Definately was a big, lopsided week for me after 2 weeks of barely getting ANY comics (2-4), suddenly 9 titles drop into my lap for a $30+ wallet-buster. Thankfully, WIZARD #176 apparently is running late (or my LCS didn't get it and just was full of crap), which saved me about $6 that I actually needed. I also attempted to talk two guys into buying an issue of THE THING, but they didn't. Hopefully I made a good impression, though (they mentioned being short on cash and returning over the weekend).
So, yes. Buy THE THING.
As usual, spoilers are a guarentee. Overall the books were quite good this week, despite some worries. No outright blunders, just a few quibbles here and there.
And buy THE THING.
So, onto the bought/thought.
DREAD'S BOUGHT/THOUGHT for 4/26/06:
BLUE BEETLE #2: One of two DC books I got this week, and after a premire issue that made a simple story more confusing than it had to be thanks to odd pacing and INFINITE CRISIS #6 shipping a month behind schedule. The irony is while the new Blue Beetle came exclusively from IC, I get the feeling this book would run a lot smoother without that "event" going on. Giffen is fine at writing the characters, the book is full of a lot of wit without being a "goofy" as THE DEFENDERS was, and the art is fantastic. The story is going about a slow burn as our new hero has to come to grips with his mysterious new powers, his home life, his friends, and these mysterious metahuman "gangers" that are stalking him. The only thing that actually is hindering this straightfoward superhero story is the connection to DC's "event" and finding ways to fit it into the story. #2 was a bit more seemless than the first, but I still feel that if this book can last long enough until IC/OYL is over in a few months, it'll be come a stronger title. In a way while the Beetle's origins are supposedly mystical, it is reminding me of a less-dark version of BIO-BOOSTER ARMOR GUYVER in a way, which is fine; I loved GUYVER. Basically, in "flashback", Blue Beetle runs into a gang of meta-humans and fights them via some misunderstandings and "auto-defenses" of his armor, and it's a pretty cool exchange (although why, if the fat guy's sweat is corrosive, do his clothes not melt? Not that I want to see that, but, that's a rather reasonable wonder). In "real time", the kid returns from his crash-landing in the desert last issue and returns home, only to learn it's...ONE YEAR LATER! Giffen struggles with connecting it to IC; in IC #4-6, Beetle is recruited by Booster Gold and Batman, not "Superman". And in IC, the high schoolers were fretting a little about the seeming "end of the world" that was going on with the whole CRISIS thing effecting the Earth, but here you'd think it was a typical week. Much like I said, I really think that once the monkey of DC's event is gone, this book will be a lot less cumbersome and a lot more fun. As it is, it is good, but the event is hurting it, and the book really will need to leave the nest and try flying on its own eventually.
INFINITE CRISIS SPECIAL: VILLIANS UNITED: Serving as both a sequal and apparently something of a bridge from INFINITE CRISIS #6 & #7 (which is running late) to OYL, this special has about a gazillion character appearences from damn near every B, C and Lower list hero and villian who hasn't had a major role in IC, as well as some of the "heavy's". In a way, it is hurt that IC #7 is running late; apparently the "big three" are missing for a year, but they still were around at the end of IC #6. Scheduling mishaps like this are pretty much getting me to wonder why in the world DC thinks they can pull off 52, weekly, on time, for a whole year. Barring that, as well as having your eyes not glaze over with trying to figure out who's who, deciding who you know and who you don't, and whether or not those you don't know are worth caring about, it's an action packed blockbuster that probably would work much better on TV than in a comic in some ways (I could easily see an episode of JLU working like this, and god, would it kick arse). The Secret Six try to regroup and do some recruiting, as well as figure out what side of the fence to play on. After failing to get any new hires, they decide to basically work as mercenaries, which really wasn't too unpredictable (especially since Marvel's about to relaunch HEROES FOR HIRE and CABLE & DEADPOOL is still on the racks). The rest of the issue makes up Oracle's dilemma of coordinating a superhero response to the biggest jailbreak in all history while most of the heavy hitters are missing. It also becomes VERY obvious that DC's answer to revive Black Adam for the 21st century was to basically have him act pretty much like Namor over at Marvel (although I haven't read JSA and my knowledge of DC lore is a little limited, so I could be off), not to say that it doesn't work a little. Probably my favorite bit was seeing all the heroes rally together in a straight line, like in war movies, against the armada of rogues, especially after Doomsday is revealed as their "trump card". Considering that CIVIL WAR is gearing up to be a "hero vs. hero" thing over at Marvel, I couldn't help but feel sorry that Marvel just doesn't seem interested in unapologetic, inspiring superhero opera for "events" anymore, because when it is done well, it is great.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #531: Thank god for "events", because otherwise there is no way this book would sell in the Top 10. It's a worthwhile estimate to consider, since ASM has been involved in one "event" or the other for at least the past few months (THE OTHER to PRELUDE TO CIVIL WAR to CIVIL WAR soon). In a way this is simply 90's logic at work; a popular "event" will increase sales in a lot of books at once, but it is a one-shot, temporary solution, the equalivent to taking out a morgage to pay your credit card bill. Events fade after a few months, and so either you have to correct the fundamental problem, or....switch to another event, like a druggie hitting another tab of acid when the high dies, or simply switching his addiction to alcohol. While CW looks like it has promise, I just wonder how long it'll be before Marvel faces their problems seriously and frankly. ANYWAY, this is the conclusion of "Mr. Parker Goes to Washington", and it's actually pretty good (at least so far as you're enjoying Spider-Man being Stark's labdog, wearing nanobot armor, living in Avengers Tower and absolutely zero to do with a common man anymore). Spider-Man takes on Titanium Man and manages to drive him off, despite being stupid enough to gaze at the Lincoln Memorial IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIREFIGHT. Dude, not even JUBILEE in 1991 would have made that mistake. Still, seeing Spidey pit his new armor against a worthy adversary was impressive, and I liked how, for once, he used his "enhanced speed", which SO many writers completely ignore, to OVERWHELM his enemy in a flurry of rabid-punches. He also tries to speak his mind, in costume, in front of Stark and the Comittee, but despite some great words, doesn't do much to help. Darn legalities! Anyway, it ends with Peter missing MJ and witnessing the fallout from the first 6 pages of CIVIL WAR #1 on the news, while it turns out that Titanium Man was secretly hired by IRON MAN to stage the attack (but looks foward to American heroes having a falling out with the gov't much as ex-Commie's have). Much like Batman and Professor Xavier, Iron Man apparently is fazing into "manipulative *****ebag who is no better than a villian" mode, and I won't condemn it yet because I don't know the reasons, but it is getting worrysome. In ILLUMINATI, Iron Man wants to talk them into going along with Registration, and as Stark he wants to starve it off. He's playing both sides and this is really going to backfire. The speeches about the historical "civil war", of course, cement this story as a real prelude to the event. As THAT, it succeeds very well.
ASTONISHING X-MEN #14: Everything that most X-books are not; selling in the Top 5 and having every issue come with fanfare because it is such a rarity. Also, unlike most X-books (save for ULTIMATE X-MEN), ASTONISHING is fairly seperate from the rest of the "X-Franchise", relatively unfazed by Decimation or whatnot, so it functions as a TEAM-Book, and less like a franchise book (save for the high sales, of course), which is really how the X-Men work best anyway. Whedon continues his slow-burning "character study" series of issues, this time spending a lot of time delving into Cyclops (as he goes on a sort of psychic doozie from Frost and Cassandra Nova), and all of this is quite good on ironing out his character. In the meanwhile, SWORD detects that Breakworld is sending another warrior who is presumably badder than Ord was; I remember Frieza doing something like this, and it didn't work in DBZ either. Piotr and Kitty also get "intimate". Cassaday has a field day with the psychic illusions and so on, setting the proper mood and so on (even if he STILL seems to forget that Piotr should have at least a solid foot or more over Kitty, without being armored even). The issue ends with Cyclops left seemingly powerless (or does he have control?), but left catatonic as the Hellfire Club plays their hand, seemingly. Despite how great the issue was, THIS is the one bit about the storyline that has me feeling iffy. Whedon's big thing is that...Emma Frost is a mole for the Hellfire Club, and seemingly always has been (at least since Morrison's run). This is a problem because up until this point, Frost had not been "evil" for a good 10+ years in real-time, and it seems like back-peddling. Of course, everything else about the X-universe is in perpetual "autopilot" with no hope of evolving or going in ANY direction for long, so why am I surprised? Whedon's great at what he does, which is telling X-Men stories, but being innovative, he's not, at least not since DANGER. Astonishing X-Men is great at what it does; the same presents in a great, entertaining new bow and wrappings. If you're looking for something you haven't seen elsewhere, though, you may be disappointed. Still, a great character study on Cyclops, a character that in NO WAY would be this "hot" again if not for Morrison's run (Cyke was almost a C-Lister about a year or so beforehand). The only thing that keeps Frost from being 100% retro is that despite being a Hellfire mole, she honestly does seem to love Cyclops. My GOD has this man had terrible tastes in women; maybe he should've stuck with Colleen Wing.
Speaking of Cyclops, naturally the big "moment" for him is that his control over his optic blasts can be cured psychologically, rather than a hopeless result of that childhood crash. Whedon will get the flack for this, but it isn't a new idea; it's been tossed around since the 90's, along with simular theories about Rogue. After all, if Magneto can mentally push his powers to do things far beyond most "limits", why not other mutants? The problem, of course, is that Cyclops has relied on the personality quirks that the issue artfully describes for over 40 years, and changing them would be something very risky that the character may not be able to stand on. Much like how making Spider-Man an Avenger, assistant to Tonk Stark, clad in nano-armor, married to a supermodel and having almost zero contact with a normal social life outside of his wife and aunt have made him much more boring than he's ever been before. The entire character hinges on that connection to the "everyman", and that's all been but abandoned. I fear the same could be for Cyclops if he was "in control"; at worst he could simply become a "mutant Capt. America" who zaps a beam instead of a sheild. On the other hand, having Cyclops have zero excuses for NOT being a bad-arse may not be a bad thing. Wolverine may be an example of change working well; his past's been revealed up the wazoo by now through stories from the present to even back in the 90's and it's not dampened his cool. Fortunately, as ASTONISHING exists in its own world, Whedon will probably have the first crack at any version of a "New Cyclops", and given how he apparently understands the character up until this point, that also may not be bad at all. If anything, though, losing the shades and the visor would deprive Cyclops of his most keeping visual, sort of like if Wolverine suddenly could shoot his claws out across distances.
Still the best X-book by comparison, and even in its own right. The biggest quibble is the Frost backpeddle. I get the feeling that Whedon has his finger on the pulse of "fanboys", catering to them at times from reviving Colossus to Fastball Specials to adhering to MB theories on Cyclops' optic blasts and so on, but latching onto the wish of a lot of X-Fanboys, which is to "have Emma be evil and bring back Jean, despite how god-awful BORING she was and needed the Pheonix as the only thing giving her any sort of plot point or reason to change an emotion" may backfire. Again, it is been maybe 12 years since Frost has gone "evil" and worked for the Club, and really isn't much of a surprise. The only twinge of hope is the fact that Frost seems to genuinely "love" Cyclops, but that amounts to little more than melodrama during a firefight.
Still, ASTONISHING X-MEN is the best X-book for any X-fan frustrated with most of the others, and who enjoys solid art and writing, even if some of it isn't perfect.
FANTASTIC FOUR #537: Yet another CIVIL WAR PRELUDE, which I actually found to be slightly less interesting than ASM was this week, but still darn readable. In a nutshell, Dr. Doom explains how he escaped hell "because he's Doom", can reorganize his floundering nation "because he's Doom", and whip the Thing's arse, "because he's Doom". All well and good, but the next time some Marvel Fanboy whines about Batman pulling off some sort of BS out of nowhere "because he's Batman", I'll direct them to this issue, and say, "shut the hell up". Yes, before I get flamed, considering that Dr. Doom's the second foremost mage and all that in the MU, everything he did is in-character; I just find "flawless" villians sometimes become little more than "ciphors" -- Doom can do whatever the story needs Doom to do without any sort of explaination as to how or why, and the fans accept it. Sort of like whenever Wolverine fights the Hulk and doesn't go down in less than 2 pages. Fortunately, JMS doesn't stray Doom TOO far into this realm; Doom happened to use the change mystical fluxes of Ragnorok to escape from Hell and attempt to bathe himself in "Asgard energies" so he could claim Thor's hammer and power for himself (sort of like him always having a mad-on for stealing powers from Silver Surfer or Beyonder or any god-type). After a lot of fighting, turns out that Doom can't lift the hammer despite the pretty cover, and his action does nothing more than send a "signal" to someone else, a mysterious blond stranger riding a train to get there. Hmm, I wonder. I'll say it's....Flash Gordon of the 31st century. Or Thor. Looks like the Norse god is returning, and not a moment too soon. Still, ASM seemed a little more "relevent" to me. And of course, next month, you can watch the beloved "first family" of Marvel get butchered in a new special. Let's not tell Marvel that nearly every member of the Fan 4 has left or been believed dead a few times before, although Marvel's anxious to do what DC accomplished with IDENTITY CRISIS; completely brutalize a beloved female character and have all of fandom cheer about how "gritty" it is. Of course, as Sue Storm matters more to Marvel than Dibney did to DC, this may be a bit more riskier. I'm not looking foward to it, though. Still, to end with the right impression, I did enjoy the issue overall.
NEW AVENGERS ANNUAL #1: Issues like these from Bendis make me wonder how exactly he manages to write 25-50% worse when it is a storyarc, and at least that much better when it is an oversized one-shot. Okay, Bendy basically makes Yelena, the OTHER "Black Widow", a sacrificial lamb for the AIM/HYDRA/conspiracies-because-they're-cool-and-easy-to-make-interesting storyline in NA. If you liked her in other books, you'll likely be irked that she's basically suped up and thrown at the NA as a "random copy of SUPER-ADAPTOID". I never read her elsewhere, though, so I'm rather untainted, and it works in this book's favor, because this issue is almost everything I'd have wanted in NEW AVENGERS. The team is fully assembled and interacting, in this case to Cage's upcoming marriage to Jessica "Jewel" Jones and their newborn babe. NO, neither Peter or MJ react in any way, whether in private or with friends, like a couple whose first child seemingly died during birth. But I won't pin Bendis for the blame as that bit, as well as most of the Clone Saga, is "ixnay" to discuss or have characters react to in current Marvel (much like Johnny Storm's once-marriage to Lyja Laserfist, a Skrull who impersonated Alicia Masters). They fight an actual supervillian with some sort of reasonable motive (Yelena, hungry for revenge, is manipulated into becoming a super-agent for some crooked enterprise, which happened about a billion times in the Silver Age and is about as classic as one can get) whose power level is actually worthy of fighting the combined team. And the team, for once, actually fights efficiently (even Spider-Man, who manages to come up with the idea that Iron Man uses to save the day). Curiously, Ms. Marvel seems to have become an unofficial "New Avenger" ; she's done more for the team than Ronin has so far, and shown up in more interior pages. I enjoyed the fight scene, most of the banter, and the wedding (of COURSE Stan Lee is presiding, True Believer). It made me cross that most NA storyarcs aren't nearly as good as this one shot is, actually. One of the few issues of NA that actually deserves to sell in the Top 15. Maybe I'd be more cross if I'd read and liked Yelena elsewhere, but I haven't, so I'm not (and I won't pretend to be). Bendy sacrificing some "low character" is hardly new anyway. At least she went out with a bang (literally). Coipel's art is also good for the issue.
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #29: Millar gets a lot of credit for ULTIMATES 2, but his run on ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR has been just as enjoyable, and without any of the aftertaste of extreme Liberalism that U2 has. True, the story was a little predictable; in a world where the Fan 4 went back in time to undo their accident, Thor is President and the Skrulls basically overthrow the planet with a slightly more imaginative version of "To Serve Man" from THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Ben Grimm is quickly the last man on Earth and I saw his furious climax against Super-Skrull coming pages in advance. But God DAMN, was it satisfying to read! This issue proves that you don't need to be 100% original with every angle of a story in order to produce a classic, satisfying read; knowing the expectations and delivering effectively works every time (and without much "shock value" at that). So Grimm dons the Super-Skrull armor and keeps jumping back in time (done throughout the last few installments) to undo the Four's screwing with time, and sacrifices himself so that the Four are formed. Next issue looks to have the return of Dr. Doom and the escape of the Ultimate Zombies, and if Millar can continue to match his stride, this run will finish spectacularly. Improving almost expotentially since Ellis' run, UF4 has become a pleasure to read every month. The only issue by Millar I didn't care for was ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #1, and even that wasn't THAT bad. Just the juice that the title needed.
To be continued...
Which may be fitting as the next two books of the month are truly in a class all their own:
