Bought/Thought Aug. 23rd 2006 *SPOILERS AS ALWAYS*

[PWN3R]

There's a good story here, it's just the timing seemed off.

Any comic with Chuck Berry in it, is a comic for me.

 

[PhotoJones]

dread, why do you even buy marvel titles?

 

[Dread]

dread, why do you even buy marvel titles?

I'm at heart a Marvel Zombie. I like the characters and the universe in general, and am more familiar with it. Me reading monthly DC books is a new thing. Just because I may not be keen on particular issues or trends in the medium don't mean I dislike the company in philosophy. Plus there are always Marvel books I enjoy. Just more of the negative comes out when I type a review, especially when you have negative stories that rely on that feeling.

 

[Assassin]

Supergirl #9:wow, i did cartwheels in the street after i read this, it isnt confusing!

 

[CaptainCanada]

Astonishing X-Men #16

The reveal of Perfection's identity comes as a complete surprise, although one is left worrying about how this is all going to be justified.

As I wrote in the AXM thread, Whedon's a good writer, and knows his way around dialogue, but there's just no sense that this is really going anywhere huge (compare this with, say, Ed Brubaker's Uncanny X-Men, which, while it is also taking some time to lay groundwork, has a much more pronounced sense of foreboding). Whedon's been given the X-Men franchise's big guns, and I just wish he would do something more than craft an intricate series of clever homages with them.

 

[PWN3R]

I'm still waiting for Darth's reviews. My life doesn't function without them.

 

[BrianWilly]

A really good week. And by a really good week, I mean a really good week.

Astonishing X-Men #16
Wow. "Yeahbuhwhat?" doesn't even really begin to cover this.

On the other hand, the more you think about it the more Perfect makes sense. Or not. Oh sure, it's still blindingly confusing, but look at all the hints that Whedon is dropping; the visual cues to mirrors and Emma turning on herself...Look at the roster of people who are in Emma's "Hellfire Club"...all of them are individuals who represent a key element in Emma's life. A lot of people had the notion at first that this was all just Emma going insane and none of these Hellfire Club members actually existed...this idea was more or less discarded when we saw that they were real people walking around the mansion, but now I think we may have to give some credence back to that theory. We've got some villains who shouldn't really be working together (Shaw and Nova) and then we've got some people whose existence is all but impossible (Warhead and the White Queen).

Anyway, loved this issue as usual. Ninja Kitty was awesome. Wolverine was hilarious. The revelation about Colossus was intense; it looks like this character is gonna go through a lot in the next arc. And I think it's pretty obvious by now that

Spoiler

Blindfold

is the mole at the mansion. The subplot that's keeping me the most rivetted, though, is that of Ord and Danger joining forces and working together; I absolutely can't wait for what's to come next in that saga. For a comic that comes out later than it has any right to be (since it's so damn good), it's constantly and consistently keeping my attention.

(9 out of 10)


52 Week 16
I used to be sort of ambivalent towards the Marvel family, but as 52 rolls along and I pick up more and more back trades of JSA, I'm getting to really enjoy these people. They're the sort of shlocky, campy side of magic in the DCU that begs to be explored and played with, and I'm really glad their role in the DCU is being so scrutinized right now. The idea that there are Seven Virtues of Man to go along with the Seven Sins, for example, is exactly the sort of funtastic, old-school mysticism that other titles aren't really exploring. Let's hope Winick gets this memo.

The Renee and Question side of the story was kinda interesting, but I got lost in the exposition once or twice and had to reread the issue to truly understand just what is going on with them.

All in all, another solid issue. I've always thought that Lobo was a bit overrated, but I'm looking forward to how the space heroes deal with him next week.

(8 out of 10)


New Avengers #23
I think I'm coming down with something.

For some reason, I find myself stricken with the wild, illogical notion that this issue is the best issue of New Avengers that I've read to date. Usually that doesn't mean much considering the poor quality that the issues usually are, but in this case it means that I just read a really good issue. I dunno, I can't really explain it. Last issue was pretty decent too; perhaps I'm just agreeing with the notion that New Avengers is one of the few titles that are actually being helped by Civil War.

I really felt for Jessica here. The action sequences were incredibly dynamic. There were moving scenes, intense moments, and Bendis managed to restrain himself to merely one page of talking heads! This really helps us to get a grasp of Jessica's character as she is right now. The ending with her going to Captain America simply because she has nowhere else to go...that was really good.

No matter how low Iron Man sinks, the Marvel gang seems to be able to find a way to make him sink even lower. Betraying Jessica's secret to SHIELD the very moment that Cap is no longer has a say? Not only betraying his teammate, but someone who thought of him as a friend and trusted him to protect her? I'd put this up as a criticism of the issue, but frankly at this point it's just keeping in line with Tony's recent characterization of being a soulless fckhead. People obsessed with defending Tony and the pro-registration side will probably find some way to spin this as him just "doing what's necessary" to protect his side, but it goes without saying that Tony's been doing just a bit too much of "what's necessary" for a lot of peoples' tastes.

(8.8 out of 10)


Wonder Woman #2
And the issue finally arrives; was it worth the wait? I'd say yes. Definitely yes. Thoroughly yes. Great characterizations all around (Batman...smiling?), nifty dialogue, Diana in action, and old the return and badassification of old villains. I'm really not sure what the point of bringing Hercules into all this is -- it seems counterproductive at this point, doesn't it? -- but I guess we'll find out.

These people seem to have an appreciation for the iconicism of the character, which includes campy magical spinning costume changes. I hate a lot of pre-Crisis Wonder Woman elements (I Ching? I-f'ing-Ching!?) but I have to hand it to Heinberg for having the guts to fit that stuff in here simply because of his love for the material. I'm just thankful that, as of the last couple of years, she's been consistently written by people who truly love the character, campiness and all. Frankly, enjoy it while it lasts 'cause I can't imagine Picoult being in the same vein of appreciation. If there's one thing that I'm not liking about this, it's that there's a very definite ending coming up to this arc very soon.

The Dodsons draw great females, but I'm beginning to question their ability to draw males. Last week Steve Trevor looked like a botoxed old woman, and this week Robin has got chipmunk cheeks.

(8.9 out of 10)


Justice League of America #1
After Archer's Quest and Identity Crisis, what we expected Meltzer to pull of was an intensely emotional story with great characterization and dialogue that truly showcases his narrative skills. Does he deliver? He surely does.

Two of the members of the team that I'm most looking forward to are Arsenal and Vixen. I think I like Roy on the team better than I would have liked Ollie; Ollie has a powerful personality that always delivers the goods, but he got a lot of play in recent years and frankly it's time for Roy to finally get his due. Plus, I'm just generally thrilled whenever a "legacy" character gets the chance to step up and fill the role of their mentors.

And I like Vixen here 'cause, well, she's just kinda hot and it's interesting to see her in action.

I love the fact that everyone was unanimously in favor of Power Girl on the team, but two out of three voted against Supergirl. Loved it.

I've never cared much for Red Tornado -- to me he was just that guy on Young Justice who acted like the adult all the time and thus negated the point of having a teenage team at all -- but Meltzer is making me care about the character, just as a good writer should.

I'm just really excited for this title; with the arrival of JLA, it seems that DCU post-Crisis One Year Later event is finally, truly "here" now. There were other titles yes, but it always felt like we were waiting for this one to arrive since it truly cements the status of heroism in the DCU. The JLA was the big void that was missing in recent months, and now that void has been filled.

(9.9 out of 10)


Blue Beetle #6
Hnn.

I think this one's losing me.

With awkward art, too much confusing exposition, too many metas that I frankly don't care about, and storylines that seem to leap to and fro...I'm finding it difficult to truly connect to Jaime right now.

(5 out of 10)

 

[Marcdachamp]

Man, this was a DAMN good week. Making a pick is very difficult. The surprises came fast and were, well, surprising, and I didn't buy a bad book. This will be very difficult.

Ultimate Spider-Man- PICK OF THE WEEK! Dread's right on one thing: this is the point of no return. The Clone Saga is gigantic and is really destroying any semblance of a Status Quo. I disagree with Dread about Gwen, though. Her appearence on the cover may be big, but the surprises within more than make up for it. Things are really getting intense, and I cannot wait to see where it all goes. 9/10

New Avengers- Man, as much as I loved this book Pre-Civil War, the last two issues have been some of the best thus far. Coipel is phenomenal as usual, and the issue went in a direction I definitly didn't expect. I assumed Jess would stay with SHIELD and, thus, with the Pro-side, but the out-come was a lot more interesting. Bendis could have made his life a lot easier that way (it probably would've made for an easier set-up for her solo book), but he went with a pretty awesome story instead. 9/10

Astonishing X-Men- I guessed the "destroyer of the Breakworld", but it was a very cool confirmation. I like Brian Willy's theory, that this is Emma losing it, because I have no idea what else could be going on. Things are definitly heating up. 9/10

Daredevil- Aja is no Lark, but he fits the tone of the story quite well. Interesting to see Elektra come into play. I liked that. Great stand-alone issue. 9/10

Wolverine- So, first Aunt May, now Wolverine? That was pretty cool, I didn't expect that. Nitro's hard-core murder was terrific. I really hope Marvel keeps him around and doesn't let Namor off him. He's really coming into his own. I find myself drifting between loving Ramos' art and not liking it as much. The coloring, however, is fantastic. I loved the underwater sequence between Namor and Iron Logan. It looked fantastic. 8/10

 

[twylight]

Supergirl #9:wow, i did cartwheels in the street after i read this, it isnt confusing!

What the hey? It was the worst issue ever? She's still a brat, and the fact that Miss. Immature herself *Love the way PG has developed though* is giving Kara a speach about responsibility is the worst thing from it..not to mention in an effort to make her 'older' they bring in

Spoiler

Dear, dead Captain Boomer's son

What do they hope to accomplish?!?! And I'm sorry

Spoiler

giving her an 'in' with Bats isn't helping either. Is she a surrogate Stephanie now?

Okay, end of Supergirl rant.

I can't even begin to scratch the surface of the issues like Brian and Dread do, so I agree with everything their capable fingers and minds have typed.

 

[Assassin]

i said i'm happy that it isnt confusing, dont go putting words into my mouth, i never said i liked it, loeb wrote her better.

 

[Not Jake]

Dear Dread,

You are totally wrong about this issue of Astonishing X-Men. It was fantastic. Iffeminate child Logan hasn't worn thin, it was great. Kitty's "huh" shot was perfection in a panel. I read it 20 minutes ago and now I have just grabbed it to re-read it after your post. Just so you know, it appears to me a brilliant beacon of quality against the vast sea of your whiny text. I think your choice to forego paragraphs in favor of screen-length blocks of text really accentuates the massive downer that accompanies reading your reviews.

Ever your lovehole,

Jake

 

[Darthphere]

I'm still waiting for Darth's reviews. My life doesn't function without them.

Soon my child, soon.

 

[Doc Destruction]

JLA: This ish was a treat. i loved all the heroes little adventures. If only Black Canary appeared. This will hopefully be another great era of the league

Pssst, she was with Hal when they picked up Roy. Did you NOT notice her from behind? If so, HOW?

 

[Doc Destruction]

dread, why do you even buy marvel titles?

You can love characters and hate the writing. Plus there ARE good Marvel titles, just not nearly as many as there used to be.

My pick of the week was JLA #1 (I even bought the varient!). "Go get 'em, Roy." Best line of the book. I LOVE the fact that the League is forming behind the back of the big three while they choose who they feel should be on the team. Very clever team forming twist, there.

The appearance of Deadman was great, even greater was the fact that it was FF disguised as him. This plot is very intriguing. And I LOVE Dr. Impossible. Great costume, great concept. And "Father Box"? Hmmmm...

If there is any gripe with the comic, it is this: Please stop killing the Metal Men for 5 minutes! Sheesh!

As for Marvel - Ultimates Annual was pretty great, Astonishing was good stuff and Exiles was hysterical.

 

[LadyMoira]

Man I loved Wolvie's delivering Nitro to the Atlanteans...LOVED IT! Can I say how much I enjoy a meeting with Namor now and then? Yeah, the New Avengers issue was one of the best yet. Poor, poor Jessica teaming up with Captain America because she has nowhere else to go...at least her kid's out of harms way. Yes, Tony Stark becomes more of a bastard with each passing week. Reed Richards I feel is just being so cold-blooded and analytical he's ignoring the human cost of the SHRA, (and the probability of abuse,) but with Tony it seems to be almost sheer megalomania. In some ways it's like he's actively enjoying Cap's being gone because it frees him up to let his inner manipulative bastard shine free without any barrier the way he turned Jessica in like that when he knows full well she's not a traitor.

 

[Brainiac 8]

Here's a couple more...


Astonishing X-Men #16: I won't say a whole lot since it has been covered wonderfully by others. Just to add a few things....yes....it was a fantastic issue in a fantastic run. I had the reveal guessed, but it doesn't mean that I wasn't surprised by how they did it. Wolverine....funny as heck, and I will forever remember "Blue Moose" as a fond part of X-Men verbage.

My only gripe. While Wheddon has the team dynamic down, and he knows the characters, thus writes them very well, he is not so good at creating his own original characters. Namely Ord, and Danger. They just are not that interesting, and while a battle royal with the past two villians is going to be cool, I can't say that I am really excited about him keeping them around. I may be proven wrong, he may give them an interesting personality yet, but as of now I just can't get into the villians he creates.

That doesn't stop the book from being great though, he has the characters he writes down. It is still the X-Men book to beat, and I really would love if they keep him on the book past 24 issues.

And since I am very behind on books, I'll do a quick review of...

Annihilation #1: Quick review....Marvel is not giving this story the attention is diserves. After the four minis are over, some good, some not, we finally get to the main event. It was AWSOME! The opening battle was very Starship Troopers, but with super powered beings.

I love that Nova is the hero leader of the team, I'm still bothered by Drax's new personality and look. Silver Surfer hopefully will get a bigger part than in this issue, Thanos has an agenda I'm interested in seeing. The new cosmic characters are quite interesting, Gamora seems to now be a prize of leadership. For once Ronan didn't bore me, and may have a bigger part than I thought he would in winning this fight since the Kree listen to him. I hope Super Skrull isn't dead and makes a reappearence to help win the fight. And finally....Galactus went down...beaten!

All in all, great start to the story. Growing up, I have always loved the cosmic characters of Marvel, and I really hope this is their way of bringing them back into the spotlight. I want a Silver Surfer ongoing...Marvel, you listening?

 

[GNR]

Man I loved Wolvie's delivering Nitro to the Atlanteans...LOVED IT! Can I say how much I enjoy a meeting with Namor now and then? Yeah, the New Avengers issue was one of the best yet. Poor, poor Jessica teaming up with Captain America because she has nowhere else to go...at least her kid's out of harms way. Yes, Tony Stark becomes more of a bastard with each passing week. Reed Richards I feel is just being so cold-blooded and analytical he's ignoring the human cost of the SHRA, (and the probability of abuse,) but with Tony it seems to be almost sheer megalomania. In some ways it's like he's actively enjoying Cap's being gone because it frees him up to let his inner manipulative bastard shine free without any barrier the way he turned Jessica in like that when he knows full well she's not a traitor.

I think you're mixing up Jessica Drew with Jessica Jones.Jessica Jones is the one with the baby right?

 

[chris moore]

Bought 7 comics this week (should have been six, but I mistook the x-factor on the "this week" shelf for a new one when in fact it was #7 and the latest will be #9....).
So, 6 comics and I whizzed through em all cos not a damn thing happened!

Got a reorder of Moonknight #3 cos I missed it - and though it filled in the blanks for me after having read #4 last, it just kinda got the ball rolling for the REAL getting Moonknight back into Spandex.

Astonishing #16 - Reveal of Perfection, reveal of the one responsible for the breakworld, a suspicion raised as to the mole... but little else. We find out what the Hellfire club are after, but nothing is explained in anyway as to what the deal is with them considering the Hellfire stuff last year, and the current incarceration of Nova in Stuff etc. Every issue seems to raise a new sub plot that doesnt even get addressed again, let alone answered for 2-3 issues. And when each single issue is two months apart I just stop caring.

Ultimate Spider-Man #99 - Now I know the saga has to be drawn out to be a biggie for #100, but yet again nothing really happens from issue to issue. In this one, both Gwen and May find out Peter is Spidey through honesty for a change. But May goes off the handle (more uncharacteristically than I'd expect; even for this rather rough edged and less homely and caring take on the 616 version) and Richard Parker shows up, which just tells me that Peter's entire family including May has been cloned for some reason, then the clones have gone and done some things of their own in terms of cloning. But they really stretch out four maybe five pages of story dont they?

Heroes for Hire - bought it for the curiosity of how the concept holds water when every costume out there can now earn for what they do normally, and be paid all the time, not on a case by case basis. Didnt think much of it, never liked Misty's attitude, dont understand how Humbug looked liked he could shrink in his first fight and how his ability to communicate with insects clearly outguns Hank pyms by far - almost telepathic, which after wikipediaing him I still couldnt find evidence of. Don't see Felicia's reasons for joining (which I guess is why they didnt bother having Misty explain it to us like she did the others and instead just had her show up and establishing she's already on the team), especially given her outrage at Peter revealing his ID to the public in sensational last week.

New Avengers - I liked. Jessica's story has been left out of the loop for a while now so it was nice to see it addressed and for all intents and purposes, closed so she can move on. And yes, I agree with all that the more appearances of Stark preaching and rationalising the reg act, the more I see that I'm not just against it (of course i am - virtually every fan is. Superheroes as feds... ruins the very concept for us), but that he is in fact a dick and is totally gonna get his tin can kicked by someone a lot less powerful than he is - just to prove how much he deserves it.

Ultimate Annual #2 - total wank I'm afraid. Story was choppy and seemed to be missing pages, came out at a very bad time and did nothing to warm me to the Ultimate interpretation of Cap; he's still a gun toting pratt IMO.

 

[Darthphere]

dread, why do you even buy marvel titles?

Dread rags on DC as well. Its not a bias thing.

 

[twylight]

Pssst, she was with Hal when they picked up Roy. Did you NOT notice her from behind? If so, HOW?

She so got shafted. Curse you DC...curse you...

 

[Not Jake]

.

I really would love if they keep him on the book past 24 issues.

So would Marvel, but it's not a matter of them keeping him there, it's a matter of him staying. Which isn't happening unfortunately.

 

[Brainiac 8]

So would Marvel, but it's not a matter of them keeping him there, it's a matter of him staying. Which isn't happening unfortunately.

Doesn't mean we can't dream.

 

[Doc Destruction]

She so got shafted. Curse you DC...curse you...

She's on the team, how did she get shafted?

 

[The Batman]

Pssst, she was with Hal when they picked up Roy. Did you NOT notice her from behind? If so, HOW?

i definetely need glasses

completely didnt see her in the scene where they go to pickup roy.

now if only hawkgirl appeared in this issue....

 

[Darthphere]

i definetely need glasses

completely didnt see her in the scene where they go to pickup roy.

now if only hawkgirl appeared in this issue....

Its instinct, when Hal is on panel, you tend to forget what happened.



Thank you, thank you thats Darthphere's cheap shot at Hal moment of the day.