In a rush, lots of spoilers and rants, let's git 'er done!
DREAD'S BOUGHT/THOUGHT for 2/17/10:
ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN #21: The only one of Robert Kirkman's comics not to live up to his "On Time in '09" pledge, Wolf-man continues 2010 as it ended 2009; at least 1-2 months behind schedule. Unfortunately, INVINCIBLE has also fallen behind in 2010, but more on that later. This series was announced as ending by issue #25, for reasons Kirkman denies have anything to do with sales. While Wolf-Man sells roughly half what INVINCIBLE sales (essentially, perhaps only slightly better than INVINCIBLE PRESENTS: ATOM EVE mini's), Image has worse sellers and considering that Kirkman is Image's best selling writer/creator, unless Wolfy's sales were at BETTY AND VERONICA levels, I doubt Image would encourage him to pull the plug if he didn't want to. Still, there is a part of me that is darkly curious what will come out first this year, ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN #25 or GEMINI #5 (Jay Faerber's next DYNAMO 5 installment is due up in June 2010 according to his blog, FYI).
At any rate, ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN sets about getting down to its final arc, and naturally this issue is very busy. The issue promises a big battle with Wolf-Man and his allies against a mad scientist, which is over very quickly as Cecil Stedman basically assumes command of the research. Some could call the fight anti-climatic, but I thought the issue had more going for it than providing an action sequence. Gary finally has a chat with the other werewolf on deck, Gray Wolf. It turns out the old man he bit when he lost control during the first full moon was an ex-spook dying of cancer, who now sees life as a werewolf soldier as a blessing. It certainly was an interesting angle and I liked the idea of something random like that from the start of the run coming into play later. While life seems to be optimistic for Gary Hampton now (he's back to being a super hero, his daughter Chloe is sleeping at home and getting along with him, and he's all but made out with a robot woman). But, as the issue ends, the final cliffhanger twist certainly sets up the next four issues.
The vampire Zechariah, Gary's former mentor and now deadly enemy (and the killer of his wife, and the cause of his period of being on the run), has set a deal with Mecha Maid to escape from prison and obtain a new mechanical hand (since Wolf-Man ate one of them). Mecha Maid claims she is freeing Zech because she wants him to transform her old team the Actioneers back into humans, but as the issue ends, it seems she has freed the vampire so Wolf-Man can be allowed to kill him. The idea being that Gary never liked the idea of Zechariah being in prison, and demands to avenge his wife, legally or not. It certainly is solid angle and sets up Gary as a bit "grayer" than some of Kirkman's other characters, even Invincible - Mark Grayson may be willing to kill these days, but he hasn't yet organized a villain to escape from prison just so he could kill him. Meanwhile, the Elder meets with the pack of werewolves from earlier in the run and has his own plans.
Kirkman drops so many lines in his letters pages about Gary possibly not surviving the end of his series, that one almost wonders if that is a tease that Hampton might die? If Kirkman feels the book is ending due to creative reasons, having a story that ices his main hero could do it. So long as Chloe lives and perhaps starts a friendship with Gray Wolf, some subplots could live in other books. Jason Howard, as always, provides his unique style of art for the series. Obviously a monthly schedule is a bit demanding of him, but it still would be hard to imagine the title without him. This was a set-up issue, but I enjoyed it. I still think this series is stronger than HAUNT, which vastly outsells it.
INVINCIBLE #70: Running about 3 weeks late, although for all we know, the fact that series regular artist Ryan Ottley was basically drawing 2 comics a month for the last 3 months (as Cory Walker only allowed him a 2 month break from INVINCIBLE), the statement should be that this comic is ONLY 3 weeks late considering the artist did have to draw two comics a month. At any rate, Ottley's returning to INVINCIBLE full time again, so hopefully beyond this blip the series will manage to ship at least 10 issues this year. While the "Viltrumite War" story is being promoted and has been floating around in subplots for at least 2-4 years of material, these last two issues of INVINCIBLE have sought to create some distance between events by having more "day in the life" adventures, while still advancing the various character plots. Some fans complain about "filler issues", but I sometimes enjoy them. The lesson Marvel/DC fail to learn is you can't have an explosion every day without explosions seeming boring as a result; by having "normal" issues, when INVINCIBLE's world gets gorey, or intense, the difference is stark.
At any rate, this issue has quite a climax, as the Sequids return to create a mess for the third time, this time in the heart of a city. Still possessing the astronaut Rus, the Sequids have the Guardians of the Globe on the ropes until Invincible shows up to save the day. When not even Robot's careful plans and battle tactics manage to end the threat, Invincible decides he has no choice, and kills Rus. This act naturally stuns the Guardians, who saw Rus as an innocent victim, rather than someone who was worth lethal force. For a DC example, it is akin to Superboy deciding there was no way to stop Starro besides to kill Starro's main host, so he does. While Eve still supports Mark's decision overall, Mark himself is full of guilt and anxiety about his current philosophy, which leads to Cecil Stedman coming in for a "talk" with Mark. This likely will end up with Mark returning to his normal costume in INVINCIBLE RETURNS, the one-shot that replaces the ongoing series next month. Image is still soliciting the next two issues for Feb./March, but there's no way it will make those deadlines. Considering all of the gray things Cecil has done in the name of national security, it will be either interesting, or hypocritical, to see how he lectures Mark about his current course. Especially since actually killing Conquest may have turned out to be a far wiser strategy. I might be curious about why Eve seems not quite as disturbed that Mark is killing villains, or wants to, more often now, but considering in her last mini, it showed she was perfectly willing to room/date with Rex Splode despite him telling her outright he used to work as a hit man, it works.
In the mean while, Oliver's slowing rate of growth is explained in detail, and while he may appear "adult" within a year, he might eventually still age roughly at human levels. Probably the best line of the issue is Oliver's dismissal of Mark when he comes home. "Drama, drama, drama," indeed.
My biggest concern about the Viltrumite War is that it seeks to separate Mark from his supporting cast for likely quite a while, which could become a problem as Mark is often stronger when he is among Oliver, or Eve, or his mom (who doesn't show up very often anymore, anyway). While it will create drama to see him with Nolan again, I am curious how Kirkman will pull it off. As always, Ottley's art as well as the colors are superb; I like in particular that the new colorist over the last ten plus issues has made blood look more distinct than before. Fans on the letters' page are questioning whether Kirkman will be able to top his Viltrumite War story, but that assumes it ends all in one arc, with every loose end tied up. I doubt that, personally. Even if so, there still is Angstrom Levy floating around as a menace. If he could find 20 evil versions of Mark, imagine if he went after, say, evil versions of Nolan, or Allen?
At any rate, INVINCIBLE is, as always, an exceptional superhero universe contained in one book, which is its greatest strength.
AVENGERS VS. ATLAS #2: Still an odd title, as solicits and interiors claim it to be "AVENGERS VS. THE AGENTS OF ATLAS", but no matter. This chapter by Jeff Parker and Gabe Hardman is still full of Parker's trademark madness. The Agents are fighting some sort of weird time-altering monster, who has swapped out the New Avengers for the "old" Avengers, circa the 1960's era after they recruited Capt. America. As the cover suggests, they fight. There is a nice bit where Uranian fools Giant-Man into thinking that Gorilla Man has "grown" as well. Considering at this time in the comics Wasp was still mostly known for being "Hank Pym's girlfriend", Parker makes her appear as one of the stronger links of the team as she saves them from being entranced by Venus' siren song. There are some who criticize that Jeff Parker relies on Venus' song way too often in his stories, and while I do agree at times, I also feel that considering she is a complete non-combatant without it, it evens out. I mean, how often has Black Canary relied on her scream? Batman relied on pulling some gadget out of his utility belt that not even Mr. Fantastic has heard of? Superman relying on some super-ability out of nowhere to save the day? Green Lantern used the ring to create a construct? I could think of at least a dozen X-Men who rely on one and only one basic power, over and over again. Same thing. To Parker's credit, lately he has been trying to either handle Venus' song in different ways, or not have it instantly win the battle, such as here. In some ways if Venus were more like Black Canary, able to out fight a hundred ninja even without her song, she'd be far "cheaper" than she is.
The issue ends with the heroes eventually ceasing their fighting, with the Agents trying not to disrupt any space/time continuum stuff, when their time-warping antagonist seems to swap out the old Avengers for the Hulk, their former founding member. Well, at least some of the covers make sense now. The Hulk showed up for an issue of the AGENTS OF ATLAS ongoing series, so I imagine a reference to that will be had. It is worth noting, of course, that Venus' siren song did work on the Hulk, but that was a Hulk who had memories of Jarella or Caira to become entranced by; a younger Hulk without those memories might not fall for such a song so easily.
It is a fair criticism that Parker sometimes writes AGENTS stories in which the team fights some sort of bizarre threat, and characterization is secondary. One could argue you could replace the Agents in some of their adventures, and the basic plot would barely be effected. I would counter that the same could be said of roughly half of Joss Whedon's ASTONISHING X-MEN run and that was heralded as only slightly below the second coming of Christ, even when Whedon did ridiculous stuff like have Cyclops defeat psychic illusions by shooting them with a handgun and rambling like Capt. Mal from FIREFLY (or, the prototypical "snark wise guy captain" of any space ship show since Capt. Kirk or, perhaps, FARSCAPE). But, there are stories that Parker does with the Agents that are about them personally, such as Venus' arc that began in X-MEN VS. AGENTS OF ATLAS and continues in the INCREDIBLE HERCULES strips, or Bob Grayson in MARVEL BOY: THE URANIAN mini series (which is actually a tad boring at times, but hey, characterization right there). AGENTS OF ATLAS proper ended with a lot of focus on Woo and M-11, amazingly. Plus, Ken Hale always has great lines. I like the pulpy team having bizarre adventures and I don't demand that every single arc relies on some hidden trauma or villain from one of them. I don't mind an adventure now and then which is just "team vs. threat, execute" if the members all play well off each other, which is one of the strengths of the Agents. One also needs to recall that these mini's are meant to keep the Agents in circulation before their next ongoing, and I imagine once that starts, Parker's stories can get a little deeper again.
There is a back up strip about Jimmy Woo infiltrating an enemy base (disguised as a restaurant) just to get some dumplings for Mr. Lao, which actually isn't written by Jeff Parker. It was actually quite funny, and I enjoyed it a lot.
I have a good time on average with the AGENTS OF ATLAS, so I don't usually nit pick it to death like I do some other franchises. Still, while the subplot of the Agents forming a better relationship with the New Avengers came up last issue, with the New Avengers era ending soon, I can understand someone seeing that as moot, and this mini as random. Y'know, like WOLVERINE never gets those, or Deadpool (who is the king of random stories that just provide an excuse for trademark banter). Not the best or worst AGENTS material, I admit forgetting I read it after a few days.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #603: It is worth noting that while the buzz about the "offensive" #602 lit the blogs on fire lately, it didn't result in any massive uptick on sales for the series; after a break, CA is back to selling at over 63,000 copies in Jan. 2010, which is still very good considering it is now $3.99 and that was around where it sold at times when it was a buck cheaper, before the ramp-up over CA #600 began. Still, the title has seen a loss of some 30-40k readers since last year. It is still widely received, though, and the best modern run, sales and quality, the franchise has had.
Brubaker continues the "Two Americas" arc with Luke Ross on art. The beginning gets into Grand Director's head a little, trying to show that his ideals are based on a mythology of what the 1950's was or should have been (and omitting some of the downsides, such as Jim Crow or sexism). There are no Tea Party protesters with "offensive signs", even if it is obvious that all of the villains are right wingers. Considering Brubaker created neither Grand Director or the Watchdogs, merely is using them for effect, I don't have a problem with it. Honestly, anyone who wants to read or watch fictionalized media that doesn't at some point paint villains as conservatives, one's only option is "24", which is full of pro right wing zeal. And "24" doesn't air all the time, and most of us like variety in our fiction. But, this issue has little of that, and is more about Barnes and Falcon trying to infiltrate the Watchdogs so they can stop them once and for all. There is one amusing moment when Falcon claims Rogers considers Barnes' major strategy is often to get captured, which shows at least some self-awareness on Brubaker's part, as he does still get captured by the enemy very, very often. It isn't quite to absurd ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN levels, but that's because Barnes is always a fighter, usually turns the tables, and isn't often stripped and humiliated as often as USM is. Besides, that is usually every other arc. Plus, I do like the idea that while Barnes fought in WWII, Sam Wilson still comes off as more experienced in many ways, adding a new twist on the old Cap/Falcon dynamic.
Honestly the strength of this issue for me was the action. Even with some battles against typical armored henchmen, Brubaker manages to pace it well enough that alongside art by Ross, the battles look very entertaining. It is very easy to see the difference between Brubaker and Bendis for this sort of thing. While REBORN was awkward at times, it still makes me yarn for excitement at what Brubaker will bring to SECRET AVENGERS, now that he'll have a team book outright to write. The major twist at the end is that Falcon has been tracked down by the bad guys, especially Grand Director, who takes Sam Wilson out quickly. The heroes do come off as underdogs while not appearing incompetent, which is a harder balance to pull off than one might imagine.
McKeever's NOMAD strip chugs along, with Mad-Dog getting captured and Nomad/Rikki Barnes still trying to track down the Secret Empire, and their current head goon, Professor Power. Considering how poorly her NOMAD mini sold, while I enjoyed that, I can understand if some CAPTAIN AMERICA fans feel miffed at having to pay an extra dollar for their comic when they may not be interested in Nomad. The major twist of this week's strip is that Professor Power may have mentally enslaved Arana, and is using her to lure Rikki into his clutches once again. While the Secret Empire wants her dead, he has other plans for her. Given how often we hear about teacher/student relations now, hopefully it isn't that. At any rate I enjoy the NOMAD stuff, although I likely am in a minority. She'd be ideal for joining the YOUNG AVENGERS honestly. They're all made up of side-kicks who no hero wants to mentor, and Rikki fits in perfectly.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #23: Artist Wes Craig returns to the title, and while his style isn't as celebrated as that of Walker, I still don't mind it and actually feel it has some kinetic energy to it, and expression. This issue mostly focuses on the team members that Magus seemingly killed a few issues ago. Turns out they aren't dead; Magus basically just pulled a bit of a trick on Star Lord to escape being vaporized by the Cosmic Cube, which at the time he was too weak to handle. So, rather than being dead, Phya, Cosmo, Gamora, Mantis, and Major Victory are chained up in one of the Church of Truth's dungeons, being tortured until they join up with Magus.
Comic Book Resources' "The Buy Pile" criticized Abnett & Lanning for, to paraphrase, "turning Magus into a Warren Ellis villain", but I really like this new Magus. He has a personality, and a dark, twisted, and often hilarious sense of humor. The focus of the issue and his efforts is on Phyla, who remains a stronger character here than she was as the female lead of ANNIHILATION CONQUEST. As the Avatar of Death via her deal with Oblivion to revive Moondragon, Magus sees her as his opposite number since he appears ready to embrace the "Cancerverse" at the other side of the Fault, "where life has won". It isn't every day when you get a story where the moral is, "death has a place in the universe". I mean, that's almost Eastern Philosophy right there!
Magus' deconstruction of Phyla is both hilarious and painful to read at times (claiming she's, basically, a bleak attention starved woman with "daddy issues"), but it does naturally help provide the ore for her to step up on behalf of her comrades and organize their freedom. After some guidance from Mantis and Cosmo, Phyla manages to warn the rest of the team to prepare for Magus, or at least Moondragon. Some of Gamora's past with Warlock is touched on. If there is any flaw, it is that Major Victory is still very much a bland cipher of a character, perhaps the most expendable member of the team next to Groot, who at least has the advantage of being a cool giant tree monster. Part of me thinks the idea of Major Victory dying for real so he could pass his shield to Jack Flag isn't unreasonable. Victory is really there for a modest connection to the old Guardians, but really has no personality, or any hope of growing one. He almost screams dead weight, although screaming would occasionally give him a personality.
The rest of the Guardians are organizing a new Galactic Council meeting with Crystal and Blastaar of all people (which is played for amusing effect). Bug steals his scenes and the team takes on some monsters of the week. The crux of the issue isn't on them, though. After the deconstruction, it was good to see Phyla break the rest of them loose. Although one wonders if Magus hit a little closer to home than Phyla would admit. WAR OF KINGS has seemed to energize GOTG more than NOVA in some ways, and I look forward to seeing how this all wraps up in March and April.
continues her ass kicking world tour, this weeks victims being Harry Osborn and the Reilly's from Baws-ton. Harry just like a cat, lands on his feet, moving in with MJ.
