be seen on an OXYGEN MOVIE OF THE WEEK, but I still thought it was solidly written and drawn. Probably the saddest bit was the fact that Angelica regrets breaking up with Vance, and actually seems to want to marry him now. Too bad he's rebounded with Ultra-Girl.

There is a part of me that things Firestar deserves a lot better than she has gotten from Marvel lately. She's been around over 25 years now. She should easily be one of the staff of AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE, which would write itself as Vance would likely still be dating Suzi and both would have this awkwardness working together again. Back in "I HEART MARVEL: MASKED INTENTIONS" in 2006, it was stated that Angelica was 19; if it has been a year since Steve Rogers was killed (and revived), then she is 20 now (and Vance, who was a year older, would be 21). That seems a bit old to be running around on a team full of teenagers like the YOUNG ALLIES will be. However, McKeever seems to be writing her as a character who is in a state of flux, so this could work for her and his favor when YOUNG ALLIES starts. Rios' art is pretty good overall, with solid color work. I suppose it works that Angelica is a character who others see has potential for greater things, but for whom herself she just wants to live her life as best she can, and do some good, whether big or small. Whether that means taking down car jackers or just helping a former bully enter rehab for a drinking problem, for her it's all relative. Still, it will be awkward to see a character of Angelica's experience take orders from Rikki Barnes, why, just because Rikki teamed with Capt. America in some other universe? Jones is the one with the most experience. At any rate, while I think this should have been $2.99 like some of those SIEGE one shots, I thought it was a solid product. Not the best, but worth some attention.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #25: This title, as well as NOVA, will be going on "hiatus" during THE THANOS IMPERATIVE, which should last about six months. After that, the title will either continue with normal numbering, old GOTG issues could be added for a triple digit relaunch (don't laugh, Marvel is literally selling WOLVERINE #900 soon), or a fresh #1. To be honest, two years is about average for a series before it needs a break or a relaunch these days, and we can all think of series that didn't make it to a 25th issue (with a $2.99 cover price, as well). As the cover states, this is a prelude to THE THANOS IMPERATIVE, but I think it ties into that tale more so than NOVA did. Mainly because Thanos himself is here.

Abnett & Lanning as usual write, and Brad Walker returns on art after a two issue rest, with the usual inker/colorist team behind him. The only downside of the issue are the 4 pages in the beginning. Various versions of the 30th century Guardians have a conference and the techno-babble is almost impossible to penetrate. It isn't as bad as Keith Giffen on an off month, but it is headache inducing. In fact, I may still have the headache. Reading this after AVENGERS VS. ATLAS #4 is not recommended. The upside is it gets much better from there.

The Universal Church of Truth has had a cocoon in their basement since ANNIHILATION CONQUEST, which confused them as it couldn't be Adam Warlock, since he was already back (and has become Magus). Turned out it was Thanos, who Maelstrom manipulated Phyla into freeing last issue for Oblivion. As Magnus, and the Fault, represent cancerous, eternal life, Oblivion sees Thanos as a proper avatar for death. The problem is Thanos was quite happy with being dead, and is going on a planet ravaging rampage. The Guardians finally unite and while it is too late for Phyla, they do manage to actually stop Thanos. The battle is pulse pounding stuff, all in one issue. Drax and Groot get in some notable moments, but Quill manages to use Kang's little gift to save the day, at least for real. Considering that in dying, Thanos finally got to embrace his lover, Death, it makes perfect sense that he'd be a beast if revived against his will. The eye-beams did seem a bit too close to a Darkseid rip for my comfort, but he does get props for being a mega threat even naked. Walker's artwork is solid as always, although I am not a hater of Craig's work. It does seem that the Mar-Vell family just isn't good at surviving for long. Hulkling is literally the only one left now. I did like a little moment between Jack Flag and Major Victory, who probably should be chummier than they are, but who knows what the future will bring.

One imagines THANOS IMPERATIVE will be about the horrible choice of unleashing Thanos on Magnus just to stop the Cancer-verse from ruling everything; aiding the menace of tomorrow in order to stop the menace of the moment. Hey, that describes America's entire Middle East strategy from the late 80's until now (arm the Muslim fanatics when they want to kill Soviets, then fight the Muslim fanatics when they decide to kill you). The Guardians will be heavily involved and for the first time since ANNIHILATION, the big guns will be assembled and be front and center. Will it be the INFINITY GAUNTLET for the 21st century? Only time will tell, but it certainly is about time. Abnett & Lanning may be on their way to their best part of their space opera yet.

HERCULES: FALL OF AN AVENGER #2: The biggest surprise of the issue is that, well, Hercules actually isn't dead (or at least he is not in the Underworld like he should be), so Cho is off to find him. This is exactly like quite a few of us predicted, but Pak & Van Lente are wise enough to know that "predictable" can be excellent when executed with heart and logic. Most of the issue, though, revolves around the Greek God Pantheon, or what is left of it (without Hercules, Zeus, Ares, or Hera) deciding who gets to take over their mortal company, the Olympus Group. Athena is in charge, but Apollo isn't willing to be a wall flower anymore, so they do what they do best; manipulate mortal pawns to fight for them. While it is cute watching Skaar and Namor go at it, Cho easily steals the issue with his quick owning of Phobos. As usual, the issue is full of Pak & Van Lente's trademark one liners and heart. The only iffy part is the artwork; Olivetti's not a bad artist, but he isn't the best this series has had, and it takes some getting used to.

While Cho does ultimately take the position Athena wanted for him, he doesn't intend to follow her rules, but his own. This, PRINCE OF POWER being a 4 issue mini makes sense. The only oddity is Thor tagging along, as Thor seems quite busy in SIEGE and, well, THOR right now. It does risk the impression that Pak & Van Lente have merely traded one godly sidekick for another. Part of me still thinks this is part of Athena's plan. She supposedly does want mortals to not slavishly remain devoted to gods, but to think on their own. She has preached that since Hercules was young, as justification for helping "make" him. Surely she had to anticipate Cho's independence as part of his evolution, even if it is annoying. Plus, the story makes sense as technically Hercules "died" in the CONTINUUM universe, not the normal universe, so thus he may be trapped there, or elsewhere. QUEST FOR SPOCK was a whole movie, so an arc of this is fine. In reality this could have simply been part 2 of a 6 issue arc for INCREDIBLE HERCULES, but the editors likely hoped the series of mini's would bring more sales returns.

The back up strip by Paul Tobin and Reilly Brown is great. Like FIRESTAR, a little sappy and predictable, but no less sweet. I haven't read much of Tobin's MARVEL ADVENTURES work, since I am over 12 years old, but he certainly seems like a writer ready for prime time. Venus and Namora turn out to have stumbled upon Hercules' refuge for child monsters, an X-Mansion for creature-spawn. Brown's artwork manages to make child monsters look adorable and the message is naturally while it is easy to make jokes about Hercules' lust or immaturity, in the end he was a hero for more than just his muscles, but his heart. It comes close to upstaging the main strip, which is no easy feat. This issue was a total package, and I cannot wait for PRINCE OF POWER. Cho has been unable to sell a book alone for long, and he still won't; it will only be 4 issues, and he will have Thor tag along. But it does look like solid stuff. INCREDIBLE HERCULES, no matter what the name may change to, has been nothing but excellence for years. Keep it up, gang!

NOVA #36: Like GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, this title at the very least is going into "hiatus" during THANOS IMPERATIVE. In a way you could argue the space line is wiser than the Marvel one; rather than expanding in the face of falling sales and diminishing returns, it is retrenching in order to maximize value and character. NOVA may return to regular issues in October, or it may be relaunched (perhaps as NOVA CORPS). At any rate, this volume has lasted three full years, a very long time in today's market. Not even DC's BLUE BEETLE saw a 36th issue. The cover is by Mike Deodato, which is interesting as he will be getting to draw Nova in interiors for SECRET AVENGERS. Andrea DiVito returns to the interiors after two issues off from Mahmud Asrar, with the usual exceptional colorist, Bruno Hang, in tow.

This issue serves as a bit of an epilogue to the Sphinx adventure in the Fault as well as a development coming out of the REALM OF KINGS one shot as well, as presumably, REALM OF KINGS: IMPERIAL GUARD (which I skipped, because the Guard are more bland than the Inhumans). Nova returns to Project PEGASUS on Earth, only to find it overrun by Fault-tentacle monsters who have enslaved the staff, including Dr. Necker. The Fault's twisted version of Quasar, dubbed "Dark Quasar" (Duasar?) is quickly exposed as a menace by Nova, who alongside Darkhawk takes him and his scheme head on. He's used the Project to open a portal for yet another massive tentacle monster intent on eating the planet/universe. We've seen a few of these in REALM OF KINGS books, from INHUMANS to GUARDIANS and it does risk becoming a little cliche. Thankfully, Nova manages to dispatch it even after Darkhawk goes down for the count. As usual, Abnett, Lanning, and DiVito pace an intense aireal fight sequence as well as paint Richard as an experienced, battle hardened and powerful hero, while still having some youthful spirit to him. And hey, Namorita is still alive!

The only downside is the ending really does make it seem ridiculous that Nova will be in SECRET AVENGERS. The splash page cliffhanger shows us Nova is rocketing into space to chase down Dark Quasar and put an end to his Fault scheme. Only, well, Nova finds time to beam over to Mars to help Steve Rogers and his "Secret Defenders in all but Name" punch out some Roxxon miners, because Beta Ray Bill or a spare member of the Fantastic Four are busy (only Thing has time to branch out). I suppose if Brubaker wanted to be extra special, he could claim that while Dark Quasar was running PEGASUS, he made some deal with Roxxon, so whatever they are doing on Mars somehow aids in the Cancer-Verse's quest to rule the universe. It would make a lot of sense and I'd put the odds at maybe 50/50 of that happening. But at any rate most Nova fans will likely shrug and go, "If Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Deadpool can be in 6 books a month, why can't Nova be in two?" and so on. It will help Nova get some exposure, and these days you're nobody if you're not an Avengers. 15 years ago, it was the X-Men. Hell, if anything, it would have made sense for Darkhawk to have been on the Secret Avengers, since Nova left him on Earth on PEGASUS. But I digress. On the plus side, if Brubaker does handle Nova's personality and experience right, even if SECRET AVENGERS doesn't tie in well with his space adventures, it will be worth it to see types like Steve Rogers and Beast see how that "helmet kid from the New Warriors" has grown up and is more of a peer than a side kick now.

There is a bit of romantic turbulence as Necker clearly has the hots for Richard. Only unlike before, Richard just violated the while "space/time continuum" to revive his first girlfriend, Namorita. Hopefully Richard won't be a space-cad for poor Namorita.

THANOS IMPERATIVE is screaming "awesome" right now. Nova & Peter Quill are front and center as the real stars of the space era, not bland candy-***'s like Adam Warlock, Phyla, or the Inhumans. Throw in the rest of the Guardians as well as dusting off Silver Surfer, and with big villains from the 90's like Magus, Thanos, and even Maelstrom involved, it is all looking epic. While Annihilus, Ultron, and even Vulcan made for great space villains, this has all the pieces in place to try to do a better version of the space epics from the 90's, only with more modern art, story-telling, and better stars. True, Norrin Radd makes Neo from THE MATRIX look like an emotional thespian master, but Nova, Quill, and the rest will be there to carry the show. It will be the event for 2010, finally without competition from whatever crap Marvel is doing (since SIEGE will be over and HEROIC AGE is just a line wide motif for "non-depressing stuff").

IRON MANUAL: MARK 3 #1: I didn't finish it yet, but I always love the Handbooks. Always worth the money, at least since 2005. "Iron Manual" is still a very stupid name for, well, anything, but it was originally used in the 1980's, like WRESTLEMANIA. Par for the course for the time. I mean, what is next? A Spider-Manual? A Bat-Manual? A Batmanuel?
http://batmanuel.ytmnd.com/

Aside: I love some of the reviews for ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #9. They roughly translate to this: "Bendis wrote a situation in this comic that was irritating and annoying, that all fans hated, and that anyone with a shred of common sense would find stupid. After a mere three quarters of a year, Bendis gets around to fixing it, and commenting in story how terrible it was. That's awesome! To be a brilliant writer, you only have to write something that you know is crap, and then later have the characters call it out as crap a mere half year after everyone in the audience has!" To me, a brilliant writer is not one who intentionally writes crap, and then acknowledges and fixes it, then expects an Eisner for it. A brilliant writer is one who avoids writing crap, for any reason. I know, I'm bonkers. The Bendis writing method merely rewards slow paced mediocrity and lowers audience expectation for greatness, and that is part of many reasons why his work annoys me. It takes no skill to serve something terrible, then to take it away, and expect a cheer. That's basic. That's uninspired. Inspired is bringing back Bucky in a way that not only everyone loves, even cynics, but in a way that boosts the parent title's sales 20-50%. Inspired is in making space comics awesome again by amping up forgotten characters. Inspired is writing a demi-god and a kid sidekick in adventures that can make you laugh and cry within one issue. Inspired is NOT merely doing the mundanely obvious, and taking 6 issues minimum to get there, and constructing your own triumphs with carefully planned underwhelming rubbish.

 

[Phaedrus45]

Just an FYI, Phaed...Nova and Guardians are on hiatus, not canceled. I guess DnA needed to lighten the load some for this event.

Finally! I've been trying to post on this site for the last hour. Anyone else been having problems with The Hype all week? I doubt I'll bother trying to post any reviews today, because it's been such a pain...and, I have my daughter at work with me today.

Anyway, hiatus so many times equals cancelled...or relaunched. I have hopes for Guardians...but, I don't hold out hope for Nova. It's sales are pretty darn bad, and at the most, I expect it to go to #1 again. Heck, Guardians will probably be relaunched, too. So...to me, these are more than likely the final issues of each title.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm wondering if maybe they'll consolidate Guardians and Nova into one "cosmic all-stars" kind of book. I'd hate to lose the current series because they're both consistently great, but I guess I'd be okay as long as the characters got some kind of series rather than just disappearing after The Thanos Imperative.

 

[Phaedrus45]

Kind of reminds me when the had the short-lived Cosmic Powers Unlimited series back in the 90's. They also had another devoted to the monsters which was pretty good...and, if I remember right, left readers hanging in the end. I remember Man-Thing being in it, and Werewolf At Night.

One of my favorite series that got cancelled WAY TOO SOON was the Megazines. You can find them in bargain bins now, especially at comicons...but, they offered some awesome reprints of many different comics, and not just from the 60's. I remember Byrne's run on F4 was being reprinted...and, it was at a pretty good price, too.

 

[Dread]

I'm wondering if maybe they'll consolidate Guardians and Nova into one "cosmic all-stars" kind of book. I'd hate to lose the current series because they're both consistently great, but I guess I'd be okay as long as the characters got some kind of series rather than just disappearing after The Thanos Imperative.

I hope both titles either continue or are relaunched. NOVA could easily be relaunched as NOVA CORPS with a fresh #1, and while it may only boost sales for 1-3 issues, frankly Marvel has relaunched far worse, far shorter lasting series under far worse pretenses. I don't think GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY needs to end, either. It and NOVA often traded places as to which was the top selling space book. Hopefully THANOS IMPERATIVE does something to boost sales for both for longer than a quarter.

 

[El Bastardo]

The first four pages of "Guardians of the Galaxy" gave you a headache?

Does Warren Ellis make your head explode? Well, I suppose you couldn't really answer that question, unless you were an out-of-body entity, and then how would you type?

Allow me to rephrase: Do you fear reading Warren Ellis would make your head explode?

 

[Dread]

The first four pages of "Guardians of the Galaxy" gave you a headache?

Does Warren Ellis make your head explode? Well, I suppose you couldn't really answer that question, unless you were an out-of-body entity, and then how would you type?

Allow me to rephrase: Do you fear reading Warren Ellis would make your head explode?

I haven't read much Warren Ellis stuff. I think the last Ellis work I recall reading was his run of ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR, which wasn't so bad. But I have heard migraine tales of woe from his more off the wall stuff. So, yes, I do assume Ellis techno-babble could probably make my skull burst into pulp so my brain could escape.

 

[El Bastardo]

Haha.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Planetary was good, Ultimate Galactus was good. i can't say i've much cared for anything else that i've read of Ellis.

 

[CantThinkOfAName]

Fell, Thunderbolts, Nextwave, Red, Desolation Jones, Ocean, Ministry of Space, Transmetropolitan. All head-exploding, of course.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm a big fan of Fell and Planetary. I think Ellis' Marvel work generally sucks, though. Haven't gotten around to reading Transmetropolitan yet.

 

[Phaedrus45]

Finally able to get on here and post a few quick reviews:

X-Men Forever Annual #1

Not as much fun as the regular title...but, still alright. It explains how Wolverine (who is now deceased since this title pretty much began) and Jean Grey's romance first blossomed. They were away on a special mission for Nick Fury, pretending to be a honeymooning couple (haven't seen that before, have we??!!??), and have to fend off The Hand. It's a little better than a .

Firestar One-Shot

Nice, sweet little one-shot adventure that comes out of Firestar's recent adventures in Marvel Divas. Of course, I absolutely loved that mini...so, getting to read more about this character was a real treat. We don't get any real action...this is more the Marvel kind of comic that is trying to send a message and appeal to the lady readers.

Savage She Hulks #2

This Fall Of The Hulks tie-in does an ok job of bringing all the She Hulk characters together. In this issue, Thundra helps She-Hulk (Jen Walters) escape from her confides within Intelligencia's helicarrier, where the Red She-Hulk eventually finds them and begins a whole new battle. Half this book is a bunch of narration between Jen and Thundra on things that have happened before, while the second is the battle between them and Red She-Hulk...but, that's kind of Jeff Parker's style lately. This whole thing could be a whole lot more corny than it turns out to be...but, Jeff Parker is pretty good at telling a story. Like with the annual above, I'd rate this above a ...but, not quite deserving of a . (I really got to find an inbetween.)

Doomwar #3

Another awesome issue! Doom hasn't come across as such a badass for ages; and, between the Black Panther series and this follow-up mini, Maberry's been doing an excellent job. In fact, if you've never picked up an issue of each, this would be a fine jumping on spot, as the first few pages explains everything that's been happening since it all began. If you like lots of action, though, beware. This is filled with just tons of dialogue, as it explains in detail how Doom was able to take the Vibranium from Wakanda, even with all the failsafes T'Challa had installed. t:

 

[CantThinkOfAName]

I'm a big fan of Fell and Planetary. I think Ellis' Marvel work generally sucks, though. Haven't gotten around to reading Transmetropolitan yet.

I think with certain works like Astonishing X-Men, Down, and to a lesser degree Ultimate Fantastic Four (which I still enjoyed) that he kind of just phones it in. Hell, I think I've even read somewhere where he said hes just ****ing himself out for MArvel. But even then his work is still pretty better than most. Iron Man: Extremis, Thunderbolts, Ultimate Galactus, and Nextwave were all enjoyable (the last one especially, I lurv it )

 

[TheCorpulent1]

"Extremis" was all right, but I personally thought the Knaufs did a much better job on Iron Man's comic. Nextwave was incredibly stupid to me. I haven't read the others.

 

[kguillou]

Extremis was great but the Knaufs did an absolute KICK ASS job on Ironman. It really irks me that their run never gets recognized whenever people talk about 'Essential' Ironman stories, because they pretty much wrote the definitive Mandarin story. Yet Matt Fraction gets praises up the a$$ because he tied his book into the movie.

Oh and Ellis' Thunderbolts was one of the best runs I've ever read. Yeah I said it, i loved it that much.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, Fraction's series has been vastly inferior to the Knaufs'. But I don't care that the Knaufs don't get recognized. I read their run and I know it's awesome, so that's enough for me.