52 Week 33
Pretty good issue, the Renee-Kate scenes were quite nice (not to sound all cliche, but Renee really
has come quite a ways since the beginning of this series), but at this point in the game I really just want some answers to the riddles already. And for some stuff to happen. For instance we know that the space crew is going to take on Lady Styx's armada, but they've been spending about three weeks now just
staring at it. (Still, the fact that Buddy and Ellen were both staring at the exact same star was
awesome. That montage of DCU characters and what they were doing on Christmas? Also awesome.)
(And Alfred leading the carolers was awesome too.)
(Come to think of it, I thought a lot of things were awesome.)
I can't shake the idea that this whole thing with Sobek the talking crocodile is going to end up very, very badly.
Next week is Black Marvel Family vs the New Suicide Squad...hnn. I don't like that Atom-Smasher is leading them, it just makes it feel like he's learned nothing from his mistakes. And it also seems we're getting some serious clues as to Supernova's identity. I'm guessing that [blackout]Clark Kent is Supernova, or at least
one of the Supernovas, as Siglain let on in newsarama that it's possible there's more than one person under the mask. All his different powers could be explained by the different Kryptonite he got from Batman's cave.[/blackout]
(8 out of 10)
Iron Man/Captain America: Civil War: Casualties of War
Wow, what a long title.
Copying and pasting from another thread: I actually really liked Iron Man/Captain America: Casualties of War this week though. Yes, it had nice characterization and dialogue or whatever, but what really got me is that it contained the single most unbiased, thought-out, convincing, and understandable version of the pro-registration argument that I've heard to date. And considering that this whole CW event is almost over, that's saying a lot. None of this "It's the law and the law is right" nonsense. And none of this "We must do whatever it takes for security!" spiel.
In the end, it's this, "Wouldn't you want someone to stop you from ever killing a man?"
Yeah, I'm totally aware that the SHRA is still complete bullsht that does the heavy-boots trample all over the Constitution and no due process gulag whatever evil evil SHIELD people Agent Hill is a btch THOR CLONES and Venom -- did I miss anything? -- but the great thing is that
absolutely none of that appears in this issue. Everything that Marvel has done since the beginning to completely demonize the pro-reg side (and claim that they don't) is flagrantly ignored in this book in lieu of a completely sympathizable Tony Stark giving a completely lucid appeal for the registration, supporting his arguments with very relevant events of canon. Cap doesn't slouch in this department either, but usually the anti-regs give pretty good speeches about their points of views anyway so Tony was really in the spotlight here.
It's hilarious that all this good stuff -- practically
crucial if you truly want to understand these characters and this war -- came out not in the main title, not in any of the tie-ins, but in an unplanned one-shot that Marvel rushed out 'cause of the negative feedback. Hey, at least we can't accuse them of not paying attention to our reactions.
Plus points for awesome continuity!
(9 out of 10)
Ion #9
As cool as I thought that the lingering plot point from IC would be picked up here instead of in GL, I'm also hoping that it'll go somewhere more interesting very soon. I only ever read one Tangent DC comic in my life, which was Tangent Wonder Woman, which made me want to drown myself in my own urine, which is also why I will never truly love Peter David as much as he deserves to be loved. And the wikipedia entry on the Tangent universe is woefully inadequate. Given that, I had absolutely no frikkin' idea what was going on in the second half of this issue. Kyle fights some people who talk nonsense and one of them beats him somehow, which I'm not exactly thrilled about but can't complain. Let's see what happens.
The sequence with Kyle's mom was well-written, as was expected, but I just don't really see the point. It feels like we've gone off on some weird tangent, pun intended. Was it to reacquaint us again with Kyle's personality and characterism as it relates to his mother? Newer readers might need it, but older readers like me have seen it before. And her illness...I dunno, I just don't see where Marz is going with this. It's just that there's only three issues of this series left and I want it to be as good as it possibly can be
.
The DCU office continues to send out memos for all their writers to make the Guardians massive dckheads, and it was tolerable when it was directed at other GLs like Guy and Hal, but when they start bringin' that 'tude towards Kyle? Hell to the no. Ain't no one gonna be holdin' ma man down.
At least we got some really good art in this issue. Not that I had any problems with any of the prior artists, but I think this was the first time that I looked at the Ion logo and could
confidently say that it actually looks like it was meant to be drawn that way and not like an artistic error.
(6.7 out of 10)
New Avengers #26
More copied and pasted: NA was "meh" beyond the telling of it. So Clint has been back for all this time, he's...just not doing anything. Christ, that was like how Xavier was actually around ever since Decimation but just hung out in bars for months while his students struggled without him.
And then he sleeps with Wanda. So now Wanda has gone from superheroine to crazy victimized villain to a random amnesiac sex object for the Big Manly Man to bed. Goody. And like Dread said in the B/T thread, why the hell is Clint the only person in the world who's not a complete ******? Did no one else think to look in the Wundagore mountains for Wanda considering that's one of the places in the world where she's most likely to be seen????
Well it wasn't bad, just meh. No one liked Bendis writing Wanda and Hawkeye the first time around either, so it's really no surprise that the passage of time changes nothing.
It's just that nothing makes a whole lot of sense. Hawkeye appears out of nowhere, decides that he's emo, goes to find Wanda, sleeps with her, and then disappears again. The single most irony/understatement-of-the-year moments in the issue is when Dr. Strange, in trying to explain Wanda's behavior to Clint, says "You are looking for mundane logic where none applies." Yeah, apparently! Thanks for letting us in on that!
The art is gorgeous, though. *shrug* Although Maleev, for some reason, doesn't draw Wanda anything like how Wanda looked like recently. I mean sure, Wanda looked like a nineteen year-old supermodel with bright red, straight hair during the 90s revamp, but nothing like that now. Right up until the end I wasn't certain if it was actually supposed to be Wanda.
(6.3 out of 10, mostly bumped up for the art)
New Avengers: Illuminati #1
Big, pretty explosions. Definitely a change of pace from the introspective and thought-inticing one-shot from way back, though not necessarily a bad change. I'll need to see more of this series before I can form too much of an opinion on it, 'cause retcon stories at Marvel have a pretty lowsy track record if you know what I mean. And it kinda concerns me that Bendis can be writing six of the most powerful superheroes on the planet and
still manage to have them mostly losing. As has been stated, Bendis is really the man to go to when you want to see your heroes failing and losing.
At first my gut instinct was to nerd rage at seeing Dr. Strange so...helpless...in this issue, but then I remembered that at this point in MU history, Strange hadn't become the Sorcerer Surpreme yet and probably hadn't even fought most of the Big Magical Battles that he would be known for. So, reluctantly, all is forgiven on that front.
I'm sort of confused as to why this mission in particular required the members of the Illuminati who, as far as I can tell, were supposed to be secretive and unspoken-of and handling the affairs of the superhero world from behind the scenes; this incident was definitely quite public and in the open and in front of the scenes. More importantly, why in the world couldn't they have just gotten a bunch of
Avengers to go up there and tell the Skrulls to buzz off, y'know, in case they didn't already get the message? Why risk exposure of your not-so-secret cabal for a task like this which is obviously a very important task but also one that any combo of other heroes could have handled? If the purpose was to present a united contingency of heroes against which the Skrulls would be opposing (in other words, LYING BIG) and trying to intimidate them with said united contingency...well, congratulations, that seemed to work out well.
I still like how Bendis writes Namor.
Love that Galactus pic...everything's so shiny with Cheung.
(7.5 out of 10)
Teen Titans #42
Huh.
Interesting.
I gotta say, when Johns puts in the effort to characterize someone, he
really characterizes them.
Kid Devil kinda had that whole "tragic past" thing written all over him, so none of this really came as much of a surprise. It was nice to see it explained, though. I dunno if I like the character better, but I do know him better, which is a start.
(7 out of 10)
Civil War: Frontline #9
I don't even know anymore. I don't even care.
Let me get this straight. After months of trying, Sally Floyd lands possibly the biggest interview of her life, the chance to hear the side of the one man who's leading one half of this universe-shattering Civil War, the chance to finally let the public hear what Captain America has to say...
...And she rudely interrupts and walks out on him 'cause she doesn't like what he's saying.
...
...wait...what?
That's it, I'm deciding right now that the answer to everything in this series is Skrulls. Yes that's right, you heard me: Skrulls. Sally Floyd is a Skrull. Norman Osborne? Skrull. Reed Richards, Tony Stark...well, I think we all decided they were Skrulls a long time ago. And Speedball? Definitely a Skrull. Although it's a shame to waste that scene where he gets his powers back by sweet butt-love from an inmate. And yes, that's my interpretation of that page and I'm sticking to it.
Speaking of Robbie...ah, actually, the less we speak of Robbie in this issue, the better. Seriously, that ending?...Skrull.
And who the feck thought it was a good idea to let a convict called
Razor Fist have
razor-sharp claws on his hands???? You know what? Whatever. Skrulls did.
The scene where Urich goes to Spider-Man and Petey uses his hacking skills was pretty R0XX0RZ, though. Spidey putting his intellect to good use? We're getting more and more of that recently, and it is only of the good. Too bad they're all Skrulls, though.
(3.9 out of 10)
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