Bought/Thought February 4, 2009 - SPOILERS

[TheCorpulent1]

Haha, harsh but true. Comics based on relatively recent TV series never seem to have good art.

 

[Themanofbat]

Is Thor the first Marvel title to reach 600?

Maybe as an anthology monthly, but you won't find 600 issues with Thor as the comic's title, so I would say "no"...

http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=65918&page=5

 

[BrianWilly]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #22
Oh, this was so funlarious. I very approve. [blackout]"EAT THEIR ****ING OVARIES!"[/blackout] is my new favorite quote of the...uh, of the week, I suppose.

Jeanty actually does better on Kennedy than I would have thought he could...but, really, the less said about it, the better. And Kennedy does better on...Kennedy...than I would have thought, but I wasn't one of those people who particularly hated Kennedy in the first place anyway.

I wish we saw more of the main crew but then, we've seen a lot of them before this already and their presence was pretty much felt, especially Buffy's.

(8.6 out of 10)


Final Crisis: Superman and the Legion of Three Worlds #3
I basically liked this. There's a lot of "I don't know who the **** these people are. Who the **** are they?" but I basically got what everyone was doing, and I got a good sense of "These are good characters with a lot of history even if we can't show it all to you, srykthx" from the issue anyway.

I'd love to say "I totally called it!" re: Bart coming back and Conner probably coming back soon but, really, it's not as if Johns was very subtle about it. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. When I first read the page of Brainy gathering the lightning-controllers and then Prime going "ONOZ NOT HIM," I just started ****ing speed-reading through everything, excited about the next page, desperate to know have it confirmed. So good on that.

Not really crazy about how Perez drew Bart, but everything else was notch-top.

(8 out of 10)


War of Kings: Darkhawk #1
Geezas, everyone wants to be a Corps nowadays.

Decent. I'm not really enamored of this Chris character yet, and unfortunately the odds are not in his favor on this count; I liked Darkhawk fine as a support guy during those Nova issues, but the thing is that BKV's depiction of him during Runaways -- which is the only other place I'd seen the guy -- really soured me on him. He didn't come off as sympathetic, he just came off as obnoxious. It's a thing, with BKV sometimes.

And the whole "subtle mental issues" thing isn't really hitting me that well either, again not because of anything Cebulski did, but mostly because I'm getting a bit tired of "subtle mental issues."

So...wait and see, I suppose.

(7 out of 10)

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Argh, son of a b****, I missed Darkhawk as well. Damn it.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Agents of Atlas #1

I was never as big a fan of the original 2006 Agents of Atlas miniseries as many others were, but it was enjoyable enough, and the main series (which I’ll predict for twelve issues, but maybe they’ll get lucky with the sales) was worth my time. The new “Dark Reign” setup actually gives this book’s premise an interesting canvas to work from, since they’re posing as a crime syndicate, and now with Osborn ruling the roost they’ve got an interesting antagonist to play off of. The issue as a whole is basically an introduction to the Atlas concept to the (hopefully) many new readers, rather than a specific character focus (there’s a brief expository treatise on the situation of Jimmy Woo towards the end). Original artist Leonard Kirk has moved on to the similarly cult-favourite Captain Britain and MI13, but replacement Carlo Pagulayan is fantastic; his renderings of Namora and Venus, in particular, are stunningly beautiful. There’s also a backup story featuring an encounter between the Agents and a pre-Weapon X Wolverine in the 1950s, which is neat (complete with 50s-ish art by Benton Jew). Jeff Parker as a writer is one of the partisans for “fun” comics, as well as for smaller-scale stories; the solicits for this so far generally seem like an older one-issue-story-with-connective-elements format (which can go either way, as with larger arcs; it can be stiflingly small or rewardingly complete).

Invincible Iron Man #10

I keep going back and forth on this book. I think a lot of the critical acclaim it gets is really overblown, but it’s a decent book, and, at this point, it comes as close to being the primary story in “Dark Reign” as any other book. The broader story arc sees Norman Osborn remake himself into an Iron Man-ish figure, and he’s even got his own Pepper Potts, Victoria Hand; seeing them go up against the original articles (and Maria Hill) is fun. Fraction’s initiating another “Tony loses all his money and company and has to rebuild it from the ground-up” cycle, which has happened at least twice, by my count, so I’ll be interested if there’s any variation in this one (Fraction’s run on Iron Fist had the title character convert his whole company into a charity, which hopefully isn’t where this is going, but then, Tony’s always been very much about the company, whereas with Danny it was kind of an incongruous aspect of they mythos). On the art side, Larocca’s new rendering of Pepper Potts is a lot better than the Nicole Kidman-ish model he previously used, but the art continues to be the weakest element of this book. He draws a good armour, but the people are problematic. This new arc is moving away from one of my problems with the first, overly replicating the setup of the movie, which is good, though I’m still not sure about what Fraction is doing with Pepper (turning her into Tony’s love interest again without any acknowledgements of Happy’s death, and now giving her a suit of powered armour). That said, I’m interested to see where this goes next (particularly, Hill meeting Captain America).

Secret Six #6

Speaking of cult favourites that I don’t think as much of as some others, he’s the sixth issue of Gail Simone’s new Secret Six series, which continues to be a decent read. The core concept, that of everybody duking it out over a “get out of hell free card” (which may or may not be real), because they’re all desperate to avoid divine sanction for their crimes (which, theologically, isn’t something that is Neron’s to grant, but whatever), is a great idea. It sets an army of villains against the Six, and it also is problematic within the group itself, none of whom are angels. We get the origin of the new sixth member, Jeanette, who turns out to have been associated with the infamous Polish countess Elizabeth Bathory (rumoured to have bathed in the blood of virgin girls). I would say that last issue’s cliffhanger, the reveal of the identity of “Junior”, is rather anti-climactically dealt with (though Junior is still on their tale), but there’s a good reveal of who the Six’s client in Gotham is, tying back to their debut story. The art and writing is what you’d expect from Gail Simone and Nicola Scott: good craft and quality.

X-Men Noir #3

This story started out very well, but it’s gotten increasingly confusing and more by-the-numbers. The first issue had a lot of neat atmosphere, translating a lot of familiar X-characters into the setting of a 1930s film noir mystery, but subsequently the atmosphere has gotten rather fragmented, and the figure of Thomas Halloway/Angel (a Golden Age figure, now revived as the lead character), who takes what is probably the lead part in the story, is an increasingly superhero-ish figure (without powers, at least in theory, but he performs a number of increasingly unbelievable stunts, such as jumping out of a plane into a zeppelin and doing so basically unharmed), which disrupts the concept a bit (though, given the way every other character reacts to him, that’s clearly intentional; I’m just not sure it’s a good idea). The other issue is the art of Dennis Calero, which I found really good in the first arc, but the more I see it the more it becomes stiff and unsuited to the story. Calero’s clearly using a lot of photo-reference, and, particularly when everything isn’t bathed in shadow, it doesn’t fit together that well). All that side, there’s a lot of interesting ideas and character here (VL’s deconstruction of Beast, for example, who constantly uses big words that he doesn’t understand the use of, the result being he tries to sound smart but comes across as if he’s thinking of a basic word and then consulting a thesaurus for synonyms). I’ll wait and see how this all ties together, but it seems like the plot has lost its way a bit.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Verdana typeface boring you this week?

 

[CaptainCanada]

I type these reviews up on my laptop whenever I have a moment between university classes; I used to use Corel WordPerfect, which translated into this posting thing without a problem, but Word, for some reason, also includes specific typeface codes that I had to correct after initially posting. I have no idea why.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It's because M$ is the devil!

Or so the Linux kids tell me.

 

[fifthfiend]

I type these reviews up on my laptop whenever I have a moment between university classes; I used to use Corel WordPerfect, which translated into this posting thing without a problem, but Word, for some reason, also includes specific typeface codes that I had to correct after initially posting. I have no idea why.

For anything I'm moving from Word to anything else (including anything to another Word document) I usually paste to Notepad first which strips out all the formatting ****.

 

[Manic]

Lately, I've noticed that my contributions to the bought/thought threads haven't been reviews as much as they've been long play-by-play summaries. I'd literally describe everything that happened at length, while adding maybe a single paragraph at the end that summed up my feelings about the issue. I don't want to avoid spoilers, but I don't want to create a horrible substitute for reading the actual comic. Mirroring my reviews on my site has caused me tweak my reviews as it is.

That's why, for reasons of readability, my reviews are changed weekly. This week you may call them...
...Slinky Wagglebutt.



AGENTS OF ATLAS #1
Writer: Jeff Parker
Penciler: Carlo Pagulayan
Publisher: Marvel

Agents of Atlas is a continuation of a limited series Marvel published back in 2006, featuring (for the most part) Golden Age characters that originated under the old Atlas Comics brand. I didn't read the previous series, so I went into this issue mostly blind. I only knew of the previews Marvel had been publishing in the backs of other comics, and the loosely written lead-in at the end of Incredible Hercules #125.

This issue starts off on a fairly humorous note, with Gorilla Man giving a (very) brief rundown of some of Marvel's biggest storylines since House of M. We're then thrust immediately into an action scene involving the Agents of Atlas beating the living crap out of Man Mountain Marko (a villain so forgettable, I had to look him up). Of course, there is a twist here, as Marko has been employed by Norman Osborn, who I'm still trying to figure out why the government would hand so much power to him. Marko was leading an armored task force raid against an Atlas armory, making the Agents of Atlas supervillains.

The Atlas crew consists of secret agent Jimmy Woo, former human being Gorilla Man, naiad with siren powers Venus, Namora of the Atlantean royal family, M-11 the human robot, and Bob Grayson the old school Marvel Boy. At some point, a yellow peril supervillain named Yellow Claw gave the positively portrayed Jimmy Woo control of his evil Atlas Foundation. Jimmy has been trying to use Atlas as a tool for good, but with Norman Osborn and his brown tiger striped haircut controlling the superhuman community, he's using Atlas to appeal to Norman's inner criminal.

As a new reader, I did feel a tad lost. That's not to say Parker took no effort in introducing the team to us newbies. In fact, we were given one of those "characters telling each other things they already know" moments for just over two full pages. I know who these people are. I just feel lost in regards to the Atlas Foundation itself. The presentation of Atlas' underground city was supposed to be awe-inspiring and glorious, I'm sure. Instead, it came off as dim and uninteresting. There's a fountain hanging from the ceiling that's made of stone and shaped like women pouring water from pots into a clear pond, but it's rendered so damn far into the background that I didn't notice. I literally had to go back and look for something more interesting in that single panel that featured more than just a dingy stone wall. The art team is talented for sure, but I feel like Pagulayan didn't do a good enough job with making me feel the scenery.

By the way, the Sentry showed up in this issue. Yes, he was useless once again.


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BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON 8 #22
Writer: Steven S. DeKnight
Penciler: Georges Jeanty
Publisher: Dark Horse

This is yet another single-part issue, though its story continues a theme that began with last month's issue about Harmony. That is to say, the population on the whole is under the false belief that vampires are harmless and the slayers are evil. This is also another Buffy-lite issue, with all of the focus being put on Satsu (leader of the Japanese branch of slayers) and Kennedy (Willow's girlfriend, who you might remember from the final season of the TV series). Kennedy has ventured all the way to Japan to give Satsu her evaluation, but also to counsel her because of the thing they have in common: they're both lesbians who've slept with straight girls. The difference is that Satsu was genuinely in love with the hetero girl she bedded, and that was Buffy.

The demonic beastie of this issue was a series of children's dolls shaped like white vampire bats. I could see the attempt at humor, but the dangerous cuteness only managed a faint chuckle out of me. I'll spare the details, but I will say that this somehow progresses into an army of zombified Japanese maritime officers and a giant stuffed animal monster. The monster felt like a useless addition to this issue that posed no real threat, but was put in just because they needed more action scenes and an excuse to introduce the slayers' new submarine. Of course, the stuffed animals were a plot by Twilight and Harmony devised to make the slayers look like evil little wenches who blow up toys. The issue ends with Satsu finally listening to Kennedy, and getting over her issues with Buffy.

I can only hope these seemingly useless issues will lead toward something big in an upcoming issue. I feel like I'm wasting my time by reading stories about freaking Harmony and Kennedy. In the end, I'm sure the climax will roll up, and I'll be able to say "oh, that's why that happened! The events of that filler issue make perfect sense now!" But I'll still feel unsatisfied, because these little things are being dropped during the lowest points of this series' run.


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CABLE #11
Writer: Duane Swierczynski
Pencilers: Jamie McKelvie and Ariel Olivetti
Publisher: Marvel

For some time now, I've been unhappy with the way Olivetti draws little Hope Summers. Olivetti's style has a more realistic tinge than most comic book art, so it's a little strange seeing a cartoonishly large head on such a little body. On a good day, Hope looks like a little person instead of a four year old child with a watermelon for a skull. And yes, they definitively say that Hope is seven in this issue. Between her age and Nathan giving her a name in issue #10, there's practically no excuse for readers to still refer to her as "the baby." Anyway, after Olivetti tackles the first third of the issue, McKelvie takes over. McKelvie's art is noticeably different to Olivetti's, but still good in its own right, and with a rendition of Hope that actually looks like a seven year old.

As for the story, things get really bad for our heroes. With Bishop jumping back and forth in the past destroying the world in bits and pieces, Cable and Hope found themselves timesliding forward to a wasteland devoid of all life. I mean all life. No people, animals, or plants. They can't even find drinkable water. The desert future of Mad Max looks like a lush paradise by comparison. With Cable's timesliding device incapable of traveling backward in time, he decides to travel even further into the future in hopes that nature will re-emerge and reclaim the Earth after a thousand years. Not so much.

With Hope finally old enough to form full sentences, she's finally been given voice over captions. This allows us to see this situation from her perspective, and know just how in the dark she is about her origins. This also sets up something I didn't see coming, and that's Hope potentially taking over Cable's book next issue. I honestly can't predict what going to happen next month, and I like to think that's a good thing.


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FARSCAPE #2 OF 4
Writers: Rockne S. O'Bannon & Keith R.A. DeCandido
Penciler: Tommy Patterson
Publisher: Boom!

Set after the miniseries that concluded the SCI FI Channel's original television series, this new Farscape limited series comic picks up with John and Aeryn learning to fight for survival while raising their son D'Argo Sun-Chrichton (who they call Deke). Recently, Chiana and the original D'Argo's son, Jothee, accompanied Rygel on a mission to reclaim his throne as leader of his homeworld. This didn't work out, and the trio found themselves imprisoned. Back on the ship Moya, John and Aeryn hear about Rygel's capture via a news broadcast, and decide to mount a rescue attempt. Because John is taking his "a father must protect his family" role seriously and Aeryn is more of a soldier than a nurturer, they realize they can only mount their rescue with their son in tow. This fails, and they also find themselves also imprisoned, with Deke being held captive by Scorpius.

Patterson does a decent job at making the characters resemble the actors who portrayed them on screen, although I suppose that isn't very difficult when all but two characters are either puppets or people wearing tons of prosthetics and makeup. It does help that he remembers to give Aeryn a perpetually pensive face, with John's face somewhere between determined and confused.

The characters' voices are captured perfectly, but that shouldn't be a surprise with series creator O'Bannon at the helm. If you're already a fan of Farscape and you can find this comic, you might want to check it out.


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THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST #22
Writer: Duane Swierczynski
Penciler: Travel Foreman
Publisher: Marvel

Previously, a foe of Danny Rand's named Xao dropped a (metaphorical) bomb on him by mentioning that there is an 8th Capital City of Heaven. Give or take a few life-threatening distractions, the Immortal Weapons of the Capital Cities have discovered the location of the 8th city. Problem is, it's the Capital City of Hell. As soon as Danny the Iron Fist, Fat Cobra, Dog Brother Number One, Bride of Nine Spiders, Tiger's Beautiful Daughter, and Prince of Orphans (gotta love those long-winded Chinese superhero names translated to English) passed through the city gates, they fell down a deep, dark abyss for what seemed like days before finally landing on the ground. Weak from their fall, they were immediately captured and forced into a neverending fight in an arena against an army of demons.

After reading two of Swierczynski's books in a single month, it is pretty evident that Swierczynski's strongest point is his ability to narrate through voice over captions. In the case of The Immortal Iron Fist, he shows the ability to tell a non-linear story without mixing anything up. I've seen stuff like that happen before, and it usually makes a comic unreadable. However, the present-flashback-present style of this issue feels almost unnecessary, as the previous issue in this story (#20) left off in a point in time that takes place in the middle of this issue's flashback. Aside from a conversation with Davos that took place before the Immortal Weapons left New York, there was really no point.


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X-MEN: FIRST CLASS FINALS #1 OF 4
Writer: Jeff Parker
Pencilers: Roger Cruz & Colleen Coover
Publisher: Marvel

One word sums up this issue: DEUCE!

X-Men: First Class is by far the funnest X-Men book on the market. I enjoyed its original miniseries, the now-cancelled ongoing series that spawned from it, and now this new final miniseries is shaping up to be just as good. The book follows the untold adventures of the original five X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Beast, and Angel) back when they were still teenagers and the only students at the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. There are no major events, shock value deaths, or radical status quo changes in First Class. It's just good old fashioned superhero action with a strong dose of humor.

This issue starts with the recent emergence of Jean's telepathic powers, which were locked away previously by Professor X because of her inability to control them. Control might still be an issue, as the first few pages consist of Warren, Scott, Hank, and Bobby wandering around inside of Jean's dreams, as she may have accidentally pulled them into her mind. Whether or not they make it out of her head is unclear, but the issues moves forward a few hours into a Danger Room training session and the return of an enemy of Scott's from the previous X-Men: First Class series. The issue wraps up with a one-page funny drawn by Coover.

The thing that stuck out about this issue was the overuse of the word "deuce." Angel called a training sentinel a deuce; Cyclops said a bad guy was "deuced"; Beast called one of his kicks a "deuce kick." Parker isn't some hackneyed writer who uses the same phrases over and over again, so I can only assume this is a significant plot point that'll reveal itself in the coming issues.

One other thing: this issue officially uses the X-Men's first individualized uniforms, so there's no more of the yellow/black beltless variant suits with an "X" curiously placed over their crotches.

 

[Hush]

I read SI in Barnes and Noble and I think it was ok at best but had some good Marvel moments, like when Thor basically told Tony to **** off.

 

[Keyser Soze]

I read SI in Barnes and Noble and I think it was ok at best but had some good Marvel moments, like when Thor basically told Tony to **** off.

I think Thor should now just routinely make Iron Man his b***h whenever they meet, like it's a recurring joke. t:

 

[Hush]

He really should even when they eventually meet in the movies. I just love how Thor sticks it too him, and its all Tony's fault. My number 3 favortie comic book moment of all time is when Tony gets OWNED by Thor. Just i mean the best comback ever.

 

[kguillou]

Seriously, when's Tony gonna get the point? First Thor kicks Tony's black ass up and down in Thor #3, then he tells tony to **** off in Invincible Ironman #2 and then in SI 8 and tells tony "seriously **** off." lol. Poor tony.

 

[THANOSRULES]

I'll bet the Darkhawks are going to wind up being a forgotten black Ops segment of the NOVA corps...either that or a rival.

Whens Savage Steel gonna show up? He was a cool villian.

 

[Aristotle]

Seriously, when's Tony gonna get the point? First Thor kicks Tony's black ass up and down in Thor #3, then he tells tony to **** off in Invincible Ironman #2 and then in SI 8 and tells tony "seriously **** off." lol. Poor tony.

POOR TONY? I think "sympathy for the devil" is just an expression homie.

 

[kguillou]

Come on, i mean, you cant help but sympathize with the guy though. Yea he did some shady things during civil war, but he WAS trying to do the right thing in the end. He just didnt want the Stamford tragedy to happen again. Now he's got the weight of the world on his shoulders and half the world hates him including some of his closest friends. He tried to talk to Cap about what he was doing but Cap was just too arrogant and decided to shoot first and ask questions later.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

I wouldn't suggest arguing with Aristotle.

 

[Aristotle]

Come on, i mean, you cant help but sympathize with the guy though. Yea he did some shady things during civil war, but he WAS trying to do the right thing in the end. He just didnt want the Stamford tragedy to happen again. Now he's got the weight of the world on his shoulders and half the world hates him including some of his closest friends. He tried to talk to Cap about what he was doing but Cap was just too arrogant and decided to shoot first and ask questions later.

No, I have no sympathy for government cronies, I have no sympathy for arrogant futurists, I have no sympathy for scientism, I have no sympathy for people who fear-monger, I have no sympathy for people who give in to fear-mongering, I have no sympathy for people who imprison their friends for committing no injustice, I have no sympathy for people who refuse to fight the law when it's wrong. There's so much unsympathy I have for Tony Stark, it's like I have sympathy for the anti-Tony. Like I have sympathy for Bizarro Tony.

Also, Cap shot first? I seem to remember him getting guns drawn at him for saying he thought registration was a bad idea.

 

[Aristotle]

I wouldn't suggest arguing with Aristotle.

The Marvel Superherohype board: makin' with the bandwagon cheap-shots like they're goin' out of style!

 

[Manic]

Come on, i mean, you cant help but sympathize with the guy though. Yea he did some shady things during civil war, but he WAS trying to do the right thing in the end. He just didnt want the Stamford tragedy to happen again. Now he's got the weight of the world on his shoulders and half the world hates him including some of his closest friends. He tried to talk to Cap about what he was doing but Cap was just too arrogant and decided to shoot first and ask questions later.

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. What Tony did was stupid, and he deserves Thor's scorn. By Tony's own logic, he should be catapulted into deep space.

 

[Aristotle]

By Tony's own logic, he should be catapulted into deep space.

Yes ha! Greg Pak, get ready for PLANET IRON MAN! S***, I'll write that comic for free, just so Tony stops f***ing everything up.

And can we have PLANET OSBORN too? I was tired of that guy before I even read SI 8.

 

[kguillou]

Well....i gave it my best shot. lol

 

[Hush]

I agree with Aristotle.

 

[cdk]

eh hes an alright guy