BOUGHT/THOUGHT "End Of War Special" Feb 21st

For anyone who complained about the book "being mostly Rand on rooftops talking to himself", keep in mind that basically described 25% of all of Bendis' DD issues (and I am being modest). I found it moody and kinetic, as I did with DD.

nice reviews, as usual...but i thought you mentioned once that you don't read daredevil??
 
Civil War #7
As to be expected, I have a lot of...issues. I'll just list them in order.

-My biggest issue in this would be concerning Captain America's surrender. Three issues with this one issue, actually.

1) I'm sorry, that whole moment was CORNY AS ALL FCK. I practically gagged in the store, reading this over-the-top political allegory drivel. People on other boards have been calling the people who grabbed Cap the "9/11 Spokesperson Crew" or "9/11 Photo-Op Team" and the like, and the titles are completely appropriate.

2) I guess the "A" does stand for France. Remember the whole "I don't care if the entire universe and everyone in it thinks I'm wrong, being an American means I stand my ground against all opposing voices, even they represent the majority" speech that Steve gave to Peter in ASM? Well, flush that. Apparently Cap does care if people thinks he's wrong, 'cause he's willing to pull a complete 180 on a belief he was prepared to die for just because some people told him it was wrong. Not only does this not jive with how other writers such as JMS have been writing Cap -- once again illustrating the absolute lack of coordination between writers in this event -- it doesn't even sit well with how Millar's been writing Cap. "We're winning everything...except the argument!" Oh Christ, Steve...grow a pair.

Maybe we're supposed to admire Cap for finally thinking straight and coming to his senses after all his stubborn, thuggish, rednecked, gung-ho screw-the-consequences posturing of the past months. But this doesn't work for the same reason that Spider-Man's "redemption" from following Tony like a btch doesn't work: Millar was the one who mischaracterized and demoted these characters so extremely in the first place...am I supposed to cheer when he all of a sudden writes them like they were supposed to be written in the first place?? It's a victory for a character when he climbs back up after having fallen down, but that also depends on the manner in which he got down there in the first place. Was it a tragic and lamentable fall from grace, or was he a dumbass a dug a hole for himself to trip into? Civil War seems to pride itself on the latter.

3) I don't buy for a single moment that opposition against Captain America would actually be so complete. The Marvel universe public has always had trouble telling its heroes from its villains, this is true. It's practically an ingrained staple of the universe. But if there's anything that's always true about American people, it's that they're friggin' divisive. No way does the entirety of New York of all places agree on anything, much less Captain America. And if all it took was the government branding someone a villain to make everyone in America think so too, our country would be a very different place indeed. Or don't ya know that, according to Quesada, we all apparently have a mad-on for rebels and underdogs?

But not here, apparently. Here, public favor has turned pretty much unanimously against Captain America even though, right up until this very moment, he has done absolutely nothing harmful or dangerous to the public. Again, welcome to the Marvel universe, where we hate heroes and love villains. Luke Cage could run through a hail of bullets to save a thousand old women and everyone would probably call him a rape-hungry terrorist. Bullseye could be caught on film eating raw babies with puppy sauce and the masses would probably hand him a napkin and a smile. Someone might arrive at the scene of a crime and say, "I'm here to help you!" and the police will probably ignore the actual criminal and focus on arresting the samaritan. And all that a serial killer needs to do to be redeemed is to sign on a sheet of government paper, getting himself a million dollars and a plane out of the country along the way. Good deeds are punished, and questionable acts are rewarded. Welcome to Marvel. No smoking, please.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the registration act may be a perfectly realistic thing to occur if superhumans all of a sudden popped up in our real world. But for a world that has had masked vigilantes for over a century, superpowered masked vigilantes for over half a century, knows beyond the shadow of a doubt that they owe their existence hundreds of times over to these individuals, and have coexisted with these individuals just fine right up to now? It's a stretch. It's not necessarily an impossible stretch; like I said, this is the Marvel universe, where public mutant genocide was en vogue less than a decade ago. But this is not just a case of the Marvel universe public just not being able to see things from our perspective, because even from their perspective it is a stretch. It is beyond a stretch for any universe to prefer Venom protecting them as opposed to Captain America. At best it makes these people seem like the prototypical frightened, panicking mob desperately grasping for a false sense of security, making some poor choices along the way. At worst it makes them seem like fickle, ungrateful children who will betray their heroes on a whim and can't tell up from down, left from right.

Anyway, more issues:

-I love how the "controversial" Negative Zone prison was apparently met with overwhelming approval once Tony actually got around to revealing it. So a prison in an alternate dimension that saps your will to live and where people were placed indefinitely without trial until they change their beliefs got the thumbs-up from Marvel America, eh? Well, at least they're being consistent about how morally questionable these people are.

-On that note, I don't understand why superheroes have to be registered in order for the government to be able to keep supervillains in jail. Reed seems to suggest that, in his letter. Which doesn't seem to make a lot of sense...you either have a working superhuman penitentiary system, or you don't. What in the world does this have to do with registration?

-Why does Sue return to Reed? As far as I understood it, the general reason for her leaving in the first place was because his methods made her sick, going as far as to accuse him of being a fascist Nazi (gee, wonder why). So now...uh, what exactly has changed? He still committed those acts. He isn't particularly remorseful of them. He hasn't particularly done anything to redeem himself for them, by her standards. What exactly has changed in the last few days or whatever to make her change her opinion of what he's done? The only thing is that now he doesn't have to commit quite so many controversial acts and act like as big a dick as he's been acting. But that's because he's already done what he set out to accomplish! That's just the circumstances changing, not the man! Who's to say he wouldn't do it all over again if he had to?? But Sue just goes back to him and all is just happy now?

-Why is Reed hurt by the bullet? A bullet's going to do nothing to him!

-Namor popping up was cool, for about a page. Too bad that after that one page of him popping up he and his "army" did zilch. Gee, that was a lot of blow-up over nothing.

-Why is Mar-Vell fighting with the pro-regs? We got no explanation for this in The Return, none whatsoever, and we likewise get none here. So he just appears and fights on Tony's team, for God knows what reason, and no one makes a deal over it. Except that it is a big deal.

-Hank Pym is making nice with Black Panther now? I was under the impression that T'Challa really, really disliked the whole act in the first place. Now he's all of a sudden okay with it?

-Why is Tony being a dick to Agent Hill, exactly? I love how Millar sort of "forgot" that Hill was the one who handed Tony her position in the first place on a platter with a smile. Frak, it's not like she got demoted or Tony stole the job from her or something. She gave it to him! That whole "I'm not that good at this job, why don't you do it?" scene in NA? One of the few genuinely cool moments in this whole event. One of the few times when both Tony and Maria come across good as opposed to bad. Same with Captain America's "It doesn't matter if everyone is against me" speech to Spidey. So, of course, both scenes had to be rendered completely null by this issue. Good job, Millar! Way to coordinate between different writers, Marvel! Civil War has been absolutely riddled with inconsistencies and different writers telling us different things right from the beginning, I suppose it's only fitting that the trend continues right to the end.

So, my final thoughts on Civil War? Various good moments, but pretty much a mess. Not a mess in the same way that House of M was, which was just due to ineptitude, but a different sort of mess in which skill was used for questionable ends. I don't like this Marvel universe that they've created. I don't like the people in it. I don't enjoy reading about these people, nor about the heroes who have, for the most part, just made things worse. Character assassinations galore. Not particularly well-written, and even less coordinated for an inter-company crossover event.

I'll say this, though: at least I'm looking forward to the Hulk coming back and killing everyone.

(3.9 out of 10 for the issue)
(6 out of 10 for the whole series)
 
52 Week 42
Wow, ten more issues.

This issue was sort of along the vein of the prior Booster "resurrection" issue...a lot of what's been shown to us about the hero in question is revealed to be misdirection, and the hero does a big ol' exposition thing showing how much smarter he is than how he's been portrayed. Of course this issue wasn't nearly as uplifting as that last one, seeing as how that one had two heroes resurrected and this one had one dying in battle.

Or does it? I definitely wouldn't call Ralph's death here a definitive death. I mean, hello, MAGIC?? This has got return clause written all over it, even more than Booster's death did.

Anyway, basically I enjoyed it, if only to see the past year for Ralph fully explained. There is a part of me, I admit, that is going "buh-guyh?" at the notion of Ralph collecting all these artifacts for the past few weeks/months and then having it all be for...this. Incidentally, I'd say Neron is a...reasonably significant villain. He killed Wonder Woman, after all. A bit obscure, but no more obscure than a lot of others.

(7 out of 10)


Wonder Woman #4
Goddamnit.

Why does this actually have to be so good?? It would just be so much simpler if the books were bad. The fact that they're good makes all the waiting all the more annoying and unforgiveable. And especially since we know that the next issue will apparently not be the next issue! Thanks, Heinberg:dry:.

But, like I said, this issue itself was damn good. Part of what delighted me was just how tight the continuity was and how much of the past it honored...Athena is the lord of Olympus, Ares rules the underworld now, Circe was doing Ares, Heracles raped Hippolyta, etc etc etc. I do Wonder what Diana is doing with a Waynetech invisible jet, though...what's wrong with her old one? And I also have to Wonder how Heracles managed to knock Circe out when she had both his and all the Wonder Women's powers.

Speaking of, Heracles being a villain was surprising, yet oddly fitting; I was never truly satisfied with his whole "redemption" in the first place. Other good moments included a great Justice Society scene, Donna Troy being cool, secret agent shenanigans, and some genuinely clever uses of both Diana and Cassie's lassos. And, hell, I have to admit that I like the spinning. It's iconic.

The ending of this issue makes next issue look absolutely awesome. Too bad that the issue probably isn't even written yet and probably won't see daylight for months upon months. I usually don't dock points for lateness, so long as the wait is actually worth it. But this situation, and what we've recently learned of the fifth issue, is absolutely ridiculous and inexcusable.

(6 out of 10...would have been 9 out of 10 had it been on-time)


Ion #11
And we're almost done.

So many good things to like about the issue...a lot of good Kyle-isms (I giggled like a ****** at the page of him not hearing a word Donna said), nice action, the return of a classic Kyle villain. And awww, the other GLs are trying to help Kyle's mom. Nice Soranik Natu appearance. All this almost distracted me from how Kyle doesn't act quite as powerful as I'd hoped he'd be. Almost. I mean he keeps talking about how different he is now and how he's gonna put the guy down...and then he doesn't. *shrug*

The same issues I've had with recent issues, unfortunately, also apply here. Now there's literally no time left, and like Kyle I feel like we haven't come even a bit closer to actually getting some questions answered. So much more needs to be said, and I just have no idea how any of it is going to be resolved by next ish.

(7.9 out of 10)


Checkmate #11
I thought that I would miss Alan Scott here by now, and while I do, these other characters are keeping me plenty happy. I love that Tommy's the son of Judomaster. Love it. And Beatriz's arc is looking more and more interesting too.

Amanda Waller sort of has what we in the know like to call the JJ Jameson Syndrome...she flits in and out of being a caricature versus an actual character, and no one writer seems to be able to agree with the other on just how much of a either she should be. In 52, she's just flat-out twisted and corrupt. In Outsiders, she's remarkably understanding and benevolent. In here, she's got the whole "ends justify the means" things going...you can see exactly where her mind's going, and it's not always to a bad place, but it's there often enough to be a recognized customer.

Obviously, it's Rucka's rendition here that I enjoy the most, and hope it catches on more. Hoping that other writers might catch on to the awesomery of Rucka may just be pipe dreams, but what the hey.

(8.8 out of 10)


Brave and the Bold #1
...huh.

There's nothing wrong at all with this series, and yet it doesn't quite grab me the way I expected it to. Mostly it's the sort of drab way that Batman and GL interact...

...Well, I take that back. There's nothing "drab" about their interaction, but there could be so much more. These two characters have so much history and so many nuances that could be played up, and it feels like we don't get much more than a cursory nod to that. It's almost as if we got the scaled-down, PCified, made-for-TV movie rendition of Bruce and Hal. I feel like Meltzer managed to say more about Bruce and Hal's relationship in a single microscoped page in JLA than the entirety of the pointless banter that we got here.

That might be overlooked if the plot were so overwhelmingly engrossing as to make up for lack of time to the character interaction. But the plot's nothing special. Some alien deception gambling thingy. So what's left of this series is a bunch of action scenes, albeit very pretty action scenes that are pretty well-staged. But I can go anywhere for that. Hell, I could go to Civil War for that *shudder*. I sort of expect more from a Waid/Perez team-up. And this book is sort of billed as the definitive nod to two characters teaming-up in the DCU. I just wanted more than banter.

I do have to say that I'm curious and interesting in the ending. The Book of Destiny? Would this have anything to do with Vertigo Destiny?

(6.6 out of 10)
 
The part where Hercules smashed Clor his his own hammer....it didn't have quite the impact on me than most people.

Annihilation did it first and better when Ronin Smashed Ravenous with his hammer of judgement.:o
 
Anyone else read werewolf by night? It wasn't bad. But the backup was horrible.
 
The part where Hercules smashed Clor his his own hammer....it didn't have quite the impact on me than most people.

Annihilation did it first and better when Ronin Smashed Ravenous with his hammer of judgement.:o

True, but "Annihilation" was an onslaught of badass moments. "Civil War" wasn't.
 
CW7.jpg


Please print out and paste over usual avatar space for upcoming review.:cmad:
 
Actually Trop I was thinking about it, and Dick Destruction makes me sound like a man hating lesbian. That picture does not help that theory. :p
 
Actually Trop I was thinking about it, and Dick Destruction makes me sound like a man hating lesbian. That picture does not help that theory. :p

Ah! My bad, I thought hemorrhoidal king was referring to anyone that would dare bad mouth CW and not you specifically.:o
 
My store missed Iron Fist and She-Hulk for me, I only realized once I got home. I'm so depressed. So depressed Im going to read CW #7 first.
 
Yep, it rocked.

I skipped over She Hulk because I wasn't really liking it so far. But Punisher War Journal was pure awesome too.

Oh my, the art put me off buying PWJ and I was very tempted to. I saw it in the shop and was going to pick it up, it doesn't matter I'll go and pick up 1-4 tomorrow.

Also anybody got Silent War spoilers? :csad:
 
I usually don't do that sort of stuff. Buuut... Here's a few.

The Sentry talked to Blackagar in the Arctic (I think), and asked him not to attack. He followed it up by splitting a glacier in half basically, showing what he could do, and said that let the humans think the Inhumans are superior and live in their fear. Then Blackagar decided not to attack, and the Sentry blamed the glacier breaking on global warming to Maria Hill.


There, some bad spoilers.
 
I usually don't do that sort of stuff. Buuut... Here's a few.

The Sentry talked to Blackagar in the Arctic (I think), and asked him not to attack. He followed it up by splitting a glacier in half basically, showing what he could do, and said that let the humans think the Inhumans are superior and live in their fear. Then Blackagar decided not to attack, and the Sentry blamed the glacier breaking on global warming to Maria Hill.


There, some bad spoilers.

Ah thanks alot Gluon, this series is really good so far and I can only see it getting better. Especially if the battle between Sentry & Black Bolt is written as good as the series has been so far, I like how the Inhumans are being used alot more nowadays and have a sort of "spotlight". I'll pick it up tomorrow, sounds good though.
 
The Sentry basically showed that Blackagar probably COULDN'T stop him if he wanted to with one of his smaller feats. Oh, and the doctor who was experimenting on Gorgon got exposed to some mists, which makes him all strong and such, though he seems to be growing an eye in the back of his head. Luna is betrayed into telling where her father is. Luna is also a better fighter than Karnak apparently. And they find Pietro, who looks genuinely f'ed up.

More horrible spoilers.
 
The Sentry basically showed that Blackagar probably COULDN'T stop him if he wanted to with one of his smaller feats. Oh, and the doctor who was experimenting on Gorgon got exposed to some mists, which makes him all strong and such, though he seems to be growing an eye in the back of his head. Luna is betrayed into telling where her father is. Luna is also a better fighter than Karnak apparently. And they find Pietro, who looks genuinely f'ed up.

More horrible spoilers.

Wow thanks again, there's me thinking I had my fill of them already :woot: quite alot happened then it would appear. They find Pietro? oh gawd is he going to be in trouble also Luna a better fighter than Karnak? Wow.. How does that work? :huh:
 

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