Dread
TMNT 1984-2009
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Normally this would be an "average" quantity week to kick off Feb., but with 5 out of 7 books being over $3, it adds up very quickly. As always, full spoilers and rants below!
Dread's Bought/Thought for 2/4/09:
DYNAMO 5 #19: Who says horribly late superhero books are only from Marvel or DC? Faerber & Rily's Image superhero opera here is running about two to three months behind. There are caveats, of course; Image allows more leeway, Faerber writes other books, there is more to do with a creator owned title, etc. But, still, once a book moves beyond two months late, especially for a title like this which usually seemed to ship about a week or two late every time Diamond would announce it, it starts to get on my nerves, and drain on a story.
Still, I do like D5; it is a title I look forward to and is an enjoyable superhero book, with good characters, solid art, usually a bit of action, and a good premise. It isn's ashamed of some of the bold beats of heroism that a lot of "realistic" books tend to be avoiding these days. Such as this issue, which consists almost entirely of a showdown against a squad of villains, half of whom were only introduced last issue.
The general plot, for those who forgot with the "break"; after Widowmaker led an attack on the D5's aquarium base, it was revealed that Myriad was in fact an alien, not a human, and he had lied by omission to everyone for a very long time. Myriad claimed he did so because he feared that revealing he was an alien would lead everyone to mistrust him; after it is revealed, and with their founder Maddie in a psychic coma, the team distrusted him and broke up, moving on with their lives. I always love every time I see a story where an alien goes, "If I told you, you would have hated me" and the humans always react with an, "Oh, YEAH!? Now we'll prove you wrong by hating you more!" Humans totally suck.
Left with a rising crime rate and a supervillain everywhere, Scrap, the eldest and strongest of the team, assembled an ad-hoc version of the five with the Firebird mother/daughter duo, her father's ex-sidekick Quake (who takes head-meds), and the mysterious vigilante Virgil. They did their best, but their cohesion was not smooth. Meanwhile, Slingshot/Livvie had sought to take care of her adopted father, who had been kidnapped recently; Visionary/Hector sought to smooth over tensions with his mother over revealing he was a superhero, and Gage/Scatterbrain sought to return to life as a high school jock, only now was willing to use his powers to give him an advantage in football games. Widowmaker, meanwhile, still is working for a general employer who tasks her with assembling a rogue's gallery of nasty creeps to take out the new D5. After being pummeled by the creeps in a fight, Virgil is unmasked as Widowmaker herself.
That was all in October-November 2008. While the angle of Widowmaker infiltrating the D5 as a hero to pick them apart from within is a worthy twist, in a way Faerber almost outsmarts himself by immediately revealing that "Virgil" was really Myraid after all, pretending to be Widowmaker to fool the rogues once the fight got bad. When the real Widowmaker appears, it all goes to hell. I say that because within 2 pages, the whole thing is unraveled and it seems weird that Myraid would suddenly do all that; masquarade as Virgil and then Widowmaker. Or, of course, after SECRET INVASION, I may have a short fuse on shapeshifters. At any rate, it almost seemed like an obligatory way to get him there. Gage, meanwhile, sensed Scrap's distress from being pummeled by Slaughterhouse (a hulking armored killer) and gathered the rest of the founding team to lay in the smack down. The idea of making a hulking jock the psychic of the team pays off when Gage easily is able to pummel the token evil psychic, Dr. Chimera, in fisticuffs. Asrar & Riley, as they usually do on the title, draw a fast paced team battle where naturally the D5 prevail. The only lingering mystery is that the threat that wants them dead is some body-jumping force, able to swap identities and bodies and is known by a tattoo. A back-up story settles a subplot with Scatterbrain where she captures a killer she had to release to save her father from those aforementioned kidnappers.
While the delay hurt the story somewhat, this was an exciting third arc to the young series so far. They at least waited a year before "disassembling" the founding team, something Marvel & DC could learn from. Plus, it was always obvious that they would return. Faerber usually isn't out to outsmart his audience, which was why the bit with Myriad was surprising. Next up is a .99 Issue #0, which I didn't think was in style anymore. I certainly wouldn't mind a cheap comic at this rate for a week.
In his "Influences" article, Faerber reveals that he was a fan of "The Leather Jacket Avengers" of the 90's, basically the whole Proctor/Sersi/Crystal/Whitman period of the book. The Bob Harras/Steve Epting run of about two years. While I wasn't the biggest fan of that run, Proctor to me will always go down as one of the pettiest Marvel villains ever. Who the hell goes around killing alternate reality versions of their ex-girlfriend but him? At the very least, it helps cement Faerber's flair for traditional superheroes mixed in with strong character interrelationships and some family messes. The end of the book hints at some possible romances to come, which is good because with all of the D5 being step-siblings, there need to be outside heroes if any of them are to date.
While some of the delays may have been due to Asrar getting some work from Marvel on occasion, I wonder if Faerber will try to adopt an "On Time in '09" angle like Robert Kirkman. At any rate, I hope this book can stay on schedule. At $3.50 a pop, it may be much for some monthly readers, but fans of superhero comics should definitely give the trades a gander.
AGENTS OF ATLAS #1: As a fan of the Jeff Parker/Leonard Kirk mini from 2006, I am glad to finally see this series return as an ongoing, or hell, for at least another 12 issues in general. It was a quirky idea with a quirky cast, and it stood out amongst the usual launch of team books. Assembled from a cast of 50's characters from a WHAT IF comic from the 70's (who also popped up in AVENGERS FOREVER and MARVEL: THE LOST GENERATION from 1998-2001), it was a team with a unique hook. A band of heroes assembled to rescue the President in the 50's and battle Yellow Claw in particular alongside agent Jimmy Woo of SHIELD, they soon came to be in control of the Atlas Foundation that Yellow Claw ran, having sought Woo as an heir. Rather than waste such power, Woo and the rest of the gang seek to use the great power of this former criminal enterprise for benevolent purposes, even if the rest of the world is largely unaware. It is a team with a little of everything; a slick spy, an underwater warrior (Namora), a naiad nymph (Venus), an alien (Bob Grayson/Marvel Man), a Gort-esque robot (M-11), and of course everyone's favorite mystical talking gorilla (Ken Hale, the Gorilla Man).
As it was, it was a fun series with a too-unique-for-typical-fans premise, but then Dark Reign happened. This not only gave Marvel a reason to launch another team book, but gave series writer Jeff Parker (who often toiled in MARVEL ADVENTURES territory) a new hook to use with the team. With an ex-criminal himself, Norman Osborn, running the show these days and drafting criminals into federal service (as shown by Man Mountain Marko in this very issue landing a commanding decision with ATF). To him, the Agents of Atlas are a band of criminals; the Agents, meanwhile, want to undermine Osborn's government however they can. This basically gives them a "crooks on the run" motif, which has worked for some books in Dark Reign; just look at INVINCIBLE IRON MAN.
After Marko and his ATF squad are defeated by the Agents in an attempt on a raid, Venus is sent into Avengers Tower, easily enslaving Sentry and trying to cut a deal with Osborn. The Atlas' dragon, Lao, ends up eating Marko, but Woo is able to seemingly move Osborn into a compromising position, although Osborn of course does not trust them. Lao also reveals that every head of Atlas must have a "back up" leader ready in the wings, and it turns out that Woo's has been decided as Temugin, son of The Mandarin.
Parker, as always, is a master of continuity. He gives a recap of prior Agents activities and is more than aware of what is going in in other books; even having Temugin sport a mechanical hand, since he lost it to Puma in MODOK'S 11 last year. While Leonard Kirk is busy drawing for CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13, Pagulyan is here to provide pencils and does a solid job. Despite the $3.99 cover price, this issue tries to give you your money's worth; the main story is 23 pages long, and there is a 12 page back-up tale.
The back up, written by Parker and drawn by Benton Jew, takes place in 1958 Cuba, during the Revolution (which, Castro would say, is still ongoing) in which Woo, M-11 and Hale run into a Pre-Weapon X Wolverine, who lacks the claws and such. At this point he basically is a regenerating spy who works for no end of shifty characters, only this time their enemies coincide. It is a serviceable action tale, with the only niggle being the idea that Fidel Castro in Marvel has been entirely controlled by Yellow Claw's weird bugs. So, Cuba's 40 years of dictator control is because of a 50's "Oriental" villain in Marvel. Gotcha.
But, even that is only a minor blemish on a very solid debut issue, and I can't wait for more. Marvel's events lately haven't always made sense or been stories unto themselves, but they usually have been capable of launching decent team books, and AGENTS OF ATLAS is no exception. Hopefully the fans stick around this time. I know I had a hard time finding this issue in Brooklyn, which hopefully is a good sign of demand.
The Arthur Adams cover is also very cool. I was a kid when he was drawing Fantastic Four, and I have missed his artwork.
ASTONISHING TALES #1: Don't be fooled by the title; this is basically MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #13. It is the same premise; an anthology series that, unlike SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED or X-MEN UNLIMINTED, focuses on the entire Marvel universe. Yet, the stories focus on: Wolverine & Punisher, two Iron Men, and Sunspot/Cannonball/Mojo. Seems like mostly X and Iron Man to me. Oh, well.
To be blunt, the direct market has not supported anthology series for a good, long time. For at least a decade. Joe Q has tried to launch anthologies of every sort and stripe, and they always die within 12 months. The only reason MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS saw success in the 90's was because Wolverine wasn't quite as overexposed then as he is now, so that book being his unofficial second ongoing worked for it. Plus, it often had some A-List talent on it, like Sam Kieth, or Barry Windsor-Smith doing defining tales on Wolverine. For the latest anthologies, there is no A-List talent, and no defining stories on any character that most readers can't see elsewhere, done better. In the wake of a recession and the specter of 2009 being a hard year, the logical idea would be to give an anthology a rest, or at least stop taking over 50% of the market while demanding more money from fewer fans. But, Marvel's compassion for the wallets of their fans died with bankruptcy, or at least with the departure of Bill Jemas (who is translating the Bible from Hebrew to earn a living these days, guess the Ultimate line guilted him a lot), so here we are.
MCP got a lot of flack last year, but honestly they had a better debut. MCP #1 last year at least had a Spidey story, the sequel to the sleeper hit OMEGA FLIGHT, and two tales that had a lot of hype and potential, VANGUARD and HELLCAT. ASTONISHING TALES, by contrast, is just out there. No promotion, nothing. Plus, the only "ongoing" story it started that I cared for at all was "Madripoor Mix-Up", by C.B. Cebulski and Kenneth Rocafort, rented from Top Cow (or, "the school where everyone draws like a bad Marc Silvestri, even Marc Silvestri"). Basically, it has Punisher and Wolverine meet up in the Princess Bar, and end up on the same quest against HYDRA and Viper, who has Predator X on her side. Whether it is really Viper or one of her cloned "Pit-Vipers" is unknown. It isn't a story that doesn't really matter to either Castle or Logan, but it reminded me of some gritty 80's tales with the two. The art was fine for the action.
The other decent story was the one-and-done Iron Man story, "Making an Appearance", by Chris Sequeira and W. Chew Chan. Based weeks before SI, which they tell you at the start, Stark faces some media flack at a charity event for sick kids after his passage and enforcement of the SHRA. As if that isn't bad enough for the shellhead, he also is attacked by Visage, a metahuman woman posing as an actress to avenge her destroyed life on Stark for the SHRA. Stark eventually notes that her lost job was due to her company enforcing the SHRA illegally, and he would try to help her; Visage then flies off and the token snarky reporter sees Stark as not being completely heartless. It is a fine one shot tale, although Dark Reign has rendered it almost moot. If Visage thought Stark was a tyrant, Osborn's way worse.
Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Lou Kang (the artist, not the fighter) begin an Iron Man 2020 story about the alternate dimensional Arno Stark, a sidenote in Machine Man and Avengers history, and for the life of me I have no clue why. Aside for being an Iron Man with a weird armor design, what is the point? The story really didn't grab me at all. Also seeming more obligatory than good is the Sunspot/Cannonball/Mojo story by Johnathon Hickman and Nick Pitarra. It isn't terrible per say, but seems to be trying WAY too hard to be quirky and unique, which makes it seem forced.
Frankly, I was partisan about buying this debut to begin with, and I almost regret the money. It may have to be an extemely empty week in March for me to bother with issue #2. None of the ongoing stories really grabbed me. Anthologies are for completists, and at $4 a pop, being a completist isn't as logical as it was a year ago. In the wake of a recession and diminishing returns, I seriously wonder why Marvel's strategy is the same as it was in 1998, without a mind to market realities or demand. "Throwing stuff against a wall and see what sticks" is not a valid idea for anyone who is not a chimpanzee.
Dread's Bought/Thought for 2/4/09:
DYNAMO 5 #19: Who says horribly late superhero books are only from Marvel or DC? Faerber & Rily's Image superhero opera here is running about two to three months behind. There are caveats, of course; Image allows more leeway, Faerber writes other books, there is more to do with a creator owned title, etc. But, still, once a book moves beyond two months late, especially for a title like this which usually seemed to ship about a week or two late every time Diamond would announce it, it starts to get on my nerves, and drain on a story.
Still, I do like D5; it is a title I look forward to and is an enjoyable superhero book, with good characters, solid art, usually a bit of action, and a good premise. It isn's ashamed of some of the bold beats of heroism that a lot of "realistic" books tend to be avoiding these days. Such as this issue, which consists almost entirely of a showdown against a squad of villains, half of whom were only introduced last issue.
The general plot, for those who forgot with the "break"; after Widowmaker led an attack on the D5's aquarium base, it was revealed that Myriad was in fact an alien, not a human, and he had lied by omission to everyone for a very long time. Myriad claimed he did so because he feared that revealing he was an alien would lead everyone to mistrust him; after it is revealed, and with their founder Maddie in a psychic coma, the team distrusted him and broke up, moving on with their lives. I always love every time I see a story where an alien goes, "If I told you, you would have hated me" and the humans always react with an, "Oh, YEAH!? Now we'll prove you wrong by hating you more!" Humans totally suck.
Left with a rising crime rate and a supervillain everywhere, Scrap, the eldest and strongest of the team, assembled an ad-hoc version of the five with the Firebird mother/daughter duo, her father's ex-sidekick Quake (who takes head-meds), and the mysterious vigilante Virgil. They did their best, but their cohesion was not smooth. Meanwhile, Slingshot/Livvie had sought to take care of her adopted father, who had been kidnapped recently; Visionary/Hector sought to smooth over tensions with his mother over revealing he was a superhero, and Gage/Scatterbrain sought to return to life as a high school jock, only now was willing to use his powers to give him an advantage in football games. Widowmaker, meanwhile, still is working for a general employer who tasks her with assembling a rogue's gallery of nasty creeps to take out the new D5. After being pummeled by the creeps in a fight, Virgil is unmasked as Widowmaker herself.
That was all in October-November 2008. While the angle of Widowmaker infiltrating the D5 as a hero to pick them apart from within is a worthy twist, in a way Faerber almost outsmarts himself by immediately revealing that "Virgil" was really Myraid after all, pretending to be Widowmaker to fool the rogues once the fight got bad. When the real Widowmaker appears, it all goes to hell. I say that because within 2 pages, the whole thing is unraveled and it seems weird that Myraid would suddenly do all that; masquarade as Virgil and then Widowmaker. Or, of course, after SECRET INVASION, I may have a short fuse on shapeshifters. At any rate, it almost seemed like an obligatory way to get him there. Gage, meanwhile, sensed Scrap's distress from being pummeled by Slaughterhouse (a hulking armored killer) and gathered the rest of the founding team to lay in the smack down. The idea of making a hulking jock the psychic of the team pays off when Gage easily is able to pummel the token evil psychic, Dr. Chimera, in fisticuffs. Asrar & Riley, as they usually do on the title, draw a fast paced team battle where naturally the D5 prevail. The only lingering mystery is that the threat that wants them dead is some body-jumping force, able to swap identities and bodies and is known by a tattoo. A back-up story settles a subplot with Scatterbrain where she captures a killer she had to release to save her father from those aforementioned kidnappers.
While the delay hurt the story somewhat, this was an exciting third arc to the young series so far. They at least waited a year before "disassembling" the founding team, something Marvel & DC could learn from. Plus, it was always obvious that they would return. Faerber usually isn't out to outsmart his audience, which was why the bit with Myriad was surprising. Next up is a .99 Issue #0, which I didn't think was in style anymore. I certainly wouldn't mind a cheap comic at this rate for a week.
In his "Influences" article, Faerber reveals that he was a fan of "The Leather Jacket Avengers" of the 90's, basically the whole Proctor/Sersi/Crystal/Whitman period of the book. The Bob Harras/Steve Epting run of about two years. While I wasn't the biggest fan of that run, Proctor to me will always go down as one of the pettiest Marvel villains ever. Who the hell goes around killing alternate reality versions of their ex-girlfriend but him? At the very least, it helps cement Faerber's flair for traditional superheroes mixed in with strong character interrelationships and some family messes. The end of the book hints at some possible romances to come, which is good because with all of the D5 being step-siblings, there need to be outside heroes if any of them are to date.
While some of the delays may have been due to Asrar getting some work from Marvel on occasion, I wonder if Faerber will try to adopt an "On Time in '09" angle like Robert Kirkman. At any rate, I hope this book can stay on schedule. At $3.50 a pop, it may be much for some monthly readers, but fans of superhero comics should definitely give the trades a gander.
AGENTS OF ATLAS #1: As a fan of the Jeff Parker/Leonard Kirk mini from 2006, I am glad to finally see this series return as an ongoing, or hell, for at least another 12 issues in general. It was a quirky idea with a quirky cast, and it stood out amongst the usual launch of team books. Assembled from a cast of 50's characters from a WHAT IF comic from the 70's (who also popped up in AVENGERS FOREVER and MARVEL: THE LOST GENERATION from 1998-2001), it was a team with a unique hook. A band of heroes assembled to rescue the President in the 50's and battle Yellow Claw in particular alongside agent Jimmy Woo of SHIELD, they soon came to be in control of the Atlas Foundation that Yellow Claw ran, having sought Woo as an heir. Rather than waste such power, Woo and the rest of the gang seek to use the great power of this former criminal enterprise for benevolent purposes, even if the rest of the world is largely unaware. It is a team with a little of everything; a slick spy, an underwater warrior (Namora), a naiad nymph (Venus), an alien (Bob Grayson/Marvel Man), a Gort-esque robot (M-11), and of course everyone's favorite mystical talking gorilla (Ken Hale, the Gorilla Man).
As it was, it was a fun series with a too-unique-for-typical-fans premise, but then Dark Reign happened. This not only gave Marvel a reason to launch another team book, but gave series writer Jeff Parker (who often toiled in MARVEL ADVENTURES territory) a new hook to use with the team. With an ex-criminal himself, Norman Osborn, running the show these days and drafting criminals into federal service (as shown by Man Mountain Marko in this very issue landing a commanding decision with ATF). To him, the Agents of Atlas are a band of criminals; the Agents, meanwhile, want to undermine Osborn's government however they can. This basically gives them a "crooks on the run" motif, which has worked for some books in Dark Reign; just look at INVINCIBLE IRON MAN.
After Marko and his ATF squad are defeated by the Agents in an attempt on a raid, Venus is sent into Avengers Tower, easily enslaving Sentry and trying to cut a deal with Osborn. The Atlas' dragon, Lao, ends up eating Marko, but Woo is able to seemingly move Osborn into a compromising position, although Osborn of course does not trust them. Lao also reveals that every head of Atlas must have a "back up" leader ready in the wings, and it turns out that Woo's has been decided as Temugin, son of The Mandarin.
Parker, as always, is a master of continuity. He gives a recap of prior Agents activities and is more than aware of what is going in in other books; even having Temugin sport a mechanical hand, since he lost it to Puma in MODOK'S 11 last year. While Leonard Kirk is busy drawing for CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13, Pagulyan is here to provide pencils and does a solid job. Despite the $3.99 cover price, this issue tries to give you your money's worth; the main story is 23 pages long, and there is a 12 page back-up tale.
The back up, written by Parker and drawn by Benton Jew, takes place in 1958 Cuba, during the Revolution (which, Castro would say, is still ongoing) in which Woo, M-11 and Hale run into a Pre-Weapon X Wolverine, who lacks the claws and such. At this point he basically is a regenerating spy who works for no end of shifty characters, only this time their enemies coincide. It is a serviceable action tale, with the only niggle being the idea that Fidel Castro in Marvel has been entirely controlled by Yellow Claw's weird bugs. So, Cuba's 40 years of dictator control is because of a 50's "Oriental" villain in Marvel. Gotcha.
But, even that is only a minor blemish on a very solid debut issue, and I can't wait for more. Marvel's events lately haven't always made sense or been stories unto themselves, but they usually have been capable of launching decent team books, and AGENTS OF ATLAS is no exception. Hopefully the fans stick around this time. I know I had a hard time finding this issue in Brooklyn, which hopefully is a good sign of demand.
The Arthur Adams cover is also very cool. I was a kid when he was drawing Fantastic Four, and I have missed his artwork.
ASTONISHING TALES #1: Don't be fooled by the title; this is basically MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #13. It is the same premise; an anthology series that, unlike SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED or X-MEN UNLIMINTED, focuses on the entire Marvel universe. Yet, the stories focus on: Wolverine & Punisher, two Iron Men, and Sunspot/Cannonball/Mojo. Seems like mostly X and Iron Man to me. Oh, well.
To be blunt, the direct market has not supported anthology series for a good, long time. For at least a decade. Joe Q has tried to launch anthologies of every sort and stripe, and they always die within 12 months. The only reason MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS saw success in the 90's was because Wolverine wasn't quite as overexposed then as he is now, so that book being his unofficial second ongoing worked for it. Plus, it often had some A-List talent on it, like Sam Kieth, or Barry Windsor-Smith doing defining tales on Wolverine. For the latest anthologies, there is no A-List talent, and no defining stories on any character that most readers can't see elsewhere, done better. In the wake of a recession and the specter of 2009 being a hard year, the logical idea would be to give an anthology a rest, or at least stop taking over 50% of the market while demanding more money from fewer fans. But, Marvel's compassion for the wallets of their fans died with bankruptcy, or at least with the departure of Bill Jemas (who is translating the Bible from Hebrew to earn a living these days, guess the Ultimate line guilted him a lot), so here we are.
MCP got a lot of flack last year, but honestly they had a better debut. MCP #1 last year at least had a Spidey story, the sequel to the sleeper hit OMEGA FLIGHT, and two tales that had a lot of hype and potential, VANGUARD and HELLCAT. ASTONISHING TALES, by contrast, is just out there. No promotion, nothing. Plus, the only "ongoing" story it started that I cared for at all was "Madripoor Mix-Up", by C.B. Cebulski and Kenneth Rocafort, rented from Top Cow (or, "the school where everyone draws like a bad Marc Silvestri, even Marc Silvestri"). Basically, it has Punisher and Wolverine meet up in the Princess Bar, and end up on the same quest against HYDRA and Viper, who has Predator X on her side. Whether it is really Viper or one of her cloned "Pit-Vipers" is unknown. It isn't a story that doesn't really matter to either Castle or Logan, but it reminded me of some gritty 80's tales with the two. The art was fine for the action.
The other decent story was the one-and-done Iron Man story, "Making an Appearance", by Chris Sequeira and W. Chew Chan. Based weeks before SI, which they tell you at the start, Stark faces some media flack at a charity event for sick kids after his passage and enforcement of the SHRA. As if that isn't bad enough for the shellhead, he also is attacked by Visage, a metahuman woman posing as an actress to avenge her destroyed life on Stark for the SHRA. Stark eventually notes that her lost job was due to her company enforcing the SHRA illegally, and he would try to help her; Visage then flies off and the token snarky reporter sees Stark as not being completely heartless. It is a fine one shot tale, although Dark Reign has rendered it almost moot. If Visage thought Stark was a tyrant, Osborn's way worse.
Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Lou Kang (the artist, not the fighter) begin an Iron Man 2020 story about the alternate dimensional Arno Stark, a sidenote in Machine Man and Avengers history, and for the life of me I have no clue why. Aside for being an Iron Man with a weird armor design, what is the point? The story really didn't grab me at all. Also seeming more obligatory than good is the Sunspot/Cannonball/Mojo story by Johnathon Hickman and Nick Pitarra. It isn't terrible per say, but seems to be trying WAY too hard to be quirky and unique, which makes it seem forced.
Frankly, I was partisan about buying this debut to begin with, and I almost regret the money. It may have to be an extemely empty week in March for me to bother with issue #2. None of the ongoing stories really grabbed me. Anthologies are for completists, and at $4 a pop, being a completist isn't as logical as it was a year ago. In the wake of a recession and diminishing returns, I seriously wonder why Marvel's strategy is the same as it was in 1998, without a mind to market realities or demand. "Throwing stuff against a wall and see what sticks" is not a valid idea for anyone who is not a chimpanzee.
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